Take @QueenofCussin to the Beach With You

Moms and dads, I have the perfect summer beach book for you. Moms Who Drink and Swear by Nicole Knepper is, quite simply, the whole package. You will laugh, cry, and think in 309 short pages that you will find difficult to put down.

Now, as the titled suggests, this book is not for everyone. You need a sense of humor. You need to tolerate some, er, colorful language. Hell, Nikki uses every swear word you've ever heard and even invents some of her own. She has vulger nicknames for her lady parts and the children who came out of them. She is an equal opportunity offender. The potty mouth in me found it mostly hilarious when I wasn't cringing in amused disgust. And let me take this opportunity to warn you now about the entire chapter devoted to dog poop. Yes, there will be times when you won't believe what you're reading. There will be times when you'll be horrified that you're laughing. And there will certainly be times where you're laughing so loudly and so publicly you have to hand the book to your spouse and say, "Read this part."


In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with the author. While we have never met, we are blogging buddies. She calls us "kindred spirits," which I consider high praise. And wouldn't you know it, she made two references in the first five pages of the introduction to which I immediately related.  When she introduced me and my blog to her massive readership one random day out of the blue, before we had even "met," she compared me to her dad. That is more than a compliment. That's deification in my yet-to-be-written book. So, I'm a fan. I just thought you should know.

This book isn't all farts, boogers, and f-bombs. The chapter about her dad is touching, honest, sweet, and emotional. I cried from start to finish and couldn't even stop to wipe my eyes it was so good. If I had one complaint, it is that I was waiting for her to say something nice, or flattering, about her husband. As an adoring husband and involved dad, I wanted more than the typical sex-crazed, aloof husband character that the target audience typically expects or demands. And just when I had resigned myself to assuming she wouldn't be saying anything nice about her husband, she did. There it is on page 176. Because like most moms who drink and swear, Nikki is all love.

What I love about her writing, and this comes across in her book so well, is that she is REAL. She loves her kids. She loves her parents. She loves her husband. But she doesn't sugarcoat anything. This isn't a fairy tale. Parenting is tough. And she takes us through it and makes us laugh, cry and think along the way. You will enjoy this book immensely if you have a smidgen of a sense of humor and can handle the language. It will be the talk of your beach house this summer. I am so happy for my friend and can't believe I am writing a review for her book. Run. Buy Moms Who Drink and Swear. Read it and enjoy. Laugh and cry. Then laugh till you cry.

I owe most of my blog's audience to Nikki, after she shared THIS POST from with her massive Facebook audience. Thank you, Nikki. You are my Bloogy Wan Kenobi. *This review first appeared on Barista Kids last week.