I loved this book. I truly hated for it to end. The characters were all interesting and well written. I was really entertained with this book and would love to read more from this author. ( )

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/2011/07/baby-planner-by-josie-brown-book-revi...

Katie Johnson is 37 years old and is assistant testing director at Safe California, a consumer protection agency. When Safe California is eliminated due to state budget cuts, Katie is suddenly jobless, with no idea what she really wants to do. Her sister Grace is expecting a new baby, and when she asks Katie to help her plan her nursery (Katie has a degree in interior design), Katie ends up with a binder full of ideas. When she and Grace go to a store to pick out some products, a woman sees the binder she made, assumes she is a baby planner, and "hires" her on the spot.

As Katie works towards getting her new business, Making Mommies Smile, off the ground, she is contending with her own childlessness. Her husband of six years, venture capitalist Alex, is dead-set against their having a baby, which is something that Katie didn't fully realize when they married. He has his own 10-year-old son from a previous marriage who is now living in Holland with his ex-wife. Katie is determined to change his mind, and even resorts to some subterfuge to get her way.

She's also dealing with clients as diverse as a Congressman's wife who thinks nothing of calling at 6:30 in the morning to bounce ideas off of her, another who has a 13-year-old girl by a previous marriage and is determined that her new husband not know that the new baby will be a girl as well, one who is on bedrest due to previous miscarriages and is almost scared to plan for the new arrival, a soon-to-be single mother whose baby's father is married, and a widowed father whose company SkorTek is one of Alex's new ventures, as well as many others.

This is an enjoyable, quick read, with some unexpected (one VERY unexpected and rather shocking) turns, not all of them enjoyable. Katie is very likable, even though she DOES stoop to some lows in her quest for a baby. Her family is wonderful and supportive, but her husband is selfish, and as we find out, very manipulative and deceitful as well. Katie puts up with some things from both her husband and her clients that most of us would kick them in the shins for, and her adventures with her clients are sometimes sad, but often fun. The ending is perfect as well.

Definitely recommended as a fun, entertaining summer/beach-time read.

QUOTES

Prior to Ariel's death, she was inordinately shy.
Since then, she's been practically comotose.
Whenever I came, I brought sandwiches and coffee. A few times I'd brought a sack of groceries so that she'd have milk and bread in the house.
With Ariel gone, she'd quit going to the store.
I know why. Because there is no one to buy groceries for, to care for.
A mother who has lost her child loses herself, too.

"Who do you believe, Willemina or me?"
Does it matter? No, of course not. Because I love him, even if I don't believe him.
Besides, once I'm pregnant, there'll be nothing he can do about it.

". . . But some of the moms can be pretty picky as to whom their kids play with."
The way Fanny says that makes me wonder if she suspects that they were put off by her. Even in San Francisco, you don't see a lot of Barbra Streisand impersonators in the parks.
Well, at least not ones who are au pairs.

Writing: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot: 4 out of 5 stars
Characters: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 3.5 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Sensitive reader: There are some not-extremely-graphic, but not-extremely-vague-either sexual scenes ( )

I absolutely loved this book! I've been ill lately so spending a lot of time laying around and this book was the perfect pick-me-up to keep my mind off everything else and just lose myself into.

I found it fascinating how the baby planning business unfolded and just flourished. I would never have thought that such a market existed, but with everybody so busy, I suppose anything is possible. I wonder if there really are baby planners out there?

Of course this novel has the obligatory plot twist. We see some foreshadowing of it earlier in the book, but I didn't think I knew what was coming until it actually happened and reflected on earlier events. So Ms. Brown put in just the right amount of hints to put the idea into the back of your head of what may happen.

Again, I loved The Baby Planner. If I have one complaint, it is that it didn't last long enough! And it just makes me want more Josie Brown books. So, please, write quickly! We're waiting! ( )

The Baby Planner is a wonderful novel for anyone who enjoys a great pregnancy story, or several. Taking the concept of a wedding planning and twisting it for prenatal crowd works well and leads to funny and emotional scenes.

Katie is a wonderfully full character. Longing for a baby, but married to man who refuses to impregnate her, Katie fills the void by helping other women get ready for their own children. Having no real life experience, beyond being an involved aunt, she starts her business and quickly finds a niche market that never knew it was waiting for her. Through Katie's work, readers will experience multiple pregnancy situations - all of which lead to surprising ends.

Katie's marriage was something else entirely. She loves her husband, but he refuses to have a child with her. Their relationship and Katie's various pleas and tactics to get what she desires most left me wondering not about her sanity, but about my own. Katie's actions drove me crazy. I was never on the same page as her. I wanted her to "accidentally" get pregnant. She respects her husband and believes she can rationally convince him. I want her to run away from him as fast as she can. She then decides it's a good time to have a condom malfunction. You can tell early on how the story is going to play out, but there are some great twists along the way.

The Baby Planner is unique and thought-provoking at times. Laughter and tears come easily and often. You may not always agree with Katie's decisions, but you'll care about her from the very first pages.The Baby Planner is the perfect next step for chick lit fans leaving singledom and entering babyville. ( )

Adding a baby to a family is a huge decision composed of big decisions and small ones too. Some people enjoy the small stuff: decorating the nursery, having a baby shower, deciding which baby products are necessary and safe, etc. But some people are overwhelmed by the decisions or want guidance and that's where someone like the fictional Katie Johnson in Josie Brown's novel The Baby Planner comes in.

When Katie's department is slashed during state budget cuts, she loses her job as an advocate for consumer public saftey so she turns her attention to helping one of her sisters prepare for her second baby. What Katie would really like though, is to get pregnant herself. Unfortunately her husband Alex, who hasn't seen his son by his first wife in years, is unwilling to have a baby. While shopping with her sister, another woman looks at the material Katie's pulled together, wanting the same help for herself and voila, Katie's new job as a baby planner is born.

As Katie develops her business and starts spending all her time around pregnant women and one widowed, single dad, her desire for a baby grows impossibly stronger. And her husband continues to sidestep any discussion of starting their own family. Several of Katie's clients become friends and she ably shepherds them through great joy and great grief while sharing only bits and pieces of her own increasingly conflicted personal life with them.

Katie as a character is enthusiastic, optimistic, and charming. When she addresses the reader directly, what could have felt like a break in the narration feels more like a response in a cozy, chatty conversation. She is completely endearing although she is amazingly blind to a situation that is immediately clear to the reader. She does react strangely, and a tad out of character, to one bit of unexpected news given her previous reliance on family. The other characters are more of an ensemble supporting cast and most recognizable through their quirks and foibles, the high powered lawyer only having a baby because her husband wants one, the Senator's wife who needs to pander to his constituents' views, the sad mom-to-be who doesn't want to lose another baby to miscarriage and won't believe in this baby until she has him in her arms, and the single mom whose other half is Mr. Wrong. But all of these women, and indeed the other characters, are immediately recognizable and different, allowing Katie's character, through her interactions with them, to show fully.

The plot here is uncomplicated and straightforward despite the numerous characters. It doesn't cover new ground and occasionally wanders into terribly predictable territory but the unusual career of baby planning and Katie's friendly character help to alleviate this a bit although I have to admit I was disappointed with two of the most predictable instances. The novel comes across as a very beachy, fluffy read but still tackles some pretty weighty topics: secrets, love, what defines a family, marriage and the decisions made between husbands and wives, genetics and all the things that medicine still doesn't know or understand being just a few. Book clubs wanting a have an accessible but still discussable book during the lazy summer months would find this a good option. ( )