BOOKS: Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter

"LOVED this book..."

ODD MOM OUT
by Jane Porter
(5 Spot/Hachette, 2007)

Softcover, 410 pgs, $13.99 U.S.

I LOVED this book -- one of my best summer reads and perfect for Mom's New (School) Year.

Jane Porter writes pitch-perfect chick lit for the thirty- and forty-somethings, with just a hint of her bestselling Harlequin Romance writing experience peeking through in the sex and larger-than-life (ahem) physical descriptions of male characters; easily forgiven with her humor and brutally accurate portrayal of PTA social circles.

It is easy to identify with Marta Zinsser, the 36-year-old Odd Mom Out of the wealthy suburban Mommy social set in Bellevue, Washington (the land of the Microsoft elite and a bedroom community to Seattle). Marta is a fiercely independent woman, the head of her own advertising company, a happily single mother raising her 10-year-old daughter, Eva. Marta conceived her daughter with a sperm donor, which is an unusual twist to the story, but verification that this lady is truly independent, with NO interest in complicating her life with a man. Enter, of course, the incomparable Luke Flynn shortly into the story and that Harlequin description:

"He's so...so...everything...He has the coloring of great Scottish warlords, his short, thick hair shades of red and gold, and his features are strong, male, as though whittled by the wind and weather and war. He reminds me of a time long ago, of battles and warriors, peasants and kings...Makes me almost wish I believed in love." (page 158 -159)

Although Marta grew up in Seattle, she had escaped early to build her life and advertising career in Manhattan. Reluctantly, Marta has abandoned her glamorous life in New York to return home to be near and support her aging parents. She finds herself outside of a social situation she never wanted to be part of in the first place:

"...the perfect tawny-haired bronzed mommies.
The kind who wear Prada loafers and 7 for All Mankind jeans.
The kind who have three-plus-carat rocks on their fingers.
The kind who wear size two clothes and call themselves fat..."
(page 51)

But Eva, her 4th grade daughter, desperately wants to fit in, to be popular, and she wants her mother to be 'normal' like the other moms, especially like perfectly-perfect Taylor Young, who quickly becomes Marta's PTA nemesis.

ODD MOM OUT is Marta's first year back in Bellevue: building her company, caring for her parents, stabilizing life for herself and her daughter, navigating the social scene and the intricacies of the PTA structure; above all, setting her own course to happily ever after, which may or may not include Prince Charming.