Score: 3.5/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Galbadia Press for sending me a review copy of Mom’s Perfect Boyfriend by Crystal Hemmingway. It’s a quick, fun summer read with a thoroughly modern twist on ‘the perfect boyfriend’. Crystal is feeling a bit lost, having broken up with her boyfriend and failing to make it as a writer in LA. She moves back in with her mother and that’s when things really start to fall apart (but also get really, really funny).

Anyone with a complicated relationship with their mother will no doubt find themselves laughing and cringing their way through.

The book is written via a series of short ‘chapters’ which are made up of direct message conversations, emails, postcards, journal entries and portions of a novel Crystal is writing. At first I found the format a little choppy and disruptive, but by the end I actually enjoyed the short sections, written in different perspectives, and it made the book easy to pick up and read a few pages here and there without having to stop in the middle of a chapter.

All in all, a really fun summer read!

Synopsis:

Crystal has trouble saying no to her lonely, single mother. For 25 years, it wasn't a problem. But when one small mistake leaves Crystal jilted, homeless and unemployed, she has to move back in with the one person who caused it all: her mother.

Soon Crystal is sucked into her mother's vortex, partying with boomers and hawking misshapen marshmallows. Desperate for some independence, she hatches a foolproof plan: get an experimental android to play her mom's "perfect" boyfriend. It's only a matter of time before her mom finds out, and Crystal will never live down the hilarious and disastrous consequences.

Written in an addicting, fast-paced format, Mom's Perfect Boyfriend is a humorous yet deeply honest portrayal about the complicated friendship between mothers and daughters. Because sometimes the people we least want to rely on are those who can help us the most.