Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter

In Odd Mom Out, Marta Zinsser, an advertising executive, has recently moved to the Seattle area with her 10-year-old daughter, Eva. Marta soon finds out that she's not quite like the other mothers in the area. Much to the dismay of her daughter, who just wants to fit in, Marta likes to wear her combat boots rather than expensive heels like the other mothers. Marta is also rather fond of her Harley motorcycle while her new peers drive high-end luxury cars. In addition to being the "odd Mom out", Marta is so busy with her daughter and her career, she really hasn't had time for much of a social life. Eva is determined to change all of that and does everything a 10-year-old can do to push her mother out of her comfort zone and into their new surroundings.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was light, funny and an overall good read. Sure, parts of it were a bit unrealistic, but from my experience that's typical of the chick-lit genre. Porter created a nice balance in the story with some parts of it being a little predictable, while other parts were a nice surprise and turned out differently than I would have expected.

I admired Marta for wanting to be herself rather than changing to suit other people. However, I couldn't figure out if she was really happy and comfortable the way she was or just dressed down to dissuade attention from the opposite sex fearing hurt feelings again. One thing I didn't understand was her reaction when she first found out about Luke's career and social standing. She didn't like him because he was more successful than she was??? As for other characters, I really liked Eva. She could have come across as a meddling brat, but didn't. She had good intentions. As for Luke, Marta's love interest, I liked him, but I just couldn't quite figure him out. Some of his actions were odd.

As I mentioned above, I thought parts of it were unrealistic: Luke, didn't tell Marta anything about his business dealings even though she had contact with some of his colleagues; the love at first sight scenario where Marta just catches a glimpse of Luke while she's running and she's ready to give up her self-imposed celibacy (it's not like she's not 16); the school system where it seemed that parents did more work than the teacher. This last bit seemed way over the top and I wondered if the author was using satire or giving a social commentary on the ridiculousness of certain aspects of the school system.

Recommended if you're in the mood for a fluffy read. I think I have at least one more book of Porter's on my bookshelf and I'm looking forward to reading it.

For more information about this book, please visit the Hachette Book Group website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Jane Porter's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Hachette Book Group for this review copy.

Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter, 5 Spot (Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group), ©2007. ISBN 9780446699235(Trade Paperback), 408p.