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STEPMONSTER: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do, by Wednesday Martin, Ph.D., offers a realistic and new way of looking at women in relationships with men who have children.
STEPMONSTER explores stepfamily life from the stepmother’s point of view. Instead of focusing solely on how new martial partnerships affect children, the book asks how remarriage with children will affect the stepmonther — psychologically, socially and economically.
Martin uses on her own experience as a stepmother, and she interviews other stepmothers and stepchildren. The author also offers insights from anthropology, literary criticism, psychology and evolutionary biology.
When asked why she wrote STEPMONSTER, Martin replied:
It was cathartic for me to write about my own feelings of frustration and failure, certainly, and to find that these were common emotions for stepmothers to feel. I also wrote the book that I wanted to read. As I struggled to figure out how to relate to my husband’s kids and to deal with being a stepmother, I couldn’t find many books out there that went beyond simple advice that felt impossible at the time. Like ‘Don’t take it personally’ and ‘Let it go or you’ll regret it.’
Enter to win a copy of STEPMONSTER:
Leave a comment on this post sharing why you’re interested in reading this book, or giving it as a gift. Deadline to comment is Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 11 pm CST.
You must have a US mailing address to enter the contest. The winner will have five days to respond to my request for a mailing address before another winner is chosen. Please check your spam filters on October 29-30.
Good luck!
(Book cover image, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
I’m interested in reading this book because I would like to learn more about how stepmothers think and act the way they do.
Great read, great contest!
For my neighbor!
I’d like to give this book to my sister who will be a step mom in the future and maybe it could help.
I would like to read this book …reminds me of my childhood (step monster…opps…i mean step mother ha ha)
sounds like a good book
I would love to win this book for my sister. She married her husband who had a teen daughter and it has been very difficult for her. I would love to give this to her and hopefully her stepdaughter would read it too. Thanks!
I am a stepmother, I have friends who are step mothers. i am really interested in reading this book. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’d love to read this, my father re-married and the woman is insane!
I would give this to my bestfriend who is now a new stepmom :)
id like to win this for my daughter to read..she has never understood her stepmother…
I’m a stepmother of 3. I’ve never read anything about being a stepmother, but I think this book could be really informative and helpful.Thank you.
This seems interesting.
I’m always interested in reading books that explain why people think, feel, and act the way they do. Thanks !
I am a step-mom of 16 yaers, and now my oldest step-daughter is a step-mom and beginning to understand just what I went through. I’d like her to have an easier time of it, which perhaps this book may help with. It could be something we could both learn from together!
I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. My ex was engaged 3 days after our divorce was finalized. I later married a man with two children that came from different women. At times over the past two years, I have literally been consumed with doubt, rage, fear, disbelief and sadness.
I thought because I am a good person, that everything would play out the way ‘it should’. I was wrong. I need some reassurance that my feelings are normal. And quite frankly, I’m wondering if these BMs are normal as well or just plain CRAZY! I hope it’s a book that I wouldn’t be afraid to pass on to my children’s stepmother.
I would LOVE to have it! Thank you.
I guess I want to read this book to confirm, deny, or validate some of my feelings on being a step mother. I often feel like the monster.
I’m a step mother and have been for almost 4 years to one child. This would be for me, as it’s getting harder as he gets older!
I would love this book. I have been married for 3 years. My husband was 39 when we married and I was 26. Not only was there a challenge with the age difference but he also had a 13 ( now 16 yr. old daughter). I wish I had this book 3 years ago because I have had lots of emotions that no one understood. I feel there are few reliable resources for step-mothers that are not all about the children. Sometimes you just need to know you are not the only one in this situation. Needless to say, I would love to get this book to read now and to refer to when times get hard (LOL)!
I think this book is brilliant. Alot of books out there are for the mothers of the children, the children’s lives, or how the father can deal. What people don’t realize, is ultimately, this whole situation is hardest for the step mother. We have to learn to balance, to love, and to be strong all over again. We have to raise children that aren’t ours only to watch the “actual” mother get all the credit. We have to fight for our rights to love someone and are often put on the backburner. I would love to be able to read this book and see how others deal with this. I’m a 25 year old new step mother to two gorgeous children we get half of the year.