Becoming a mother rocked my world in countless ways, drawing me to books that explore the raw, unfiltered truth about how challenging motherhood can be. The complexities—the love, guilt, and frustration—resonate deeply with me. Motherhood is also why I started writing; initially, I wanted to process the overwhelming emotions I was feeling. When I began sharing my writing with friends, their “Yeah, me too's” made me realize I wasn’t alone. I have deep respect for authors who can capture the messiness of motherhood so honestly, and I’m inspired by their ability to put into words what so many of us experience.
I loved this book'sraw, unflinching exploration of a taboo topic: the quiet regret some mothers carry. Through Sadie, a fierce Broadway star and feminist icon, and her daughter Jude, an actress on the brink of her own fame, Reimer paints a portrait that's complex and so intimate it’s almost uncomfortable at times.
I appreciated how neither woman was cast as the villain, and in their struggle, I found I could relate to both of them at different moments. Cleverly structured as a play in six acts, this novel is a beautifully written, compulsive read that asks the hard question: can a woman truly be both a devoted mother and a devoted artist?
Set against the sparkling backdrop of the theater world, this propulsive debut follows the relationship between an actress who refuses to abandon her career and the daughter she chooses to abandon instead.
Sadie Jones, a larger-than-life actress and controversial feminist, never wanted to be a mother. No one feels this more deeply than Jude, the daughter Sadie left behind. While Jude spent her childhood touring with her father’s Shakespearian theater company, desperate for validation from the mother she barely knew, Sadie catapulted to fame on the wings of The Mother Act—a scathing one-woman show about motherhood.
This doubles as one of my favorite novels and also a treasured parenting how-to book. It’s a poignant reminder that motherhood is pure on-the-job learning and that you’ll probably never get it just right. I learned so much about parenting my own children from the story of Rosie and her husband, Penn, who are parents to a little boy, Claude, who wants to be a girl.
This book captures the true essence of parenting: Rosie and Penn love Claude fiercely and do what they believe is best to support their child—only to discover later that their choices were deeply flawed. This is something I really relate to! Overall, this book is a heartfelt, hilarious testament to the messiness of motherhood and the imperfect love we have for our kids.
'A very special book about a family with a secret. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think.' Liane Moriarty, No. 1 bestselling author of THE HUSBAND'S SECRET
Laurie Frankel's THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS the 'fascinating story of a thoroughly modern family and the giant, multifaceted love that binds them... Sparkles with wit and wisdom' (Maria Semple). Perfect for readers of WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES and THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY.
This is how a family keeps a secret...and how that secret ends up keeping them.
Meet Tony Valenti. His high-flying corporate law career just cratered. His society marriage blew up in a bitter divorce. He's returned to the Chicago suburbs to lick his wounds and regroup in the haven of the Valenti family home. But time to heal isn't in the cards.
This book is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of the pressure moms feel to appear perfect, all while grappling with the realities of parenting in a world that demands so much of us. It addresses head-on the silent struggles and unspoken fears that many women face.
Audrain does a brilliant job of putting into words the conflicting emotions of love, guilt, and frustration that often accompany motherhood. It follows four women, all of whom I loved and hated at different moments, and explores how the weight of expectations can drive women to their breaking points.
It’s dark suburbia at its best, and it takes time to peel back the layers of the characters’ seemingly perfect lives until we can see the painful, messy truths underneath.
“Expertly, subtly and powerfully rendered….[The Whispers] delivers a sucker-punch ending you’ll have to read twice to believe.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[An] electrifying…razor-sharp page-turner.” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After
Featured in summer reading recommendations by Good Morning America, TIME, ELLE, The Washington Post & more
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Push, a propulsive page-turner about four families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens—and what is lost when we give in to our own worst impulses
On Harlow Street, the well-to-do neighborhood couples and their children gather…
This is one of the most hilarious, bizarre, and relatable books about motherhood I've ever read. On the surface, it’s the story of an artist turned stay-at-home mom who believes she’s turning into a dog. But at its core, it's a brilliantly original exploration of art, power, and the identity crisis that often accompanies motherhood.
I loved how it tackled the all-consuming nature of motherhood. It doesn’t shy away from the tough topics and is also laugh-out-loud funny at times. It left me both entertained and deeply reflective.
In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog. • "A must-read for anyone who can’t get enough of the ever-blurring line between the psychological and supernatural that Yellowjackets exemplifies." —Vulture
One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else...
An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's demands, only…
To hide a corporation’s failure to properly service a space ship, Captain Jonas Stryker is prosecuted but saved from imprisonment by a dying man, who hires Stryker to collect asteroids for their mineral content. Stryker soon finds he must stop a shadowy corporate group called The Board, who employ space…
I was captivated by this book, which tackles every mother’s worst nightmare: losing your children because of a mistake you’ve made. It’s a gripping and original spin on the “it takes a village” concept, as three women—a mother, foster mother, and grandmother—fight for custody of the same children.
I’m drawn to books that tell the raw truth about how hard motherhood can be, and this novel does it beautifully. The theme of how difficult it is to ask for help, even when you’re on the brink of desperation, resonated with me deeply. It’s a powerful, thought-provoking read.
In this hopeful debut about the silent struggles of motherhood, three very different women want custody of the same two little girls-and learn they have more in common than the children they're fighting for.
Determined to be a better mother than her own, Hannah has devoted her life to her daughters. She ignores her increasing exhaustion and isolation as a widowed mom-until a disastrous mistake lands the girls in foster care.
Julie is single and lonely and dreams of being a mother. After infertility issues lead her to foster parenting, she falls head over heels for Hannah's daughters. The more…
This unforgettable and emotionally charged story about two families whose lives are changed forever by a devastating accusation is perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty, and Lucinda Berry.
Lorrie and Eden have been friends for decades and have raised their children side by side. When their teenage kids start dating just before high school graduation, it seems like a perfect ending to their shared story. Then, one night, everything unravels after a sexual assault accusation between the two teenagers shatters not only Lorrie and Eden’s friendship but their entire world. As the fall-out from what really happened that fateful night rips their tight-knit, privileged community apart, both Lorrie and Eden struggle to decide how far they’ll each go to protect their families.
Crushed under writer’s block and a looming deadline, Mack escapes from New York to Seattle. She meets Charlie, a beautiful, generous, nearly bankrupt coffee shop owner recovering from heartbreak. For the first time, Mack has a muse. And then Mack starts using Charlie’s private stories in her novel…
Miranda falls in love with her dream house but soon discovers it's an affair with complications. A lot of them. Rosewood is a centuries old, tumble-down, gambrel roofed charmer located in an isolated, coastal corner of Virginia referred to as "strange". Known for long-standing and antiquated customs, an almost indecipherable…
