Gifted by the publisher

An emotional, raw, and intimate portrayal of the pains (90% of the book) and joys (10%) of motherhood. I think for moms in a hetero relationship will especially resonate with this story.

It’s one thing to know how busy moms are, and another thing to read SOLDIER SAILOR when one gets to see in detail all that moms go through (and obviously a whole other thing to be a mom and experience parenthood).

What stood out to me is that despite the mostly extremely enraging events (unhelpful dads, moms not being appreciated as a 24/7 job), Kilroy also writes about the small moments of joy of motherhood—making it all seem worth it.

My note is that I don’t think Kilroy is adding anything new to the motherhood literary space (nothing wrong with this!), but from how much rave I’ve seen, I was expecting something different than the conventional mom narratives. I’m a bit surprised this made it to the women’s fiction shortlist because of how “safe” this book is