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 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 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

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 Alyssa Elmore for Readers' Favorite

Have you ever wanted to invest in stock? Has the thought of becoming independently wealthy become a dream for another lifetime? For years, the Stock Market has been a much-feared enigma to the average Joe. Full of risks, yet full of hope, the Stock Market is more than just a way to invest. It is a way to become independently wealthy. But only if you have the right recipe. The Wall Street Kitchen by Victor Chiu shares his stay-at-home mom's method that made her a 1000% return on her stocks, with chapters discussing the pros and cons of trading, investing, and brokering, along with clearly written sections on the differences between a broker, a trader, and an investor. Are you ready to start investing in your financially sound future?

The Wall Street Kitchen (The Recipe Behind A Housewife's 1000% Stock Return) by Victor Chiu is a unique book, combining his mother's Stock Market investing "recipe" with delicious home-cooked recipes. The author writes candidly about his mother, who went from a struggling immigrant housewife to Stock Market extraordinaire in a few years. The information contained in his book is a must-read for those who are ready to start investing on their own.

In a friendly conversational style, the reader is invited to sit at his mother's table to learn her risk free method for investing money in the market. Complete with easily understood forms and clear diagrams, the reader will not only be comfortable with creating their own portfolio, but they will also feel confident in their investments. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in learning the ups and downs of the mysterious Stock Market.

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.

Reviewed by Deborah Lloyd for Readers' Favorite

For those seeking greater understanding of their lives from a spiritual perspective, this book is invaluable. Born and raised in Taiwan, Jiayuh Chyan came to the US in 1988 for graduate school. After a marriage of 17 years, and a divorce, the author embarked on a healing journey. Beginning with energy medicine modalities, she was drawn to work with the Akashic Records. In her book, Your Key to the Akashic Records: Access Your Spiritual Advisor 24/7 to Fulfill Your Soul’s Highest Potential, author Jiayuh Chyan gives this definition of the Records: “The Akashic Records is an energetic or vibrational recording of all thoughts, events, and experiences of our soul through all lifetimes, including past, present, and all future possibilities.” The book is a combination of her personal journey to discover her true life mission, and a primer on how to access your own records.

Ms. Chyan writes with unmatched sincerity and clarity. Her personal story is both honest and inspiring. Disclosing her own doubts along the process will resonate for anyone who seeks healing. She articulates the steps of accessing the Records, through the use of a special prayer and practical exercises. Additionally, there are links to free videos the reader can watch. All the teaching sections are well-written and can be easily followed. Real-life examples provide encouragement and hope to the reader. This is a book to be worked with and savored, guiding the reader to find her/his path to spiritual healing.

Reviewed by Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite

In today’s world, everyone is constantly bombarded with questions, challenges, issues and crises regarding relationships, finances, employment, everyday life, health and global events. Finding simple pleasures and experiencing joy seems to be increasingly elusive so a guide like Golden Words: The A to Z Toolkit for Changing Your Life One Word at a Time by Dr. Sally Stone Ed.D. is one way to reconnect to inner peace and rediscover the power of our own intuition and inherent understanding for a better grasp of life. Dr. Stone provides thoughtful, empowering, and easily applicable suggestions for using the psychologically proven power of positive affirmations and images to achieve a sense of strength and direction for effecting change in our lives. Starting with small steps and utilizing ‘golden words’ that evoke strong mental connections, it is possible to find balance and the ability to move past both mental and physical hurdles to become better, happier, and healthier people.

Golden Words is a must-have on any bookshelf belonging to someone interested in self-help, healing, and general peace of mind. It is, indeed, a toolkit that provides easy to follow suggestions for finding the right words to enable positive growth using mantras, affirmations, and auto-suggestions. While Dr. Stone acknowledges the importance of consulting trained professionals for the best guidance, this book is based on sound principles, self-discovery, and a lifetime of learning and growing that helped Dr. Stone regain control of her own life. In a warm and giving way, Dr. Stone invites everyone to embrace the idea of Golden Words and use the ‘toolkit’ to become the best possible version of themselves with a little effort and determination. A superbly written guide for the average person to gain some control over their thought processes for a happier life. The author's work is well conceived, genuine and straight forward, and can undoubtedly provide many people with the nudge they need to make strides in improving their mental outlook as well as overcoming challenges.

Reviewed by Lex Allen for Readers' Favorite

In 1963, I read a book by Doctor Joseph Murphy that talked about the power of the subconscious mind. The information was mind-boggling for a young teenager but the author wove his concepts with religion and prayer to such a degree I missed, and subsequently disregarded, the spiritual message within. Still, as I endured the religious brainwashing of every child growing up in America’s Bible belt at the time, a spark was ignited that eventually led me away from religion. Years later, I discovered the works of Doctor Michael Newton and past lives regression therapy, and a few years after that, a book titled, The Secret. I've read countless books since the mid-sixties, and nothing has been equal to the carefully designed and presented concepts in this book by Ziad Masri. Reality Unveiled added fresh insight into my personal beliefs in the immortality of the spirit and oneness of the universe.

From the concept, The Law of One—creator and creation—to the spirit realm and history of our world, Masri presents these difficult to explain ideas, with plenty of scientific examples and background, so that everyone can understand. As well read as I am in these concepts, Masri surprised and enlighten me in several ways. For example, his take on the Law of Attraction (The Secret) is eye-opening, summed up by a Carl Jung quote, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Masri explains the tremendous jumps forward in human evolution and development in periods of time less than one percent of what evolution (as we define it) should have taken. He talks about visits from otherworldly spirits (my avoidance of the word “alien” is intentional) that have helped speed up human development here and elsewhere throughout the universe and defines their monuments, created many millennium ago, both here and on other planets and moons visible in our galaxy.

Masri combines these and many more concepts to create a vision of purpose, hope and a connection to infinite knowledge, but most of all he leads us to the foundation that holds all of creation together—love. I highly recommend “Reality Unveiled” to everyone interested in the secrets of life and all that life entails, from birth to death and life beyond death.

Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite

I Have MS. What’s Your Super Power? This is a book by a sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, Lisa A. McCombs. It is her personal story, written to help fellow sufferers and their families. It explains how the disease once caused those whose immune systems come under its attack to be locked in asylums, and that it is still not recognised as widely as it should be. She goes on to describe current treatments, their usefulness and side effects, and her own way of tackling living with Multiple Sclerosis. “Suicide is not an option.”

Lisa A. McCombs has written a book that is informative, encouraging and, incredibly, carries the reader to the end on a wave of humour. “My neighbor had MS. He died last week”. This is: "I Have MS. What’s Your Super Power?" MS is the invader and the author is the Super Hero. She describes the symptoms and their tragic effects on quality of life and relationships in detail. Initial diagnosis brought fear. Where many crumble, given the appalling prognosis, Ms McCombs fought to control the disease, to keep her six-month-old son, and to return to teaching, and she is still fighting. Her weapon of choice is common sense, aided by online research into all her medication, the alternatives, and ways to keep her mobility. She has included numerous useful reference sources, and the results of a survey she conducted on Facebook. The survey reveals both the diversity of the ways sufferers are afflicted, and how many of their problems are shared.

It is a brave book by a very determined lady. It offers a great deal of practical advice to those attacked by the incurable disease, and should be mandatory reading for all who are in close contact with them. It is a book suitable to use in schools, and should be stocked by libraries worldwide. Awareness of Multiple Sclerosis is a must if funds needed to investigate this “invisible” disease properly are ever to be made available.