When Beauty Is a Beast by C. C. Sorensen (Blog Tour Review)

Welcome to my tour stop for LDS marriage relations book, When Beauty Is a Beast by C. C. Sorensen! This is the first type of book in the marriage are that I've read that really focuses on us women. It definitely made me do a self-assessment and think. Check out the book and author info and my full review below...

When Beauty Is a Beast

Avoiding 10 Things Women do that Harm their Relationships
by C. C. Sorensen

Nonfiction, Marriage, LDS
Paperback & ebook, 208 Pages
September 8th 2015 by Cedar Fort Publishing & Media

 

 

Summary

We have no qualms laying out men’s sins—especially abusive behavior. But we’ve avoided “going there” when it comes to women. This book offers advice to heal marriages and families where women display controlling behavior or create fear. It will help turn crumbling relationships into partnerships of love and trust.  

My Review

When Beauty Is a Beast is a marriage counseling book focusing mostly on women. It's the first book of it's kind that I've read and one I thought would help me improve my marriage as a self-assessment tool. In society we tend to blame men and give women a free slate in this area, as well as belittling men in entertainment. These are both unfair, not only to men, but to women because it can allow them to rationalize the way they can damage their partners and marriages. The book's focus is to help women see how they might be damaging their relationships so that they can begin to desire change and to correct their behavior, if there indeed is a problem.

The chapters included the following topics: controlling your spouse, verbal abuse, drawing comparisons, unreasonable expectations, transference of blame, creating doubts, manifest jealousy, exhibiting violent behavior, withholding intimacy, and creating fear. Examples and testimonials from others were included to clarify and support each topic. Counsel was also included from church leaders.

I found the topics, examples, and testimonials to be informative. Each topic pretty much was applicable to everyone, both men and women alike. The emphasis was more in how women tend to act, react, think, and pitfalls more common to them. The author repeatedly stated that men are at fault of the same things in many cases, but the focus of the book was to look specifically at women. What I liked was that it made me see where I have fallen into some negative habits and where I need to improve so that I am not a negative force in my home and in my marriage. I seriously have the best husband in the world. We make each other better. It's continuing toward lifting each other and making a positive marriage that should be my continuous goal and sometimes we can get stagnant or let bad habits in that can create trouble.

I also found that this would be a wonderful book for women to read before marriage or dating seriously. It could provide a check for themselves and their partner to make sure that neither of them tend toward abuse or negative behaviors and that they both treat each other with the love and respect they should. It would prevent many problems that so easily beset relationships and marriages. The only thing that would have been nice to have been included was maybe a check list on questions to ask for a self-assessment and a list at the end on ways to continue positive actions or things to do to change and improve.

When Beauty Is a Beast is definitely a book I would recommend to those who are open to self-assessment and change, where needed, to improve their relationships. Not only relationships between husbands and wives, but also mothers and children.

Source: I would like to thank Cedar Fort for my complimentary copy, which did not affect my review in any way.

About the Author

C.C. Sorensen is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has served in many positions on both the ward and stake level. “When Beauty Is a Beast” grew out of Sorensen’s many years of counseling husbands and wives who were struggling with various relationship issues.