I'm not a stepmom but I am a step kid so I know some things in this book are the way things happen but that being said you can't marry someone with children and expect them to roll over. They have a Mom or Dad they aren't looking for another. I didn't have a great relationship with my stepmother she was jealous and honestly quite nasty. I do not have a relationship with my Dad because of her. On the other hand I had a stepfather who treated me as his own even after my Mother divorced him. So it isn't always the child that makes things difficult, if you marry into a family be prepared for some give and take. Maybe more give than take since the kids didn't ask for this