🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 / 5 (bonus)

I am going to group this review with two other books that I think should be read as companion pieces: Untamed by Glennon Doyle and Man Enough by Justin Baldoni

Glennon Doyle is an amazing speaker and writer, and she manages to always speak truth in such a way that it pierces your soul with knowing. Untamed is for every woman who wants to be the truest and most beautiful version of herself, and for every man willing to support her in that journey. This book explores everything from motherhood and addiction to love and betrayal. And through it all, Glennon is always encouraging us to be our own goddamn cheetahs.

Where Glennon explores the many challenges and expectations put on women by the patriarchy, by society, and by ourselves, in Man Enough, Justin Baldoni explores how those same dictators can hurt men just as they hurt women. He gives us an extremely vulnerable look into his own path of self discovery and how un-learning the many toxic expectations and behaviors thrust upon men by the same patriarchy and society that keep women down, has actually freed him as well. He invites men in to start the journey of analyzing how these expectations of masculinity can poison and how we can start to re-think them in order to heal.

The third part of this group for me is For the Love of Men by Liz Plank. Liz brilliantly dives into the complex layers of masculinity and actually manages to live up to the title as she forges a path from toxic to mindful. This is a MUST READ for both men and women looking to understand the crazy ways that gender roles impact our everyday lives. It is an amazing companion piece to and bridge between the first two books as Liz delves into the history and development of so many different societal expectations and norms, and gives us the tools to start thinking about how to change them. ( )

I couldn't continue with this book no matter how promising the premise was. The author continued to quote their "good friend," Michael Kimmel. Kimmel has been accused by several people of sexual harassment, and it's impossible for me to take his advice on mindful masculinity.

This title caught my eye right away and read I read the book description I knew I needed to read it. I am the mother of two boys and the topic of "men" is certainly on my mind. Having grown up in a household of women, there have been many surprises along the way of parenting boys. One of the biggest one of all is how much society's expectations play into what we think men "should" be like, starting from birth. Plank shares research on the physical, mental, and emotional harm that impacts men because of these (sometimes) invisible bias.

In For The Love of Men, author Liz Plank dives into the topic of "toxic masculinity" and approaches this from every angle, including research and conversations with a wide range of men. Plank shares how expectations can differ so much depending on nationality, race, sexuality and class. This book is backed with plenty of research but the individual stories that were included added so much to the readability and accessibility of this topic.

Ending toxic and moving towards mindful masculinity is necessary in order for true gender equality to exist. For the Love of Men isn't against men, but rather it promotes everyone to practice more self-reflection, mindfulness, compassion, and empathy.

Plank's insightful writing is encouraging and hopeful that we can have a world where everyone can have control over their own emotions and mental health and this starts from learning these things from childhood. I got so much out of this book and I highly recommend this to both men and women who are looking for a wonderfully real yet optimistic conversation on moving past gender norms.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy. ( )

A great read for reflection on why you do what you do... Í read bell hooks and this was refreshing and lighter, helped me understand some of my behavior and begin to forge new pathways ( )

Author Liz Plank explains and analyzes toxic masculinity so we can know better and then do better. For the Love of Men makes clear why we have to challenge and destroy our ingrained, dysfunctional beliefs about what it means to be a "real man." Until we do this, true gender equality will always elude us. I cannot begin to express how necessary this book is. I read many non-fiction books, but this has shot to the top as one of the very best and likely most important that I've ever read. (Full review on Goodreads.) ( )