Young Living Peppermint Essential Oil

I am part of an AMAZING team with Young Living. Seriously, they offer so much help and fun things to share, like the Lemon Droppers share-o-matic where I can generate graphics with my information on it for free. I’m so glad I am with the team I am in! If you want to be a part of it and join me, definitely let me know and I can help get you signed up with me!  If just using the link, please make sure you sign up as a wholesale member (that way you save 24%) and that my number ( 1860270 ) is listed for Enroller and Sponsor and e-mail me so I can start helping you with everything! I’m excited!

Writing Wild by Tina Welling

Writing Wild by Tina Welling is the type of book that is about writing, but it also helps to make the writer aware that nature influences how and sometimes why we write. Even if you aren’t writing about nature exactly, it can definitely set the spirit of what your topic is about. Find out how you can use this to your benefit with this book!

Book Description

“Even if we don’t write about nature, Tina Welling demonstrates, nature triggers our stories. This is because “everything we know about creating, we know intuitively from the natural world.” One can set the stage for creation by following these three steps: consciously naming the information gathered by the senses, describing the sensory details of one particular object, and interacting with the energy system of the universe. Welling discovered the last step while hiking and observing an intricate spiderweb shimmering in sunlight. Spiderwebs, she notes, are both “wondrous and ordinary” — ordinary in that they are made of chewed-up insects, yet wondrous in their intricacy. Welling shows writers how to make this kind of connection between the everyday and the hidden, worthy-of-attention beauty all around us. She makes the process of developing a fruitful relationship with wildness inside and out accessible to all writers and insight seekers.” – Writing Wild

My Thoughts

Writing Wild made me see how nature definitely influences my writing style. I often write in my room, where I can’t see any bit of nature at all – except on the background image of my desktop computer that sits above my laptop. However, with a fresh perspective and location change of where I write, what I’m writing changes, too. Even though I don’t write about topics that are specifically about nature, it has helped shine on some of what I write.

This book can help you to see how forming a relationship and being a part of nature can help you creatively, how it can help your skills, and much more! Tina Welling fills this book with helpful tips and truly does an excellent job of making this book a valuable resource to that all writers can benefit from. I highly recommend it!

* Thank you to the publisher of Writing Wild, New World Library, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Art of Neil Gaiman by Hayley Campbell

The Art of Neil Gaiman by Hayley Campbell is a beautifully written and crafted tribute to the talented man, Neil Gaiman. Written by a friend who had access to his personal archives and stories, this is definitely a book that any fan of Neil Gaiman will appreciate for years to come!

Book Description

“With unprecedented access to Neil Gaiman’s personal archives, author Hayley Campbell gives an insider’s glimpse into the artistic inspirations and musings of one of the world’s most visionary writers.

Over the last twenty-five years, Neil Gaiman has mapped out a territory in the popular imagination that is uniquely his own. A master of several genres, including, but not limited to, bestselling novels, children’s books, groundbreaking comics, and graphic novels, it’s no wonder Gaiman has been called a rock star of the literary world. Now, for the first time, Gaiman reveals the inspiration behind his signature artistic motifs, giving author Hayley Campbell a rare, in-depth look at the contents of his personal notebooks and early work, even some of his abandoned projects. The result is a startling, intimate glimpse into the life and mind of one of the world’s most creative visionaries. The book is the first comprehensive, full-color examination of Gaiman’s work to date, tracing the genesis of his creative life as a starving journalist in the UK to his life as a successful comic book writer and, ultimately, a bestselling novelist.

Complete with running commentary, interview text, and annotated material that contextualizes the visual material, this deluxe compendium contains never-before-seen material and promises to be every bit as inspired as Gaiman is himself.” – The Art of Neil Gaiman

My Thoughts

The Art of Neil Gaiman is the type of book that once someone gets, they cherish it. If you want to give someone a book as a gift that is a fan of Mr. Gaiman, this will be a present that they will love! It is the high quality that can be shown off as a coffee table book, displayed in a bookcase, or sit on the nightstand for enjoyable reading after a day’s work.

I was a fan of his work before I read this book, but now I am even more of a fan and want to read and see more of his work! This book is in full color and has hundreds of illustrations, pictures, and scans of mementos that you’ll find while reading it. Ms. Campbell does an excellent job creating a world in a book for us to explore the artwork of this talented man, and I’m sure I’ll have fun going through it over and over again for many years. I highly recommend it! 

* Thank you to the publisher of The Art of Neil Gaiman, Harper Design, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Home Behind the Sun by Timothy Willard and Jason Locy

Home Behind the Sun by Timothy Willard and Jason Locy is a book that helps us to connect with God in the everyday surroundings of our life. This book is inspiring, insightful, and indeed a very good read.

Book Description

“Timothy Willard and Jason Locy show readers how to discover the brilliance of God in the shadows of everday life.

Life opens up before each of us, it beckons, it tempts, it thrills, it betrays. And what do we desire? All of it and none of it.

We’re not in this to survive, but to live. We want to experience joy in the everyday grind of work, relationships, and parenting. We want healing in our suffering. Forgiveness in the midst of our pains. Purpose through the journey. We want to break free from the temporal and live with an eternal perspective. We want to be brilliant.

In Home Behind The Sun coauthors Timothy Willard and Jason Locy invite you to step out of the shadows and into the brilliance. They want to introduce you to the God of the mysterious. A God who combats despair with joy, topples bitterness with forgiveness, and eliminates cynicism with belief and whimsy.

You’re invited home. Home, behind the sun.” – Home Behind the Sun

My Thoughts

Home Behind the Sun is a book about faith, but it isn’t in your face with bible scriptures or telling you that what you are doing with your life is going to send you on a one way trip to hell. The authors write in a very flowing, easy to read manner that made me also connect with what they were writing. The message is basically to be more truthful with yourself, your life, your thoughts, and your spirituality. This will ultimately lead you to a happier life where you are connected to God and leading the path that is truly set out for you.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and think that everyone would benefit from reading. It is filled with quotes, stories, and more for you to relate with and share with others. I highly recommend it.

* Thank you to the publisher of Home Behind the Sun, Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookLook Bloggers program, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Love Skip Jump by Shelene Bryan

Love Skip Jump by Shelene Bryan is an inspiring book about how saying “Yes” to God and the opportunities placed in front of you. Sometimes it isn’t easy saying yes, and for that reason, I knew I had to read this book!

Book Description

“Every significant event in the Bible happened because someone said yes to God. Start living the adventure of yes today!

Shelene Bryan had it all-a wonderful husband, two great kids, a rewarding job, a dream home, and more. Then a friend saw the pictures on the refrigerator door of the two African kids Shelene's family sponsors and she asked, "How do you know those kids are real?" That question changed Shelene's life forever.

In Love, Skip, Jump, Shelene shares how she loved being safe and comfortable. She had no desire to leave the USA. But she couldn't shake the question and soon was on a plane to Africa. She said yes to God, and not only met the kids her family sponsors but opened herself up to the journey God had been preparing for her, including founding Skip1.org, a charity that provides food and clean water to children around the world.

Some of the most amazing things God wants to do in our lives involve allowing him to take us on uncomfortable journeys.

Don't miss out on the incredible adventure God has for you. Say yes to God-love, skip, and jump your way to his plans for you!” – Love Skip Jump

My Thoughts

Love Skip Jump feels like an open letter to you as you read it. Calling you to take action and be more positive and open to receiving God and faith into your life. I enjoyed how this book is spiritual while still keeping it fun and enjoyable to read. This is a truly uplifting read that leaves the reader feeling encouraged and motivated to make positive changes in their life.

So, stop saying “no”, and start saying “yes” to the positive things God has planned for you. You don’t know where that one yes may lead you in your life, and that is the point – God has it planned for you, and it is something that is most likely not what you have originally thought or planned out for your life, but that is where the adventure is!

This is a great book that I highly recommend to readers of all ages and faiths.

* Thank you to the publisher of Love Skip Jump, Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookLook Bloggers program, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Paradise in Plain Sight by Karen Maezen Miller

Paradise in Plain Sight by Karen Maezen Miller is a book that offers life lessons from a zen garden. It isn’t necessarily a book about zen or gardening, but it offers a bit of both. It is a metaphor, and yet it isn’t. It is excellent, thought provoking, and perhaps teaches the things in life that we all want, yet take for granted each day.

Book Description

“When Zen teacher Karen Maezen Miller and her family land in a house with a hundred-year-old Japanese garden, she uses the paradise in her backyard to glean the living wisdom of our natural world. Through her eyes, rocks convey faith, ponds preach stillness, flowers give love, and leaves express the effortless ease of letting go. The book welcomes readers into the garden for Zen lessons in fearlessness, forgiveness, presence, acceptance, and contentment. Miller gathers inspiration from the ground beneath her feet to remind us that paradise is always here and now.” – Paradise in Plain Sight

My Thoughts

Paradise in Plain Sight is a beautifully written book. The author does an excellent job portraying her message of finding paradise in your own life, even though it may not seem like such a paradise right now. Through her story of bringing her 100 year old Japanese garden back to life, she is able to do this, and much more.

This book is full of helpful, eye-opening clarities of life, if you only take the time to read them. Moving ahead on the path that you want is simply a matter of doing it and going straight on the way you choose.

I completely enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I think that this book would benefit so many people, I highly recommend it!

* Thank you to the publisher of Paradise in Plain Sight, New World Library, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Apocalypse by Dean Crawford

Apocalypse by Dean Crawford is a mystery thriller novel that features Ethan Warner, a bail bondsman and ex-war correspondent. In this novel, he is doing everything he can to stop the villain that wants to destroy the world.

Book Description

“In the notorious Bermuda Triangle, a private jet vanishes without a trace, taking with it scientists working for the world-famous philanthropist Joaquin Abell. Meanwhile, Captain Kyle Sears is called to a murder scene in Miami. A woman and her daughter have both been shot through the head. But within moments of arriving, Sears receives a phone call from the woman’s husband, physicist Charles Purcell.

“I did not kill my wife and child,” he says. “In less than twenty-four hours I will be murdered and I know the man who will kill me. My murderer does not yet know that he will commit the act.” With uncanny accuracy, Purcell goes on to predict the immediate future just as it unfolds around Sears, and leaves clues for a man he’s never met, former war correspondent Ethan Warner.

The hunt is on to find Purcell, and Warner is summoned by the Defense Intelligence Agency to lead the search. But this is no ordinary case, as Warner and his partner, Nicola Lopez, are about to discover. The future has changed its course, and timing is everything. The end is just beginning . . .

Relentlessly fast-paced and action-packed, Apocalypse combines realistic science, suspense, and intrigue to create an ingenious blockbuster thriller.” – Apocalypse

My Thoughts

Apocalypse is a well written book that doesn’t just encompass one genre. Crawford is able to capture the best parts of an action, adventure, mystery, thriller, and science fiction and neatly package it up into one enjoyable read.

This book, the Bermuda triangle is drawn to attention with the disappearance of a private jet that vanishes without a trace, full of important scientists and Joaquin Abell, a very famous philanthropist. I love this twist to the book because the Bermuda triangle disappearances have always fascinated me.

Ethan Warner and Nicola Lopez are called to Miami to investigate the murder of scientist Charles Purcell’s family. Purcell had been working on “time” with NASA and more recently, with Abell, the wealthy philanthropist who also was on that missing private jet. Can Warner and Lopez solve the case before time runs out? Read it to find out!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The characters, setting, and plot were all detailed perfectly for the story, and it kept me entertained nonstop. I highly recommend it.

* Thank you to the publisher of Apocalypse, Touchstone, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon

When the Cypress Whispers by Yvette Manessis Corporon is one of the best vacation or summer read type of books I’ve read in a long time. I was immediately drawn in to the book and looked forward to picking it back up where I left off. This is definitely a book worthy of your summer reading, and also an author to keep track of!

Book Description

“On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of characters come together in When the Cypress Whispers, Yvette Manessis Corporon’s lushly atmospheric story about past and present, family and fate, love and dreams that poignantly captures the deep bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother.

The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne aspires to the American Dream, yet feels as if she’s been sleepwalking through life. Caught between her family’s old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career, she cannot seem to find her place.

Only her beloved grandmother on Erikousa, a magical island off the coast of Greece, knows her heart. Daphne’s fondest memories are of times spent in the kitchen with Yia-yia, cooking and learning about the ancient myths. It was the thought of Yia-yia that consoled Daphne in the wake of her husband’s unexpected death.

After years of struggling to raise her child and pay the bills, Daphne now has a successful restaurant, a growing reputation as a chef, and a wealthy fiancé—everything she’s ever wanted. But across the ocean, Yia-yia can see through the storybook perfection of Daphne’s new life— and now she is calling her back to Erikousa. She has secrets about the past to share with her granddaughter— stories from the war, of loyalty and bravery in the face of death. She also has one last lesson to teach her: that security is not love, and that her life can be filled with meaning again.” – When the Cypress Whispers

My Thoughts

When the Cypress Whispers is about Daphne, who is a Greek-American who is torn between old-world family traditions, and the modern American dream she wants to live, too. When Daphne comes back to visit her grandmother in Greece, she learns about the past, but also more importantly about who she really is and what she really wants in her life. The important life lessons her grandmother is trying to teach her aren’t always easy for her to hear, or learn, but if she can mix in the magical island life in Greece with what her heart really wants, she’ll be one happy woman!

This is a beautifully written story that gives a stunning backdrop with the landscape, characters, and past and present stories. I adore this book and highly recommend it!

* Thank you to the publisher of When the Cypress Whispers, Harper, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi by Brian Leaf

Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi by Brian Leaf is a book from the author who brought us all Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi (which is also great). In this one, he is trying to be a conscious parent and shares with us the many hits and misses in the journey of parenthood.

Book Description

“In this hilarious, heartfelt book, Brian Leaf tackles parenting with a unique blend of research and humor. He explores Attachment Parenting, as well as Playful, Unconditional, Simplicity, and good old Dr. Spock parenting. He tries cloth diapers, no diapers, co-sleeping, and no sleeping. Join him on his rollicking journey in this one-of-a-kind parenting guide.” – Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi

My Thoughts

Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi is a fun, funny, and warm book that gives the reader a smile. Even if you don’t agree with everything the author says in the book, you’ll enjoy reading about his misadventures of parenthood, and the many adorable and heart-touching adventures along the way.

The book is filled with chapters focusing on a topic of parenthood. My favorite chapter was the “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk” because it is so true, and not just for kids! This can help everyone with their communication skills!

Although I don’t have kids, I found this book to be excellent in case I ever do have kids. It is filled with funny yet useful tips on parenthood while trying to keep yourself sane and true to yourself. I also love how he uses all of his experience now with kids to see through to how it has actually helped him get to the heart of yoga, and stay positive through it all. I definitely recommend this book to parents and future parents.

* Thank you to the publisher of Misadventures of a Parenting Yogi, New World Library, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Stay With Me by Alison Gaylin

Stay With Me by Alison Gaylin is the third book in the Brenna Spector novel series. The main character, Brenna, has “hyperthymestic syndrome” which means she remembers everything. It isn’t necessarily the blessing one would think. It can recall bad memories, and the ability to re-live them in full detail. It can however, be very helpful when solving cases.

Book Description

“When the past intersects with the future . . .

Brenna Spector is held prisoner by the past. She has perfect memory, which allows her to recall in vivid and remarkable detail every moment of every day of her adult life. If only she could remember more from her child-hood . . . for she's still trying to unravel the mystery of her sister Clea's disappearance twenty-eight years ago when Clea was seventeen. But now her obsession with finding out what happened to Clea is taking a toll on her own teenage daughter, Maya, who's been very secretive lately. And when Maya goes missing, Brenna fears her worst nightmare has come true.

. . . the outcome can be dangerous

As Brenna relies on her P.I. skills to find her daughter before it's too late, evidence surfaces showing a possible link between Maya's disappearance and Clea's. But could a case from three decades ago really be connected to her daughter? Or is someone hoping that Brenna will play along in a twisted game—one that there's no chance of winning . . . or surviving?” – Stay With Me

My Thoughts

Stay With Me is another fun, suspenseful read that features Brenna Spector. Alison Gaylin makes this series better with each book, and this one is exceptionally better. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series, and look forward to reading more by this author!

For this installment in the series, Brenna is still trying to find clues and solve her sister’s disappearance almost 30 years ago. However, focusing on this has seemed to make her own daughter, Maya, more secretive and she goes missing in this novel. With Brenna’s awesome PI skills, she starts to discover that her sister and her daughter’s disappearances could possibly be connected. How could that be though? No spoilers here, you have to read to find out!

This book will keep you hooked from the beginning right up to the end. I really enjoyed it, and think you will, too. I highly recommend this book and the series!

* Thank you to the publisher of Stay With Me, Harper, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.