When life hands longtime best friends Jude and Lauren lemons, they decide to make lemonade by becoming roommates. Lauren's lemons involve an ex-fiancé who walked out on her and their young daughter, Adelaide. Jude's involve a manipulative mother who is draining Jude of her finances and sapping her mental health. Living together, along with Adelaide, the two women work to build themselves back up. When Lauren is hit with a custody battle, Jude suggests they use her influencer status to start a podcast about motherhood and being a single millennial to boost Lauren's profile; thus, Mom Jeans and Martinis is born. As the podcast takes off, Jude struggles with her mother's toxicity and numbs it with alcohol. Their friendship is changed forever when Adelaide is hurt on a playdate Jude was supervising. Romance writer Martin's (Intercepted, 2018) latest is an endearing story about, as Lauren says, "female friendship amplified." The story is so infectious that readers probably won't mind the rushed ending. Instead, they will root for both women as the two navigate adulthood, martini or juice box in hand.

Martin (Snapped) delivers a genuine if sometimes tedious story of female friendship and a child custody battle. Black single mom Lauren Turner and her five-year-old daughter, Adelaide, move in with Lauren's white best friend, feisty influencer Jude Andrews. Lauren tried and failed for years to get Adelaide's father, Ben, to show an interest in their child, and is shocked when Ben serves her with papers demanding full custody. Though she's a doting, loving mom, it becomes clear that Ben will be cutthroat in his pursuit. In order to establish proof of Lauren's stellar parenting skills, she and Jude partner up on a new parenting podcast that becomes a hit. Off the show, both women contend with their difficult mothers: Lauren's mom is judgmental and withering, while Jude's reality TV star mom is a narcissist. Jude, meanwhile, has trouble opening up to Lauren and drinks too much, which becomes a problem for Lauren's custody issues and for the podcast. While there are a few too many cutesy scenes dedicated to Adelaide and her precocious speech, Martin successfully conveys the work required to become an influencer, and deserves praise for smoothly dealing with issues of race, privilege, and alcohol abuse. Overall, Martin offers a fresh perspective on platonic love. Agent: Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Sept.)

Jude Andrews is what they call "Insta-famous." From her Pilates-toned body to her sun-kissed filtered photos, she presents her followers with snapshots of her perfect life through the haze of Instagram. What the camera doesn't capture is her dysfunctional relationship with her mother, or how her father's death affected her. Meanwhile, her best friend since grade school, Lauren Turner, has a wildly different life, complete with five-year-old daughter June whom she's singlehandedly and unexpectedly raising. When June's father comes back into the picture and wants full custody, Lauren and Jude decide to move in together and start their own podcast about motherhood (Lauren's specialty) with a side of martinis (Jude's specialty). Jude hopes the pivot will help her keep up appearances online, while Lauren hopes to retain custody of June. Full of laughter, romance, and a few startup scares, the latest from sports romance author Martin (Snapped; Blitzed) packs a punch. VERDICT Readers of this hilarious, heartfelt novel will feel like they're chatting with their BFF. It dives deep into family issues but keeps readers on their toes as Jude and Lauren deal with what life throws at them.--Erin Holt, formerly at Williamson Cty. P.L., Franklin, TN