Customer Reviews

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage after the Baby Carriage

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To be honest, from the title and look of this book, it wasn't at all what I expected. I thought it was going to be in the genre of "mom-comedy" -- instead it is a somewhat amateur attempt at a self-help book for those having trouble in a marriage with children.

I found the book to be more flash than substance -- heavy cover and paper, heavy on the graphic design, and peppered with "dirty little secrets" and "quizzes." I found all of that to be pretty distracting. The quizzes were largely stupid - not really anything you'd EVER pull out a pencil and take (or if you did, that you'd find helpful). They were just somewhat poorly executed comic relief. The dirty little secrets were weird - not so much helpful in any way, but meant just to catch your attention in an "oh my" sort of way.

The actual helpful text was choppy, broken up with little stories and insets, and hard to get through because of it. Their writing style was actually not bad for the meaty stuff, so I'm not clear why they felt they needed to add in all this nonsense when it would have been a nice read without it.

That said, the info, while helpful I guess, was really nothing new. The authors don't appear to be therapists of any sort, but former advertising execs, who pulled together guidance from others along with some basic common sense.

Overall, I was disappointed in this book, although I liked their writing style enough to be interested in checking out their previous books. If you really want some lighthearted basic advice as a starting point, this might be for you. Maybe they'll be one or two points that resonate with you that can make a difference in your life. But I don't think this book is going to save a marriage, or anything close to it.

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper is a book written by women for women who need to reconnect with their husbands after having kids.

The authors Trisha and Amy interviewed women and couples to get their views on marriage. The book has quotes from couples, dirty little secrets, and even things that husbands wish their wives knew.

It's an interesting, quick, easy read. It doesn't get that deep into marriage issues or answers but it does make some interesting points like 90% of your problems is not your marriage but your expectation of what your marriage should be.

It probably won't turn your marriage around but it may make a point or two that will help give you a better perspective of what's really going on in your marriage.

This book is an easy read and the authors write in an engaging way. However, I found little benefit from reading the book because it provides little to no solutions for the marital problems it discusses at length. In each new chapter a problem is discussed and you find yourself repeatedly saying, "Yea, we have experienced that" or "I have that problem, too" but by the time you reach the end of chapter you realize they provided almost no solutions to the problems.

A serious problem I have with this book are the "dirty little secrets" at the bottom of every other page or so. I feel the title for these should have been "ways to get a divorce fast." Almost every "secret" involves lying to your spouse in hopes you don't get caught. A few examples:

1.) If you don't want to deal with the kids tonight, work late and make your spouse deal with them until they get in bed and then come home.
2.) If your spouse is working late and you don't want to be intimate that night then get in bed early and pretend to be asleep when they get home.
3.) Keep a calendar of the times you are intimate so that if he complains about not getting it enough you have ammunition to prove him wrong.

I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone.

My wife and I are planning on having kids in the next few years. So we're looking at books and TV shows on the subject, to get an idea of what's in store.

Apparently, years of misery, sexless drudgery, and giant messes await us. Yay!

The authors, Tricia Ashworth and Amy Nobile, are responsible for two other books, the identically styled "I Was a Really Good Mom Before I had Kids," and "Dirty Little Secrets From Otherwise Perfect Moms." Crammed with bullet points, quirkily-fonted graphics, and small text blurbs, these books are about as informational as an issue of Cosmopolitan. In them, we learn that men are morons, women are overworked, traditional gender roles are difficult to maintain in this work-a-day world, and having kids is difficult.

Well, DUH.

I would have liked a little more theory and science behind some of this. Some actual advice would be nice, too, as opposed to the hundreds of pages of shallow confessionals we do get.

This book (and its companions) seem designed to make you feel less bad, not to actually make you any better. Which, when you think about it, is the perfect formula for selling more identically styled books.

Genius!

To be fair, for the money, you could do worse. Magazines are expensive these days, and serious books can be dry and boring. This little confection isn't very nutritional, but it should give you a decent sugar rush for about 3 dollars an hour. It was moderately entertaining, in the way that confessional "Oprah" style pap usually is. It's fun to revel in other people's foibles, and laugh at their misfortune. But it's not terribly edifying.

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper...is, in my opinion, an average self-help book aimed at showing mothers that they can still be supermom while providing affection and attention to their sometimes neglected husbands. I think the writers had very good intentions and tried to write a book that was humorous and fun. They succeeded in certain aspects, but some of the adviced seemed to be advice that you could pick up in many other books or just back talking to you mom, aunt, grandmother, etc. I won't say that this is a bad book because it isn't. Just like many things in life, advice helps some and does nothing for others.

I picked up this book because not only did the title catch my eye (Man, can I relate to that title!), but I am currently in the demographic that this book was written for: mothers of small, needy children, that are slightly on the Type A side, almost OBSESSED with trying to find perfection in an imperfect world and are afraid to admit that it hasn't been completely successful.

This book would best be considered light self-help, as it focuses on not only doling decent advice, but offering encouragement and some commiseration (through humour) for the woes we Type A moms face (most likely brought on by ourselves): The maddening pursuit of attaining that unreachable goal of being "The Perfect Mother" AND just squeaking by with just about everything else.

I'd Trade my Husband for a Housekeeper is broken down into 7 chapters that hope to encourage us overwhelmed moms that we should leave our expectations for perfection at the door, and that it's OKAY to not always make our children numero uno in our lives. It insists that it's OKAY to put ourselves first from time to time and that it's important to make our marriages and our connections to our spouses a priority. The 7 chapters focus on areas we women as well as both husbands and wives can work on to find a balance: letting perfection go, improving our overall outlook on our lives, communication between the sexes, consideration for your partner, and the coup de grace, sex.

For myself, I found the advice to be more of a refresher of priorities. Sometimes we moms can be guilty of more than a little self pity, so it helped put my perspectives back on track. I will say that some of the advice was a tad over generalized, particularly the men/women views on marriage: men seeing it as another "job" where women obsess more with the wedding than the reality of married life. I was never the kind of girl that could relate to the "typical" woman, so I felt a disconnect with the advice at times.

My biggest problem with this book is that there's so much going on in it, that it almost loses its sincerity. The layout of this book is distracting and off putting. There are alot of breaks in the text with quotations in large fonts from interviewees and lots of sub sections that seemed out of place and off point. All these "extras" are written in blue ink/blue background white ink and it obnoxiously chops this book up. If this book takes itself seriously, the amusing mock quizzes and the lame "Dirty Little Secrets" really detracted from the point. It felt like the authors were trying to be so cute with the layout that when I closed this book, I almost felt like I gained no insight from it at all. When the text started to get on a roll, a large quotation swooped in and threw off my focus. Makes me wonder was the authors goal to help, or simply "sell" this book? How ironic one of the authors worked in advertising.

Overall, this book means well, but sabotaged itself with the presentation. I think it will appeal to many, but will be easily forgotten by all.

From the title of this book, I thought it might be a bit of a "How to be happy with your life even though my husband just wants to sit on the couch and watch TV" book. However it's not like that at all.

It addresses a lot of issues women have in life, from being a working mom to self image. It talks a lot about how most woman feel the same way on many of life's issues, but at the same time think they are the only one who feels that way. It has many constructive ideas on how to make life more productive and feel better about yourself while doing it.

It's very easy to read and incorporates light hearted humor through out it as well. It's a good book and I think anyone would find something in it they can relate to.

Two advertising executives use their connections to publish hackneyed nonsense, create a buzz, and produce a best seller. In the end they advise the problem is not your marriage but your expectations. Unmitigated nonsense that could have been a 500 word editorial in Good Housekeeping. Don't waste your money or your time.

I purchased this for my wife. I thought that the title was humorous and that she would enjoy it. It is a very quick read - she finished the book in 2 days. She said it was insightful to how I think.

After she said that I debated whether buying it for her was the smartest move on my part. But I found that as she and I talked about things she read it brought up some interesting conversations.

I had some trouble getting in to this book. Like so many advise books, this one has several chapters worth of introduction before getting to the meat of the content. In the end though, they had some really good advice for couples struggling with keeping their relationships healthy post-baby.