Burnt Toast

Book excerpt: From America's most beloved comedic actress and the star of Desperate Housewives comes a personal, heartfelt, and often very funny manifesto on life, love, and the lessons we all need to learn -- and unlearn -- on the road to happiness. Teri Hatcher secured her place in America's heart when she stood up to accept her Golden Globe for Best Actress and declared herself a "has-been" on national television. That moment showcased her down-to-earth, self-deprecating style -- and her frank openness about the ups and downs she's experienced in life and work. But what the world might not have seen that night is that Teri's self-acceptance is the hard-won effort of a single mother with all the same struggles most women have to juggle -- life, love, bake sale cookies, and dying cats. Now, in the hope that her foibles and insights might inspire and motivate other women, Teri opens up about the little moments that have sustained her through good times and bad. From the everyday (like the importance of letting your daughter spill her macaroni so she knows it's okay to make mistakes) to the rare (a rendezvous with a humpback whale -- and no, he was not a suitor), the message at the heart of Burnt Toast -- that happiness and success are choices that we owe it to ourselves to make -- is sure to resonate with women everywhere.