Make new friends but keep the old, some are silver and the other is gold

Women Are Scary (book review)

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical of this book. I am not a fan of fluffy reads nor books that are overtly girly. It’s like the girly gab oozes through sometimes and I can’t handle the silly remarks. But, I was wrong. Melanie Dale is hysterical. I am a huge fan of clean, stand-up comedy and I was literally laughing aloud in my backyard while I read her book. While I sat with the kids outside, I chuckled through the first few chapters before I had to shake the sand out of the baby’s clothes and do tick checks. Melanie also found a way to win out past mom-to-three-exhaustion at night and I kept picking up her semi-scary covered book. 

Woven in between her super funny stories, Melanie (I pretend she and I are on first name basis because she replied to my facebook comment about what “base” moms are on when they take over the kids’ trampoline) gets real with the fears and frustrations moms of all walks of life face when wanting friends. 

Being a part time working/stay at home/homeschooling mom, I get the fears and frustrations. I have felt what it’s like wanting a friend to talk to so badly that I have been willing to strike up a conversation with the grandpa taking the grands to the library playground. When we moved to a new area, I felt like I was on prowl to meet someone, anyone that could point me in the direction of Target, share a babysitters name, and point out which crazy people to avoid. 

The big illustration Melanie uses to explain friendships is the baseball diamond, which was nice because I am not super literate in the world of sports. I get first, second, third and fourth bases. Easy enough. She gives funny tips and tricks of what to do and not to do on each base of the friendship, how to bale if necessary and even touches on moving away from a smashingly wonderful group of friends- which I found so familiar. I miss my friends in dear, sweet Farmville!

I know the mark of a truly good book for me- when I begin telling a friend about it before I even finish it. One of my closest friends here in CT has graciously listened to me rattle off, amidst chuckles and snorts, detailed reviews of the chapters I read the previous night. Then we identified who was who. 

I’d include Women Are Scary in a cute gift basket for a new mom, use as a summer reading group or those that just need a tune up on how to find friends in a society where making true friends is next to impossible. Also, I know there are loads of women that aren't moms and are desperate to develop deep friendships; if you can get past all the mom chatter, this is a good resource of how to find and grow those gems. 

So, I want to share my copy with someone! You can enter into my give-away by telling me your best mom-date location. Do you always huddle in a coffee shop, hit the sale racks, indulge in huge amounts of ice cream, run away to a ski lodge, hide in a friend’s extra bedroom until the season changes, walk the neighborhood or run half marathons? You can enter a second time by sharing this post on your facebook feed, just leave me a second comment telling me you did that and I’ll put your name in the hat twice. Contest will end in two weeks from today: June 14. 

**And the winner is Bekah! I'll connect with you and send your book right away! 

*I was given a free copy of this book to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.