Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

Master Your Emotions: A Practical Guide to Overcome Negativity and Better Manage Your Feelings by Thibaut Meurisse is a nonfiction, self-help book with a lot of insights, wisdom, and strategies for taking control of emotions and transforming them into constructive energy. Emotions are things we deal with every day. Unfortunately, most of us are weighed down by negative emotions rather than positive ones and these can come between having dreams and actually achieving them. In this book, the author teaches readers how to triumph over emotions and use them for their personal growth, sharing a simple formula to transform negative emotions into positive attitudes, offering 31 strategies to cope with depressing situations, and a lot more.

I have read articles and books that deal with emotions, but haven’t read one so detailed and insightful as Master Your Emotions. There are great gems in this book and I particularly loved the author’s take on what affects our emotions, on how sleep affects our moods, and how to use the body to influence emotions. Readers may be familiar with some of the insights in this book, like changing one’s environment in order to change one’s emotions, but the delivery is what makes it compelling. From how emotions are formed to transforming emotions into positive energy, to using emotions to transform one’s life, this author offers lessons that are life-changing; eye-openers that everyone needs to pay attention to. In writing that is simple and beautiful and a voice that is confident and authoritative, Thibaut Meurisse gives readers exactly what they need to deal with emotions.

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

Human beings are the smartest animals on earth. The Art of Hunting Humans: A radical and confronting explanation of the human mind by Sidney Mazzi is an engaging book that delves into the key aspects of human behavior. There are tips in the book that will guide readers on how to take advantage of the ignorance humans display about their nature. It will also help readers to know themselves better and understand human behavior and evaluate it. The book gives interesting insights about human behavior, how to identify the patterns that can be explored, choosing the perfect prey to hunt and how to manipulate weaker humans. There are tricks and tools in the book that are helpful when it comes to hunting prey and it will also encourage humans to get out of their survival mode and get to know themselves.

The author speaks about a topic that has not been discussed much before in a very different way. The concept is simple but since humans are complicated beings, it might take readers a while to understand and incorporate the teachings of the book in their lives. It is also interesting to read how the author describes superior human beings. Reading this book is good for awareness of how the human mind actually works and the importance of communication. It is a good book for all those readers who are looking to make changes in their lives and want to change their perception of the world around them.

Reviewed by Edith Wairimu for Readers' Favorite

Turn Your Happiness On is Norma Nikutowski’s practical guide to living a happy and healthy life. The work begins by defining happiness as seeing the good even in the bad and having a positive outlook on life. It also acknowledges that happiness means different things to different people. The work also explores the barriers to happiness such as trying to please other people without consideration for your own dreams. It also provides insights on how to prepare yourself to be happy through surrounding yourself with and cultivating positive relationships around you. Other sections explore positive thinking and having a positive attitude even when things do not go as planned, being grateful, changing destructive habits by adopting better habits at work and at home, and adopting ways to maintain happiness in your life.

Each chapter in Turn Your Happiness On by Norma Nikutowski is introduced by a quote that is related to the content in that section. The quotes are encouraging and they add to the insight contained in the book. At the end of every chapter, clearly outlined and explained action steps are offered as well as a summary of the section’s main ideas. This ensures that the discussions remain practical and the main ideas are not forgotten as the reading progresses to other chapters. Norma Nikutowski also includes her own experiences and what she has learned from them as well as other scenarios from different people which make the work relatable. The book uses uncomplicated language and remains professional throughout. Definitely a must-read for all readers especially those interested in living a joyful life.

Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite

A Year of Living Kindly: Choices That Will Change Your Life and the World Around You by Donna Cameron is a book with the wisdom that enables readers to transform their lives with positive energy. In this book, readers learn what happens when they choose kindness over a sense of revenge and bitterness. With the stress that comes with the routine of contemporary life, it is easy to focus on what's in it for the individual, but the author of this book teaches readers that our fast-paced, somewhat stressful life offers myriad opportunities to choose kindness and explains how it can be a tool for a healthy, productive, and meaningful life.

Our modern culture focuses on individuality, one that compels people to mind their own business, but this author demonstrates with unusual skill and eloquence that life has meaning only when it intersects with the lives of others. In this inspirational book, readers understand the importance of choosing, how to give and receive kindness, and how to deal with acts of unkindness. This is a much-needed guide for contemporary society. Donna Cameron writes with grace and the prose flows easily, adopting a popular conversational style that drives the message home to readers. The writing is filled with insights that help readers understand the gift of kindness and how to claim it. This book contains the wisdom most of us need to bring love and light into our lives. A highly recommended read.

Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

The Business of Being: Soul Purpose In and Out of the Workplace by Laurie Buchanan, PhD explores the idea of personal development against the backdrop of a flourishing boutique restaurant, La Mandarine Bleue. The book is a personal training guide that demonstrates with wonderful arguments, compelling examples, and well laid-out principles how to harness the art of “being” and how to allow business concepts and principles to guide the journey to authenticity and success in personal life. This book explores ways we can implement similar principles for success in business to grow, discover and embrace our purpose, and live authentically fulfilling lives. While showing readers what makes businesses succeed, the author demonstrates how we can approach personal growth and the way we relate to ourselves from the perspective of how we do business. This means we can apply the same set of effective principles we use in business to move deeper into ourselves, identify our core values and our mission and embrace them, allowing them to transform our lives and to propel us forward to where we are meant to be.

Curiously, one notices that business owners who are consistent with their core personal values and who create a strong awareness of their purpose tend to be more successful than very hardworking people who are disassociated from their core values. This book teaches readers how to use business models to journey back to themselves and become people who are authentic, purpose-driven, and creative. Laurie Buchanan, PhD demonstrates great expertise in business and personal development and her book is enriched by her skillful storytelling, which makes for an enjoyable reading experience. The prose is gorgeous, and the tone confident and authoritative. The book is filled with touching and inspiring stories, powerful insights, and practical steps to transform one's personal life and succeed in business. The Business of Being: Soul Purpose In and Out of the Workplace is a book with a revolutionary message for readers who want to work on themselves and bring their business goals to align with their core values. It is fresh and rewarding.

Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

Life Should Be Simple and Easy: If You're Doing It Hard, You're Doing It Wrong by Conrad Aquino MD and Bryson Miller is a slim but powerful motivational book that proposes new paths to finding success and personal fulfillment in life. This book is a helpful tool in personal development and in our relationship with our core nature and with life in general; it is even more wonderful because it is these unassuming expressions of facts that help readers make a difference in life.

Unlike what readers find in many of such books, the authors don’t claim to have the secrets to success, or to offer a proven path to achieving some specific goals. This book only helps readers to become more open to life, to embrace the path of simplicity which helps to clear the stress and enable readers to see their path even better. Divided into six parts, this book offers revolutionary concepts that will change the way readers look at life, hence the way they feel.

The authors, Conrad Aquino MD and Bryson Miller, have adopted a popular, conversational style that carries the message powerfully to the heart of the reader, a style that is accessible to the ordinary reader. I enjoyed the way personal stories are woven into this book and the reader is irresistibly pulled into the worldview of the authors, and the writing allows readers to feel their thoughts with more clarity. The voice is compelling and the ideas in this book are wonderfully articulated. Life Should Be Simple and Easy: If You're Doing It Hard, You're Doing It Wrong is one of those rare books to read, reread, and then pass on. It’s a gift that will surely change the lives of many.

Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

Raising the Bottom: Making Mindful Choices in a Drinking Culture by Lisa Boucher is a very useful tool for readers struggling with alcohol addiction, a book that brings together stories and lessons from women, young and old —grandmothers, career professionals, and young moms — who have suffered from alcoholism and who have had the courage to regain their freedom. In these pages readers will absorb interesting stories, understanding the negative effects of alcohol on the life of the addicted, and how this affects their relationships and overall health. They will understand how social drinking can quickly escalate into a serious addiction problem. Most importantly, they will learn what it is like to survive in a culture and a society that breeds addicts and that encourages alcohol.

Lisa Boucher’s book is purpose-driven, both informative and entertaining, with well-crafted stories that will keep the reader turning the pages. The friendly writing style makes the message of the book accessible to ordinary readers. The prose flows gracefully and the theme of alcoholism is explored from different angles. Readers will be absorbed by the strong narrative voice and moved by the compelling message. Unlike most self-help books in this category, Raising the Bottom: Making Mindful Choices in a Drinking Culture educates readers by confronting them with the reality as mirrored through the lives of characters they can so easily relate to. Each story has a powerful message and the reader will enjoy the courage that comes across in these stories. This is a great gift, a wonderful offering to people who are struggling to break free from the grip of alcohol.

Reviewed by Arya Fomonyuy for Readers' Favorite

Live Without Stress: How to Enjoy the Journey by Dr. Marvin Marshall is a groundbreaking work that offers readers the right tools they need to beat stress and live richer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. This stress management book is packed with strategies that will help readers go to the root causes of their stress and eliminate them effectively. In today’s eclectic, fast-paced, and highly competitive culture, it isn’t uncommon to feel weighed down by stress and quite often people who are stressed are hardly aware of the stressors. Marshall helps readers face the reality with tools that allow them to fully understand their stress, and offers insights on dealing with it.

This is a book on a serious and very relevant subject that is hardly dealt with extensively and Dr. Marvin Marshall brings into it a vast professional experience, combining psychological insights with real life examples to create a message that will hit readers powerfully. The writing has a rare fluidity and displays a confidence that can only result from the author’s extensive knowledge and experience. I enjoyed the practical examples the author offers and his analysis of the causes of stress, but most importantly, it’s the road map to freedom that this book offers that had me captivated. The voice is clear and highly authoritative, and the language is informal, somewhat chatty, which will appeal to the ordinary reader. Live Without Stress: How to Enjoy the Journey is an informative, inspiring, and excellent tool for anyone dealing with stress, no matter their occupation or state in life. It is very useful, especially in this time and age.

Reviewed by Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite

Many people are searching for deeper meaning in their lives and Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner provides wonderful encouragement for making the journey to discover a greater connectedness with the world. Beginning with the description of everyone as an orphan to their most basic selves, Toko-pa gently guides us to accepting what has been suppressed, and showing how we develop a sense of control in false belongings to compensate for our losses. After what amounts to sinking to the lowest depths, we can begin to come to terms with the aspects of our psyches that we have been told are inappropriate and incorporate them into our new view of ourselves.

Many examples from language, literature and native myths and beliefs demonstrate the world-wide sense of belonging that has been lost over the centuries of colonization and industrialization – where the world has become more material and the demands of the government or established religion replaced innate belief and connection to the mystic and natural elements of the world. With these examples and based on her Dream Work, Toko-pa explains the way back to belonging – remembering ourselves to our inner being. With a reaffirmation of the power of the feminine as well as a reconnection to all things natural, Belonging is a song line to bring people back to wholeness and a sense of connectedness with the world and with others.

Beautifully written with many personal examples, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-pa Turner may be the most important self-help book of the decade. In addressing the true longing of the soul for something deeper by accepting our true selves, we can overcome the emptiness of modern life to become true members of humanity with a strong connection to the planet. Whether it be through God, Gaia or any other supreme being, we can experience oneness with life and live fully and happily as we seek to belong again. A beautiful book, well written and full of many points to which most people can relate. I can see people reading this over and over and uncovering new bits of wisdom each time.

Reviewed by Claudia Coffey for Readers' Favorite

On The Road With Abraham: Master Manifestation and Create a Kick Ass Life is written by Sandra Phillips Meyler. In the late 1990s, Sandi Phillips was ‘tooling around in an old clunker somewhere on the back roads of Vermont,’ and, except for her beautiful daughter, found little comfort with her life. She wasn’t yet sure of what she wanted, but she was sure of what was not working – her job, the visitations of her daughter’s father and his drinking, and the problems of the world in general. All this combined to make for an unhappy life. Around that time, Sandi Phillips came across the materials “known in the cultural vernacular as “Abraham-Hicks,” and she writes that “immediately I felt that the words and ideas of those materials were reminding me of something that I had always known, but had somehow forgotten.” Sandi attended a seminar in Boston and from that time on her life changed for the better. This book is about Sandi’s journey into finding the life she wanted. The seminars were led by Jerry and Esther Hicks, and in these seminars Esther channels a non-physical energy known as Abraham. The message sounds very ‘new-age’ with references to reincarnation, vibrational alignment, meditation, and channeling, but Sandi stresses that Jerry and Esther were business people who wanted to bring the message of Abraham to people exactly like Sandi. Jerry was the business manager and Esther was the perfect channel for Abraham’s message of freedom, growth and joy. Sandi fulfilled her wish to take good care of herself and her daughter, she began to travel around the world working with cruises and seminars of Abraham-Hicks, and she met Scotty Meyler, her soul-mate and now partner.

The theory behind Abraham-Hicks is that you create your world by sending out vibrations for good or for bad. Call it the Source, the Universe or God; we were given free will to choose our lives. The Abraham-Hicks theory of the law of attraction is behind the book and movie The Secret and featured in The Celestine Prophecy and The Tenth Insight. Sandi Phillips Meyler advises that “Abraham teaches us that everybody is a powerful creator. The only question is whether you are creating by intention or by default. Even science is coming to accept the idea that we are the creators of our own realities. There are lots and lots of schools of thought in the "new thought" or "new age" movement, and all of them express different forms of truth. The more ways you find to love your life the more will appear.” The book and website give us a list of points, beginning with visualizing our perfect life/job/day; keeping our thoughts in a journal and each morning aligning ourselves before we begin our day asking: “Are we giving our energy to what we want (ease) or what we don’t want (struggle)”? Beyond the new-age reference, this book is a great guide on how to live our best life and thus I recommend this guidebook to a better life to all readers.