Stepmothers Mother's Day Book

Happy Mother’s Day to Step Mothers. There are a lot of us in recovery. Step parenting correlates with sobriety as many of us end up in new marriages and the men we marry often have families. Step-parenting can be one of the joys and one of the heartaches of ongoing recovery.

I know it’s possible that as a stepmother you may not have received a Mother’s Day gift so let me offer you one. Go and buy yourself the new novel, “Another Piece of My Heart” by Jane Green. It’s recently published and it is outstanding in its portrayal of a contemporary stepfamily. I’ve been a stepparent in two marriages and every thing I did poorly, and later better, is in this book.

The bonus for us is that there is also active recovery in this novel. There are characters in AA and in Alanon; there is teen drinking and other kinds of addiction and recovery as well. And it’s so well done, nothing heavy-handed, just great, can’t-wait-to-get-back-to-my-book, kind of storytelling.

After starting this as a hard-back book I also got “Another Piece of My Heart” on CD from my local library and it’s been great fun to listen to it as well. It is read by the author, Jane Green, who has a fabulous voice, which adds to the drama of the story.

Of course, if you are not a Step Mom, I’m sure you know someone who is one, and who would love this book as a gift, and who would love that you recognized that Mother’s Day is a day for her too.