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June 23, 2008 11:14 AM

BOOK REVIEW: The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman

I had only read two out of the six novels that Rowan Coleman has had published, her two latest, The Baby Group and The Accidental Wife both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. So I thought I'd give one of her earlier books a go.

Sophie Mills works for a company that holds parties for their clients. She works long and hard, lives alone in her flat and has lots of pairs of shoes. She's happy, or so she thinks. Aiming for a promotion she is shocked and floored when one day a social worker walks into her office and tells her she is now the legal guardian of her best friend's children, Izzy and Bella. Her life and her flat is thrown upside down and she is desperate to find their father in order to regain her old life.

This book has been on my radar for some time (it was published in 2006), but being a mother myself I often avoid books that appeared to be primarily about motherhood (coincidently just as I avoided The Baby Group - until I picked it up and realised it wasn't just about babies). It is written in Rowan's usual descriptive style, extremely vivid, in fact, I feel I used to live in Sophie's flat myself.

The book is a little predictable, you can kind of get an idea of what will happen, especially when one of the male leads walks into her life, but the journey Sophie goes on is both heartwarming and sad and you get so engrossed the predictability doesn't really matter. Pre baby I could have identified with Sophie before the children landed on her and once Sophie had fallen for the children and would do anything for them, I could identify with that too. The book also demonstrates, quite dramatically, how having children can completely change your life

I have to say now, after having read three books by Rowan you are always guaranteed a good read. This one is lovely and I enjoyed it tremendously. The only reason I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 in the ratings is because I enjoyed The Accidental Wife (her recent release) a little bit more and I can see how her writing has progressed.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Like this? Try My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson

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Posted by Helen Redfern on June 23, 2008 in British Authors, Rating: 4/5 | Permalink

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