Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

The Excellence Habit - How Small Changes In Our Mindset Can Make A Big Difference In Our Lives: For All Who Feel Stuck by Vlad Zachary is a motivational and uplifting book that describes how a small change in mindset can make a big difference in our lives. Ability to change is one of the sources of success and this book guides everyone on how to live with the 'uncomfortable' in their lives instead of avoiding it. The main source of success in our lives is excellence and it depends a lot on our internal circumstances. And the best way to do this by building our own Excellence Habit.

The book is uplifting and the positive tone is useful to readers in drawing success into their lives. It's a well written book and the real life stories are thought provoking and inspirational. The book guides readers to handle rejection gracefully and shows them how to focus and dedicate their lives to success. All the practical ideas and concepts in the book can be incorporated into our lives easily to achieve success. The book also motivates readers to have an honest look at themselves, and change their attitude and outlook towards things that need to be changed in order to progress. Books like this are good for readers to look into themselves and their lives. It's a good guide for all those who are looking for some motivation, especially for young professionals who are starting out in their careers.

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

Break Through Your BS: Uncover Your Brain's Blind Spots and Unleash Your Inner Greatness by Derek Doepker speaks about the choices one makes, how to change that in a positive way and draw truth, enlightenment, and empowerment into one's life. This insightful book sheds light on the myth of independence and how one's desire for self-sufficiency will hinder empowerment, the common mental traps people fall into, the tricks people use to manipulate others, and much more. The book shows how being compassionate to oneself can make everyone compassionate to others, thereby bringing peace into the world.

The book takes readers on a journey of self-discovery; it helps readers question their beliefs, look at things with a different perspective, and make corrections in life and move forward. The book also encourages readers to accept challenges, embrace the contradictions, and will help them uncover the dark areas of their psyche. The author's inspiring words and the tips and techniques in the book will definitely aid all readers to make positive changes in their lives.

All the suggestions in the book are simple and easy to incorporate into one's life to improve it. The book is honest, the author's words are thought provoking and profound, and will encourage all readers to look into themselves and examine their way of life. The book is interactive and it's all about the choices one can make in life for a better kind of living.

Reviewed by Hilary Hawkes for Readers' Favorite

From Fear and Failure - To The Finish Line by Cindy Starke is an inspiring self-help, motivational book for anyone needing the courage to achieve a seemingly unattainable goal. Telling the story of how she prepared for and tackled a strenuous triathlon, coping with setbacks and failure along the way, Dr Starke shares her insights and personal motivational techniques. Tackling fears and finding the root of our fears, planning, dividing tasks into manageable sections, time and patience, staying on track, the importance of good nutrition and getting enough sleep, finding and using the support of others and dealing with failure are all covered in the book. The author also shows how she draws on her personal faith in God and uses biblical quotes to inspire and encourage readers needing strength and confidence.

From Fear and Failure - To the Finish Line will help encourage and motivate anyone wanting to find a way to achieve a personal or life goal. Cindy Starke uses her inspiring example of the way she achieved the commendable Ironman challenge, and her ideas for training or preparing and developing the right mind set can be applied to almost any situation. I liked the combination of her personal story of struggle and achievement mixed with very doable strategies, steps and techniques. The author understands ingrained fears and lack of courage or confidence that can hamper achievements and finding self-fulfilment. She shows us, step by step, a sensible and healthy way to challenge and overcome whatever may be holding us back. What made this book real for me was the author’s willingness to include and explore her own fears and failures – taking these as opportunities for learning, reflection, and inner growth. We see how in the end tribulations can make us stronger and more determined.

Dr Starke shows her Christian faith to be an important and motivating part of her life, and her references and explanations of biblical words encourage the reader to persist and believe we have all we need to accomplish whatever we are meant to do in life: “You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world…when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” While life can be challenging, Cindy Starke’s guidance and experiences demonstrate how we can reach our potential, become a doer rather than just a dreamer, make satisfying life-enhancing changes, and even be a beacon to others.

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

The Peaceful Daughter's Guide to Separating From A Difficult Mother by Karen C.L. Anderson handles a difficult topic with grace and dignity. The author shares her story with her difficult mother and how she overcame being a victim and stood in her power. The tips, techniques and advice shared by the author are helpful to all those who are looking forward to setting boundaries in their relationship with their mother and also taking care of their emotional, physical, mental and spiritual needs, thereby achieving personal empowerment. The advice can be incorporated into other relationships too, making it a good guide with valuable tools to all those readers who want to improve their life and living.

The author's story is relatable and readers can connect well with the problems and issued faced by her when it came to her mother. Parent/child relationships are very personal and the author helps readers to develop healthy boundaries in relationships. The writing style is simple and easy and reaches out to readers in a good way. The list of messages in the concluding chapter is awesome and are good tools for readers to teach others how to treat you.

The story is raw and powerful and the peace achieved by the author after a troubled relationship with her mother is inspirational and motivational. It's a story of acceptance and healing and also motivates one to strengthen relationships in life.

Reviewed by Eduardo Aduna for Readers' Favorite

Five minutes a day for twenty-one days may not seem like much time to do something life-changing, but Derek Doepker shows us in The Healthy Habit Revolution how that could be all it takes to build better habits and obtain positive life goals. A lifestyle is composed of multiple small decisions that a person makes throughout the course of a single day. These small habits, through time, can collectively form a person's identity. The Healthy Habit Revolution expounds on what I would assume each person knows deep down - that one can change their life a small decision at a time. The book breaks down the hurdles that prevent people from identifying the habits they want to have and helps them succeed in building and maintaining these habits.

The challenge with self-help books is that they must tread the thin line between being too overwhelming and inaccessible and being too mundane. Doepker avoids both of these outcomes by writing in an engaging style that is simple and concise, with each sentence giving the reader much to ponder. A single chapter that can be read in ten minutes or less could keep the reader busy pondering for much longer. Ultimately, this book subtly guides the reader to focus on forming habits they want to have, nudging them in the right direction and letting them do things on their own. One of the most brilliant things about The Healthy Habit Revolution is the sheer positivity that emanates as soon as you read the first chapter. Doepker manages to convey the feeling of having a life coach sitting right beside you, supporting and challenging you, and ultimately empowering you to take the steps you need to change your life. There is less hand-holding and more self-reflection, guiding the reader to delve deep and think on what it is that they want to accomplish.

I can see the value of this book when it comes to stopping negative spirals, those times in a person's life when they just lose sense of what they want and when every decision they make seems like a bad one. If there was one book that I would cling to in order to avoid wallowing in a maelstrom of bad and negative habits, it would be The Healthy Habit Revolution, a perfect book to read before and after each day, and whose words can easily become mantras to live by.

Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

“This short book is GUARANTEED to help you realize all of your dreams and aspirations, and to do so faster than you ever thought possible -- if you will just take the prescription without fail. In fact, the information contained in this book will likely have far more value and use to you than anything you ever learned over the course of a high school, college and post-graduate education.”

Most or perhaps all self-help books are bold in terms of bold affirmations but I haven’t read one that was quite as direct. Halfway through chapter one, I wondered if I was reading another version of laws of attraction. I wasn’t wrong but not correct either. Murnane states four mental laws of the universe as keys to great accomplishments:

Law of Belief: Whatever you believe, with feeling, becomes your reality.
Law of Expectations: Whatever you expect, with confidence, becomes your own self-fulfilling prophecy.
Law of Attraction: You attract people and circumstances into your life that harmonize with your dominant thoughts, especially your dominant thoughts “emotionalized.”
Law of Correspondence: Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world.

Limitless: How to Be, Have, Do and Accomplish Anything by Larry Murnane provides straightforward techniques, with clear examples of how to make the most of these laws and other steps towards goal fulfillment and maximizing happiness. As a lawyer by education and background, Larry Murnane’s approach in Limitless has a clear-cut practicality that I truly like. On the whole, a great mindset is the golden path to reach our ‘dreams’ that can be achieved when we envision, plan and act on them. Limitless is short but substantially enlightening; this is a book that I will read time and again. A commendable work from Murnane.

Reviewed by Bil Howard for Readers' Favorite

We often become so busy with what we have going on that we fail to take a look at where we are going or why. In order to get back on track, it takes focus, Life Snacks: 50 Tasty Motivational Messages, and Sharon A. Burstein with these little reminders or snacks of wisdom that can help bring it into view. These short bits of advice are things that ought not only to be savored, but acted upon. Concepts like gratitude, being productive, being persistent, being kind and full of joy can all make a huge difference - not only in how others see and respond to you, but in how you see yourself and what attitudes you manifest. Though this book is a quick read that you could whip through in less than an hour, it is meant to be taken in small doses and given active attention. If you are looking for a little lift, a little inspiration, and even a life changing method, this simple set of concepts might be exactly what you've been searching for.

Sharon A. Burstein has taken some of the simplest things in life and made them profoundly practical in Life Snacks. As I read through this book, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we took each of these concepts and truly focused on each one for a week. What would happen to us within a year's time? Where would we be in our lives, in our careers, and in our relationships? Often times, it is the simple things in life and the basics that need the most adjusting, and Life Snacks provides a perfect opportunity to regain what might have been lost or to transform into a new you. Read, study, and apply these concepts to your life today and see the results tomorrow.

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

In Pursuit of Joy by Gary Green is an honest book about the author's journey from that of an alcoholic to finally finding peace with himself and the universe. The author's story is tangible and connects to many readers, especially those who are going through traumatic phases in their lives. The book progresses from the author's life to his struggles and finally to that of recovery and spiritual development, which gives readers hope that recovery and healing are possible if one wants to get out of the depressive rut they are stuck in. The little stories, examples, and situations shared by the author make it an uplifting read and give hope to many readers.

The author shares his life from childhood and he makes readers understand how depression can be overcome using proper methods and tools. The author's thoughts, tips, and techniques are insightful, profound and easy to put into practice. The book will raise the hopes of many alcoholics and motivate them to make positive changes in their lives. The human need for intimacy and acceptance are discussed throughout the book and how the author learned to achieve it.

The author's style of writing is simple and elegant, and it reaches out to a wide audience. The author's story is indeed very inspirational and motivational and it gives a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment to readers. It's definitely a book worth reading for all those who are battling anxiety and depression in their lives. An uplifting book of healing and recovery that will motivate many readers.

Reviewed by Teodora Totorean for Readers' Favorite

Starting from the premise that success is achievable, in Grit in Your Craw: The 8 Strengths You Need to Succeed in Business and in Life, Robert Luckadoo shows readers how to achieve success through diligence, tenacity, optimism, flexibility, discipline, resilience, confidence and purpose. The book starts with the story of the author’s mother who, as a widow with no qualifications and no money, had the strength and tenacity to go back to school full time, raise her two children, and regain control of her life and well-being. As such, she became the perfect example of someone who achieved success by having the eight strengths Luckadoo talks about in his book. Furthermore, the author illustrates them with examples from his own personal life, from education and career, to various choices and challenges he faced over the years.

Grit in Your Craw: The 8 Strengths You Need to Succeed in Business and in Life by Robert Luckadoo is easy to read and understand, written in a friendly manner with the intention to reach out to anyone who needs some help in order to achieve success. The eight chapters are well organized around the main idea and they all finish with a call to action that anyone can apply to her/his own circumstances. From time management skills to finding a purpose, the book reinforces the idea that hard work and determination will get you where you want in life. The eight strengths will propel you on your path to success in both your professional and personal life.

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Madness, Miracles, Millions is a memoir written by Joseph Semprevivo and his father, Larry Semprevivo. The story begins before Joseph was even born. Larry had been a pressman in a printing plant for over twenty years when the unthinkable occurred. Through another employee’s mistake, his hand had been trapped between two rollers and was being pressed and coated with varnish. The emergency stop button was just out of his reach at first, but as his hand was dragged further into the machine, there was no hope of reaching it at all. This event changed the Semprevivos' lives. While Larry was recovering, his wife set up a small press in the garage and started printing flyers for local businesses. Larry and Jo would do whatever it took to keep their family fed and clothed, and their family worked right alongside them.

Joseph and Larry Semprevivo’s memoir, Madness, Miracles, Millions, is inspirational and heart-warming. It’s also great reading. The two authors write clearly and simply, and their story is a fascinating one, starting with that very dramatic and awful incident at the printing plant. They share their feelings of abandonment when family and friends grew distant as Larry was recovering and the family’s welfare was at stake, but they also show how that tragedy brought them even closer to the family and friends who really mattered -- the ones who stuck by them. There’s a lot of time and events covered in Madness, Miracles, Millions, but the authors keep the focus relatively narrow to maintain the lively pace and excitement of the book. I enjoyed reading this memoir. It’s well-written and, by the time I had finished the book, I felt as though I knew the two authors. Madness, Miracles, Millions is highly recommended.