The Accidental Mother

It is nearly 2 am and i have finally finished this book. The begining was a little slow and i thought maybe it wasnt for me, but before i knew it the book picked up and i couldnt put it down. I found myself struggling to find the time to read another page. It is full of heartbreak and sadness but mixed with wonderful life lessons and hope. Truly one of the best books i have ever picked up. I recomend it 100%!

Delightful story! I have to say that the beginning reminded me a lot of the movie Raising Helen - single woman, who is very career driven, suddenly finds herself in charge of children, when she seemingly has no experience with anyone below the age of 25. Through the final wishes of someone close, they become the guardian. This is where the similarity ends however. In The Accidental Mother, Sophie finds herself suddenly in charge of her childhood best friend's two daughters, Bella age six and Izzy age three. Sophie had once promised her friend, Carrie, that if anything would happen to her, she would take care of her children. When the unthinkable happens and Carrie is killed in a car accident, Sophie finds that she is the legal guardian of her godchildren. However, this does not fit into Sophie's vision for her future - she is working hard as a corporate manager on the track to a promotion. What is she going to do with two young traumatized little girls? Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Sophie begins the search to find the girls' long lost father who, after leaving behind his wife and children, is nowhere to be found. After Sophie hires a Private Detective, Louis, the girls' father, is soon located. By this time, Sophie has become closer to the girls and has second thoughts about their father coming into the picture. This is where the story takes a twist and gets very interesting... While reading, I was reminded a bit of Sophie Kinsella's work. Very enjoyable and very fun. I love to get into the British voice through a delightful story such as this. The Accidental Mother touches the reader with both humor and heartwarming sincerity. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a relaxing and enjoyable read! This is a story that proves that life does not always go as planned - but the detour takes you to a much better place, in the end.

Sophie Mills has the "perfect" life---she's a successful event planner on the fast track for promotion, she's got a great flat, and her shoe collection is to die for. Everything is going along just fine until she receives word of the death of her best friend, Carrie, along with custody of Carrie's two young daughters, Bella and Izzy. Unprepared as she is, Sophie gamely agrees to watch the girls until their father can be located to return for them. What happens next is not only a comedy of errors, but a tender change of heart for all concerned as Sophie realizes that maybe her life isn't quite what she'd hoped for after all. This little gem of a book is British chick-lit at its best; funny, irreverent, life-affirming, romantic. Sophie's upheaval is told believably and I particularly was glad that there was none of the "love at first sight" plotline. I loved how Sophie came to care for the girls and their father, and how she stopped putting herself first (though I found it reassuring that the author chose to periodically remind us that Sophie did, indeed, think of her own needs first, at least for a time). I would like to have seen how things worked out with the family, and whether or not Sophie was able to settle into the life she'd chosen. Overall, this is a good read and easy to get into. Nice brain candy and a heart-warming tale, complete with adorable children and a love interest; really, who could ask for more?

I'm not a fan of Oprah-esque finding your true self kind of books so this one took me off guard when I actually enjoyed it. Sophie is a 20 something year old woman with the job and apartment of her dream, when she finds that her once best friend Carrie has died and her pact to care for Carrie's two young daughters is now a reality. This just isn't part of Sophie's well ordered life so the first thing to do is find the father of these two lovable terrors. In walks the quite handsome Louis who Carrie once described as "making her pants fizzy" and the unequipped sudden mother now must put this family back together, but which pieces go where and which pieces need to be chucked. This funny heartbreaking book makes you laugh and cry and in the end you are cheering on an ending that in a way I didn't see coming. I would have chucked the wrong pieces. I highly recommend this book to those that love a fairy tale. Favorite Quote: It's not wrong for your dreams to change, it's just wrong if you don't pursue them with every ounce of energy and determination that's got you this far.

I first bought this book thinking it would be an easy read on my lunch hour at work. I expected it to be like every movie I've seen where a single career woman suddenly finds herself mother to a those strange creatures called children. I was wrong. This book was both touching and humerous. I would be laughing on one page and crying two pages later. The best word I can think of is touching. Yes, the typical mistakes are made by a woman who has absolutely no idea how to realte to or treat a 6 and 3 year old. This book covers more than that. It covers the loss of a parent and how to explain that to a young child when not even the adult fully understands. The romance in the book is secondary. The best part is the changes made by Sophie, Bella, and Izzy, and how they learned to love and trust one another. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely! I already have.