Hello Lovelies!

A Novel

By: Hayley DeRoche

Narrated by: Emily Bauer

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Loving it!

Loving this mix of humor, mom life realness and internet snark. Have found myself chuckling along at multiple moments.

“Your heart is a moron”

This audiobook is a fantastic representation of Shine Theory in motherhood. I laughed, I cried, I cringed. A fun read if you aren’t a mom, and if you are it’s like a mirror for your soul. The narrator does a great job with the voices and sound effects, too! Very engaging.

Loved every second!

Although I am not an not a mom, I thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book! The narration is perfection. This book provided many laugh out moments. A definite must read!

I expected more

The narrator's inability to say Jessica instead of Jessca made this book a struggle to finish, especially since Jessica is a prominent character in the story.

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.