A bunch of women get together and call themselves the “May Mothers” after meeting on an online chat group for first time expectant parents. One by one each of the women become mothers and work to deal with the specific challenges that motherhood can present. In this book we see women trying to balance their careers while still being a “good mom”, the trouble with breastfeeding for some, post partum depression (and perhaps even psychosis), achieving intimacy with a partner, and just being able to take a few minutes to yourself without feeling guilty or feeling like you’re doing something wrong. Some people are just “natural mothers” (aka people who have a very easy go right from the start), I envy those people and I think I’m biased against the book a bit because it made me feel what I felt as a first time mom again and I don’t want to go back there. With my youngest now being five, I feel like I can finally breathe and also that I get “let back into life” again. So enough about me whining about babies…back to the book. The mothers decide that they need a night out as adults and so plans get put into motion. The only set back is that Winnie, one of the May Mothers is a single mom with no family or friends aside from the May Mothers to turn to. That problem is easily solved as one of the mothers “loans” out her day time nanny for the occasion.
Everything is great fun until Winnie disappears from the bar, returning home a short time later to find that her son is not in her crib. The nanny has fallen asleep on the couch and when questioned, knows nothing. Winnie turns out not to be the “sad case” that many of the May Mothers thought of when they thought of a single mother. Questions such as who the baby’s father is and why Winnie has been living so reclusive muddy up the investigation of who has taken her baby. Ultimately, we find out and well, it’s a let down.
The book is interesting enough and the central mystery scares me enough as a mom (who has left her children in the care of babysitters for a few hours for a little adult respite) but the conclusion is thoroughly cliche and 100% taken from a Lifetime movie and creates dangerous stereotypes about…well I can’t tell you because it’ll give the book away BUT I will tell you that certain people are not more motivated to steal babies…sorry, it’s a made up contrivance based upon a few actual cases. Whatever good will I felt about the book, I lost as I finished reading it.