My journey as a stepmom – personal essays
These are the resources that have helped me become a better me, a better wife, a better mom, a better bonus mom, and a little smarter financially!
Each title is linked directly to amazon.com
MUST Reads for Step Moms!
Stepcoupling: Creating and Sustaining a Strong Marriage in Today’s Blended Family
~ Read Southern Belle’s review
No One’s the Bitch: A Ten-Step Plan for the Mother and Stepmother Relationship
~ Read Peggy Nolan’s review
Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do
~ Read Peggy Nolan’s review
The Package Deal: My (not-so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom
~ Read Peggy Nolan’s review
As a step mom, mom, wife, woman, human being – these are some of the books that I recommend to anyone and everyone who’s having a tough time with Self-Care because they’re too busy Caretaking…
- Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life
- The Gift of Change
- The Right Questions: Ten Essential Questions To Guide You To An Extraordinary Life
- The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman’s Life
- The Tao of Pooh
- The Alchemist
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
- First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living
- The Language of Letting Go
- Divine Intuition
- A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”
- The Secret (Extended Edition)
- Self-Reliance (Dover Thrift Editions)
Book recommendations for you and your wonderful husband – blending families is tough and communication between husband and wife is critical to building love, respect, trust, and nurturing your relationship.
Let’s face it, kids are TOUGH! These are my top recommendations for being a Step Mom and Step Parenting (and Parenting in general!)
- A Career Girl’s Guide to Becoming a Stepmom: Expert Advice from Other Stepmoms on How to Juggle Your Job, Your Marriage, and Your New Stepkids
- Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child’s Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days
- Ending The Homework Hassle
- Smart Stepfamily: The Seven Steps to a Healthy Family
I hear from so many step moms with financial problems – these are my top book recommendations from my favorite financial gurus:
- Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny
- Make Money, Not Excuses
- Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams (Revised Edition)
Miscellaneous Books
This book recommendation has NOTHING to do with being a Step-Mom, but everything to do with good writing.
- Grammar Girl’s Q
uick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty.
Are you nauseous or nauseated? Do you need to lie down or lay down? What the hec is an interrobang? (I’d better check to see if I spelled that right!)
Fogarty’s Grammar Girl is the first English reference guide that I’ve bought that’s both useful AND funny. For anyone who writes professionally or as a hobby, you should include this book in your reference library because you never know when you might need to learn how to use the interrobang!
April 2, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] Step Mom Resources [...]
April 9, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I recently found your site, and think a new book I’m publicizing published by GPP Life books might be of interest to your readers. The authors, an ex-wife and stepmother team, propose that it’s time to stop being so blasé about the hostility and opposition that typically characterize a mother/stepmother relationship, and figure out a way to work together for the sake of the kids.
I would be happy to send a review copy to your attention.
In No One’s the Bitch, (GPP Life, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press; May, 2009; ISBN: 978-0-7627-5093-1; $16.95; Paperback), ex-wife/stepmother team extraordinaire Jennifer Newcomb Marine and Carol Marine air their dirty laundry, share formerly secret thoughts, and lay out a plan to navigate the minefield that typically exists between moms and stepmoms.
With humor and reassurance, No One’s the Bitch provides ten powerful concepts that walk readers past the point of traditional antagonism and into a revolutionary new approach for family cohesiveness. Playful but in-your-face quizzes, thought provoking journal questions, and true-life stories make it fun to work your way from conflict to cooperation. The authors also examine how the father plays into problems, or progress, between the women.
Some sobering facts:
Up to 1300 stepfamilies are formed every day in the United States
46 out of every 100 marriages today is a remarriage for one or both partners
75% of remarriages involving children end in divorce
Sharing the belief that our culture is hungry for a new family model after divorce and remarriage, the authors, who at one point were incapable of sharing eye contact, now share a community bank account, and have learned to “do the right thing” as adults instead of putting their comfort first. No One’s the Bitch provides a vision of what’s possible, and a step-by-step guide to help you get there.
Please forward me your shipping address, and a review copy will be on its way to you.
Many thanks for your consideration…
b
April 9, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Thanks Bob! I just sent you an email…I would LOVE to review the book!
April 10, 2009 at 11:59 am
[...] Just yesterday, a publicist for GPP Life Publishing left a comment on my other blog and asked if I’d do an advanced review of a book that’s about to be [...]
April 21, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I would really like to see something that deals with the relationship between stepmoms of daughters of custodial fathers. I’ve been with my widower husband for 25 years and his girls still make my life a misery.
April 21, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Joy – I am a daughter who’s dad won custody of me and my 3 brothers back in 1971. He remarried when I was 9 and my mom (dad’s 2nd wife) later adopted us when I was 12.
I will search for something for you. I know that Ron L. Deal has a chapter in his book, “Smart Stepfamilies” dealing with women who marry a widower.
xxoo
TBG
May 29, 2009 at 6:29 pm
[...] Step Mom Resources [...]