Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter

Odd Mom Out Reviews

• 
  Kirsten

  I cannot believe the average goodreads rating for this book is 3.44. Now I'm happy I read and rated this book, just so I can bring the average down a little bit. Like my friend Mary, the only part of this book I enjoyed was recognizing Bellevue landmarks: "I've been to the Chevron on Bellevue Way! Wait, Clyde Hill has its own Tully's?" But that would have been way more fun if those locales were the basis for well-drawn characters doing interesting, thought-provoking things. Unfortunately, this book contained neither of those elements. Boring, transparent and infuriating characters did things that you would expect from the worst kind of 'chick lit' or 'romantic comedy'. And sometimes you know they do them simply because the author wanted to stretch the book out. Oh, Marta is upset because Luke is wealthy? Of course she is; there are 90 pages left.
  
  I can't think of a single relationship in this book that I enjoyed. The mother and daughter relationship was an attempt to recreate sort of a Gilmore Girls-esque pair, but it fell flat and with a 9-year old just seemed wildly inappropriate. The romantic pairing was uninteresting and the author did not do a good job of showing rather than telling. Tell me again how your pulse races when you see him. I think I'm starting to get it. And the girlfriends and enemies' conversations were so full of dialogue that attempted to be witty that it sounded almost nothing like human speech.
  
  I've said enough. If you want to read chick lit, go for Helen Fielding or Sophie Kinsella. If you want to read about Bellevue, go to the Chamber of Commerce and get a pamphlet.
  
  Oh! I can't believe I forgot one of my most hated part of this book. There is absolutely no reason to use a contraction with the verb 'to have' when you're using the simple present: I've a red dress; I've an idea; I've a stupid book for you to read, etc. Porter does this all over the book. It's not grammatically incorrect, but every time she did it, I had to stop and reread the sentence because my brain wants to put a 'been' after I see 'I've', and it wasn't there. It made stilted dialogue even more stilted, and I was annoyed because I had to read dumb sentences twice. Well, I've other books to read, and I've no more time to spend on this one.
• 
  Cynthia

  Apparently, anyone can write a book. An irritating narrator. An irritating writing style--lots of preachy ideas dressed up as the narrator's ideas. Um, couldn't those be expressed as dialogue? Or added to the story somehow? AND I could not take seriously the narrator's rant about consumer culture and its detrimental effect on women and children--and yet her character is an ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE. She uses the lame excuse, "I understand how the game is played; these messages don't affect me." Yeah, that's what most naive people believe about consumer culture. And what about the potentially fascinating subplot about having an aging parent with Alzheimer's? It just gets lost in the shuffle. Yes, we get it. Your narrator is busy. Aren't we all? Where's the humanity? It's all but gone after the first chapter (which I read standing up at Target, and which convinced me to buy this stupid book.) Beyond the first chapter, it's poorly written, undeveloped, and ultimately I didn't see the character have much of an epiphany--a hallmark of chicklit.
• 
  Jaclyn

  First off, the author clearly has no respect for stay-at-home moms.
  
  Second, the main character she created was a real piece of work. She detested her own sex and hated the opposite sex. What a bitter, angry, lonely way to live life. She was horrifically judgmental about everyone, all the while complaining about how everyone judges her. She blamed all her bad decisions in life on her parents or her one and only bad relationship. She CHOSE to create a child without a father and then complained about how hard her life is that she doesn't have any support. And I just don't get the male-hating and patriarchal-society-puts-down-women thing. Ug. If it wasn't for the fact that she FINALLY showed miniscule positive changes in the last pages I would have absolutely loathed her. As it is, I only mostly loathe her. But at least she's starting to have epiphanies (maybe not all men are pigs? maybe a child actually could use a father? maybe you can't really have it all by yourself without a support system? maybe women who choose marriage don't do it just because they are weak?).... Yikes.
• 
  Jen

  As a rule, I do not pick up things with the word 'poignant' associated with them. My general rule of thumb is that I cry more than enough for perfectly legitimate reasons; I do not need to read a book or see a movie the main purpose of which is to tug at my heartstrings. So I have to admit, seeing a blurb on the cover of this book saying that it was "Funny and poignant...delightful," gave me pause. But the description was intriguing, and I'm on a major chick lit/romance kick -- quest, dare I say -- that I was willing to give it a shot. And I am very glad I did.
  
  Truth be told, it didn't look good at first. Note the whole kick/quest thing I am on as mentioned above? Most of what I've been reading lately is straightforward, quick and dirty (emphasis coming close to dirty) romance. That this book started with a mom having to watch her daughter go through the whole mean girls thing was not promising. But the writing was... I was about to say that it was a notch above, but I'm not going to because I think romance writers get the short end of the stick when, in fact, they have some pretty decent writing going on. So let me say instead that the writing was a little bit more layered than what I've been reading lately; it kept my attention.
  
  I liked how the author handled the 'odd mom out' part of the book -- not in a way that made you think the mom being referred to was a lemming or a wannabe, but, in fact, presenting a pretty realistic portrayal of what it's like to have your own strong viewpoints, but then have to see your child live with the consequences. Having to see your child struggle with anything, period. And, yes, those heartstrings did get tugged. Is it surprising, given the following passage?
  
  And yet my baby won't be my baby forever.
  
  One day, this gorgeous, divine human being will leave me.
  
  Sometimes it blows my mind. Imagine falling in love with a man, an amazing handsome loving man who makes you feel like the best thing in the world, who gives your day purpose, *hope*, and yet you know from day one of meeting him that you'll have only eighteen years with him.
  
  One day, about eighteen years after meeting him, falling in love with him, he'll go. Move on. Do whatever it is he was meant to do.
  
  And this is my job as a woman, as a mom, to love her, prepare her, and then, once she's ready, push her out of the nest and make her fly.
  
  As I mentioned, this wasn't a straightforward romance, so that aspect was almost secondary. There was enough of it, though, to sustain me as I move ahead on my quest, and what there was was mighty nice. Porter managed to convey a believable attraction and story arc even though it wasn't the main focus of the book. Extra kudos for fantastic friends, and a beautiful description of how hard it is as an adult to make friends you truly care about (plus a little bit of a payoff there as well).
  
  I hadn't realized this was part of a series, and I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the books, not to mention everything else Porter has written.
• 
  Melinda

  I received a copy from Goodreads.
  ____
  
  I would give this book 2.5 stars.
  
  Ok, let me say this, when I picked up this book, I thought it would be a quick, mindless and light read. Boy, was I wrong. Marta certainly showed that as a single working mom, she doesn't need to conform in order to have it all...after a lot of work and frustrations.
  
  I love how feisty and independent Marta Zinsser is. She is a single mother trying to raise her pre-teen daughter, juggle her home business, be a 'normal' mom and try to be there for her ageing parents. Now that is definitely a handful! However, with the pressure of Eva pushing Marta to 'fit' into the world of the West coast, it gets to be too much and often times I felt like Marta's fighting spirit was waning and losing her uniqueness. Honestly, I feel that apart from her revelation of what those 'Stepford Wives' have to do with their lives, she didn't do more to put those 'bullies' in their place. Ok, I'm not saying she has to stoop to their level of bitchiness but I would have loved to seen her give Taylor Young an in person talk down as oppose to talking over the phone and what not after a frustrating day. Marta's a busy working mom, I get that, but I felt that it would have been nice to ultimately see how Marta puts Taylor in her place in the end of the story. I felt like Marta was judging the other moms a little too much throughout the book, after all you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Also, I know she has a lot on her plate and new interests come into her life near the end, but it felt like she wasn't as feisty and eccentric as she was in the beginning of the story, which is kind of a let down since I rather enjoyed how she was in the beginning.
  
  Eva on the other hand.... I understand how the minds of children/teenagers work, after all I was one of them once. I feel that Eva has a lot of wisdom and fight in her for her age, however there are times when I want to shake her and make her wake up from the delusion that being super popular is everything and her temper tantrums get a bit much at times. I get that she is an emotional nine year old, but there are times throughout the story where she acts really bratty or she acts very wise... it gets to be a bit much, but hey kids are like that.
  
  The story does have a lot of interesting and valid points about popularity, conforming and being different. While the storyline didn't drag, I was getting sick and tired of hearing about the fund-raisers and duties that the PTA and volunteer moms had to do, which usually leads to some sort of awkward interaction between Marta and the other moms.
• 
  Laurel-Rain

  Single mom Marta Zinsser and her nine-year-old daughter Eva have moved from Manhattan to a Seattle suburb. Marta's new advertising agency is one she can run out of her backyard guesthouse, and she hopes that she'll be able to "have it all"—business, parenthood, and being a supportive daughter to her ailing mother who lives nearby.
  
  What Marta didn't count on in this new life is that daughter Eva wants to be popular, and she wants her mom to be "normal." In some ways, Eva has taken on the role of "mother" and tries to prod Marta into belonging. But Marta prefers to wear combat boots, ride her motorcycle, and live by her own rules.
  
  However, Marta finally agrees to sign up to volunteer for school room mother and other activities. But she has to confront, on a regular basis, what she considers the snotty attitude of the "perfect" moms whose role in life is to stay home and focus all of their energy on the parenting game.
  
  When Eva becomes increasingly critical of everything Marta does and blames her for her own problems, Marta is reminded of how she felt when her own "perfect" mother tried to turn her into a debutante. Squeezed between the two generations, Marta is conflicted and stressed.
  
  And then the unexpected happens—she meets a gorgeous hunk of a man named Luke who sweeps her off her feet. But can she give in and trust in what the two of them can build? Or should she run the other way? And should she reassess everything about the way she has perceived her world and her role in it?
  
  "Odd Mom Out" was compelling on so many levels. The characters were so richly developed that I felt I knew them. When Marta struggled, I felt her pain. When the snooty people played their games, I wanted to smack them. And in the gorgeous Seattle settings, I felt as though I, too, was riding the ferry or gazing at the Space Needle.
  
  I've been to Seattle several times and love it there; reading this book swept me back into that world and I was an armchair traveler enjoying the ride.
  
  Five stars was the highest number I could award, but I would give more if I could. I really loved this book.
  
• 
  Karen

  Marta Zinsser and her nine-year-old daughter Eva recently moved from New York to the wealthy Seattle suburb of Bellevue where Marta's independent, combat boot wearing, single mom lifestyle clashes with the perfectly groomed, catty Stepford wives, much to her daughter's chagrin.
  Marta is a non-conformist and has never felt the need to fit in, a trait I share with this protagonist. Her daughter, however, dreams of not only fitting in but being part of the elite popular crowd and desperately wants her mother to be "normal" like the mothers of said popular girls are. Problem is, head bitch popular girl not only doesn't accept Eva into her group of friends but she downright hates her and her bitch Queen Bee mother shows the sweet, nice face in front of Eva but behind her back she is snarky as hell regarding Eva and Marta. I cannot fathom how the mothers of young girls are so competitive and mean towards other nine-year-olds, but I'm not yet a mother and apparently this sort of bizarre behavior is not unheard of.
  Marta and Eva's relationship is well-written and touching. But I thought Eva was impossibly insufferable and Marta was quick to indulge her daughter's wishes. Marta goes out of her way to fit-in despite the fact that she can't stand the other moms, she volunteers at Eva's school and tries to make every school event even though her business suffers tremendously because of her time spent passing out cotton candy and serving drinks. Yes, you want your child to be happy. But you know what my parents said when I whined that the kids at school didn't like me? Too bad. Life isn't fair. There are always going to be people who don't like you. Maybe I'm old school, but I prefer my parents' style of parenting.
  Eva's demands for her mother to be "normal", dress "normal", get married, don't ride her motorcycle, be "normal" were a bit repetitive.
  Marta has sworn off men. Like literally she hasn't been with a man in 10 years. Enter Luke. Eva's hopeful. But Marta doesn't jump on the conformity train so quickly.
  
  
• 
  Jane Stewart

  Protagonist is frustrating. Story is a little too sad.
  
  The story is about Marta who is a nonconformist artsy person who loves riding her motorcycle. She makes a number of bad decisions and a number of errors in judgment. I did not like her or enjoy reading about her because she is insensitive to other people, inflexible and untrusting. She is invited to a mothers' meeting where everyone is nicely dressed, but Marta wears ratty looking flip flops and camouflage army pants. I felt she should have been more flexible and dressed appropriately. Then she insults the other moms by saying their fundraising activities should help charities other than the one they met to discuss. She walks out of a business meeting and loses the account as a result, because she leaves to pick up her daughter from school. She should have had back up arrangements for this kind of thing. On another occasion, Marta is urgently needed at the office but she leaves work to do something for her daughter at school, which causes problems for her employees and one of them quits as a result. Worst of all, she is a fool for overreacting when she learns Luke is owner of Freedom Bikes. She walks out of that business meeting, loses the account and breaks up with Luke, all due to erroneous assumptions on her part.
  
  As far as the story goes, this book was about a single mom who owns her own advertising agency. Her daughter wants more time from her. Her daughter wants her to dress and act more like other moms. Her agency work suffers because she chooses to spend more time on her daughter's needs. About midway through the book, she meets Luke and a romance develops but she ruins it as mentioned above. It's a frustrating and sad story, and my heart goes out to single working moms. I rated it low because I prefer to read happier stories, and I didn't like Marta.
  
  Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: one vaguely described. Setting: current day Seattle. Copyright: 2007. Genre: contemporary women's fiction with a little romance, but not a romance novel.
• 
  Jeanne

  I really just skimmed the whole book. I didn't like Marta. She was so concerned about being different she didn't care who she was hurting in the process and how it affected her daughter. Her daughter was the product of artificial insemination and I had the feeling having her was just a rebound reaction after a bad break up and she was determined to do everything on her own. I thought she was just plain selfish.
• 
  Sheila

  Jane Porter is advertized as the author of Flirting with Forty. I’ve not read it. But if she writes Flirting with Fifty I surely will.
  
  Odd Mom Out is such a fun read. Poor Marta simply doesn’t fit in and doesn’t want to either. But she desperately needs to fit in with the local moms soon for the sake of her child. What Marta doesn’t realize is that she needs to be needed too, and not just by a daughter that’s growing up too fast.
  
  Gradually Marta learns that those who fit in might not be quite as normal or happy as they look, and those who don’t won’t necessarily be as different as they seem either. Meanwhile her daughter reads How to be Popular and drives her mother spare. Oh, and there’s the handsome sexy motor-bike enthusiast who might be another not-fitting-in parent, if Marta could just get the chance to find out.
  
  And there’s the job. Yes, Marta’s a working mom, and a happily single Mom, and a super-Mom. She runs her own company and she runs her own life, except that there’s just too much juggling going on. I loved getting to know her, and her daughter, and Luke, though I wanted to scream sometimes—why couldn’t she see? It felt like screaming at a friend.
  
  My favorite scene? Well, there’s the one where the parents’ association are discussing raising funds for their kids’ school, and Marta wants them to share with the other side of town. But the mommy mafia is diverting the conversation to laser treatments… I think I wouldn’t fit in either.
  
  Sometimes there seemed to be just a few too many twists. But why should it be simple. Marta’s story is alternately hilarious and touching and sweet, and I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks again to Hachette Book Group and Nights and Weekends.
  
  
• 
  Lauren

  I read this book 8 years ago and still recall it as the worst book I've ever read. The premise is so promising, and such a complete and utter failure. The "odd mom out" continually describes herself as countercultural and artsy, but this manifests mainly in wardrobe choices (doc martens) and her "tiny tattoo on her lower back" (yes, I remember this moment to the word because it is insane -- every college girl has a tiny tattoo on her lower back. my tattoo is bigger and more visible than that). She chooses to live in a conventional and ritzy area and resents it every second, without trying to relate to anyone else. She says she hates men, but falls head over heels for a total Christian Gray rich corporate most eligible bachelor -- the exact kind of person she should loathe, but of course, she can't resist. She works in ADVERTISING, which has to be the least countercultural or progressive employment ever.
  
  Her life choices in no way reflect what she claims to be her inner motivations. All of her problems are entirely the consequence of her life choices. She is whiny and unlikeable; her beau cardboard cutout boring; and her narrative stupidly written. I'm sure Jane Porter has never actually met a countercultural person in her life. Basically anyone who might be attracted to the story because they might relate to it will end the story angry and annoyed.
• 
  Kristi

  I'm not sure if I've ever read a book where I indentified with the main character so thoroughly. I swear I felt as if Porter had written this character specifically for me. Well, with a few exception of course. I'm not novel gorgeous, I'm not dating the hunkiest richest man on the planet, I'm not an ad agency owner, etc.
  
  I completely identified with the Marta's thoughts, feelings on "Stepford Wife Syndrome", the desire to save your daughter from the angst of women, the need to just be yourself, etc.
  
  Of course if the main character hadn't been written exclusively for me (ha ha), I might not have marked the boy such a high rating. However, because I did I completely and utterly enjoyed the book. I started it in the night time, and couldn't go to sleep because I was so invested in Marta's life.
• 
  Ginger

  Ugh.
  
  This started out fine-ish, for a beach read. I knew going into it that it wasn't going to be anything mind-blowing, but I wanted fluffy and easy and thought this would fit the bill.
  
  Instead it just pissed me off.
  
  First of all, the constant talk of how Seattle was all about money and social climbing and looking perfect, etc. but New York wasn't blew my mind. Honestly, has the author never heard of New York socialites? I just could not get past the disparity there.
  
  THEN, it went into the dreaded SAHM vs WOHM bullshit. And that's when I got REALLY pissed. I really don't want to read about that crap in my beach reads when I'm trying to relax.
  
  Oy, there's more that irritated me, but it's not even worth talking about anymore.
• 
  Michelegg

  Another Porter book that I loved. This one was about a woman, Marla, who is a single mom, by choice and who has chosen to always be herself and not live by anyone else's rules. She lives in a neighorhood where being a SAHM is a huge job, and she doesn't want to "fit in" but her daughter does want her to. She tries to be a room mom, etc. and it's quite funny to watch her be who her daughter wants her to be.
  
  It taught me alot about the need to be accepted by others and fit in. I decided that I need to be happy with who I am, and know what I'm capable of, and quit trying to fit someone else's idea of who and what I should be. I like who I am, that's enough.
• 
  Mrs Mommy Booknerd http://mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.com

  I won this book via Good reads First Reads!
  
  What a fun book! I just jumped into this book and I could not put it down. Porter writes characters that resonate with me and a story that keep you both engaged and entertained! I am so glad I won this book because now I want to seek out more by Porter!
• 
  Susan

  It was a great book, loved it and I hope to read more books from the author.
  Its about a mom who is not the Beverly hills mom, she is her own woman who rides a Harley bike, wears boots and her daughter is trying to turn her into a popular mom to look and act like a Beverly Hills Mom, going and joining clubs and wearing pale shade dresses. It is funny and fast reading.
• 
  Ellenjsmellen

  Loved the strong character Marta and her daughter Eva.
• 
  Tracey

  I loved this book and learned that it's okay to do your own thing and be a strong, empowered woman.
• 
  Gretchen

  Not what I expected and I really enjoyed this book!
• 
  Michael

  The only reason I grabbed this was because I watched the TV show by the same name. This book, of course, bore absolutely no relation to the rather engaging show.
  Dreadful. It was a dreadful book. All the characters were dreadful; they barely did anything. Meeting a super-busy billionaire not once, but twice in a boring suburban grocery store is absurd. No one above a certain economic level goes to a grocery store. Then he appears pumping his own gas? And he has time to be in the Big/Little Brother program? With no mention of why a boy at a rich school is in this program?
  And where does he live that he was casually jogging in Marta’s neighborhood?
  Obviously you will correctly assume I about lost my mind when he appeared, as if by magic, on the side of some random road just when dumb illogical Marta is trying to adjust a carburetor with her goddamn fingernail!
  
• 
  Vidya Ramakrishna

  An okay read. The behaviour of Eva for a nine year old was way too much...the class volunteering and related activities like fund raisers etc were a bit too much of a drag. Luke and Marta's romantic story was predictably boring and dramatic.
  
  Still I liked this book for thoughts it provoked like the importance of being popular, being different, being true to oneself etc. Marta's character was too judgemental, but I connected with it instantly as that's what I am too deep down within me, though I try hard to be otherwise....!!!
  
• 
  Leslie

  Marta transfers from New York to Seattle to further her career and assist with her aging and ailing mother. Marta is a single mother who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Because she doesn't "fit in" with the rest of the mother's in her upscale neighborhood, Marta assumes these women are shallow people who are dependent on their husbands for everything. I found Marta to be annoyingly judgmental.
• 
  Kelly

  I thought this was going to be cute mommy-fiction fluff, with the bonus of being set in Seattle (home of my heart), but it was so difficult to believe the storyline that it only made me annoyed. The characters were completely one-dimensional, and it was actually a romance novel, which I unfortunately did not realize from the description on my library's website. As another reviewer mentioned, the best part was all of the very specific Seattle-area references.
• 
  Stephanie

  I picked this up at the Book Exchange. It was in the Fiction section. It turns out to be a modern romance. What's fascinating is that it's based in Bellevue, WA with lots of wealthy moms thrown in. The author used lots of places in bellevue & seattle. I did not expect a romance so i was disappointed.
• 
  Alexia Chantel

  A refreshing romance about a late-30's single mom who doesn't want to fit in with all the other typical moms. Another read that's not my norm, but Porter's writing was so addictive I couldn't stop reading and had to find out what happened between Marta and her daughter and between Marta and Luke!
  
  
• 
  Amy

  Not every book needs to be serious reading. This is a fun romance novel that has some substance but remains light reading. On the negative side I found the story was quite demeaning to stay at home moms.