from 5 Minute for Mom:
“Michelle Ross has a sly sense of humor and a wry imagination. I really enjoyed this collection of stories. It’s the sort of book to read and re-read, and loan out to your friends. Highly recommended.”
Review from Run Wright:
“The stories are smart and funny or sad or thoughtful, depending on how you view the characters. As a mom who is currently researching how to get my toddler into some of those prestigious programs that may be free if you’re only willing to sacrifice a (identify treasured limb here), these characters touch me and motivate me and make me wish I knew them in real life. The title of the collection feels appropriate for the varied identities the women must take on in each story as they relate to their spouses, friends and people who act like friends but are really the thorns in their sides, their children, their own parents. The women are all strong even when they could use some real support themselves. Definitely read this one if you want to know what it’s like when feminists become mothers, or if you’re not a mother and want the behind-the-scenes look at the sacrifices that accompany the joys of motherhood.”
Review from Forever Lost in Literature:
“I really appreciated how well Ross was able to convey the various traumas and feelings that surround being a mother, becoming a mother, and the ways in which the world around us perceives mothers and motherhood, from all different angles and world views. This collection is at times frightening, hilarious, sobering, tragic, and enlightening, and I found it exceptionally difficult to put down at many different points while reading it.”
Review from The Cozy Book Blog:
“Shapeshifting is a poignant collection of short stories that are authentic, powerful, and relatable…Ross also explores the enormous weight of maternal guilt, and how easily we connect our child’s struggles to something we did or failed to do. Shapeshifting illustrates that all families struggle in some way, and all mothers are flawed. Parenting is not neat and tidy because people are messy and complicated. Ross takes us through the blood, sweat and tears of parenting; experiencing the most intense kind of love, but also anxiety and sleepless nights filled with raw emotion. Ross demonstrates how parenthood brings to the surface everything about ourselves that we might have preferred to keep buried. We work so hard to shield our children from our most shameful parts, but these problems still manage to fall right into their laps anyway. Well-written, intriguing, and emotional, Shapeshifting is a book that I highly recommend to all mothers. Bravo!”
Review from @secretreadinglife:
“Shapeshifting isn’t the way I’d imagined it. I’d always pictured myself behind the wheels of other bodies I assumed. This is the opposite. I’m the wheels, not the driver.”
– Shapeshifting by Michelle Ross
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“As a mother, I was very curious about this book. Fourteen stories about motherhood and the different ways they shape us. I’ll be honest, I never really gave it much thought on how much motherhood has changed me. Things have changed, sure, but I’m still the same, right? At least I thought so…
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I started reading some stories yesterday and I can already tell that I’ll need more stories. I was immediately hooked! Ross drops you right into the story and keeps you there always wanting more when it’s over. I usually read one a night when it comes to books like these, but I’m currently carrying this book around and reading it whenever possible!”
Review from Stranded in Chaos blog:
“I haven’t read a collection of short stories in a long while, in fact, I can’t even remember what they were even for, but this one? This was lovely. Though the book only contains 14 stories and coming in just over 200 pages long, this packs a punch. Normally when I read something like this, I read one story at a time, it’s perfect for setting the book down and reading in short spurts as I have time, which is exactly what I thought I would do with this one. Instead, I found myself glued to my couch, flying through one after another, because each one is a gem all of its own, snippets of motherhood that you might identify with.
Once I finished this, I decided that I wanted to be the author’s friend, attend a book tour stop for this, and/or go out to dinner because the conversation would be absolutely lovely and she could write her entire next short story collection just on me and my stories. (Truly, Michelle, if you’ve hit a writer’s block, hit me up, because I will fix it!) The awkwardness of playdates is perfectly highlighted, comparing a mother’s existence to used wrapping paper, the competitiveness of being a mom and making sure we get our children the best of the best opportunities (knowing full well I am 100% guilty of this myself), feeling like you’re a bad mom and everyone can see it, etc. Bottom line? If ever you need a book that will make you feel absolutely seen as a mom, this is it. Looking for a fun book to put in a baby gift? Or need an idea for a Mother’s Day gift for your friend who just really wants to be seen as anything other than a food source?
THIS IS WHAT YOU GET THEM.
I finished this and immediately bought two copies for a couple of friends who are really struggling with this whole motherhood set up because honestly, we could all use a little extra right now. Being a mom is really hard. Being a mom right now is even harder. Being a mom, right now, in a pandemic and the uncertainty of the world, is the absolute worst, so kudos to Michelle Ross for not only putting this out there but making it completely funny and relatable at the same time.”
Review from @nurse_bookie:
“I had an opportunity to get my hands on this very special collection of short stories from author Michelle N Ross called Shapeshifting. It is a collection of fourteen stories that I intentionally slowly read in the course of a week, ensuring I don’t devour this in one sitting – which I certainly could have had, but this was meant to be savored. It was a book I was tickled to read as I wound down into the evening with a cup of tea, and on some nights indulging with a glass of wine – which was absolutely perfect to match with these ever so feminist stories about motherhood – the trying and failing, and sometimes accidentally succeeding. Within the stories were pieces of me and Ross really understood the human existence. Motherhood and being a woman was front center in these stories.
Ross is incredibly funny and brilliant, and the writing is incredible!”
