Mom’s Night Out-Tricia Goyer

Mom’s Night Out Tricia Goyer B&H Books, Apr 22 2014, $15.99 ISBN: 9781433684821 Allyson tells her husband Sean that she is living her dream of being a stay at home mother to their small children, but though she cannot explain why she feels unhappy. He wisely says she never takes a timeout to pamper herself and suggests Allyson and her BFFs enjoy a Moms’ Night Out. Mother of twins, Izzy learns she’s pregnant; but instead of euphoria she is depressed. Izzy knows her husband Marco can’t cope with their two children so will take the news poorly of another rug rat. Izzy looks forward to a Moms’ Night Out. Pastor Ray’s wife Sondra hides her true feelings from her husband and his flock, and she thinks even herself. She believes her teenage daughter is the only who sees through her masquerade. Sondra looks forward to a Moms’ Night Out. The three amigas hit the town, but in spite of planning that the Pentagon would envy, nothing goes as expected starting with the wrong reservation date and Bridget’s baby Phoenix vanishing while inside a tattoo parlor. For the three stay at home amigos watching the kids during the Moms’ Night Out, nothing goes the way they thought it would. This novelization of the movie is an amusing yet at times profound look at family dynamics summed up by Allyson and Sean kissing passionately when one of the kids interrupt their interlude. Fans will enjoy this engaging lighthearted frolic; as Robert Burns wrote in To The Mouse: “the best laid plans of mice (moms) and men often go astray"; while in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: “If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” (life). Harriet Klausner