Quick Review: Team Us

Team Us: Marriage Together by Ashleigh Slater

Visit the Author's website HERE

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Publishing Date: June 1, 2014

Goodreads Summary:

What are you agreeing to when you say "I do"?

When a couple promises "I do," they agree to more than just a shared last name, a joint bank account, and no more dateless nights. This husband and wife duo forms a new team. "Life together" becomes their mantra. Nothing can come between them. At least, that's the plan.

But then real life sets in. With it come disappointments and frustrations. If the couple isn't intentional in their day-to-day interactions, that once enthusiastic "we" can slowly revert to "you" and "me." Before long, the couple's left wondering what happened to their team spirit.

Team Us: Marriage Together offers couples practical ways to cultivate and strengthen unity in their marriages. Author Ashleigh Slater shares from her own marriage as she presents couples with realistic ideas on how to foster cooperation, deepen commitment, and exercise grace on a daily basis.

  I requested a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley with the intent to review honestly. All opinions are my own. Buy a copy direct from the publisher HERE!

My Thoughts:
My review may be in the minority, but I can't deny that I didn't think this book was spectacular. 

Things I did appreciate? I loved that Slater stayed true to the 'team' reference all the way through the book. Sometimes authors come up with a motif and only come back to it once in awhile, which I find highly annoying and distracting. Slater sticks with her theme and reinforces it with each chapter. It is a fantastic theme for a marriage book, so I could applaud this! 

Slater also used a lot of personal stories and examples. I even loved that she included stories from her close friends. I like to know that a relationship book isn't just being based from one marriage's perspective. It's like trying to do a scientific study with only one lab rat. Using multiple perspectives drives the point home. 

And really? My only problem is this: it just wasn't memorable. So I am sure the fault is all my own. But I just didn't find anything about this marriage book that stood out from all the others. It wasn't completely unique so I just can't justify giving it a higher rating. I also found her husband's additions annoying and distracting. I would have appreciated it more if he had had a stronger, more obvious presence. Instead it felt like he was a monitor, some sort of omniscient voice that needed to check in. I do prefer a married couple to actually write the book together.

So overall, this book wasn't the best for me, but it also wasn't a complete waste of time. I could recommend it as a good book for those not well read on the topic of marriage and it did feel cute and homey. I just couldn't get into myself. I am rating it with 3.5 stars for still being a well written book.