Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Godmother

Rate this book
There's nothing tying her down . . . but maybe that's the problem. Back from a five-week escape from her obsessive former boss ( job over, phone number changed, doorman notified), Tessa King returns to London rested and ready to reclaim her life. She has endless possibilities, and a full social calendar with wonderful friends and godchildren who adore her. But as Tessa begins to look at all their lives, she questions whether having a family can actually guarantee Helen and Neil, parents to twin boys, are in a seemingly perfect marriage, though it hides dark and twisted secrets. Single mother Billy struggles to make ends meet and can't get over a man who doesn't want her. Happily married Francesca and Nick endeavor to guide their headstrong teenage son. Claudia and Al have everything they need to create the perfect loving family—except a baby. And then there's best friend, loyal confidant, willing drinking partner, and Tessa's everything —but also Sasha's husband. Heartwarming, dark, funny, and almost too true to bear, Carrie Adams's extraordinary debut novel speaks to anyone who has wondered about the next step. It reminds us that the challenge in life is to find a direction that is truly our own, and that some fairy tales just aren't fair.

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

76 people are currently reading
2250 people want to read

About the author

Carrie Adams

17 books33 followers
Contemporary fiction writer. Previously wrote four crime novels under the name Gay Longworth.

Carrie worked on a game reserve before university, and went on to hold her own in the alpha male world of the oil-trade.

She’s now married to theatre producer Adam Spiegel, who is responsible for putting Dirty Dancing on the London stage, and they have two young daughters.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
473 (15%)
4 stars
1,142 (36%)
3 stars
1,096 (35%)
2 stars
294 (9%)
1 star
100 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 436 reviews
Profile Image for Brookers.
9 reviews1 follower
March 31, 2008
On the surface, The Godmother has an essentially chick lit plot.Tessa King is so bogged down in the lives of her friends and her godchildren, she has no life of her own. Will she ever start living for herself? Will she ever find love? We all know the answer to that. However, this is not typical chick lit. At its core, it goes to a darker place; this is not the perky, everything's-perfect-by-the-end novel that is expected in chick lit. This is a strong novel disguised as chick lit. Although there are some expected resolutions, there are some things that are beyond being resolved. There are some heartbreaking moments. In addition to that, Carrie Adams hits the right notes with humor. Her protagonist has a very distinct, smart-aleck voice that feels fresh, not forced, like in true "chick lit." A sweet read with the right amount of sour thrown in.
Profile Image for Joe.
238 reviews5 followers
June 9, 2008
This was useful reading for me. As a male reader, it was illuminating to see the world through the female protagonist's eyes. Apparently there are lots of feelings involved, all of which are examined, carefully, slowly, and lovingly. I also appreciated the portrait of life for unmarried people in their late thirties, as the fork in the road between parents and non parents becomes harder and harder to cross over. "Sorry, I couldn't find a sitter; see you in 17 years" really stung.

The plot moves briskly, the characters are compelling, and what I thought was looming as a terrible, horrible, punishingly unfair resolution to the book's central conflict didn't play out like I was afraid it would.

For whom would I recommend it? Men who would like a view into another world? If I recommend it to unmarried, childless, funny, smart, attractive female readers, the book suggests that they might read into it some kind of meta-message. All I'd be saying is that I liked the book, and you might too, but clearly men are kind of obtuse about this sort of thing.
Profile Image for Jeanne.
976 reviews21 followers
July 22, 2010
Always the godmother, never the. . . you get the picture. Godmother to four, Tessa King wants something more: namely, marriage and children of her own. Unfortunately, her legal career and partying have also been important to her.

Now in her thirties, Tessa wants what all of her friends already have, and she is suffering from a severe case of envy. But as she will find out, none of her friends have a perfect marriage. Or perfect children.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. First, the cover makes it look fun, which it is not. Second, Tessa is not a particularly compelling protagonist. Third, we are introduced to too many characters (all of Tessa's friends). Really, this novel is a jumble. I'm not sure what the author intended to do, but it could not have been such a mess on purpose.

Verdict: admire the cute cover, but skip the actual reading.
Profile Image for Bridget.
890 reviews1 follower
November 8, 2007
Great book!! The main character is very easy to relate to if you are a single woman in your 30s who still likes to party, and is surrounded by friends who are married or having kids (which happens to be me).
Profile Image for Janine .
847 reviews38 followers
December 4, 2016
This was a really interesting read for me. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars overall. I found it to be engrossing and interesting, even if it wasn't one that WOW'ed me.

This was also interesting for me because of the time I decided to read it. Tessa being a single woman in the midst of a crisis (or at least just coming off of a crisis), surrounded by close friends who are married with families was something I found myself relating to. Not entirely, but enough that it made me think of my own life at the present time. It's interesting to find yourself in a position that causes you to stand out from many of the other people in your life -- it can feel lonely, like you're missing out, like you're being judged because of the things that make you different. It can also be exciting or a relief sometimes. I could especially relate to feeling like an outsider among those close to you sometimes. I am not all that much like Tessa King, but I could definitely relate to her in some ways.

I think the other thing that may not have worked for me had I not read this book this year in particular was the quantity and level of "bad stuff" happening to those around Tessa. Her closest friends and godchildren are dealing with some very heavy life stuff throughout the course of the book -- infidelity, illness, infertility, death -- which may have seemed like too much. But if 2016 has taught me nothing else, it's that sometimes life really doesn't pull any punches. Sometimes you really do find yourself in the middle of sadness and tragedy from all sides, and all you can do is support each other and push forward.

I also really appreciated the way the Tessa and Ben relationship was handled. I expected that to go differently, and honestly felt the same conflict that Tessa did when she was confronted with having everything she wanted, at the expense of someone else's happiness. It was not an easy decision for her, but I liked the road she took.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. And thanks to the mother of my OWN goddaughter for gifting it to me :)
Profile Image for Meghan.
6 reviews1 follower
August 8, 2011
I only made it through the first hundred or so pages, and it seriously made me want to want to dropkick a puppy. I'm probably not going to finish this book.
Profile Image for Victoria.
2,512 reviews67 followers
February 25, 2010
I bought this book for $1 and when it was chosen for February's book club book, I was quite surprised. It certainly was not the romantic, funny, chick lit book that I think we all expected it to be. It had surprisingly little actual romance, and what romance there was did not seem worth rooting for. Tessa King was not overly likable. She made bad decisions (again and again); her love interests were not interesting and most of all, for a character who was supposed to be 35, I know 15-year-olds who are more mature. Her entire job situation struck me as utterly ridiculous as well... Some of the minor characters had interesting storylines, but not many of them came to clear resolutions, either. In the end, I was entertained, but frustrated since not many strands of plot seemed concluded. I am curious about the sequel, just to see if anything else is wrapped up. The Stepmother: A Novel
Profile Image for Heidi Hertzog.
167 reviews14 followers
March 5, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up thinking it would be a fun, British-wit, chick-lit read and got more than I was expecting, with a variety of plots and some heavy issues. Best of all, they weren't resolved all nice and neat, which gave it a good twist if you ask me. It left me wanting to find out more about what happened to the main character. Having gone through infertility/miscarriage, I thought that plot line was handled VERY well and in a very realistic manner. Not all infertility stories end happily, unfortunately. I felt that marriage was portrayed pretty realistically and raising children too.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much. It was an enjoyable read. I actually made time to sit and read it, which is something I rarely make time to do these days.
Profile Image for Chloe.
1,243 reviews3 followers
September 30, 2014
3.5 stars. On the surface, this story is firmly in the chick-lit category. Tessa has many friends and lots of god-children. But, will she ever find someone for herself? Will she ever fit into a life of her own?

Perhaps not exactly what I had expected, but a good read just the same.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
856 reviews60 followers
June 19, 2011
This was another book that took me forever to read. Not that there was anything wrong with this book at all or the girl (except for the hanging on-ness that she had with an old friend of hers who is currently married. It’s like, get over it! Move on! Granted, I am one to talk. I don’t allow myself to get roped into anyone so I have no one to get over when it eventually (because it always does) fail). Anyhoodle! I actually kind of liked this book. Interesting array of characters and I liked the Girl a lot. She is godmother to all her friends’ children and there are a lot of them. She thinks she wants some of her own, but only if she finds someone to have them with, which she can’t see to do. I liked how the book just kind of flowed from one of her friends to the next, a huge section devoted to each, but not organized on purpose like that. So it was easy to tell everyone apart amongst all the names. She almost ends up with her friend-crush in the end, but knows it’s wrong and leaves it be. Loves it! You go girl! Do the right thing, not the selfish thing.

Grade: C+
Profile Image for Jodie.
230 reviews22 followers
January 21, 2009
I enjoyed this book more now than I think I would have if I had read it when I was younger, because as a woman in my 30's who's not married and has no kids but has friends with kids, I could relate to Tessa King. She just wants what's best for her friends...in her eyes. The book was an eye-opener in some ways and also heart-wrenching in other ways. Even though I knew something was going to happen to one of her friends because it said so on the back cover, I was still shocked at the one it happened TO and how. It made for a good ending though. I recommend this book to others like me who may be godmothers in the same situation, who may be sitting on the fence unsure if they want kids or who are "aunties" to many friends kids with no kids of their own. It's a good read, kept my interest throughout, and made me laugh and sympathize with the main character.
Profile Image for Jen.
365 reviews57 followers
February 18, 2009
Not too bad, but dang it went on forever! The main character, Tessa, had too many friends to keep track of--part of the point of the book, I realize, but the author could have easily dropped one friend/godchild/crisis combo. I find some books don't realistically populate a protagonist's world, giving them only one or two friends, but this book went overkill in the other direction.

Of course in the end, our heroine learns some lessons about herself in dealing with her friends' problems. Another goodreads review of the book said the one thing Tessa did not come to terms with in the end was the fact that she had a drinking problem. I couldn't agree more!

Still, I did enjoy the humor throughout.
Profile Image for Susan Mangigian.
367 reviews11 followers
November 29, 2013
This book was given to me on my birthday by a dear friend who nicknamed me The Godmother due to my Italian heritage. This little group of wonderful friends all have nicknames for each other. Her name is Hershey due to her love for all things chocolate, particularly, Hershey bars.

Even though she picked this book for the title, I loved it. Very endearing about a group of good friends and of course one, unmarried friend, who is the Godmother to their children. English novel, which I love.

Totally enjoyable and written with great feeling.

Thank you Little Hershey. Books are the gifts that keep on giving. I loved this.
75 reviews2 followers
September 29, 2009
Plenty of potential in this book, but you could almost feel the setup for TRAGEDY from the first page. The characterizations are uneven... it's almost as if Adams really wants to TELL US A STORY WITH A LESSON, but there's so much backstory to tell to make the story make any sense, that it's like she wrote the story, then went back and added STUFF to 'make it work' but it just doesn't. I felt let down, not because of the resolution, but because it felt so pre-fab. "I will write a book about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence, and TRAGEDY will drive the point home." Blah.
Profile Image for Vicky Ziliaskopoulou.
689 reviews133 followers
June 21, 2016
Ήταν μια έκπληξη αυτό το βιβλίο- το ξεκίνησα περιμένοντας να διαβάσω ένα ανάλαφρο, ίσως και ευχάριστο βιβλίο και τελικά έπεσα πάνω σε ένα μυθιστόρημα που καταπιάνεται με σοβαρά προβλήματα τα οποία καλούμαστε να αντιμετωπίσουμε ως ενήλικες ή ως γονείς. Η κρίση στον γάμο, η απιστία, η εφηβεία, οι δυσκολίες που συναντούν οι νέοι γονείς, η μοναξιά όταν είσαι μόνος σε μια ηλικία που οι περισσότεροι είναι παντρεμένοι και οικογενειάρχες...
Δεν ήταν ανάλαφρο, όμως δεν κατάφερε να μου περάσει και συναισθήματα, δεν συμπόνεσα κανέναν.
Profile Image for Nannette.
128 reviews3 followers
March 1, 2015
I was initially worried that this was another Bridget jones and was relieved to find it was NOT. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Bridget but I was searching for more meat. This touched on so many slices of life that never are clear from the other side of the fence. Very well done and passed on to my best friend already. I will surely read The Stepmother sometime in the future. For now I must head on to the next book at my bedside.
1,034 reviews10 followers
June 22, 2009
The author maintained a believable narrative voice. This worked. The amount of drama was completely excessive, verging on unrealistic. A fuller development of just one of the events might have worked better. I also thought the main character, although true to the author's depiction, was hard to find believable and very hard to like. Her lack of direction didn't work for me.
Profile Image for Dreamjeanie.
4 reviews4 followers
November 20, 2018
I can’t find anything good to say about this book. The characters were unlikeable in my opinion. I couldn’t relate to them though I should have - the author was just unable to make those connections for me. My recommendation is to not waste your time on this book.
1,281 reviews
November 1, 2015
This was a good book. The story is about a group of long time friends and how their lives still intersect years later. It is a story of discovery and acceptance. I liked it.
Profile Image for Mary.
144 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2017
Didn't finish
Profile Image for Kristina.
1,330 reviews6 followers
December 22, 2017
This kinda reminded me of Big Little Lies in writing somewhat. It had multiple characters and has to do with mom’s, bad marriages, affairs and just navigating life.

Tessa King is coming back from weeks of vacation, or holiday, to a life that has not slowed down. She is the single in this group of friends she has. However, she is a godmother to four kids of her close friends. And she takes this role VERY seriously. She gets stuck in situations she has no business being a part of. She is 38 and wants kids but she has no man. This could be because she is wrapped up in her friendship with her close friend, Ben. She is stuck in the past but he is in a marriage with someone he loves. Will she embrace her feelings or move on? Her close friends Claudia and Al are facing the situation of trying to have a kid but can’t. Helen and Neil have twins and their life is horrible it seems. And Fran and Nick are trying to corral their 15 yr old into trying not be a weed-smoking-thief.

Tessa does meet some interesting fellas in this journey and tries embrace herself in these dates. But man the situations she puts herself makes me want to scream. She is a meddler I think. But she wants to be a part of something she doesn’t know yet.

I didn’t know there were other books but I was surprised to find out their were. So I am reading the next one. It’s nice to see more of Tessa in the next stage of her life. Life is messy and this book is a complete reflection of that.
Profile Image for Amy Leigh.
553 reviews2 followers
October 1, 2023
Tessa King is an unemployed lawyer just back from a trip to eat, love, pray or whatever while she recovers from a nightmare in which her former boss stalked her. She's returned to London to reclaim her life, and she's feeling her lack of a family.

When your entire friend group starts families, the lone singleton tends to become either the hapless ditz all the responsible couples have to help or the helper that the couples rely on when parenting becomes too much. Tessa wants to be the helper and prides herself on how close she is to her friends' children.

She is their godmother. Not a fairy godmother, because she can't make their wishes come true. In fact, there's no magic at all in this book. I don't think Tessa is intended to be an unsympathetic character, but, for me, she wasn't very likable. Her career is mentioned but doesn't seem to matter to her. She has a Sex and the City vibe, with her partying and drinking (a lot!), but less fun. I get that the author is trying to avoid certain chicklit cliches, but the story wasn't very satisfying.

Profile Image for Christine Ricci.
252 reviews13 followers
July 6, 2020
I picked this up because I wanted something light to read at the beach. The novel follows Tessa King, always the godmother, never the wife/mother during the tumultuous two months after she returns from a five-week hiatus after her ex-boss had been stalking her. Tessa is a drama queen, which makes for a fun (albeit frustrating at times) read.

I enjoyed that this romance dealt with some themes I do not always see in other similar novels (stalking, drugs, and death). My favorite aspect of the novel was its unconventional ending. I have never seen a romance novel close the way this one does, and I really appreciated it.

Due to the unconventional ending, the heavy topics it English-ly brushed upon, and the fact that the novel does exactly what it sets out to do -- be a relaxing romance novel, I give it three stars. Would I re-read it? Probably not. Would I recommend others read it? If you are interested in a relaxing, light read, most certainly!
Profile Image for Angela.
107 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2018
I enjoyed Tessa's story and thought it was good that the book didn't end with her meeting Prince Charming and living happily ever after. It ended with a couple possibilities and really that's what life is about....possibilities, not everything in life has a perfect happy ending. The only thing that really annoyed me about the book was Tessa getting drunk at the funeral. While understandable, I was really hoping that she would've been responsible enough to not drink while she was caring for the twins and especially in the presence of Helen's mother. To Marguerite, that was just another instance of Tessa showing that she's incapable of taking care of the twins. It was refreshing to see Tessa grow into this maternal role while caring for the twins and she kind of let me down in that scene. I just really wish the author left that out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Janna Oakfellow-Pushee.
27 reviews3 followers
July 19, 2018
When I don't have a 'shelf category' for it, I shelve it by stars.

This one gets a 3. Why? Because overall I didn't enjoy it; the story, the characters in general (Enough with Tessa! I found myself thinking. Well, that and along with 'who cares?' a lot.); and yet, AND YET! I didn't walk away from it. The writing itself is rhythmic and fast-paced (and pretty British in some parts), and thus it spins you a freaking weird yarn whilst asking you to admire the scenery here, and won't you enjoy a snack there...

It really did feel like being on a train; you're already committed to your destination (the finishing of the book), but you really wish you hadn't been saddled with quite such a chatty, life-informing, TMI stranger as your seat-mate. When it was time for my stop, I got up and returned to my life, although left bewildered about what it was I just was told.

Good on ya, mate.
Profile Image for Chrisinny.
88 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2018
This is a perfectly fine fluffy novel about a woman who is godmother to & kids- and this is the means by which the author gets us inextricably woven into each of the different family’s lives. These lives are not all sweetness and light and neither is the eponymous godmother, Tessa, who sleeps around and almost wrecks the marriage of her best friend, Ben, who is suffering from the 7 year itch. Tessa figures out what to do about the infant godsons for whom she becomes guardian (she falls in love with them and keeping them but gives them up- which is the “right” thing to do) and figures out her unrequited love with her best friend (she gives him up as a romantic interest because it is the “right” thing to do). Sense a theme? Both times the author set it up so the reader would wish that she would do the responsible thing which was fine- but we are not talking high literature here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Doreen Dooley.
83 reviews2 followers
February 8, 2019
Now I have to say when I started this book I thought what is wrong with this woman Tessa , why is she running from her life and why is she missing the obvious problems her friends are going through.
So through her friends, billy and daughter Cora , Francesca, her husband nick, Claudia and her husband al and family , Ben and Sasha, and Helen and Neil and there twin boys we see Tessa grow and realize that she’s not the wonderful peace keeper, god mother that she has pictured in her mind , but it takes a tragedy to see her on a path that has you wondering is this what we all do through life are there areas that we keep on seeing through rose tinted glasses only to realize that life is hard.
Yes there are good times but also bad times and I we really there for the people who need us or just living a lie?
Profile Image for Isobel.
517 reviews17 followers
December 30, 2022
British chick lit continually espousing humour and fun that the main character and her friends never seem to feel. This book is dramatic and depressing. Everyone's problems are highlighted and the protagonist is continually making menacing remarks that seem off the mark until the last quarter of the book when something particularly sad and disturbing finally does happen.

Honestly, the build up to the last quarter of the book is slow and meandering to the point that I considered stopping reading. The last quarter of the book was fairly good, but cannot fully redeem the muddle it took me to get there.

I would recommend this book if you like stories with a lot of characters and a lot of things going on, but don't much care about resolution. The characters do a lot, it's simply that a lot of it isn't very important or is like an after-school special shoved down Tessa's throat.
608 reviews8 followers
April 2, 2023
Tessa is a 30something single who has great friends and 4 god children. She isnt currently working due to a stalking situation but it's ok. She has bar nights and meetups with her friends. It is a fun life. What is missing? Her own children.
I'm sure this was meant to be funny and parts were. But there was an awful lot of real emotions. The ever burning desire for children. The reality of marriage. The surface levels of happiness and the reality of life. Infertility. Unfaithfulness. Some of these realities had me closing the book because I wasnt ready for those realities to play out
Really good read for a weekend
Profile Image for Margi.
490 reviews
January 4, 2018
This is an interesting story about female friendship. Some would classify this as chick lit, but it tends to be a bit darker and less fluffy than most. As the author stated, this is a book about not knowing what lies around the corner. Life takes unscripted twists and turns. The characters are all very well written even if you don't like them all. I could picture this group of friends in my mind. This story takes a look into married life, all of its fears and doubts as well as what makes them tick.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 436 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.