Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots by Reba McEntire Book Review

In Not That Fancy, Reba McEntire opened up about her life and lessons that she learned along the way. She grew up in Oklahoma and her father was a rancher and he actively participated in the rodeo. Her father taught her the importance of working hard and she even had to work on the raunch when she was attending school. She shared how when she first started in the music business, she believed that once she got the record deal then she would go on tour and make big money. The first time she heard her song on the radio she thought everything would change. She quickly learned that wasn’t the case. She spent 7 years traveling around playing everywhere she could. Her first hit song didn’t happen until, “Can’t Even Get the Blues” was released. It took her 13 singles from 5 albums before she ever had a number one. Her first headlined show she had 800 people show up and she still ended up losing money because she didn’t’ sell enough tickets. She explained how determination was taught to her from an early age and how she also helped pass it down to her son, Shelby. He is a race car driver and had to also be determined to get going when times get tough. In the book, she also discussed her acting roles, her divorce, how she met Rex (her new boyfriend), her new restaurant, some recipes, and most importantly lessons she learned. 

 

 

 

Another heartbreaking part of the book was about nobody goes it alone. This one discussed the dreaded topic of when Reba lost some of her band members in a tragic accident. In March 1991, a plane crashed killing half of her band. She used this chapter to walk people through grief and the process. She shared how none of us will get through life without losing someone we love. She included a helpful gift idea section to help a friend who is hurting. She also shared about how she lost her mother in March of 2020 when the world was shutting down and afterwards admits she almost quit singing. But her sisters helped her to refocus and slowing down helped her to regain her passion. 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed reading this book and learning even more about Reba. I have always enjoyed listening to her and watching her on TV and in movies. She is truly an amazing performer. I loved the recipes in this book and how southern style she kept a lot of them. Some were her own and others were from Shelby’s wife, Kix Brooks from Brooks & Dunn, Rex, Reba’s Place (restaurant), Katy McEntire, Chris Rich (co-star in Reba), and much more. I loved how the recipes included a difficulty rating which I thought was a little different from most cookbooks. I’m curious to try Reba’s Place Tequila Lime Vinaigrette. I haven’t had the chance to go to her new restaurant but I hope too someday! Some of the recipes I want to try is, porch day lemonade, shishito peppers and okra with tequila lime vinaigrette, Rex’s pecan smoked beer-can chicken tacos, onion and jalapeno haystacks, Nashville hot chicken, and so much more! I also enjoyed the chapter on talking to God and how He has changed her life and it was inspiring to read the positivity in this and she helps readers to get to know Him. I also liked how she explained the story behind the song, “The Nights the Lights Went Out in Georgia” and fans will get to hear about Reba was able to rerecord this popular song. The pictures in this book are awesome and very colorful and helps to make this book one to keep and reread. There is an abundance of lessons readers can learn from this Fancy hit singer. 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Harper Celebrate for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Not-That-Fancy-Lessons-Dusting/dp/1400238250

I Hope You Fail: Ten Hater Statements Holding You Back from Getting Everything You Want by Pinky Cole Book Review

In I Hope You Fail, Pinky Cole has a goal of helping readers to overcome all of the negative hater and going after our dreams. She shared how she started her multimillion-dollar business during a pandemic. She also tried to help readers in understanding the importance of fire insurance. Her first restaurant location burned down in a grease fire. The State of New York garnish her wages until she was able to pay back the entire $17,000 debt that was due. This heartbreak led her to founding Slutty Vegan. People judged her in naming her restaurant with the term slutty. She refused to give the name and the business she wanted to create around being vegan. She explained how her father was in prison right after she was born. He was sentenced for 30 years. This caused her mother to have to work extra hard to provide for her family. She described what all this taught her growing up. She also clarified how critical it is to deal with your low self-esteem. It can literally kill your business and cause it to fail. We tend to second guess ourselves and what our business has to offer our customers. She compared it to Beyonce and how she doesn’t doubt herself when she is recording and releasing an album that she will sell copies. She also explored the topic of looking at your team and taking inventory. We need to be around people who push us to our maximize potential. 

 

 

Another powerful chapter was about love and how when we own a business it makes us have to even be more careful about who we enter into a relationship with. She opened up on how she was sued after she opened her restaurant. The guy wasn’t really invested in her dream. He just wanted a quick cash out to become a part of her brand. She helps readers to ask themselves if the person they are currently with filling the vison they have of love. We need to know for a fact that if everything falls apart that they will be there for us. She strongly suggested readers to ask themselves if they have any unmet needs or daddy/mama issues that is affecting our love lives. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book on business and what tools we can use to grow our business. I really liked how she took a sturdier approach to making bold statements about how she hoped readers would fail because it will teach them so much more about life and business. Another impactful teaching is about dealing with negative voices and how we need to consider the source before we listen to what they are saying. I really appreciated the truth found in discovering the lie and applying the truth. This book was very knowledge and covered all the areas of our lives and the advice was all geared towards business lessons. 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, HarperCollins Leadership for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hope-You-Fail-Statements-Everything/dp/1400242851

 

Built Through Courage: Face Your Fears to Live the Life You Were Meant For by Dave Hollis Book Review

In Built Through Courage, Dave Hollis has written a new book about dealing with fear and becoming courageous. He explained how he was the most afraid kid in school and if he had a love language it would be called, worry. He shared in the book how he worked the Walt Disney Company for 17 years. He shared how one of the perks he received there was getting to witness the new unreleased films and provide them with feedback with other key leaders. He was the president of distribution and helped to relaunch Star Wars franchise in 2015. He described in details about how we are like a ship in the harbor and many of held anchored down. We believe the stories we are told. We all love the safety of calm storms. He explained how he felt lost and he wasn’t at the destination in life he wanted to be at. In 2019, he made a declaration that the year 2020 would become his best year. He had just turned 45 years old. He had a goal to do a big book tour and as we all know what happened. Everything got cancelled with Covid. His world also began to fall completely apart. His wife of 16 years wanted a divorce. He has a rough start and was able to bounce back and still have a good year. He was actively supporting his wife’s dreams and The Hollis Company they began. He was tired of following someone else’s map. In the book, he shared how Peter walked on water and he has to give his limiting beliefs to God. He enclosed at the end of each chapter a journaling activity logbook to assist readers into brainstorming and thinking about what the core messages of the chapters were. 

 

 

One of my favorite chapters discussed defining your core values. Some of his included, “centeredness, advocacy, growth, service”, just to name a few. He was tired of compromising and not living out what he believed. He guides readers on how to figure out their own values and how to instill integrity and make a different in the world. Everyone needs to ask themselves what they stand for. He explored how we don’t need to negotiate our worth and keep people who are making us question do we matter. This chapter will help readers to stop allowing people to control us and to not give them the license to determine our worth. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book on dealing with your fear and having courage to not stay anchored in the harbor. I immensely loved the message and all of the journaling sections that assisted readers into digging deeper into the topics. I was touched by this book and the message on fear that he discussed with such passion. He really did try and help readers to overcome their fears and to build their courage. As we have probably heard by now, in 2023, he tragically passed away from an accidently overdose at age 47. This was truly shocking news when I heard that. His books seemed to have such a positive message in them. What was heartbreaking was he asked a critical question about what if, he had two years left to live how would he live his life differently. He really only had two years left to live and he didn’t know it! 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, HarperCollins Leadership for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Built-Through-Courage-Fears-Meant/dp/1400230667/  

The Restart Roadmap: Rewire and Reset Your Career By Jason Tartick Book Review

 

In The Restart Roadmap, Jason Tartick helped readers to redefine their life and make a fresh start in their career paths. He shared how he climbed the ladder of success in the financial corporation field and he would move whoever they wanted him to go where he could still get promotion and benefits. He begins the book by sharing his battle with anxiety and he literally felt his heartbeat speed up. He was in a meeting with his senior banker and junior banker with other top clients. He shared how this led to him feeling like he was in a career prison Monday thru Friday. He was following a script and in a rut. His only day of feeling completely free was on Saturday’s and he was free to be himself. Cause on Sunday’s he was battling anxiety of what was coming next. He was living his life in the 14.3% of every week and this equal to 11.3 years. This book’s goal is to assist readers in restarting their lives and getting their career’s back on track on how they want to live their lives. He explored 8 key strategies throughout the book. One of the things, he looked at was the topic of where you should live and exploring the issues, we tend to take into account the money factor. 

 

 

 

In the book, he explained how made a spot on the Bachelorette and how he approached his banker’s higher ups with a letter stating how he wanted to take a leave and go on the show. They allowed him to use his time off and go on the show. He also opened up about how we must be very careful with our commitments and being overly loyal and how it can come back to bite us. He explained how if we are a W-2 employee we have no power and it's all up to our employer. He also was very honest with how he was fired from the banker’s field whenever his girlfriend, Kaitlyn made a comment about their sex life on her podcast. It had to be deleted by the network. In the end, his “almost ten years of banking, 7 relocation, and nine nearly perfect performance reviews meant nothing.” He was able to negotiate a fair exit plan. 

 

 

I would recommend this life changing book to anyone who is wanting a new start in their career. I immensely was shocked to read about how only 37% of people will ask for a raise. This is mind blowing to me. I really enjoyed the topic of negotiating and knowing what our worth is. I liked how he explored body language, the secrets of the hiring process, and how to stand out and get noticed. All of the topics were beneficial in learning about to restart your life and seeking a new career path if that’s what you are wanting. I’m not a huge fan of the Bachelorette or Bachelor in general so I didn’t know how I would like this book. But I felt the author was very knowledgeable in the field of business and he was trying to help readers to get a fresh start. This discussed some of the TV show but it was mainly focused on assisting readers in restarting their careers. 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, HarperCollins my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Restart-Roadmap-Jason-Tartick/dp/1400226864/

The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Tell Your Family History, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More By Bruce Feiler Book Review

About The Book:

 

The book that revolutionized our view of what makes families happy . . .

Determined to find the smartest solutions and the most cutting-edge research about families, bestselling author and New York Times family columnist Bruce Feiler gathered team-building exercises and problem-solving techniques from the most creative minds—from Silicon Valley to the Green Berets—and tested these ideas with his wife and kids. The result is a lively, original look at how we can create stronger parent/child relationships, manage the chaos of our lives, teach our kids values and grit, and have more fun together.

The Secrets of Happy Families includes more than two hundred unique practices that will help your family draw closer and make everyone in your home happier. It has already changed the lives of millions of families, and it can do the same for yours.

 

My Review:

I would recommend this amazing resource to every single parents or going to be parents. Let me first begin by saying that I’m not married and I don’t have a family yet but one day I will. I read this book in order to better equip me ahead of time and this book did just that. I loved how this book covered hot issues like managing money, creating a mission statement for your family, the importance of family dinner, resolving conflict, discussing sex, family vacations, and so much more.

I immensely like how Bruce Feiler suggested to readers the importance of eating meal regularly together and how the research correlates to this. I loved how he recommended that families could play word of the day games at dinner time, have autobiography night, pain points, word game night, and bad and good. These were great creative ideas to keep mealtime interesting and fun some nights. I especially like how he included a huge amount of research to back up his strong points throughout the entire book. The toolkit at the end of the book was extremely helpful in connecting the books main points together.

Another key chapter I liked was about building a mission statement for your family and sticking to your core values. He also had a helpful section of eighty words to describe your family to assist readers in writing down their mission statement of their own personally family. Another aspect of the book was on the chapter of sex and I was shocked to learn that only 85% of girls had have the talk with their parents and boys were only half. Why are we not talking to our children about sex and why do we get so uncomfortable and chicken out? I liked how he was very real in being honest about how parents need to be having the talk with them.

This book taught me a great deal on how to be a parent when that time come and how to lead my family in a Christ like manner. If you’re seeking a wonderful parenting resource, then read this one!

“I received this book for free from Litfuse Publicity Group/ HarperCollins Publishers for this review”.

Purchase a copy and download the Happy Families Toolkit: http://ow.ly/sSUq6

Meet the Author: Bruce Feiler writes a column in contemporary families for the New York Times and is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including The Council of Dads. He is the host of several series on PBS, a popular lecturer, and a frequent commentator on radio and television. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters.

Learn more about Bruce at: http://brucefeiler.com

Read what others are saying:

http://litfusegroup.com/author/bfeiler
 

In The Secrets of Happy Families, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler has drawn up a blueprint for modern families — a new approach to family dynamics, inspired by cutting-edge techniques gathered from experts in the disciplines of science, business, sports, and the military. Written in a charming, accessible style, The Secrets of Happy Families is smart, funny, and fresh, and will forever change how your family lives every day.

Bruce is celebrating the release of his book with a family fun "Happy Family" Kindle HDX giveaway.

  One winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
• The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 15th. Winner will be announced February 17th on the Litfuse blog.

Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by the Litfuse blog on the 17th to see if you won.