Book Reviews

Become a Book Reviewer for Reedsy Discovery

| C.E. Flores

Reedsy Discovery is looking for book reviewers! I’ve been reviewing books for this company since the book reviewer program went live in March 2019. Now, the floodgates have opened and they are looking for more readers to critically review the hundreds of self-published books they have received. 

You can help authors become better wordsmiths with your reviews. Here are some comments I have received from grateful writers.

“Many thanks for your insightful review of my book. I believe you caught the spirit of the adventure. Much gratitude!”

“Thank you for the amazing review of my book. I am so glad that it resonated with you and that you found it helpful. I had the chills as I read your review and was near tears because you got it!”

“Thank you for pointing out those few things in your review, it was definitely helpful, especially the part about a missing section. I had two different documents and somehow that section wasn’t transferred over. So thank you for pointing that out. I’m surprised no one else mentioned it. Good eye!”

If you’ve always wanted to combine reading and writing into one enjoyable activity, then it’s time for you to sign up to be a book reviewer! You can learn more about becoming a book reviewer for Reedsy Discovery here.

The Ideal Mexican Lifestyle Challenge Workbook

| C.E. Flores

Are you thinking of making the move to Mexico? Have you done your homework? Not yet? Well, then the The Ideal Mexican Lifestyle Challenge Workbook by Jennifer Robin Lee is what you need!

Although it’s designed to complement the eCourse with the same name, it can be used entirely independently. I should know. I was a contributor and editor!

Included in the workbook are the activities Getting Clear on What You Want to Achieve, Creating your Conditions of Satisfaction, Your Project Plan and The Next Steps which are all designed to help you create a plan for finding your dream life in Mexico.

Now only that, but you’ll find featured interviews from Judy King, Meg Moulton, Daniel Gair, and Krish Yadav to provide just the inspiration you need to start your plan to move to Mexico today!

So if you are even toying with the idea of moving to Mexico, then be sure to pick up your copy of The Ideal Mexican Lifestyle Challenge Workbook and get busy planning your new life!

Wow! You look fantastic: Your Journey to a Happier, Healthier Life by Nancy N. Wilson

| C.E. Flores

If you are looking for some practical encouragement to create a healthy way of life, then Wow! You look fantastic: Your Journey to a Happier, Healthier Life by Nancy N. Wilson is the book for you. While the author acknowledges the temporary power of fad diets, she emphasized that real weight loss will only occur when you make consistent lifestyle adjustments. 

With suggestions for apps to use, methods that have been proven to work and a list of questions for self-analysis, this book goes far beyond most diet books. I thought the introspective evaluation was especially useful in crafting an eating and activity plan that will benefit each individual the most. 

I would have liked to see these questions at the end of each chapter, however, instead of tucked away at the end in an addendum. While grouping all the questions together in one section might make sense in a printed book, on an e-book it was cumbersome to jump back and forth between the text and the questions. 

The author placed a lot of emphasis on the health benefits of the Medittearan diet as she summarized various eating plans. It would have been nice to have a little more information about this diet and others such as the flexitarian. Instead, the author suggested the reader look into these diets more on his or her own. A comparison of the eating plans might have been useful to distinguish the differences. Perhaps a sample menu for one day for each diet plan could have been included. 

In general, I found the book a good overview of healthy living habits that everyone can realistically incorporate into their lives. I thought the ideas that the author discussed about manifesting your own success to be an important aspect of healthy living and one that is often overlooked in diet and exercise regimens. 

So if you are ready to start healthier habits, pick up your copy of Wow! You look fantastic: Your Journey to a Happier, Healthier Life by Nancy N. Wilson today.  I received an ARC copy of this book from Reedsy Discovery. You can ready my review here.

Feral: Returning to the Wild by Kyle Cooper Shrivastava

| C.E. Flores

The concept of Feral: Returning to the Wild by Kyle Cooper Shrivastava is that we have become too domesticated to be truly happy. Numerous comparisons were made throughout the text between animal and human behavior. This book is a call to action to escape from existential suffering that civilized societies inflict upon their members or rather individuals in civilized society inflict upon themselves.

Delightful parables introduce each section of the book. The Runner and The River Turtle set the stage to talk about mindfulness. The Author and the Ants broaches the topic of connection. Distant Family and Deep-Water Fish shows us the truth about adventure. And Finally, The Caged Accountant illustrates the concept of freedom. 

I found the section on bias especially illuminating. Because I live in an area populated by my own culture, I find I get frustrated with the closed society that surrounds me. By taking a moment to examine the biases I have and those of my neighbors, I was able to see that prejudice is a natural, but limiting mindset. Becoming “feral” in this context would mean learning how to accept the presence of other “species” in my environment as a potentially beneficial relationship. 

It may have been a case of preaching to the choir, but I found myself drifting off in certain sections. I definitely wasn’t present and needed to take some time away from the book. Maybe some of the information was a bit repetitive or maybe I had already incorporated some of the lifestyle and attitude changes and didn’t need to be convinced. 

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Feral: Returning to the Wild by Kyle Cooper Shrivastava. It was a great reminder that we are meant to live life a bit on the edge, focus on connectedness, and be mindful in our actions to be truly alive.

I received an ARC of this book. You can read my review at Reedsy Discovery here.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

| C.E. Flores

I went into reading this book believing I had been hardened by history, Hollywood dramatizations, and my own studies to not be affected by the tales from yet one more survivor of the Holocast. I was mistaken. While the book does not dwell on the horror that imprisoning a human for an indefinite period of time with the threat of death looming constantly, it could not peel away the layers that we wrap ourselves protectively in without this setting. 

The concept of logotherapy, while new in terminology, was not a new concept to me. Humans have made it nearly a pastime these days to seek out happiness these days. Life coaches have taken the place of psychologists in an effort to help their clients find meaning in their existence. And yet, the truth is lost to them. We aren’t meant to “find” happiness but to be endlessly striving for it. A purpose, rather than a completed action. 

Logotherapy says the meaning can be uncovered by:

  • Creating a work or doing a deed
  • Experiencing something or encountering someone
  • The attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering 

The actual work, deed, experience or attitude is left to the individual to discover.

The author shares his own experiences as a concentration camp survivor, experiences of others he met while he was imprisoned, and examples of people he came in contact with whose lives were changed by logotherapy. Although originally written in 1922, the problems we have finding meaning have not changed one iota. There is still a headlong tumble into new experiences, new loves, distractions, and numbing through meaningless work or substance abuse, that keep so many from finding true purpose. 

There was much to ponder in Man’s Search for Meaning, so much so that I believe I’ll give it another read through. As should you.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

| C.E. Flores

An incredible amount of research went to the writing of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. The intricate description of the Akha people of China, their traditional beliefs, clothing and the tea harvest made this novel come alive.   

The story revolves around the traditional saying “No coincidence, no story.” Li-yen’s life in the remote mountain village in the Yunnan Province of China is changed by the arrival of a stranger and his son. Three generations of women are forever changed by the coincidences that create the story told in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

Without giving away the ending, in my opinion, the book capitalizes on the coincidences that become a little too convenient for a happily every after tale. Despite this, it’s a riveting story, full of sorrow, triumphs, loss and love.

You are sure to enjoy The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See !

The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee

| C.E. Flores

Growing up, Hyeonseo and her family could look across the river into China and could not even imagine what life was like on the other side. It might as well have been another planet, so different were the two countries. 

What began as a simple act of teenage defiance set her feet on a journey she never expected to take through China, Laos and finally as a refugee to South Korea. Each leg of her travels forced Hyeonseo to assume a new identity. The name she has chosen for herself in the end, Hyeon (sunshine) and seo (good fortune) is the woman she discovered she was after facing such insurmountable odds.

Hyeonseo Lee presented a TED talk about her experience which you can find here. She also spoke at the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York in 2014 about human rights violations that happen as a matter of course in North Korea. She did an interview with Time in 2015 entitled Freedom, Sanctions and North Korean Ice Cream as well. 

I found The Girl with Seven Names a little difficult to read, not that it was complex, but there seemed to be an emotional reserve in the writing that made it challenging to connect with the author on a personal level. However, given all that this poor girl went through, it is only natural that the retelling is repressed emotionally. How else could she have gotten through it?

The author’s descriptions about the insidious government regulation that rewarded informing on your neighbors, coworkers and family members was detailed. The stories of other refugees she met along the way was eye-opening. I had never before considered North Korea in that light and can never return to ignorance again. The Girl with Seven Names was a powerful story that everyone should read in order to understand the complexity of North Korea just a little bit.

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

| C.E. Flores

Over the years, I’ve heard much of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. I agreed with oft-quoted passages. I thought the idea of Shakespeare’s literary sister Judith intriguing. But I never took the time to read it. I was a bit put off by the very feminists quoting dear ol’ Virginia. I didn’t consider myself THAT radical.

Now that I’ve entered middle-age, I decided that I was that radical after all and reading it proved that I was indeed without a doubt.

Ms. Woolf wrote this extended essay in 1929 and the thoughts contained herein were undoubtedly shocking at the time. She maintained that women didn’t have the means nor the time to be able to pursue writing of any kind with a few notable anomalies. She mentions the Bronte sisters, Dorothy Osborne, Jane Austen, George Eliot and Lady Winchilsea as exceptions having both the education and means to become writers. 

She also proposed that the best writers were androngynous, although I wasn’t entirely convinced by her argument on that topic. I believe that a talented female writer is better able to write about experiences unique to women than an equally talented androngynous male writer. 

So how much of what Ms. Woolf wrote is true today? Certainly we’ve progressed to the point where women have the time and income to devote themselves to writing books, haven’t we?

It seems there are still some gender bias when it comes to publishing. (See Bias, She Wrote:The Gender Balance of The New York Times Best Seller list) Books about women win fewer literary awards. (See BOOKS ABOUT WOMEN DON’T WIN BIG AWARDS: SOME DATA) The majority of literature studied in high school was not written by women. (See Here’s The Problem with White-Male-Centric School Reading Lists) 

So even though there are more women writers, I can’t say that all things are equal yet.  Would you?

Whether you consider yourself radical or not-so-radical, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is well-worth a read.

How many of the women writers on this list have you read? (See 50 Great Women Writers) I’ve read 21. 

Resilience Road: Exploring Your Authentic Life Path by Beth Koritz

| C.E. Flores

I had high expectations of positive motivation when I began Resilience Road: Exploring Your Authentic Life Path by Beth Koritz. Unfortunately, there were some issues that I couldn’t get past initially, although I did find some redeeming value towards the end of the book.

First, I felt like the author began with a sermon full of trite clichés. I hadn’t made a connection with her as a person yet, so I was unwilling to hear her advice without seeing how she applied these bits of wisdom in her own life. 

From the advice section, we jump right into a major turning point in her life. The author describes being paralyzed from Guillain-Barré Syndrome as a wake-up call. She talks about that experience as well as others beginning from when she was a child of seven. She really did meet adversity head-on!

Mid-way through her life story, there is another sermon meant to be inspiring. Honestly, I would have preferred if these segments were all grouped together after the personal narrative comes to a conclusion. The jumping back and forth between the viewpoint of a counselor and a woman in need of counseling was abrupt. I also didn’t feel like the clients she referenced were helpful in self-analysis, if that was the intent. The points the author was trying to make would have been more powerful when drawn from her own life experience rather than her clients’.

These issues aside, I found that I developed a deep admiration for the author by the end of the book. She had overcome many obstacles to find her place and tribe. Having traveled with her through her memories, I felt more open at the conclusion of the book for the recommendations she made to better my own life. The list of Tools To Create Your Resilience was concise and practical. Everything recommended in this section, from focusing on what you can do and control to the idea that asking for help is a sign of strength not weakness was spot on. 

In the end, I felt that the book was certainly worth the time I invested in reading it and rate it a 4 out of 5 stars.  Get your copy from Amazon here.

I received an advanced review copy from Reedsy Discovery, You can read my review here.