“I am not a cookie-baking, carol-singing, mistletoe-hanging mom,” admits Julia Williamson today. When her kids were little, they didn’t know any different — but as they got older, it became a problem. It turned into an increasingly negative spiral: “Every time I was presented with an invitation to engage in a holiday tradition that felt too expensive, too time-consuming, or too sappy, I’d respond with an eye roll. Or a dismissive comment. The kids mostly ignored me, but they didn’t love it.”

Finally, she had a lightbulb moment and turned her relationship with the holidays around. And her perspective is pretty helpful, I think.

Kelly Faircloth, Executive Editor

The only thing I really needed to hear about this novel is that it was about a divorced middle-aged mom pirate who is totally used to getting everything done by herself – and I was 100% all in. But if you possibly need to hear anything more about it, I’m happy to oblige.

This high seafaring fantasy centers upon Amina al-Sirafi, a woman who had such a notable career as a pirate that she’s basically a living legend, both revered and feared throughout the Indian Ocean. But she’s retired and has a tween now – living a quiet, simple life. Until… she’s made an offer that she can’t refuse, to rescue a kidnapped girl from the hands of a mysterious foreigner in exchange for more money than she can fathom. She drops her child off with grandma and then starts to get her old crew together for one last big job – it’s Ocean’s 11 in the ocean.

I was charmed by every page of this book. It’s fabulously richly written and very funny. Each character aboard the ship is a delight (even the unlikeable ones), and the story is fanciful and adventurous even though, yes, the main character does have a bum knee. She’s in her 40s after all. It’s also totally lacking in any sort of romance (her ex-husband is along for the ride, but that’s a totally different story), which I found perfectly refreshing – Amina loves her friends, her family, and her daughter, and that’s plenty for her. This is the first time that the Scary Mommy Book Club has gone full fantasy, and I think this is the perfect place to start.

Sarah Aswell, Senior Editor