EmpowerMoms

Why I Hate Green Beans: And Other Confessions about Relationships, Reality TV, and How We See Ourselves by Lincee Ray

This was a great read! Funny, relatable, and down to earth! I enjoyed Lincee’s humor and her courage to share these stories with the world. I felt the heartache when she shared about her marriage. I laughed until I almost cried when she shared about her various job history and her history of eating green beans.

I love that she shared how God’s love and faith and how perseverance has kept her going thru life. She has a great gift of humorous storytelling. Easy to read-loved it!

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book:
If there is one thing Lincee Ray has learned over the years, it’s that the majority of women on the planet struggle with insecurities. Our skinny jeans mock us. Our just-trying-to-help mothers are just driving us crazy. Our social media feeds taunt us with everyone else’s picture-perfect lives. It’s enough to send you on a gummy-bear bender while binge-watching Friends reruns and not showering for a week. Lincee knows. She’s been there. Right there, in fact. Gummy bears and all.

For every woman who’s ever wondered if she’s unlovable, uninteresting, or unattractive, Lincee offers her particular brand of hilarious (and hard-hitting) self-reflection. Like a true friend, she shows us that the fastest way to happiness is to embrace ourselves in all our imperfection, trust that God knew what he was doing when he made us, and maybe go buy a new tube of mascara. Walk alongside Lincee as she discovers that her identity is not found in her job, her relationship status, her bank account, or her social circle. It’s found in Christ.

Purchase your copy here:

Biography
Lincee Ray began blogging accidentally when she wrote a recap for the beloved show everyone loves to hate — The Bachelor. Once her audience reached triple digits, she launched her website, www.iHateGreenBeans.com. What began as a place for closeted Bachelor watchers to commune and discuss the wonder that is Our Host Chris Harrison slowly morphed into a place where Lincee shares stories of her everyday life.

Lincee’s Bachelor recaps later miraculously landed on the desk of an editor at Entertainment Weekly. The woman quickly deduced that Lincee was a pop culture weirdo who probably watched all the teenybopper shows on The CW. She was right.

Lincee taught herself to say the ABCs backward as a child. It kills at parties. She really does hate green beans and is a little too enthusiastic about Dr Pepper and seasonal-themed Oreos. She also believes it’s important to tell your stories — even the ones that make you seem a little crazy.

Beneath the Surface (Dive Team Investigations) by Lynn H. Blackburn

I really enjoyed this book and the start to this brand new series! Very well written, suspenseful, full of action, some romance, steady plot pace. I liked getting to know all the dive team characters and can’t wait to read more in this series.

Leigh and Ryan are great, strong characters in this book. They worked well together and are very smart and successful in their careers.

I highly recommend this great christian suspense! My teenage son also enjoyed it too. He said the story line and characters were great. “In Too Deep” (Dive Team Investigations #2) will be released on November 6th.

I received a copy of this e-book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book
After a harrowing experience with an obsessed patient, oncology nurse practitioner Leigh Weston needed a change. She thought she’d left her troubles behind when she moved home to Carrington, North Carolina, and took a job in the emergency department of the local hospital. But when someone tampers with her brakes, she fears the past has chased her into the present. She reaches out to her high school friend turned homicide investigator, Ryan Parker, for help.

Ryan finds satisfaction in his career, but his favorite way to use his skills is as a volunteer underwater investigator with the Carrington County Sheriff’s Office dive team. When the body of a wealthy businessman is discovered in Lake Porter, the investigation uncovers a possible serial killer–one with a terrifying connection to Leigh Weston and deadly implications for them all.

Purchase your copy here

About the Author
Lynn H. Blackburn is the author of Hidden Legacy (Love Inspired, June 2017) and Covert Justice, winner of the 2016 Selah Award for Mystery and Suspense and the 2016 Carol Award for Short Novel. Blackburn believes in the power of stories, especially those that remind us that true love exists, a gift from the Truest Love. She’s passionate about CrossFit, coffee, and chocolate (don’t make her choose) and experimenting with recipes that feed both body and soul. She lives in South Carolina with her true love, Brian, and their three children.

“Full: Food, Jesus, and the Battle for Satisfaction” by Asheritah Ciuciu

If you have ever struggled with food fixation or food addictions (including sugar) and would like biblical ideas and support; you will really like this book.

The author begins by explaining that this is not a diet book or healthy eating plan. It’s a book about “why we seek fullness in something that will never satisfy…We need the sanctification that comes by the power of the Spirit. That’s the only solution that leads to lasting change and creates in us the transformation that pleases God”.

At the end of every chapter there is a “Digest the Truth” which can be used for individual or group questions; along with bonus content found on the authors website.

In this book she talks about 10 lies about food, discovering your triggers, fasting, and celebrating the gift of food; to name a few.

At the very back of the book she has included a food-fixation assessment along with 20 verses to overcome food fixation.

“It is possible to break the cycle of a lifetime of dieting or calorie counting or preoccupation with food or even an outright addiction. This book will hopefully give you the encouragement and hope to start your own journey and to find FULLNESS in the word of God.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the Book
Can the Bible help me with my food struggles?

Have you ever felt stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of overeating, yo-yo dieting, and obsessive thoughts about food?

Whether you feel defeated by your lack of self-control or overwhelmed by thoughts and longings for food, the answer to our food fixation does not lie in the $500 billion global diet industry.

This is not a diet book and it’s not a healthy eating plan. Because at the core, our problem is not really what we eat. It’s why we seek fullness in something that will never satisfy.

Join Asheritah Ciuciu as she shares honestly about her own battles with food and reveals the path to freedom. You’ll discover the joy of living free from food fixation so you can experience deeper satisfaction in Christ, gain a renewed sense of purpose, and yes, even enjoy good food (without regret).

A healthier relationship with food through a stronger relationship with Christ—that’s the goal of Full.

Includes a quiz to help you find out if you have food fixation, plus practical strategies for overcoming it.

Purchase your copy here:

About the Author
ASHERITAH CIUCIU is an author, speaker, and blogger. She grew up in Romania as a missionary kid and studied English and Women’s Ministry at Cedarville University in Ohio. Her passion is helping women find joy in Jesus through a deeper walk with God, and she shares personal stories and practical tips on www.OneThingAlone.com. She’s also a regular contributor to FortheFamily.org and Ungrind.com. Asheritah is married to Flaviu and together they raise their spunky children in northeast Ohio.

“No More Perfect Marriages: Experience the Freedom of Being Real Together by Jill & Mark Savage

“Marriages either grow or they regress. They never stand still.”

This book begins with the authors Jill and Mark’s story with how they met and their ups and downs of the last 33 years of marriage. “A real marriage isn’t perfect. A real marriage is two people being perfected. Come along as we share our story, lessons learned along the way, and discover how God uses marriage to refine us in ways we never could have imagined.”

This book talks about and identifies “7 fades” they have experienced during marriage that readers may be experiencing as well. For example: the slow fade of not accepting, the slow fade of defensive responses, and the slow fade of avoiding emotion. This book addresses these fades throughout.

At the end of every chapter there is a page that includes; think about it, talk about it, talk to God about it, and today’s truth (questions, scriptures, or journaling prompts).

I really liked the chapter about picking up your “God Tools”: courage, forgiveness, grace, love, humility, wisdom, compassion, and acceptance.

I also liked chapter 19 “Beware the quicksand”. It talks about “building hedges” and keeping your marriage safe from temptation.

The authors did a great job of writing this book. I liked that every chapter went back-and-forth between Jill and Mark’s perspective making it a great book for men or women. They use alot of scriptures and their own personal experiences and thoughts.

I have read other books by Jill and I have found them very helpful and very relatable. They are so brave to share their personal marriage story, the good and the bad.

I highly recommend this practical, easy to read, marriage and relationship book. “no more perfect marriages” is about having the right expectations and growing in love.

I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.

About the book:
No marriage is perfect. But every marriage can get better.

Do you feel like the spark is gone? Like a critical spirit has invaded your marriage? Like you want more intimacy, but something is in the way? You could be suffering from the Perfection Infection.

The Perfection Infection happens when we cultivate unrealistic expectations of ourselves and our spouse, gradually leading to intimacy-killing behavior, also known as the “Seven Slow Fades.” That was the case for Jill and Mark Savage, and it eventually led to infidelity.

In No More Perfect Marriages they speak honestly about their struggles, how they came back from betrayal, and the principles keeping their marriage strong today. They guide you in everything you need to know to kick the Perfection Infection right out and return to intimacy.

In their warm, honest, personable style, Jill and Mark discuss:

How the Perfection Infection invades a marriage—even a good marriage
How to detect and correct the Seven Slow Fades
How to set and communicate realistic expectations
What to do if your spouse just won’t change
How to guard your marriage from the Perfection Infection for good
Hurting marriages can heal, and good marriages can become great. It takes work, yes, but No More Perfect Marriages will give you the insights, language, and road map you need for the journey. So start today.

Purchase your copy here:

About the Author
MARK AND JILL SAVAGE are passionate about encouraging, educating, and equipping families. After serving in church ministry for twenty years, the Savage’s are meeting the needs of families as authors and speakers through Hearts at Home, a ministry to moms. The parents of five young adult children, and grandparents of three, the Savage’s make their home in Central Illinois.

JILL SAVAGE is an author and speaker who is passionate about encouraging families. She is the author of nine books including Professionalizing Motherhood, My Hearts At Home, Real Moms…Real Jesus, Living With Less So Your Family Has More, and her most recent bestselling release No More Perfect Moms. Featured on Focus on the Family, Crosswalk.com, and as the host of the Heartbeat radio program, Jill is the founder of Hearts at Home, an organization that encourages moms. Jill and her husband, Mark, have five children, two who are married, two granddaughters, and one grandson. They make their home in Normal, Illinois.