When Happily Ever After Shatters by Sue Birdseye

 



 

 

About the book:

 

When Sue Birdseye found out that her husband of 17 years had been cheating on her, she tried to do everything in her power to stay with him...but God had other plans. Even though she finds herself a single mother of five children, she has decided to get past the pain and try to help others going through the same struggles. This book tells her story, but it also has tons of practical advice to get you through the struggle. The back cover states, "With compassion and honesty, she addresses such difficult topics as adultery, forgiveness, anger and loneliness. She offers seasoned wisdom, thoughtful guidance, and hope to anyone who has been hurt by a broken marriage and is walking the path to healing."

 

 

My review:

 

I am fortunate in that I'm not reading this book because my marriage is broken or in the past. I'm still happily married, but know many friends and family that are going through this and wanted to be more understanding of what they are going through.

 

This book seemed incredibly practical to me. Sue tells her story, but not in a way to give you the gruesome details, but to show you how God still guided in her life. She does give such practical advice. I found much of it to be about trusting God even when you're life doesn't go as planned. Even though the reason for writing the book wasn't specifically for that reason alone, I found that I could still apply a lot of the practical and biblical advice to my own life.

 

I really enjoyed reading this book as it gave me more of an inside look of what is going on inside of the person who has been abandoned by their spouse.

 

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is struggling with divorce or who is friends with those that are struggling and just want to be more understanding to their friends.

 

 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Tyndale. I was not obligated to give it a positive review. 

If You Have a Craving, I Have a Cure by Sheri Rose Shepherd

It seems every time I get super excited about a book being sent to me to review, I am always disappointed by it. Once again, this was the case.

This book was very easy to read as long as you are reading it as a book only, I read it in about an hour and a half. I can see how this book would also be easy to flip to each chapter as the individual "cravings" arise.

The "faith" aspect of this book seemed very shallow to me. However, there were a few good ideas that got me thinking.

The "food" aspect of this book seemed like recipes I'd never even try. Part of this may be that I'm allergic to many of the ingredients in the various recipes, but honestly I'm not into eating gluten-free and eating only "whole" foods. I'm sure this is a poor reflection on me and not necessarily on this book, but for someone who likes to actually enjoy the food they eat, I'll pass on these recipes.

Overall, this book was a big disappointment to me. I was really hoping that the recipes would be using what I consider normal everyday foods as the basis of their recipes so that it would be easier to incorporate and change my eating style, but when some of the ingredients are things I've never heard of, I'll pass.

If you like shallow spiritual books, or if you are just looking for a lot of "gluten-free" or "whole" food recipes this may be the book for  you. As for me, I'm going to have to pass on this one.

 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Tyndale Publishers, I was under no obligation to give a positive review. All the thoughts and opinions in this post are my own. 

Be the Mom by Tracey Lanter Eyster

What a breath of fresh air!!! Tracey Eyster was remarkably frank, open and honest. She shared her own personal life experiences showing moms that they aren't alone! Every chapter was engaging and fresh - sharing chapter after chapter of potential mom "traps" that we can easily get into if we aren't careful - these traps include: "Just-a-Mom," "Me Mom," "Martyr Mom," "Busy Mom," "Mirror Mom," "Tomorrow Mom," and "They Say Mom". Tracey explains each of these thoroughly yet with a good balance that she doesn't go overboard.

This book is incredibly practical and I would recommend this heartily to any mom that is wanting to be a godly mom. Not surprisingly, since this book is put out as part of "Focus on the Family" it is written with a Biblical worldview (for anyone that isn't looking for a Biblical worldview - this book is probably not for you as this is the context of the whole book). For those that want to raise their children to love God and want to raise their children according to the Bible - you will enjoy this book and find it extremely practical!!

I highly recommend this book!

This book was sent to me for free in exchange for an  honest review from Tyndale House Publishers. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review.

Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

I can summarize this book in one word: disappointing, but I'll expound on why I say this as you continue to read. I was so excited to have the opportunity to review this book because when I found out back in the summer of 2010 that I was going to be having a little girl I wanted to read everything I could get my hands on that would help me with raising her. My little girl just turned 18 months old a couple of days ago and I finally had the chance to read this book, but not just read it but own it for giving an honest review on it. I was so excited to read this book and then I started reading it.

It starts out telling about all the horrors of raising a daughter in this day - lack of morality in our country being the main topic that invades so much. I found it quite depressing, but figured that the book was just opening up that way to emphasize how important our roles as parents are in raising our daughters. Unfortunately, it just continued. I was almost 200 pages into the book and it was still just doom and gloom! I was disappointed. Where was the "practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of women"? This book was anything but practical or encouraging. The majority of this book I felt more and more depressed that I'd decided to have a child in this world that we are living in. But unfortunately (and no I'm really not upset I have my child - she brings such delight to our lives!) I already had a child and didn't read this book ahead of time so I'd know that I shouldn't have a child.

There were only 3 maybe 4 chapters that I felt even talked about how to raise your daughter. The majority of the book was just article after article about the decline in morality in this world. The other portion of the book seemed to plugging other books that Dr. Dobson had previously written so that you'd want to read those. I can tell you that this being my first Dr. Dobson book that I've read and the way this content matter was handled, it will probably also be my last! I can not in good conscience recommend this whole book to anyone that is trying to read a book about raising their daughters.

If you are wanting to read a book that will deter people from having children, then you may have stumbled upon the right one though! If you do feel the need to buy and/or read this book - just skip to the final chapter entitled "The Last Word" because that was the closest the book came to giving any parenting advice.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Tyndale. I was under no obligation to give a positive review.  

Promise Me This by Cathy Gohlke

Have you been looking for a book that you have trouble tearing yourself away from? Or have you been looking for a book that is a work of fiction, but ties together the fiction story with true life events? What about a book that you will feel like you are right there with the characters - sharing in their joys and their sorrows? Or maybe you've been looking for a book that will show you just how much God loved us and that His Son sacrified everything for us so that we could have eternal life? If any of these reasons resonates with you, then be sure to read this wonderfully written book by Cathy Gohlke.

I've always been fascinated with historical fiction. Some of my favorite events and time periods to read about are the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and World War II. This book doesn't touch on the Civil War or World War II, but it encaptures what life would have been like for the survivors of the Titanic all the way through World War I.

This book begins with Michael Dunnagan - a young boy, who has been badly mistreated - trying to escape from his current life situation. He boards the Titanic before it is even taking passengers and stows away until it ports in Southhampton where its journey is to begin. Once in Southhampton, he meets Owen Allen who is preparing to sail to America onboard the Titanic so that he can hopefully find a better place for him and his little sister Annie with relatives in New Jersey. Owen takes poor Michael under his wing and for the week he has remaining in Southhampton feeds him and gives him work. Annie remains in England until Owen has enough money to pay for her to come over to New Jersey.

Michael decides to once again flee his current situation and stows aboard the Titanic for a second time. Also for a second time he finds himself being rescued by Owen Allen. The two become like brothers in a short time and Owen feels the prompting of God to teach Michael everything he knows about plants and gardening which is what he was going over to America to help with. Since we all know the story of the Titanic, I'm sure you can imagine that this story isn't going to end well.

Owen sacrifices his life so that Michael can start his life over with Owen's family. Here we see the beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us! Owen makes Michael promise that he will save money and bring Annie over as soon as possible.

Without giving the whole book away - Michael works to bring Annie over, but many years pass before he is able to do so. This book shares the story of Michael learning to get over "survivors guilt" and Annie to stop blaming Michael for her beloved brother's death. They start to write to each other and it continues throughout World War I.

So much of this book really tugged at my heartstrings. It was just so beautifully written detailing the feelings that must have been going on for those that survived the sinking of the Titanic to the details of what it must have been like to live in Europe during World War I. I really felt like I was right there! I have not read a book that I enjoyed this much in a very long time! If you ever have the chance to read this book, I highly recommend that you grab a copy and read it. You will not be disappointed!

I'd never read any works by Cathy Gohlke, so you can imagine my surprise that this book was such a great read! I'm looking forward to reading more books from her. If you'd like to learn more about the author and other books that she has written or is planning on writing, you can visit her website here.

In closing, I did want to mention that I received this book for free for an honest review through Tyndale House Publishers, you can find out more information about them by clicking on this link. I was under no obligation to give a positive review, though I did absolutely love this book!

If you would like to read the first chapter of this book for yourself, you can click here.