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Welcome to my weekly book update post where I share what books I read this past week + my honest thoughts and star ratings of them.
A Word on My Star Ratings
The star ratings I give the books I read are based on a 5-star rating system. I rarely will ever give a book a 1-star rating (maybe never?), because my philosophy is that if a book is only worthy of one star, I’m more than likely going to quit reading it. 🙂 In the same vein, you’ll also notice that I’ll rarely give a 5-star rating as I reserve those for only my very, very favorite books.
Want to see all of the books I’ve read so far this year? Check out my Good Reads page.
This book, by Kevin Leman, makes the case for the importance of families to really prioritize home and time spent together. I think it’s an important message that we parents need to hear re-iterated over and over again.
I really loved parts of this book and they resonated with me and with our family values. For instance, we’ve chosen to only have our kids do one sport/activity per season. And as much as is possible, we try to all show up as a whole family for the games. That way, it becomes something that unifies our family rather than splitting us up in different directions.
In addition, I found his insights and encouragement on why you shouldn’t do your kids’ school projects for them or make good grades the big goal to be very refreshing. And I was intrigued with his thoughts on why teenagers shouldn’t get jobs. I don’t know that I agree with it, but it definitely did make me think.
That said, I felt like some of the parts of the book could come across a little more guilt-inducing rather than grace-filled and I think some parents could read it and feel discouraged rather than encouraged. Thus, the 3-star rating rather than a 4-star rating.
Verdict: 3 stars
I wanted to love this book. I had really been blessed by the author’s other book (No More Faking Fine) and the topic of this book is something I’m very passionate about. Unfortunately, I just didn’t find myself connecting with the author like I had hoped.
As I analyzed why this book fell flat for me, I think it was because it felt like a lot of the stories weren’t fully fleshed out and developed, the timeline of some of what she shared felt like it jumped around, and I just felt like it seemed choppy and not very. engaging. I found myself slogging through a lot of it.
That said, the topic is so important and if you struggle with feeling like you are not enough or don’t measure up or you’ve been carrying around lies and labels that are limiting you, maybe it will resonate with you differently. (And if you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!)
Note: A book on a similar topic that I really found invaluable and also very engaging is Love Idol. I’d recommend that if you struggle with feeling loved, seen, valuable, and good enough.
Verdict: 2 stars
What did you read this past week? Any books you think I really need to add to my long to-read list??
