Make Something Good Today: A Memoir
Written by Erin Napier and Ben Napier
Narrated by Erin Napier and Ben Napier
5/5
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About this audiobook
Long before their hugely popular TV show, an expanding 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.
Erin Napier
Erin Napier is a designer, author, and entrepreneur. Along with her husband, Ben Napier, she is the cohost of HGTV’s Home Town, coauthor of Make Something Good Today, author of The Lantern House, and founding co-owner of their stores Laurel Mercantile Co., Scotsman General Store & Woodshop, and The Scent Library. She lives in Laurel, Mississippi, with Ben and their two daughters. Learn more at ErinAndBen.co.
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Reviews for Make Something Good Today
117 ratings18 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a beautiful and touching literary journey. I honestly fought back happy tears, sad tears, and numerous times I just let them flow. Erin and Ben made me understand a lot about myself though the story of their life. I highly recommend this audiobook, it’s so nice to listen to them tell their story.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Listening to Erin tell their story of Home Town, I felt Mississippi in my heart. The authors are genuine! Great read!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely love this sweet couple and their beautiful words.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book was so real, so sweet. It was a glimpse of life in the South, and I hope other places, where something good can be received, and made every day.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am writing this review again. I spent an hour early in the morning and something happen and it disappeared. I don’t know where it went.
I thought this was a great book. I have never read a memoir before. I felt is was a very sincere heartfelt expression of Ben and Erin’s journey. The struggle Ben had with his strong Christian faith and his career decisions; Erin’s struggle with needed answers to so much pain, her career, how those answers were resolved, and to see the gifts that the Lord showed them how use. They wrote of the wonderful present the Lord sent to Erin and Ben; a beautiful baby. They questioned for awhile if that new love in their life would be a reality. They both are truly devoted to the Lord, to each other, and to their child. They were lead to new careers they love, but it helped them, to help others. Their gifts have helped transform the lives of others and the town of Laurel. That was where the Lord, in my view was leading them. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is enchanting! It can’t be like any other book I’ve ever read. It’s a non-fiction story told in a poetic, homespun way. Even though I have no TV and had never heard of this couple before, nor heard of a show called Hometown, this book made it visually real to me by their emotional descriptions of their mutual passions to make “good things”. As I listened to their open-hearted sharing of the beauty of their spirits by taking turns speaking at all the right moments, I felt a deep terror knowing that the U.N.’s plans for all countries by 2030 will banish the existence of all our private homes at the time when the authors’ daughter will come of age. What nightmares will occur between now and then for the Napiers as they watch their entire world of old homes be wiped from the Earth? Where will they then be “allowed” to create the magic this book holds in print? Will such gems as this family’s unified stories, of good lives being lived well, be banished from libraries for being “anti-Communist propaganda”? That’s only 11 years away! This book gives clear cause for us to awaken to what’s REALLY on the U.N.’s agenda 21 and 30. Realities such as this book’s beautiful one can only be broken by our utter unawareness and neglect of the sanctity of all our beautiful creative minds, as is so beautifully represented and shared with this book’s readers and listeners.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book weaves the story of Ben and Erin's life into easy listening lyrics. The details of lives you'd love to hear in person over a cool lemonade on a porch.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After reading this you will want to take a trip to Laurel MS. An awesome couple & a beautiful story. I highly recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful... It was simple and pure. All about what goes into our concepts of home.They have a way of putting into words the things that we all think and feel but can't quite manage to express as eloquently as they did ...well done Napiers !
PS - Hi Helen! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enjoyed the stories, glad I got the audiobook. Ben and Erin shared their thoughts and memories. Happy that they seem to be as genuine as they do on the show.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Make Something Good Today was such a perfectly written and inspiring book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is so sweet, inspiring and encouraging. I loved listening to the authors tell their story this week. Everything about it made me thankful to have people like the Napiers making the world a better place.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome!!!! Loved everything. Enjoyed it. Excellent. Hated to see it end!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I have watched the HGTV series getting to know Ben and Erin. I thought it was truly wonderful how they embraced the desire to make their town shine by combining the old and new. They put a little bit of themselves into each show they did and each home they touched. Now they open up a little more to reveal their passion for their town, their family, friends, and mostly each another, as well as Helen. Erin shines as a gifted writer and artist. Ben has a way of inspiring others through his passion. A story that will warm your heart. Share it with someone you love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved the flow and genuineness of this book. These two are deeper and more complex than just house renovators with a tv show. It was truly delightful to listen to their story!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ben and Erin are the real deal! I enjoyed hearing about how they met and how the show came to be.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thanks Goodreads for the review copy. I really enjoyed reading about Ben and Erin’s lives. My mom loves the show so I plan to watch it next. This couple seems so sweet and creative and awesome.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have never seen the HGTV show Hometown. I still really enjoyed this memoir about Ben and Erin Napier. The book actually focuses on how each of them grew up, met and fell in love rather than the show. It documents their insecurities, their passions, hopes, struggles, etc. They both come from small southern towns where family, friendship, community and faith in God is important. The book has a lot of photographs and art sketches done by Erin. Each section is told in their perspective. Both come across as very genuine and loving. Now I am eager to watch their show since I feel like I know them so well! I received a complimentary copy from Goodreads giveaway program.