Great Reads for Moms: May ’11 Edition

Hurray for summer reading! I know many of us are signing our children up for summer reading programs, but don’t forget to get yourself on a reading program too. Summer reading is my favorite kind of reading and next week, I am going to do a round-up of simply great beach reads to add to your beach bag this summer.

I believe summer reading should be a light and fun time for reading with a heavy classic mixed in to round things out and help keep things balanced. In the meantime, I wanted to showcase four more Great Reads for Moms to snag at your local library!

If you are looking for a little inspiration this new year, be sure to check our MomAdvice fan page for a weekly check-in on what everyone is reading each week on our Facebook Fan Page. I hope you will swing by on Fridays and share about the books you are working on or request recommendations with one another. So far it is a huge success and I have gotten a few new ideas for my own stack!

Just as a reminder, I read many more  books than are just featured here, but try to feature the ones that are my absolute best picks of the month here. If you want to read more, please feel free to friend me on GoodReads! My username is momadvice and I am always happy to connect with people there too! There is nothing more motivating than seeing what other people are raving about and my to-be-read pile continues to grow with all of my new friends on there! In fact, many of the books featured are ones that I have found through my friends on GoodReads.

Happy reading, everyone!

Bossypants by Tina Fey

With advance praise like, “Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, overrated troll- The Internet” on the back of the book, you know that you are going to be in for a big laugh over Tina Fey’s book, “Bossypants.” I found myself laughing until tears streamed down my face while reading this one. I also admit that I read almost the entire book aloud (thanks to my uncontrollable laughing) to my husband who also loved it as much as I did.  I have been a longtime fan of Tina Fey and this book was such a treat to read and a fun light read that really made me giggle.

Part memoir, part comedy routine, part story-telling, the book is a little messy and a whole lot of fun.  As a mom, you will really relate to the juggling routine that Tina endures while working on 30 Rock and her obligations as a mom. More relatable than that are Tina’s stories of teenage angst and some of the hilarious self-depreciating humor that Tina seems to do so well. Tina also weaves in truths and life lessons from trying to break into the male-dominated sketch comedy world.

This book isn’t for everyone, but if you loved her comedy routines on SNL or are a big fan of the show, “30 Rock,” then you will really appreciate the humor in this book.

Editor’s Note- This book contains adult language and adult humor.

(MomAdvice Rating- 5 Stars out of 5 Stars)

If you liked this book you might like: Julie & Julia

Matched by Ally Condie

Fans of the Twilight and The Hunger Games series will have a new book series to love in Ally Condie’s ew new young adult dystopian novel, “Matched.”  In Cassia’s world, nothing is ever left to chance. Everything from what she will eat to who she will marry is decided by the Society Officials. When Cassia attends the ceremony to find out who her match for marriage is, she is surprised to discover that it is her childhood best friend. It is almost impossibly rare that one would know who their match is so it is a happy surprise to realize it is someone she has known her life.

When Cassia arrives home to find out more information about her match on the microchip she is given, it is another boy’s face that she sees…another boy that she has also known.  Cassia quickly spirals down the path of wondering if this really was who she was meant to be with as she discovers the power and consequence of free will.

Unlike, “The Hunger Games,” & “Twilight,” the one ingredient missing in this book is action. The element that brings the reader in is Cassia’s choice to love the person she has been chosen to be with, or to rebel against it all and going after the more dangerous choice. Unrequited love stories are always my favorite kind and the ending to this book left me anxious for the next book in the series from Ally Condie.

(MomAdvice Rating- 4 Stars out of 5 Stars)

If you liked this book you might like: The Hunger Games & My Name is Memory

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah strikes again with another tear-jerker of a book that brings into focus all the blessings that we have as mothers and how quickly it all can slip from our reach.

Jude is the quintessential perfect mother who has done everything she can to put the needs of her twins, Mia and Zach, first in her life. When Lexi Baill moves into their small knit community, Lexi immediately finds a kinship and friendship with Mia, an outsider and introvert who struggles to fit in at school. It is not long after becoming Mia’s friends that Zach finds himself falling in love with Lexi. While both struggle with how their relationship can work, while not taking away their relationship from Mia, they soon all find themselves as inseparable as the three musketeers.

Jude’s overprotectiveness of them cannot protect them from a fateful decision that her teenagers make that will alter the course of their lives forever. As their family falls apart and Lexi loses everything, the reader is taken through every excruciating moment of their pain-filled lives.  The book takes you down the harrowing journey of the consequences of that fatefull decision and how even when we desire strongly to keep our children safe that the unthinkable can happen.

Get out your tissues for this one and know that as a reader, you will be in for a bumpy ride and be haunted by this chilling account of this family’s fate.

(MomAdvice Rating- 4 Stars out of 5 Stars)

If you liked this book you might like: Winter Garden, Red Hook Road, The Year of the Fog

The Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers

Lulu and Merry have never had an idyllic childhood, but their lives are forever changed when their father is kicked out of their home and comes knocking on the door, just before Lulu’s tenth birthday. Lulu could never know the fateful decision she was making by letting her father in, as he brutally murders her mother and stabs her sister , finishing the brutality by attempting to kill himself.

Their father is sentenced to a thirty year prison stay for murder and the girls are shuffled from home to home, never really finding their place anywhere. With no family willing to keep them, they only have each other.

Despite Merry being stabbed by her father, she visits her father weekly and seems to see past his mistake, as she continues to cultivate a relationship with him. Lulu, on the other hand, refuses to ever speak to him again and is burdened by her own guilt for letting him into their house when her mother had told her not to. Both girls must find a way to just survive, and the book follows each of them through adulthood, showcasing how their past also shadows their future, as they make decisions, build relationships, and struggle daily with who they are without a family to shape them.

All can remain well when their father is locked away, but when their father appeals his parole, the girls must learn how they can live with their mother’s murderer on the outside and how they can ever find forgiveness….for themselves and for him.

This has a slow build with great character development.  Fraught with emotion, tragedy, and survival instinct, I thoroughly enjoyed this read from Randy Susan Meyers.

(MomAdvice Rating- 4 Stars out of 5 Stars)

If you liked this book you might like: I’d Know You Anywhere & The Good Daughters

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Not enough great reads for you? Check out our Books section of our site for monthly recommendations and ideas for making reading a priority again in your busy mom life!

Disclosure: All of the links above are affiliate links and are provided so you can locate the books quickly and easily. Feel free to order a book, but we encourage utilizing the library system and buying me a latte instead.  Then we both would be really happy and we could have our own little book club together! Wouldn’t that just be so much more lovely? Happy Reading!

What has been in your book stack this month? Feel free to share your book recommendations or feedback on any of the books that have been mentioned above! I love getting new suggestions for my book pile!