Review: Quick soap-opera type read that tested my patience!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
REVIEWED BY SUNNYI will do a lot for my two boys in order for them to find happiness and success. This is of utmost importance to the families portrayed in THE ONESIES, BOOK 1: FALL as well. However, it became clear very quickly that they won't do just a lot, they will do ANYTHING to become members in an exclusive club. I love a good competition, and competitive it is! There were 103 applicants to fill 10 spots. Six of the spots were automatically given to mothers/one year olds that have older kids/siblings in the club. After doing some quick mental math, that only leaves 4 spots for the remaining 97 (a 4% chance of making it). A good portion of the remaining 97 were easily eliminated, yet they still had too many qualified candidates. This is where the competition really heats up! The remaining six moms and their children are pitted against each other, having to plan and host elaborate events while getting scored on every action. It leads to interesting results!Brown writes with a sense of humor, so there were many laugh-out-loud moments in this book where I could envision the mishaps of the children and adults alike. And it was really cool that even though the stakes were so high, these women could see beyond the competition and form friendships. I also appreciated that the issues so many of us deal with in "real" life are issues that the moms deal with in this book. Brown writes them in a practical way that shows the pain these issues can cause. These were the endearing moments of THE ONESIES, BOOK 1: FALL.Where it faltered a bit for me was when I found myself disliking many of the characters for one reason or another. Each family is competing for a spot in this playgroup to provide what they think may lead to a better life for their children. However, it seems like this club leads to quite the opposite: a bunch of stress for everyone involved! Everyone has secrets that would disqualify them from the playgroup. Some just don't know how to behave themselves! Quite honestly, it felt like a soap opera, where only people in a certain class and neighborhood need apply. The elitist attitudes of many of the characters made it difficult for me to relate to any of them throughout the book, and the activities they participated in were nothing like my playdate experiences with other moms/children. I had hoped for a stronger personal connection to the story than I experienced which was disappointing.I also didn't realize when I started the Totlandia series that it was being published as a serial book (duh, it is right in the official summary). The quarterly releases of "episodes" give readers something to look forward to, but I don't know that I am completely sold on having to wait for all of the other installments, twenty in all, over the next five years. Since it was such a quick read, I would have been happy to get more in this "episode." I am not as big of a fan of serial books as I am of book series. At this point, my patience is being tested. Have I mentioned I am not all that patient when it comes to reading? {BLUSHING}.When I looked past the characters acting like spoiled brats (most of which were the supporting characters) and focused on what I liked about the characters, I enjoyed this book and it held my interest. I even liked it enough to want to read the next book to see what happens, especially since at a critical point (like the end of a TV season, or on a Friday of a soap opera) THE ONESIES, BOOK 1: FALL was done and one of the six was no longer a candidate for the playgroup.BOTTOM LINETHE ONESIES, BOOK 1: FALL is a quick, easy read. I was put off at times by the elitist characters and the fact that I couldn't relate to the experiences portrayed, but enjoyed it nonetheless. If you are fan of soap operas with characters that "misbehave" yet create bonds with their fellow characters, this is worth a try. However, if you don't like waiting for future books to be released, you may want to wait before starting this serial book until more "episodes" come out.RATING: C+ (3 stars)Note: I received a review copy of this title courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.