The Other Mothers' Club

The Other Mother’s Club was a great read! Samatha Baker shared a lot of insight with this book. An angle we don’t often read about. Ladies, and Gentlemen, think before you leap and make life together be good for everyone. Thank you, Samatha Baker, fir sharing this side of a relationship. Job Well Done.

I adored this book. I enjoyed reading a story from a perspective we rarely read about. Eve falls in love with Ian, a widower, but is unprepared to cope with the challenges of living with his three children. She turns to her best friend Claire, a single mother with a teenager. Claire has Eve speak with her sister, Lily who is seeing someone with a young daughter. Next thing you know, the Stepmothers Support Group is formed and two additional members are added. The women met at Starbucks to discuss the challenges that they are facing being a stepmother. Eve struggles to get Ian's oldest daughter Hannah to like her, or at the very least, not hate her. She is also coping with living in a house where another woman still has a very large presence. Claire struggles when her ex, Will, appears wanting to met the daughter he abandoned some 14 years ago. The other women have their own stories, but the plot revolving the characters of Eve and Claire was most defined. Even though Baker's book is about the challenges facing mothers/stepmothers, at its core it is really about women and friendship. You don't need to be a stepmother or mom to appreciate this book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good summer read.

In London, Eve Owen and widower Ian Newsome meet over a magazine review she is doing on his book re his late wife. They fall in love, but she is totally unprepared to deal with his kids (twelve years old Hannah, eight years old Sophie and five years old Alfie). Her best friend school teacher Claire Adams is a single mom of thirteen year old Louisa so she listens to Eve's woes of becoming a stepmother. Clare helps and soon the two BFFs forge the Stepmothers' Support Group. Clare's younger sister Lily joins them as she is dating a single dad with a toddler. Mandy becomes a member as she struggles to merge two families with teenagers in both into a cohesive unit. Finally Mel's boyfriend has a tweener. This is an intriguing look at the not wicked stepmother as the club members want loving relationships with the offspring of their significant other. Clare and Eve are fully developed but the rest of the ensemble pale in comparison as there are too many characters with too many issues to keep score. Still readers who enjoy a well written family drama will appreciate The Stepmothers' Support Group as the women want to do their best but don't always succeed. Harriet Klausner