The Stepmother

Bea Frazier was once the apple of her husband's eye — but now he's picked a more succulent fruit. . . .Bea thought she'd rediscover her incredible self after divorcing Jimmy. But being home alone with three daughters brings her demons back with a vengeance. The only solution is to get her family together again. The trouble is, her ex is about to marry someone else. To get him back she'll have to reveal the guilty secret she never could when they were married. . . . The "someone else" is Tessa King, who has finally found love. But her knight in shining armor comes with a catch — or four: three sullen daughters and an ex who doesn't seem nearly ex enough. If the split was amicable, then why are all the other women in his life so hostile? After years of singledom, what is Tessa prepared to do to get her happy ending?As the women negotiate carpools, puberty, and family loyalties, each finds it almost impossible not to fall into the old cliche of the bitter ex and the wicked stepmother. But if Bea and Tessa are brave enough, each may just find a friend where she once sought an enemy.Absorbing and touching, humorous and honest, The Stepmother reminds us that there is always another side to the story.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.