The school gates, Nicola May

Link to book (Amazon)

Product Description

At 3.10pm every weekday, parents gather at Featherstone Primary in Denbury to collect their children.

For a special few, the friendships forged at the school gates will see them through lives filled with drama, secrets and sorrows. When Yummy Mummy Alana reveals the identity of her love-child's father, she doesn't expect the consequences to be quite so extreme. Ex Czech au-pair Earth Mummy Dana finds happiness in her secret sideline, but really all she longs for is another child. Slummy Mummy Mo's wife-beating husband leads her down a path she never thought possible, and Supper Mummy Joan has to cope when life deals her a devastating blow.

And what of Gay Daddy Gordon? Will he be able to juggle parenthood and cope with his broken heart at the same time?

Four very different mothers. One adorable dad. And the intertwining trials and tribulations that a year at the primary school gates brings

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. I really liked all characters, and they were all very different. Everyone had there own problems and was nice to see different friendships develop. Didn't take me long to finish I was really into the story.
The big problem was keeping up, sometimes I couldn't remember who was who, as the story just changed from one family to the next without any notice, wish it was made more clear. As I would read a good chunk of the book thinking it was one person and turns out not to be that person at all. I was more confident who I was reading about around half way through the book, but it shouldn't take this long, it took a lot of the enjoyment out of the book. Its not like you can go back to double check as it will just change from one paragraph to the next.
I think I would enjoy this book if I read it again, being more familiar with the characters. But while I liked the book I wont be reading again.
Its such a shame as the story is great, just a huge let down the way it was put together.

3/5