He Did You A Favor - Giveaway and Review

"A breakup can sometimes send us reeling. Whether we were together for 10 years or 10 weeks, it can leave us doubting ourselves and our ability to ever find enough ice cream (or pork carnitas) to make us feel better. Even if we initiated it, or thought that it wouldn't be a big deal, a breakup can knock us off course in big ways and small.

Nearly everyone has had a breakup that has shaken them to the core. To add to the agony, often times they feel like they should be getting over it better, more quickly, or with fewer tears or obsessive thoughts. They feel that having a hard time with it somehow makes them weak or unhealthy.

If the relationship was meaningful, there's virtually no way to avoid the sting of a breakup completely. And it would probably make you less human if you didn't feel something. But what do you want that something to be? And how do you want to use it to forge ahead?

"It's natural for us to turn to our friends for sympathy and advice. A good friend can empathize and help us feel like we're not the loser we think we are in the moment. During her years researching the power of friendship for her book The Friendship Fix, she has learned that friendship can be downright magical in its own right. But in the wake of an earth shattering romantic breakup, sometimes even the best of friends can't do much to dig us out of our hole.

This is just one of the things you can learn from this time period. If breakups are bound to make you feel something, there's a big and meaningful difference between that something being pure misery, and that something being new understanding of yourself in a way that helps you move forward as a stronger, wiser, and more insightful human being. The latter is a person who knows herself better, and is better situated to take the steps needed to find more fulfilling relationships. Virtually all of us would choose that something.

So how do you get there? The answers to those questions fall much more squarely in your control, and by picking up He Did You A Favor, you've taken the first step in choosing to make things better for yourself. But perhaps you're balking at the idea that reading a book can help you. The whole breakup business can tread into downright clichèd territory: from Hollywood ending that have Much-Better Dude Number Two entering stage left the moment Dude Number One is done, to the friends who tell you that someone now you're simply "better off" - when you haven't showered in days.

This book is packed with inspirations, motivation, and step-by-step tips to guide you through this important time in your life. Debra Rogers brilliantly shares her own stories, and those of other women, to help you work through all the stages of breakup recovery. In the pages of this book, you will find others who understand exactly what you're going through and you'll come to realize you're not a loser (even if you did eat that entire tub of chocolate chunk ice cream) - and you're not alone." (excerpt.)

I received He Did You A Favor by Debra Rogers compliments of Book Sparks for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. I only wish I would have had a book like this when I was a teen and going through those difficult moments of high school crushes and even life changing break ups. I think the one thing I loved most about this book is that you can feel like Debra knows what you're going through, how you feel and even adds just the right amount of humor so you can find yourself smiling again. It's not a quick fix, but it's designed to help you see past believing your life is over and that it's all your fault. That you could have done anything to change it. The chapter are designed to be intriguing and fun, like Your Super Sucky Breakup includes such notable topics like He Did You A Favor because You Get to Purge Mr. Not Worthy or He Did You A Favor because His Excuse is Your Ticket to Freedom! All in all, I am so glad I have this because as a parent who is dealing with teen girls, I know I'll be rereading it again and again and even handing this to them as they go through it when it comes. I easily give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

Now for the fun part, thanks to the generosity of Book Sparks, they are providing a giveaway copy to one lucky follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Here are your details to enter:

1. Be a follower of my blog Reviews From The Heart. 

2. "Like" He Did You A Favor's Facebook page. 

3. Be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address. Please No P.O. Boxes.

4. Leave me a comment below telling me why you'd love to win a copy of this book. Don't forget to include your email address. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the symbols.

The giveaway will end on January 31st and I will notify the winner by email at that time.

For more information about He Did You A Favor, Debra Rogers, or where you can pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

He Did You A Favor by Debra Rogers 

You can find Debra Rogers on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

You can also join Debra Rogers on Twitter by clicking here. 

Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole

"If you would have told me fifteen years ago I would be working on a book about my Christian walk, I would have laughed. And so the story goes, right? God has a way of redefining our expectations.

It has been a labor of love to walk back through some writing published over the past four and a half years on my blog, Bring the Rain. The blog began as a way to keep family and friends informed as we walked through the pregnancy of our fourth daughter, Audrey Caroline, who we only got to have with us on this earth for a few short hours. I blogged through the brokenness and hurt, clinging to God's Word and a community emerged. Somewhere along the way I began to consistently get e-mails from people asking if there was some way to combine my more devotionalesque entries into book form. Mended is the fruit of that vision, and I hope it blesses you and reminds you how loved you are by your Creator. Has something convinced you that you aren't a worthy recipient of His love? Where are the distractions and the noise of life getting in the way of your walk with Him?

Whatever calls our name louder than the voice of Jesus needs to be identified as an obstacle in our walk. Life is busy and days are short. We don't take the time we need to let our souls breathe. I want to invite you into my little corner of the world for a few minutes of your day and ask you to sit with me in silence. There's no wrong way to read Mended. Go at the pace that matches how God is speaking to you. But as you start, let me suggest that you carve out a half hour out of the madness each day and let's talk about the way He loves us in spite of ourselves.

My hope is that will be a resource that leads you to pray and dig deeper into His word. I have given you some prompts to help with this along the way, whether you are reading alone or with a trusted friend or spouse. Each entry has a focused Scripture, a devotional, and then some brief application ideas." (pg 2).

In the book, Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole by Angie Smith, she incorporates her own stories as a way to help the reader look into their own life circumstances and be challenged to see how God can heal all those broken places and renew us in ways we might never have imagined. This would be a perfect for a women's small Bible Study to help heal the areas within us all that remain broken and make us feel less than perfect, when God's whole purpose is restoration in our lives. I think the way Angie has utilized her own stories creates a bonding of sorts with what women can relate to on their levels. The overachiever, the one never feeling worthy enough, the ones whose past is holding us back from the future God has imagined for us. This book does just that and more and one I highly recommend!!!

I received Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole by Angie Smith, compliments of Shelton Interactive and B and H Publishing Group for my honest review. Far too often, as women who are busy in families and marriages we place our own needs far below others and this book helps heal those places and makes us better equipped to deal with those challenges that women face. I rate this book a perfect 5 out of 5 stars.

For more information on Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole, Angie Smith or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Mended: Pieces of A Life Made Whole by Angie Smith

You can also find Angie Smith on Facebook. 

To visit Angie Smith on her website, please click here.