I couldn't go through the whole thing. I expected there to be ideas or thoughts on how to communicate. The messages are upbeat and encouraging in nature and would be perfect as a gentle push every morning. I do not recommend reading it all at once. The book is a collection of vague text messages sent from a father to his daughter. It might be just me, but I felt the text messages lecture-like in their lack of specificity. They didn't pertain to any special circumstance. The book would be perfect for someone looking for it. I just expected something different and was therefore let down.

A great book for any parent who wants a better relationship with their teen. It takes an out of the box idea and makes it work. I was excited to read this one and it didn’t disappoint at all.

Norman Holden wants to find a better way to reconnect with his adult daughter. His daughter is always on her phone so he gets the brilliant idea to communicate through texting. I was really rooting for this father to succeed and find a better way to reach his daughter who had started to pull away from the family. Unfortunately, although the idea was great, the execution was a failure. The book lists every text he sends his daughter every day for months. Texts filled with great advice and wisdom but that unfortunately fail to make a personal connection. Although the father fails, this was a great book to learn from. Norman learned some really good lessons on communication and so do his readers.

In this world of endless communication modes, maybe communication is harder than ever before. This book was interesting - the author began a series of text messages to his daughter after her University graduation, in an effort to impart knowledge. I was keen to read this book because my children are embarking on their teen years, and I'm very aware of how short that period of influence is before they become adults . I was curious about how he had found a way to communicate with his eldest child at a point where he felt he was 'losing' the connection. She had been a Daddy's girl, but over time was communicating less. I, too, had grown up a Daddy's girl, and I recall my mum saying that my father thought he had lost me at one point. I suppose it's a common fear for many parents, and one I'm a little worried about as a parent. As for the book, the text messages themselves got a little repetitive and I did struggle with reading some of the motivational messages. I worried sometimes it sounded like lecturing, and the author himself commented on that through the book. He had to consider his motivation - why was he sharing, and was it having the effect he wanted? It was his reflections that I found most interesting and kept me engaged with the book. This book certainly won't be for everyone, but it's an interesting reflection on parenting, and communication.

I wanted to read this because I have an absent father who tried to reach me when I was depressed, but this book didn't work for me. The father's tone was too much like a Facebook ad and prefabricated sentences that I think are unhelpful to someone depressed. Do better? No sir, that person is already feeling guilty and not worthy because they cannot un-depress themself and this doesn't help. This is justification for absent parents.