As many women are having their children into their 40s, this memoir is very relevant to current events. I enjoyed the humorous take the author had on some of her experiences with being an older mom for the first time.

The Secret Diary of a New Mom is an account by Cari Rosen highlighting the struggles of becoming a mother after 40.

What I liked:

The book covered some serious topics with humor and highlighted the struggle that women experience when they become an older mom, whether by choice or not. It is amazing that people continue to think they have the right to the kinds of judgements and expectations thrown at women about motherhood. I like that it also highlights some interesting double standards. I like the gem about the praise older men get when they become new dads while older women get the wrath of society for the "irresponsibility" of having a child at their age.

What I didn't like:

I found this book hard to get through because I thought that the author tried to hard to be funny. I love a funny book and love a good laugh while reading but it bordered on eye roll territory a couple times. The brand of humor also made it hard to take some parts seriously.

Lovers of light memoirs will enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Duckworth Books for an ARC of this book. It is now available in stores.

The Secret Diary of a New Mum is a laugh-out-loud account of a first time mum's account of her first two years with her daughter.

No one wants to be considered old, especially not at the age of 43 and 1/4. It's even worse when you're 43 and expecting your first baby. The medical staff refers to you as geriatric or elderly. Newspaper and magazine articles tell you what a huge mistake you're making; however, you can't exactly send baby back.

This is the story of a sophisticated career woman reinventing herself to become a first time, stay at home mom.

I would highly recommend this title to anyone looking for humorous essays about parenting.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#SecretDiaryofaNewMum#NetGalley

As a woman of a certain age the very premise of this book appealed at the outset. To begin with I was not disappointed as I settled down on Mother's Day to read this. I found it to be a very easy read with some really good laugh-out-loud moments in the early chapters. I could relate, whole-heartedly with the observational humour surrounding those in their 40s and to a greater or lesser extent with some of the tales relating to being a new mum and things not going quite as well for you as for others (or at least feeling that way). However, as the book progressed I found that the repetitive normalising of the older mother and attempts to diminish the stigma that can attach became rather tiresome. It seemed that this message was promoted to the detriment of the humourous style that we started with. I also found that my mind was questioning, rather too often, the veracity of many of the tales due to the reported age of the child at the time. It meant that, for me, the book slipped from the plausible to the implausible a few too many times and, as the humour waned so too did my enjoyment which was a shame as I really enjoyed the first half (as my husband will testify having been subjected to several passages being read out loud).

The book felt quite short, and I was rather surprised when I got to the end as quickly as I did. My first reaction was to wonder whether this was a lockdown book brought out in haste or whether life is just funnier in retrospect during those early days (I'd beg to differ)? It's a shame as the start was so promising.

I'd still recommend the book for a quick, easy read, I just thought it had potential to deliver more.

With thanks to th author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

I adored this book, absolutely brilliantly funny, I chuckled happily through it on the sofa on Mothers Day and thoroughly loved every page.
Not only is the author very wry, dry and a similar age to myself (all her cultural references rang loud bells!) her child clearly inherited her fantastic humour and turns out to be just as funny!
Although I had my children at a younger age than the writer, I found much of the book took me right back to those early days, a really great book I truly enjoyed.

If you like Bridget Jones, you'll like this book.

This book is laugh out loud funny without trying too hard. It hits on some harder aspects of parenting such as judgment and difficulties with work but maintains the light tone throughout which makes it such a great read.

I like that it was focused on an older mother as well. It was definitely interesting to read from that perspective.

I'm not a mam, but I imagine if you are, you will find this book so relatable. This book is then Cari's memoir of motherhood in her forties but this story will resonate with so many people.

If you're not generally a fan of non fiction or memoirs but want to read more then this book is such a great place to start!

I gave this 4 stars!

Thank you Duckworth Books, NetGalley and Cari Rosen for an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately didn't enjoy this book
I found it went on quite a lot with the main character moaning and complaining about things. She really annoyed me. I did finish it but it just wasn't for me

When I first saw this I thought it was going to be very similar to the Gill Sims books ‘Why Mummy...’ which even though I haven’t read them, always look great and full of humour.

To me, this book was definitely more diary like and it felt like you were having a face to face conversation with Cari. It’s hard to remember this is a fiction book as it feels so relatable and you can tell it’s really come from the heart.

Now I don’t have kids and being 28 I quite often get asked about kids and told how time is ticking on for me. This book was therefore a breath of fresh air for me and made me chill quite a bit. There isn’t a rush on pregnancy and there is nothing wrong with being an ‘older mum’ - nothing apart from the fact that old is in there! Surely we should all just be mums regardless of age... (this isn’t me saying that I think everyone should have kids btw)

I did chuckle a few times when reading this book but it wasn’t the side splitting laughs that I was expecting - I think I’d just not understood properly!

The length of this is just right I think as well as Cari gets her point across and you feel like you’re getting to know her and her family but without unnecessary waffle

#netgalley thankyou so much for the privilege of reading this fantastic book
I have laughed out loud with tears streaming down my face and snot coming out my nose totally unpleasant to see but I was alone with box of tissues. That’s how funny this book is!
It captured me from the start when it said elderly primigravida - I was that at 26 - so knew sort of how she felt except times have changed and she is 43!!
Still this girl wasn’t going to be labelled and set on a journey detailing her pregnancy all in multicolour detail and onto the birth again in full detail
Then the first two years of her gorgeous girls life and the joys all parents go through from shopping with screaming toddlers to going through airport security where everyone treats you like you are carrying the devil
How will you as an older decrepit mother survive these tough times well the answer is with grace and serenity
A wonderful book all new mums to be should read regardless of age

There are lot of books along these lines and I’ve read a fair few of them, but this one had the extra quirkiness of being about an older mum to boot so I thought what’s the worst that could happen and ooh, I really enjoyed it. It’s written with a gritty, no holds barred honesty and a fabulous ability to laugh at your own expense that you partly develop with the lack of dignity involved in being pregnant / giving birth / having a newborn anyway but this writer goes the extra mile.
All of the conceivable (pun intended) topics covering having a baby are fully covered here, it’s been a decade since I had my youngest but this definitely brought back some brilliant memories and snortles of laugh out loud agreement and empathy. Also, as I’m in my forties now, I appreciated the honestly and laughs about being this age so double thumbs up. A genuinely funny, honest and excellent read. Thank you!

A very easy read with some funny moments. I appreciated the message behind the book, which endeavours to normalise "older mothers" and reduce stigmas attached to a woman's age when they give birth. I feel that the author was passionate about their message and wrote in a fully inclusive manner. However, I did find that this message became slightly repetitive throughout the book and I was left wanting more of the humorous, anecdotal stories which were more frequent in the first half of the book.

This was an easy to read personal account of the journey into and through those early months of parenthood.
Being a mother myself, I could hugely relate to the sentiments and thoughts described through this book. There are many laugh out loud moments and I don't think the age matters at all.....other than how society perceives the right age to have a baby.....this journey is personal and independent although there is definetly a feeling of 'belonging to the club'.
This book didn't wow me and I did find it a bit monotonous towards the end. Having said that, for a light hearted read, worth a go.

I received this book in exchange for a review! This funny take on motherhood from the point of view of an older mom is hilarious. It’s so real world, even for those not in that age bracket. It was well articulated even with the difficult life experiences. Happy, healthy kid are all that matters in life!

I did not like The Secret Diary Of A New Mum (aged 43 and a quarter) at the beginning. I didn’t connect with the mum and I didn’t find it funny, however, after the first quarter I felt more invested in the story and there were bits which I found funny. I cared about the main character and began to identify with the story as I am an older mum myself. It was a good read to pass the time, especially if you had a child in your late 30’s onwards. I found the ending quite uplifting.

A lighthearted, easy read looking at the basics of motherhood later in life. Very relatable and a quick read!

✨THE SECRET DIARY OF A NEW MUM✨

The secret diary of a new mum follows the tale of a midlife mum as she tries to make the transition from an experienced Tv producer to an utterly inexperienced parent.

This was a really ligh-hearted humorous book that shows how a new baby can impact a woman’s life.
It was a fun quick read but as someone who has not been experienced these situations I couldn’t really relate but this was at no fault to the author.

Thank you to the author (Cari Rosen) and NetGalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review!

Gosh it was funny, brilliant and too ture in parts. I could not put it down. You could give it to so many people. My NCT group are empty nesters and they just roar with laughter.. We have all been there with breast feeding . Fantastic

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. I could tell there were parts that should have been funny but they just didn’t appeal to my sense of humour at all.

When I saw the title of this book, it really caught my eye.

It started off really well and I enjoyed the humour that the author included about her experiences of giving birth in her 40's. Having been through multiple IVF's and finally falling pregnant at 41, it was an interesting read for me.
However, by the end of the book I did feel that the author was dwelling on the fact that she was an older mum rather than embracing it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I thought I would really enjoy this ( I had my oldest daughter at 24 and last child at 31 ) but it just didn’t hit the mark at all. Some bits were funny, but it’s just your normal every day ‘silly things my child says and does’.Luckily, it’s relatively short and only took me a few hours to read ( although I won’t get them back ). Overall, not recommended.