About the book, from the author's website:
A practical, laugh-out-loud guide to adopting your man’s family -- from your first date to your firstbornAmong the praise for the book:Girlfriends, fiancées, and wives rejoice! Here, at last, is a book you can turn to in times of stress, panic, and family vacations to the smallest cottage ever built on the island of Nantucket. Mirroring the natural progression of a relationship and incorporating interviews from women just like you, this hilarious, savvy guide will help you survive your first meeting with future in-laws, from the holidays, weddings, and new babies, to the day they retire to the house next door because “it’s a great real estate investment.”
Discover a wide array of sanity-retention techniques and tips on scoring major points with each and every in-law. Learn how to sweet-talk his sister, mollify his mother, and defuse potentially explosive situations -- like when your pumpkin pie gives Nana a bad case of hives. Stories range from the tragic “my father-in-law just pinched my ass and not in that sportsmanship kind of way,” to the triumphant “I’m now CEO of my grandfather-in-law’s cement company -- Thanks Pupup!”
Offering handy translation charts with curse words in Persian and compliments in Cantonese, a list of gifts and how to interpret their hidden meaning, tips for reclaiming the holidays one Bastille Day at a time, and your very own set of Mother-in-Law MadLibs, I Heart My In-laws embodies the old saying, “It’s funny because it’s true.”
"In writer/filmmaker Poch's hilarious guidebook geared toward girlfriends, fiancées, and wives, she offers helpful advice on all aspects of coping with in-laws -- the first meeting, the holidays, the weddings, the arrival of babies (or not), and the day they decide to move next door. Poch, whose own in-laws live in another state, bases much of her information on interviews with women who have succeeded in reclaiming holidays, avoiding clashes with nasty sisters-in-law, and confronting the passive-aggressive mothers-in-law. She includes translation charts for understanding curses and compliments in a partner's family's native tongue, and she throws in games like 'Mother-In-Law MadLibs' just for fun. Every woman who has ever dealt with a partner's family will appreciate the humor and empathy in this book."Dina K. Poch has a BA from Brown University and an MFA from Columbia University. She is a writer and filmmaker living in New York City with her husband and two cats. Her in-laws live in Connecticut.
--Library Journal
"She doesn't miss a thing, taking on the endless eccentricities of family members, nightmarish holidays and vacations, wedding planning ... and the birth of grandchildren ... Skip the champagne flutes and buy this for your soon-to-be-wed friends instead."
--The Star Tribune
"I truly enjoyed reading this book. I found myself giggling aloud and constantly reading snippets to my husband. Poch has a wonderful sense of humor, and she describes situations in a way that makes you feel the embarrassment, nerves and frustration."
--Literary Illusions
Read selected excerpts from I Heart My In-Laws and learn more about the book at the official website and the author's blog.
The Page 69 Test: I Heart My In-Laws.
--Marshal Zeringue