This was a hilarious and remarkably honest look at being not just a Mammy but also about whether you can be yourself too.

This is a warts and all look at parenthood, don't expect it through a veneer of an Instagram filter here, this isn't a yummy mummy, this is a real Irish woman, wishing she could re-find her inner Beyoncee, and hoping that she is still regarded as being cool.

Given her eldest child has just turned 13, and Tara attempted to teach Gemma and her friends the moves to Tragedy at her 13th birthday party, you can guess where Tara is in the embarrassing parent, not cool stakes.

Then there are the two boys, Nathan (5) and Jax (2) who are everything you expect two boys of that age to be, a lot of bodily fluids, inquisitive minds and in Nathan's case an uncanny ability to repeat the most inappropriate things to his teacher at school!

This is Tara trying to get her groove back, and the results are incredibly amusing. What I really liked was the clear Irish voice coming through, complete with phrases and slang that we don't tend to use across the Irish Sea from where the book is set! I love terms like absolute ride, Boss Bish, and how everything is class!

This book is a real craic, and I think parents everywhere will really be able to relate to Tara and her family.

There is so much to love in this book and it's a very entertaining debut novel.

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Aww such a funny book that I really enjoyed & will be recommending to everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Absolutely love it!!! i laughed so much, this is such a refreshing view of the current world of motherhood. it questions all the moment of the happiness, challenges and questions every mother could go through. a really touching family who you want to be part of. strongly recommend it to mothers and everyone else.

Hysterical! My children are older than those in Tara’s life, but the memory of a toddler, a five year old and an almost teenager never fades. Tara feels like she’s lost herself, her 13 year old hates her and is embarrassed by everything she does; she overweight and overlooked at work. Tara gone on a mission to get herself back.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for this review copy!

Totally relatable, and absolutely hilarious!

Honestly, it is so funny and all so true. You get to see Tara’s life from in the home, at work, and with friends. It is such an honest account of life as a mother, and a wife.

Brilliantly written, and well worth the read if you need a pick me up.

I listened to the audiobook of Mammy Banter and found myself feeling like I had good company while doing various things around the house. I also switched between this and the eBook version which i enjoyed.

The plot flows beautifully, the narrator, Serena Terry herself, has an awesome Irish accent that’s so delightful to listen to. I couldn’t turn it off if I wanted to!

This is a laugh out loud, hilarious account of the life of Tara, a married, 36-year-old mother of 3. The trials and tribulations of being a mother, a wife, a friend, and a colleague come through so well and in a hilarious manner.

A very clever book that takes joy in the everyday life of Tara and her family. Her 13-year-old daughter makes her feel old and tells her she is old and out of touch so much too, it’s a very honest, raw, and real view of life as a mother alongside some great banter.

It is obviously well written, you find yourself instantly in the middle of this chaotic, messy, busy and unpredictable family life. Poor Tara feels so uncool from her daughter, Gemma’s comments through to her husband’s banter. She wants to tackle this and channel her inner Beyonce which is very funny. She wants to claw back her old self without embarrassing her children (I don’t know why as surely that’s part of the point of having children? No?)

There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments too, when the youngest poo’s and of course the many mentions of poo with her youngest two will both gross you out and make you chuckle with laughter.

The chapter titles are also brilliant, for example, ‘That’s not Nutella [on the sofa]!’, ‘I’m not cursing, I’m Praying’ and ‘shove your organic parenting up your hole, Janice’.

My only criticism is that I wanted Tara to realise that she was the problem. Her thoughts, self-belief and self-esteem needed some working on, I know that wasn’t the premise of this book, but it would have been lovely to see her realising and making some necessary changes rather than pulling down the other women (in particular) around her to make herself feel better.

I loved this audiobook, I would highly recommend listening instead of reading, The book is just as good, but Serena Terry’s delivery is excellent. This will brighten up your day and make you laugh out loud!

I first discovered mammy banter on social media, where I found her posts about life as a 30 something mother of 3 kids so refreshingly honest and completely hilarious!
This book is in the same vein but more, so it’s safe to say that I really enjoyed reading all of Tara’s ups and downs and oops that didn’t go as planned moments throughout the book.
This is a read that I think most mums will relate to and enjoy reading.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

I love Mammy Banter on social media.
Her fresh take on the nonsense is family life over lockdown and beyond never fails to make me laugh.
What this book also tell us is that even though it would appear Serena can laugh and not take herself seriously she is also honest and up front about her mental health.
A real role model

Thanks to netgally for a copy of this book in exchange for a review. I did enjoy this book as an easy going look at life as a Mum. There were lots of themes in this book that I could relate to. At 36 Tara is juggling life as Mum to 3 kids and a full time job whilst trying to find time for herself and for her husband. I enjoyed the differences of Tara managing a 13 year old and then 2 younger children and would recommend this to others.

Tara is only 36 but every day that goes by seems to age her by 10 years. Whether it’s teaching her 13-year-old daughter and her friends the dance routine to Steps’ Tragedy, trying to get vomit stains off her plain and boring clothes or proving that she is just as relevant as the 20-somethings at work, the mum-of-three is finding things tough. But all that is about to change because she is determined to show the world that she is still very cool. I laughed out loud at several points and I’m sure a lot of millennial mums will be able to relate. The dialect and slang is very Irish, which lends it an extra dose of charm and places the whole book firmly in Derry.

I requested this as I follow Mammy Banter on Instagram, she’s amazing.

Tara is feeling old, tired, a mother, a wife, a friend but she has lost her identity. She draws up a list of things she wishes to achieve to help discover her inner Beyonce. This includes dying her hair pink.

I found the book amusing. It is not my usual type of read at all. But unbelievable in places. A new BFF that she met one day at a spin class, leading dance classes. But if you can overlook these points, it’s an easy and enjoyable read.

I think I might need to start tagging some of my posts “TikTok made me do it” because I’m not sure I would have requested a review copy of Mammy Banter if I hadn’t already been a fan of Serena Terry (a.k.a. @MammyBanter) on TikTok. She’s one of the first posts I saw when I first signed up mid-pandemic and I became a faithful follower. She is smart and funny and just the right side of irreverent for me, which is just how I’d describe her debut novel.

Tara Gallagher is mid-30s, struggling with the idea of having a teenage daughter and no longer being ‘cool’, leading to a series of (mis)adventures as she tries to find herself and her place in a world where she is no longer the bright young thing but by no means ‘over the hill’. Each decision she makes seems to make the situation worse until it all works out in the end (just like we knew it would).

This isn’t my normal type of read (no one dies for a start!) but I am really glad I read it (especially after it was right after the dark Burncoat by Sarah Hall). It made me laugh. It made me smile. It made me remember being stuck somewhere on the wrong side of 30 before I realised 40 wasn’t that bad.

Could I relate to all of it? No. Did it matter? Also, no. Is it a quick, fun, read that will brighten your day? Yes. If that sounds like something you fancy, I’d definitely recommend it.

Mammy Banter is a breath of fresh air and a truly uplifting story of one Mum's journey to rediscover herself.

Tara is a wife, Mum of three, and an unappreciated employee of a sexist and deeply unpleasant male boss. When she fails, yet again, to get the promotion she so deserves, she starts to descend into self-loathing and dejection.

Add to that, a teenage daughter who's mortified by her very existence and two young boys, she is knackered and low in self-confidence.

Trying to change her outward appearance has her gorgeous hubby worried she's had enough of being his wife.

But when Tara finds The Rebel Mothers, she starts to remember who she was, and still is.

Reconnecting with her hubby on a night away, she realises just how much she loves him and their life together.

And comes to realise that being cool is not about how you look, it's all about being comfortable in your own skin.

So many laugh out loud moments, and such relatable characters - Mammy Banter was a brilliantly funny and sweet story about finding yourself and living your best life.

I discovered ‘Mammy Banter’ way back during the original lockdown on tiktok and on a daily basis she made me laugh. She’s relatable, real and honest so I was delighted to read and review her first book.
Her first novel was a page turner about her every day life with her kids and her very own ‘dilf’
Embarrassing her teenage daughter at the start of the book to the end showing her how cool she is.
If you like me are a Mammy Banter fan then I recommend you pick up this book as the only way to describe the book is ‘it’s just her, the relatable, real female that she is’
I really hope she has another book in the pipeline.

Title: Mammy Banter The Secret Life of an Uncool Mum
Written by: Serena Terry
Pub Date: 3 Mar 2022
Publishers: HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction, HarperCollins
Genre: General Fiction (Adult)


Tara has realized that between motherhood and her office job she has all but lost herself some where in between. Can Tara juggle, a teen, two kids under six, her husband, a full-time job and find herself ?



I want to say that this book is bad ass but unfortunately here are just a few problems I had with it.
Anti-feminist views, Ageism, Hypocrisy, Double standards, Victim blaming, Pedophilic implication, Misogyny/ Sexism.

On more than one occasion Tara insinuates that a woman without a child has an easier life. When this is not necessarily true.

Tara is constantly pointing out other people based on looks, especially other women. She acts as if they are judging her when it is her who is judging them based on their weight, looks and if their are a woman, whether they have kids or not.

By page 100 Tara's continued use of the word "fetuses" to describe her colleagues who are probably only five or so years younger than her but makes a big deal out of it because SHE is feeling old and the other women in the office are child free which is to be mentioned every five seconds.

It is mentioned that the boss is a sex pest and is always sexual harassing the women in the office Tara condemns the other women for not coming forward to report their boss. Then immediately follows that up by saying { she would report it but unlike the other women in the office she has kids to worry about and cant afford to lose her job} because the other women in the office can afford to lose their jobs?! and that their lives are less important because they don't have children?! There for it is their fault the boss has not been reported because they should be willing to risk their job to report him?! ugh!

When the new office worker starts Tara is not just obsessed with him but with referring to him as a child, then following that up with talking about having sexual fantasies about him which grossed me out. To read Tara going weak at the knees for Luke while still adamant she loves Paul was beyond annoying.


For a first time writer Terry manages to write in a style that flowed and showed humour when it was meant. Yet I think I only finished because I hoped Tara would come to her sense and see she was the problem. That it was down to her, not to get a new image, but a new approach to her problems. unfortunately this only came about in a miner way.

Honestly, as a fan of Terry's tictoks I wanted to love this book. I'm disappointed that I didn't like Mammy Banter more. I felt it lost its humour quickly and only had a few chuckles.

If this book has any message it was very much, if you don't have kids you have no responsibilities, no worries and must have an easy life.

Mammy Banter lost stars for Character development, problematic "feminism" and just over all annoyance.

1* for writing style 1* for humour.

Do you ever start a book thinking it’s one genre and find out it’s something completely different?

I somehow had it in my head that Serena Terry’s debut novel was a memoir when in fact it’s fiction! Although being a mother herself I’m sure there are some personal reflections in there.

The story follows Tara, mother to 3 kids and wife to Paul. When she constantly finds herself being a mortal embarrassment to her now teenage daughter, Tara takes life by the horns and makes a bucket list of things shes always wanted to do. The story follows her through her bucket list and the daily challenges of family and marital life.

I listened to the audio version of this and Serena’s narration really brought Tara’s character to life. I loved the accent and mannerisms and while I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it on kindle just the same, the audio was very entertaining to listen to.

Mammy Banter by Serena Terry is a 5 🤫 read.
This book is hilarious, I laughed my a** off all the way through it. I would highly recommend it.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book

Mammy Banter by Serena Terry

Derry Mammy Tara faces a mid life crisis when her eldest daughter Gemma turns 13, with hilarious and touching consequences for her career, children, friends and marriage.

I had never heard of Mammy Banter before reading this book. I absolutely loved it - funny and touching and so relatable! Loved the main character Tara and her exploits made me laugh and cheer her on all the way. Very highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This book is hilarious brilliant and so relatable! I loved every minute of it. Tara is such a funny character & so well written. At times I felt that she was in my head as I felt as if she was a literary version of me. Absolutely class read and can't wait for more

A funny, warts and all tale of modern family life.
This is an honest and down to earth book, giving a window into family life and mum struggles .
It is light and enjoyable, although I didn't love it as much as I thought I would , it is still a nice read.



I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.