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  • The Smart Stepfamily

  • Seven Steps to a Healthy Family
  • By: Ron L. Deal
  • Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
  • Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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The Smart Stepfamily

By: Ron L. Deal
Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

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Publisher's Summary

Leading stepfamily expert Ron Deal offers a revised and expanded edition of his signature resource, which addresses key concerns and practical issues facing every stepfamily.

©2016 eChristian (P)2016 eChristian

What listeners say about The Smart Stepfamily

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Can not recommend this book high enough!!!

Amazing look at step families, helpful for any family. Delving into unique challenges of step families, from all aspects. building the courage for difficult but much needed conversations and planning. just read it 😊.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Book relies on your commitment to god

If you aren’t into god, then this book isn’t for you. I thought I could persist and just got the parts out of it that I needed and ignore the god parts, but it got too much so had to stop listening.

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  • Aaron H.
  • 09-12-2021

Cringe-worthy framing. No real actionable advice.

I picked up this book because I enjoyed the five love languages many years ago, and am in a relationship with a partner with kids. This is my first time being in a relationship with somebody with kids, and I am striving to do my homework so that I can be an excellent as a partner and in whatever role I end up playing in the kids' lives.

I had hoped that this book would give me actionable steps that I could take with my partner and her children to build our relationships.

Unfortunately, this book seems written from a very narrow, conservative Christian perspective. Divorce is framed as a failure that requires redemption and it seems that, although not explicitly stated, the author believes that marriage is the only path to redemption. Advice is generally something trite like "trust in god" or "try to be Christlike." Many of the actionable steps involve things like reading your Bible more, or joining a Christian support group.

There are also a lot of irrelevant stories and long-winded biblical metaphors that don't add any value. The shout out to Charles Koch in chapter 2 introduces some borderline right-wing conspiracy theory references.

If you are looking for an actionable guide to building a strong blended family, and especially if you are not a conservative Christian, look elsewhere. This book is a waste of your time.

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4 people found this helpful

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  • Fenixhaus
  • 11-12-2019

Good content, but the reader sounds like a robot

The content was valuable, however the reader sounded like a robot. He sounds like the old Mackintosh computers where you type in words and the computer reads it out.

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  • Kelly
  • 09-01-2018

Good info but not for the faint of heart

Felt like I learned some things and but the overall tone was depressing and stressful. Basically as a stepparent you get a rough life was the message I took away...would have liked some more encouraging sections

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3 people found this helpful

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  • Nicholas Wanamaker
  • 03-03-2020

Wonderful book

This book is a must read for step families. There is so much to take into account that it is overwhelming. However, if you do the work, you stand a good chance.
The narrator was painful to listen to. I sped it up a bunch to get through some of it. It did feel better in the latter half of the book though. I determined that it was because the content was so good and his consistent voice managed to get out of the way a bit.
I recommend having a physical or e- book for this as well for review, highlights, and discussion.

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2 people found this helpful

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  • Nicole Sanchez Schraeder
  • 18-11-2019

Eye opening for Christians in stepfamilies.

❤️ Love it! I want to re-listen to this several times. As an adult of a blended family, this helped me heal & understand my life. As the second wife and stepmother of pre-teen age girls, this hit my heart. All of my struggles were laid out as normal.

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  • Joe C.
  • 07-08-2019

Christianity Disguise as step family help

I thought I was acquiring a book to help me understand the dynamics of of a step family and to navigate my family in A healthy way . Clearly I was decieved by the title since this is obviously a book on promoting Christianity. It should be removed from your library of available books…

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  • J. K.
  • 29-08-2019

A must read!

Loved it! A must read to obtain some much needed guidance to support your growing family.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Chris
  • 01-02-2019

terrible performance

The performance reading this audio book is absolutely terrible... Text to speech would sound better. It's an outstanding book though... the content kept me listening!

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  • Yusuf N.
  • 01-03-2018

Educative and interesting.

loved it. Educative and interesting. Must read for step families or prospective step family. covered most areas of importance

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  • R. Silva
  • 14-10-2017

Needed Perspective

The content was excellent! The narration was hard to listen to but the information helped compensate for the painful voice over

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