Reluctantly Related by Deanna Brann, Ph.D. (book review)

Reluctantly Related: Secrets To Getting Along With Your Mother-in-Law or Daughter-in-law

From the back cover:

With humor, compassion and focus, in-law expert Dr. Deanna Brann shows you step by step how to bring positive, lasting change to your mother-in-law or daughter-in-law (MIL or DIL) relationship. Her groundbreaking research and powerful techniques have helped women nationwide to live happier, healthier and more peaceful live with the women in their extended-by-marriage families.

• Understand why your in-law relationship is so hard
• Learn powerful tools and techniques to bring peace and lasting change to your in-law relationship
• Change your relationship without having to confront your in-law

My thoughts:

Reluctantly Related: Secrets to Getting Along with your Mother-in-Law or Daughter-in-Law by Deanna Brann, Ph.D. is a good book that describes the different personalities that may be present in a Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law relationship. Brann identifies different personality types for MILs and DILs. She identifies the personalities of MILs as Comfortable Carla, Mothering Margaret, Off-the-Wall Wanda and Uncertain Sara. The personalities of DILs include Confident Connie, Doubting Donna, Weird Wendy, and Transitioned Tracy. She also includes how each responds and is shaped by the role of the son/husband in the relationship. While she explains each type of personalities, Brann also talks about different problems and issues that may arise when the different personalities mesh together. Brann ends her book with quizzes for you to take to see which personality fits your life.

I think that this book could have been helpful. However, I felt that as I was reading through the different personalities I was a part of several and I could see my MIL in several of them and there was really no explanation as to what to do then. I also felt that by having the quiz at the end of the book, Brann was defeating the purpose. If the quizzes were available toward the beginning, then I think the reader would have a better understanding of which character they were most like and thus could get more out of the reading.

Disclaimer: I was sent this book from The Cadence Group in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.