Heart Sisters by Natalie Chambers Snapp Blog Tour & Book Review + Win a Girls' Night Out Prize Pack!

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Litfuse Group. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book-

Heart Sisters is for women who want to both be and have better friends and want a helpful guide to take them through the process.

Author Natalie Chambers Snapp uses her own and others' stories of successes and failures to illustrate what she has learned about girlfriend relationships. Healthy boundaries, honesty, tact, sharing, and agape love all play a part in being and maintaining a circle of close confidants. She also deals with the inevitable challenges that face many relationships including how to handle conflict; life changes like a new baby, move or divorce; and when it is right to "break-up" with your friend.


My thoughts-

I remember growing up, I always had trouble forging and keeping close bonds with other girls. I had a few close relationships, but I always had a desire to have more friendships with other girls. Even as an adult sometimes it can be difficult to establish (let alone keep) close friendships with other women because everyone is doing their best to keep up with appearances instead of being their authentic self. I try my best not to be this way, but I'm afraid I am even guilty of this from time to time. Heart Sisters is a book that helps us with ways to make sure we are doing our very best to hold up our end of the friendship bargain with strategies and tactics for doing so. She makes a great point in the beginning saying that many women will try to get their husbands to fill this hole where we need girlfriends. I couldn't agree more. We are wired for deep, meaningful relationships, but I think we also are so afraid of being authentic that we miss out on what could be fantastic lifelong friendship. Heart Sisters gives us some ideas we can use to break down these walls and be the best friends we can be. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone seeking to sharpen and strengthen their current friendships or who are looking to make the first step towards new friendships. This book would make a great book selection for a women's group or book club! 

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1GKJTIQ

About the author-

Natalie Chambers Snapp is first and foremost a follower of Jesus, then wife to Jason, and mom to one spunky daughter and two spirited sons with a crazy amount of energy. Choosing to follow Jesus at 27, Natalie is passionate about sharing the grace, mercy, and truth of God's love. She lives in the Midwest with her crew and tries to keep it simple by writing about the faith found in the everyday mundane. The outpourings of her heart can be found at nataliesnapp.com in the fleeting moments between being a wife and mother.

Connect with Natalie Chambers Snapp on Facebook

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**Enter to win a Girls' Night Out Prize Pack!**

Want to be a better friend and have better friends? Natalie Chambers Snapp wrote Heart Sisters just for you! She uses her own and others’ stories of successes and failures to illustrate what she has learned about girlfriend relationships. Discussion questions, space to journal, photos, and quick interviews of healthy female friendships are included within each chapter.

Help Natalie celebrate the release of her new book by entering to win goodies you'll need for a girls' night out with your heart sister!


One grand prize winner will receive:

• A $100 Visa cash card to put toward a nice dinner or lodging
• A copy of Heart Sisters
• A manicure kit
• A summery polish
• A disposable camera (to document your fun)
• A clutch

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 17th. Winner will be announced May 18th on Natalie's blog.

{NOT ON FACEBOOK? ENTER HERE.}

Connected: Curing the Pandemic of Everyone Feeling Alone Together by Erin Davis (Book Review)

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book-

Technology has allowed us to connect with more people in more places than ever before. Sure we have “friends” we even have “followers” and yet, a silent epidemic is sending shock waves straight into our living rooms. What is this hidden disease? Loneliness. Popular author Erin Davis knows what it’s like to feel lonely. She knows how it feels to have many friends, a full schedule, and a pit in her stomach. As she wrestled her own feelings of loneliness to the ground, Erin started to feel like the scientist charged with finding the cure for the lonely epidemic—a journey that has proved to be funny, encouraging, and helpful. What is causing the pain of loneliness to gnaw at our hearts? What does God know about feeling alone? While swimming in a sea of people, what’s a lonely girl to do? Where should she turn for a life raft? Erin has traveled across the country to talk with other women and answer these questions for us all. Come along in Connected to learn about her journey as well as the stories of women who are probably a lot like you!


My thoughts-

It is sad that we live in a society in which people feel like they are more connected than ever via technology and yet are more lonely than ever in reality. Busyness and misplaced priorities are a huge culprit. I long for a world in which Sunday dinners with family and more in person interactions with friends are the norm. I absolutely think it is why there is such a prevalence of depression and why so many people feel so alone. Connected hits the nail on the head several times about relationships- actual real-life, in person relationships, not the superficial all online kind- and the things that have led them to have almost disappeared. Smart phones and Facebook seem to take priority over real life get togethers- something I think many people will regret years down the line-up you can't ever get that time back. The book gets off track several times for me into other subjects when I think the absolute focus should be on how we as a society can get back the community aspect of relationships, but the author's heart is in the right place. This is definitely a subject we should all take the time to think about.

Connect with Erin Davis on Facebook
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Connect with Erin Davis on Goodreads
www.erindavis.org

Happy Wives Club by Fawn Weaver (Book Review)

Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Book Look. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

About the book (from the back cover)

One woman undertakes a worldwide search to learn the secrets of a great marriage—and finds one foundational truth that could change everything.

Fawn Weaver was a happily married woman running a successful business—and then something happened. Maybe it was divorce rate reports on the evening news, The Real Housewives of Orange County, or any daytime talk show where husbands and wives dramatically reveal their betrayals. Everywhere she looked, Fawn saw negative portrayals of marriage dominating the airwaves and dooming everyone to failure.

Looking at Keith, the love of her life, she knew that wasn’t true. She was determined to find and connect with women just like her—happy and optimistic about marriage, deeply in love with her spouse, and committed to building a strong marriage that stands the test of time.

On a whim, she started the blog HappyWivesClub.com and sent the link to a few of new friends. What started as a casual invitation to five women exploded into an international online club with 150,000 members in more than 100 countries.

Happy Wives Club is Fawn’s journey across the world to meet her friends and discover what makes their marriages great. Join her on this exciting, exotic trip across six continents and through more than eighteen cities. Walk the streets of Mauritius, the historic ruins in Italy, and the vistas of New Zealand and Australia. Go from Cape Town to London, Manila to Buenos Aires, Winnipeg to Zagreb.

Along the way, you will meet everyday women whose marriage secrets span cultures. You will hear their stories, witness their love, and be inspired by the proof that happy, healthy marriages do exist—and yours can be one of them!

It turns out great marriages are all around us—when we look for them. Go on a trip with Fawn and learn the best marriage secrets the world has to offer.

My thoughts:

When I read the description of this book, I was intrigued. It does seem that we are surrounded by a negative conception of being married. My husband and I are 8+ years in and there have definitely been ups and downs, definitely times where things were strained, but overall we have always had a strong love and a happy vibe in our marriage. It was great to read that someone has made it their mission to put out the word that happy marriages do exist and have these happy wives unite and encourage one another. For the most part it seemed throughout Fawn's journey, whether it be in Africa, Australia, Europe or North America, everyone's secrets to marriage were pretty much the same answers. It seems that no matter the culture, the same handful of things as well as making up your mind to be in a happy marriage and not let the negativity seep in, seems to work for couples globally. I was not shocked at the answers these couples gave as their secrets to a happy marriage, but what I loved about this book was the absolute positivity that radiated out of it. I loved reading these couples personal stories and even seeing the author find some answers for her own life through her journey. I absolutely loved reading about all of Mrs. Weaver's travels throughout the world and her descriptions of all the places she visited and the sheer love she clearly has for husband. Part of the beauty of the book is that it is clear that the author absolutely feels as she says she does about her marriage and you can really see that through her words about him or all of the times she mentions how much she misses him while she is off seeking the answers from these great couples and I loved reading about the reunions through the book. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who needs some encouragement about happy marriages or just likes reading happy stories or stories about travel.

Connect with Happy Wives Club on Facebook
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Connect with Fawn Weaver on Goodreads
Happy Wives Club Website

About the author:

Fawn Weaver is the president of ValRentco Corporation, it’s subsidiary ValleyRentals.com and a former hotel general manager. She and her husband Keith have been married since 2003 and despite both having busy schedules, they make it a point to keep the flame burning for their marriage. Fawn's passion for her marriage set her on a journey that began with The Happy Wives Club website and turned into this wonderful world wide adventure that became the book Happy Wives Club book.

The Marriage You've Always Wanted by Gary Chapman Review & Giveaway!

Disclosure of material connection: I received a copy of the book via Flyby Promotions. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.


About the book:

You can picture the perfect marriage in your mind, but re-creating it in reality doesn’t come easy. Trusted counselor and relationship expert Dr. Gary Chapman reasons that the most sought-after ingredient in any marriage is true oneness. In The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted, he presents expert wisdom and common sense methods to establishing that true unity on emotional and practical levels. Discover the wit and insight that makes his worldwide presentations and marriage conferences so popular. Are you trying to change your spouse? Do you know what it means to really love someone? Do you feel ignored or even alone in your effort to improve your marriage? Dr. Chapman has answers and action steps on topics from expressing your emotions to managing your money, all in a format that will have you and your spouse talking and learning with every page.


My thoughts:

When my husband and I were preparing to get married, one of the best things we were asked to do during our pre marital counseling was to read The Five Love Languages. I have read a lot of books about marriage and that one has still been the most useful and made the most sense to both my husband and to me. Clearly Dr. Gary Chapman knows what he is talking about, so when I see a book by him, I am always interested in reading it. The Marriage You've Always Wanted is divided into 9 chapters that each focus on different things that will come up in a marriage. Many of the chapters I found would be more useful for a newly married couple, but there were several that screamed out to me "Oh yeah! That is a fantastic idea!" or "That makes total sense!". Even the advice that I found would be more useful for newlyweds were things that we could all use reminders about.  I think the best advice in the book is about how we all want to have a spouse that's understanding and kind, but that we don't always act that way toward them and that the best way to have a spouse that is understanding is kind is to BE a spouse that is understanding and kind. I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea. It is not a novel idea, but I am afraid it is something most of us need to hear for it to click. I know I certainly do! Something I really liked about this book is that at the end of each section there are discussion questions for reflection. These questions are thought provoking and meant to start a conversation between you and your spouse. One of the greatest things about this novel, is the plethora of books and website links at the end to even further your journey of a happy and fulfilling marriage. There were several I know that I will be adding to my bookshelves. The Marriage You've Always Wanted would make a great wedding gift and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their marriage.

You can purchase The Marriage You've Always Wanted on Amazon.com or Christian retailers nationwide.

About the author:

Dr. Chapman is the author of the wonderfully popular The Five Love Languages, as well as numerous other books about marriage and relationships. He also is the host of a nationally syndicated radio program and holds various marriage conferences throughout the year all over the country.

Dr. Chapman holds BA and MA degrees in anthropology from Wheaton College and Wake Forest University, respectively, MRE and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has completed postgraduate work at the University of North Carolina and Duke University.


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5LoveLanguages.com

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