The Truth and Other Hidden Things by @leagellerauthor is the perfect book for lurkers like me. It is the story of Bells, a middle aged mother of 2 teens who finds out her IUD failed the same day her husband hasn’t been given tenure. They have to leave NYC and move to Dutchess County for her husband’s new job and to ameliorate her loneliness and boredom in her new town, she creates an anonymous blog where she dishes about everyone around her. Oh, this book is pure fun. It is written with the perfect amount of snarkiness and humor with such fun jabs. The gossip is hilarious and Bells’ every day interactions around town are the perfect amount of exaggeration with a little truth mixed in to keep it still seemingly realistic. Look, the down and dirty is that Bells is a mom who couldn’t get her act together, can’t seem to get dressed, has lost track of her kids, whines about money but still has endless free time to sit at a diner slurping egg creams, gabbing with the waitress. Normally this working mom would have been so annoyed at her lack of motivation but instead she is like that friend who is a hot mess but makes you laugh so much that you ignore the rest. That is Bells. She is a total mess and you just can’t help but root for her. I love this writing style so much and am convinced that @leagellerauthor and I would be besties if we met in real life.

This was a fun and rollicking read. Bells tells her innermost secrets to the blogosphere, but at what cost.? She has some very good observations.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

As a mom nearing (but not yet!) her 40s...I was drawn to this novel and Bells' story.

So many of us spend time planning away our lives, only to realize that we have very little, okay no control over what happens...as is clearly evident by Bells' shocking revelations: her husband is denied tenure and she's pregnant in her 40s.

The moments between Bells, her teenage daughters, and husband, plus life around their new town...never a dull moment for sure!

Bells begins to feel as if she doesn't have a true place/identity, and I suspect that so many readers will find this resonating with them more than they may want to admit. Bells decides to start a blog, and that blog begins to spiral, sharing more and more town secrets.

I can see how Bells got to this point and so quickly, but it still made me sad that she chose the blog and the secrets. In the end, I am thankful Bells saw the error of her ways.

Bells Walker is a forty-something writer and mother living in NYC whose life is drastically changed when she learns that her IUD has failed - she’s pregnant - on the same day that her husband doesn’t get tenure. As a result of very limited employment opportunities, Bells’s husband accepts an offer from Dutchess College and the family relocates from the city to Pigkill, a small town in Dutchess County. Feeling insecure and struggling to fit in with the locals, combined with her desire to keep writing, Bells starts a blog - The County Dutchess - where she anonymously dishes out town gossip. Bells becomes somewhat obsessed with the blog’s success and the validation that it gives her as a writer - until everything comes crashing down once her true identity is revealed.
*****
The Truth and Other Hidden Things was an enjoyable read filled with humor and an overall message of community and self acceptance.

The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller was an absolute delight.

Despite my enjoyment of this book, I am having a very difficult time reviewing it simply because it is unlike anything else I’ve read before, but in a REALLY good way.

On the surface this book appears to be a comment on different parenting styles as well as on millennials and all the trends that follow them. And yes, this book does shine a light on both of these things. But it’s more than that. I went into this book thinking it was going to throw some real house wives & gossip girl vibes my way and again while it does have qualities that give off these vibes, the story has so much more to it then that.

The Truth and Other Hidden things is, in my opinion, a story about acceptance. It’s about acceptance and also about perception, in terms of how people view their own insecurities and how they expect other people to view the things they are insecure about. In addition to that, this story also shows how addicting it can be to receive attention and validation when someone is having a hard time seeing past their own opinion of themself. I know it sounds like a lot but honestly the way the author handles this is done so well. *chefs kiss*

Basically, the reason I’m having such a difficult time reviewing this story is because there are so many levels to it & so much to take away. It’s an emotional and fun read that keeps you hooked from start until days after you’re done reading it.

O n the same day Bells Walker discovers that her IUD has failed and her husband Harry is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two teenage children move north to Hudson Valley where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College. When the town of Pigkill turns out to be nothing like she imagined, so she turns to the internet anonymously of course but the posts begin to hit closer to home and she puts Harry's job at risk, derails her children's lives, and risks losing her only real friendship. As her anonymous scandalous post begin to go viral Bells must ask herself if losing the people closest to her is worth feeling noticed by everyone else.
A great book full of mom humor and things we have all though and or been through.

At the start of this fun and funny mom lit book, main character Bells is a 40 something NYC mom with two teenagers, when on the same day she finds out she’s accidentally pregnant with a third kid, and her professor husband didn’t get tenure and they have to move. They end up in Duchess County, and Bells ends up starting an anonymous blog making fun of the culture there and the moms who are just as competitive and catty as NYC moms, of course with unintended consequences, and there’s plenty of family drama as well. Basically, this book is like a cross between Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom and Jane L Rosen’s Eliza Starts a Rumor, with a dash of Jennifer Weiner, and plenty of its own originality as well. Loved the characters, the humor, and the little insights into family life.

The Truth and Other Hidden Things was an enjoyable read with just the right combination of drama, humor, and warmth!

Bells, a writer, and Harry, a professor, live in NYC with their two teenage children. On the same day Harry finds out he was denied tenure, Bells learns that she’s pregnant because her IUD failed. Luckily, Harry lands a job at Dutchess College in upstate New York. They move to a small town crawling with hipsters and millennials, where kombucha, kimchi, and coffee flights are all the rage. Pregnant and jobless in her early 40’s, Bells feels unwelcome and out of place in her new home and starts anonymously blogging about all the scandals and secrets she uncovers in Dutchess County. Her blog is a hit, but will she be able to keep her identity a secret or will everything come crashing down around her?

I couldn’t imagine being pregnant while parenting teenagers 😳 - that ship has long sailed for me, although poor Bells thought her baby rearing days were behind her too! Bells was witty and snarky and I literally 😂 numerous times! She made some very poor decisions and certainly could’ve handled things differently, but I thought that made her a more realistic and relatable character.

Although lighthearted on the surface, there was an underlying emotional story. Bells felt pressure from her family, other moms, society, and most of all herself to have a stellar career, be the perfect wife and mom, and have amazing children. Behind the trash talking blogger was an insecure woman who didn’t feel like she fit in with the “perfect” moms who always seemed to have it together. Bells just wanted to be seen, but she couldn’t see what was right in front of her because she was consumed with her own feelings of inadequacy. I think most of us have experienced that at one time or another.

This book is out now, and I highly recommend it! Lea Geller is a new to me author and I would love to read more from her!

This book made me laugh so much! I wasn’t prepared for how funny it is. Bells Walker is an UWS mom who finds out she’s pregnant at 43 on the same day her husband loses his job and their faculty housing. They are desperate for Harry to get a new job, even if that means that have to move out of the city and to upstate NY, to Dutchess County. ⁣
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Bells is bored and very pregnant so she decides to start an anonymous gossip blog about all the moms at her kids new school. She doesn’t quite fit in with them or the town at all. She writes for the small city newspaper she used to hoping that no one from her new town of Pigkill will read the County Dutchess. Obviously this backfires on Bells and it comes to a crashing demise. ⁣
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This novel was absolutely hysterical and reminded me a lot of the book Class Mom, which I also loved. I’m not a mom yet, but this just made me laugh so much that I’m sure if you are a mother, you will find it even funnier. There is a company in the book called Chore Donkey which is similar to Task Rabbit which we use and that was just so funny to me. I can’t wait to read the author’s first book, Trophy Life!⁣

The writing was okay and I thought the story sounded interesting however the main character was just kind of awful and had a failed attempt at redemption in the last 2 chapters. I'm tired of reading about lame detached father's/husband's. Her taste in humor was quite snarky and she seemed to enjoy bully and belittling those around her. Not for me.

This is a different book than I normally would have chosen but the description sounded interesting. I really enjoyed it! I found it to have more depth than I thought it would, as well as be witty and just plain delightful. It was a quick read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good book!

“At the end of the day people like reading about the mean girls who grew up and became moms behaving badly.” -County Dutchess

🍎The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller is a clever look at mid-aged mom life that is as poignant as it is funny. In one day, Bells learns her husband did not make tenure and her IUD has failed. Without husband Harry’s job and income, they have lost their university-paid city apartment so when Harry is offered a teaching job in upstate New York, the family of four packs into a used mini-van and moves to Dutchess County.

🍎As they adapt to life in the Hudson Valley, Harry thrives in his new role, the kids are miserable, and an uncomfortably pregnant Bells finds it hard to fit in with the seemingly clique-y PTA moms. Intrigued by a popular mommy blogger who showcases her perfect family life, Bells starts an anonymous blog under the pseudonym ‘County Dutchess’. Her blog dishes the dirt on the secret lives of wealthy suburbanites and mocks the hipster lifestyle that’s ‘taking over’ Dutchess County. (Geller’s hilarious description of the shops now lining downtown is spot on). The blog is a hit and buoyed by her success, Bells begins to take riskier chances with her exposés.

🍎This book has laugh out loud moments, but also takes a sincere and sensitive look at an overwhelmed woman grappling with self-doubt, self-pity and self-consciousness. Many of us will recognize the competitive PTA moms in our own communities who can fuel these doubts if we let them. It’s up to Bells to discover her own truths and recognize that we don’t always see what truths others have hidden away.

🍎My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#thetruthandotherhiddenthings #netgalley

Thank you to the author, Amazon Publishing and Let’s Talk Books Promo for gifting me an advance copy of this ebook!
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Bells is a NYC mom of 2 over 40 with another baby on the way. When her husband doesn’t get his tenure and is forced to move upstate for another job, Bells and the whole family is also forced to go along. The new town isn’t exactly welcoming to a woman about to give birth over 40 and Bells is jobless.

At her lowest point, Bells finds comfort and stability with anonymously blogging about the town’s “important” folks’ secrets. Her blogs become very popular and sensational but as can be expected, nothing can stay hidden forever in a small town. When all hell breaks loose, Bells and her family will have to face serious consequences.

Normally this isn’t a book I would have picked but I became aware of it through Let’s Talk Books promo. I was hooked by both the cover and synopsis. The book while was a very cute read, also touched on the underlying serious theme of societal’s expectations of women with regards to age, family role and function etc. While so much of Bells’ behavior had me laughing, I was also upset at how Bells was constantly supposed to be doing damage control everywhere simply because she is a woman - which is such an unfair but stark reality.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me and I didn’t quite feel it got the closure that I was expecting from this book but that’s just my personal opinion, which other readers may or may not feel. I give this book 4.5 stars because it gave me all the feels and I found the main character very relatable as a regular person.

On the same day Bells Walker discovers that her IUD has failed, her husband Harry is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two teenage children and her baby bump move north to Hudson Valley where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College. When the town of Pigkill turns out to be anything but what Bells envisioned, she turns to blogging and anonymously gossips about her new hyper-competitive parent neighbours. However, her scandalous posts begin to hit closer to home and she puts Harry's job at risk, derails her children's lives, and risks losing her only real friendship. As the Dutchess begins to go viral, Bells must ask herself if losing the people closest to her is worth feeling noticed by everyone else.

This was a fun, quick, and witty read that I got into right away. However, around the halfway point it started to drag and because this was a very character driven story, the end was very predictable and I just wanted the story to get to the point. By the end I started not caring for most of the characters and was ready for their story to end. That said, I felt that the ending was a little rushed and I would have liked more falling action. This was just an okay read for me, but I can see why other people enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very quick read and quite entertaining. Bells and her husband are living the good life until everything comes crashing down on them. Her husband doesn’t receive tenure and she becomes pregnant at age 42 with a failed IUD. His faculty does their best to help him find a new job, which they do, but it’s upstate New York.
Bells starts a blog on everything she finds ridiculous about the small town.

I adored this book!

The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller was a very entertaining and light-hearted book. There was so many laugh out loud moments throughout the book, making for a quick, enjoyable read.

Bells is a forty-something mom living an enjoyable and comfortable life in NYC until her whole life gets uprooted. First, she finds out her IUD failed and she is pregnant. And then her husband doesn’t get tenure, so they have to move.

Soon, Bells, her husband and their two teenage children move to Pigkill, a small town in the Hudson Valley. Feeling unaccepted by the moms in town, Bells starts a blog as the County Dutchess to vent about all the things she finds silly in the Hudson Valley, from the numerous fairs and festivals to the trendy foods to the millennials for hire to help with household chores. However, Bells finds herself addicted to blog and the positive commentary. How far will she go to make her claim to fame stick?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Bells was fun to get to know as a main character. I really empathized with her feeling like a misfit, but wanting to be seen and heard.

I also really enjoyed the ending of the book. The author really wraps everything up nicely and left me feeling satisfied.

This book also reminded me a lot of Eliza Starts A Rumor, which is about another Hudson Valley woman who takes to the internet to share gossip.

If you are looking for a light, fun read that will make laugh, this is a book for you!

Here we have Bell, a 43yo woman, mother of two who has just found out her UID failed and she’s pregnant on the same day her husband doesn’t make tenure.
Her husband gets a job out of NYC and so they all move to the town of Pigkill in Duchess County. They move into a college housing where nothing works and the kitchen is separate outside the house. This is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, the mean moms run school activities, social events, are competitive and just aren’t very nice.
Not being able to find a job as a writer she sets up a blog and calls herself the County Duchess as she starts spilling out the secrets, gossip and side activities of the residents. The blog takes off and she can’t stop, she should stop because what she’s posted can really hurt her husband’s job but it’s just going to good to stop until it doesn’t.

This was such a refreshing and entertaining read. There are some real life scenes that are so funny. I had a few laugh out loud moments, it’s just a fun quick read.

Let me tell you what I liked. This book. This was another solid hit and I’m here for it. This is the story about Bells and the day everything goes wonky. She finds out her iud failed (oops) and her hubby lost his job. So they decided to move out of NYC to Duchess County where her husband can be a professor. Bells is having all the feelings, 40’s and pregnant will do that, and she decides to start anonymous blog about her new life and all she encounters. Of course things spin out of control and then she starts to lose everything.

I enjoyed this story so much. Bells could be me. The heartwarming family and community that Bells didn’t even know she had was the absolute best. As someone in her 40’s (ahem) I could relate to things that Bells was feeling. Overall I really enjoyed this one.

One thing i love more than anything is discovering an amazing read and this book was it. It was a perfectly amusing read that not all kept me scrolling through but getting me looks from people but also making me stay up later than usual.
I fell in love with Bells our lady of the book and her amusing take on the life around her and the characters as well..
Overall this was an amazing read. This review is short because if i keep talking i might ruin the book for you

Bells Walker never expected Harry to be passed over for tenure at the prestigious college where he taught. Squeezed into their tiny NYC apartment with two opinionated teens, waiting for a promotion that never arrives AND finding out Bells is pregnant at 43 turns the Walker family upside down. An offer in upstate New York at Duchess College may be the answer to their prayers. Succumbing to the mini van and moving into dilapidated college housing, Bells throws herself into settling the kids and transforming into the wife of a tenure track professor. Reality is Bells is very pregnant, unsociable and quickly learns the mean moms are really mean! She cannot resist jotting down notes as the ironic hipsters hailing from Brooklyn mix with the Lululemon housewives behaving badly. Her funny notes morph into a top secret blog. Not wanting to risk Harry’s job, Bells calls herself the County Duchess. Late at night she details life with the Duke and all the funny business happening in this quaint farm-to-table town. Whether you find yourself imagining how scary real this may possibly be or just enjoying the wonderful characters author Lea Geller has created, there is no doubt you will be laughing out loud until the very last page. Highly recommend this entertaining, well written new novel!