Lauren Akins released her new memoir, Live in Love: Growing Together Through Life’s Changes, on Aug. 18.

The new book chronicles Lauren’s childhood friendship with husband-to-be Thomas Rhett, explaining how they reconnected as young adults, got married and are now raising three girls. The book also delves into many of the “challenges they faced as they adjusted to the reality of becoming first-time parents” and opens up about Lauren’s “life-changing experiences doing mission work in Haiti and Uganda, where she met the precious baby who would become their first daughter.”

The book serves as “inspiring guidance for anyone looking to keep romance alive, balance children and marriage, express true faith, and live a life of purpose.”

As Thomas Rhett told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, Lauren’s new book is about “real life,” with everything from “hilarious and sad” to “embarrassing and inspiring.”

“It is hilarious, it is sad, it is embarrassing to me, it is embarrassing to our family [laughing], but a lot of it is information that a lot of the world doesn’t know,” says Thomas Rhett. “We are pretty open books, but there’s a lot of stuff that we’ve never shared before that, you know, she gets pretty deep on in the book. But, it’s cool, man. It’s just real life. I mean, every married couple goes through their ups and their downs, and being a parent is hard, and, you know, it talks a lot about that kind of stuff. If you follow us on Instagram, you kind of have a little sneak peek of it, but the book goes very deep. And, it’s an inspiring book, even for married couples, for non-married couples, for kids that are dating, for kids who are just becoming new parents. It’s a little bit of a memoir by her, and it’s really nice.” ​