Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
The Serious Business of Small Talk
Carol Fleming · 2018
70/100
👍 Worth It
Fleming brings genuine professional depth as a speech-language pathologist, and the book goes meaningfully deeper than its title suggests — treating small talk as the gateway to real human connection rather than a social trick to memorize. Readers who are already communication-savvy may find the territory familiar, and early chapters have a self-promotional edge, but the practical strategies are solid and the read is quick.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety95
Substance / usefulness72
Craft & writing70
Originality60
Evidence & accuracy78
Hype vs delivers68
Age-fit90
👁 Human-eye gut-check70
Penny’s verdict70
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