One of the things I love about having a Kindle is the chance to experience new authors through the Kindle bookstore’s promotional freebies. Tales from the Crib by Jennifer Coburn was a book I grabbed because I liked the title. Once I started reading, however, I could not believe how funny the story was.
Sleep is one of my favorite things in the world, but I gladly gave up a good night’s rest so I could finish the book and see what happened to all of the characters.
Tales from the Crib is the story of Lucy Klein, a woman who has been trying to get pregnant for several years and suffered through multiple miscarriages. The story begins when Lucy’s husband Jack announces he wants a divorce on the day she plans to tell him she’s pregnant.
They then decide that they will live together as friends and raise the baby as co-parents. Lucy is too embarrassed to tell her family and friends about this arrangement at first, but confesses after Jack starts dating and his girlfriend’s presence begins to raise questions.
All of the characters in Tales from the Crib are surprising likeable, but my favorite character is Lucy’s mother. Anjoli means well, but she’s quite self absorbed and not really the nurturing type. She ends up having an affair with her grandson’s pediatrician and generally causing more problems than she solves. To get answers to her parenting questions, Lucy ends up turning to her new kooky friends from the local La Leche League.
Tales from the Crib is no longer available as a Kindle freebie, but it’s well worth the $2.99 list price.
Photo credit: Amazon.com
