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Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. And what woman with stepchildren has not - in order to defuse the often overwhelming challenges and anxieties she experiences - referred to herself as a "stepmonster"? What Hope Edelman's book has done for motherless daughters, Wednesday Martin's empowering and original Stepmonster does for stepmothers: unlocks the emotional mysteries of why they think and feel and act the way they do. Martin draws on her own experience as a stepmother, interviews many stepmothers and stepchildren, and gathers insights from literature, psychology, and evolutionary biology to reveal the little-understood realities of this demanding role. Stepmonster illuminates the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, exposes the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, counteracts the prevailing notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the problems they encounter, identifies the five "step-dilemmas" that create conflict, and considers the emotional and social challenges men with children face when they remarry.