Blissfully Blended Bullshit

Rebecca Eckler’s newest book chronicles the hard truth of what it’s really like to make a blended family. Blissfully Blended Bullshit is a witty, engaging, refreshingly candid chronicle of a modern family’s journey as they blend households. We follow Eckler as her partner and his two children move in with her and her daughter. Then, thanks to a reverse vasectomy, they add a baby to the mix. Readers go along for the ride in this poignant, often hilarious tale, as everyone attempts to navigate their new roles: the children, the in-laws, the exes, the ex-in-laws, and even the dog. Lighthearted and intimate, this is an indispensable story about a family determined to make blended splendid, and the juicy truth of what it’s really like behind closed doors in what is rapidly becoming a typical family makeup. Still, if Eckler had to blend again, would she?

An honest look at the difficulties of blending two families into one Topic is at the forefront of many peoples' minds, as divorce and re-marrying rates soar and new couples must navigate blending lives and families together Author is a journalist, columnist, blogger, and bestselling author of nine books, including Knocked Up: Confessions of a Modern Mother-to-be and The Mommy Mob: Inside the Outrageous World of Mommy Bloggers. Eckler is also the executive editor of Savvymom.ca, Canada’s largest parenting website.

Love may be sweeter the second time around, but once the bliss of a newfound relationship wears off a little, the reality of being part of a stepfamily sets in. If you are one of the millions of remarried Americans facing the challenge of blending two existing families into one cohesive whole, you are part of a stepcouple—and you know all too well how hard it can be to make your marriage work in sometimes tough terrain. Different parenting styles, finances, relationships with ex-spouses, legal matters, and even seemingly simple issues such as the kinds of chores assigned to children can chisel away at your union if you don’t always make your marriage a priority. Stepcoupling offers advice for stepcouples on how to do just that—all the while strengthening their blended family with a healthy marriage. Susan Wisdom and Jennifer Green provide tips and strategies on dealing with the issues remarried couples face, with a wealth of advice from real-life stepcouples, such as: * Learning to tailor your expectations of your spouse or children and remembering that no family is perfect * Knowing where your boundaries are, whether involving a hostile ex-spouse or a stepchild who demands too much attention * Realizing that traits like flexibility, tolerance, forgiveness, and openness are especially essential in a stepfamily situation * Making “us” time for talking, problem-solving, weekends away, and enjoying your marriage to constantly renew and strengthen your bond as a couple Let this invaluable remarriage manual help you make your stepcouple the foundation of a strong, happy, and successful stepfamily.

When Victoria awakes to find a dead man in her bed, A Wish for Death, takes you back seventeen years leading up to the demise of the murdered man. Who was he? Did she kill him? Victoria had no idea that stepping into the work world would make such a dramatic change in her life. As a housewife and mother of five children, her life consisted of being a caretaker for years. When she entered the work world, she and her husband, Stan, would endure drastic changes in both of their lives. Sexual harassment and eventually rape leads Victoria down a winding road. As she struggles to come back up and regain her dignity, she must overcome guilt, hopelessness and turmoil. Years later she learns of her daughters dilemma, and struggles to help her daughter overcome the trauma shes been through. Her past experience assists in the aid of her daughters recovery. Victoria attends college as an adult, and strives to make it in the southern state of South Carolina, a state once known as a good ole boy state. Both she and her daughter are frightened when they become a target. But in the end, victory lies in fate, and fate usually comes with a price. Victorias victory and fate comes with the ultimate price-death.

When a teen girl is left alone without any friends, it's like nothing else matters.It's August and 15-year-old Lizzie Stein has returned from camp to start ninth grade. The moment she steps foot onto her pink plush rug in her bedroom and tries to reconnect with her three best friends, she begins to realize that they suddenly don't seem like the friends she used to know. Then there's math class that makes her all dizzy while keeping her stomach turned into the perfect knot! One night at a party, Lizzie meets the guy of her dreams but ends up being ridiculed by her so-called friends, and they won't let her get away with what she has done--and to whom. How far will Lizzie's so-called friends go to punish her? How much can she take? Who will show up during all of this turmoil to help her get back on her feet?

The acclaimed debut novel by the author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts “A taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense.” —O, the Oprah Magazine “Explosive . . . Both a propulsive mystery and a profound examination of a mixed-race family.” —Entertainment Weekly “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Everything doesn't (always) happen for a reason. Infertility and pregnancy loss can be devastating, yet both are often private sorrows for the one in six people who cope with the experience. This collection offers personal stories about what it's like to go through the emotional and physical facets of infertility, miscarriage, and pregnancy loss: the pain, sadness, and desperation, the hope, humour, and frustration. Through, Not Around offers reassurance to those in the midst of their own struggles that they are not alone and that it is possible to find acceptance and strength on the other side of grief. The way forward is by going through the grief, not around it. Allison McDonald Ace, Ariel Ng Bourbonnais, and Caroline Starr are co-founders of The 16 Percent, a website dedicated to sharing stories of pregnancy loss and infertility. To read or share your story, visit the16percent.ca.

"Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1960s, Liza Rodman was a lonely little girl. During the summers, while her mother worked days in a local motel and danced most nights in the Provincetown bars, her babysitter--the kind, handsome handyman at the motel where her mother worked--took her and her sister on adventures in his truck. He bought them popsicles and together, they visited his 'secret garden' in the Truro woods ... Everyone thought he was just a 'great guy.' But there was one thing she didn't know: their babysitter was a serial killer. Some of his victims were buried--in pieces--right there, in his garden in the woods"--