Read in May, 2014

Read for Review (William Marrow)
Overall Rating: 3.50
Self-Help Rating: 3.00
Commentary Rating: 4.00

First Thought when Finished: I wasn't sure what to expect from The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match by Sonya Rhodes but overall I found the book fascinating.

Self-Help Thoughts: I found a lot of what Sonya wrote on Alpha Women/Beta Men to be pretty on point but a little extreme in examples. I don't consider myself an Alpha Woman, more of a Beta Woman with some Alpha tendencies so most of the advice really didn't resonate with me. I thought of the true Alpha Women in my life (and their partners) and could see some of what she was saying but felt that most of it was geared towards the extreme Alpha Woman. Also to women about 10 years younger than I am. Nothing wrong with that at all just wasn't overall useful to me. Though I did like the quiz in chapter 2 that kind of let you know where you were on the scale. I would most definitely pick up other self-help books by Sonya though--she is straight talking. I like that!

Commentary Thoughts: On the other end of the scale, I really did find commentary on Alpha Women fascinating. There is a shift going on between men and women. Some of it good, some of it scary, some of it necessary, and some of it hard to understand. I like how much research (outside of her own) that she drew on to present to the reading audience. The facts and examples she used to present her POV were well developed and made for interesting reading. Even if you consider yourself a little bit Alpha, this will help you see what tendencies you have.

Final Thoughts: Overall I liked Sonya's straight to the point message and appreciate the knowledge that she was willing to share. ( )

I read this e-book as an advance reading copy provided by Edelweiss. I have provided my feedback to the publisher via that web site.

Dr. Sonya Rhodes has written something unusual: a book about relationships that actually respects women (the primary audience). The author refuses to reduce women and men to stereotypes, nor does she take the low road of assigning arbitrary "rules" to romantic relationships.

Instead she places "alpha" and "beta" personality traits on a continuum. These traits are present, in combination and at varying levels, in both sexes. Neither is intrinsically better or worse. With real world scenarios she models how to utilize your alpha/beta character to address relationship issues. She acknowledges that not every problem has a "happy ending," and I appreciate her candor.

Rhodes says frequently--and we need to hear this often!--that she does not want an alpha woman to change herself. There are so few self help books that respect their audience and give women credit rather than assigning them all the blame for relationship troubles. Much like George Carlin saying, "Men are from Earth, women are from Earth--deal with it," Rhodes speaks more about commonalities than differences between the sexes.

This book is intelligent, feminist, positive, and good humored. It is highly recommended for all public libraries and academic libraries. ( )