Boys Lie: How Not to Get Played by Belisa Vranich, Psy.D. and Holly Eagleson

Published by HCI Teens

Pages: 264

Publishers Summary: So consider this book the ultimate BS detector. In today’s hookups without-heart society, this brutally honest guide reveals the most common lies boys tell and the truths behind them so you and your friends can separate the good guys from the bad.

‘Everyone else is doing it.’ ‘I won’t show anyone these pictures.’ ‘If we get pregnant, we could take care of it on our own.’ Lies like these get lots of girls in trouble, especially when they cast aside their doubts and make poor choices in the heat of the moment. Written by psychologist Belisa Vranich and former Seventeen magazine editor Holly Eagleson, this provocative book sets the record straight with a ‘cheat sheet’ on what guys lie about, why they lie, and how you can respond. By learning how to react before embarrassing or volatile situations arise, you will be more confident and more likely to enjoy healthier, honest, and more fulfilling relationships.

We live in a media driven world, one in which information is based on an instant-gratification system of technology, where myths and lies run rampant. Especially for teens, whose life experience hasn’t yet taught them the varying ways in which they can be manipulated this can be potentially damaging. Fortunately for parents raising teens there are a lot of resources available to use when trying to help your son or daughter make the right choices and show them there is honesty out there. That it’s possible to find fulfilling and meaningful relationships with others without compromising your personal values and standing up for what you want. With this premise I choose to review Boys Lie: How Not to Get Played. Unfortunately, for me I felt the book leaned a little to heavily on the “how-to’s” when it comes to the bedroom and not enough on the situations that happen long before you get to that point.

As a teenager, particularly, one that’s inexperienced with handling difficult relationships it can be difficult to speak up when it comes to their personal values. One of the things I did like about Boys Lie was that throughout the book the authors discussed ways to handle the “lies”. More of a “what to say if he says this to you” type of information. It was also nice that they mention making sure to practice what to say or do beforehand and what to do if you have in fact, already fallen for one of the “lies”. In the last third of the book the authors go into greater depth as to how to handle varying types of manipulation from all forms of abuse, sexual assault, drugs, as well as handling digital communication. All of these were things I was highly interested in and was the primary reason for picking up the book. Each was handled well and a great base for discussion between a parent and a child.

Unfortunately though, this book was way to focused on the “how-to’s” in the bedroom for it’s target audience, in my opinion. Yes, we live in a world that casual sexual relationships, even between teens, seem to be the norm, but I don’t feel that means you need to give them instructions. Close to two thirds of the book was focused on various “types” of intimate experiences and the explanations of what each one entailed. Again, in my personal opinion, a teenager does not need to be given an “instructional manual” in order to prevent the spread of disease and possible pregnancy. I should add that the authors also make a strong statement that they absolutely don’t promote an “abstinence only” agenda, which also adds to their opinions on most of the topics. Outside of the “too-much-information for a book for teens” problem that I had with the book I was also disappointed in both the demeaning way they spoke about boys and their overall tone. Yes, it’s supposed to be a book for teens, but the language was too “young” in quite a few passages.

Overall, this was a very informational read. Honestly, I can’t say I would recommend giving it to a teenager, but as a parent who is curious about how to approach certain subjects with their teenager it may be something to look into. As parents we do need to be informed and aware of everything our children face at any age. Hopefully the information we accumulate will only enhance our already open discussions with our children.

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 17 and older. Parents should definitely read the entire book before passing it along to a teenage daughter (or son for that matter).

For the Comments: Do you have teenagers? How do you feel about approaching them about “difficult” topics?

Want a second opinion? Please take a look at the other tour stops here:
Tuesday, July 6th:  Feminist Review
Thursday, July 8th:  Shooting Stars Mag
Monday, July 12th:  The Brain Lair
Tuesday, July 13th:  Book Junkie
Monday, July 19th:  Suko’s Notebook
Tuesday, July 20th:  Simply Stacie
Thursday, July 22nd:  There’s A Book
Monday, July 26th:  Write for a Reader
Wednesday, July 28th:  Lovely Undergrad
Monday, August 2nd:  La Femme Readers

This book was provided by TLC Book Tours in conjunction with the publisher for review.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with IndieBound.

The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook by Kim West

Published by Easton Studio Press

Pages:120

Summary: The perfect combination for guaranteed sleep success.

Good Night Sleep Tight Workbook is the essential companion to the best selling book, Good Night, Sleep Tight, by The Sleep Lady, Kim West. The workbook includes a step-by-step guide for parents, is organized by age and by process, and is the key to sleep coaching success. The Workbook includes an essential to do list, sleep plans, tear out sleep logs, sleep manner sticker charts, daily reminders and tips and a certificate of completion for celebrating success – all the essentials needed to help you achieve sleep success!

“This is by far the hardest thing for a new parent to struggle with – sleep or a lack there of in our case. As a parent of two little one’s with complete polar opposite sleep styles I can honestly say that you will pretty much take all the help you can get in whatever form it comes in. The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook is definitely one of those resources I would have turned to in the beginning weeks of my Turkeybird’s life.You struggle to make the decisions about whether to let them cry or to rock them to sleep; when to drop the pacifier and when the night feedings should start to taper off. It truly never ends, but there is help in sight!

“Now that I’ve mentioned the Turkeybird I should probably say this, he was a terrible sleeper-absolutely awful, but looking back I can’t entirely fault him. In The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook Kim West talks about how important consistency is in a child’s life and that without it you can almost guarantee poor sleeping habits. Well, this is a large part of the Turkeybird’s past problems. After he was born (at just 2 months old) we packed him and a small amount of our belongings into the car and drove across country to spend the summer in a temporary house while my husband worked at a new internship. Our place for two and a half months was a one bedroom home next to a very busy construction site and noisy neighbors upstairs; not exactly ideal circumstances. I wish I had had this book to know that I could have picked up a sound machine to block the noise, blacked out the windows to make sleeping more comfortable, or even just relaxed a bit. Fortunately he’s gotten much better since this experience, although I’m not sure how we all lived through it.

“As for Littlebug, so much the opposite! She was a great sleeper from the start, but I often wonder how much that had to do with me being more relaxed? I was even more willing to allow her to cry a bit when she fell asleep, not much, but enough to get her to realize she could do it on her own. It’s been like night and day between the two.

“The more relaxed stand point was what I liked so much about this book. I haven’t read any of her other books, but this one in particular I think is great especially for busy new moms. It’s workbook format makes planning and establishing a sleep routine that works for you and your family simple and easy to live with. There’s nothing wonderful about being told you need to just let your baby ‘cry it out’ for what seems like hours, especially when it’s your first, and I never agreed with that viewpoint; I still don’t. But Kim West does an excellent job of making this work for your family, using techniques that help you on an individual level without taking up too much time to study the materials.

“I’m definitely considering giving this workbook to a handful of my girlfriends with new babies on the way. There are guidelines for every stage of development, but they are reasonable enough that there are ways to work with what you know works best for your baby and family. In the stacks of baby books everyone reads this goes to the top of my list of must reads in preparation for baby and toddler-hood. Because even at his older age our sweet Turkeybird still has a few bumps in the road from time to time. A great resource for every family with little ones.”

Kim’s Bio and also, where you can sign up for her popular free email newsletter: Snoozeweek
Please checkout these other Tour Stops for More Great Reviews of The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook by Kim West:
Simply Stacie
Baby Dickey
As the Forest[e] Grows
NOT Mommy of the Year
The Daily Fuss
Kristi Maristi
Red Headed Book Child
Devourer of Books
Trapped Between a Scream and a Hug
Tales of a Capricious Reader

Giveaway: The publisher has graciously offered one copy of The Good Night, Sleep Tight Workbook to giveaway to one reader of There’s A Book!

Details: One winner will be chosen at random after the contest closes. You MUST fill out the form below, comments will not count as entries. Only one entry per household. Must be a follower of There’s A Book. Must be a US/Canadian resident. The giveaway will run from May 25, 2010 until June 11, 2010 midnight EST.

This book was provided by TLC Book Tours in conjunction with the publisher for review as well as a giveaway.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

The Giveaway is now closed! Thank you to all who entered, the winners will be announced very soon! Make sure to come back soon for more great giveaways!

Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks

Published by HCI Books

Pages: 240

Publishers Summary: Moms will concur—routines and creative ideas help your day and save your sanity. And once you’ve established a routine that works, the inclination is to stick with it until the kids are off to college. But sometimes the rigidity of a ‘tight ship’ doesn’t allow much time for good-old fashioned, spur-of-the-moment fun. Well, hang on to your itinerary because here comes Eat, Nap, Play!

Written by moms for moms, this timely guide centers on back-to-basics philosophies: spend quality time with your kids and spend less money. But this is not a guilt trip—it’s a fun-filled adventure. Jam-packed with clever, cost-effective, low-maintenance, often nostalgic ideas you can easily slip into your existing routine, Eat, Nap, Play shows you how to turn everyday mayhem into precious moments to build memories, foster growth, strengthen bonds, and just have fun.

• Simple trips to the mall or grocery store transform into treasure troves of adventure
• Beat boredom in unique and unexpected ways while in the car or on the go
• Find out how to plan the perfect, age-appropriate parties for less
• Get the most out of the latest technology and discover a ton of useful websites along the way
• Plus, unearth cash-free ways for kids to learn, socialize, and grow into independent and resilient people

“As a parent with two little ones and a husband just out of law school, I can honestly say that I know how important it is to make every penny, every scrap of clothing and every bit of food in the house count. Not only that, but it’s also important to enjoy using up those resources that are available. With the most significant point being that we have fun and do the very best we can for our children in whatever circumstance we are in. Eat, Nap, Play is an excellent resource for trying to accomplish just that.

“I have this fabulous crafty friend, Chef Messy, she makes everything you can imagine from baby clothes to delicious homemade gooey brownies to perfectly knitted socks. Well, in one of the sections of the book it mentions having a ‘special’ plate for certain occassions, like birthdays or great grades and the like. This immediately reminded me of my friend, she has this amazing cake stand and set of plates that she uses just for birthdays. See here:

“Isn’t it fabulous! She made it at a local pottery shop when we all lived in Lexington Virginia during our law school years. I’m totally envious and still plan on doing my best to duplicate her efforts at some point in the future. One of the great things about her project was that a lot of it was done with a group of other law school wives that met every month for different activities. It was a fun, cheap way to all get together, have a great time but still be productive. I always enjoyed the time we all spent together and we always managed to come up with inexpensive ways to entertain each other.

“I learned a lot from those days in law school as well as from my very own mother who is an excellent barterer/swapper. One of the most important being that you should always utilize your talents to help others and in turn they will help you by sharing their talents. It may be a crafting, painting, music lessons or baking. In my own case, I’ll definitely be bartering music lessons for something else my kids might be interested in (maybe they’ll want to learn to paint, I’m terrible, but I can teach flute lessons easily). There’s an entire section in Eat, Nap, Play that talks about how to swap and barter your way to free babysitting and fabulous new toys for your kiddos. This may be a new concept for you and it’s great because they’ve even thought to include ideas on how to organize your own swap or just how to shop a yard sale. They’ve also included great sites to visit like SwapItGreen that gives you the opportunity to help the environment by sharing old treasures you’re no longer using in exchange for something new to your family. It’s all about utilizing the resources you have within your own circle.

“There are many great tid-bits of information in Eat, Nap, Play and although some of them may be ideas you’ve already been incorporating in your own family, there is bound to be something you will glean from it. Even when there was something I wasn’t that keen on (ie. shopping for used brand name clothes, I would never have worn them growing up) I was still able to take something from the idea that was presented (give the used clothing finds as gifts, they may never know!). It also has an incredible directory in the back of the book of some internet sites that are already being used in my bookmarks. This is definitely worth the read and reference for any family looking to squeeze a little more out of the meager means they have and enjoy the time doing it. And in today’s economy who couldn’t use that?”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Anyone looking to save and enjoy life just a little bit more.

Giveaway! One lucky winner will win their very own copy of Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks courtesy of HCI Books! Open until April 30, 2010 at midnight EST. Open to US/Canada Residents only.

For the Comments: Is there some talent you have that you would easily barter for something else in exchange? What’s your talent and what would you like to learn?

Other Tour Stops You May Want to Check Out:
Simply Stacie
lit*chick
Red Headed Book Child
Turning the Clock Back
Devourer of Books
The Activity Mom
Heir to Blair
Southern Institute of Domestic Arts & Crafts
JDaniel4’s Mom
It’s a Crazy, Beautiful Life

This book provided for review by the publisher as part of TLC Book Tours.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

The giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered! Please look for results this weekend.

Winter’s Awakening by Shelley Shepard Gray

Published by Avon Inspire

Pages: 304

Publishers Summary:

Joshua Graber knows his future is set. He′s expected to work at his family business, the Graber Country Store. He′s expected to marry Gretta Hershberger, who he′s been courting for several years. But when a new English family moves next door and their lovely teenage daughter, Lilly Allen, catches his eye, Joshua wonders if all the plans for his future are too set in stone.

Gretta doesn′t know what′s going on with Joshua. When they argue and later stew in silence, it feels a lot like the frosty atmosphere at her home. After promising herself to never have a marriage like her parents, she wonders if perhaps another man might be a better match. A man such as Roland Schrock. He′s steady and kind and somewhat boring. If she marries him, she won′t ever have to worry about loving him and getting hurt.

Meanwhile, Lilly is enamored with the Amish way of life, and especially her handsome neighbor Joshua. But despite being drawn to him, she has a secret that will only drive him away. Her family moved to Sugarcreek to hide her pregnancy from their community back home. Once she′s had the baby, they plan to send her off to college without anyone from their old neighborhood knowing the truth. But as Lilly becomes wrapped up in the simplicity and graciousness of the Amish people, she begins to question what′s expected of her, and whether giving up her baby, and leaving Sugarcreek, is what she truly wants.

As the coldest winter on record blows into Sugarcreek, these three young people must struggle to determine the path of their futures.

“Winter’s Awakening was a breathe of fresh air for me. It was refreshing to read a story about young love that didn’t involve an overly immoral theme. Granted one of the main characters had committed an indiscretion and landed her family in Sugarcreek to escape the humiliation that would come in their hometown; it still focuses on more important things. Things like making the right choices, accepting others’ faults, and growing up.

“Every character in this story is wonderful and I loved being able to hear from each of the main characters. They all were at a stage in their lives where they needed to make some difficult decisions and become adults. Being what I consider a fairly spiritual person myself I really appreciated Gretta’s character, her quiet thoughtful ways and her desire to listen to God. And though each of the characters eventually acknowledged their own need to rely on God I never felt I was being ‘preached’ to. I have to say, that was so nice!

“One of the other wonderful bits about this story that I loved is that it was in Ohio. It is in fact somewhere that holds a special place in my heart after spending a year and a half long mission for my church in the areas central and southern Ohio. It was wonderful being transported back to a time and place that I fell in love with. I still recall the buggy’s riding down the road and the Amish store just within walking distance of one of my residences. Shelley did a magnificent job of describing the scenery and beauty that encompass that entire area, somewhere I long to visit again.

“All in all I would highly recommend this book. It was a quick, fun and meaningful read. And as I said before, refreshing in today’s market that’s saturated with immorality, it was nice to read a book that wasn’t preachy, but still morally based. Another great thing is that it’s the first in a series with the second book, Spring’s Renewal, due out in May. I can’t wait!”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 14  and up. A delightful story, wonderful characters and an amazing setting.

Be sure to check out Shelley Shepard Gray’s site and find out more about her books.

Other reviews of Winter’s Awakening on the TLC Book Tour:

Black ‘n Gold Girl’s Book Spot

Life In Review

Book Reviews by Bookluver81

Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

This book provided for review as part of TLC Book Tours.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.