Carpool Diem by Nancy Star
This wacky book will really resonate with soccer moms or those who have been traumatized by soccer mania. Annie Fleming is a management consultant who, when she loses her job by sabotage, turns her energies to her daughter Charlotte, a gifted soccer player. Her efforts to learn the sport, get involved and most importantly, get her daughter on the Power, the town’s premiere girls’ soccer team will make your hair stand on end….but you’ll be laughing, too. Some of the plot turns are a bit hard to swallow, but the ending (especially for the demon- in- cleats coach, Winsow West) really satisfies.

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch
There are lots of characters to keep track of in this highly entertaining novel about growing up in, leaving, and coming home to the South. Still, try really hard to remember their names while you savor Sarah Walters’ uneven life as a magazine editor with a penchant for men who slowly unravel her. Her sister, friends, boyfriends and parents are all wonderfully woven in with wrenching stories of their own. Despite its abundance of “low moments” you will find yourself handcuffed to Sarah (and wishing someone would bring you an icy margarita) until the very end.

The Blood of Flowers: A Novel by Anita Amirrezvani
When you get tired of books about whiny moms feeling sorry for themselves in their expensive homes, try Amirrezvani’s gorgeous tale of a mother and daughter forced to fend for themselves in 17thcentury Persia. When her father dies, the girl (who is never named) travels far to live with her uncle, who is a master rug designer in the court of the Shah. While there, she discovers her own extraordinary gift of rug making and faces an uncertain future as the “temporary” wife of a handsome horse trader. The whole notion of sigheh (a temporary marriage contract) will blow your mind.

Somebody's Always Hungry: Essays on Motherhood by Juliet Johnson
Really light but highly amusing essays on the craziness of being a mom. Told girlsintrucks.jpgwith humor and utter lack of self-pity, Author Juliet Myfanwy Johnson proves herself a talented storyteller.

Count to Ten by Karen Rose
Oooooh, those of you with a taste for a good thriller are going to like this one. Mia Mitchell, a detective whose tough exterior hides an anguished past, tries to make sense of a serial killer who leaves charred homes and unanswered questions in his wake. This book serves up suspense, gore, sex and even romance in 550 pages.

The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
This book is a real and refreshing look at how moms can slide down the slippery slope of staying homewith their children—leaving their jobs and finding they cannot really climb back. There is nothing political about it—Wolitzer provides a fascinating read because she so skillfully captures the lost dreams and deep ambivalence of these women, who aren’t sure they made the right choices but cannot seem to reroute their lives until something or someone jolts them out of their trance. The writing is superb, singing a sad song with a redemptive ending.