Review & Giveaway: Peace, Love and Khaki Socks by Kim Lock

 

Title: Peace, Love and Khaki Socks

Author: Kim Lock

Published: MidnightSun Publishing April 2013

Read an excerpt

Status: Read from April 23 to 24, 2013 — I own a copy{Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

Peace, Love and Khaki Socks is an engaging debut novel from Australian author Kim Lock. Twenty four year old Amy Silva is stunned to discover she is pregnant and, despite the support of her long term loving partner Dylan, it’s a struggle for her to accept the idea of impending birth and motherhood. Amy’s busy GP and the abrupt obstetrician she is referred to do nothing to allay her fears and with Dylan, a serving member of the ADF, often absent and her only real friend, Hannah, avoiding her, Amy goes in search of support and validation.

Amy is a likeable protagonist, a little naive and self absorbed but also idealistic, funny and generally well intentioned. A bit of a hippie and free spirit she feels like she doesn’t really fit in on the Darwin defence base. She works, by choice, from home as a freelancer, her family is over three thousand miles away in Victoria and as such she relies heavily on Dylan and Hannah for emotional and social support. All of the main characters are well developed and believable and the conflicts that arise between them are genuine, rather than manufactured.

I think that the reader’s own experience of pregnancy and birth will dictate the ways in which they will relate to Amy, her journey and her decisions. I sympathised with her experience of morning sickness (though mine lasted for 8 months), the constant need to pee and feeling overwhelmed by an unplanned pregnancy. I have given birth to four children, and had seven pregnancies and have had a range of good, bad, absurd and scary experiences.

I do believe a woman has the right to choose whichever experience suits her as long as she makes an informed choice and had Amy been shown to have made an effort to explore her options, of which there are several between the extremes of hospital/obstetrician managed and home birth, I would have been more sympathetic. Instead, I have to admit I was disappointed by the insinuated bias against medically assisted birth, and I think there needed to be some balance in Amy’s decision making process. However I could empathise with Hannah’s experience of her miscarriage, I had three, and none of them were handled particularly well.

Regardless of where you stand on the birthing debate, Lock is a talented writer. The writing is strong, characterised by natural dialogue and vivid description. The labour and birth scenes are among the best I have ever read. I particularly enjoyed the author’s sense of humour and her frank manner.

Ultimately, Peace, Love and Khaki Socks is a moving, funny and genuine story of Amy’s fraught journey through pregnancy.

Available to Purchase

@MidnightSun I @Amazon Kindle

via booko

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Peace, Love and Khaki Socks

 

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