Title: Luv-Pons!: A Fun Variety Love & Romance Guide for Couples
Author: Doug & Jackie Christie
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Infinite Love Publishing
Pages: 106
ISBN: 978-0-9794827-9-3
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2010
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
This very sweet romance aid is out in time for Valentines Day. Written by a sports celebrity couple who have been married for 14 years and together for 18 years, this wonderfully pleasant little romance guide has many practical tips in a question and answer format. Their advice is interspersed with high quality poetry.
The truly beneficial feature of this book is the Luv-Pon, a play on words for a love coupon. There are 42 pairs of these in the back of the book with easy to tear out perforated pages so they can be tossed into a jar, can, or bag; shook up; and drawn out by couples. Each Luv-Pon suggests a couple-activity that might be fun to do, such as: play a board game for 2, bubble bath for 2, double date to the movies with friends, or a weekend getaway of your choice. Obviously, couples could add any other activities they like if these don’t provide enough ideas. That’s the key; these are romantic ideas that can kick start a couple out of the doldrums. Too often, couples may find themselves doing the same-old-same-old. The Luv-Pons provide inspirations to keeping a relationship/marriage fun and interesting. We scored this excellent resource guide and idea generator five hearts.
Title: ReBecoming: The Way of Opportunity
Author: J. R. Maxon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Dassana Press, LLC
Pages: 300
ISBN: 978-0-9815201-5-5
Price: $25.95
Publishing Date: Jan 2009
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This inspirational self help novel follows Diana Archer, a sexually abused, out of shape office lady who goes through a physical, mental, and emotional transformation. Urged by Andrea, a sexually overactive girlfriend, Diana joins a gym and begins to take lessons from Jon, her personal trainer. Little did she expect that he would become her mentor in all aspects of life, much more than just her exercise routines? Although it becomes a story of shared friendship and development, its love angle remains unrequited as a tool to teach that all close friendships with the opposite sex will not necessarily result in an intimate relationship, but should be valued for what they are.
The story is used as a vehicle to present pragmatic examples of philosophical and emotional choices that can go well or very poorly, depending on what choices are made. The book is especially good at suggesting how to improve attitudes and states of mind and the resultant outcomes of taking personal responsibility for one’s life. It is also filled with excellent information related to physical conditioning and health tips. Especially important are the suggestions of dealing with self-defeating attitudes that can sabotage one’s efforts to remake oneself physically and mentally. We scored this inspirational novel four hearts,
Title: One Less Victim: A Personal Guide to Victim Prevention
Author: Doug Setter
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Trafford
Pages: 126
ISBN: 141203396-9
Price: $12.99
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Although many people don’t like to read about the bad things that can happen to them, readers would be well advised to read every single word of this excellent study of how and why things can go wrong and how to prevent them from happening. All players and situations related to victim crimes and assaults are meticulously analyzed and explained. This highly qualified author offers many sage words of advice and doable strategies to make one’s world safer. We rated this book a solid five hearts.
Title: Women in Shadow and Light: Journeys from Abuse to Healing
Author: Jan Goff-LaFontaine
Photographer: Jan Goff-LaFontaine
Publisher and/or Distributor: Creative Minds Press
Pages: 146
ISBN: 0974961051
Price: $35
Publishing Date: April 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Warning, this book contains adult-only content! The author has done a wonderful job of locating women who have been sexually abused in the past and have managed to rise above the hurt until they have found healing. Each woman tells her story, and most importantly, describes how she worked through the hurt, the memories, and the resentments to come to the realization that she had risen above her past. The author, also a professional photographer, talked each woman into posing for a picture, often in the nude, to demonstrate that each was finally free to be wholly herself. The pictures are pure art; however, discretion is advised. This is an important work because it demonstrates how far abused women can come in their recovery. It is especially important to the women studies community. We rated it five hearts.
