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The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law Tips: Tricks, and Truths from the Queen of the Family —Because She Knows Best!
How to Win Over Your Mother-in-Law Without Losing Your Mind!
If navigating the mother-in-law relationship feels like an Olympic event, don’t worry—you’ve just found your gold-medal playbook! In The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law, Kim Heidler Brooks serves up the ultimate guide to keeping your family relationships smooth, stress-free, and dare we say—fun.
Think winning her over is impossible? Think again! This hilarious, no-nonsense book is packed with tried-and-true strategies to charm your mother-in-law and keep the peace. Whether you're dealing with unsolicited advice, passive-aggressive comments, or gift-giving disasters, Kim’s got you covered.
Inside, you’ll
The one simple trick to flip her from your toughest critic to your biggest fan—without losing yourself.
How to give a gift that actually matters and will keep you in her good graces for years to come.
The secret to surviving family holidays without feeling like you’re walking on eggshells.
Proven ways to gracefully handle her “advice” and keep her happy—while staying in control of your life.
How to master the fine art of in-law diplomacy and create a family dynamic that works for everyone.
Whether you’re already getting along or things are a bit rocky, The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law will give you the tools you need to handle every twist and turn. And let’s be when it comes to keeping your mother-in-law happy, a little extra knowledge never hurts.
If you want to win her over, keep the peace, and maybe even become her favorite, scroll up and click the “Add to Cart” button now!
If navigating the mother-in-law relationship feels like an Olympic event, don’t worry—you’ve just found your gold-medal playbook! In The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law, Kim Heidler Brooks serves up the ultimate guide to keeping your family relationships smooth, stress-free, and dare we say—fun.
Think winning her over is impossible? Think again! This hilarious, no-nonsense book is packed with tried-and-true strategies to charm your mother-in-law and keep the peace. Whether you're dealing with unsolicited advice, passive-aggressive comments, or gift-giving disasters, Kim’s got you covered.
Inside, you’ll
The one simple trick to flip her from your toughest critic to your biggest fan—without losing yourself.
How to give a gift that actually matters and will keep you in her good graces for years to come.
The secret to surviving family holidays without feeling like you’re walking on eggshells.
Proven ways to gracefully handle her “advice” and keep her happy—while staying in control of your life.
How to master the fine art of in-law diplomacy and create a family dynamic that works for everyone.
Whether you’re already getting along or things are a bit rocky, The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law will give you the tools you need to handle every twist and turn. And let’s be when it comes to keeping your mother-in-law happy, a little extra knowledge never hurts.
If you want to win her over, keep the peace, and maybe even become her favorite, scroll up and click the “Add to Cart” button now!
84 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2024
1 person is currently reading
About the author
Kim Heidler Brooks
14 books2 followersKim Heidler Brooks has been writing for as long as she can remember. From a young age, she filled notebooks with stories, ideas, and anything that sparked her imagination. Her love for writing was recognized early, earning her numerous awards throughout her school years.
Though she took a break from writing to focus on raising her three children, her passion for storytelling and learning never faded. A natural researcher at heart, Kim has always been the kind of person who dives deep into her interests—gathering information from books, experts, and personal experiences. Whether it’s health, pet care, or relationships, she believes in understanding a topic fully before sharing it with the world.
Now, she’s channeling that curiosity and love for knowledge into writing books that inform, entertain, and inspire. Her goal is simple: to share her passions and expertise with readers in a way that’s engaging, relatable, and, most importantly, helpful.
Though she took a break from writing to focus on raising her three children, her passion for storytelling and learning never faded. A natural researcher at heart, Kim has always been the kind of person who dives deep into her interests—gathering information from books, experts, and personal experiences. Whether it’s health, pet care, or relationships, she believes in understanding a topic fully before sharing it with the world.
Now, she’s channeling that curiosity and love for knowledge into writing books that inform, entertain, and inspire. Her goal is simple: to share her passions and expertise with readers in a way that’s engaging, relatable, and, most importantly, helpful.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 21, 2025
I expected this book to to be all jokes about monster in laws, but was pleasantly surprised to find some genuine, usable advice. The writer really gets how tricky these relationships can be and I found myself nodding along to the descriptions of different kinds of mother in laws types and her tips for handling everything from awkward holiday dinners to overwhelming "suggestions."
Most of the advice was about how to please the mother-in-law or appease them, even when they’re wrong. For example, the suggested solution to unwanted advice is to find some aspect of the advice you can implement. I’m going to try this but my gut tells me that acting this way will only encourage more unwanted advice. I don’t think I agree with the idea of always “sucking up” to people who are problematic. So I would have appreaciated some advice on establishing boundaries gracefully.
The book is written from the point of view of a sligtly condescending mother in law, which strikes a nice balance between keeping humor and real help. It’s a quick read and I found myself making note of some tips I might actually use. Overall I thought it was helpful and fun.
Most of the advice was about how to please the mother-in-law or appease them, even when they’re wrong. For example, the suggested solution to unwanted advice is to find some aspect of the advice you can implement. I’m going to try this but my gut tells me that acting this way will only encourage more unwanted advice. I don’t think I agree with the idea of always “sucking up” to people who are problematic. So I would have appreaciated some advice on establishing boundaries gracefully.
The book is written from the point of view of a sligtly condescending mother in law, which strikes a nice balance between keeping humor and real help. It’s a quick read and I found myself making note of some tips I might actually use. Overall I thought it was helpful and fun.
November 10, 2024
Wit, wisdom and relatability
In “The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law: Tips, Tricks, and Truths from the Queen of the Family—Because She Knows Best!”, author Kim Heilder Brooks provides a lighthearted yet insightful strategy for navigating the relationship between spouses and their mothers-in-law. Brooks presents with humour and a touch of wisdom an engaging approach to managing your mother-in-law’s personality. She breaks down the most common mother-in-law personalities into four archetypes, each with strengths, weaknesses and behavioural quirks. While Brooks’s tone is playful, her recommendations are grounded in helpful strategies to ease tensions and build a positive relationship.
This book is excellent at addressing a potentially dangerous topic with amusing and quite practical tips. Brooks doesn’t encourage manipulation or dishonesty; instead, she provides sensible strategies for building rapport, navigating thorny situations and building a respectful and understanding relationship. By recognising the underlying motivations of each mother-in-law architype, readers can tailor their approach and avoid unnecessary conflicts—assuming they have one of ‘those’ mothers-in-law.
The book’s core message is one of empathy: ‘know thy enemy’, but suggests doing so in a loving way. While you might initially feel that your mother-in-law is a source of frustration, Brooks reminds you that understanding her personality and needs can transform the relationship into something great.
One of the most valuable nuggets of advice is that every mother-in-law is unique and can exhibit traits from multiple archetypes. Rather than complicating the relationship, this dynamic offers more opportunities for connection and growth (aka manipulation). While the book focuses primarily on how to ‘suck up’’ (as the title suggests) to create rapport, it also offers helpful lessons in emotional intelligence, communication and compromise. Throughout, Brooks’s humour keeps the tone light and accessible, ensuring readers don’t feel overwhelmed by the idea of ‘playing the game’.
“The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law” is a fun read for anyone seeking to understand and/or improve their relationship with their mother-in-law and by extension, other family relationships. Whether you’re dealing with a perfectionist, an overenthusiastic wannabe best friend, a silent judge or an overachiever, Brooks offers creative and actionable strategies for turning potential conflicts into opportunities to connect.
In “The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law: Tips, Tricks, and Truths from the Queen of the Family—Because She Knows Best!”, author Kim Heilder Brooks provides a lighthearted yet insightful strategy for navigating the relationship between spouses and their mothers-in-law. Brooks presents with humour and a touch of wisdom an engaging approach to managing your mother-in-law’s personality. She breaks down the most common mother-in-law personalities into four archetypes, each with strengths, weaknesses and behavioural quirks. While Brooks’s tone is playful, her recommendations are grounded in helpful strategies to ease tensions and build a positive relationship.
This book is excellent at addressing a potentially dangerous topic with amusing and quite practical tips. Brooks doesn’t encourage manipulation or dishonesty; instead, she provides sensible strategies for building rapport, navigating thorny situations and building a respectful and understanding relationship. By recognising the underlying motivations of each mother-in-law architype, readers can tailor their approach and avoid unnecessary conflicts—assuming they have one of ‘those’ mothers-in-law.
The book’s core message is one of empathy: ‘know thy enemy’, but suggests doing so in a loving way. While you might initially feel that your mother-in-law is a source of frustration, Brooks reminds you that understanding her personality and needs can transform the relationship into something great.
One of the most valuable nuggets of advice is that every mother-in-law is unique and can exhibit traits from multiple archetypes. Rather than complicating the relationship, this dynamic offers more opportunities for connection and growth (aka manipulation). While the book focuses primarily on how to ‘suck up’’ (as the title suggests) to create rapport, it also offers helpful lessons in emotional intelligence, communication and compromise. Throughout, Brooks’s humour keeps the tone light and accessible, ensuring readers don’t feel overwhelmed by the idea of ‘playing the game’.
“The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law” is a fun read for anyone seeking to understand and/or improve their relationship with their mother-in-law and by extension, other family relationships. Whether you’re dealing with a perfectionist, an overenthusiastic wannabe best friend, a silent judge or an overachiever, Brooks offers creative and actionable strategies for turning potential conflicts into opportunities to connect.
January 21, 2025
Ultimately a fun – and kind-hearted – book
There was something about the cover of this book that made me think the humor would be edgier and ironic, with a “just kidding” message at the end of each snarky bit. But from page one forward that’s not the case at all. Author Kim Heidler Brooks is earnest and straightforward. Her occasional nuanced moments feel like a relieving gift. This can be both humorous in its way and overbearing. Ultimately, The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law is a book to take seriously and also with a grain of salt. Even the author is aware that these types of relationships must form naturally.
Brooks has been around the block a few times and lets readers know her qualifications up front. Chapter titles such as “Know Thy Enemy,” “Give Her the Gift of Being Right,” and “Handling the Passive-Aggressive Remarks Like a Pro” are mock intimidating and set the right "respect your elders" tone. The author relates mother-in-law archetypes, how to make compliments properly, and the right way to seek advice. It can all feel overwhelming, and I’d say I’m glad to have escaped being this woman’s in-law. There were moments when I wanted to ask Brooks, “What are YOU giving within this relationship?”
And yet, as the short book wore on, I started to see the side of the author that simply wants to make family her number-one priority, something that more people, myself included, should probably do. Family traditions, for instance, are important to her, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can also feel the love and importance Brooks places on grandchildren, going so far as to dial things back several notches if her child and in-law respectfully convey the importance of their parenting methods and don’t want to be told what to do.
“The Power of the Well-Timed Phone Call” section also offers sage advice, though I disagree with Brooks’ assessment that the spouse of her child must also regularly call his or her in-law. Let the family fighting begin.
There was something about the cover of this book that made me think the humor would be edgier and ironic, with a “just kidding” message at the end of each snarky bit. But from page one forward that’s not the case at all. Author Kim Heidler Brooks is earnest and straightforward. Her occasional nuanced moments feel like a relieving gift. This can be both humorous in its way and overbearing. Ultimately, The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law is a book to take seriously and also with a grain of salt. Even the author is aware that these types of relationships must form naturally.
Brooks has been around the block a few times and lets readers know her qualifications up front. Chapter titles such as “Know Thy Enemy,” “Give Her the Gift of Being Right,” and “Handling the Passive-Aggressive Remarks Like a Pro” are mock intimidating and set the right "respect your elders" tone. The author relates mother-in-law archetypes, how to make compliments properly, and the right way to seek advice. It can all feel overwhelming, and I’d say I’m glad to have escaped being this woman’s in-law. There were moments when I wanted to ask Brooks, “What are YOU giving within this relationship?”
And yet, as the short book wore on, I started to see the side of the author that simply wants to make family her number-one priority, something that more people, myself included, should probably do. Family traditions, for instance, are important to her, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can also feel the love and importance Brooks places on grandchildren, going so far as to dial things back several notches if her child and in-law respectfully convey the importance of their parenting methods and don’t want to be told what to do.
“The Power of the Well-Timed Phone Call” section also offers sage advice, though I disagree with Brooks’ assessment that the spouse of her child must also regularly call his or her in-law. Let the family fighting begin.
January 8, 2025
“The Proper Way to Suck-Up to Your Mother-in-Law Tips: Tricks, and Truths from the Queen of the Family – Because She Knows Best!” by Kim Brooks can be a bit frightening. It’s like your first day of work, when you have a good trainer, who gives you a laundry list of things you’ll need to do to stay on your boss’s good side. Though the trainer is nice, because you’ll need the help, it’s also scary to learn that you’ll need that much help to simply survive, especially when you know there are other situations in which bosses and subordinates naturally work together without difficulty.
Put another way, my mom is great, and my brother in law is great, so my brother in law seems to just be himself – a good guy, husband, dad – and he gets along famously with my wonderful mother. If this is you, you do not need this book.
By contrast, after one day of hanging out with my girlfriend’s dad, I told her I’d never hang out with him again. For him, I would need a book like this. Because I think I did hang out with him once more (before we broke up), and I did a lot of keeping my mouth shut – and it worked, just like a lot of things in this book could work with the mother in law that has you thinking about buying this book.
Certain tools in here could be more useful if you and your mother-in-law do a lot of cooking, decorating, hosting family gatherings, buying gifts, and raising kids. Even if not, there’s something in here for everyone, because you don’t need to be a cook to give/receive a passive aggressive comment.
This book will equip you to deal with someone who makes you feel like you can never do anything right. It teaches how to gift, compliment, wisely seek advice, and how to deal with and even help prevent unwanted comments and unsolicited advice.
Put another way, my mom is great, and my brother in law is great, so my brother in law seems to just be himself – a good guy, husband, dad – and he gets along famously with my wonderful mother. If this is you, you do not need this book.
By contrast, after one day of hanging out with my girlfriend’s dad, I told her I’d never hang out with him again. For him, I would need a book like this. Because I think I did hang out with him once more (before we broke up), and I did a lot of keeping my mouth shut – and it worked, just like a lot of things in this book could work with the mother in law that has you thinking about buying this book.
Certain tools in here could be more useful if you and your mother-in-law do a lot of cooking, decorating, hosting family gatherings, buying gifts, and raising kids. Even if not, there’s something in here for everyone, because you don’t need to be a cook to give/receive a passive aggressive comment.
This book will equip you to deal with someone who makes you feel like you can never do anything right. It teaches how to gift, compliment, wisely seek advice, and how to deal with and even help prevent unwanted comments and unsolicited advice.
November 24, 2024
The Proper Way to Suck Up To Your Mother In Law was a tongue in cheek and witty read. While it does make a good point about keeping your mother in law on side, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and makes light of what can be a difficult relationship to navigate. It strikes this balance well and is a unique take on the self-help/relationship advice genres.
I liked reading about the ‘archetypes’ and the author’s self-proclaimed expertise in this field (by being a mother in law herself). The advice mostly followed the be kind and take an interest in them sort of approach, which I think is a useful tool for many relationships. A couple of the situations made me laugh as I have been in them before, but navigated them much differently and did not lead to the best of outcomes.
While I acknowledge and understand the principles behind this book, my mother in law is not the nicest person (even to her own children) so a lot of the advice I won’t be taking on board - but that is a matter for me alone. If your mother in law is a decent person at heart, and you do want to have a good relationship with them, then there is a lot which can be obtained from this short and witty read.
I liked reading about the ‘archetypes’ and the author’s self-proclaimed expertise in this field (by being a mother in law herself). The advice mostly followed the be kind and take an interest in them sort of approach, which I think is a useful tool for many relationships. A couple of the situations made me laugh as I have been in them before, but navigated them much differently and did not lead to the best of outcomes.
While I acknowledge and understand the principles behind this book, my mother in law is not the nicest person (even to her own children) so a lot of the advice I won’t be taking on board - but that is a matter for me alone. If your mother in law is a decent person at heart, and you do want to have a good relationship with them, then there is a lot which can be obtained from this short and witty read.
December 8, 2024
It’s really no secret that most women, married to men, experience friction with their in laws to the point where we often dread visiting or being visited by them. It’s really not as the author initially suggests – due to intimidation – but rather personality and family-culture differences, incompatible expectations, odd longstanding Mother-Son relationships, and I could go on. In my dating life, I only truly liked one mother and it was hard to break up with the guy, because it meant forfeiting his mother too. The rest it was like “byeeeeeee.”
That being said, I did like this book. It’s written in a fun and informative manner. The author sounds like she would be a nice mother in law. I’m taking away a number of tips. Unfortunately, this book didn’t include any boundary setting or survival strategies if all else fails...especially when you bring kids into the mix. Overall, I would recommend this book!
That being said, I did like this book. It’s written in a fun and informative manner. The author sounds like she would be a nice mother in law. I’m taking away a number of tips. Unfortunately, this book didn’t include any boundary setting or survival strategies if all else fails...especially when you bring kids into the mix. Overall, I would recommend this book!
November 7, 2024
How to Suck Up to Your Mother In Law was a cute book filled with lots of humor as well as some wonderful suggestions about building and strengthening an important relationship. As a mother in law to four lovely ladies, I was interested to read it. The book is written from the point of view of a mother in law who is giving advice to her son's wife. So that seemed to fit my situation to a T. Some of the suggestions, such as learning to blend family traditions and how to give sincere compliments, were very good. However, I feel that the entire book was written from the assumption that the mother in law/ daughter in law relationship was going to be adversarial from the get go. I have not found that with my daughter in laws. I also am concerned about honesty in a relationship. Editing and writing was all very good.
December 23, 2024
A fun way to get advice
This is such a fun book. It gives advice from the perspective of a mother in law that is always right. It has a cheeky tone of voice that brings lightness to figuring out your relationship with your in-laws. Some of the advice is specific to a mother in law and others more general. There are examples of how to provide that advice and how to not take things seriously which can be a great help. I read it hoping to improve my relationship with my mother in law. There is not much strife between us but it would be nice to better understand her, which the book provided some tips and tricks. The biggest concept is understanding that she just wants to feel valued, seen, and a part of their child's life. Seems silly when you spell it out but we so easily forget as we live our own lives. Overall a helpful book and especially for those that have a hard relationship with their mother in law.
This is such a fun book. It gives advice from the perspective of a mother in law that is always right. It has a cheeky tone of voice that brings lightness to figuring out your relationship with your in-laws. Some of the advice is specific to a mother in law and others more general. There are examples of how to provide that advice and how to not take things seriously which can be a great help. I read it hoping to improve my relationship with my mother in law. There is not much strife between us but it would be nice to better understand her, which the book provided some tips and tricks. The biggest concept is understanding that she just wants to feel valued, seen, and a part of their child's life. Seems silly when you spell it out but we so easily forget as we live our own lives. Overall a helpful book and especially for those that have a hard relationship with their mother in law.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews