Book Review: Because I Said So: Life in The Mom Zone ( + #Giveaway)

Hi guys, I have a cool review/giveaway for you today. It is for the book called, "Because I Said So! Life in The Mom Zone, by Annie Oeth.

“But whyyyy?” 
“Because I said so.” 
It’s the answer that rolls off the tongues of mamas from all over. In Because I Said So: Life In The Mom Zone, veteran mama Annie Oeth tells of the worries, laughter and sheer terror of being a mother. 
Trips to the emergency room, college graduations and the dangerous combination of teenagers and fireworks are all fair game in this romp through southern motherhood. Spilling the (jelly)beans on Easter egg hunts, Santa Claus and frogs in mailboxes, Annie Oeth writes of life, love and raising children while hanging on to her sense of humor. 
From stories of laughter to tales of tears shed, she remembers her own growing-up years in small-town Mississippi, her parents’ 44-year romance and her own children’s travels on their way to adulthood, crafting stories that will touch hearts and funny bones. 
Anyone who’s ever rocked a baby, worried over a teenager or seen family game night degenerate into a knock-down, drag-out can relate to these life lessons, straight from The Mom Zone. 
Mamas are tender-hearted, but don’t mistake their kindness for an absence of backbone. In these stories, the love, strength, humor and super powers of mothers are hailed for the wonders that they are. Whether you’re a mama to sons who have an affection for reptiles and bottle rockets or a daughter who thinks you’re wrong just when you’ve figured out your own mother was right, you’ll love yourself, your kids and your life more after this read. 
“Why?” 
“Because I Said So.” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
A small-town Mississippi girl grows up, snatches a magnolia during her college graduation, and sets out to be a writer, newspaper editor and mama. Annie Oeth has done all three—and lived to tell the tale. 
A native of West Point, Mississippi, Oeth began writing from her front porch swing when she wasn’t climbing trees and drawing. She is a graduate of Mississippi University for Women, embarking on a journalism career and motherhood soon after. 
In 1996, she moved from Mississippi’s smallest daily newspaper, The Daily Times Leader in West Point, to the state’s largest, The Clarion-Ledger, in Jackson. Starting as an assistant metro editor, Oeth moved to editing a family of nondaily publications before returning to the daily product as features editor in 2012. She’s been writing about family and fun for The Clarion-Ledger and in The Mom Zone blog ever since. 


My Review:
I was sent the an e copy of this book recently. And I started reading it as soon as I could. I read this pretty quickly - which although I like to read - lately anyway it is taking me forever to read something. But I really enjoyed this book so was able to finish it in like a week. 

This book got me right away in the first chapter. "The Truth About Santa Claus." - quote: "Nothing strikes fear in a mama's heart like the idea that her babies might not believe in Santa Claus anymore." 

This is a funny chapter - The author describes her ideas of Santa when she was a little girl along with a her kids when they were growing up. And talks about a funny time when one of her son's realized it was a fake Santa on a school field trip and decides to exclaim it to the whole class. Too Funny!

Another chapter that is quite humorous is, "Kids In Church." Here is a short excerpt:


Of course, we all grew up, and many of us kept the habit of going to church. We had even learned to behave by the time we had children of our own. And this is when I learned the lesson my parents and all my friends‘ parents knew: Never commence to punishing your child during the sermon. The oldest boy was somewhere between two and three at the time and was bored out of his little mind. To occupy his time, he picked up the Methodist hymnal and began flipping all gazillion pages from hard front cover to hard back cover. “Stop, baby,’’ I hissed. Whap. It was like the tide, steady and relentless, and also pretty darned loud. I started getting disapproving looks from my fellow congregants. Whap. Whap. In desperation, I folded my arms and gave him a pinch, surreptitiously, to get his attention. Instead, he got mine. Along with the preacher’s and everyone else in the congregation that day. “Mama!’’ he said in a nice, clear, outside voice. “Quit pinching me!’’ The preacher had to pause to get his composure back, shaking while he stifled a laugh, and the choir twittered with muffled laughter until the altar call. The rest of the week, folks around town would tell me to stop pinching my little boy and laugh. That was the last time he got pinched by me, in church or elsewhere, by the way. The oldest boy was lucky he was a child of his generation. In the church parking lots of my day, that would have gotten him a walloping of Biblical proportions.


I really enjoyed this book - It mingles the Author's own childhood - growing up in a small town in Mississippi along with anecdotes from her own kids. I found myself relating to many of the stories in this book. It is funny along with sentimental too. I really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about Mom, kids and just life in general.


Buy it: You can purchase Because I Said So!: Life in The Mom Zone at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Win it: One lucky reader will win an Kindle (e copy) version of this book! Please enter below:

Connect with Annie on Facebook or Twitter.

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Disclosure:

I received this free to review and giveaway, no other compensation was given and my opinions are my own.