Naked Mom By Brooke Burke

Here are some things I learned from Brooke Burke’s book (try saying that three times fast), Naked Mom: Brooke Burke, host and former champion of Dancing With the Stars, is the type of lady you would probably call if you wanted to go out for quick pedicure and some girl talk. Brooke is good mom with cool kids, a nice house, a dedicated soulmate for a husband, and a busy schedule. Dancing with the Stars is really hard and time consuming. She runs some businesses. She likes using “LOL” in contexts that are neither the Internet nor text messages. Brooke and her French Baywatch alum husband David Charvet have a sex life of which the general population would most definitely be jealous. (Spoiler: They like to drink wine, light candles, role-play and follow it up with midnight paninis. For real.) Brooke loves Twitter. Usually Brooke is nice, but sometimes has to be a bitch to get things done, and she sometimes feels bad about that.

Naked Mom (subtitle: “A Modern Mom’s Fearless Revelations, Savvy Advice, and Soulful Reflections”) is kind of a parenting book, kind of a memoir, and kind of offers some general advice about beauty, health, and your love life. Brooke writes, “This book won’t tell you how to live your life, but I’ll show you what really goes on behind the scenes in mine, and how I manage – on good days – to make it work.” Though she delivers, and seems perfectly genuine about it, I’m not convinced that a “behind the scenes” look at what it’s like to be Brooke Burke – the Woman, the Mother, and the Lover – is particularly compelling topic for anyone who was not already a big fan and specifically seeking that information. You see, Brooke runs an online mommy community called ModernMom.com. The book will probably be of interest to those who follow her blogs, tweets, and lessons on how to cook salmon in the dishwasher (http://www.modernmom.com/article/brooke-burke-cooks-salmon-in-the-dishwasher) and are dying to hear more, but it doesn’t make any groundbreaking conclusions of its own.

Much of the book is dedicated to debunking the myth that all the “other” moms have everything figured out. Through accounts of personal successes and failures she attempts to take the pressure off women who feel like they can never be the perfect mother, wife, career woman, and friend that they wish they could be. I’m not a mom, but as a woman, I can appreciate this. Women, especially mothers, are held to countless unrealistic standards, and they’re not going to go away if we don’t talk about them. It’s just that Naked Mom, while continuing the conversation, doesn’t add anything revolutionary. While I don’t doubt that standing up against Girl Scout troop injustices was an important lesson to model for her daughter, and that even wealthy bikini models have personal problems and insecurities, I can’t help but think that many of the tips, tricks, and anecdotes in Naked Mom are more appropriate for a blog than a $25.95 hardcover book.