Mother's Day is just around the corner, which means we're all trying to think of the perfect gift to express gratitude for just how much our mothers do for us. If the mothers, aunts, and other women in your life are the reading type, we've got you covered with 10 of the best books to give for Mother's Day in 2025.
From tender mother-daughter narratives to heartfelt memoirs about the state of modern womanhood, the following books are sure to make great gifts come May. Whether on the shores of Trinidad, the English countryside, or the hills of Italy, these books spotlight all kinds of mothers, and are guaranteed to not only entertain, but touch the heart.
Before I Called You Mine
Lauren is a dedicated first-grade teacher in Idaho, and though she adores children, she hasn't quite met the right person to have one with. Rather than wait around, she decides to try a different path: that of international adoption. To satisfy her adoption agency's requirements, she happily agrees to remain single for the foreseeable future.
It should have been easy. It had certainly been easy for the last decade of her life. But then along came Joshua Avery, a vivacious substitute teacher that Lauren can't help but like. Even more difficult for her adoption prospects? He feels the same way. This tender love story is a wonderful way for mothers to engage with motherhood from an unconventional angle.
A Year of Flowers
This collection of four short stories centers around three friends—Jaime, Claire, and Tessa—as they navigate the ups and downs of their careers and love lives.
In An Apology in Bloom, wedding florist Jaime Harper is rapidly growing her career in the city, until a letter from her mentor draws her back to her hometown. In A Bouquet of Dreams, Claire Murphy thinks her time to own a flower shop in her hometown has finally come—but only if she can confront the heartbreak that led her to leave it in the first place. In A Field of Beauty, Tessa has a quiet life with her boyfriend on her flower farm, but a secret threatens to destory everything she's built.
Finally, in A Future in Blossom, Jaime, Claire, and Tessa reunite in their hometown. As they help their former mentor pull off a big wedding, can they also heal from the tragedy that sent them their separate ways to begin with?
Three Days in June
It's three days before her daughter Debbie's wedding, and things couldn't be going worse for Gail Baines. She's lost her job, she hasn't been invited to the festivities organized by the groom's mother, and her ex-husband has just arrived unannounced without a place to stay.
But all that pales in comparison to the secret Debbie shares about her husband-to-be, a secret she has only just learned. A secret that threatens to not only derail the wedding, but stir up Gail and Max's past.
Three Days in June is a tender and beautifully told portrait of mother and daughter perfect for moms in search of not only a good story, but a touching one.
A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty
A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty follows three generations of Slocumb women as they navigate the highs and lows of life together. There's 15-year-old Mosey, spirited and sassy, but nevertheless shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard. She makes it her mission to figure out why it's there.
Meanwhile, her mother, Liza, in poor health, is haunted by mistakes she made as a teenager. Fortunately, there's matriarch Jenny, Mosey's steadfast and kindhearted grandmother, to guide both her and Liza through the past, present, and future.
Tom Lake
It's spring of 2020, and Lara's three daughters have returned to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, their mother indulges them with stories of Peter Duke, a famous actor, colleague, and old flame with whom she once belonged to a theater company called Tom Lake.
As Lara recounts the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
37
It's the day before Fran Clark's 37th birthday, and her life as a housewife isn't everything she thought it would be at this point. She's half-heartedly trying to revive her once-vibrant career, obsessing over the cut-throat mothers' scene at her children's school, and drinking a lot.
When Fran realizes she has failed her children one too many times, and suspects her husband is cheating on her, she can't help but feel she has hit rock bottom. With the help of her friends and some bitingly funny commentary, she sets about the business of climbing her way back up. Mothers will love Beaumont's hilarious observations about motherhood, friendship, and suburbia.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir
In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith navigates the dissolution of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. She extrapolates her personal story to that of modern women everywhere, a continued struggle with gender roles, domestic power dynamics, and internal inhibitions.
Empathetic and astute, Smith weaves personal narrative with reflections on secrets, anger, and forgiveness. Her memoir is a great gift for mothers seeking some real-life inspiration for how to navigate the increasingly complex world of modern womanhood.
A Good Year for the Roses
Recently divorced and struggling to find a new home for her three boys, Londoner Molly Taylor isn't surprised when even the precious roses in her garden fail to grow this year. Her luck suddenly turns, however, when her beloved aunt dies, leaving her a 300-year-old manor house on the Devon coast.
Molly isn't sure she's ready for the responsibility of running a bed-and-breakfast in the old house, or caring for her eccentric Uncle Bertie, or dealing with his rude parrot, Betty. There's also her scheming brother's nearby hotel to think about, and the return of a high school lover with ulterior motives.
Molly certainly has her doubts. But soon Harrington Hall begins to work its magic, and the roses in the garden start to bloom…
'Til the Well Runs Dry
16-year-old Marcia Garcia, seamstress, mother of two small boys, and guardian of a family secret, is enamored with Farouk Karam, an ambitious policeman in her seaside village north of Trinidad. And he feels the same—so much so that he seeks the help of an obeah woman to guaruntee that his love is not unrequited. The result will change the course of Marcia's life forever.
'Til The Well Runs Dry is the unforgettable story about a woman's love for a man, a mother's love for her children, and a people's love for an island rich with calypso and Carnival, cricket and salty air, sweet fruits and spicy stews. This deeply human novel makes a perfect gift for mothers who know all too well what it is to love passionately and fiercely in the face of uncertainty.
A Sister's Story
In the middle of the night, Adriana appears, breathless, on her sister's doorstep, a baby in her arms. Just like that, Adriana turns her sister's life upside down with chaos and cataclysmic revelations.
Years later, her sister is urgently and unexpectedly called back to her hometown of Pescara. As she journeys through the night, she recalls the past, lost in memory as she reflects on their youth, their loves and losses, secrets and regrets.
A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 and finalist for the 2021 Strega Prize, A Sister's Story is a magical narrative about family, sisterhood, and the ambiguous yet steadfast ties that bind them.
