As a guidance counselor at an elite, Bel Air high school, Lara Stone works with spoiled, bratty kids every day, and she is definitely not ready to have any spoiled, bratty kids of her own. At least, not now. Not when her life is going so well, and certainly not since she has finally managed to Tae-Bo and low-carb herself down to a perfect size four. Why would anyone want to go and ruin all of that by getting pregnant.

But Lara’s husband has different ideas, and when he presents her with a baby ultimatum, Lara is forced to enter the underbelly of pregnancy – a hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is world filled with inexplicable weight gain, uncontrollable retching, annoying strangers who touch without asking, hideous maternity clothes, super happy websites where every sentence ends with an exclamation point, and (gasp!) hemorrhoids. Unlike the glowing, happy, moms-to-be who exist in the movies, Lara is a cranky, sarcastic and reluctant participant in all things baby, who wonders if she’s even cut out for this motherhood thing in the first place. But when Lara is given the task of getting one of her students – the punk, outcast daughter of a famous movie producer who also happens to be the high school’s biggest donor – into her first choice college, Lara repeatedly finds herself in situations that require her to draw on maternal instincts that she’s not quite sure she has. Whether it’s cleaning up somebody else’s puke, helping a two year-old through a bout of constipation, or simply making a completely unselfish choice, Lara discovers that she just might be more ready for this motherhood thing than she thought.

“Debut fiction that’s a cut above the usual chick-lit fare, with a bright, edgy narrator and an up-to-date feel for the LA scene… A breezy, easy-reading account of expectant motherhood in the land of celebrity piques and perks.”

“Green conceives an uproariously tart account of one mommy-to-be’s nine-month emotional growth spurt.
Grade: A-”

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