Book Review - The Respect Dare

I chose my latest Book Sneeze review title with an honest, expectant heart.  Respecting the hub-sand is something I struggle with.  Enter Nina Roesner’s The Respect Dare: 40 Days to a Deeper Connection with God and Your Husband.

The book likes to compare itself to The Love Dare – based on the Movie Fireproof.  Each day for 40 days Roesner gives her readers a bible verse, a story of a couple in her Daughters of Sarah class* and then a dare for the reader to participate in.

*She mentions the Daughters of Sarah classes often.  A quick web search shows (perhaps) one reason why – tuition is $250 per person.

The author states in the early pages of the book that each of the vignettes are true, however they lack an air of authenticity.  Some of the situations praised are disturbing, others are downright dangerous!  Examples include the husband who refused to listen to his wife regarding his mother’s help.  She respected him, allowed her mother-in-law to babysit, and the child ended up in the hospital requiring stitches because she was allowed access to a knife.

Another was the story of a husband who constantly forgot to do his chores.  His wife decided out of respect she wouldn’t nag, nor would she do the chore for him.  Instead she’d allow God to teach him.  One chore included paying the electric bill: “Dick had to watch his children and wife shiver in the cold several times before he decided to take care of the bills promptly.”  (Kindle Locations 2154-2155).

Seriously??? Allowing your heat to get cut off (and one of the children was an infant) is God approved family building behavior?

Towards the end, it seemed as if Roesner ran out of “charming” applicable stories, and just started filling the pages to get done.  Dare 36: A random and seemingly unrelated story about a woman undergoing fertility treatments/miscarriage on her own.  Dare 37: Witnessing her father’s death and comforting her mother. 

I hated this book.  I only finished it because I felt as if doing otherwise would taint my ability to properly review it.  The writing style was poor, and the advise wasn’t logical.

Bottom line: Check it out from the library IF you want the urge to hurl a book across the room.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”