Odd Mom Out (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Marta Zinsser has made her nine-year-old daughter Eva, conceived through sperm donation, her whole world. The two move from Manhattan to a wealthy Seattle suburb, where Marta plans to run a successful advertising agency from home and be close to her ailing mother. Soon however, Marta's bohemian ways stick out like a sore thumb among the impeccably groomed housewives of Bellevue. Pressured by a tenderly and believably drawn Eva to be a real mom, Marta signs up for school chaperoning and committee duties, with near-disastrous results. And when Marta falls for a handsome billionaire, she must decide whether to refocus her lone wolf self-image enough to allow a man to enter the picture. The alpha moms Marta detests are cartoonish, catty villains, and self helpese creeps into the plot gaps. But Marta is an intriguing heroine: she values freedom and toughness, but her jeans and combat boots mask vulnerability, heartbreak and fear of change. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Marta Zinsser is not your typical suburban mom. Single, strong, and confident, she wears camouflage pants and chunky boots and rides a motorcycle. When her New York advertising firm asks her to open a branch in Seattle, she agrees to return to her hometown, mostly because of her mother's ill health. Now she's running her own firm out of her house, while her nine-year-old daughter is trying and failing to fit in at her new school. Eva is heartbroken, but Marta, who has never felt the need to be part of the pack, is at a loss as to how to help. Eva's subsequent attempts to change Marta into a normal mom and her sudden, not-so-subtle hints that Marta should get married and create a regular family are funny and poignant. With the increasing demands of her daughter, her ailing mother, and work, Marta's life begins to spiral out of control in a way most women will all-too-readily recognize. Porter's tale of a mother and daughter's journey to "normalcy" is keenly emotional and truly uplifting. Hatton, Maria

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: 5 Spot; 1 edition (September 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446699233
• ISBN-13: 978-0446699235
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved "Odd Mom Out", and you will, too, September 18, 2007

By	J. R. Benjamin (Duvall, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The ad agency Marta Zinsser works for has sent her to Seattle with her pre-teen daughter, Eva. This isn't Marta's first time in the Emerald City. She grew up here. At the same time, the city's now full of pearls-wearing, twin-set clad, Mercedes-driving alpha mommies, and she's definitely out of place. Eva wishes for a mom that was a bit more traditional. Marta worries about losing her sense of identity and additional heartbreak as she copes with the realities of bringing up a child on her own. She's not looking for a man, but Luke Flynn's been looking for her his whole life.

I love Jane Porter's books. Whenever I open one, I know I'm going to walk in someone else's shoes for awhile, and I also know I won't put it down till I finish it. Marta's combat boots became pretty familiar to me as I read about the struggles of a single mom who spends her days juggling as fast as she can. I'm not a mom, but I found that Marta experiences the same insecurities and fears as all women do.

Jane's characters leap off the pages of her books and lodge in your heart. "Odd Mom Out" is her best book yet. I can't wait for the next one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For any mom!, October 28, 2008

By	A. Morton (Pacific NW, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got this book AFTER reading her next "Mrs. Perfect" and enjoyed it just as much. Jane Porter has a great ability to pull out the things that make up our everyday living and turn them from something frustrating to humorous - almost any situation seems better when you realize you're not the only one to feel totally overwhlemed by it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED this book--, August 29, 2008

By	Sherri Caldwell "RebelHousewife.com" (Atlanta, GA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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. 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.

-- Sherri Caldwell, Humor Columnist & Reviewer at RebelHousewife.com
Co-Author, The Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss!