I am a member of the Bethany House Book Reviewers program. Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish was provided for review by Bethany House. To become a member please visit: To join go to
 OMG! Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish is a page turner from the beginning. You will not want to put this book down!  I am not kidding! The book is excellent and worth 10 stars! But, of course you can only give a high rating of 5 stars. My rating, 5 stars.

The book has three main characters:  Ben and Abbi Patil and Matthew. Ben and Abbi are having problems in their marriage. Ben has returned home from Afghanistan and can not shake the demons which are attacking his mind about incidents he saw and lived fighting for his country. Needless to say his faith in God is gone. Abbi, his wife does, not know why Ben has become so distant towards her. She knows God is the only One who can help her, yet she does not know how to talk with God. Matthew is deaf, has a drug addicted mother and is living with the fact that he may not live much longer if he does not receive a kidney transplant. He knows that God is all He has. All three lives become intertwined by one common thread, a baby. Trust me there is a lot which happens in this book, but you will have to find out the rest on your own.


Abby is by far my favorite character. I can relate to her in so many ways. She is strong willed. She has things in her past she is not proud of. She loves Ben, yet she does not know how to become "one" in her marriage with him. She does not know how to get Ben to open up to her. She does not know how to help him. She does not know how to talk to him. Her solution is just not to say anything at all.  I know exactly how she feels and where she is coming from. As they say, "I have been there and done that" with my husband in our marriage.

Now, with that said, I highly recommend this book. It is a must read. It is worth the price. 


Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

As you know, I am a member of Thomas Nelson's Book Review Blogger program. If you love to read then click the above link and sign up. It's free and you receive free books to read. What more can you ask for?

Well, the latest book I selected to read was, Finding Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham. Let me say this right off the bat, this was the most disappointing book I have read thus far. Marcus Buckingham is claiming to reveal, "the powerful key to bring fulfillment, peace, and control into a woman's life. In Find Your Strongest Life, Marcus Buckingham reveals the powerful key to help women draw enough strength from life to feel fulfilled, loved, successful, and in control. Even more, he helps women reconnect with their purpose and gives a starting point for change. A research-based message that applies to work and life, Find Your Strongest Life shows women a "unified theory" for how they really can have it all . . . the right kind of all. "

I was really excited about reading this book.  I thought, "wow, a book about bringing fulfillment, peace and control into my life. This should be interesting." Boy, was I wrong. If you are an entrepreneur, business executive or CEO of a company making a gazillion dollars a year, then this book is for you. If you are an ordinary 9-5er living paycheck to paycheck type of person, this book is definitely not for you.

The book begins with, "Ten Myths About The Lives of Women." That should have gave me the "warning sign" about the rest of the book. But, I still gave it a chance. Before really "diving into the book, he would like for you to go to StrongLifeTest.com and take  test to "Discover the Role You Were Born to Play." Okay, let's look at the first question. It has to do with an important customer calling you stating they did not receive the presentation. What do you do?" Okay, I am a stay at home mother of four kids who plays taxi cab five days a week. How in the world am I to answer this question. I mean get real. Was there a question for ordinary taxi cab moms like me? NO!


The book in fact was another "self help" book for women written by a man, who if you ask me may have a clue about professional business women but not a clue about ordinary stay at home taxi cab moms such as myself. There is not one mention of God or Jesus or faith in the entire book! Where does our strength come from? Who do we go to in order to learn what we were created for? Who holds the key to fulfillment and peace in our lives? Where does our joy come from? There is only one answer, and that is GOD. Period.  You will not find peace and fulfillment by reading a "self-help book" but by reading the best selling book of all time, THE BIBLE.

Let me ask you this question, how many business execs or CEO's do you know that are happy, content and peaceful? I doubt they will be after reading this book either.

My recommendation, take the money you were going to use to buy this worthless book and purchase a BIBLE which has every answer to all your questions. The secret to finding your role in life is within its pages. Talking about an investment which will last for the rest of your life!

Since I must give it a rating between 1 and 5 (trust me, if I could I would give it a negative 10) but my rating 1. Well, it did have a colorful jacket.

Happy Reading my friends!