Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

Dreaming In Spanish: An Unexpected Love Story in Puerto Vallarta by Sara Alvarado is a refreshingly honest memoir about a young woman trying to heal from past substance addictions and sexual traumas. Sara wants to become a better person and stop being a crazy party girl. She finds herself partying nonstop wherever she travels, drinking hard, waking up in strangers’ beds, with cocaine bends, and a continuous loop of destructive behaviors. Suddenly, Sara wakes up to another sexual assault, of which she has no memory. She decides to travel to Mexico, uncertain and scared. Sara starts a new life by getting a job as an English teacher, an apartment with a beautiful ocean view, attending AA meetings, falling in love with a local, and unexpectedly becoming pregnant.

Sara Alvarado takes the reader on a compelling voyage of self-recovery and self-healing. She delves into her spirituality as she struggles to maintain her sobriety. I found myself entirely captured by Sara’s candid writing style and multifaceted story. I loved being reminded continuously throughout her spiritual quest to live in gratitude for the little things and to live with mindfulness. I learned a lot about AA meetings and how they can help someone stay sober and clean. Dreaming In Spanish is an inspiring memoir to help anyone trying to overcome alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual traumas. It shows that with faith and belief in yourself, you can turn your life around at any given moment. A fantastic and enthralling read!

Reviewed by Dr. Jordan Alexander for Readers' Favorite

I loved every delicious moment of Wild Monogamy: Cultivating Erotic Intimacy to Keep Passion and Desire Alive by Mali Apple and Joe Dunn. As a fifty-something married woman well past the honeymoon phase, I tentatively cracked the cover, apprehensive about the subject of erotic intimacy. I needed something to reignite the spark and it ended up lighting a bonfire beyond my imagination. “We’re still falling in love, we’re still making love, and our sexual connection is as strong as ever.” Authors Apple and Dunn pop into the dialogue to share their own blushingly personal anecdotes alongside client stories that bring relationship research to life. They explain sex as a physical experience, creative adventure, and expression of emotional connection. It is also spiritual, soulful, and can heal. This was not the book I expected. It focuses on respect, feeling secure, and creating a supportive environment for discovery. Sure some of the topics are challenging, but if two people are keen to keep a long-term relationship “compelling, connected, sexy, and fun”, this is the how-to guide.

I particularly found the Intimacy Inquiry enlightening. Readers are guided using a series of questions to have provocative conversations about sometimes taboo subjects aimed to deepen connections with their significant other. The tool delves into beliefs and values that shape our approach to relationships and sexual experiences. Better understanding your starting point across romantic, intimate, and emotional dimensions helps you find the erotic edge that awaits your discovery. You can skip over sections that do not resonate with you, perhaps some fantasies, erotica, or polyamorous arrangements. If you want more support, you can access useful free resources on the website or try ideas from the treasure trove of sexy dinner dates to intimate and erotic encounters. There are plenty of possibilities for adventurous couples to keep their passion within these pages. Each intimate adventure builds mutual support within the relationship and, in so doing, restores connection. Wild Monogamy has no boundaries as readers learn to love outside the lines. Mali Apple and Joe Dunn show how safety and love foundations in a committed relationship help overcome nervousness to venture into your intimate discovery. If you want to keep a long-term relationship sexually satisfying, learn to nurture your passion and your partner with this guide.

Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

The Courage to Stay: How to Heal From an Affair and Save Your Marriage by Kathy Nickerson, Ph.D., is a detailed guide to helping couples heal from infidelity. She immediately dives into this painful process of healing from the very beginning to the end. She offers clear guidelines and questions to ask throughout the process, individually and together, to reach healing. It was so easy to follow for both partners, as she labeled it the straying partner and the hurt partner. The questions she shared were very insightful and deep, pushing each person to be honest with themselves and their partners. The subject of cheating is always treated with sensitivity and great care. Many explanations of why cheating occurred were introduced, making the behavior easier to understand and forgive.

The step-by-step instructions by author Kathy Nickerson are meticulously laid out as if holding your hand to take each step as it comes, slowly and thoughtfully, through such a raw minefield of explosive emotions. There is so much emphasis on kindness and compassion that it makes this excruciating journey somehow better and easier. I love how Nickerson is kind and reassuring to both sides of the marriage at the end of each chapter as she takes time out to encourage each person. I learned much about how pain is the root of many bad behaviors. The Courage to Stay: How to Heal From an Affair and Save Your Marriage is an important must-read for anyone who is dealing with infidelity.

Reviewed by Lexie Fox for Readers' Favorite

Dear Dana by Amy Daughters follows the author as she connects with an old friend named Dana on Facebook. As Dana’s life takes a turn for the unimaginably heart-breaking, Amy decides to make their correspondence analog by sending handwritten letters. Inspired by the deeper understanding of Dana that comes from being penpals, Amy decides to write a handwritten letter to all 580 of her Facebook friends to try to learn about the real lives taking place behind the curated posts and profile pictures. This book immediately establishes itself as one of those true stories that the reader could do for themselves as all Amy needed to begin her journey was a Facebook account and a pile of stationery. But there’s something in the author’s insight and determination to learn about the people in her life that is beyond what a regular person would be capable of that enhances the story deeply.

The journey undertaken throughout Dear Dana is wonderfully moving both in its core concept and its excellent depiction as Amy Daughters’ prose takes us on the rollercoaster of reconnecting with a lost friend, sharing their grief, and throwing open the doors on the lives of the people around you. There is a wonderful word that I discovered a few years ago which captures the spirit of this work very aptly; 'sonder.' It is a noun referring to the profound feeling of realization that comes with the understanding that every single person in this world is living a life as complex and vivid as your own, even though to you they are strangers in the street. Dear Dana is a powerful reminder to look closer at the people around you and to appreciate the things that you gain from making those connections with others.

Reviewed by Erin Nicole Cochran for Readers' Favorite

Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis reads like holding the physical representation of an epiphany or the holy grail. The amount of knowledge it imparts is staggering, revealed in a way that flows naturally. As the pages continue to turn, Wanting feeds the brain, igniting synapses. On page 64 Burgis states, “Mimetic desire is the real engine of social media. Social media is social mediation—and it now brings nearly all of our models inside our personal world.” Burgis embeds into Wanting viewpoints and quotes from many that had a hand in describing mimetic desire in their own works as well as the founding father of the mimetic theory itself. A man who wore many professional hats, René Noël Théophile Girard was a philosopher, an author, and a professor. The utmost respect that Burgis holds for Girard is undeniable.

Luke Burgis’ Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life opened my eyes in a way that they have never been opened before. Not only is the knowledge in Wanting a gift, but it feels on the level of bestowing a superpower upon someone. You learn how to look at the world around you and your place in it and change for the better. And changing yourself will change your world. Wanting by Luke Burgis is one of those books that makes you wonder why you’ve been reading fiction when the reality that we live in is so much more intriguing.

Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite

Emotional Magnetism by Sandy Gerber is a self-help guidebook to help readers improve their communication in their personal and professional lives and forge better connections. A marketing expert who founded one of the fastest-growing companies in British Columbia, Gerber used to have problems co-parenting with her second husband and often struggled to communicate with her ex-husband. That is until she applied her professional strategies in her personal life. Emotional Magnetism is all about what people need. Through this book, you will discover the Four Emotional Magnets, Safety, Achievement, Value, and Experience, in great detail and learn how to utilize aspects of those Magnets in your everyday relationships. While Emotional Magnets can shape your life, they may also shift as you age and your priorities change into something other than when you were younger.

Author Sandy Gerber outlines some valuable principles to help readers increase their personal intimacy and strengthen the bonds of their relationships. Emotional Magnetism also showcases how Empathy, Authenticity, and Positive Regard work together to create positive relationships. At the end of each chapter, there are questions to engage the reader with the relevant Emotional Magnet topic discussed within the chapter. Gerber's writing style is crisp and concise, and the narrative structure feels well organized. Apart from the informative content, Gerber also provides citations to various other books and articles that deal with the emotional aspects of relationships. Overall, I found Emotional Magnetism to be an enlightening read. If you're having trouble communicating or connecting with others, I highly recommend it.

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Oh, Lords! Who We Date, Why We Date Them, and What We've Learned is a work of non-fiction in the dating and relationships subgenre. It is best suited to the mature adult reading audience and was penned by author team Jes Averhart and Terresa Zimmerman. As the title suggests, this is an enjoyable and concise work on the world of dating as told by the two central authors, who unfolded an honest and charming account of their dating lives to see what vital lessons can be gleaned from experience. Focusing specifically on women who date men, the different ‘Lord’ archetypes of the world are categorized and put under the microscope with humor, pathos, and some clever words of warning.

Dating can be extremely difficult in the modern world as gender roles shift and change, and staying empowered as a woman in a world full of men is no mean feat. It’s glorious that author team Jes Averhart and Terresa Zimmerman can engage in this topic openly and powerfully to show women how to retain their power in such situations and to look out for the red flags and danger signals that might try to take their power away in the dating world. I’ve certainly met all of the ‘Lords’ that these authors discuss through different situations in my life. The work is well-organized to take readers through each concept in an accessible and enjoyable way, and also without losing one's optimism for dating at all. Overall, I would certainly recommend Oh, Lords! for people at all stages of their dating life as a fascinating insight into the typicality of human behavior.

Reviewed by Sheena Monnin for Readers' Favorite

Invisible Wounds by Kay Douglas is an empowering guide for women who have been in an abusive relationship or who know someone who is in an abusive relationship. The author carefully covers the ways abuse can look and feel, as well as the stories many victims can tell themselves to cope or try to protect themselves or their children. Any woman who reads this book will benefit from understanding the warning signs, learning to see abuse in its early stages, and knowing how to be there for women they know who might be in an abusive relationship but haven’t reached the point of acknowledging their own abuse. The author provides a comprehensive and compassionate look at very sensitive and painful topics and provides a path of hope and healing for victims.

Kay Douglas’ Invisible Wounds is powerfully written and full of useful information that every woman should read and understand. Abuse can happen at any time in a variety of relationships. Learning many of our own tendencies to deny abusive words or actions, or tolerate more than we should, can save lives and help women to leave these situations earlier than they might otherwise. I appreciate how the author explores the history of abuse in society’s treatment of and expectations placed on women in decades gone by and how society today still does not offer full support for women on the path out of an abusive relationship. The author does a fantastic job of outlining the problems, the signs and symptoms, the setbacks, and the solutions to the problems. Each part of this resource is invaluable and very well communicated.

Reviewed by Tammy Ruggles for Readers' Favorite

Nadeem’s Journey: A Heart Wrenching Story of a Loving Mother Losing Her Son to Cancer, by Sherine Anniruth, is a moving memoir. As with any memoir involving a family member or loved one with cancer, especially a mother losing a child, there is sadness, bitterness, but happy times recalled too. It's a raw account of how a life can be so ordinary one moment and so shaken the next. Each mother handles a medical crisis differently, and this is how Sherine handled hers. No one can really understand the challenge unless they've gone through it, and that is why this book is so important and valuable. It could very well prepare you or someone you know for a journey you may have to take someday.

As a former hospice social worker, I really appreciate the insights this book offers to individuals, families, and even helping professionals. Nadeem was young when he received the diagnosis: Twenty-five. So even though he didn't live a long life, he lived a memorable, meaningful one. Memories are precious, and you'll find the memories that Sherine shares precious too. It takes strength to endure and do your best in the face of a cancer diagnosis, but through her words, we get to know her son, his personality, character, and the legacy he left behind. I also like the message of hope and strength that the author passes on to the reader. One of the most touching parts was when Nadeem had tears in his eyes, not because he was told he had stage-4 cancer, but because of the look on his mother's face. Each milestone will tug at your heartstrings, and the photos add so much. Nadeem’s Journey by Sherine Anniruth gives you an inside view of what it's like for a mother to fight cancer with love and determination, and to recognize the beauty of a brief life well-lived.

Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

There’s something special about decorating a Christmas tree that ignites memories of treasured moments in the past, memories before everyone grew up and started to leave. But, for Joanne Nelson, much of the leaving in her growing up years was tragic: family members leaving to escape the reality of life at home, but really leaving to escape the loneliness of life itself; some family members finding their escape in a bottle; and then the final straw, family members leaving through that portal known as death. Growing up in a dysfunctional family where abuse, both emotional and physical, was the norm, it wasn’t unexpected that some family members would seek a venue to escape. Leaving is a part of life, as much as coming home and seeking memories, both good and bad, and finding reason in all those memories, the reason for one’s singular existence.

Joanne Nelson’s memoir, This Is How We Leave, is a touching tribute to her life and the memories she helped create and nurture. Full of compassion and love, the author remembers happy times, troubling times, and sad times, but the family photo that starts her flashbacks is the one in which she posed with her brothers in front of a candle-lit birthday cake. The eyes, there is so much one can read into a story through the eyes, and that’s where the author notes how, at the tender age of 5, she’s already feeling the hurt, the fear, the anger of her brothers who stand protectively beside her. The memoir is told with care and precision, with a great deal of descriptive narrative to thoroughly set the scenes. The author has a talent for describing places, people, and events, and the story rings through the 1960s and 1970s with accurate acknowledgment of the finer details of each era, from the clothing and the hairstyles to the expected behavior of young people growing up in this time period. Nostalgia, pain, and sorrow blend together in this touching memoir of a troubling childhood that also had moments of glory and love. Beautifully told.