What’s the story?
If being a mother is a thankless job, try being a stepmother. 

It’s likely a messy affair:  He loves her.  She loves him.  His kids hate her—or bait her, or ignore her all together.  Now what?  

With more than 40% of current marriages in America being second and third marriages, and 65% of remarriages involving children from a prior marriage, seamlessly blending the blended family is easier said than done.  With LOVE HIM, LOVE HIS KIDS:  The Stepmother’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in a Blended Family (Adams Media; August) by Stan Wenck, Ph.D., and Connie J. Hansen, M.S., as their guide, stepmother will find the much-needed advice they need to win over even the most resistant children. 


What does it mean for your audience?
Honest, practical, and realistic, author pair Wenck and Hansen combine Ph.D. expertise with a been-there-done-that candor any stepmother will respect.   A guide to safeguard her new marriage and establish a healthy relationship from the onset, LOVE HIM, LOVE HIS KIDS details how to:

•    Get off on the right foot from “hello”
•    Build a relationship with each child
•    Share Daddy with his children
•    Define boundaries as a couple
•    Negotiate issues with Dada as well as the kids
•    Deal with their biological mother
•    Survive holidays, birthdays, recitals, and vacations
•    Create unique family rituals

Who are the authors?
Stan Wenck, EdD is a clinical psychologist and university professor who has dealt with accounts of relationship disputes and disasters involving stepmothers, stepfathers, and stepchildren. As a divorced stepparent himself, Wenck knows firsthand the experience of being a stepdad to three teenage stepsons and dealing with the dilemmas between his two teenage daughters and their stepmother. He lives in Fisher, IN.

Connie J. Hansen, MS is a teacher who has used her background in communications and theatre to help students who have families with either one parent or stepparents. In working closely with these students and their families, she has observed the difficult challenges of making families blend together. Hansen also dealt with the experience of divorce and remarriage then lived the joys and trials of stepparenting. She lives in Elkhart, IN.