Category: book review

October 4, 2021

Chipper Makes Merry

Chipper Makes Merry takes you on Chipper’s arctic quest filled with lessons of love, kindness and determination.

About Chipper Makes Merry

Tip toe, tip toe, crackle, crunch!

Chipper the Fox sneaks through the forest to spread cheer to his weary friends. Will his merry making be a success? Or will a smelly fish disaster and a log pile tumble ruin his plans?

“Chipper Makes Merry” takes you on Chipper’s arctic quest filled with lessons of love, kindness and determination.

Our Thoughts

Small acts of kindness go a long way, especially now as we face uncertainty, and it can be hard to find the good each day.

Chipper the Fox is a kind-hearted little critter who just wants to help his friends find happiness at a very difficult time in the Arctic. All of his friends are sad for different reasons and he wants to add just that tiny bit of sunshine to their lives. Does he makes little mistakes during his adventure? He sure does – but his kindness and good spirit shines through.

This is an adorable children’s book for an important message to young children. It is so important to teach young children that kindness, thoughtfulness and giving to others goes a long way. We never know what is going on in someone’s life – it is always best to treat all with kindness. If you see someone having a bad day, week or even month, it is a small gesture that could make a difference in their life. And if you can do it together as friends, even better! It is also important for them to understand that sometimes our kindness doesn’t work out quite the way we wanted it too but that doesn’t mean it was wrong or bad, just different.

The illustrations are lovely and bring to life the compassion and warmth of the story. The story itself is easy to read with a young child, we loved the way the story flowed together. This will be a great addition to your home library for all year round.

You can purchase a copy on Kimber Fox Morgan and Amazon.

About the Author

Morgan is a fun wife, and imperfect mom of 3 crazy kiddos and 2 little lemon (problematic) dogs. She tries to live her strengths the best she can. She likes to say she is creative, not crafty. Morgan is a homemade Halloween costume type of mom. She lets her kids mix the play doh. She bakes fun birthday cakes (cutely, but far from perfection). She loves a homemade valentine and a school project. Chipper the Fox is an extension of Morgan’s creative strength. Originally designed as character to create merry during the holiday season, Chipper has grown and developed into a story of determination and love.

You can connect with her on her website, Instagram and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

Enter to win a signed copy of the book here.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 27, 2021

Halloween Yoga Book Review

Get excited for Halloween and learn some simple (and not spooky) yoga poses at the same time with Little Mouse and friends!

About Halloween Yoga

Tammy McDoodle and her friends are dressed in their favorite costumes and so are Little Mouse and his best friend, Mr. Opus the cat, in this fun book which combines Halloween with straightforward yoga postures.

“Before you go out to trick or treat,” says Tammy’s mom, “Let’s do some Halloween yoga poses to keep calm”.

Your little ghosts and goblins will delight in simple, not-so-spooky Halloween yoga moves, such as witch, ghost, black cat, and jack-o-lantern poses. Children will get excited for Halloween while learning an easy way to stay calm and get healthy activity in this beautifully illustrated board book set to rhyme.

Our Thoughts

Yoga is a great way to get young kids (and adults!) to slow down, focus, ground themselves and be mentally and emotionally prepared to face the world. Halloween is always so much fun (it is by far my favourite holiday of the year) but with all the decorations, sounds and distractions it can be overstimulating and overwhelming for young children. How many meltdowns have you witnessed as a parent of an overstimulated, overtired (and likely had way too much candy all day) child? It is so important to give them the skills that they need to take a deep breath, perform a calming pose and then carry on with their activities. These skills, if developed and encouraged at a young enough age, will become great habits as they become older.

In this story, before the group even sets out to have a magical, mysterious fun night, they participate in some very calming (and spooky) themed yoga poses. The book itself is easy to read, fun to follow along with and to do the poses as you read it (we would stop and practice the poses and it did not take away from the story). The story has adorable illustrations that the whole family will love. Children will fall in love with the spooky and fun poses that they can incorporate into practice every day of the year (not just at Halloween). I loved how she made the practice fun – this is such an important part of encouraging, guiding and supporting young children, make it fun and they will want to do it over and over again. This will make a great addition to your child’s home library.

You can pre-order a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Teresa Power is an internationally recognized educator, keynote speaker and bestselling author of the award-winning series, Little Mouse Adventures and The ABCs of Yoga for Kids which have been translated into four languages.

In the 1980s, she started practicing yoga to de-stress from the vigor of law school, and subsequently became a yoga teacher. She is a sought-after speaker, having appeared at conferences, schools, and libraries across the nation.

Teresa enjoys volunteering and has worked with The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Choose Health LA, Let’s Move! West LA, University of Southern California and others. Teresa has been featured by Good Morning America, USA Today, Parenting, Reader’s Digest, Fox11 LA, Telemundo, CBS LA, and other media outlets.

In addition, she is the founder of the International Kids Yoga Day, whose mission is to make the life-changing practice of yoga accessible to everyone, regardless of age, location or finances. A graduate of University of Southern California, she earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and in 2002 completed a yoga training program with Indigo Yoga.

About The ABCs of Yoga

Our goal is to present parents, grandparents, teachers, and educators with a fun, unique and creative method to teach children a powerful art form, mindfulness outlet, and physical activity that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. Yoga has been shown to have numerous mental and physical health benefits that can help emotionally balance children, encourage more acute mental focus, and also serve as a beneficial physical exercise that they enjoy doing. Our products use an intrinsically engaging and colorful method of inspiring children to learn yoga. Enjoy the benefits of a more focused child with enhanced clarity and a calmer demeanor—thanks to the benefits of daily mindfulness through yoga.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 27, 2021

Dad: A Novel

Dad: A Novel chronicles the sacred legacy of fatherhood following three generations of Dads.

About Dad: A Novel

Three generations of dads, playing traditional roles in each other’s lives, arrive simultaneously at significant crossroads. The decisions they make and the actions they take will directly – and eternally – affect each other.

After a life of hard work and raising children, Robert is enjoying his well-deserved retirement when he discovers that he has an illness he might not be able to beat. At 19, Jonah is sprinting across the threshold of adulthood when he learns, stunningly, that he’s going to become a father. And Oliver – Robert’s son and Jonah’s dad – has entered middle age and is paying its demanding price. While reconciling the time and effort it has taken him to reach an unfulfilling career and an even less satisfying marriage, he realizes that it’s imperative that he keep it all together for the two men who mean everything to him.

When different perspectives lead to misunderstandings that remain unspoken – sometimes for years – it takes great strength and even more love to travel beyond the resentment.

My Thoughts

When I first started to read this novel, I am not sure what I expected but by the mid-point in this novel, I could not put it down and found myself in tears. I lost myself in Robert, Oliver and Jonah’s stories – finding a bit (or a lot) of my own stories in there.

Robert reminds me very much of my own Grandfather – the protector and the provider. Always present on the sidelines but not quite in the thick of things. He is firm in his beliefs and is a strict disciplinary figure, he loves his child but shows his love in a different way. While the extremes of this type of discipline at that time can be argued with, his beliefs on family, hard work and sacrifice are to be applauded. Especially as he works so hard to pass these on to his own son, Ollie. Like so many of us, Ollie uses his own childhood experiences to guide his own journey in fatherhood and adulthood. He disciplines his son in a new way, encouraging him to show feelings and provides for his son so that life isn’t so hard. Does this backfire on him? Maybe, maybe not. Jonah is a young man on the brink of becoming an adult and trying to find his own way in the world. What appears on the outside as him being lazy, is perhaps him trying to understand his own place in a world that is constantly changing.

It is a sudden illness and the realization that time is not limitless, that each of the men in this story are able to open up about their experiences, their memories, ask for forgiveness and to understand where each individual is coming from in order to move forward. Our childhood experiences may guide our adult actions and the relationships we have, but it is important to understand and appreciate that our parents did (and do) everything they can for us and in the moment, truly do believe that what they are doing is for the best. While each generation strives to get better at parenting and raising responsible, bright, moral young adults – we will make mistakes, our children will find faults in our actions and perhaps we will even find understanding in the actions of our parents as we learn more about them, their history and their childhood.

This is a very touching book, I found myself crying several times through the last quarter of the novel. The relationship that we have with our Father (and father figures) is so important and equally important for us to understand, to forgive and to be patient. Time is not endless (and given all that has happened in the last two years this should hit home) and it is so important to say I love you, to talk about what has hurt us and to forgive and move forward. Dad: A Novel is a must read story that you will not put down.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Steven Manchester is the author of the #1 bestsellers Twelve Months, The Rockin’ Chair, Pressed Pennies, and Gooseberry Island, the national bestseller Ashes, and the novels Goodnight, Brian and The Changing Season. His work has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show, CNN’s American Morning, and BET’s Nightly News.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 27, 2021

Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo

Join the fun as the two lead authors and 50 other contributors offer their humorous take on how the workplace really operates in Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. With almost 600 diabolical definitions to enjoy, you’re sure to find plenty to smile about.

About Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo

Need a laugh to get through your workday? You’ve come to the right place. Ambrose Bierce’s classic The Devil’s Dictionary took on life in general. Now a century later, it’s time to lampoon the business world. There’s no richer target than being told to think outside the box by leaders spouting off about synergy, teamwork, and innovation while at the same time exhorting you to stay in your swim lane. If as famed business guru Peter Drucker writes, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” then we’ve been asked to eat a dog’s breakfast at work for far too long! A little truth in every joke. Join the fun as the two lead authors and 50 other contributors offer their humorous take on how the workplace really operates. With almost 600 diabolical definitions to enjoy, you’re sure to find plenty to smile about.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon .

About the Authors

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books, including Emotionomics, which was an Advertising Age top 10 must-read selection and features a foreword by Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons. In 1998, Dan founded Sensory Logic, Inc. whose clients represent over 50% of the world’s top 100 advertisers. Besides having spoken to audiences in over 25 countries, Dan has had media appearances ranging from ABC’s “Good Morning, America” to NBC’s “The Today Shows,” CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ESPN, and the Tennis Channel. Dan was also a regular guest on PBS’s “Mental Engineering” show, hailed by Bill Moyers as “the most interesting weekly half hour of social commentary and criticism on television.” In print, Dan has received front-page coverage in the New York Times for his work in pro and NCAA Division 1 sports and was a non-partisan columnist for Reuters during the 2016 presidential race. Nowadays he hosts the podcast “Dan Hill’s EQ Spotlight,” which appears on the New Books Network (NBN), the world’s largest book review platform with over 1.7 million downloads monthly. Dan was educated at St. Olaf College, Oxford University, Brown University, and Rutgers University.

Howard Moskowitz is a legendary product market researcher, experiential psychologist, and inventor of world-class market research technologies used by virtually every company that matters. Howard earned his PhD in experimental psychology from Harvard University. In 2004, he was the subject of a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, “The Ketchup Conundrum,” which became the basis for Gladwell’s TED talk entitled “Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce.” In 2014, Howard founded Mind Genomics Associates to investigate how people think about aspects of their daily lives. In addition to over 400 scientific articles about the minds of consumers, Howard has written/edited 28 books, a roster that features the very popular book Selling Blue Elephants.

Connect with them on their website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

Grand Prize: Signed copy of Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo + a copy also of my other recent book Famous Faces Decoded: A Guidebook for Reading Others.(one winner)

Runner-Up Prize: a signed copy of Blah, Blah, Blah (one winner) (USA only) (ends Oct 12)

Enter this giveaway here.

Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 21, 2021

Lost and Found Book Review

In Lost and Found, Abel had worked tirelessly to earn respect in the courts, avoiding any semblance of a personal life to achieve his goals. Now, his personal and professional lives had collided and he found himself being rejected by the community that had previously supported and admired him.

About Lost and Found

When community leaders began to doubt Abel Mendoza, the law practice he had spent years building began to crumble. It was the 1960s and there was but a handful of Mexican lawyers in California. Abel had worked tirelessly to earn respect in the courts, avoiding any semblance of a personal life to achieve his goals. Now, his personal and professional lives had collided and he found himself being rejected by the community that had previously supported and admired him. His fears of inadequacy kindled, Abel began to question who he really was, what he did, and where he belonged. A desire to avoid these questions and the people who had provoked them sent this small-town lawyer on a trip to escape not only his community but his own self-doubts, and into a relationship that changed his life completely.

My Thoughts

Lost and Found follows the story of Abel who has worked hard his whole life to be successful. He grows up in a time where people looked down on him (and others) due to him being Mexican. He puts himself through law school at night while teaching during the day in order to be successful. Once he becomes a lawyer, he learns quickly that he is not done fighting and that he will continue to have to fight for the respect and his position in his community.

Abel works hard defending criminals that are court appointed to him after he quickly learns that being Mexican puts him at a disadvantage – even in his own community. He works hard in this role – giving up countless hours and days to devote to his work and slowly he gains the respect of his community and peers. His mentor gives him just a few words of advice, and at the time Abel thinks nothing of them but he quickly learns how hard one can fall. It is when Abel is at the top of his game that he is delivered a blow that feels crippling and when he goes to recover, he makes a few more mistakes that leaves him spinning. He has to really examine himself, his life and where he is going on order to take his next steps forward.

Lost and Found is a well written novel from start to finish. I loved the buildup of the story as we learn about Abel, his journey to becoming a lawyer and how he works to build the trust in his community. He is devoted to his work, something not many people can understand nor appreciate. When all of this comes tumbling down, he is left to pick up the pieces – something we can all relate to at some point in our lives. I liked his story because all of us can relate to the self-doubts, a relationship or friendship that changes our lives and even a pivoting moment in our lives that causes us to step up and rebuild. I think we can all find pieces of ourselves in Abel’s story. You will enjoy every moment of this well thought out and written novel.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 4.5/5

About the Author

Ronald L. Ruiz is the author of a memoir and six previous novels. His novel Giuseppe Rocco (1998) received the national literary prize, 1998 Premio Aztlán Award, and his novel Life Long (2017) was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2017. His work has been compared to Richard Wright’s Native Son (Publisher’s Weekly, featured review) and his writing described as “frighteningly real” (New York Newsday). Ron was born and raised in Fresno, California, and educated at St. Mary’s College, University of California, Berkeley Law, and University of San Francisco School of Law. Ron practiced law for over 30 years in California, as a Deputy District Attorney, criminal defense attorney, and Deputy Public Defender. He was appointed to the California Agriculture Labor Relations Board by Governor Jerry Brown in 1974, and later served as the District Attorney of Santa Cruz County, California. Ron retired from criminal law and continues to write every day.

You can connect with him on his website, and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

You can enter to win a signed copy of Lost and Found here.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.