I had a really hard time liking this book. It was hard to enjoy, and I felt anger inside because I feel the book can be misleading. Not all men are the same, though yes, quite a bit are, but to the ones who are completely different then most of what is said in the book, it makes them look bad. In For Women Only, Shaunti writes of a character in her novel she has been writing, describing him as "a devoted churchgoer and godly man, and a successful business man. But he struggled with his thought life, especially the visual temptations that beckoned from every corner, from the secret traps of the internet to the overt appeal of the miniskirt walking down the street. So, in short--and this is what shocked me--I discovered that instead of being unusual, my character was like almost every man on the planet. Including the faithful husbands I was interviewing." I see that she says "almost every man" but women reading this are going to take it and in turn, put it toward all men. My husband was upset to read that, on page 3 "Even happily married men struggle with being pulled toward live and recollected images of other women" he disagreed with that. I am not fond of reading things like that either because a lot of the men in my past have shown me that to be true, which caused a lot of trust issues for me which in turn, caused problems for me in trusting my husband. He has been working so hard to show me that is not true, and to read in this book that it is, just doesn't sit well with me. It quite frankly, made me want to throw the book down and never look back. I continued to read and found the more I read, the more it bored me. I guess it just wasn't the kind of book for me. I feel like a lot of what was said, are things we as women should see and pick up, just by being with our men for years upon years. But one thing I did enjoy to read was that in a survey taken by men, a question was asked: "What is the one thing that you wish your wife/significant other knew, but you feel you can't explain to her or tell her?" and the answer from hundreds of men responded "How much I love her." That is just the sweetest thing. I also liked a word from one of the men Shaunti interviewed. A man who had been married to his wife for more than 25 years said "There is no relationship with the woman who catches your eye. With your wife, you have a deep and long and meaningful relationship. There is no competition there. Yes, your mind may make the observation that this other woman is twenty years younger and has never had two kids. But that is all it is-an observation. And that observation is immediately offset by other factors, such as the fact that you love your wife!" This is a greater way to look at the situation, that love can overcome all obstacles, and observations are nothing but mere realizations of people all around us.
You can find more information on For Women Only and other books by Shaunti Feldahn by visiting http://www.shaunti.com/ and you can also read the 1st chapter of For Women Only HERE.
*This review is made possible by the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group via Blogging for Books,
by providing me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.
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