cover image DIARY OF A MAD MOM-TO-BE

DIARY OF A MAD MOM-TO-BE

Laura Wolf, . . Delta, $10.95 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-385-33677-2

Readers of Wolf's debut novel, Diary of a Mad Bride, were introduced to her garrulous, uninhibited and beguiling heroine, Amy Thomas, self-styled control freak and list-making queen. Now known as Amy Thomas-Stewart, she embarks on an unlikely—for her—adventure. Motherhood had been pretty much the last item on this ambitious Manhattanite's to-do list, but when her beloved great-aunt Lucy dies, Amy does an about-face and even manages to get husband Stephen on board (since "an egg without a sperm is nothing more than an omelet waiting to happen"). The novel's diary format consists largely of recapped dialogue with Stephen, sister Nicole and best friends Mandy (a spoiled and defiantly childless princess) and Anita (a hipster who wants to be a single mom using "sperm for hire"). Amy spares no detail as she recounts puking on her designer shoes or having an embarrassing siege of flatulence. She discovers that morning sickness can last all day and finds herself in the capable hands of an aging, mild-mannered and completely inaudible obstetrician—the Crotch Whisperer. Amy copes with all this while trying to maintain her new career as a publicist at a third-rate firm that represents demi-celebrities like the Reese twins ("They're not singers, or actors, or dancers. They're not even models. They're just two incredibly cute twentysomething girls, with four incredibly fake boobs"). The treacly ending is below par, but this chatty, often amusing confection may entertain women's fiction fans—especially those who find themselves in a family way. (May)