By Jamie Maletta
Ashlee Gadd is the founder of the Coffee and Crumbs platform, a successful writer and author, as well as a co-host of her Coffee and Crumbs podcast. I stumbled across Ashlee’s book The Magic of Motherhood via an Instagram story and quickly saved it to the top of my TBR wish list, not waiting long before caving and making my purchase.
The Magic of Motherhood really gave me the Chicken Soup book collection vibes. Each chapter is written by a mother, sharing her unique experience of motherhood. Some stories were cheerful, reminding me that childhood passes all too quickly. Other stories met me in the hard stuff that comes with raising these beautiful humans, while others told stories of the struggles of conceiving and bringing a baby into this world. No matter your journey into motherhood, or your perception and experience through the chapters of this beautiful phenomenon, each story is something you can relate to in varying degrees, reminding us that we aren’t alone.
As a mother of an (almost) three-year-old, I find myself in the trenches of toddlerhood. All any of us want to do is to raise kind, confident, and happy humans, and there’s no “how-to” book that gets passed along to you as you leave the hospital to prepare you for what these next years will bring. The Instagram reels, the perfectly coordinated photos, and the organic bento box lunches sometimes can leave us feeling like we have it all wrong.
Ashlee’s collection of essays truly digs into the nitty gritty of the things we just don’t see online—the life we left behind when we became mothers, the village it takes to raise children (that may or may not have ever showed up), the version of ourselves our children need, and the amount of grace we absolutely need to be giving to ourselves. There’s a little bit of everything, and as each chapter covers a different topic by a different author, it’s easy to pick this book up and set it back down (a mom must-have).
Whether you’re new to this journey, are in the middle of it all, or are a seasoned veteran of this thing called motherhood, I believe this book is one that can be enjoyed by all. I’m definitely interested in checking out more of Ashlee’s writing, what the podcast is all about, and if there are more books on the horizon! 10 stars for me!