[10] Love on Deck (Arcadia Creek #1) by Kasey Stockton
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw book #3 recommended on pippipost.shop, Kindle
Synopsis: Lauren’s blind date with her sister’s fiancé’s friend, Jack, was a total disaster. Now, with her sister’s wedding set to take place on a cruise, she’s dreading spending more time around him – especially when Jack asks her to pretend to be his date to keep another wedding guest at bay. She’s still annoyed about their awful first date, but she agrees, hoping Jack might send some business her way.
Review: Eek. Lauren is uptight, too work focused, and highly unlikeable. Her refusal to talk to Jack about what happened on their first date was super annoying. It didn’t make sense to me why Jack would be attracted to her, other than looks. This was actually pretty boring, apart from the other wedding guest causing drama.
Recommend? Nah
[11] For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men by Shaunti Feldhahn
Religion / Christian Living / Women’s Interest, for WWM Book Club, hard copy
Synopsis: In For Women Only, Shaunti Feldhahn shares “insights” from “research” with thousands (or so she claims) of men to help women better understand them. She explores topics like why respect matters more than love, how men view their role as providers, the impact of visual attraction, the emotional side of sex for men, and what they wish they could express ABOUT HOW THEY WANT YOU TO LOOK GOOD FOR THEM.
Review: Okay, look at the genre. I obviously read this against my will. My gym’s book club alternates between fiction and nonfiction, with each member suggesting a title. We write them all down, draw randomly, and the last one picked is what we read. The moment I looked this one up, my reaction was UGH. And NO THANKS.
Honestly, I could write a whole post about the things that bothered me about this book. First, was some of it true? Sure! I bet so! Was it deeply rooted in being a Christian woman who serves her husband? Definitely. And that might be for someone, but was NOT for me. When we reviewed it in class, a lot of us wondered if reading the companion book For Men Only would have made us hate this one less. If we saw that there was a book that was telling men how to understand and serve us.
Alright, here we go. This is just a small list of the things that bothered me.
- The “insights” in this book perpetuate gender stereotypes that are learned. Either sex can act a lot of the way she was saying most men do. In fact, in the book club discussion, some people brought up they related more to the “men” side. It was way too “us vs them” and “wE CoUlD nEvEr GeT iT cAuSe ThEy ArE wIrEd DiFfErEnTlY.”
- Here is the awesome advise on how to be supportive of your husband when you yourself need support “cast our cares for provision on the Lord rather than on our men. In the end, it is His job to carry the burden.” How about therapy? Or communication? At least as supplemental?
- And shortly after, if you have financial worries and your man is stressed about supporting the family? “By praying for our husbands and looking to the Lord rather than to our circumstances we trust Him to carry both our husbands and their burdens. Then from the overflow of our hearts, we can give back to and encourage our men.” So if you have financial problems, the Lord will take care of it. Cool, cool.
- There is advice to do everything in your power to please your man sexually and “enjoy God’s intimate gift, and make the most of it.”
- Ugh, there was a whole chapter about how your man is always tempted and has a rolodex of visual porn popping up in his mind WITHOUT WARNING. Of course, based on her studies, churchgoing men are the best at resisting these temptations. OBVIOUSLY! And if your man is tempted, pray for him. What. Also, wait for this – “It’s natural to enjoy being noticed, but he doesn’t want you in there. You’re cluttering up a good husband’s mind and tempting him to dishonor his wife.” WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK. Love that drive by of other women.
- And the very last chapter was about how your man wants you to take care of yourself cause you obviously don’t love HIM if you don’t. I cannot even get into the HORRIBLE examples in that chapter. Oh, OH! And she said it’s a really sensitive topic so don’t bring it up with him! Just do it!
That was like the gist of the book – pray and don’t really communicate. What a pile of trash. To me at least. Maybe this book is really helpful to a ton of people and that is great! But for me, it was a no.
Recommend? Fuck no
[12] Unromance by Erin Connor
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Green Light from Kamie on The Popcast, Kindle
Synopsis: Sawyer Greene, a former bestselling romance author, hasn’t believed in love since her college girlfriend left her with nothing but writer’s block. When she gets stuck in an elevator with a charming stranger, she sees it as a one-night fling and nothing more. But when she cross paths with him again at a picture-perfect Christmas market, fate might have other plans. They decide to make a list of romance tropes to ruin – to get her writing groove back, and to cure him from being a romantic.
Review: This is a cute premise and the characters are really likeable. Each chapter has a romance trope that is happening or that they are going to try to ruin. Clever! A bit too long though, and the double dark moment was kind of annoying. But I still enjoyed it overall.
Recommend? Sure
I have Unromance from the library right now because I am a sucker for falling in love in an elevator (have you read Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye – it’s the epitome of this genre and I’m still chasing the high from reading it), but now you’re making me think maybe I don’t want to read it. Ugh. I had such high hopes for it. But I don’t want to read a “sure,” I want to read a “yes!”
I have not read that one! You should still try this one! Maybe it will do it for you. Although I do feel like I should tell you they are not stuck in there very long. And that he has some trauma from a past elevator thing that now that I think about it… I don’t think they ever explained? LOL
Oh, and I am like, in a really funky state of mind, so my sure today may have been a yes at any other time!
I was just talking about the kind of women that second book describes with someone last night (and how laughable it is that I was married to someone who eventually wanted me to be that type of wife). Kudos to you for finishing that. I get that some women might actually want that kind of marriage, but eww. No thank you.
Anne, I CANNOT imagine you like this at all. Very laughable (now)!!!!
Ha, thanks! I did it to fuel my rage. And it was VERY short.
Agreed! At one point I remember saying “have you met me?!” in response. Like WTAF.
OMG I loved your review of the second book. I literally lol’d multiple times. Thank you for that.
Ha! I am so glad you did! You’re very welcome!
I was physically cringing while reading the review of the second book. It is hard to believe that there are women who would take that kind of advice, but I guess they must exist or the book would have never been published. Wow.
Imagine reading the entire thing and physically cringing the whole time. LOL! But yeah, they do exist – they’re in the review section of this book on Goodreads. Ick.
Oh boy, that second review is basically my childhood. This was something that was imprinted on me so deeply growing up in evangelical Christianity. I am glad I am out of that frame of mind now, but whew. A good example of what it’s like: When my mom tried to get help from her pastor because her husband was PHYSICALLY ABUSING HER, he told her she needed to try harder to work it out. I feel really bad for women who are still stuck in the cycle of abuse – because that’s what it is. They raise girls to think their sole desire should be to marry a good Christian man and have a bunch of kids and be a silent, obedient wife. UGH. It’s horrible and I’m so sorry you had to read this book! Did anyone like it at book club?!?! I would be side-eyeing them forever now, ha.
Wow. Just wow that they told her that. I hope they are not still saying things like that now but… I can’t imagine it’s changed in more conservative churches. 🙁
We talked about people trapped in abusive relationships at book club and how this made us understand why they might be staying 🙁
NO ONE liked it. 😉