Best Friends, Occasional Enemies: The Lighter Side of Life as a Mother and Daughter

by Lisa Scottoline, Francesca Serritella Narrated by Lisa Scottoline, Francesca Serritella

Overview

From the New York Times best-selling writing team comes a hilarious new collection of essays that observe life from a mother/daughter perspective.

New York Times best-selling author Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francesca Serritella, are the best of friends - 99.9% of the time. They're number one on each other's speed dial and they tell each other everything — well, almost everything. They share shoes and clothes — except one very special green jacket, which almost caused a catfight.

In other words, they're just like every mother and daughter in the world. Best friends, and occasional enemies. Now they're dishing about it all: their lives, their relationship, and their carb count. Inspired by their weekly column, “Chick Wit” for The Philadelphia Inquirer, this book is one you'll have to put down — just to stop laughing.

Lisa on Being a Mom: "Motherhood has no expiration date. Francesca lives in the city, and I worry about her all the time. My daughter moved out, so why am I still lactating?

Francesca on Being a Daughter: "My mother is always right. Just ask her."

Lisa on Things Every Daughter Should Know: "Your mother is always thinking about you, but that's not creepy. Your mother will never forget who did you dirty in the sixth grade, for which you can thank her. And your mother will never stop asking you if you need to go to the bathroom, before you leave the house. Well, do you?"

Francesca on Closet Wars: "My mom is a great dresser. Mostly because she's wearing my clothes."

Lisa on Aging Gracefully: "My sex drive is in reverse, I have more whiskers than my cat, and my estrogen replacement is tequila.

Francesca on Apartment Living: "When I saw a mouse, the first person I called was Mom. She told me to call my super, but I felt bad bothering him. I hate to bother people. But I love to bother my mother."

A Macmillan Audio production.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Scottoline and up-and-comer Serritella are mother and daughter as well as BFFs—most of the time. In this third collection of essays based on their weekly “Chick Lit” column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the duo chat about what it’s like to be a mother and daughter who share interests, clothes, and dating woes, plus the occasional dustup. However, Scottoline writes, conflict is good, because “that valve releases the pressure from the combustible engine that is the mother-daughter relationship.” She warns about being mindful of tone (aka “kryptonite”), and notes that apologies are vital, because “Families need each other. Like oxygen.” For her part, Serritella writes of the warmth of having family and friends who refrain from I-told-you-sos after an ill-advised romance and a mother who taught her about keeping the heating bills low... even if it means a cold apartment. Other essays address everything from the hazards of suburbia to the death of a beloved dog Mother Mary and Brother Frank are back, too, in this witty and sweet return to the ins and outs of life in this sometimes kooky, always smart and funny, family. (Dec.)

From the Publisher

Feels like one big gabfest with your best girlfriends, whatever their age. The tell-all twosome have yet again opened their hearts and homes, cooking up a huge helping of laughs, sprinkled with a few tears and a dash of motherly love—and it all goes down deliciously.” —Booklist

“[A] witty and sweet return to the ins and outs of life in this sometimes kooky, always smart and funny, family.” —Publishers Weekly

“Black-and-white family photographs lend a homey feel to the experience, which culminates in a reminder to mothers and daughters that friendship between them can last a lifetime. A treat for fans of observational humor.” —Kirkus Reviews

NOVEMBER 2011 - AudioFile

Authors Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella again demonstrate their talents as comedic narrators with the delivery of this collection of essays that explore the lighter side of mothers and daughters. Lisa's slightly scratchy, distinctively accented voice, with its hint of barely suppressed laughter, is the perfect vehicle for her droll observations on her overlapping roles as child and parent. Francesca's younger, smoother tones manage to convey both an eye-rolling tolerance of the older generation and the genuine affection and respect of a devoted daughter. Neither woman takes herself too seriously in either the writing or the narration of this wry look at life. The warmth and humor that underscore the presentation show they had fun with this, and so will the listener. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169340020
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	11/22/2011
Series:	Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,088,464

Read an Excerpt

BEST FRIENDS, OCCASIONAL ENEMIES (Chapter 1)

The Occasional Enemies Part

By Lisa

Daughter Francesca and I are very close, but that doesn’t mean we don’t fight.

On the contrary, it means we do.

So if you’re currently fighting with your daughter, or merely fussing from time to time, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s start with the notion that the no-fighting model isn’t the best for mother-daughter relations. I know so many women who feel bad, guilty, or inferior because they fight with their daughters, and they needn’t. To them, and to you, I say, flip it.

What?

Flip that notion on its head. If you fight with your daughter, you raised her to think independently from you, and to voice her own views.

Yay!

You’re a great mother. Know why?

Because the world doesn’t reward the timid. Especially if they have ovaries.

In my opinion, conflict between mother and daughter is normal and good. Not only that, it’s love. I say this not as a social scientist, which I’m not, but as a real-life mother, which I so am. So if your daughter is fighting with you, here’s the good and bad news:

The good news is you raised her right.

The bad is you have a headache.

Forever.

Just kidding.

Francesca and I are best friends, but at times, we’re at odds. Enemies, only momentarily. Like most mothers and daughters, we’re so attuned to each other’s words and gestures that even the arching of an eyebrow can convey deep meaning.

If somebody plucks, we’re in trouble.

We never have really huge fights, but we have car rides to New York that can feel as if they last cross-country.

Wars of words.

We go on and on, each replying to the other, swept along in a girl vortex of words, during which we parse every nuance of every syllable, with special attention to tone.

Tone is the kryptonite of mother-daughter relationships.

As in, “I don’t like your tone.”

Also, “Don’t use that tone with me.”

And the ever-popular, “It wasn’t what you said, it was your tone.”

It was ever thus. Francesca and I got along great from the time she came out of the egg, and I used to tell her that she wasn’t allowed to whine, but she could argue with me. In other words, make her case for whatever she wanted.

Never mind that she was three at the time.

Oddly, this turned out great. She was the Perry Mason of toddlers, and more often than not, she was right. Or she felt completely heard, which was often enough for kiddie satisfaction. She argued for punch balls from the gift shop at the zoo, dessert before dinner if she ate all her dinner, and the wearing of Cinderella outfits on an almost daily basis, complete with tiara.

What girl doesn’t want a tiara?

Another thing I did when she was little was to let her vent. I had no idea how I came upon this idea, but I used to give her the chance to say anything she wanted to me, without interruption, for a full minute.

And I mean, anything.

She was even permitted to curse at me, though she didn’t know any profanity at that age. It got only as rude as “butt face.”

Ouch?

She’s still permitted to argue with me and vent her anger. And she accords me the same permission. Even though we’re writing books together and we adore each other, we can still get mad at each other. And that valve releases the pressure from the combustible engine that is the mother-daughter relationship.

It’s just hot air, anyway.

Bottom line, we’re close, so we fight, and the converse is also true. The conflict strengthens us, because it’s honesty, hard-earned.

And the more honest we are with each other, the closer we are. You’ll see exactly what I mean, in the pages that follow.

So enjoy.

And watch your tone.

BEST FRIENDS, OCCASIONAL ENEMIES. Copyright 2011 by Smart Blonde, LLC, and Francesca Scottoline Serritella.

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