Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Instant Mom
    Unavailable
    Instant Mom
    Unavailable
    Instant Mom
    Ebook297 pages4 hours

    Instant Mom

    By Nia Vardalos

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    "Some families are created in different ways but are still, in every way, a family."

    Writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos firmly believed she was supposed to be a mom, but Mother Nature and modern medicine had put her in a headlock. So she made a choice that shocked friends, family, and even herself: with only fourteen hours' notice, she adopted a preschooler.

    Instant Mom is Vardalos's poignant and hilarious true chronicle of trying to become a mother while fielding nosy "frenemies" and Hollywood reporters asking, "Any baby news?" With genuine and frank honesty, she describes how she and husband Ian Gomez eventually found their daughter . . . and what happened next. Vardalos explores innovative ways to conquer the challenges all new moms face, from sleep to personal grooming, and learns that whether via biology, relationship, or adoption—motherhood comes in many forms.

    The book includes laugh-out-loud behind the scenes Hollywood anecdotes, plus an Appendix on how to adopt worldwide. Vardalos will donate proceeds from the book sales to charities.

    Vardalos candidly shares her instant motherhood story that is relatable for all new moms (and dads!)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9780062231857
    Author

    Nia Vardalos

    Nia Vardalos is the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated writer and actress of such films as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Connie and Carla, My Life in Ruins, and I Hate Valentine's Day, and co-writer with Tom Hanks of Larry Crowne. She lives in Los Angeles with her family, and donates Instant Mom proceeds to adoption charities.

    Related to Instant Mom

    Related ebooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for Instant Mom

    4/5

    34 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This was raw and real without being sordid, funny without making light of a difficult situation, and informative and reminded you of the issues in the world (foster care, adoption, exploitation of children) without being preachy. Fun to read.
    • 4/5
      I'm not really a big memoir person, unless there is something extremely specific about the author that I am particularly obsessed with (like I read all the Mitford memoirs), but I enjoyed this in large part because it was a memoir with some purpose -- as she told the story of adopting her daughter, there was a lot of solid information about the adoption process in general. I remember when I was investigating adoption, it was overwhelmingly confusing and mostly discouraging. In addition to being entertaining, I think this would be genuinely helpful to people in her situation.Although she's a comedic writer and actress, she mentions that she could never do stand-up, which I thought was odd, because several times, the book felt too MUCH like stand-up to me, too many stories and anecdotes ended on a "zinger" that made me roll my eyes. I really do find her funny, but that particular style felt like it was reaching. As Lucy is about the same age as her daughter (at the time of adoption), I was especially interested in the details related to the little girl and her adjustment and development. A lot of it was fascinating. I was sometimes a bit confused as to Vardalos and her husband's parenting choices ... I mean, the choices themselves were fine, it was the presentation in the book that confused me. Often things were brought up in relation to certain incidents or reactions, and, I don't know, I didn't really see how one related to the other, like "this thing happened, so obviously we did this" but the link wasn't obvious to me at all. I think this is always the challenge of memoirs, the author is very close to the events and I'm sure all this seems obvious to HER. I also cringed when she wrote "toddlers need a lot of stuff." Living in a New York City apartment, the most important thing I've learned about parenting is that toddlers don't actually need a lot of stuff at all.
    • 4/5
      As a parent who also created a family through adoption, I was curious to read about Ms. Vardalos' experiences. I loved that she took such a positive and warm approach to the process of adopting. I think her descriptions of how they helped their daughter make the transition to being part of their family are the most valuable part of the book. Because attachment is such a tricky thing, how you handle those first months can be so vital, and the way they were slow to introduce others and how they spent so much time with their daughter (even sleeping in the room with her) and didn't let the difficult behaviors get to them are all great examples for anyone contemplating adoption. And Ms. Vardalos is pretty funny, which made the book a pleasure to read.