Author Ruth Smith Meyer

US!, a new book by Daniel Tocchini, isn’t about improving marriages. It’s about transforming them. Drawing on personal experience and stories from couples he has coached, Tocchini offers practical guidance to move couples beyond communication tricks and gimmicks to help them truly understand "Us" for the first time—talking honestly, listening generously, tackling tricky issues, breaking out of ruts, and abandoning self-centered “consumer thinking.” The good news, according to Tocchini, is that personalities don’t need to change in order for marriage to work. What needs to change is how we view ourselves, our spouses, and our marriages.

I found this book to be a refreshing change from many because of the decided male perspective.  Although women will find much to help make the most of their marriage bond, I somehow think it may be an book to which men can more easily relate and make a connection with what makes a relationship work. Having worked with Marriage Encounter for many years. I applauded the emphasis on first understanding yourself, then learning to listen generously--or as we say in Marriage Encounter, listening with the heart.  

Couples will find a new richness in their marriage if they read Mr. Tocchini's book and find out the it indeed "is not about you, it's not about me, it's about US!  In turn, they will experience being more fulfilled personally as a bonus.  For they will find a transformation as they learn to: 

·       Expect less—and infinitely more—of their life partner and themselves

·       Actually talk to each other instead of making assumptions (and     accusations)

·       Break free of those recurring, unresolved arguments

·       Manage the impact of difficult (but necessary) conversations on their relationship

·       Defuse conflict without sweeping it under a rug

·       Open the broken places in their marriage (the ones they hesitate even to talk about) to God’s kind of reconciliation 

 I highly recommend this book.

What a journey The Little Ones took me on!  I've had my author-signed copy since June but when I started in a few days ago, I could hardly leave it alone.  Heart-rending but an oh so honest look at the effects, the wide-ranging and long-lasting effects abuse can have on children and their subsequent relationships and feelings of self-worth.

Dorene Meyer doesn't spare us the agony of memories or the devastating flood of emotions that can wash away precious gain when confronted with like circumstances.  I was especially glad that she pointed out the different reactions to abuse as exemplified especially in Verena and Emmeline.  Yet one was just as vulnerable and wounded as the other.  

This story can bring understanding to people who are dealing with those who need support and healing to those who have experienced the pain of abuse.  Foster parents dealing with children of abuse would do well to read this and learn. Doreen Meyer takes it one step further and points out in a dramatic way how Jesus can help both victim and abuser find new life, release and forgiveness.  What a powerful story!  

What a refreshing read!  This book holds down-to-earth teaching with heart-warming and humorous vignettes that drive the lesson to its mark-right to the garage of our own hearts and lives. There those lessons will remain at the ready to transport us through the next difficulty or faith-challenging episode that crosses our path.  

My husband and I enjoyed reading a chapter each day after our breakfast. Those chapters gave us life-sustaining nutrients to face our days with a smile and trust in God.  

We're anxious to get on with Stan's other book The Buzzards are Circling, But God's Not Finished With Me Yet.  Don't  you think that even the titles are enough to make you want to get reading! 

What a delight to read a love story from a man’s viewpoint!  But it’s more than a love story!  Garret weaves a wonderful tale as he takes the reader into John Tilden’s present life then feeds us little bits of his past that helps us understand his current struggles. 

Sometimes and places in the book, it felt to me as though it was a play-by-play manual of basketball or football, but then, fans of the games may think those the best parts of the book!  I thought there could have been a little less of that aspect.  It seemed to stray from the story line and interrupt the flow.

I wondered most of the way through the book, from where the title “Shame” stemmed.  But there it was—shame in the racism that was such an accepted part of the community,  shame at some unwritten rules that devalued others and perhaps the greatest shame of all, hanging on to the past so tightly that the blessings of the present are missed until they almost slip out of our fingers.

The honesty of feelings and struggles must arise from personal experience, for it rings true throughout its pages.  The read was enjoyable enough that I will look up more titles by Greg Garrett.

...

 Bonnie Grove has a unique way of dealing with dark and troubling issues by throwing in her inimitable humour—you know, the “little bit of sugar…” that transforms the book into a good read and keeps it from getting too heavy.

 The first pages of Talking to the Dead grab the attention of any readers, but especially those who have experienced the sudden death of a spouse. The sense of unreality, the scattered bits of detail intruding into the consciousness—even feeling the presence and hearing the voice of the departed are realistically depicted.  The loss of memory is familiar too. Although Kate’s mind has more pain to hide than most, I liked the way Grove accurately portrayed the phenomena of the mind allowing only as much as a grieving person can handle after a traumatic experience. Grove has also truthfully and candidly included the risk involved in finding help when people are at their most vulnerable. Kate’s story brings into focus that just listening and being with the sorrowing would be much more helpful than jumping in to “fix’ a person’s grief which often brings more devastation—certainly the case in Talking to the Dead. 

 Although the story grabs your attention from the start, as it progresses, the reader’s captivation increases.  With each incredible turn—misunderstanding, mistreatment, manipulation, abuse, finally the revelation of the contributing factors in Kate’s grief journey and eventual release to live again, time ceases to exist until the last page is turned.

 I would recommend Talking to the Dead!

Mohammed's Moon by Keith Clemons