Sims is the author of Why Mummy Drinks which was the Sunday Times Fiction Bestseller of 2017, Why Mummy Swears published in 2018, and Why Mummy Doesn't Give A **** published in 2019. The style of writing is almost “stream of consciousness” which does lead to some very long-winded sentences and I got a bit lost sometimes.

If you fancy a light-hearted, entertaining and totally hilarious read to enjoy by the pool this summer while the moppets are splashing about, this is the book for you! She seemed a bit too ditzy to me – though maybe that’s how all of us mums are and we’re just too sleep deprived to realise it! With a house that needs constant upkeep and children who are making constant demands, Ellen decides she needs to go back to work to earn some much needed cash. You can follow the passage of time through the story way easier and it just feels a bit more personal when you think you’re reading someone else’s diary – a glimpse into their inner thoughts as written down by them.And yet the way it is told, with the little observations on daily family life and the conflicts between characters makes it so addictive.

Gill’s interests include drinking wine, wasting time on social media, trying and failing to capture her lost youth, and looking for one of the dogs when he decides to go on one of his regular jaunts, while trying to stop the other one eating unspeakable things. Featuring charming illustrations and creative prompts, as well as Mummy's hilarious reflections throughout the year, this journal is the perfect gift for Mums everywhere. The hilarious second novel, and Sunday Times No 1 Bestseller, from author of the smash hit Why Mummy Drinks. As she lurches from one crisis to another with the kids running wild, Daddy totally oblivious and the pressure mounting at work, Ellen somehow manages to find the time to keep a diary which she shares with us in this book. Hers was not an unusual labour – despite the mad dash to the hospital – and yet the comic timing, the description of what was going on and the dialogue managed to turn what is a horrendously grim experience into something truly comic.As soon as we got there I remembered why I don’t use the flipping National Trust membership – because National Trust properties are full of very precious and breakable items, and very precious and breakable items don’t really mix with children, especially not small boys. I brightly announced that perhaps it might be a lovely idea to go to a stately home and learn about some history. I knew I should have put a kirby grip in, like Lucy Worsley, and then he wouldn’t have any excuse to do things like that. Now after reading the sequel, Why Mummy Swears, to Gill Sims debut novel I can honestly say that I’m itching to go back to the start and read that first book. The eponymous “Mummy” (aka Ellen) has two fairly typical children, a husband who is constantly off travelling the world on business trips and a loyal dog who remains fairly sane whatever the world throws at him.

I also expected the manic and frenetic writing style to irritate me after a while, but, somewhat surprisingly this didn’t actually happen.

We are led to believe that once the dream wedding has happen and the kids have arrived, that that’s it.