Review--By What We Love by Charlene Carr

By What We Love by Charlene Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eloise has almost everything she ever dreamed of.  A great job that pays well, a family that loves her, and a man who loves her unconditionally.  None of these things came without hard work.  Eloise grew up without her mother and then raised and put through school her younger brother and sister.

Mostes and Eloise have been together for years.  Now, Eloise has the most amazing opportunity with her job and she wants nothing more than for Moses and her sister, Lori, to join her on the journey.  Even though Lori and Moses love Eloise, they may not be ready to move to the other side of the world with her.  Will Eloise be able to choose her family over her work? Which is really more important to her?

Charlene Carr writes about relatable characters.  Any career driven woman could sympathize with Eloise.  Maybe she is a bit more extreme than some, but she is still in a position a lot of women find themselves in, having to choose between their career and their family.

Eloise tends to make her decisions before consulting the rest of her family.  Asking for forgiveness later.  She has been this way for so long, she just assumes that they are going to go along with her.  I personally, have never been one to put my work over my family.  That is just me, but recently going from being a stay at home mom to a working mom, I can see how sometimes that sacrifice must be made.  Charlene Carr does a great job of drawing you into the story and you can see yourself in the main characters shoes.  You put yourself in the story.

This book is about discovering what exactly is most important.  Hopefully we will come to that realization before it is too late and we lose out on those things we love the most.

**I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review**


View all my reviews

Review--Skinny Me by Charlene Carr

Skinny Me by Charlene Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jennifer is overweight and miserable.  She has recently lost her mother and even more recently, her job.  After a party at her cousins house, she is feeling even more miserable about her life.  She decides to make a chand and finally lose some weight.  She joins a gym and when she finds out her trainer is her cousin, Autumn's hot boyfriend, it's all the motivation she needs.  If she loses the weight she knows she will be so much happier.  She just has to reach that goal weight.  But with so many other issues plaguing her life is this really what is going to make her happy?  Will lusting after someone she knows is taken make her happy?

I could relate to Jennifer in some ways.  There are days when I look in the mirror and am completely unhappy with my reflection.  Then there are other days when it is no big deal.  There are so many women with body image issues all over the world regardless if they are overweight or not.  It's good to see Charlene Carr tackling an issue such as this one.  Jennifer's issues were more than just the number on the scale and until she was ready to face those issues and deal with them head on.  Along the way she ends and mends relationships and finds the person her family always knew existed, but hadn't seen behind all of the anger.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley*


View all my reviews