Customer Reviews

Balancing Act (Heidi Elliott Series #1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Heidi Elliott always intended to go back to work after having her baby. Norah, her really wonderful baby daughter, is all she expected, and more. And Heidi is a smart, hip, modern woman. Balancing a home, family, and a career should be a snap.

Then her former boyfriend moves back to town, settling a few houses away. Her husband is working overtime with a gorgeous female, and while Heidi is above being jealous, still. . . . Norah is perfect, but she's also smelly, messy, and a full time responsibility. That balancing act she was so sure of starts to fall apart.

Heidi isn't a joiner, hates group activities, but somehow she gets roped into a Wednesday Night Mom's Group from her church. The women are a diverse lot, different problems, different personalities. They couldn't possibly have anything to offer a smart, modern woman like Heidi, could they?

Any woman who has tried to balance home, family, and work will identify with this book. It's all here. the joys, the frustrations, the feeling that you're not doing enough. Balancing Act is a fast paced, funny story with realistic problems and believable characters blended with a strong faith message.

Here's a book I could not put down. Stay-home moms and working moms alike will adore Kimberly Stuart's breakout novel. Don't we all know how hard it is to balance love, marriage, friendship, and career? But oh, how the challenges mount when baby makes three.

Heidi Elliot has it all - an award-winning career as a Spanish teacher, a cute home in a historical part of town, and a handsome hubby who loves the Lord. Six-month baby Nora sparkles with laughter and joy. (Insert Jaws music here.)

Then along comes a gorgeous, wealthy client who pays a little too much attention to Heidi's husband, Jake. And surprise! Heidi's old flame moves down the street, working as a freelance photographer for his big-shot New York editors. Meanwhile, Heidi's breast-pump stays in action as she's gone back to work early to solve a crisis. How will she cope?

Stuart's plot is full of pizzazz, giving tribute to every woman's need for the bonds of sisterhood.

-- Christian Women Online Book Buzz

Stuart has aptly named this book. She employs a perfect balance of humor and tender moments in this rollicking good read. I carried it everywhere with me for two days. Whether standing in line at the grocery store or picking up the dry-cleaning, I was reading and either laughing or sighing, but never was I bored.

Balancing Act is delightful and fresh. The spiritual thread is honest and definitely not preachy. It's a book a non-Christian could enjoy without rolling their eyes. Heidi's sarcastic wit lightens the moments that could easily have become schmaltzy or lumbering.

Like a virtuoso, Stuart delivered the denouement with a fresh approach that rang with honesty--a huge debut novel, in this reviewer's opinion. Balancing Act receives Novel Reviews' highest recommendation.

Reviewed by Ane Mulligan
www.anemulligan.com

Following steak and stitches at that gourmet spot the "birth suite" of St. John's Hospital to celebrate her giving birth to a girl, Springdale High School Spanish school teacher Heidi Elliott returns home to raise her infant with her spouse of five years Jake, owner of Elliot Paints. Six months later Heidi is near a breakdown from the demands of motherhood, teaching, neighborhood, and a few other hoods. Nothing seems the way it was before the birth of baby Nora.

Nora is 24/7 smelly no matter how hard Heidi tries to keep her clean for a nanosecond. Meals are late and half cooked while Heidi drops her subscription to National Geographic as she compares her pathetic helplessness to mothers in the Amazon. At work, substitute teacher Ms. Stillwell feels like a failure, Jake seems to spend more time with his new client Jana van Fleet, and Heidi's former live in lover Ben Cooper has moved into the neighborhood while the new parents have no sex life and less and less of a relationship between them. A desperate Heidi joins the Mom's Group where she meets strong females ready to devour outsiders (males and females with no offspring)

This is an interesting look at how much having a baby nukes the lifestyles of the parents. The delightful character study centers on mostly Heidi's woes as she finds her world off kilter since giving birth. Teaching is not the same as her students wonder if her humor was removed along with the placenta. Jake is not the same as he prefers time at work over time with his two special girls. Finally Ben is not the same man she remembers though he remains more than just a distraction. Readers especially working mothers will appreciate this well written deep look at a woman's BALANCING ACT failures.

Harriet Klausner

I love the two Heidi Elliot novels by Kimberly Stewart. They are well written, entertaining and true to real life. Ms. Stewart writes in such a way, as you feel you are Heidi Elliot's friend and companion throughout the story!! I highly recommend this novel to all. Blessings!!

Balancing Act is a funny, charming, insightful, account of adjusting to new motherhood. Stewart does a wonderful job of drawing the reader in: the warm weight of a newly nursed baby on her shoulder, the discomfort of the underwear under the first-day-back-in-the-classroom dark suit, the desperation to get two hours of time to herself while Nora naps. I'll pass this book around to my friends and family.

Balancing Act
by Kimberly Stuart
Review by Roseanna White

Heidi Elliott loves being a mom. Six-month-old Nora is an angel of a baby, and though, sure, life is a little topsy-turvy now that a third member has been added to the family, she and hubby Jake are taking it in stride. Everything's all set for her return to the job, too--daycare lined up, lesson plans ready for her high school Spanish class, clothes almost fit... normal stuff for a woman getting ready to go off maternity leave.

But life for Heidi's about to get a whole lot more complicated. As if it isn't enough to be worrying about her baby all day when she's supposed to be teaching, to top it off she has a score of other concerns, too: her ex-boyfriend's back in town and wants to use her and baby Nora as models in a new photographic essay he's working on, her husband's been spending an awful lot of time with a model-esque client, she manages to alienate her best friend, and, oh yeah, her boss gets a mite upset when she has to leave work early to take care of her sick little girl. Why isn't the world made for working moms? Others can pull it off, though, so surely Heidi can too--and without the help of that meddling Mom's Group her husband insisted she go to. Who wants to associate with a bunch of Bible-thumping self-righteous types, anyway?

Balancing Act is a witty novel of the new mom-lit genre, one that appeals especially to young moms and will be enjoyed by any woman with children or who might even consider having them someday. Through the eyes of Heidi the reader is taken through the tempest of some everyday trials and some truly extraordinary ones. In the space of a few months Heidi faces a workplace that isn't understanding, a marriage on the rocks, and a spiritual crisis as her Mom's Group friend, Willow, challenges her to trust in the Lord rather than herself. A lot of the book is pure wit, funny and clever. But through the laughter you'll still feel the shadow of doubt plaguing Heidi, the uncertainty and desperation facing this woman who only wants to be it all: teacher, wife, mother, and friend. She doesn't think doing that perfectly is too much to ask, but when it all starts crumbling around her, Heidi has to learn to lean on others.

Stuart deals with hard-hitting issues that face mothers of all ages, and the result is a book that I could identify with, even if I haven't encountered a lot of Heidi's problems myself. It took a while for the faith-message to come out, since the heroine isn't very interested in God until she hits rock-bottom near the end, but we do get to hear some spiritual wisdom from Willow throughout, and by the conclusion most of the characters are talking about faith. Overall, Balancing Act is a wonderful balance between light humor and hard reality. If you're looking for a book that will at once make you laugh and touch your deepest heart, this is a great choice.

What a fun read! I read Kimberly Stuart's debut novel while in bed with a bad case of bronchitis--and it was the perfect antidote to the "gloomies." As a mom who has juggled work, kids, hubby and church responsibilities, I understood the main character, Heidi, and her dilemma...to keep juggling, or to let a few balls drop and see what happens. Stuart's tone is just-right, and I laughed out loud several times (always a good sign). I also loved the fact that this novelist wasn't afraid to let her characters say what women really think...and I was glad her publisher let her! Kudos on this book. I'm looking forward the the sequel!

In Kimberly Stuart's debut novel, Balancing Act, we find Heidi Elliot loving motherhood, but itching to get back to teaching high school Spanish. After all, how hard will it be to balance both jobs? Mothers have managed for years.

Heidi soon finds out. Even though Nora is an 'easy' baby, it's overwhelming at times to balance motherhood, teaching, and being the wife she wants to be to her husband, Jake - who seems to be getting more than enough attention from one of his new clients. Throw in Heidi's old boyfriend who just moved into her neighborhood, and you have the kind of chaotic life with which all wives and mothers can identify.

As a mom, I enjoyed the realism along with hilarious moments Ms. Stuart interspersed. I could feel Heidi's panic, the stress, and the ever-present question of, "What do I do now?" With so many choices to make, Heidi needs more than practical advice, and finds the grace and wisdom to make right choices in an unlikely place - the dreaded "Moms' Group" she'd felt pressured to attend.

Ms. Stuart writes about marriage and motherhood with great insight and humor. Balancing Act is smart and fun. I look forward to more novels from Kimberly Stuart.

While it's been almost too long for me to remember what a pain *ahem* joy it was having a baby in the house, I enjoyed reading this witty story about a new mom practically going crazy trying to "do it all". I must admit it brought back painful memories I thought I had stuffed away and some cherished ones as well.

Kim Stuart does a superb job of getting inside a mom's mind, letting us feel the frustration of a world crashing in and the hope of future sanity. Even if it did have maybe too happy of an ending, it was very well-written. I recommend it to young moms everywhere.