Title: After The Party

Author: Cassie Hamer

Genre: Domestic Drama

Main Characters:

• Lisa Wheeldon – female lead mum
• Ellie – abandoned little girl
• Jamie – Lisa’s sister and partner in crime
• Missy – Ellie’s mum

Summary:

Be careful what you wish for…

Lisa Wheeldon has a lovely life. Wife to a gorgeous husband, Scott, and a devoted mother to two small daughters, the former accountant has everything she wants – except a third child. But the universe has a strange way of providing.

On the surface, Ava’s 5th birthday party seems the ideal opportunity for Lisa to meet her daughter’s new kindergarten friends – all 32 of them! But from beginning to end, the day is a complete nightmare, capped off by the discovery of a little girl hiding in the Wheeldon’s backyard. At first. Lisa reasons that Ellie’s mum is running late. But when they open a gift from the mysterious little girl, it becomes clear her mother has no intention of returning at all…

What sort of mother abandons her child? And why has she chosen the Wheeldon’s?

Together, Lisa and her sister Jamie launch their own efforts to find the missing mum, a journey that will force Lisa to face her past, Jamie to confront her future and see both embroiled with angry exes, pragmatic fortune-tellers, Russian mobsters and a hyena pack of yummy mummies.

A journey that will force Lisa to rethink all she knows about being a good mother.

Verdict:

This book shook me. I questioned so much, and so many things about being a mom.

My biggest take away is that sometimes we have to do the hardest things as a mom, things that others may judge as being a “bad mom” but actually it makes us a good mom. Every page kept me guessing about “who” and “why” but a happy ending in the end. A book that every mom should read.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Any other good book recommendations whilst we are in lockdown and enjoy more time in a good book?

x