10 Inspirational Books for Moms: From Their Mama Hearts to Yours

Inside: 10 beautifully written and inspirational books for moms. These nonfiction titles are perfect gifts for the moms you love.

“Take a good book to bed with you—books do not snore.”

– Thea Dorn

Do you know a mom who loves to curl up with a good book, has a serious funny bone, needs some inspiration, or could use some literary warm fuzzies? Maybe that woman is you! If so, I have some book suggestions for you.

These inspirational books for moms cover motherhood, career, relationships, and adventure and they each speak to my heart and soul. Even just looking back at some of these covers inspires me to go out there and seize the day while also giving myself credit for my accomplishments and letting myself off the hook for not exercising today. Inspiration can come in many forms!

I hope these book will do the same for you and the women in your life, whatever kind of inspiration you’re looking for!

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Inspirational Books for Moms: Book Reviews and Recommendations

When Mommy Grows Up

Five years ago, I was standing in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles when I fell into an intense conversation with a stranger. (That’s normal, right?) We covered a lot of conversational ground, but that stranger rocked my world when she asked about my hobbies. Hobbies? I don’t know! Showering alone? Keeping my two small children alive?

Later on, reflecting on that conversation led me down a road of self-reflection, career development, and personal transformation. It was harder to do things for myself now that I was a mom, but I was still me and I was still growing up. I wanted my career to be meaningful, fulfilling and bring me joy – for my kids’ sake but also for me.

That journey turned into a new career and the book When Mommy Grows Up: A Guide to Parenting Yourself to a More Fulfilling Career.

This book baby of mine is a funny and relatable career development guide that tackles the “age 30 transition” with humor, wit, and practical advice. Each chapter is based on lessons we teach our children, like “use your words,” “you to need to share,” and “make new friends.” Reframing these lessons and funny parenting stories as career advice shows moms how to apply the same concepts to their professional lives.

Laughs plus career advice, together in one book! While I’m a touch bias because I wrote this one, When Mommy Grows Up definitely makes the list of fun and inspiring books for women!

The Brave Art of Motherhood

Rachel Martin wrote a piece that I’m sure many of you have read called “Just do the dishes. Please. The kids will be fine.” I instantly clicked on that title because I too was worried about being present 110% of the time, but also needed to do the dishes, and was feeling torn.

Basically in this piece Rachel was saying that in motherhood you should find a balance that works for you and your family. There are so many articles out there telling us to just stop and hold the baby, and that’s wonderful, but sometimes you do need to do the dishes. That’s okay too! And especially if having a clear sink is going to give you a clearer mind, then go ahead and do those dishes. The kids will wait for a few minutes. It really will all be fine.

She dives even deeper into these feelings of mom guilt in her book The Brave Art of Motherhood: Fight Fear, Gain Confidence, and Find Yourself Again. I loved the title, I loved the book, and I especially loved her message of digging deep to find your confidence as a mother and as your own person outside of your role as a mother.

Any mom on your shopping list is going to relate to Rachel’s words, and leave the book feeling a bit braver, making this one of my favorite inspiring books for women and moms.

Grace Not Perfection

Honestly, I would have bought this book just for the cover itself. #BookGoals. But a dear friend gifted it to me and I love both her and author Emily Ley’s message.

Grace, Not Perfection: Embracing Simplicity, Celebrating Joy is all about simplifying your life. If you know a mom who isn’t busy, then I’d very much like to meet that unicorn of a person. Moms are busy by nature, and let’s face it, it’s exhausting. And I don’t know about you but simplifying things sounded pretty good to me.

For Emily Ley, simplifying starts with a pen, paper, and some lists. She’ll help you with that! But what I love even more comes from the title of the book. Giving yourself a whole lot of grace when things go wrong instead of constantly expecting perfection from yourself and those around you. I’m so on board with that!

One Beautiful Dream

Do you have a mom in your life with a big dream?

A dream that she is trying to figure out how to accomplish while simultaneously living her other big important dream of raising her family? Does this mom also have an awesome sense of humor? Then she’s going to love Jennifer Fulwiler.

In One Beautiful Dream: The Rollicking Tale of Family Chaos, Personal Passions, and Saying Yes to Them Both Jennifer Fulwiler takes readers behind the scenes of writing her first book while having babies and raising babies. She’s honest, insightful, and hilarious. I’m pretty sure we will eventually be lifelong friends after I corner her at a conference.

This is one of my favorite inspiring books for moms. Highly recommended!

True Story: Moments after I typed that line about being friends with Jennifer, my friend and editor, Lindsay Schlegel, emailed me to say that she met Jennifer at a gala. Guys…it’s happening!

Don’t Forget to Say Thank You

The aforementioned Lindsay Schlegel is a mom of four, brilliant writer, editor extraordinaire, and devoted Christian. If you have a mom on your shopping list who loves wonderfully written books and is looking to deepen her relationship with God, Lindsay is your lady.

Don’t Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God brings you into Lindsay’s family life and spiritual life as she reflects on the lessons she is teaching her children and how those lessons have strengthened her faith. It’s beautifully written and even as someone without strong religious ties, I found so much insight and food for thought in her words.

Read my full review and interview with the author here.

Becoming

Your mom is the first lady in your life. Gift her the former first lady of the United States in book form! Or if your mom has already read it and joined my Michelle Obama Fan Club, then gift this one to another mom. We are still accepting new members and at next month’s meeting I might make a frittata.

Michelle Obama’s book Becoming has become one of my all-time favorites for it’s honesty about infertility, working motherhood, marriage, and summoning the courage to make big changes. That’s the part that really sticks out to me. Her ability to adapt and grow.

Have I written about Becoming twice already on my blog. Yes. Will I talk about it forever to anyone who will listen? Oh definitely.

Read my full review of Becoming here.

Blessed Beautiful Now

Blessed, Beautiful Now: How I Embraced The Present By Celebrating My Past And Learned to Love Life Again was created by one of my favorite writers, Corey Wheeland. If you’ve ever come across her blog, The Nostalgia Diaries, you probably adore her as much as I do.

Blessed Beautiful Now ties together the pieces of Corey’s past and her future as a single mother recapturing her happiness with help from her daughter Zoey. Corey weaves together a story like no other and her writing is pure poetry. Love!

If you have a mom in your life that is going through a period of transition, Corey’s words will speak right to her heart. 100% guaranteed.

The Price of Admission

Author Liz Petrone is a talented writer and working mom of four who has been through hell and back. Her memoir, The Price of Admission: Embracing a Life of Grief and Joy, chronicles her battle with an eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, her mother’s alcoholism, and her mother’s death by suicide.

It’s a painful story, but it also carries with it the levity, humor, and hope that make Liz, Liz. Through the gift of her powerful storytelling, she shows us all that we don’t need to hold back from the hard stuff because the hard stuff is what makes us who we are. Her raw story of ups and downs, periods of self-doubt and uncertainty, and powerful message of hope is what we could all use more of in this world.

I laughed, I cried, I felt a sense of connection.

You’ll love it. She’ll love it. Five stars on Amazon, six stars in my heart.

Mom AF

Christine Michel Carter has made it her mission to ensure the voices of working mothers are heard loud and clear. She does that through her work as a speaker, writer, and marketing strategy consultant for Fortune 500 companies.

Luckily for us, she also shares her story in her fantastic book for moms, Mom AF.

Mom AF follows Christine’s journey towards redefining and owning what makes her a “strong, sane, and sexy mother.” Life throws us all curve balls, and when moms can be honest about their wins, losses, and struggles, we all win. It’s that kind of honesty that lets us know we aren’t alone, and inspires us to define what success and balance look like to us.

Year of Yes

Shonda Rhimes, the creator of some of America’s favorite television, has also written a book that should be high on the list for any woman.

In The Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person, Shonda shares her experience of challenging herself to say yes to more experiences in an effort to lift herself out of a funk.

As soon as she starts describing that funk you’re going to recognize it too, we’ve all been there. Maybe we haven’t been there in the “mom of three with three hit television shows declining invites to Hollywood parties” sense, but we’ve definitely been overwhelmed, tired, and wanted to opt-out of the potluck.

There’s nothing wrong with being introverted or shy, not at all, but Shonda felt that her introversion was keeping her from finding the fulfillment and joy she was missing in life and set out to change that.

I love this book for anyone, but I find it a perfect book for moms especially. Shonda’s experience will resonate with you and inspire you to say yes in your own life.

Enjoy These Inspirational Books for Moms

I hope through this list of inspirational books for moms you found some great options to add to cart! And while these books are some of my personal favorites, I know there are more out there. Please chime in within the comments with your suggestions.

Also, one more recommendation before we go!

If you are shopping for the mom who wants to write her own story, after seven years of writing one line a day I can’t recommend the One Line a Day Journal more highly. More on that here!