My family is a military family. We live thousands of miles away from our closest relatives. When I got pregnant with my first son I knew I would have no help. No grandma or mom to take on the swing shift and no mother in law or cousin to make a bunch of casseroles for those days of healing in the postpartum pain. It was all me, all day and all night. I wish I had these books to help me document my babies growth and development at every milestone, to have a laugh at 3 AM when my baby just wouldn’t stop crying, and to make a fast, easy dinner for my husband to come home to after a long day at work. I’m the quintessential stay at home mom and it’s a job that I love even at 3 AM or when dinner is burned because my kids needed me. These 3 books published by Viva Editions are a good gift for any woman who likes to read, cook, and laugh.

Girlfriends Forever by Reeda Joseph, available for $14.95, had me cracking up. It’s a short book of pictures with funny captions. Reeda  Joseph has taken her favorite photographs of “vintage vixens” and added her own words of wisdom. There is some mild language in the book. Girlfriends Forever is compact enough to be stuck in a purse or diaper bag for waiting room reading or if you just need a quick reminder that you aren’t alone in having thought about burning the clothes so you don’t have to do another load of laundry. The “vintage vixens” are gorgeous photographs. I am a huge fan of vintage and the collection amassed by the author is stunning to me. There is nothing more empowering to my femininity than seeing strong women of the past and to read the authors take on the photographs was pretty humorous. The paper is very thick, almost card stock in quality. It reminds me a bit of postcards. It had me laughing and thankful that women everywhere all have similar fears, challenges, and thoughts.

The second book I read was The Lazy Gourmet:Magnificent Meals Made Easy by Robin Donovan and Juliana Gallin, available for $15.95. I have been stuck in a food slump. I make the same things over and over again. It gets boring but with two little ones it is hard to be creative. Or at least it was until I read this book. The first part of the book is about the authors favorite pantry, fridge, and freezer supplies, tips for rookies, and tools of the trade. The second part is full of mouth watering recipes. Snacks, salads, soups, sandwiches, main courses, sides, desserts, and condiments all have a place in this book. The best part is that the recipes aren’t complicated. That is the whole idea behind this book, to let the reader know that it doesn’t take 7 hours in front of the stove to make a delicious meal. I tried out one of the recipes in the book, Baked Tilapia with Lemon-Raisin Salsa. I’m not a fan of baked fish but this was good. Really the hardest part was cutting the lemons for the salsa and that’s only because I have no idea how to cut the peel off without butchering the lemon. The salsa masked the overly fishy taste of the baked fish without diminishing it altogether. It was easy to make and easy to clean up. The Lazy Gourmet will have a place in my kitchen for a long time.

The last book in this list is Use Your Words by Kate Hopper, available for 16.95. I’m not a fan of self-help books in general but this isn’t your typical self-help read. The very first page describes the authors struggle with having a premature baby. Any mother who reads this will feel her pain in the first page and wish her strength as she watches her tiny girl cling to life and strive to survive outside of the womb before her time. This book is filled with ways to make you a better writer and to captivate your audience with your words. It is an instructional on how to add details, like sensory, to help the reader become a part of your story. I think this would be very helpful in writing your child’s baby book.Remembering the way you felt when you first saw them on the ultrasound screen or how their Kung Fu was mastered at 20 weeks are all things that should be documented in great detail for your kids. I also think that if you would like to become a published author than this book will help you improve your writing ability as Kate Hopper shows you the technique she has used to write her memoirs. This book is filled with her personal stories. Her struggles with being a mom, wife, writer, and woman are all there in black and white. Use Your Words has writing activities, stories from other mothers with an in depth break down of the story, it gives you ways to find the structure in your stories, and steps on how to become published if that is your ultimate goal. Perhaps I am an emotional person but the personal stories that are in the book  brought tears to my eyes. The use of sensory and imagery, the love that flowed from these mothers words, and just the simple fact that these are stories from women, not culture and history, but from real women, mothers and wives really got to me. Well, now I have to go update my kids baby books!

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Candi