I just want to say quickly, that I mean no disrespect whatsoever to this author, Emma Hannigan. I've seen some interviews with her and she was really a hilarious, lovely woman. Unfortunately, Emma died of cancer in 2018, still only in her thirties, leaving behind young children. I'd just like to say that I have so much respect for her and that this review is not at all an insult to her ❤️

So I got this book because I had seen interviews with the author, and I thought she was pretty funny.

And yep, this book is funny. In more ways than one, tbh.

The book is your average chicklit. This means of course that it doesn't have much substance, everyone is white and straight, and it carries through with the same cliches chicklit apparently is ordered to follow.

Miss Conceived has three main characters:

Angie: White straight forty year old Angie desperately wants a husband and children. Her "biological clock is ticking" and she has a boring office job, spending most of her time out drinking with the Girl Squad™, at least until she meets this one guy named Troy, they have a one night stand and she gets pregnant.

Serena: White straight twenty eight year old Serena has just got married and has the facade of a perfect life. After her glitzy wedding, she knows the next step is perfect children, except she can't conceive. She also has a really fucking terrible mother and is an alcoholic.

Ruby: White straight fifteen year old Ruby is Serena's niece, and is an unrealistic teenager who goes to a party with her friend, takes some cocaine and then gets pregnant by her friend's dad. Yep.

THE CHARACTERS

The characters are pretty basic and boring. They don't have much depth, and end up shallow and uninteresting. Of the three main characters, I did not like any of them. Angie is boring and whiny, and doesn't tell Troy about the baby til way after he's born. Serena is irritating, built up as being fake and unhappy and her family and friends are all terrible etc etc so she drinks a lot. She also doesn't believe she's an alcoholic at first which is totally normal yet then for some reason randomly accepts it 100% without the reader being given much clue to why she had this sudden realisation.

Ruby is just.....something else. She rushes into sleeping with her friend's dad, then apparently believe they're in love, which is....realistic for a young teenager, I guess, but made me just want to shake her. Then she hates being pregnant, complaining about being fat and ugly and just wanting to go back to normal, and she talks incredibly stiffly.

Most of the secondary characters may as well not exist, they're so vapid. Ruby's babydaddy is stupid and shallow, her friend is a bitch, her mum, Serena's sister, completely goes over the top in her reaction yet somehow just absolutely turns a corner out of the blue. Angie and Ruby join this little group of expecting mothers which is really pretty boring, and they make friends with this really fucking irritating girl who names her baby Madonna.

The way these characters interact with each other is.....baffling. They talk so weirdly, and here are a few examples:

"It doesn't matter what your name is when you have a face like you do."

"You'll have to meet me back here or your dad will have an eppo."

"Any part of my body that used to be boney is now covered in a thick coating of dough-like fat."

"Don't you dare try to walk out of here, my girl! You've made your bed and you will lie in it now. Running away is not going to help the situation."

"You're a great girl. What we shared was real special. But we're from a different space in time, you and me."

"I was always the first to poo-poo anyone who dared turn up at one of our lunches and not have a glass of vino."

THE PLOT

I didn't really feel like there was much of a plot. It was just Angie moaning about wanting children, then being pregnant and having an everyday life, then having a baby. Ruby going to a party, having sex, getting pregnant, bam, baby time. Serena moaning about wanting children, why can't I conceive, I'm not an alcoholic shut up, oh noooo I am an alcoholic.

THE WRITING

The writing in general was........hm.

For some reason, we're told who the main character of the chapter is going to be by their twitter username and a short tweet. So we have @angiebaby, @serenasvelte, @rubytuesday, and then also @themercedesking for Ruby's babydaddy Damo, because he's pretty rich and love mercedes. These tweets are a bit cringy, but bearable. The descriptions are pretty hilarious, though, all pale faces and birdlike features and weirdly specific observations.

THIS BOOK WAS FUNNY

- Damo's reaction to Ruby telling him she's pregnant is hilariously terrible.

- Damo being thrown out by his wife was a highlight

- Damo getting arrested and charged for all his cocaine was quality

- Angie's lifelong childhood dream is the saddest thing on this earth

- Serena's dad's speech at her wedding is very odd

All in all, the book wasn't too bad. It was certainly entertaining. I think I would give it 3/5.