"If you want to open your heart, this story will help you do that. Auntie Mom is an intensely honest account of life's bittersweet lessons and one woman's courage in facing the unknown. Laura Maher is a beautiful storyteller with a remarkable gift. She has captured the essence of the love and loss that all humans experience. This memoir reads like a good novel."

— Marci Shimoff, New York Times best-selling author of Love for No Reason

When her twenty-nine year old sister suffered a stroke, L.A. businesswoman Laura Maher returned home to Boston. During the year her sister spent in recovery, Laura moved her eight-year-old nephew and six-year-old niece to California. Because her fiancé did not want to "raise someone else's kids", their relationship ended, and as a result, she did not have a home for her or the kids to live in. While on a road-trip they met a wealthy couple who invited them to live on their estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Auntie Mom is an inspiring true story of a single woman's year-long adventure into motherhood. Laura weaves a rich tapestry of candid tales that speak to the heart of the age-old struggle every woman faces in her role as parent, in her search for self-identity. It's a story of family, and faith, and the forgiveness that occurs when embracing the messy, complex situations we all find ourselves in when we step into the role of parent.

Photographs by Rick Swinger

Author photo by Doug Greene

Cover Art by ShimmeringWolf.com