Having just celebrated another Mother’s Day, these books are timely. Plus, I have a fun giveaway to tell you about as well.

Here are two non-fiction books that address concerns most moms can relate to ~ or at least grapple with from time to time.

First up is a book by Melody Carlson entitled Dear Mom: Everything Your Teenage Daughter wants you to know but Will Never Tell You.

Every mom knows how communicating with a teenage girl can be difficult, even impossible at times. One-word answers. Defensive conversations. Daily arguments. How typical for teens to put up such barriers. All the while, moms truly long to know what their daughters really think.

Best-selling author Melody Carlson, whose books for women, teens, and children have sold more than three million copies, bridges this chasm with trusted insight. She speaks frankly in the voice of the teen daughters she’s written for and she tells it like it is: struggles with identity, guys, friendship, and even parents—it’s all here. The straight-talk to moms covers such things as

• “I need you, but you can’t make me admit it,”
• “I’m not as confident as I appear,” and
• “I have friends. I need a mother.”

Instead of focusing on outward behaviors, Dear Mom looks at a young woman’s heart and reveals to moms:

• how to talk to teens so they hear,
• how to connect despite the differences of perspective or years and experiences,
• and how strengthen the bond every mom and daughter ultimately wants.

The lively chapters in Dear Mom can be dipped into topically or used as a read-through tool by moms and daughters alike to understand what motivates or deflates, troubles or inspires—and just in time for Mother’s Day and all the Mother’s Days ahead.

Author Bio:
Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books for adults, children, and teens, with sales totaling more than three million copies. Beloved for her Diary of a Teenage Girl and Notes from a Spinning Planet series, she’s also the author of the women’s novels Finding Alice (in production now for a Lifetime-TV movie), Crystal Lies, On This Day, These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking, and A Mile in My Flip-Flops. A mother of two grown sons, Melody lives in central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. She’s a full-time writer and an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.

Learn More:
To learn more about Dear Mom, including how to purchase it online visit Random House’s page featuring Dear Mom

Mama’s Got a Fake I.D.

Secondarily, here’s a book that most EVERY mom can relate to on some level or another. This books focuses on the struggle to maintain our identity after becoming a mom. God gave you unique passions, gifts, and talents that the world ~ and you ~ may fail to see and utilize once the title of Mom rules supreme in your life.

In Mama’s Got a Fake I.D., Caryn Rivadeneira helps you to get back in touch with the woman God created you to be. This is not a book to throw off the bands of motherhood or to condemn those who consider motherhood the pinnacle of their achievements. Rather, this book sheds light on how to “discover who He made you to be – in your family and beyond.”

I love the way the back cover summarizes it:

No one begins life as a mom. Before you have children, you are an amazing combination of friend, daughter, confidant, visionary, encourager, and thinker. You start out in life using your gifts and abilities in a surprising variety of settings.
Then you have children and the role of mom–as wonderful as it is–seems to consume you. It’s easy to lose your identity when others see you as a mom and little else. What happened to the artist, the team-builder, the organizer, the entrepreneur, the leader–the person you’ve lost touch with?

About the author:
Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira is the former managing editor of Marriage Partnership and Christian Parenting Today. She’s been writing for and speaking to women for over a decade. Today she is the managing editor of GiftedForLeadership.com, and online community for Christian women in leadership.

Ready to Get Back in Touch with Your Identity?
To help you “reveal the real you hidden behind all that mom” the good folks at Waterbrook Press have provided me with a copy of Mama’s Got a Fake I.D. to give away to one of my readers.

Here’s how to enter to win:

1. Simply subscribe to or follow my blog and then leave a comment letting me know. = 1 entry
2. Tweet or blog about the giveaway and link back to this post. Please leave a separate comment with a link back to your tweet or post. = 1 entry

Winner will be chosen and announced on May 20th. So, check back here April 20th to see who won. (I’ll email the winner so be sure I can get in touch with you.)

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