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I’ve had my Kindle for a week.  I’ve finished one book completely on it and have read parts of others.  I’m no expert but here is my snap review.

Pros

• All your books at your fingertips.  No more “where is my book?”
• No stacks of books lying everywhere.
• Moreover, no books to organize.  While I *love* a home library I have to admit I felt a great sense of relief not having to find a home for the book when I was done.
• Easy manipulation of the book.  Not too heavy to hold above your head when lying down.  You only need one hand to manipulate the book.  Is anyone else too lazy to use one hand to hold a book and the other to turn the page?
• I love the highlighting and the way it keeps a running summary of all your highlights in a central location.  So much better than continually flipping through a book looking for them.
• Fast delivery!  Love not waiting a week to get it in the mail.
• Love the book categories.  The Kindle is more organized than my shelves of books.
• You can lend the eBook.  I love this because there are complete strangers hooking up on BookLending.com and sharing books they never would have had the chance to.

Cons

• The price.  It seems silly that we just paid over $100 just to have the ability to read a book.  I would balk if our library started charging $100.  And don’t get me started on prices of eBooks.  $9.99.  Really?  For every new book I want to read?  I’m all for buying used or, yes, lending.
• I really miss the physical book.  There is some sort of connection I have holding a book.  Or being in a bookstore or library.  Don’t get me started. I love seeing rows and rows of books.  To me, it represents so much hard work and creativity.  I can’t tell you how much I love receiving a book in the mail.  The clean, crisp pages and opening that front flap for the first time ever.  Honestly.  You just don’t get that kind of emotional response from an eBook.
• Moreover I’d miss my stack of books beside my bed and my bookshelves.
• I’m having a harder time telling how much book I have left.  It gives the percentage and all but I like seeing an inch of book and knowing how to guesstimate how much reading time I have left.
• Lending is limited.  Amazon lets you lend but only to one person for its lifetime and only for a specified 2 week period.  This was always my biggest drawback from the Kindle.  And still is.

What does your love/hate relationship look like with your eReader?  Or what’s holding you back from getting one?

With the cover of this book highlighting adopting, I was quick to choose this book from BookSneeze.  Reading more about adoption is certainly on my to-do list as we may be only months away.  I was hoping to read a great story interweaved with lessons and spiritual insight.

I felt like I got a Hallmark movie.  And maybe not a great one.  And probably only those that know me best know I do not like Hallmark movies.  I know I probably seem heartless but I just do not have the patience for them. 

While I obviously think every adoption is a beautiful story, I can’t help but think this was perhaps better fit on a blog.  The spiritual insights were nearly non-existent.  In fact, the only thing I remember is reading the recommendation if we were only doing it for religious purposes we should skip the whole adoption. And while I agree, the point is this is not the book to turn to when looking for spiritual help through the process. Perhaps had I adjusted my expectations I could have enjoyed it more. 

Moreover, I had a hard time relating to this mother. Her background and parenting couldn’t have veered much further from mine.  And while I can certainly appreciate that hers are different, it was hard to relate to her story when I couldn’t relate to her.

Not only that, I had a hard time with the pacing of the book.  At times I just wanted to say get on with it already and indeed, if I wasn’t expected to review it I probably wouldn’t have finished it. 

Gosh, I hate being this negative.  I do have to say the writing is beautiful.  The author is a very talented writer and her professional career as a writer was clear.  I do wish her, Mia and their family well.  I particularly enjoyed the epilogue seeing Mia so many years later relating so beautifully with her mother.  Regardless of what I thought of the book, their story is inspiring and appreciate the resources at the end of the book.

I was provided a copy of this book from BookSneeze in exchange for this review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Honestly I thought I had a handle on how to love my husband.  As an advocate of the Five Love Languages, I had his love languages down and when his tank was empty, I knew just how to fill it back up.  It turns out though I think I only had half the equation.  A band-aid, almost.  Yes, I know how to love him but it turns out the other BIGGER half of the equation for men is respect.

If you would have asked me before reading Love & Respect I would have said respect is not being sassy and not putting him down in front of people.  And it is those things but it’s so much more.  Eggerichs introduces the book by discussing the difference between love and respect and why women need love and men need respect.  My eyes were open when he talked about The Crazy Cycle.  It’s when he quits loving so she gets disrespectful and so he gets even more unloving and the cycle goes on.  I have often said to people, you know, our marriage is usually really good or really bad.  I recognized that when one of us decides to love/respect, the other responds in kind.  I loved the Eggerichs put a name to it and I can 100% attest to it!  The problem Scott and I have always had was who takes the first step?  I have always argued with Scott as the leader he should.  But Eggerichs suggests whoever is the most mature!  The point is if you want off the Crazy Cycle, you have to do something about it instead of waiting on the other person!

My eyes were also opened to something I’ve noticed with Scott.  When we fight, I want to talk it out.  If he’d just see all my points, he’d see his faults and he could improve (and mine as well).  Well, I’d just have to say one point, and he’d be like, “OK, I don’t want to talk about it,” and walk away.  I always assumed he was being rude and unloving to me by not trying come to a resolution but guess what?  Men don’t think the same way! I realized that he was trying to do the loving, honorable thing by not getting in a fight with me.  He already knew he had failed and really didn’t need me to guide him through every point!

Eggerich spends the second part of the book with specific ways women need loved and men need respected.  Men have six areas in which they need respected, or more simply, appreciated.

1. Work
2. Desire to protect
3. Desire to lead
4. Desire to analyze
5. Shoulder-to-shoulder friendship
6. Sexual intimacy

I can’t go through each one but I have found my eyes open in several areas where I haven’t been downright mean, but have not been appreciating these needs.  One funny one I must share.

Men have a need just to be shoulder-to-shoulder with their spouse; they like doing things together, even if you don’t say anything.  I can’t count the number of times Scott has asked me to come sit with him.  Usually he is playing his game or watching a (boring) show.  It happened just yesterday.  Scott was playing his game and he said, “Come sit with me.”  My prompt response was, “I don’t want to just sit there and watch you play your game!”  I was thinking of how much I had to do…plan dinner and funny enough, sneak in some time to read Love & Respect.  I hadn’t read this section yet so I didn’t go sit with him (shame on me) and went back to read this exact section:

When your husband says, “Hey, honey, come in here and watch Discovery Channel with me,” what happens?  You come in and sit down and he, indeed, does watch Discovery Channel, possibly commenting now and then about “the size of those elk” or “look at the teeth on that crocodile.” But most of the time he’s fully absorbed in what he’s doing: watching TV.  If you are a typical wife, you will sit there thinking, I’ve got laundry to fold, I have to make dinner, the kids’ lunches for tomorrows still aren’t packed…You’re not communicating, so how could this be building the relationship.  But wives continue to report that that is exactly what happens.

I laughed so hard!  This had JUST happened almost word for word.  I didn’t have time to sit with him because I needed time to go read how I should be sitting with him!!  And yes, I put the book down and spent time with him!  I always thought it was just a Scott thing that he was trying to fill his “touch” love language by me sitting with him.  Yes, it is that, but it is so much more.

These few examples are just a smidgeon of what I took from Love & Respect.  I so wish I would have read this years ago and would highly suggest that EVERY couple read this and really, even single women would do well just to understand men in dating.

This book was provided on behalf of Thomas Nelson publishing in exchange for the review.  If you would like to participate in the book review program, please visit BookSneeze.com