B2B Book Review: 7 Things a Wife Should Know and How to Build a Happy Family
In preparation for parenthood, I decided to read some books I feel would nourish me to become a better wife and mom.
I bought 7 Things a Wife Should Know from our very own mommy blogger, Viviene Bigornia, while a friend of mine gave me a book by Bo Sanchez entitled How to Build a Happy Family.
Today, I will be doing a review on these 2 books.
7 Things a Wife Should Know is a book intended for newly weds. It contains a lot of insights on how to triumphantly adjust to the married life. Aside from Viviene sharing her bliss and challenges being a newlywed in this book, it also contains interesting testimonials of women who have basically been there, done that in their adjustment to the married life.
Even if I have been married for almost 3 years, I find the book very useful because the tips she wrote still applied to our married life.
I appreciated the part about the male psyche and how God created them to become providers which should be respected by their wives. I was raised a military brat and somehow growing up in a military camp made me have this arrogant, feminist attitude. After I married my husband, there were times in the earlier part of our marriage wherein we clashed a lot because he felt like I didn't respect or trust him as much as I should.
After years of being with him, I realized that God made male and female equal but with different roles to play. I have resolved that issue in my heart and we are so much better now. When I read how Viviene experienced the same, I felt like I was not alone in the journey.
Moreover, I loved the part about subservience. Knowing myself, I was not the subservient type. I was actually more of a bully towards my husband. Now, I have also learned about the true meaning of the word subservience and the affirmations in the book really made my heart smile.
Today, I will be doing a review on these 2 books.
7 Things a Wife Should Know is a book intended for newly weds. It contains a lot of insights on how to triumphantly adjust to the married life. Aside from Viviene sharing her bliss and challenges being a newlywed in this book, it also contains interesting testimonials of women who have basically been there, done that in their adjustment to the married life.
Even if I have been married for almost 3 years, I find the book very useful because the tips she wrote still applied to our married life.
I appreciated the part about the male psyche and how God created them to become providers which should be respected by their wives. I was raised a military brat and somehow growing up in a military camp made me have this arrogant, feminist attitude. After I married my husband, there were times in the earlier part of our marriage wherein we clashed a lot because he felt like I didn't respect or trust him as much as I should.
After years of being with him, I realized that God made male and female equal but with different roles to play. I have resolved that issue in my heart and we are so much better now. When I read how Viviene experienced the same, I felt like I was not alone in the journey.
Moreover, I loved the part about subservience. Knowing myself, I was not the subservient type. I was actually more of a bully towards my husband. Now, I have also learned about the true meaning of the word subservience and the affirmations in the book really made my heart smile.
Lastly, I enjoyed reading about Viviene's experience with her in-laws. Likewise, I have awesome in-laws and the book gave tips on how to sustain such good relationship.
What I love about 7 Things...
- Awesome cover design and color. I am a fan of pink and green!
- My copy is autographed and has a mini letter inside personally written for me by Viviene.
- Has true-to-life stories from newlyweds and moms on their personal struggles in their married life and how they got through it
- Discusses the basics on how a Christian wife should be
- It has reflection questions per chapter that allow you to internally process your personal journey and struggles as a new wife.
- It contains inspirational quotes and Bible verses to affirm every wife.
The other book I read is entitled How to Build a Happy Family written by Bo Sanchez. This book provides 7 steps on how to sustain a happy relationship with your spouse and children.
Being married for 3 years has already allowed me and my husband to face rough challenges that can make or break our marriage. It's funny because I thought hard stuff would come a little bit later in our marriage (like in our 40's perhaps?) but apparently, challenges don't have a time frame and they can sneak up on you just like that.
This book has given me insights on how to make the relationship better and how to sustain it despite all the troubles we are going through. I love how Bo included a challenge after each chapter of the book that would allow me to enact my love for my husband. Because of those challenge cards, the book has facilitated a way for me to make my marriage stronger by becoming more "showy" of my love for my husband.
The book's happiness tips is discussed in 7 chapters which are:
- Chap 1: Renewal
- Chap 2: Gratitude
- Chap 3: Time
- Chap 4: Service
- Chap 5: Forgiveness
- Chap 6: Self-love
- Chap 7: Celebration
What I love about How to Build...
- It has an easy-to-remember outline.
- It has challenges for the reader to push him/her to get out of his/her comfort zone and reach out to family members.
- It is written in a very funny and catchy tone.
- It is short and concise.
- Has practical tips and provides a witty analogy of certain circumstances in family life so readers could understand better
- Filled with inspirational quotes from notable people and also Bible verses to guide the reader in his/her reflection
- The content is actually deep but written in a light, relaxed manner. It is an easy read.
I highly recommend the 2 books and I hope you would consider adding them to your reading list!
Where to buy:
You can get a copy of Viviene's book from her site. I got it for Php 335 while it was on sale (shipping fee included). It's original price is Php 395. You can get Bo's books from leading book stores nationwide.
Happy reading dear mommies! If you have inspirational books you'd like to recommend, please feel free to comment below.
Love,
Jacq
