Between the diaper changes, carpool duties, cooking responsibilities, and periodic meltdowns (from either your child or you!), moms have little time to take a break for themselves. Fortunately, books can give mothers the much needed and well-deserved reprieve from their hectic daily lives. Take a minute for yourself today with these quirky, funny, and sexy novels. A bookish mom-vacation is exactly what you need.
Psst, Moms! 6 Enticing Books for When You Need a Break
Follow several women as they navigate the hilarious, traumatic, and down-right exhausting feats of new motherhood. Becky is a chef at a city-wide acclaimed restaurant with a great husband and newborn baby girl. But her real struggle lies in her monstrous mother-in-law from hell. Kelly is an event planner attempting to juggle work, raising a newborn, and balancing the needs of her unemployed husband who seems to have zero ambitions of finding work for himself. Ayinde is the wife of a superstar basketball player, but when he betrays her trust, he subjects his family to the humility of the public eye. And lastly there is Lia. She has left her husband and her entire life behind in Philadelphia to start anew, hoping to run away from her long-kept secrets. This wildly funny take on motherhood will have mothers across the board laughing, crying, and sympathizing along with these women as they attempt to wade through their own struggles.
Jennifer Weiner's richest, wittiest, most true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate one of life's most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journay of new motherhood.
Becky is a plump, sexy chef who has a wonderfull husband and baby girl, a restaurant that received a citywide acclaim -- and the mother-in-law from hell. Kelly is an event planner who's struggling to balance her work and motherhood while dealing with unemployed husband who seems content to channel-surf for eight hours a day. Ayinde's basketball superstar husband breaks her trust at her most vulnerable moment, putting their new family even more in the public eye. Then, there's Lia, a Philadelphia native who has left her Hollywood career behind, along with her husband, and a tragic secret to start her life all over again.
From prenatal yoga to postbirth sex, Little Earthquakes is a frank, funny, fiercely perceptive take on the comedies and tragedies of love and marriage.
Kate seemingly has the perfect life, complete with two adorable daughters, a house on the Upper East Side, and a hot-shot husband that runs the most successful publishing businesses in New York. But when Kate attends a wedding that reconnects her to her graduate school friends, she feels a sense of loss over the life she abandoned for the one she lives now. After the wedding, Kate skips out on her flight home and jumps on a plane heading across the globe. While she is only hoping to clear her head and reconnect wither lost dreams, Kate’s marriage vacation does not quite go according to plan. Take a brief break from your own motherhood as you follow Kate on her mid-life crisis journey. Can her dramatic and impulsive decisions ever be forgiven?
MENTIONED IN:
Although M.J. Stark puts on a façade of success and happiness, deep down she is very lonely. So when she is betrayed by her boss and her boyfriend gives her an out to move to California with him, she takes the chance. While there, M.J. realizes that her only company is her elderly neighbor, Gloria – and even she leaves M.J. to move to Paris with her friend to honor their fifty-year-old pact. In lieu of a goodbye, Gloria leaves M.J. with an invitation to a secret book club, one that exclusively reads erotic novels. M.J. decides to attend, and soon comes to find that between their discussion of naughty best-sellers, the group begins to open up about their own intimate lives. This story of unexpected friendship is just the humous literary break every mom needs.
MENTIONED IN:
After learning that her husband died in a plane crash while on a business trip, Irene and her son cope with the loss in the faraway island of St. John. But while she and her son are unraveling the details of the tragic death, Irene realizes that her husband was living a secret life. As Irene attempts to comprehend this deceit, she is drawn into the vibrant island culture surrounding her. Packed with drama, romance, and lush tropical beauty, WINTER IN PARADISE will give your brain a mini-vacation right through the pages.
MENTIONED IN:
Stella Payne does it all. Between Little League carpool, investment banking analysis, laundry, and cooking, Stella has her hands full. At forty-two and divorced, she has little time to even think about a love life. But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world is immediately flipped upside down. She falls in love with the sand, the sea, the Jamaican flare... and a boy half her age! Stella must force herself to confront her fears about love while questioning the life she previously lived before her Jamaican adventure. This laugh-out-loud, sexy novel is just what any mom needs for a little literary getaway.
Emily Charlton does not do the suburbs. Even the picture-perfect town of Greenwich, Connecticut. But after several clients left her Hollywood image consultant company, Emily is desperate for a new opportunity. When Karolina Hartwell, a former supermodel, is arrested and left by her senator-husband, the tabloids pounce – and so does Emily. Emily, Karolina, and their ex-attorney friend, Miriam ban together to navigate their social-hungry suburban town. This fast-paced and funny novel is a perfect break from your motherly duties. Go on; sit back, relax, and divulge in the juicy gossip of the town.
MENTIONED IN:
Photo Credit: iStock/petrenkod