The Stepmother can she win the love of her boyfriends kids. (The Stepmother - Carrie Adams)

Member Name: stephbond89

Product:	The Stepmother - Carrie Adams
Date:	26/08/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great book which has so many twists and turns it keeps you going from page one!

Disadvantages: I didn't like the character of Tessa!

The Stepmother:
Written by Carrie Adams

PLOT:
Bea and Jimmy split up 4 years ago, and divorced 2 years ago, after a long but stressful marriage, and 3 children, there was lots of misunderstanding during their breakup and neither of them quite know what happened seeing as they never spoke about it. But now, they're still on good terms, and get on better than they did when they were married. Jimmy has his girls every other weekend and Wednesdays meaning Bea gets time to herself, something she never had when she was married! But, their relationship is friendship ONLY. Or is it. Bea has started to feel something for Jimmy which she hadn't felt for a long time during their marriage, and begins to wonder if leaving him had been the best decision she had ever made. She starts dressing up when he came round, persuading him to stay for one more drink, and he seems happier with her too, and was that...flirting!?

But just as Bea thinks she is onto something along comes Tessa King, Jimmy's new girlfriend, soon to be fiancee. Bea is devastated, she wanted her family back together, not just for her, but for her daughters Amber, Lulu and Maddy as well.
But Jimmy is head over heels in love with Tessa, all she has to do, is make the kids love her just as much as he does. But that'snot easy when you have a stroppy teenager going by the name of Amber clinging to her daddy's arm at every second and trying to ruin things. The youngsters were easy (5 hours of Guess Who! sorted that one), but Amber is a tougher nut to crack. When a 14 year old girl is thrown into the deep end, seeing first hand the effects Tessa and Jimmy's relationship is having on her mother, she doesn't want her upset, and Tessa King is making her do the things she is doing.

But, with Bea discovering herself, why she did what she did, and wanting to turn her life back around to how she was before kids, before marriage broke her down. And Tessa becoming more and more jealous of a 14 year old girls relationship with her father. The two women find themselves in a battle for the man they both want, and both need. But the question is, who'll get him!

Characters:
Bea- I connected with Bea straight away, I don't know why as we have nothing in common, I have never had kids, I have never had a marriage break down, I have never been though her problems. But when I opened the book and read her words, I liked her straight away. And I was routing for her all through the book. Yes she has her problems, but don't we all, and when she sorts these problems out, she becomes even more likeable as a character. She is always doing everything for other people, but never for herself. Things never go right for her, and she is always expected to be superwoman and have all the answers. I felt for Bea when things got bad, and cheered her on when they got good again.
Tessa: I'm sorry to say, I hated this character. I suppose in this kind of book, you will chose a side to go for, and in my case, I chose Bea, I didn't like Tessa one bit. I found her words petty, I thought what she said about her step children appalling. The fact a woman nearing 40 would get jealous of a 14 year old child going to get coffee with her father, and been jealous of the way she looks in a dress. It's petty and ridiculous. And she realls plays up to the part of eveil stepmother in the first bit of the book. But even when her story gets deeper, and we're all supposed to be feeling sorry for her, I still don't like her. She still has a snotty edge to her, she is jealous and petty and needs to grow up. You wouldn't know who was the 14 year old in the book, Amber or Tessa. Yes Amber is a stirring little madam, but she is a child. I just found Tessa too un-understanding if that makes sense! She didn't seem to understand that James (Jimmy) only saw his children of a weekend every two weeks. And she wanted him all to herself all of the time, she never gave them space to be alone. My hatred of her started at the beginning of the book, who in their right mind, the day they announce that they're an item to 14, 8 and 7 year old children, has a little sleepover in daddys bed. Tessa did, then was surprised when she was met by hostility the next morning.

My Opinion of the book itself:
The book is split up into chapters, which are narrated by Bea and Tessa, so you get the two womens opinions of what is going on. The book is a real page turner. At 299 pages long, I had almost finished the book within one night, just a quick top up the next night and I had finished reading The stepmother. I think each person will feel differently about the characters, some will feel the opposite of me, hate Bea and love Tessa. Some will be objective and not take sides. But whatever your opinion of the characters, whoever you like, or dislike, you'll love the book! By no means does my hatred of the character Tessa stop the book been enjoyable, in fact it made it even better to me, as I found I was even more excited about what would happen in the end and who would come out on top.

The book has some amazing sub plots as well as the main plot and covers alot of aspects which comes as a shock and surprise to the reader, the book covers a multitude of points: marriage, divorce, death, birth, depression, adoption, alcoholism, illness, teens, growing up, abortion, adoption, infidelity as well as the main plotline of re-marriage. All of the subplots come as a shock and suprise to the reader, and even though you know they're going to happen, they still shock you!

The book is a great quick read, and as I said a real page turner. You literally won't want to put it down! I know thats one of the biggest cliches in reading history, but with this book it's true. You just can't wait to find out what happens in the end!

It's a great book for a plane journey or for the beach, but I wouldn't do what I did and have it as a bedtime book as I found I was up until 5am reading it as I didn't want to put it down!

The Stepmother is chick lit with a twist, it has real emotion and real problems which are faced by people everyday. A fantastic book, which will be loved by all chick lit readers, but not the same story you've read a hundred times before!

Summary: A great book for the plane or holiday.