Stephanie

I think the biggest problem I had with this book is that it bit off more than it could chew. They try to cover such a wide range of topics that I feel like they don't have enough time to fully dive into the arguments and actually back up their logic. I'm coming from a place where I actually agree with them on basically everything they said. However, even while I was reading it, I could hear the skeptics remarks. If you're going to write a book that is marketed towards atheist you really need to take the time to dive into your argument, instead of just moving on and applying the argument to the next topic. It feels like this book was not actually written for atheist, but people who are new to Christianity and need a little more understanding of apologetics. That being said, it was still a good book and there was a lot of great points made. If you like the book or it sparked any interest, I would just highly recommend that you start reading, CS Lewis, for the amount of time they quoted him it seems like you probably just could've skipped this book and read one of his

I love Christine Caine, and I love listening to her audiobooks because I love her as a speaker. However this book fell a little short for me, it felt like it was a combination of blog posts and her talks rolled into a “story”. I had a hard time focusing on the content, I felt like I didn't get much out of it. That being said I do love her storytelling, and her humor. If you know her story and want more content like it, you'll enjoy this. If you have no idea who Christine is, you can probably skip this one.

Dang, it. I wanted to like this book. It's important to bring awareness to these incel groups and it's important to see how their “fringe” beliefs seep into prominent politics. That being said, the author's bias and anger dominate what should be a really important discussion.

She dumps all of this incredibly depressing information into your lap and then walks away. Throughout the book she points at the ways these groups let down people who need actual help, and yet she does the same thing. While awareness itself is important, there should be a step after it as well. I was waiting for a chapter on how to fight against these groups and support organizations that are doing genuinely good work to help men at risk of falling into these incels get the support and help they need... it never came.

It feels a bit like a news headline - she shares all these shocking quotes and facts about these groups and offers no solutions for this huge issue she's apparently spent years of her life investigating.

The book could have cut half of the content and used some of the extra space to address the men prone to these groups' “recruitment” tactics. The women reading this book know there are men who are awful, we have all experienced something like this before. There is no benefit to sharing, for the 100th time, that an incel member thinks all women deserve to be r@ped. The shocking quotes stop having the effect she desired, which I assume is outrage, and instead, it becomes repetitive and depressing.

The focus should have shifted toward calling on media, Hollywood, politicians, leaders, and anyone who has an effect on young men's lives to do what they can to educate people about the dangers of this line of thinking. Instead, it's more of a personal attack against figures like Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Jordan Peterson - while she may not agree with their politics, to blame them for the “manosphere” in any way actually cheapens her argument.

Address the fact that on 99% of websites, I can't even type the work r@pe without it getting flagged, which makes it hard to talk about in a serious way. Or that TikTok has endless pickup artist content on its platform. Talk about the lack of men's shelters for domestic violence or the staggering lack of reports of SA on men. All of these topics are skimmed over as a reason a man might fall into these groups, but the author does nothing to contribute to any productive ideas on how we can cut off the flow of members before they become radicalized.

I hope this book sparks more authors to approach this subject and I hope it sparks some change in the way media portrays these groups, but Bates just missed the mark.

All this being said - read the book - at least the first two chapters, and then consider ways to contribute toward a better culture.

If you have labeled yourself as an Introvert and feel it holds you back in your job or career growth - this book is for you. If you are anyone else, this book will read as a repetitive blog post series about how awesome introverts can be. The advice and tips are surface level and common knowledge. The only reason I finished the book is because of how short it is.

As a work from home mom of two, who has never been to war and likely never will, I found this book fascinating. Even from no knowledge of war, other than basic history lessons, it's incredible how simple war really is. I think like all things in life we have a tendency to overcomplicate situations and their solutions. Most of what the general shares can be applied not only to war strategy, but to strategy in any conflict. It's a very quick read and because of that I would recommend that everyone read it.

Read the first half and then the last 4 chapters and suddenly this is a 5 star book. Everything in between is exhausting. There are too many POVs, too many time jumps, too many name changes and too many social issues. This is a book that was so close to being so good and ended up being very very average.

I find myself rating this book higher than I probably would've if I had read it on my own. I was taking my time to read this, read the scripture she references and digest it all with a group of other woman in my Bible study and as a result, it sparked so many good conversations.

While I think the book itself deserves at least 4 stars, I'm bumping it up because of how solid the principles are. The overarching idea is that control is the core of most sins. It's at the core of the original sin, and we have to walk a fine line to keep ourselves from demanding control where we should not have it. Some of the personal examples weaken the book a bit, but if you can look past the first few paragraphs in each chapter, you'll find some seriously good content.

I believe any Christian could benefit from this book, but especially those who deal with stress and anxiety and have a hard time pinpointing where that stems from. However, I think this is a book you almost have to read along side others. It's meant to spark discussion and the questions really do get you opening up in ways you might not expect. I think reading this on my own, I would have missed some of the value of it.

Overall, this book changed my perspective of sin and power and authority and it was definitely a “right time, right book” situation. This is a resource I'll be revisiting in the future.

If you've listened to Dave Ramsey, you can skip this one (which I imagine is the bulk of the audience). This book doesn't have much insight that isn't already known by Ramsey fans. That being said, this would be a good gift for a parent of a teen or pre-teen or something that might be insightful and inspiring for young teens thinking about college. That being said, this is the very first step in a long list of resources that are more action-based to help you get a college degree without student loans.

I feel almost uncomfortable leaving a 5-star review because this story is deeply disturbing. I would accuse the author of an over-the-top plot and unbelievable story, except that it's all true. I kept looking up pieces of the story to see if anything was fictitious, it shocked me, again and again, to find out what these victims experienced and how simple it could have been to stop it all. In terms of the writing, there were some bits I felt it was a bit jumbled together, but for the decades packed into one book, I'm actually pretty impressed with the author's ability to tell backstory as well as a timeline of events without it feeling too long or drawn out.

I listened to the audiobook version and I thought the narrator was wonderful.

This is definitely a slow burn and a difficult read, but captivating and eye-opening to the signs of abuse and the importance of speaking up.

There are two different POVs in this book and I think they deserve completely different ratings.

Charlie - 1 star
This is exactly how you DO NOT write a historical fiction character. Charlie has the mindset of a woman living in 2022, and not only does it not fit into the story being told, it's freaking annoying. Her background in math is used to make her seem different and her “little problem” (as she refers to her pregnancy through the entire damn novel) really makes her stand out as not just an annoying character but a childish one. I skimmed and skipped entire chapters of hers. Even the plot with her trying to find her (also pregnant?) cousin, Rose, is boring and unbelievable. The author likes to remind us regularly through Charlie's story that women were hated and could do nothing during this period - but don't worry, Charlie isn't like those regular girls!

Eve - 3 stars
I liked her story more but not by much. In the end, her trauma turns into something that SORT OF looks like PTSD, but the author seems to think drinking = PTSD symptom and throws in a few night terrors for good measure. She simply cannot be a good spy, but she also has to bend from “proper” behavior to conform to a “man's world” and it's just exhausting. Why can't she just be a badass on her own?

Frankly, this whole book feels a bit immature and unfinished. It's got a good idea and the plot is there, but it's over explained and really hits hard at the feminist view too strongly for this time in history. There are inaccuracies in the history, the characters are plain boring and for being based off true events, it all feels disjointed. There are too many great books written about women's roles in WWI and WWII for this to be a “must read” for this genre. I'd recommend skipping it and going with “All the Light They Cannot See” if you want a solid character story from multiple perspectives set in a similar time.

These characters felt so real. I was sure it was based on a true story. It's been a long time since I cried this hard at so many different parts of a book, the friendships are so true to real life, and their relationships are so well written. It's a long book and there's not a lot of action that even happens but that's why I love it.

This is normally not a genre I'd read, but I first saw the preview for the movie on Netflix. Then my sister insisted that I read the book and I'm so glad I did. I love that the author didn't feel the need to explain the entire world or the creatures. He just created a creepy and character-driven story that kept me up all night until I finished the book. I love how simple the story from the river is told between the backstory, it keeps you hooked and curious until the very end. Overall I really enjoyed this one.

The ideas were great and I love the premise, but after about half-way, the ideas become repetitive. I feel like this probably could have been cut down into half the pages and you wouldn't have lost much of the message. Part of that might be that I don't normally love finance/economy books - but this one just got a bit boring toward the end and I found myself dragging out the read.

I really think that if the filler had been removed, and that this should've been included with the card set. Most of it is explaining how the game actually works, and giving detailed descriptions on the cards, when I ended up ordering the cards after reading this book, I assumed the cards would have these descriptions on it. They do not. To be totally honest look up “Fair Play free Notion template” and that template has everything you need to get started. You don't really need to read this book at all unless you prefer a book format to understand how to fully play the game.

I also love the overall idea of this, but I really disagree with the authors tone, and the way that she goes about a lot of the method. This sounds like something that would be really important for a couple on the brink of divorce to hear, but if you're in a healthy, loving marriage, that shouldn't be that difficult or that hard to break up these tasks.

One of my biggest complaints is the fact that she will not budge on asking for help with the execution of tasks. She recommends pre-planning and having the other person completely take over the card or asking for assistance from people other than your spouse. First of all, this is very presumptuous to assume that you would have help outside of your marriage, your spouse is your partner, and they should be the first person to ask for help not the last. Second of all, there are times where the execution of a task does not make sense for the person holding the card. For example, if my husband is in charge of auto, but he won't have time to get to the DMV because of his work hours he may be able to set up my appointment and do all the things for me and let me know when something is due but I'm gonna be the one that's going to the DMV. I shouldn't have to take over the 50 other subtasks that fall under auto in order to make that work.

Again, all of this in theory is a great idea, but it just isn't realistic in normal, everyday life. I think it's best to take the ideas from this book and the card set and apply them in a way that makes sense for you and your family . If you feel the need for this much structure, I highly recommend marriage counseling over Fair play.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. It's a great reminder that although DNA research has provided useful in many cases, for the average joe, it's just fun science. Like tracing your family tree - there is only so much you can actually find out through DNA. It can be interesting to explore, but at the end of the day, it's just one of many things that paint the picture of humanity.

I listened to this one on Audible and the author reading his own work was actually really well done. This is definitely more like a textbook than a relaxing read but it was interesting and I learned a lot about the science around genetics.

I'm not mad at it. I got it for free on Kindle unlimited so I didn't expect much. If you take the time to write down the actual prompts and answer them fully and honestly, I think this actually has some great actionable steps. That being said, I would have preferred a format of a series of blog posts for this one.

There were SO many typos on the ebook. Also, if you're a self-help book lover, you're not going to find any new ideas in this one.

I read this book 6 months ago but I can't stop thinking about it. It was disturbing and creepy and while there were some elements I liked, I just can't get over the icky feeling I had while reading it. However, I can't stop thinking on it so I'm bumping it up from 2 stars to 3.5... that being said, I need to stop reading thrillers that involve kids - I'm not strong enough for this anymore.

DNF

This is not a book meant for me. This woman is the personification of post-modernism and the chaos that it brings. This woman believes everyone else was “keeping her locked up” for the bulk of her life, and while there may be deep trauma from her first marriage and issues in her childhood that led her to feel this way, this book dives into none of that, in fact, I don't think the author has dived into that in her actual life.

Glennon Doyle is a full grown adult that acts like a 20 year old who is finally finding herself, you can be happy for her, but you're also rolling your eyes at her “wisdom”. The piece of this book that made me set it down is that Glennon claims to be Christian, but goes ahead and makes up whatever she'd like and calls it “truth”. Instead of realizing that she will never be perfect, she makes up a religion that says she already is - this woman needs therapy, not a publishing deal.

Small note; listening to the audiobook read by the author really helps you feel the cringe and self-absorption that radiates from this woman. Rachel Hollis, do you have a sister?