Is Mary colbert book called 13 women you should never marry and how every man can recognize them legit or a scam or misleading false teaching
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Executive summary
Mary Colbert is the credited author of the book 13 Women You Should Never Marry: And How Every Man Can Recognize Them, first published in 2015 and reissued by Worthy Books in 2023; the title and publisher details appear on multiple bookseller and publisher pages [1] [2]. The book is widely available through mainstream retailers, libraries and bibliographic services (Barnes & Noble, Hachette, Google Books, Internet Archive) and is presented as a faith‑based guide listing 13 “types” of women men should avoid [3] [4] [5].
1. The book exists and who Mary Colbert is
Mary Colbert is a published author and minister; she is listed on Hachette’s contributor pages and is married to Dr. Don Colbert, and her bibliography includes this title [6]. The book 13 Women You Should Never Marry is cataloged on publisher and retail sites including Worthy Books (Hachette imprint), Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Books and is accessible in libraries and on Internet Archive [2] [3] [7] [4] [5].
2. What the book actually claims and its framing
Colbert’s book frames itself as a Christian, often humorous primer for men on personality “types” to avoid in marriage — listing archetypes such as “Blinded Brenda,” “Dominating Donna,” “Trophy Tina” and “Sad Sally” — and it is pitched both as guidance for men and a mirror for women to self‑examine [8] [9] [10]. The publisher copy and retail excerpts make clear the work aims at mate selection from a religious perspective rather than as an empirical psychological study [2] [5].
3. Legitimacy: publishing status and distribution
The book is legitimate as a published work: it has ISBN data, publisher listing (Worthy Books/Hachette), retail distribution (Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Audible, Christianbook), library catalog entries and an Internet Archive record, which together demonstrate standard publishing and distribution channels rather than fly‑by‑night self‑publishing alone [2] [3] [11] [5].
4. Is it a scam or misleading teaching? Evidence and limits of available sources
Available sources do not label the book itself a scam; mainstream sellers and a publisher page present it as a conventional religious self‑help book [2] [3]. However, criticism in retailer reviews cited on Goodreads and other reader‑facing pages notes that the tone emphasizes negative personality caricatures and that readers — including some women — find the focus unbalanced [12] [13]. That is, the concern raised in sources is about taste, tone and potential gender stereotyping, not criminality or fraudulent publication [12] [9].
5. How to judge content: scholarly standards vs. devotional advice
The work is devotional/advice literature rather than peer‑reviewed relationship science; its claims are anecdotal and archetypal. Sources show it is marketed as faith‑based guidance and humor, not as clinical research, so evaluating it requires different standards: measure rhetorical intent (pastoral counsel, moral framing) and practical usefulness to its target audience, rather than expecting empirical validation that the book does not claim to provide [2] [8] [5].
6. Reader reactions and criticisms recorded in sources
Reader commentary quoted in sources ranges from appreciative (some retailer pages and Christian retailers show strong positive blurbs) to critical: Goodreads snippets note unease at the book’s negative focus on women, and library/retailer summaries echo the “types” framing that some will find reductive [12] [10] [9]. These mixed responses suggest the book is polarizing along lines of faith‑audience acceptance, gendered critique, and personal taste [12] [10].
7. Broader context: scams in the book world and why readers worry
Recent coverage in The Guardian and opinion pieces highlight real risks authors face from scams and fake services in publishing (spammy review offers, fake publishers), which can make readers and authors suspicious — but there is no evidence in the supplied reporting that Colbert’s book is connected to those schemes [14] [15]. That broader coverage is a useful reminder to check publisher credentials and retailer listings; in this case, those checks point to a legitimate publisher and standard retail distribution [2] [3].
8. Bottom line and practical advice for readers
The book is not a scam in the sense of fraudulent publication: it is a commercially published, widely distributed faith‑oriented guide [2] [3] [5]. Whether its content is “misleading” depends on your standard: it is overtly prescriptive and archetypal rather than empirical, and some readers and reviewers find its categorization of women reductive and negative [12] [9]. If you want relationship advice grounded in psychology or peer‑reviewed research, look beyond this devotional genre; if you seek faith‑based, pastoral counsel that uses archetypes, this title matches that market [2] [8].
Limitations: reporting above is limited to the supplied sources; available sources do not include peer‑reviewed critiques of Colbert’s claims or any legal/consumer complaints against the title.