From Ben and Erin Napier, the stars of the hit HGTV show Home Town, comes Make Something Good Today, a memoir that tells us all to seek out the good in life, celebrate the beauty of family and friends, and prosper within our communities because everything we need in life to be happy, is within our grasp. Long before their hugely popular TV show, an expanding family, or demolition day on their … family, or demolition day on their dream home, Erin began keeping a daily online journal to help her stay focused on the positive and count her blessings in life. She never expected that her depictions of small-town life in the tiny swath of Mississippi where she Ben call home would catch the eye of a television producer and set them off on the journey of a lifetime.
Make Something Good Today offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the struggles and triumphs of a couple that America has come to know and love for their easy humor, adoring relationship, and ability to utterly transform a place into something beautiful and personal. This is the poignant story of how Erin and Ben took a small, tight-knit town into their own hands (literally) and used ingenuity, community, and authenticity to rebuild a once-thriving American Main Street. And how, by combining Ben’s carpentry skills with Erin’s design eye, Home Town is making it clear to us all that small-town living can feel as big as you make it.
Complete with family photographs, Erin’s hand-painted sketches, and never-before-heard personal stories, this inspirational memoir reminds us all not to give up hope that great love stories are possible, big things can bloom in small towns, and there is always magic in the ordinary if you know where to look for it.
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A charming memoir that tugs at your heart and shows how powerful true love can be. I picked this up because I adore HGTV’s Hometown and wanted to find out how Ben and Erin Napier got started renovating homes. What I soon discovered was that this isn’t just a book about renovating homes, but it’s a feel-good story of how two different people found each other and built a life together, doing what they love. It’s really well written and engaging. Make Something Good Today is a great escape in these trying times and a great reminder that romance can be found in real life, too.
I was so excited to finally start this non-fiction memoir of Erin and Ben Napier! I had just finished the mammoth fourth book in the Outlander series and was looking for something short and sweet to read, and this surpassed all my expectations of that.
Going into it, I expected the book to be mostly about their time on the HGTV hit show Hometown, but refreshingly the majority of it was about their life before Hometown. The stories were alternately told by Ben and Erin, letting the reader have a glimpse into their life and happiness and struggles in that moment. The first two chapters were about each’s own childhood. I thought it was interesting the way Ben was raised and how it had such a huge effect on who he is as an adult; the closeness of their family, watching their father make a huge career change late in life, having faith all around them from the beginning. You can really see it all in him even now. As a child, Erin was bullying and teased and left out of groups, but creatively she found solace in making her own costumes and reading to her stuffed animals friends and eventually in making art. I felt I could relate to Erin and how she felt at that time. I remember graduating high school thinking I wanted to be anywhere but my hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana. I couldn’t wait to get out and experience the world, sure I was destined for big things in a big city somewhere. But somehow, the events of both our lives led us right back to the town that made us. I also could relate to her creative side and the struggle she felt in choosing to quit her day job to pursue her passion in art. I work full-time, and though my job is extremely flexible and easy and I love the people I work with, I dream of staying at home, having quiet and productive mornings on my laptop, spending my days writing books and doing nothing else. It’s near in my future, I know it, just as Erin did.
The chapters that centered around Erin and Ben’s growing love for each other and the beginnings of their marriage was sweet and inspiring. Not too much mushiness, but just enough.
I loved the chapters about Erin going full-time with her Lucky Luxe design company, but even more so about Ben leaving youth ministry full-time to start his wood shop. There was something about his story that resonated with me and inspired me, almost like it lit a fire beneath me to get serious, get working, and do what God made me to do.
I am not sure if both of them wrote their own chapters themselves or if they had a ghostwriter to make it somewhat consistent, but both sections were beautifully written. The language was romantic but not flowery, and most importantly it was real. I could feel their emotions dripping off the pages which made me connect with them and their experiences.
Even if you have never seen the HGTV show Hometown, this is a great inspirational book filled with faith, family, and friendship. (And once you watch it you’ll probably want to binge watch the show. It’s really good!) This couple is refreshing and honest and transparent in a way that makes it impossible not to love them.
I have watched their show on hgtv since it started and really was curious about the town and Ben and Erin.
It is so nice to read a memoir where they accent the positive things in their lives and downplay the bad. Most people write about all the drama in their lives!
Reading this and watching the show made me homesick for a small town like Laurel. The fact people are moving there just shows that there is a need for people to feel connected and welcomed and contributing. Heck, if I was younger, I’d check it out.. a place that accepts you with open arms where creativity is a good thing.
Not many people take the attitude that they can make an old place/town be good and useful again
Erin and Ben are quiet, thoughtful people and I’m sure the blood, sweat and tears they have put into helping the town is worth it. People underestimate the pressure of trying to fix up a town when the defeatist attitude is loud and unbending.
I loved reading about their dating, questioning their goals/jobs like the rest of us. They keep their friends a priority, not always the case after graduation and job and marriage. How they finally made it to tv and helped promote their town is great reading and very informative. The pictures, notes, their home, all added to the enjoyable read..I almost felt like I was snooping!
Old fashion values like pride in their work, respect for everyone, and a sense of community …who doesn’t want that?!!
Ben and Erin did a wonderful job with this book. It tells you about their lives and allows you to travel their path with them. Truly kind and generous people with a heart as big as Laurel Mississippi. Could not put it down…loved it!!!
Excellent book ,highly recommended.This book will grab you and won’t let you go until the end.You will close the book with a deep sigh of satisfaction,a tear and a smile.