We’re already several days into summer, and here in the Bahamas, we sure are feeling it! Temperatures are soaring, making it the perfect time not only to adorn a swimsuit, but also to get started on some summer reading. We’ve chosen books that speak to the whole woman: from love and communication, to business, housekeeping, parenting and even pregnancy. Dive in below!
01 Believe Bigger: Discover the Path to Your Life Purpose by Marshawn Evans Daniels
Marshawn thought she was on the right path. She was an accomplished business woman and high-powered sports attorney ready to marry the man of her dreams—until she learned just days before her wedding that he was cheating on her. After betrayal flipped her seemingly perfect world upside down, she found herself craving significance, not just success. Though Believe Bigger traces her journey from heart break to world stage, the book is so much more than just a tale of happy endings. Believe Bigger is about resilience, reclaiming your life, and how God uses rejection, hardship, and unexpected circumstances to awaken something greater within…if you’re willing to embrace disruption.
02 The Business Boutique: A Woman’s Guide for Making Money Doing What She Loves by Christy Wright
Christy Wright, Certified Business Coach and Ramsey Personality, is leading a movement of women stepping into their God-given gifts to make money doing what they love. If you’re ready to join them, this is your handbook that will take the ideas in your head and the dream in your heart and turn them into action.
The Business Boutique will:
- Help you create a step-by-step, customized plan to start and grow your business
- Show you how to manage your time so you can have a business and life that you love
- Explain pricing, taxes, and budgeting in simple terms
- Teach you how to use marketing to reach the right people in the right way
03 Clever Girl Finance: Ditch Debt, Save Money and Build Real Wealth by Bola Sokunbi
Bola Sokunbi, the force behind the hugely popular Clever Girl Finance website, draws on her personal money mistakes and financial redemption to educate and empower a new generation of women on their journey to financial freedom. Lighthearted and accessible, the book Clever Girl Finance encourages women to talk about money and financial wellness and shows them how to navigate their own murky financial waters and come out afloat on the other side.
04 Smart Couples Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner by David Bach
Without a doubt, your favourite financial guru has this book (or it’s counterpart, “Smart Women Finish Rich”) on her bookshelf.
New York Times bestselling author, David Bach has helped millions of couples plan for a future they love with more than 7 million of his books in print. And now, completely updated and revised, Smart Couples Finish Rich, America’s favorite money book, is back. You’ll discover the latest techniques to live a life as a couple, where your values align and your money decisions become easier. Whether newlyweds, a couple planning for retirement or already retired, this timeless classic provides couples with easy-to-use tools that cover everything from credit card management to detailed investment advice to long term care. Together you’ll learn why couples who plan their finances together, stay together!
05 The Strong One: Redefining Strength and Finding Freedom in Your True Identify by Dr. Giavana Jones
Giavana Jones, Ph.D. asks (and answers) a key question: “What happens when the Strong One is tired?”
To the world you are excelling; you have it all together, managing to keep all the balls in the air while offering support to others in your life. A complete rockstar. But if [the] Strong Ones really dig deep enough, [they] will find that what [they] consider strength is really dysfunctional, leaving [them] depleted and empty. If you have ever thought of yourself as being the one that has to be strong, this book is written for you. In The Strong One, Dr. Gia explore profiles that will help you better understand yourself, walk through challenges that Strong Ones typically face, and review principles to help you to find your true strength.
06 Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Our founder, Zemi Stewart, notes: “I read this book as a single, many years before I met my spouse. Back then it changed my perspective. Today, it shapes the way I view my marriage.”
Sacred Marriage uncovers the mystery of God’s overarching purpose for marriage. This book may very well alter profoundly the contours of your marriage. It will most certainly change you. Because whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God, and to a spiritual integrity that, like salt, seasons the world around you with the savor of Christ.
07 Boss Bride: The Powerful Woman’s Playbook for Love and Success
ESSENCE Senior Editor and author Charreah K. Jackson interviewed and researched more than 150 professional women including everyday powerhouses and famous faces for strategies to thrive in our personal and professional lives. Boss Bride is the culmination of her research and is a bridge to create a love life and career that fulfills you: it’s time to go hard and go home.
08 Let Love Have the Last Word: A Memoir by Common
Courageous, insightful, brave, and characteristically authentic, Let Love Have the Last Word shares Common’s own unique and personal stories of the people and experiences that have led to a greater understanding of love and all it has to offer. It is a powerful call to action for a new generation of open hearts and minds, one that is sure to resonate for years to come
09 Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook by Martha Stewart
In Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook, Martha shares her unparalleled expertise in home maintenance and care. Readable and practical–and graced with charts, sidebars, illustrated techniques, and personal anecdotes from Martha’s decades of experience caring for her homes–this is far more than just a compendium of ways to keep your house clean. It covers everything from properly executing a living room floor plan to setting a formal table; from choosing HEPA filters to sealing soapstone countertops; from organizing your home office to polishing your silver and caring for family heirlooms.
10 Prayers of Blessing Over Your Husband by Bruce Wilkonson and Heather Hair
Zemi stumbled onto this book after reading a marriage devotional on the YouVersion app and knew instantly that it had to be added to this list.
New York Times bestselling author Bruce Wilkinson brings you Prayers of Blessing Over Your Husband. This book of guided prayers for seeking God’s blessings upon your marriage. As you pray in specific ways for your relationship, you’ll experience new joys, and your confidence will grow as you see God’s daily provision abound for you and your spouse.
11 Seasons of a Woman’s Life by Lois Evans
Lois Evans, wife of American pastor Dr. Tony Evans, has experienced many seasons of life. She has experienced health and sickness, now battling cancer. She is a wife, mother, sister, grandmother and great-grandmother, and has therefore also experienced pregnancy and diaper changes, wedding ceremonies and graduations.
In Seasons of a Woman’s Life, Lois uses lively examples from her own life and those of other women – including Esther – to challenge her readers to to discover the purpose of their lives and to depend on Him as He teaches the lessons of each season.
12 The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené uses original research and plenty of encouragement to explore the psychology of releasing our definitions of an “imperfect” life and embracing living authentically. Her “ten guideposts” are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty—a perfectly imperfect life.
13 How We Love Expanded Edition: Discover Your Love Style, Enhance Your Marriage by Milan Yerkovich
Relationship experts Milan and Kay Yerkovich explain why the ways you and your spouse relate to each other go back to before you even met. Drawing on the powerful tool of attachment theory, Milan and Kay explore how your childhood created an “intimacy imprint” that affects your marriage today.
Revised throughout with all-new material and additional visual diagrams, this expanded edition of How We Love will bring vibrant life to your marriage.
14 Boss Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Business & Nurturing Your Family Like a Pro by Dana Malstaff
Boss Mom was created to do two things. First, to help dramatically shift your mindset about how you see yourself and your role as a mother, entrepreneur, wife, daughter, friend and more. An epic shift that will allow you to see how you can be amazing in each of these roles without sacrificing the others. And second, to guide you through a new way of thinking about how you integrate your family life with your entrepreneurial life. And to give you a plan that you can begin to implement that will make your world feel a little easier.
15 The 5 Love Languages of Children: The Secret of Loving Children Effectively by Gary Chapman
The #1 New York Times bestselling The 5 Love Languages® has helped millions of couples learn the secret to building a love that lasts. Now, in The 5 Love Languages of Children, discover how to speak your child’s love language in a way that he or she understands. Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Ross Campbell help you:
- Discover your child’s love language
- Assist your child in successful learning
- Use the love languages to correct and discipline more effectively
- Build a foundation of unconditional love for your child
16 Communication: Key to Your Marriage by H. Norman Wright
In this new updated edition of the bestselling classic, trusted marriage and family counselor Dr. Norman Wright does not just show readers the different ways men and women communicate. He shows how to do it right! Readers of Communication: Key to Your Marriage will find practical ways to reduce marital conflict, manage anger, build up one another’s self-esteem, and listen and understand each other at deeper and more satisfying levels. This updated edition also includes all-new reflection questions at the end of each chapter for couples or groups.
17 Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin
Offering a clear and concise plan to help women go deeper in their study of Scripture, Women of the Word will equip you to engage God’s Word in a way that trains your mind and transforms your heart.
18 Emptied: Experiencing the Fullness of a Poured-Out Marriage by Wynter Pitts and Jonathan Pitts
Wynter and Jonathan Pitts experienced 15 beautiful years of marriage, ended only by Wynter’s sudden death in 2018. In Emptied, we learn the secrets to a marriage that thrived through the changing seasons of life.
19 The Naked Marriage: Undressing the Truth About Sex, Intimacy and Lifelong Love by Dave & Ashley Willis
In Naked Marriage, Dave and Ashley Willis explain that having a “Naked Marriage’ is about much more than just nakedness in the bedroom (although that’s part of the fun). It means being naked emotionally and spiritually as well as physically. It also means undressing all the misconceptions our culture has used to cover God’s original, beautiful design for marriage and rediscovering all marriage can be. You and your spouse can have a thriving, Naked Marriage with a lifetime of love and laughter together. This book will show you how.
20 The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Genevieve Howland
Move over What to Expect When You’re Expecting, there’s a new pregnancy guide on the block! Peppered throughout The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy & Childbirth are positive birth and pregnancy stories from women of all backgrounds (and all stages of their natural journey) along with advice and insights from a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) plus a Registered Nurse (RN), doula, and lactation consultant. Encouraging, well-researched, and fun, this guide is an essential companion for women everywhere to embrace natural pregnancy and reap all the benefits for both baby and mama.
Disclaimer:
- Many of the excerpts were found on Amazon. They were tweaked only slightly by the author of this post.
- The views and opinions of the authors do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Wife HER!
- This blog post does not include affiliate links. We make no profit from your purchases.