FALL READING CHALLENGE: Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton #FRC2017 @BookSparks

BOOK INFORMATION

Hardcover: 272 pages

Genre: Self-help, relationships

• Publisher: Flatiron Books; Hardcover edition (September 6, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1250128544
• ISBN-13: 978-1250128546

Synopsis: The highly anticipated new memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton tells the story of her journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage.

Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out—three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list—her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.

Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how our ideals of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for a man and a woman to truly know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they’ve been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, fall in love.

Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.

Review: This book is my introduction to this author, and I am so glad I chose to read it. While some of it was difficult reading (I could feel her pain, disappointment, confusion), other parts were uplifting and wonderful. 

The author takes us along with her on a deeply personal life journey, and she does it in such a way that we can all connect with her somewhere along the way. I can relate to being sure you know what love is and how it is supposed to look and feel, and then realizing that you've only bought into what society portrays--and working to unlearn it to find a deeper, truer love.

Rating: Four stars

About the author

Glennon Doyle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Love Warrior, which was selected as Oprah's Book Club pick, as well as the New York Times bestselling memoir Carry On, Warrior. Glennon is also the founder of Momastery, an online community reaching millions of people each week, and the creator and president of Together Rising—a non-profit organization that has raised over seven million dollars for families around the world.

Follow Glennon and Momastery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and sign up for her email updates here: http://eepurl.com/OiRan.

Glennon is a columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine, and was named among OWN Network's SuperSoul100 inaugural group - as one of 100 "awakened leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity," as well as one as of Family Circle's 20 Most Influential Moms of 2017. Glennon and her philanthropic work have been featured on The TODAY Show, The Talk, The OWN Network, Chelsea, Dr. Oz and in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Forbes, Glamour, Parents Magazine, Newsweek, and Woman’s Day, among other television and print outlets. She lives in Florida with her family.

Ready To Wed by Greg Smalley

Synopsis: Rings. Dress. Cake.
You’re engaged, and the checklist for the day of your dreams is a mile long. In the who, what, where, and how of planning, the why can be forgotten.

Ready to Wed discusses 12 Traits of a thriving marriage and offers a variety of topics to guide and advise those preparing to say, “I do!”

Learn to: Define a vision statement unique to your marriage. Positively engage conflict to build a foundation of trust and forgiveness. “Leave and cleave,” even if you are a child of divorce. Manage expectations—and your in-laws! Navigate hot-button issues including, sex and the chore wars. Cope with change, stress, and crisis—especially in your first year. Build a community of support and find mentors. Assess your progress using the Couple Checkup. Loaded with advice, tips, and instructions, this valuable resource is ideal for soon-to-be-newlyweds and those who support them!

Thoughts: This is a very informative, educational book for couples. After reading through it myself, I now plan to share it with my children who are engaged and planning weddings. 

While it does have Biblical references and a Christian perspective, it is still beneficial for those who might not be coming at marriage from a religious perspective. It's like having premarital counseling in the comfort of your own home. 

The book is divided into two sections: one on preparing for marriage, and one on conflict management. Each chapter is written by a different expert, so that you get a variety of perspectives. 

Even though the book is about starting a marriage, I found some tidbits that will be beneficial to my well-established marriage as well.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.**

My rating: Five stars

Messy Beautiful Love: Hope And Redemption For Real-Life Marriages, by Darlene Schacht

Synopsis: "Messy Beautiful Love" delivers an incredible testimony of grace that offers hope for today's marriages and a spark for rekindling love.

Love gets messy.

Financial problems, sickness, aging parents, a chronically unhappy spouse . . . trials will inevitably come that threaten your marriage. No matter how long you've been married or how strong your relationship is, sooner or later you are going to have a mess to clean up.

"Messy Beautiful Love" is about cleaning up messes God's way, exchanging your ideas for His, and being prepared for both the best and the worst that marriage has to offer.

When you surrender your relationship to God, then and only then will you experience the blessing of marriage as He intended. This is the blessing of obedience. "Messy Beautiful Love" is an invitation to that obedience. The cynical world says marriages don't last, but God knows better. Tune out the world and tune in to Him. When you do that, a beautiful marriage is not only possible, it's inevitable

Thoughts: **I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review**

I've been a fan of the Time-Warp Wife via Facebook and her blog page for a while now, and reading this book cemented that fandom. I will now be her fan for life!!

When I read the first chapter, where her husband confronted her and she confessed her affair, it was like reading my own story--including knowing that, with the grace and forgiveness of God,they worked through it and stayed together, stronger than before.

Every chapter in this book is filled with great advice and insight into being the wife God wants us to be. My copy is full of blue highlighter marks where things touched my heart. While I was aware of the Bible verses she quotes, her take on how to live them is often fresh and informative.

I would recommend this to any woman who wants to have a God-centered marriage.

My rating: Five Stars

Before, During, After, by Richard Bausch

Synopsis: When Natasha, a talented young artist working as a congressional aide, meets Michael Faulk, an Episcopalian priest struggling with his faith, the stars seem to align. Although he is nearly two decades older, they discover in each other the happy yearning and exhilaration of lovers, and within months they are engaged. Shortly before their wedding, while Natasha is vacationing in Jamaica and Faulk is in New York attending the wedding of a family friend, the terrorist attacks of September 11 shatter the tranquility of the nation’s summer. Alone in a state of abject terror, cut off from America and convinced that Faulk is dead, Natasha makes an error in judgment that leads to a private trauma of her own on the Caribbean shore. A few days later, she and Faulk are reunited, but the horror of that day and Natasha’s inability to speak of it inexorably divide their relationship into “before” and “after.” They move to Memphis and begin their new life together, but their marriage quickly descends into repression, anxiety, and suspicion. 

Thoughts: This is a very different sort of love story. Michael and Natasha meet and become engaged prior to 9/11, and that day finds them separated---he in NYC, she in Jamaica. Because of something that happens on that day, there are secrets between them, which result in tension, frustration, and anger.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I had a few complaints about it. The phrases "babe," "my love," etc., were used too often for my taste. We know the main characters are in love, but we also know they have a certain amount of emotional distance between them, so the endearments seemed a little forced through much of the book.

The other issue is the amount of drinking....it seemed that everyone always had a drink in their hand, and the main characters spent a LOT of time drunk. 

I was slightly disappointed in the ending, as well...but I have hopes that it means there might be more to the story of Michael and Natasha in the future.

My rating: Four stars

Just What Kind Of Mother Are You?, Paula Daly

Synopsis: What if your best friend's child disappears? And it was all your fault. This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto, overwhelmed working mother of three, one freezing December in the English Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment and her whole world descends into the stuff of nightmares. Because, not only is thirteen-year-old Lucinda missing, and not only is it all Lisa's fault, but she's the second teenage girl to disappear within this small tightknit community over two weeks. The first girl turned up stripped bare, dumped on a busy high street, after suffering from a terrifying ordeal. 

Wracked with guilt over her mistake and after being publicly blamed by Lucinda's family, Lisa sets out to right the wrong. But as she begins peeling away the layers surrounding Lucinda's disappearance, Lisa learns that the small, posh, quiet town she lives in isn't what she thought it was, and her friends may not be who they appear, either.

Thoughts: This story is full of more twists and turns than any I've read in quite a while. Every time I thought I had the mystery solved, I got that theory squashed quite firmly. Would love to read more mystery novels by this author in the future.