And Baby Makes Two

by Dyan Sheldon

[Leah]

All Lana Spriggs wants out of life is to have her own family. Even at fifteen, she knows that she'll only be happy out of her mothers clutches and safely in the arms of her own Leonardo DiCaprio lookalike complete with children. When Lana meets Les she truly believes she's found The One and when she manages to get pregnant without even trying, Lana sees her dream emerging in front of her very own eyes. The truth, however, is very different from the fantasy and not only does Lana have to deal with being pregnant at fifteen but it also turns out that motherhood isn't exactly the walk in the park she had imagined. Is Lana able to keep her fantasy going or is the harsh reality of motherhood going to cause everything to fall around her ears?

With my bookshelves broadening with Young Adult books, I still keep my eyes open for authors that sounds like I would enjoy. On GoodReads one day I saw a book called "My Worst Best Friend" and the thing that struck me about the book was it's cover so I did a quick Amazon search and saw it was by Dyan Sheldon (the book, not the cover) and that, luckily enough, she had a new book coming out called And Baby Makes Two which I was able to pre-order half price. Not wanting to pass up such a beautiful looking book I quickly ordered it and awaited it's arrival. I was browsing my shelves for a bit of light reading and saw that at just over 200 pages And Baby Makes Two was going to be my reading choice on that particular night.

Although I said And Baby Makes Two was a new release, it's actually a re-release and was originally published in 2000 which makes more sense as to why the book appears to be set in the nineties (Discmans, oh how I miss thee). I was interested to see how Dyan Sheldon would write a teenage pregnancy - we've seen and read it loads of times, after all - and it's fair to say that Lana is much like most teenage girls you see on Jeremy Kyle - thinking a baby means happiness and happy every after et al when in reality it's not all sweetness and light. The way in which Dyan portrays it makes it sound so unglamorous that any youngster even thinking of having a baby ought to be given this book to read. It would definitely make them think twice.

Of course before the baby actually comes along, Lana already seems to have troubles as her relationship with her mother is tenuous to say the least. It's due to her mother (kind of) that Lana meets Les, in McDonalds of all places. At first it seems like the dream relationship - as dreamy as a relationship can be when you're a) lying about your age and b) keeping him away from your mother. It all starts to go wrong there after as Lana finds herself pregnant at fifteen and Les isn't exactly jumping with joy. The months pass fairly quickly and Lana's pregnancy isn't too much a focal point though it is enough, as I said, to put any teenager off wanting to have a baby. The most impact of the entire book comes after Lana has had her little girl and Dyan Sheldon is able to ram home the message that looking after a baby really isn't as fun as it may sound.

I admit I found myself cringing as Lana struggles to deal with her little girl. I could see how hard it was and I found myself also getting annoyed at Lana at times because when she moaned about not being able to go out with friends and things I just thought she was being utterly selfish. Having to deal with a screaming baby was what she had signed up for and for her not to know how it was really going to be was rather naive. The fact that she also refused her mother's help - calling her all names under the sun in the process - made it all the worse. I struggled to truly see why Lana and her mother didn't get on and I thought Lana acted petulantly whenever her mother came up in the book (which was regularly and not without the names - Wicked Witch being a firm favourite). I did like Lana though, even though I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake for being so naive and stupid but it's to be expected because she is only 15. No one else really hung around for the entire book, bar Lana's mum who I actually didn't mind. Les, Lana's kinda boyfriend, does pop up from time to time but I never really liked him.

I really enjoyed And Baby Makes Two, it was an incredibly quick read and it only took me around 3 hours to complete the entire book, which makes for a good evening read I must say! There's nothing like being able to start a book one night and finish it before going to bed. It's a testament to Dyan Sheldon's writing that I pretty much read it in one sitting and I'll definitely be on the look out for Dyan's other books! If you're looking for a bit of light reading, this is well worth picking up and, to be honest, every teenager even contemplating having a baby ought to give this a read. It'll put you off for life.