"Friendly" Prose Makes Mindfulness Accesssible

Title:  Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal and Spiritual Growth

Author:  Catherine Auman, LMFT

Author Website: www.catherineauman.com

Genre: Self Help

ISBN:  978-0-9898305-3-9

Link to buy the book: www.shortcutstomindfulness.com

Originally reviewed by Hadley Fitzgerald, MA, for The Therapist, March/April 2015

Shortcuts to Mindfulness: 100 Ways to Personal and Spiritual Growth a jewel of a book with many more jewels to be found inside. “Shortcuts,” yes, but don’t let the title fool you. The essays are brief, but the operative word is indeed “mindfulness.” The author has the gift of writing in a way that gets your attention immediately and then stirs something deeper. No self-help pabulum here, just page after page of genuine, refreshing, soulful nourishment.

After a lifetime as a professional psychotherapist, Catherine Auman has skillfully and elegantly brought together her own brand of the best of self-help and the wisdom traditions presented in 100 condensed two- or three-page essays. Quick, short, and phenomenally easy to read, it’s 100 books in one. It is intelligent self-help, offered without backstory, unnecessary detail, or historical review, with no tedious case-building. This book essentially says: “Here’s the gist of what you need to understand – and here’s what you might do to benefit yourself. Here are suggested support and resources.”

In Shortcuts to Mindfulness, Auman has accomplished the exceptional: quick commentaries on ordinarily complex and difficult subjects, written in a friendly, clean prose that renders her well-distilled wisdom and constructive advice accessible to just about anyone – CEO and barista alike – while retaining all of the benefits one would not expect to find in such aptly titled “shortcuts.” Essay titles such as “You Don’t have to Kill Your Parents,” “Menopause Misunderstood,” “Sex as RotoRooter,” “The Great Art of Doing Nothing,” “You Can Induce Bliss at Any Moment,” and “The Bossa Nova Cure” can be easily read, fully digested, and effectively actualized during a short subway ride or a long smoke break.

The book provides quick, easy, rewarding reading on relevant, meaningful, and significant subjects essentially delivered in the equivalent of Zen sound bites. These essays often read as if she’s sharing her thoughtful insights with you at the kitchen table. In lesser hands this work might have been a smart book for dumb people, or even a dumbed-down book for smart-enough people. But thanks to Auman’s good intentions and gift for plain speaking, it amounts to a set of easily garnered lessons and guideposts for modern life’s tasks and trials, recommended for anyone and everyone who has ever had a problem and five minutes to spare.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Auman, LMFT is a licensed therapist with advanced training in both traditional and spiritual psychology with thirty years of successful professional experience helping thousands of clients. She has headed nationally-based hospital psychiatric programs as well as worked through alternative methodologies based on ancient traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at www.catherineauman.com

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Readers Favorite Reviews Can't-Put-Down Novel for Young Adults

Title: Novus
 Series: The Cresecren Chronicles, Book1
Author: Crystal Marcos
Web site: http://crystalmarcos.com
Genre: Young Adult
ISBN: 978-0984389988
Links to buy eBook: Amazon http://amzn.to/1IGbLDd
Nook edition: http://bit.ly/1JDP56T
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1ho25me
Links to buy Paperback: Amazon http://amzn.to/1NiIIbG
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1Vmtvrm

 Originally reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers’ Favorite 
 Rating: 5 stars


I would recommend not starting Novus (The Cresecren Chronicles, Book 1) by Crystal Marcos if you have anything planned for the rest of the day, as you will most likely not want to put the book down!

Cayden, the main character, is a Cresecren, similar to humans, but made to serve them. Cayden ended up in a colony of Cresecrens who are either not fit to serve any longer or who have been outcasts for some reason. One day, Cayden's life changes completely. He meets an interesting human girl, and then is involved in a rather unpleasant chain of events (which I can't mention as that would be spoilers!) which lead to him and a group of others being on the run, and finding out that the world out there is full of things that are not as they seem.

 Novus by Crystal Marcos is one of those gems that make you care about the characters within the story, and while you definitely want to know what happens to them, you can't help but also not want to get to the end of the book. It's the kind of book whose characters you miss when you finish the book. There is good news though, it's the first book in a series and if Crystal writes as well in the second book then it will also be a fantastic read.

There still is a lot to explore, quite a few issues to be resolved, and I am sure that more interesting characters will be waiting for readers.

 ----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Marie Lavender's Writing in the Modern Age: Writing to Tickle the Funny Bone by Lois W. Stern

Marie Lavender's Writing in the Modern Age: Writing to Tickle the Funny Bone by Lois W. Stern: WRITING TO TICKLE THE FUNNY BONE by Lois W. Stern On the fourth year of my Tales2Inspire "Authors Helping A...

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Joys of Reading: Book Tours, Prizes, Trilogies

Today we are being visited by a virtual blog tour celebrating the completion of author Mary E. Martin's second series, The Trilogy of Remembrance. We would like to welcome followers of the tour joining us from  Book Pleasures,  http://www.bookpleasures.com and from other sites on the tour.  Learn more about the tour and its associated contest by scrolling down.

Title: Night Crossing 

Author: Mary E. Martin 

Series: The Trilogy of Remembrance 

Publisher: iUniverse (June 20, 2014) 

ISBN-10: 1491737158 

ISBN-13: 978-1491737156 

Reviewed by: Vonnie Faroqui of Ink Slinger's Whimsey

Rating: 5/5 Star

Link To Purchase: http://amzn.to/1KB6JtE

Savoring Night Crossing

When you drink wine, do you gulp it down; racing to the bottom of your glass? Do you savor it; holding it in your mouth; flicking it with your tongue; allowing yourself the pleasures of experiencing its texture, the changing flavors as it rolls over your taste buds, splashing against your palate. Night Crossing is a story that, like pleasing wine, deserves to be savored.   

Alexander Wainwright is at a personal and professional crossroads. His reputation and skill as a painter are being challenged to expand and grow. The creative mile stones of his past have brought him to a turning point. In order to expand creatively he is being pressed to create something new, to broaden his understanding of life and how much of it he is willing to experience. A vision guides his next adventure. A vision of the cosmic egg floating before him. Life places a mystery in his path, and guides along the way. Alexander must discover for himself answers to questions about his capacity to create as an artist and his ability to love another. Can he give himself to love and remain true to his art? What about his vision? Where did it come from and how could his vision be found in the work of an artist completely unknown to him? As he is drawn into the mystery surrounding his vision and a painting found and brought to him by his agent, Alex is led to journey to Paris, taking the ferry, a night crossing. When the ferry meets with disaster, Alex is forced to choose between saving the life of an older passenger, with whom he has made a deep creative connection, and a young mother with infant child. How does one choose which soul to save, which life holds more value? Life often chooses for us and in so doing life pushes Alex further down the road toward discovery and the edge of sanity. The mystery of his vision deepens and carries him from Paris to St. Petersburg, where he meets the artist who shared in a vision of the cosmic egg.

The Trilogy of Remembrance comes to an inspired and satisfying conclusion in, Night Crossing. Alexander Wainwright's heroic journey takes him into a swirling dream like progression of thought, darkness, light, and dancing rhythms which open windows to the heart and soul of creative experience. He is the student and the observer of life. He journeys, inspired and driven by compulsions and forces he does not understand, meeting guides and antagonists along the way. Each in turn adds to the mysterious patterns being woven around him. Their destinies entwined.  His muse Daphne, faithful narrator Jamie, and friends both new and old will enter your heart and find their way to places that resonate. A new story unfolds, new mysteries are explored as Alex frees his unique inner light and searches for the place love holds in his art and in his life. These characters breathe. They hurt and love, like we hurt and love. Their stories, choices, and struggles give us pause because they are stories we recognize as versions of our own. I love Mary’s writing, which is eloquent and full of human insight. In Night Crossing, as in the previous books of the trilogy, she reveals surprising depths of interest and perception –both spiritual and aesthetic, into the visual, musical and performance arts. Through her story telling she has the reader pondering many ideas, concepts and truths relating to creativity, spirituality, and life. Her writing illuminates much and yet leaves room for further exploration. I find her work entrancing and provocative, without being pushy. I will miss Alexander and find myself wondering how she might work him into another novel or series now that his trilogy is complete. Do I recommend Night Crossing? Oh yes, yes indeed, I do. 

Mary E. Martin is the author of two trilogies: The Osgoode Trilogy, inspired by her many years of law practice; and The Trilogy of Remembrance, set in the glitter and shadows of the art world. Both Trilogies will elevate the reader from the rush and hectic world of today and spin them into realms of yet unimagined intrigue. Be inspired by the newly released and final installment of The Trilogy of Remembrance, Night Crossing. 

 
​MORE ABOUT THE TOUR

Followers of the tour have an opportunity to enter in a $200 Amazon gift card giveaway, sponsored by the author, as well as to receive a purchase incentive package donated by the tour sponsors. Entries in Mary's $200 Amazon gift card giveaway will be accepted until midnight on August 31, 2015 with an announcement of the winner posted from Mary's Blog on September 1, 2015. Anyone submitting a proof of purchase entry in the giveaway draw will receive as an added benefit the tour purchase incentive rewards package of free e-books and discount coupons donated by tour hosts. For a full tour schedule of events, as well as details on how to enter the lottery drawing for the gift card and receive the purchase incentive rewards package, visit Mary E. Martin at  http://maryemartintrilogies.com/virtual-tour/

We encourage our followers to join the tour further by visiting The Avid Reviewer,  http://avidreviewer.com/ for a review from Mary's first series, Final Paradox: Book Two in the Osgoode Trilogy.  

​

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

An Uncomfortably Close Look at the Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic

THE BITTER TASTE OF DYING

A memoir

by Jason Smith

ISBN-10: 0996402012

ISBN-13: 978-0996402019

Web site: authorjasonsmith.com

Available on Amazon

Available at iBooks

Reviewed by Christa Wojciechowski originally on MySweetDelirium.com

Just a few years ago, Jason Smith was lying in his bathtub, the blood slowly draining from his slit wrists. Now he is here to tell us how he reached the point of suicide after his long, dark descent into prescription opiate abuse. The Bitter Taste Dying is a story of resurrection told by an author who has literally come back from the black grip of death.

Today’s junkies are not just on the street corner anymore. Big Pharma are the suppliers, and doctors are the pushers, cultivating (perhaps inadvertently, but that’s debatable) a massive population of addicts from all demographics.

After a severe car accident, Smith has back surgery and is given a perpetual menu of painkillers and muscle relaxers by his physicians. It doesn’t take long for the high schooler to realize that by taking more than the recommended dosage, he could obtain the warm, euphoric mental and physical comfort only opiates can bring. But all too soon he also discovers the pangs of withdrawal whenever his medication runs out.

If anyone has difficulty understanding what an addict feels like, Smith describes it with painful accuracy.

“You know that feeling of having your head held under water, the last of your oxygen depleted, where very fiber of your being screams at you to get to the surface for more air? That’s the feeling of needing more drugs…”

As Smith grows into a man, his addiction grows to mammoth proportions and he must go through heroic efforts to keep himself in pills and Fentanyl patches. Smith tells the story in an approachable, conversational tone that may have you laughing out loud at some parts. As horrendous as it is watching how far he would go and how morally low he would sink to get more drugs, it’s difficult not to marvel at his ingenuity and boldness.

At the same time, Smith writes with tender honesty and cutting unabashedness that is rare in any writer, much less any human being. The reader immediately feels very close to him, making his shocking confessions feel like blows.

The Bitter Taste of Dying is an important book that underscores the urgency with which society has to address the prescription drug abuse epidemic. It allows us to watch with uncomfortable closeness how easy it is to develop an addiction to pain medication and how quickly and mercilessly it can devour one’s entire life.

From aspiring football star to international criminal, Smith shows us step by step how opiate addiction can happen to anyone you know, and very likely destroy them. Most importantly, The Bitter Taste of Dying reveals the light at the end of the tunnel–even the most hopeless addict can make it out alive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Smith is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, whose work has been published extensively in both online and print media. Jason Smith is also the Creative Director of TheRealEdition.com, a recently launched website that allows addicts, recovering addicts, and their loved ones to publish their stories of addiction. Jason currently lives in northern California with his wife Megan and two children, Jaden and Isabella.

The Bitter Taste of Dying was released July 6th, 2015 by Thought Catalog and available in Kindle, iBooks, and his website http://authorjasonsmith.com.

Jason Smith is available for interviews, contributions, and appearances. To schedule a media event, order books, or request review copies, please contact christawojo at gmail.com.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Christa Wojciechowski is an author and freelance internet marketer living in Panama. You can visit her blog at christawojo.com and follow her on Twitter at @christawojo.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Second Book in Luana Ehrlich Series Maintains the Thrills

Title:  Two Days in Caracas
Series: A Titus Ray Thriller

Author:  Luana Ehrlich

Website: http://www.luanaehrlich.com

Genre: Christian thriller

ISBN: 1511628650

ASIN: B00ZPQYHIK

Amazon Purchase Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Two-Days-Caracas-Titus-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00ZPQYHIK

Originally reviewed by Ron English for Amazon

It has been said that a new author often will produce a good book on her first time out, but then struggle to produce a second. That has not been your case Luana Ehrlich. Two Days in
Caracas beautifully dovetails into the wake of your first book, One Night in Tehran. I somewhat expected your new work might have toned down the action of Titus Ray, or at the least just drift into his next adventure. No. That was not the case. 

Two Days in Caracas delivers new thrills, more depth into the mind and life of your growing character, Titus Ray, while promising more intrigue from future stories. You delivered such skill in drawing me into Titus Ray’s background of family and old hurts and then wove into his heart a new, growing affection for the police detective, Nikki Saxon. Where one might expect a passionate display of fast moving sex and love you handle this relationship with the kind of drama I recall from the old westerns where the cowboy has grace and reluctance and then rides off into the sunset leaving the reader wanting more. This book has it all. Danger—plenty of that, travel to foreign lands--for sure; characters that are so believable you might sense you know these folks. You surely develop an interest in turning the page to see what will happen next. Since I live in Norman, Oklahoma, I kept hoping that Titus Ray would return and let me glimpse more of his new life in our familiar surroundings. You did not disappoint. I marvel at the way you let Titus Ray grow into his new faith. You have not forced any religion onto these pages, but let this part of his life make a gentle impression on the reader as it does so in his expanding experience. His learning to pray is so new to him it reminds one of a child growing in grace and knowledge. His faith, while strange to him, is such a natural part of who he is and who he is becoming. His love for Nikki is refreshingly tender with just the right amount of desire and fear one might expect from a decent man living a dangerous life and chasing bad guys. And chase them he does. Not a curse word in the book and yet nothing is taken away from this adult story of action, love, assassins, kidnapping and murder. Great book. You have introduced me to a new kind of fiction where I can believe this story is a true life adventure of a man, his work, his love, his dog making me care for them all. Now I must wait for your provoking promise of Titus ray’s next adventure in Washington. Hurry, please.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Chief Editor at Midwest Book Review Praises The Frugal Editor

The Frugal Editor, second edition

Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HowToDoItFrugally Publishing
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
ISBN: 9781505712117

$17.95 pbk / 

$9.00 Kindle 

Available on Amazon 

Reviewed by James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief Midwest Book Review for Library Bookwatch (July  2015), the Jim Cox Report, and the Writing/Publishing Shelf at Midwest Book Review

Now in an updated second edition, The Frugal Editor is part of the "How To Do It Frugally" series for writers and publishers, and an absolute "must-have" for virtually all aspiring and practicing authors in these tough economic times. Tips, tricks, techniques, and do-it-yourself editing secrets will aid in improving one's writing at every stage of the process - from creating an initial query letter to revising rough drafts, putting the finishing touches on the final manuscript, and marketing the published work. 

"Remember when you first realized that a blow-by-blow account of a movie bored your parents? It's true with books, too. When space is limited, your plot should be a mere logline, pitch, or teaser. Your credentials or experience will be far more impressive to an agent or publisher." 

Extensive appendices filled with useful things like professional sample cover letters or query letters, tips for Kindle formatting made easy, and more round out this top-notch guide by award-winning author and former New York publicist Carolyn Howard-Johnson. 

Also highly recommended is the second edition of "The Frugal Book Promoter" (9781463743291, $17.95 pbk / $9.95 Kindle).

 

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jim Cox and the Midwest Book Review have a long history of providing credible reviews to authors regardless of the press they are printed on. Find them at http://www.midwestbookreview.com. Cox also edits the Library Bookwatch, an online magazine, and his own e-mail newsletter, the Jim Cox Report.

 

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn t is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers.