This looked like maybe it was going to be humorous or Stepford Wife-ish and I wanted a peak at it. Was neither. DNF. As it's a Christian book I am sure it will find an audience in religious bookstores.

10 Things a Husband Needs From His Wife is a book on how to help a woman's relationship get closer to her husband by listening and giving him his needs. There was one quote in the book I thought was absolutely wonderful it's saI'd "I want to build the kind of relationship where my husband turns to me as a trusted advisor when a huge decision lands on his plate. But what would it take to get him there? I imagined It would require me to be already pursuing him, providing words of affirmation and praise, and listening to him to know what is on his plate in the first place. That's the kind of wife I long to be.". This book is not just for married couples - can help those who are going to be married as well or who are single as well - this is good book.

I saw this book on Netgalley and wanted to read it because I often feel like I have good intentions in the spousal department, but don't always follow through. I really enjoyed this book. Smalley wrote in a down-to-earth fashion, offering real-life examples of how to work toward a better relationship regardless of how long one has been married. The chapters were short, and review questions helped the reader apply topics personally. Would recommend to anyone who wants to work toward a stronger marriage.

10 Things a Husband Needs from His Wife is an excellent resource for women who would like to make sure they’re living up to their full potential as a wife. In this five star non-fiction book, Smalley discusses the top ten things her careful research and experience have taught her on this front. Shared in an easy to follow format, this book gives wives and future wives-to-be many pointers on what they can and should be doing to get the most out of their marriage. Very insightful and easy to read. Looking forward to putting several of these principles into action.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the review opportunity.

Erin Smalley, wife of Greg Smalley, has written a marriage book on her own, especially directed towards wives. In it, she gives us ten things that our husbands need from us, why, and how to provide that need in his life. The ten she chose are: a healthy wife, affirmation, valuing his differences, physical intimacy, the benefit of the doubt, respect for his leadership, gratitude, influence, time for rejuvenation, and friendship.

Erin acknowledges that wives have needs too, but gently challenges us that we need to act right no matter how our husbands acts, and that the only person you can change is yourself. Furthermore, by your model of acting well, you will influence your husband to treat you better and improve this marriage as well. This is a good book for marriages that are okay but just need that little push to make it great.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to have a free, digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit that I procrastinated reading this book for a while. I just knew it would be a book of a lot of things I would have to do differently. Fortunately, that was not the case. The book was very insightful on just how different men are than women. It was helpful to see his perspective on different aspects of our marriage and what he needs as a man that I would not readily notice.

I would recommend this book to a wife of any age, but it would be a wonderful present for a bride - to -be!

Nice title to reaffirm choices you can make that will help foster a better relationship with your husband. Nothing in the title was surprising to me, but it is always good to hear things again.

I don’t usually read non-fiction ebooks because I like to have a hard copy of the book to underline and highlight since I use non-fiction Christian books for devotional times, Bible Studies, small group studies, and prayer group meetings. This book, however, caught my attention immediately on NetGalley and I had to get the ebook to read.

It is a very well-written book detailing 10 ways that a wife can better support her husband. Even after 17 years of marriage and 4 children, I found the book absolutely enlightening. The author brings in great anecdotes that every woman, wife, and mother can relate to. Her writing is easy to read and understand and extremely honest. Her 10 points are very relatable and she gives pointers on how to make them real and workable in our daily lives.

I’m so glad that I picked this book up. It has opened my eyes and heart and mind to how I can better serve my husband. I can pray along with St. Francis, asking, “O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be…understood, as to understand.” I have much to think and pray over.

I received a copy of this book from Harvest House Publishers via NetGalley. I was not required to write a favorable review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.

Even though I have been married for over 8 years - I still love reading books about relationships and marriage. I believe no matter how many years you have you under your belt - you can always learn something new.

"By becoming a model and giving to your husband the things you desire to receive, your husband and your marriage will be shaped in ways you cannot yet imagine."

10 Things a Husband Needs from His Wife offers effective ways to make your marriage more loving, stable and strong. One of the things I love about this book is each chapter has stories that the reader can relate to. Also, included are personal challenges and Prayer for the Wise Wife. The personal challenges help you to apply the information you learned to your real life. The prayers come in handy for the times you don't know how and what to say when it comes to praying.

Grab this book - I promise you won't be disappointed.

I would recommend tgis book to anyone who hasn't read anything about marriage. It's research and an experience-based manuscript on beeing a wonderful wife which makes it really worth-reading.

Really good book with sound advice for wives, with emphasis on how men are wired differently and how the differences shouldn't always be a deal breaker but something that can be discussed and compromised on.

I wish though that it wasn't just about how women needed to understand their husbands; I would've liked it more if it was a combination of both sides, i.e. how men needed to understand their wives also. I do think there are already one too many books on what men 'expect' in relationships/marriages and how wives should meet those expectations, but not enough books on what the wives want and what they wish their husbands knew so they could be better understood.

All in all, it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

*I received this book from NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

Of all the marriage books I've read, this one is definitely top 3 if not my new #1! Smalley's writing is fantastic as it combines great biblical principles on marriage with real life accounts from her own life. She also adds in marriage challenges, prayers for your husband, blurbs from her own husband about the chapters topics, and questions for reflections. This book is especially great for the married and engaged women, but would also be a great book for single women who are wanting to be married one day. All in all, a great book by Smalley that shows the biblical role of a wife and how we can truly be our husband's helpmate!

"10 Things a Husband Needs from His Wife" is about the small and sometimes not-so-small things a wife can do to actively work on a better marriage. The author wants to help wives to understand how men are wired differently from women and she raises awareness for how these differences can be dealt with. One might get the impression that this book is all about pleasing men and giving up one's individuality, but the author also focuses on self-care and stresses the importance of it.

This book is clearly aimed at married women and even though many chapters could be read also as preparation for marriage, it would be better to only read it as an adult as some chapters also address the issue of intimacy in marriage. Also, this book is written from a Christian and rather complementarian point of view, but I didn't mind that. I found many suggestions pretty helpful, even though I already knew some, but it is very easy to forget these little details in your everyday life.

The style was clear and accessible. And the cover, in my opinion, is very pretty, too. I also couldn't find any contradictions in this book. Most claims are backed up by quotes from Scripture, but the author also quoted a few studies.

I think this book would be most helpful for young wives or engaged women. If you haven't read too many books on marriage, this might also contain some new information for you.

This one is excellent! I thought that Erin did a great job with this book.

I was initially apprehensive about this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had great content that was practical and full of Godly wisdom.

I haven't quite finished it . Found Erin's view very helpful, insightful and realistic ideas for improvement. Erin is encouraging and motivating in her writing. To be reminded that our husband is a "gift" changes the way one looks at them! A definite book for the bookshelf or library.

In a time of high divorce rates, when more people are choosing to live together without getting married and there is a marked increase in female empowerment having a book that is directed at women to tell them how to give their husband’s a better life is certainly an interesting choice. It’s written for Christians and the author is very open about her biblical beliefs so the content makes sense when you consider wives taking care of their husbands is a huge tenet in that belief system.

The author establishes her creds right away showing she’s been married over 20 years, certainly a milestone at a time of marriages (if they even exist) lasting 5 years or less – thank the Kardashians for inspiring that trend; just kidding.

She includes prayers for the wife to pray for herself, prayers for her to pray over husband, questions for you to reflect on, anecdotes from real people’s lives to illustrate her points, scripture, research, statistics, quotes from well known speakers such as John Eldredge and challenges so you get homework to help put into practice the lessons she imparts. In many ways this reminded me of The Love Dare as it had very similar elements.

If you strip away the Christian elements from the book the advice she gives, at its most basic, feels sound and logical. You can’t expect to have a healthy marriage if you aren’t healthy yourself so her chapter on that feels like a good opening. Being kind to your spouse seems like a no brainer but in today’s “ME” first world building up others, even if it’s your spouse, takes a back seat. Understanding there are differences in more than just likes and dislikes and accepting those rather than trying to conform this person into a clone of you shouldn’t feel shocking yet many need this reminder.

I will have to say I was impressed with the fact that she talked about sex, orgasms, talking about what feels good with your spouse, etc because so often that feels like the “hush don’t talk about it” part Christians want to avoid. I’ve even heard pastors talk about how ‘allegedly’ they kneel down and pray with their spouses before sex because you are supposed to invite God into the act as it’s something holy. I guess I’m the weird one who doesn’t want to think making it sound like I’m about to have a threesome with God is a good thing or be reminded “he’s watching”; not to mention the idea of kneeling and praying beforehand is a sure fire way to kill the spontaneity. It just feels like the way she broached the subject and the type of details she went into actually are realistic and the advice she gave easily doable.

I’m an Irish-Catholic who is married to an agnostic and I have friends that stretch across the spectrum from Catholic to Protestant to Agnostic to Atheist. When reading stuff like this I always ask myself which audience is not only going to benefit from it but also not get their back up about it. It’s definitely written for a Protestant audience but there’s not enough differences that Catholics should feel iced out although I would recommend looking up the people she mentions just so you have an idea of who they are such as Lisa Bevere; that would give you a better understanding as to their importance and context of influence. For your non-Christian friend it just depends on where they are. I have some that don’t mind reading self-help books like this because they can sort out what will help from what they have no interest in. If there is someone you think can benefit from a marriage pick me up but they would be antagonistic towards a book woven with prayers, scripture and talks of God then I’d suggest taking notes and just editing out those parts then pass the info on because there are valuable insights.

As a man reading this book I was really encouraged by the insights of the author. The things that husbands need are spot on and if applied would make a man feel like a king. I found it helpful in understanding what my wife faces in supporting me and encouraging me as a husband. I also feel I have learnt more on how to meet my wife's needs and for us to work together for our mutual good.
I was really challenged on how to answer the question on what gives me rest and what gives me life.
I thoroughly loved the book and it has made me look at myself more closely and understand things about myself that have always evaded me. Would recommend this book strongly.

Ten Things Every Husband Needs from His Wife by Erin Smalley is an excellent book. The layout was perfect. She would share the prayer for the wife, prayer for the wife to pray over her husband and a challenge for the wife. Some chapters would have questions for reflection. I read this copy digitally but I am confident that I'm going to go out and buy a paper copy so that I can save the prayers and make notations in the book.

I didn't realize the author was married to Greg Smalley until I was over halfway through the book.

I share my thoughts on some of her ‘things’ husbands need.
1. A Healthy Wife - She starts by sharing that to be a good wife we have to take care of ourselves. Our husband wants us to be happy and healthy and if we are not taking care of ourselves, we can't take care of others.
2. Your Affirmation - Wives assume their husbands are getting the same kind of affirmation from their guy friends that we get from our girlfriends and she said this is not true. The primary source of validation for husbands is their wives. When we fill that void it's amazing the positive influence we can have on our husbands in on our marriage.
The affirmation chapter was very good for me. It talked about how a man’s search for validation is one of the deepest searches in his life. She talked about how affirmation is different than gratitude. Affirmation has two components. It is stating a fact or truth strongly and publicly and the second part is offering emotional support and encouragement. We can do this by calling out his gifts, talents and character qualities that he may not realize about himself. She does a great job of challenging us to take specific action. In this chapter we were to write down three things that we appreciate about our husbands.
3. Value His Differences - I found it funny when she said he is not lying when he answers that he is not thinking about anything. She found scientific proof that it is true. It is how they are able to compartmentalize. How many times have we asked them what they are thinking and they say nothing.
4. Respect for his Leadership Role - She great gave some great examples of how to love and encourage our husbands in the role of leadership. Speaking well of our husband. Don't talk to them in a harsh or critical manner. Give him an opportunity to be physically strong. Take interest in what he's passionate about and a huge one is remember that he does not multitask; he focuses on one thing at a time.
5. Your influence - She shared some very good examples of women in the Bible with both a positive influence and a negative influence on their husbands in the Bible. Then she shared some women in history that had significant influence on their husbands.

I truly believe that there is a spiritual warfare going on to destroy marriages. So I wholeheartedly agree with her when she tells us that we need to fight for marriages and be intentional with what we do. She also mentioned surrounding ourselves with wise women. I am a strong believer in that the people we associate with have a huge impact on our life and our decisions and what we feel is normal and acceptable.

I highly highly recommend this book if you think you have a great marriage, even in your marriage is not in trouble or if your marriage is on the brink of divorce. The book is set up in an excellent format she gives great examples and information. This is truly an actionable book that I feel confident we will all see changes if we will implement some of her suggestions.