A book review of Whole Relationships: How Imperfect People Create Unbroken Love by Annette R. Purkiss (with Workbook)

Stars: *****

All Write Publishing (2026)
Christian Nonfiction>Relationships
218 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book and workbook in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Most people believe love is the foundation of a healthy relationship. Yet many relationships filled with love still collapse under the weight of unmet expectations, emotional wounds, and unspoken needs. The problem isn’t always a lack of love. It’s a lack of wholeness. In Whole Relationships, Annette Johnson challenges the cultural myth that the “right person” will complete us. Instead, she reveals a transformative truth: healthy relationships begin when individuals learn to live whole within themselves. When two imperfect people develop self-awareness, emotional maturity, and spiritual alignment, love no longer has to carry the impossible burden of fixing what is broken.

Blending relational psychology, spiritual wisdom, emotional intelligence, and practical relational insight, this book guides readers through the journey from broken patterns to whole love. Readers will learn how to recognize the hidden habits that sabotage connection, understand the deeper needs that shape relationships, and practice the humility, honesty, and courage required to sustain love over time. Rather than offering quick fixes or romantic illusions, this book presents a deeper path toward love that is resilient, authentic, and spiritually grounded.

A whole relationship does not require perfect people. It requires two people willing to grow, tell the truth, repair what breaks, and build love on a stronger foundation than emotion alone. When wholeness comes first, love can finally flourish the way it was meant to: unbroken.

Whole Relationships

Confession: I wasn’t sure I would gain anything from this book as I feel like I have a great romantic relationship and even family relationships. However I learned a LOT. I’ve been keeping a commonplace notebook and I made over 10 pages of notes from this one book alone. I didn’t end up using the workbook but I sure did learn a lot and wrote it down.

The opposite of whole relationships are broken relationships. I learned that your relationship with others and how whole it is depends also on your relationship with yourself. When you look at the table of contents it honestly seems confusing but when you just read cover to cover, it makes perfect sense. I don’t know how that works but it does.

The author knows what she is talking about and doesn’t just tell you what a whole or broken relationship is like but how to get from broken to whole. I love to that the author doesn’t claim to have always had perfect relationships, she had to learn the hard way and is helping us get where we need and want to be.

Throughout the book there are bolded words and sections. Pay special attention to these bolded sections. These were often indicators I would want to make notes.

What about the workbook? The workbook is called Wholeness Lifestyle Journal: A Guided Journal for Self-Awareness, Healing Patterns and Building Whole Relationships. It looks like a diary with a spot for date, and lots of lines but also reflection questions. The main book tells you when to use the workbook/journal.

Highly recommended book to everyone, not just those who have obvious relationship struggles.

Buy Whole Relationships on Amazon.com

This is a book review of Homemaking Matters: Living for God’s Glory In the Ordinary by Marci Ferrel.

Stars: *****

Harvest House Publishers (2026)
Christian Nonfiction
224 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: When the daily work of caring for your home feels unseen, exhausting, or ordinary, this warm guide helps Christian women see their service as sacred work.

In Homemaking Matters, Marci Ferrell shows how the gospel changes everything, especially what we do in our homes. Blending biblical insight, lived wisdom, and practical takeaways, she helps you see each day not as a checklist of chores, but as a divine vocation with eternal significance.

From keeping up with family laundry to welcoming a friend over for dinner, every opportunity to serve others is an opportunity to serve God. With chapters on ordinary tasks, the ministry of home, mentorship, joy, and more, this book reframes homemaking as purposeful, valuable service that women in every season of life―young or old, married or single, with kids or without―can do for God’s glory.

Homemaking Matters

I love reading about homemaking, especially Christian homemaking as that’s what I am, a Christian homemaker. This book was especially amazing though as it fed my faith as well as my heart as a homemaker.

The book does include the usual spiel about homemaking being a way to honour God, which it is, but it also includes so much more. This book was such a good read I took 10 pages of notes in a note book. It includes a few Bible quotes that the author had in her book but also tons of quotes from her directly.

If it wasn’t obvious, this book is Christian nonfiction and therefore is for those who follow the faith. If you are looking for a secular guide to homemaking this is not it. But if you are a follower of Jesus and a homemaker, this is the perfect guide for you.

I especially like that it is not just a book for married women or women with children. She specifically addresses the single women who still has a home to tend. It’s important to consider all Christian women.

Each chapter has reflection questions which are really well thought out and really make you think. There is also a chapter prayer. I saved all the prayers to my phone so I can pray in bed. I’ve never taken 10 pages of notes from one book before so that’s saying something.

I already followed the author who is also known as The Thankful Homemaker but if you don’t, you should.

Buy The Thankful Homemaker at Amazon.com

A book review of Recalibrating After Brain Injury: A Practical Guide for Families Navigating Traumatic Brain Injury by Ty Hall, PhD

Stars: *****

Self-Published (2026)
Health>Traumatic Brain Injury
92 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Recovery after traumatic brain injury does not end when the visible crisis has passed. For many survivors and families, the hardest changes are often the least visible: fatigue, sensory overload, emotional shifts, difficulty sustaining attention, and the strain of rebuilding ordinary routines. These changes can be confusing, especially when the injured person appears to be improving from the outside.

Recalibrating After Brain Injury is a practical and compassionate guide for families navigating the longer process of recovery after TBI. Drawing from lived experience and research-informed reflection, Ty Hall explores how brain injury can affect daily life, relationships, confidence, pacing, emotional regulation, and meaningful participation.

Written for survivors, family members, friends, caregivers, educators, employers, and healthcare professionals, this book offers clearer language for understanding recovery after the acute stage has passed. It provides reassurance without false simplicity and helps readers recognize progress, even when recovery feels uneven.

Recalibrating After Brain Injury

I honestly wasn’t sure about this book because it’s so short but somehow the author packed in lots of good information for someone who is struggling with a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury.)

I haven’t personally had a TBI but I read the whole thing and it was very eye opening. Even though it’s a guide for those WITH a TBI or their family and not a memoir, it works also as a way to see what life is like for those with a TBI.

If you or someone you love has or might have a TBI I recommend this book as a quick guide. If you have a TBI and can’t read right now, it’s short enough to have someone read to you. I like when health books aren’t too long but still have lots of information. When you are unwell you may not be up to reading a long book.

Buy Recalibrating After Brain Injury from Amazon.com

A book review of NOBODY WARNED US: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Menopause, Hormones, Metabolism, and Longevity by S.D. BURNS

Stars: *****

Marigold Press (2026)
Women’s Health>Menopause
258 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: The First Book Every Woman Should Read When She Begins Asking, “What Is Happening to My Body?”

Despite earning a degree in biology, S.D. Burns, BSc missed the early signs of perimenopause herself. Like millions of women, she assumed the changes were simply stress, aging, or trying to do too much. Instead, she discovered that fluctuating hormones were affecting nearly every system in her body, and no one had ever explained why. Nobody Warned Us is the clear, practical, science-backed guide written for women who are just beginning to ask, “What is happening to my body?”

Written in clear, everyday language, this book helps you connect the dots between your symptoms and understand how perimenopause and menopause can affect your brain, metabolism, sleep, muscles, mood, and long-term health. This is not an advanced medical textbook filled with complicated terminology, nor is it another quick-fix diet plan promising overnight results.

It is the book that gives you the foundation every woman deserves before diving deeper into menopause, healthy aging, and longevity.

Nobody Warned Us

Nobody warned us is the best menopause or perimenopause book I’ve ever read. I would love to read a book about other conditions I go through or will go through written in the same way.

This book is amazing. First Phase (section) is titled “When It All Starts to Make Sense” and is about how you notice a few symptoms here or there but they are often ones that are lesser talked about or they happen earlier than you expect so you don’t put 2 and 2 together to understand it’s perimenopause. It also covers how to be prepared for your appointment with the doctor to talk about it and the basic info on the hormones involved and what HRT is and how to have a conversation about it. I love that the author doesn’t say DO use HRT or DON’T use HRT but gives you information on both pros and cons of both choices and tells you how to have an open conversation about it.

Phase 2 is about working WITH your body. Each chapter in this phase talks about a specific thing you can work on to help your body. Instead of being separated by symptom, it’s separated by body issues such as blood sugar, cortisol, sleep, inflammation, metabolism and more. There is also a chapter on GLP-1 medications so you can decide if that’s a good choice for you or not.

Phase 3 is your 21 Day Longevity Roadmap talks about weeks 1-3 after implementing some of these suggested tasks and what should be happening in your body because of it. You may not notice any of these happening as they happen on the inside. So she goes over them so you know it IS helping. There is also a troubleshooting section.

Phase 4 is making it last and it along with the additional resources at the end will help you keep it going so you can get through peri and then menopause with relative ease. Or at least understanding.

I also want to mention that at the end of each chapter are chapter takeaways to make sure you understand the point of each chapter.

Buy Nobody Warned Us from Amazon.com

A book review of Rise and Thrive: A Mental Health Workbook for Youth & For the Young Person Inside All of Us by Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble

Stars: ****

Refined Honey (2026)
Mental Health>Teens
147 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Dr. Alfiee, a global leader in youth mental health, delivers the ultimate youth mental health guide—packed with simple, memorable concepts you can actually use in real time to care for your emotional wellbeing.

Rise and Thrive is your space to step into your power, embrace your brilliance, and rise—no matter what life throws your way. Designed for teens and young adults (inclusive of all identities), this book combines Dr. Alfiee’s 30 years of research, clinical work, and community advocacy into an easy-to-use roadmap for emotional wellness and real-world resilience.

Not just another workbook—Rise and Thrive gives you practical support for the moments you feel anxious, unseen, or overwhelmed. Each chapter offers bite-size “mindset remixes” you can remember on the spot, plus reflection prompts and coping tools that actually fit your life, culture, and community.

Whether you’re figuring out who you are, navigating school or work, dealing with family and friendships, or just trying to make it through the day, we invite you to reflect, act, and reconnect with your truest, strongest self.

Rise and Thrive

This is a mental health workbook for youth but it is also a good read for young adults or even older adults who have struggled since their youth. It’s also very good for those in marginalized groups as it focuses on those people. You can read it if you are not though.

The workbook is in colour which makes it a fun and happier read. It’s mostly words but the beginning of each chapter has a great illustration as well as a few illustrations throughout the book.

The book is based on seven mindsets which are the names of the seven chapters. Each chapter is full of help to understand and practice those mindsets. Each chapter has journal prompts, activities (easy, medium and hard) and key takeaways. After each activity there is a self reflection area. This is a great book for youth who feel out of place or have lost their self-confidence.

Buy Rise and Thrive from Amazon.com

The Daddy Essays: Perspectives from an Unexpected Journey by Neil Turner

Stars: *****

Lingering Hereford Press (2026)
Self-Help/Grief
353 pages

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: The Daddy Essays is not a parenting manual. It’s a book of stories from a dad who never expected his journey to include the loss of a child, the joy of becoming a stay-at-home father, or the privilege of raising a son with autism—all while learning to laugh, grieve, grow, and find meaning in diaper duty.

Collected here are the most meaningful and entertaining pieces from years of writing: honest snapshots of fatherhood, marriage, love, loss, resilience, and everyday absurdities. Some essays will make you laugh. Some may make you cry. All the essays will enrich your perspective on parenthood.

Told with humility, humor, and a deep affection for family, The Daddy Essays invites readers to dip in and out—one story at a time—on days when they need encouragement, perspective, or a reminder that life’s sweetest joys often sit right beside its hardest truths.

The Daddy Essays

This is a grief book, written like a memoir but with a beautiful undertone of reliving the happy moments. The author lost a child, an indescribable event that someone like me who hasn’t been through it can only imagine. Instead of writing about the loss the whole book he focuses on happy memories and what they taught him and his wife about loss, love and life.

It’s a longer book and it took me a while to read but not because it wasn’t a well written book. It was partly having time and partly mixing it up with a lighter read. It was very well written. The stories were intriguing, even when they were sad. They aren’t in order but I didn’t find myself confused like with some books.

The stories aren’t just about the child who passed. All their family is included in the stories. This makes for a well rounded idea of their family and what they are like. Also this book will probably become a nice heirloom for their kids when they are older.

Buy The Daddy Essays from Amazon.com

A book review of The Nineties: a Book by Chuck Klosterman

Stars: ****

Penguin Books (2022)
Popular Culture
370 pages

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. In between, one presidential election was allegedly decided by Ross Perot while another was plausibly decided by Ralph Nader. Landlines fell to cell phones, the internet exploded, and pop culture accelerated without the aid of technology that remembered everything. It was the last era with a real mainstream to either identify with or oppose. The ’90s brought about a revolution in the human condition, and a shift in consciousness, that we’re still struggling to understand. Happily, Chuck Klosterman is more than up to the job.

In The Nineties, Klosterman dissects the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the pre-9/11 politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan, and (almost) everything else. The result is a multidimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis so smart and delightful that future historians might well refer to this entire period as Klostermanian.

The Nineties

This book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but it was still interesting. In the 90s I was ages 7-16 so a lot of what was going on I knew little about. Especially American politics since I’m Canadian. I remember hearing a lot of those names but never knew who they were or what they were doing as a teen.

I think if there wasn’t so much American politics the book would have been better. As a kid of the 90s I’d rather read about Tamogatchis then politics. If like me though, you weren’t as aware of what was going on in the world as teens are today, then you can recap what happened in the 90s that was big or important.

The book is on the longer end to me (370 pages) with smaller text so it took a bit to read. It was nice reminiscing about the 90s though.

Buy The Nineties from Amazon.com

A book review of Soccerology: Unbelievable Facts and Stories About the Beautiful Game by Kevin Sylvester

Stars: *****

Annick Press (2026)
Children’s Nonfiction>Sports
92 pages

Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: Colorful illustrations, fun infographics, and supercool trivia reveal all about the most popular sport in the world. Begin with the game’s startling origins or turn to any short chapter and dive in! You’ll discover historic firsts, trailblazing athletes, and the weirdest soccer records. Read unforgettable stories about players who pushed the boundaries of the game―sometimes by bending the rules―and learn why soccer had to become more welcoming before it could truly bring people together. Packed with charts, timelines, and further reading, Soccerology is a must-have that’s equally fascinating for soccer newbies and diehard fans.

Written by former sports broadcaster and award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Kevin Sylvester, Soccerology is a book about the Beautiful Game like nothing else!

Soccerology

Another great book through Annick Press, this one is all about soccer. The author was a soccer player, sportscaster and radio host and has written other children’s nonfiction we’ve enjoyed.

Soccerology brings you through from the very first beginnings of a game resembling soccer to where it is today. Known as football in many parts of the world, soccer is very popular, especially among women.

The book is divided into parts: Invention, Evolution, Revolution, Expansion, Inclusion and a section called Just for Kicks.

The book is full of fun cartoon drawings by the author himself. They are really cute and fit the book well. The book is good for soccer newbies or soccer afficionados alike. The book is designed for ages 9-12 and would make a great gift for a soccer fan.

Buy Soccerology from Amazon.com

A book review of Quiet Endurance: A Memoir by James D. Reginato

Stars: ****

Self-Published (2025)
Memoir
139 pages

Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: At aged 23, James Reginato was a law and commerce student who loved structure, precision and meaning. He found peace in order, whether through flying, study, or music. Life made sense until a trip overseas left him with a severe infection that marked the beginning of a long and confusing decline. What began as physical illness became something far more complicated when doctors could not explain his symptoms.

Quiet Endurance is a hauntingly raw recount of his journey through misdiagnosis, disbelief, and the quiet erosion of identity that comes from being treated as a problem instead of a person. It is an intimate account of how a once healthy body can become a source of fear and how the healthcare system can lose sight of the human being behind the data.

Through vivid storytelling and careful reflection, James explores the moments that broke him and the small acts of persistence that kept him alive. He writes about the hospitals that misunderstood him, the labels that trapped him, and the eventual discovery of the real conditions that he had been researching all along. Alongside the medical struggle runs a portrait of family, love, and endurance in the face of a system that could not see past its own limits.

This memoir is both personal and universal. It speaks to anyone who has been dismissed, doubted, or reduced to an explanation that does not fit. It is about what happens when you are forced to become your own advocate, when survival depends on refusing to be erased.

Quiet Endurance is not a story of miracle recovery. It is about the resilience that remains when there is nothing left to prove. It is a record of persistence, truth, and the strength that comes from still being here.

Quiet Endurance

I enjoy medical memoirs and this one was no different. But enjoy is not quite the right word as I didn’t enjoy what the author went through or the lack of an answer at the end. The medical systems around the world need fixing. We don’t live in the same country but it’s not any better here. I have so many examples of that.

It took me a long time to get to this book but then I read it in 2 days. It would have been 1 day if I hadn’t needed to go to bed. It’s not a long book but it has small text. Every time I thought I knew what might be going on I was wrong. Every time I thought he just needed a certain test, he’d end up having that test and was still treated poorly.

It’s not just that they didn’t know what was wrong, they treated him as if he was just anxious when truthfully anxiety entered the picture from lack of being taken seriously.

Writing wise, James did a good job of telling his story. It was very intriguing and pulled me in like I said. You can follow his updates on Instagram as well. It would be nice if his book got really popular and spread the word to the healthcare system about treating everything that isn’t easily identifiable as anxiety.

Buy Quiet Endurance at Amazon.com

A book review of Keys to Your 20s: The Ultimate Homebuyer Playbook for Young Adults by Jamal Henry (Start Smart. Buy Smart – Step by Step Guide for Your First Home)

Stars: *****

Self-Published (2025)
Financial Advice
155 pages

Disclosure: I received this book in exchange for a review. This post contains affiliate links.

Summary: “Keys to Your 20s: The Ultimate Homebuyer Playbook for Young Adults” is the real-talk manual every young adults needs. Written by Jamal Henry, who went from counting pennies to holding the keys to his own house at just 23, this book hands you the exact steps that schools never teach. Tired of hearing that home-ownership is only for the rich or those in their thirties? Jamal’s story and action plans prove it’s not just possible–it’s powerful and life-changing.

Inside, you’ll find:
– Mindset shifts to break the cycle of renting
– Budgeting and money hacks that don’t suck the fun out of life
– Side hustle ideas to stack real cash (and keep it)
– Honest credit-building advice (no fluff, no scams)
– Step-by-step guides for making your first offer and closing the deal

You’ll also get real strategies for dealing with family and social pressure, using loans and programs like NACA, and managing your new home after move-in. Jamal’s unique blend of easy-to-follow instructions, personal examples, and motivational mantras keeps you moving forward–even when the process gets tough.

Every chapter ends with actionable advice, exercises, and reflection questions, so you’re always building practical skills not just reading theories. Whether you’re a college student, working your first job, or already saved a little, this playbook will walk you through every stage, from setting your first savings goal to holding your keys. Ready to rewrite your story and build your wealth early? Grab this playbook, take action, and prove that age is just a number when it comes to owning your future.

Keys to Your 20s

This book is very interesting and would have been very helpful when I was a teen or young adult. I’m reading this as a 40-something with the intention to share it with my teen/young adult children afterwards.

I like that the advice isn’t just what you’d expect (save your money.) The author Jamal has figured out how to be a homeowner in his 20s. Now I owned my house in my 20s too but that was because I received a large amount of money from an accident lawsuit. I used the last of it as a down payment on a house. I wish I had used that money more wisely though. This book would have been helpful with that even if it had been around then.

He includes actionable steps, not just advice that you can’t actually follow.

Don’t make the mistake of discounting this book because it is self published. It should absolutely be picked up by a big publisher to help it get to more people. In the meantime I recommend it as required reading for ages 13+. It says 20s but really the earlier you get the concepts the earlier you can start so that you CAN have a house of your own in your 20s. If you or your child is already in their 20s though it’s still worth the read. You will learn a lot about money management.

Buy Keys to Your 20s from Amazon.com