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aleksandra_jot's review against another edition
1.0
Pomysł dobry, wykonanie not so much. Not at all.
squirrelsonbookshelves's review
5.0
Painful, beautiful, and all the emotions experienced reading this.
Our pasts can really mess us up!
A great thriller with so much more depth than I expected.
Our pasts can really mess us up!
A great thriller with so much more depth than I expected.
kellyvandamme's review
5.0
I read Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker through the Pigeonhole app, which, frankly, was both a joy and a curse. It’s always nice to read a book with a bunch of other readers, especially when you’re all loving it, and reading in staves means you have something to look forward to every day. However, if I’d had the whole book at my disposal I’m sure I would have binged the crap out of it! It was so addictive!
Kim, heavily pregnant and out with her kids, gets distracted for a second and “Mummy” sees and decides to act, snatching little five-year-old Tonya from the shop, because surely she would make a much better mum. While Kim’s world collapses around her, Mummy finally has her heart’s desire, or has she?
Kim is “from the wrong side of the tracks”. In her desperation to find Tonya she doesn’t show herself as the fragile weepy mum the public can get behind and root for. She shouts, she curses, she wears the wrong clothes for interviews, and people don’t look beyond appearances, people forget she’s just a young woman who’s had the most enormous shock and is yearning for her little girl. People start calling her “scummy mummy” and she is scorned and mocked and it broke my heart.
Mummy is a fascinating character. She’s mysterious and clearly a few cans short of a six-pack to be honest, and the early glimpses the reader gets of her backstory just create more questions instead of answering them. She’s looking to turn Tonya into the perfect daughter she has always wanted, but Tonya is a feisty one and she doesn’t want to call a strange woman mummy so she won’t.
Call Me Mummy is compelling and tense and shocking and absolutely gut-wrenching. I hung onto Tina’s every word. She has a clear no-nonsense way of writing, yet in parts so stunningly beautiful I found myself rereading certain passages again and again. Another cracking debut, one that made me cry but also laugh, and really, what more can you hope for in a book?
Kim, heavily pregnant and out with her kids, gets distracted for a second and “Mummy” sees and decides to act, snatching little five-year-old Tonya from the shop, because surely she would make a much better mum. While Kim’s world collapses around her, Mummy finally has her heart’s desire, or has she?
Kim is “from the wrong side of the tracks”. In her desperation to find Tonya she doesn’t show herself as the fragile weepy mum the public can get behind and root for. She shouts, she curses, she wears the wrong clothes for interviews, and people don’t look beyond appearances, people forget she’s just a young woman who’s had the most enormous shock and is yearning for her little girl. People start calling her “scummy mummy” and she is scorned and mocked and it broke my heart.
Mummy is a fascinating character. She’s mysterious and clearly a few cans short of a six-pack to be honest, and the early glimpses the reader gets of her backstory just create more questions instead of answering them. She’s looking to turn Tonya into the perfect daughter she has always wanted, but Tonya is a feisty one and she doesn’t want to call a strange woman mummy so she won’t.
Call Me Mummy is compelling and tense and shocking and absolutely gut-wrenching. I hung onto Tina’s every word. She has a clear no-nonsense way of writing, yet in parts so stunningly beautiful I found myself rereading certain passages again and again. Another cracking debut, one that made me cry but also laugh, and really, what more can you hope for in a book?
zarco_j's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely impossible to put down. I devoured this.
Gripping, beautifully written and very uncomfortable, this was exactly what I needed to read.
Tina Baker's debut novel is powerful and thought-provoking.
I loved everything about this book, especially the unlikeable protagonists.
Can't wait to read any future works by this author.
Gripping, beautifully written and very uncomfortable, this was exactly what I needed to read.
Tina Baker's debut novel is powerful and thought-provoking.
I loved everything about this book, especially the unlikeable protagonists.
Can't wait to read any future works by this author.
kazza27's review
5.0
Wow what a opening chapter! A child Tonya is taken whilst out shopping with her mum Kim. Mummy takes Tonya home and begins her project of turning her into the perfect child that she has always wanted.
However, Tonya does not want to be the perfect child that Mummy wants, she is strongwilled and even at just 5 years old she knows that this situation is all wrong. Mummy, although likes to put on the perfect veneer her life has been far from it. A troubled upbringing then an abusive marriage she has had a tough time and she thinks a child will make everything better.
Kim is vilified by the press almost immediately the comments that are posted on social media calling her a scummy mummy and worse almost makes it seem like she deserved to lose her daughter, which of course she didn’t. She is also a victim of circumstance and has had a really difficult life and she refuses to play the role that the police and Steve her partner want her too. Of course this just makes matters worse when she goes on TV.
Kim was desperate for a child and she loves Tonya and is beside herself with worry. She is also heavily pregnant and not looking after herself. When the baby arrives she can not cope and we uncover more about her past, her addictions and she is obviously suffering but she cannot ask for help.
Mummy is also not having the happy time she thought she would, lack of sleep. Tonya is distressed and scared but convinces herself that it will all be resolved and they will live happily ever after and continues the brutal regime to tame her.
This is a really gripping story, and it gave me so many conflicting feelings, it shows how easy that it is to be judgemental about another person based on very little information and mainly just how they look.
Tonya is a fantastic character she is so switched on and I loved her little monologues as she tries to make sense of her situation. However, it is really sad she misses her mum and her home and the life she is used too. Mummy is trying to mould her into what she wants but she is not easily swayed.
The book takes a darker turn as Kim and Mummy both struggle to cope and some of these scenes were really visceral and I had to have a little break as they felt so real. Both women have had awful lives and have the scars to prove it.
This is an outstanding debut novel, it’s dark, unique and unforgettable. It’s about class and perception and people’s judgement from the outside when we have no idea what has happened or is happening. It is a book that made me think about these issues and I really enjoy that in a story it makes it stay with you and Call me Mummy will certainly be one of those books.
A 5 star debut *****
Thank you to Sahina Bibi at Viper Books for sending me an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
However, Tonya does not want to be the perfect child that Mummy wants, she is strongwilled and even at just 5 years old she knows that this situation is all wrong. Mummy, although likes to put on the perfect veneer her life has been far from it. A troubled upbringing then an abusive marriage she has had a tough time and she thinks a child will make everything better.
Kim is vilified by the press almost immediately the comments that are posted on social media calling her a scummy mummy and worse almost makes it seem like she deserved to lose her daughter, which of course she didn’t. She is also a victim of circumstance and has had a really difficult life and she refuses to play the role that the police and Steve her partner want her too. Of course this just makes matters worse when she goes on TV.
Kim was desperate for a child and she loves Tonya and is beside herself with worry. She is also heavily pregnant and not looking after herself. When the baby arrives she can not cope and we uncover more about her past, her addictions and she is obviously suffering but she cannot ask for help.
Mummy is also not having the happy time she thought she would, lack of sleep. Tonya is distressed and scared but convinces herself that it will all be resolved and they will live happily ever after and continues the brutal regime to tame her.
This is a really gripping story, and it gave me so many conflicting feelings, it shows how easy that it is to be judgemental about another person based on very little information and mainly just how they look.
Tonya is a fantastic character she is so switched on and I loved her little monologues as she tries to make sense of her situation. However, it is really sad she misses her mum and her home and the life she is used too. Mummy is trying to mould her into what she wants but she is not easily swayed.
The book takes a darker turn as Kim and Mummy both struggle to cope and some of these scenes were really visceral and I had to have a little break as they felt so real. Both women have had awful lives and have the scars to prove it.
This is an outstanding debut novel, it’s dark, unique and unforgettable. It’s about class and perception and people’s judgement from the outside when we have no idea what has happened or is happening. It is a book that made me think about these issues and I really enjoy that in a story it makes it stay with you and Call me Mummy will certainly be one of those books.
A 5 star debut *****
Thank you to Sahina Bibi at Viper Books for sending me an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
amandawije's review against another edition
3.0
I am so torn over this book. I originally thought I would give this a 2 right after finishing, but I think it's more of a 2.5. I just can't give it a full 3 stars. I am still drawn to the basic plot line that you can glean from the blurb of this novel, but I did not enjoy the way in which it was executed. This book made me uncomfortable...but I think it was SUPPOSED to. Maybe it is deserving of a higher rating because she succeeded in writing completely unlikeable characters and keeping them true to themselves the entire book. Just because I didn't like the way the author took the story, doesn't mean this book is bad.
One thing that confused me was when there were flashbacks or dreams. Sometimes I found it very difficult to distinguish which timeline we were in because things would seem so real, and then we'd find out it was part of a character's backstory rather than something that was happening in the current timeline. It was just something that disrupted my reading experience because I couldn't get used to it.
One thing that confused me was when there were flashbacks or dreams. Sometimes I found it very difficult to distinguish which timeline we were in because things would seem so real, and then we'd find out it was part of a character's backstory rather than something that was happening in the current timeline. It was just something that disrupted my reading experience because I couldn't get used to it.
louris_paige's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
thelibraryofimagination's review against another edition
4.0
I signed up to read this book with @thepigeonholehq and the author. It was a wonderful experience reading with the other pigeons as this book prompted a lot of conversation.
Call Me Mummy is a story about a crazy lady that steals a little girl and the effects of that kidnapping on the young girl, her family and believe it or not, the kidnapper.
I was intrigued with this book from the very first stave. I just had to know what happened to Tonya. But then I didn’t want to read what was happening to Tonya. It is a mother’s worst nightmare.
The intensity of this book remained throughout. The pace was perfect. The mental struggles of the characters were exhibited in a realistic manner. And the mental health issues the story derives from make a person consider how parents affect their children, how abuse affects the psyche and how love perseveres.
This book is not an easy read. It touches on topics that make a person shiver. I admire Tina for attacking them and exposing the ambiguity of mental health issues. I applaud her ability to tell an unpalatable story in a way that keeps the reader engaged and in suspense. The author also has a wonderful ability to paint a picture with her words. Despite the content, this book was a pleasure to read.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book by this author.
Call Me Mummy is a story about a crazy lady that steals a little girl and the effects of that kidnapping on the young girl, her family and believe it or not, the kidnapper.
I was intrigued with this book from the very first stave. I just had to know what happened to Tonya. But then I didn’t want to read what was happening to Tonya. It is a mother’s worst nightmare.
The intensity of this book remained throughout. The pace was perfect. The mental struggles of the characters were exhibited in a realistic manner. And the mental health issues the story derives from make a person consider how parents affect their children, how abuse affects the psyche and how love perseveres.
This book is not an easy read. It touches on topics that make a person shiver. I admire Tina for attacking them and exposing the ambiguity of mental health issues. I applaud her ability to tell an unpalatable story in a way that keeps the reader engaged and in suspense. The author also has a wonderful ability to paint a picture with her words. Despite the content, this book was a pleasure to read.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book by this author.
jayfr's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely impossible to put down. I devoured this.
Gripping, beautifully written and very uncomfortable, this was exactly what I needed to read.
Tina Baker's debut novel is powerful and thought-provoking.
I loved everything about this book, especially the unlikeable protagonists.
Can't wait to read any future works by this author.
Gripping, beautifully written and very uncomfortable, this was exactly what I needed to read.
Tina Baker's debut novel is powerful and thought-provoking.
I loved everything about this book, especially the unlikeable protagonists.
Can't wait to read any future works by this author.
nixbix_reads's review
5.0
This was such a dark & twisty read, and so very hard to put down. The story opens with Mummy abducting Kim's daughter Tonya, and the chapters mostly alternate between the villain & the vilified. We see how the madness of the situation affects both of them. I loved the short chapters from Tonya, which added to the suspense. I really enjoyed this & can't wait to read more by Tina Baker
Thanks to Viper & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Viper & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.