Book Review: Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

I received and read the book Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs compliments of Thomas Nelson. 

Book Details:

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591451876
• ISBN-13: 978-1591451877

About the Author:

Dr. Eggerich was the senior pastor of East Lansing Trinity Church before deciding to launch his full time mission in helping people achieve healthy marriages.

Dr. Eggerich has a M.A. in communications, a Master's of Divinity and a Ph.D. in child and family ecology.  He and his wife, who joins in the conferences and marital help, reside in Michigan and they have three adult children.   He is the president of Love and Respect Ministeries.
The Review:

The book takes a biblical approach when teaching men and women to understand how a husband and a wife fit together in a marriage.  At first, I had the sense that this was a book that emphasized a need of the wife to succumb to the husband's wishes and commands.  As I kept reading through the different chapters and tests, it became so amazingly clear where he was coming from and how it applied to every marriage. 

Dr. Eggerich has a keen ability to understand the differences in men and women by using such phrases as "blue glasses" and "pink glasses" or "blue hearing aids" and "pink hearing aids."  It was nice reading the excerpts he provided from real couples to see that I wasn't alone in the struggle of making it all fit together and work.  The excerpts validated what he was teaching and showed that the exercises/tests he provides each to do, in fact work.

I ended up taking the principles and used some of the tests and have found that it truly is effective.  I am a believer in this book for anyone.  Whether you are in a relationship or not, the book teaches invaluables aspects of what men and women, in general, crave and need while discussing how you can give to the other while receiving what you need.

The whole concept of love and respect are fully discussed and thoughtfully introduced in a way that opens ones eyes and will lead to a better relationship.

The one thing I would have liked to have seen, is a more of an emphasis of how to handle marriages when there is a breakdown on fairness of household chores/children.  He noted a good example of a wife not wanting to break from doing a chore to sit and watch TV with her husband due to the "to do list" she still has to do.  I think that a lot of marital discord evolves around not only money but how the wife tends to work full time and still tends to the house and children full time.  Perhaps if the "Crazy Cycle" is broken and the wife gives the husband his needed respect, the husband will come around to help more because he will be willing to show more of his love.

All in all, I highly recommend this book!

Amazon readers, 313 in all, gave this book 4.5 stars!

He Who Sings Last Book Review by Lisa Laird DiRosso & Giveaway!

Congratulations to Demmi!

Thanks to all who entered!

Author: Lisa Laird DiRosso
Publisher: Tate Publishing
Date: July 28, 2009
Pages: 316
Genre: Suspense, crime

I was given the opportunity to read Lisa Laird DiRosso’s debut novel He Who Sings Last. I was eager to read this book as I prefer crime and mystery novels given my background and experience in law. The main character, Jimmy Covelli, is an aging, down on his luck former singer of a popular band from the 80’s. There are many characters that come in and out of the story and the author does a great job in providing a good history on the characters, personalities and the relationships as it relates to the story and each other. One of the main characters, Miranda Madison, a fan of Jimmy’s from the past, provides some reader’s the ability to reminiscent about their teen idols as well as the realization how far some people will go to have love.

Understanding Jimmy’s decline and struggles with aging was easy to relate to as I suspect anyone could feel the pain of losing their youth especially someone who could get any woman in his day. Jimmy’s character is further revealed to have some skeletons in the closet with unexpected twists. Another main character, a police detective named John Vintoni, leads the path to uncover the truth behind a murder that was committed and unsolved in 1983. The author provides a good insight into the minds of Jimmy and Detective Vintoni and how they work against one another. Detective Vintoni is committed and nearly obsessed with solving this crime to the point where you aren’t sure you should feel sorry for him or revel in his need to find justice.

The story centers around Jimmy and his manipulative ways and Detective Vintoni’s pursuit to bring justice to the person who committed the murder 19 year’s ago. I found that there was almost too many details on all the characters but I understood the author’s point with trying to weave them altogether. I tried to anticipate the outcome as I kept reading and particularly enjoyed the very accurate court room dialogue. Given my experience with court rooms, the author was very accurate which made it more enjoyable.

Throughout the latter half of the book, I kept anticipating the who done it answer and was left with an interesting ending! I would recommend this book and if you like Sherlock Holmes type stories, this one has the mystery and the criminal components that keeps you reading to the end.

From Amazon's Product Description:

Just how far will one fan go to prove her loyalty? In her novel He Who Sings Last, Lisa Laird DiRosso expertly knits a blanket of obsession laced with suspicion and murder in a suspenseful crime novel centered on has-been celebrity Jimmy Covelli. He leads a quiet, post-fame existence until some ghosts from his past come back to haunt him after nineteen years, when an unsolved murder case is reopened by a zealous New York detective. Covelli charms and harms wherever he goes, and in his destructive path, he leaves behind a host of resentful family members and brokenhearted fans. Will the detective catch him and be able to prove his guilt? Find out in He Who Sings Last.

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Giveaway ends September 30, 2009.