10 Inspiring Women's Books to Help You Turn a New Leaf

Karen Casey has spent decades speaking about her journey to sobriety and finding ways for people, especially women, to deal with their own challenges. In Each Day a New Beginning, she writes about self-esteem, friendships with other women, hope, attitudes about life and relationships, and more. 

Each day's message begins with a quotation from a legendary woman like Helen Keller, Agatha Christie, and Katharine Hepburn, and each ends with an affirmation about the feminine spirit.

Why do we hold back from pursuing what matters most? How can we move beyond our inner fear and self-sabotage instincts to live the lives we have always wanted to? 

Motivational speaker and artist Amber Rae wants you to choose wonder over worry by facing your fears and challenging your internal demons. Through a mixture of spirituality, art, and science, Rae offers a path through the dark towards your best bright self.

Emily Ley is the founder of Simplified, a company dedicated to making planners and diaries that can greatly make easier your ability to get things done. While trying to juggle her many roles in life life as a wife, new mother, and working woman, Ley came to a point when she suddenly realized she couldn’t do it all. That's what led her to set up her business. 

Grace, Not Perfection takes this message from a daily planner to an inspirational book that encourages women to prioritize what matters. Ley focuses on faith, work, family, and not caring about having it all.

Bestselling romance author Debbie Macomber is best known for her contemporary romance novels and women's fiction that focuses on hopeful young heroines who find romantic and spiritual completion, often in small rural towns like Cedar Cove. 

In One Perfect Word, she applies her fiction writing skills to true stories to show how she changed her own life by intentionally focusing on one single word for a whole year. Words like "believe," “purpose,” and "surrender" took on new meaning as Macomber committed herself to living by that ethos.

Sometimes, the only person who can get through to you when you're in the midst of a crisis is your therapist. Mental health matters. 

For anyone in need of a daily dose of affirmation and empathy, therapist and mental health counselor Allyson Dinneen shares a collection of hand-written notes from her popular Instagram account @notesfromyourtherapist. Whatever you're in need of, these bite-sized proclamations are there for you.

Ageism is rampant in our society, especially for women. We're told that we're "past our prime" by 40 and everything after that is downhill. But growing older is something that can be freeing and beautiful. 

Bestselling author and artist Lisa Congdon explores the power of women over the age of forty who are thriving and living their best lives. Her book includes profiles, interviews, and essays on and by women like Vera Wang, Julia Child, and Laura Ingalls Wilder, all of whom found themselves creatively and personally in the second half of their lives.

Comedian Nicole Byer knows all about the perils and pitfalls of being a plus-sized woman in a skinny person's world. Doing something as simple as wearing the clothes you want will have people ready to jump down your throats with insults, or overtly-aggrandizing proclamations that you’re oh-so-brave for baring it all. 

Byer decided to share her secrets (and many awesome photos of her bikini collection) to her loyal readers. Everyone can look awesome in a two-piece and tell the rest of the world where to stick it!

Women have been conditioned for generations to be “good,” to hold back their ambition and leadership tendencies to appease men. Majo Molfino, a Stanford University-trained designer, thinks it's time to change that. 

Majo identifies five self-sabotaging tendencies (“the five Good Girl Myths”) every woman must overcome to unleash her power and become the kind of figure she's always dreamed of. The good girl myths are done for and it's time to step up!

When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, she decided, at the grand age of 90, to hit the road. 

Accompanied by her son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo, Miss Norma travels across the country in a thirty-six-foot motor home and fulfills all of her bucket list dreams: horseback riding, a hot air balloon trip, even a visit a cannabis dispensary. Stop by stop, state by state, they meet countless people from all walks of life, all of whom are changed indelibly by their meetings with Miss Norma.

After receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer, journalist Gina L. Mulligan founded Girls Love Mail, a charity that collects handwritten letters of encouragement for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. 

These heartfelt letters are compiled in Dear Friend, offering a wide array of stories from women who have undergone the heartbreaking experience of cancer. This collection offers hope, compassion, and the oft-untold truth of going through the nightmare of this diagnosis.