Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “You’ve Been Volunteered” by Laurie Gelman, Henry, ​Holt & Company, July 23, 2019

Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “You’ve Been Volunteered” by Laurie Gelman, Henry, Holt & Company, July 23, 2019

Laurie Gelman, Author of “You’ve Been Volunteered” has written a humorous, entertaining, and captivating story. This is the second book in “A Class Mom Novel”, and I have to admit that I haven’t read the first, but I will be reading it as soon as possible.  This novel can be read as a stand-alone. The timeline for the story is in the present and goes to the past when it refers to the characters or events in the story. The Genres for this novel are Humor, Contemporary Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The author describes her characters as quirky, flawed, and mostly likable.

It isn’t that Jen Dixon has nothing to do all day. Jen is a fifty-year-old mother in a sandwich generation between her children and her parents. Jen’s mother is recovering from Chemotherapy, and hopefully, cancer and her father is dependent on her recovering Mom, so Jen steps in. Her two grown daughter have complicated problems, and truthfully when do your children stop needing you? Jen’s husband has big decisions regarding work, and Jen’s third-grade son Max is certainly a handful. So, why is Jen Dixon being volunteered for Class Mother of Max’s third-grade class?

Not only is Jen volunteered to be the class mother, the PTA President decides that Jen can “help” and volunteers Jen for taking on setting up the 5th-grade Safety Squad for crossing the street, before and after school, and their parents who are required to take turns volunteering their time. Good Luck to that, Jen.

Jen is quite adept at emailing the parents and has a wicked sense of humor. I think one of my favorite parts of the story is when Jen is a little tipsy (drunk) and writes them. Can you imagine dealing with needy parents?  I couldn’t stop laughing and highly recommend this novel.” Over and Out”, and Happy Reading!!