Hello Lovelies!

A Novel

De: Hayley DeRoche

Narrado por: Emily Bauer

For fans of Sophie Kinsella and Kevin Kwan comes a laugh-out-loud debut that takes listeners inside the cutthroat world of mommy blogging.

Ruthie St. James - formerly a political communications strategist, currently a stay-at-home mom, and all of a sudden friendless after her daughter’s peanut butter cookie sends another toddler to the hospital - needs a break. And when she wins an all-expenses paid cruise vacation with her idol, the superstar mommy blogger Jesca Pine, she can’t wait to connect with other moms IRL.

But the cruise is not the Instagram-worthy getaway Ruthie had in mind: Firstly, the other bloggers aren’t here to make friends - they’re here to impress a major talent agent who’s been spotted on the ship, and they’ll do just about anything to get her attention. On top of that, someone aboard keeps leaking scandalous (and off-brand) stories to an unforgiving gossip site, and Jesca’s losing her followers as quickly as her sanity.

All this leaves Ruthie walking on eggshells, and after a scandal of her own, she has only one more chance to salvage her vacation: using her political savvy to negotiate with the team of ruthless saboteurs behind Jesca Pine’s demise...Jesca’s own teenage daughters.

Hello Lovelies! is a joyous, irreverent debut about friendship, motherhood, and what it takes to survive and thrive in today’s digital world.

"As a former mommy blogger, I couldn’t stop laughing at the misadventures of poor Ruthie St. James as she finds herself on a cruise with a group of die-hard blogging moms. This is a great cautionary tale of ‘be careful what you wish for.’" (Laurie Gelman, author of Class Mom)

©2019 Hayley DeRoche (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

Fun & Witty Read!

This was a such fun! This has an interesting take on modern mothering, friendship & how social media impacts us all. Highly recommended.

Main character is not likable

I found the main character, Ruthie, to be annoying and just unlikable. I was actively rooting against her. I really hope there aren’t people like Ruthie in the real world. The ending of the story was ridiculous and didn’t tie up some big loose ends.

This book is amazeballs!

I loved this book. The story was great from start to finish. It was so relatable even though I missed the whole Mommy blogging following popularity years ago.

Meh

I really liked the premise of this book, though I do think there is a similar story out there about a blogger winning a prize and the insane shenanigans that ensue as her whole “real life” comes to light. Anyway, this was well produced and the narration is great, but as others mentioned, the story was kind of hollow. The entire plot about our protagonist cheating was completely glossed over and made me pretty uncomfortable. There is not much that makes me understand why someone so miserable in motherhood is writing a mommy blog anyway. I also expected to learn the true identity of Spy Felicia and we did not. That seemed like a miss. It’s not the worst, but it’s not the best either.

delightful

un-pause-able! the writing style reminded me so much of sophia kinsella in the best way. so if you like her you will like this. really just a fun, laugh out loud book, perfect for summer. the sound effects were so much fun too. not overdone, just right! i'm actually looking forward to listening to this one again.

What a fun audiobook!

What a funny, and delightful look at the cutthroat world of mommy bloggers and influencers. I really believe crazy things like those in this story happen IRL all the time. The audiobook was the perfect length, with a fantastic performance by the narrator. She really sold the story, mood, characters and her use of words like “amazeballs” felt like such a natural fit to the whole thing. Would recommend to anyone interested in gossipy stories about web savvy, entrepreneurial women.

Fun, lighthearted listen that also got me thinking

This book was just what I needed right now - lighthearted, relatable and fun. But it also got me thinking about bigger questions of social media influencers, privacy for children, and parenting in the internet age. I truly sympathized with the children of the mommy bloggers, as they tired of having their personal lives discussed online and sponsored as part of their mother's brand. I did not care for the main character. She whined endlessly and made dumb decision after dumb decision. But - as a working mom - I appreciated her perspective on stay-at-home motherhood and found it at least understandable, if not relatable. I adore the narrator for this story! She does a phenomenal job!

Okay story, good moral

The plot was pretty predictable, but very interesting. The one thing I didn’t like was the language. There are lots of different words that could have been used other than the F-bomb. There were waaaaayyy too many uses of this word. So i can’t give this a glowing recommendation for that reason. Just my opinion.

All the characters are horrible people . . .

but it's still a fun ride.
Enjoyed subject matter and premise of story but could not get over how how selfish the main character was and how she put her own reputation and career as her main concern over her husband's (and daughter's) feelings and this loose end was never tied and she never seemed to have to be responsible for thinking with her crotch. Was on team Juno and Ella the whole time.
Not crazy about the extra sound effects on the audio book.

Great listen!

This was a really fun, light-hearted listen! I loved the story from start to finish and the narrator was great. Looking forward to more books from the author!