Five Reasons to Love Dottie Harris.
This week my publishers have released the NEW AND IMPROVED Mothers Ruined and I’m rather excited –just FYI you can get it HERE or HERE.
To celebrate, I thought I’d tell you why I feel very lucky to be writing about Dottie, and five reasons that could make you love her.
- She’s a ‘real’ mum.
When it comes to parenting Dottie’s just like you and me. She’s the mum that at times loves her children best when they’re asleep. She’s also the mum who loses her rag and then regrets it, finds dropping her kids off at school a reason to celebrate, and the mum who gets home only to realise that she’s left the lunch boxes in the hall next to the shoe pile.
- She Means Well
Dottie may have a knack for stumbling into the most chaotic of situations (green kids anyone?) but she does mean well. After Henry and the kids, her friends come first, and no matter how wrapped up in her own problems Dottie’s always there for her friends – usually with a bottle of wine and a few shots of gin in tow.
- She likes a drink… and her food.
Three kids, a husband that travels and on-going sleepless nights mean that Dottie copes the only way she knows how. With coffee, food, and of course, alcohol. She’s not afraid to admit she has no self-respect when it comes to a croissant or three. But most of all, she’s ready for ‘the bar to open’ as soon as the kids are in bed. She may have also been known to count down the hours. Oh, and of course, some of her best decisions are made when she’s had a gin or two.
- She loves her husband with all her heart – but he does her head in.
Dottie and Henry are perfect for each other. Initially you think it’s only Henry’s patience that’s commendable, however as with most marriages, he’s not perfect either. You see, Henry’s inability to see things on the bottom step of the stairs (IS IT INVISIBLE TO ANYBODY ELSE BUT HER?), and his knack for winding the kids up just before bed would infuriate even the best of us.
- She’s as confused as you and me.
Should she go back to work or stay at home with the kids? Why do fish fingers taste so amazing when cold and coated in bean juice and ketchup. How do men manage to sleep through the loudest of cries, and most of all – when will her children stop second guessing when her bum hits the toilet seat?
I could go on, for example she makes me feel like less of a nightmare, and her hair is about as untameable as her toddler, but why don’t you check her out and let me know what makes you love Dottie the most?
Mothers Ruined is the fourth book in The Survival Series, and the first full. It follows the hugely successful novella Survival of the Ginnest, the much loved short story Survival of the Christmas Spirit, and Lush in Translation.