Career Girl's Guide to Becoming a Stepmom: Expert Advice from Other Stepmoms on How to Juggle Your Job, Your Marriage, and Your New Stepkids »

Jacquelyn B. Fletcher is a freelance writer, marketing and publishing professional, stepdaughter, and stepmother of three young children. She writes for Your Stepfamily and Daughters, and has contributed to numerous other publications. She teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, where she lives.

You have an exciting, fulfilling job. You've fallen in love with the man of your dreams—and met his three kids! Now what? Jacquelyn B. Fletcher shows how any professional woman turned wife and instant stepmother can build on the skills she employs at work—organization, team-building, goal-setting, and planning—to succeed at home in her new role as stepmom. Drawing on the latest research, her own experiences, and those of other real-life stepmothers, Fletcher offers advice, hope, encouragement, and much-needed answers to common conundrums, including:

• Why don't I have control over my own schedule?
• What kind of relationship do I want with my stepkids?
• What if I want to have a baby of my own?
• How do we create a budget that feels fair if I make more money than my husband does?

A Career Girl's Guide to Becoming a Stepmom is essential reading for the professional woman who has it all—and then suddenly has more than she expected.

Erica L. Foley - Library Journal

According to the National Stepfamily Resource Center, there are more than 15 million stepmothers in the United States, yet resources for these women are still scarce. New stepmoms face the challenges not only of marriage but also of being an "intimate outsider" in a stepfamily. Stepmother, stepdaughter, and freelance writer Fletcher offers advice on how women can take skills they've learned on the job and transfer them to their new stepfamilies. She writes about the specific issues stepmothers encounter (e.g., the ex, the legal questions, and bonding with the stepkids), focusing on how those issues differ from the challenges of "first families." Each chapter opens with the "Career Girl's Personal Assistant"-a series of questions women can ask themselves about applying specific career and management techniques to dealing with a stepfamily. Fletcher goes on to explore each topic, citing stepfamily research, anecdotes from other stepmoms, and suggestions from therapists. Each chapter concludes with questions for stepmoms to discuss with their husbands. Throughout, Fletcher remains positive and optimistic about stepfamilies' chances for success. Suitable for most public libraries.