This Little Mommy Stayed Home: A Novel [Paperback]

Samantha Wilde (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 23, 2009

The Mother of all Motherhood novels.

In this riotously funny, ruefully honest, and irresistibly warmhearted debut, Samantha Wilde writes about one new mother who discovers the wonders and terrors of motherhood—one hilarious crisis at a time. For new moms, potential moms-to-be, and anyone who just wants to (wisely) live the experience vicariously…

New mom Joy McGuire hasn’t changed her sweatpants since her baby was born. Of course she’s crazy about her newborn son; it’s her distracted, work-obsessed husband and his impossible mother she can’t stand. Joy turns to her own mom for support, but she’s too busy planning her fourth wedding to a suspicious self-help guru. Sure, Joy’s a woman on the brink, but it’s nothing a little sleep, sanity, and chocolate can’t fix.

Until her old college boyfriend shows up at their ten-year reunion. The one she was still in love with when she married her husband. It must be the lack of sleep, because Joy is starting to think she might have ended up with the wrong man. Not to mention she’s obsessed with her sexy yoga instructor, who might just be interested in her. Joy used to be single, skinny, and able to speak in complete sentences, but who is she now? As she’s trying to figure that out, her husband goes missing….

Frank, bawdy, and full of keenly self-aware observations, this novel tells the story of one new mother, three men, one marriage, and the baby love that keeps us up at night

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

New mother Joy McGuire, the put-upon heroine of this mixed mom-com, considers herself a martyr: all her body parts are either sagging or swelling (conditions she describes in great detail), she has an annoying mother-in-law, her husband spends all his time trying to save the private school where he's headmaster, her mother is marrying a man who can't possibly be as saintly as Joy's long-dead father, she suspects she missed the boat by not marrying her old college boyfriend, and she's lusting after her manipulative yoga instructor. Fortunately for Joy, her comfortable suburban New York friends are willing to discuss her woes at length. For those who enjoy soliloquies about poopy diapers, sore nipples and reproductive anatomy, Joy is an amusing character, though her one-note self-absorption can become grating. Wilde, a yoga instructor and mother of two young children, writes with an authenticity that will both entertain and irritate.
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Review

"Here's a talent test: when a narrator's doldrums make a reader laugh out loud. Samantha Wilde's inkwell must be filled with truth serum because this brave and funny book gets the postpartum peaks and valleys so very, winningly, right."—Elinor Lipman, author of The Pursuit of Alice Thrift

"[This] is the funniest novel I've read in a long, long time. What a treat! Mothers everywhere deserve this book." —Ellen Meister, author of The Smart One

"Samantha Wilde is the irreverent, knowing, laugh-out-loud, brutally honest but most treasured best friend that every new mommy craves and every reader relishes. They should issue this smart, hilarious novel along with newborn onesies and nursing pads."—Pamela Redmond Satran, author of Babes in Captivity

“Riotously hilarious, unabashedly honest and positively impossible to put down. Samantha Wilde’s debut is a must read for all moms and non-moms alike.” —Jessica Brody, author of The Fidelity Files

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385342667
• ISBN-13: 978-0385342667
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Samantha Wilde wrote her first novel resting in bed with a lap top and a bag of chocolates while her infant son napped. Of course she didn't start writing until he slept through the night because before that, she couldn't think, let alone write.

Born in Northampton, Mass and raised in Williamstown and Nantucket, Mass, Samantha attended Concord Academy, Smith College (with a brief stint at Wellesley College), Yale Divinity School, The New Seminary, and the Kripalu School of Yoga. Before full-time motherhood, she taught full-time yoga and worked as a minister.

What she loves above all else--next to chocolate--are her children. She's passionate about mothering, depsite its tedious moments, and loves to connect with other mothers, as well as non-mothers. She likes those people too!

She lives with her husband, a professor of chemical engineering, and two young childen, a son and a daughter, in Western Mass, where she still uses nap times to write. She is the daughter of novelist Nancy Thayer. She blogs about her life with books and babies at wildemama.blogspot.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I'd had this book! July 3, 2009

A Kid's Review

Format:Paperback

I love this wild, funny book. It reminds me what it was like to love my new baby more than anything in the world. Back in the ancient days when I had my children, we just didn't talk about about aches, maternal worries, and the insanity caused by lack of sleep. It also reminds me of The Vagina Monologues, with its honest and often searing honesty about the female body.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Hated this book September 12, 2010

By Jenn_19

Format:Paperback

I read this book for one of my book clubs, one for stay at home moms, and we thought that we would all have a great time reading about "our lives". The first few pages seemed entertaining enough but it quickly became apparent that I was never going to like Joy. She whined and moaned through out 98% of the book, made some stupid decisions, and was a self-proclaimed martyr. Some things she said/thought were funny, but most just offended me. If you want to read a book that focuses on all of the bad parts of being a first time mom from a woman who never figures out how to really handle any of these situations, with an occassional sprinkling of I love my baby so much this has to be worth it, this is the book for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars This Little Mommy HATED The Main Character July 14, 2010

By Java Girl

Format:Paperback

I thought this was going to be humorous look at new motherhood. Instead, the main character, Joy, just whines and complains throughout the whole book. I did not find her likeable or sympathetic at all.

It appeared early in the novel that this new mother would be someone that new moms could relate to and would be able to find something of themselves in her. Instead, she is self-pitying, spoiled, and totally self-absorbed.

The humor fell flat too. Just didn't find this book funny at all.