The Source - Dr Tara Swart

Description

‘[Like] the self-help success The Secret, but cooler and more sciencey.’ - Evening Standard

Life-changing opportunities pass us by every day – now we can train our minds to seize them

Self-help books like The Secret promise that we can tap into the 'law of attraction' to control our destiny, simply by changing our thoughts. If we strip away the mystique, at the heart of this idea is a fundamental truth that is backed up by the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience: most of the things we want from life – health, happiness, wealth, love - are governed by our ability to think, feel and act; in other words, by our brain.

Dr Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and executive coach with a background in psychiatry, is convinced beyond all doubt of our ability to alter how our brains work - and transform our lives. In The Source, she draws on the latest cognitive science and her experience coaching highly successful people to reveal the secret to mastering our minds.

With a four-step plan to awaken the power of your brain, this unique guide to life combines science and spirituality in a way that is open-minded and practical. Discover how to:
- Challenge 'autopilot' thinking and rewire your brain's pathways to fulfil your potential
- Manifest the things you want by directing your energy towards your deepest values and ambitions
- Harness the power of visualisation to prime your brain to grab opportunities and take control of your future
- Attack life with confidence, dispel fear and avoid negative thinking

Unlock your potential today – you are just four steps away from building a new confident you.

Review

I admit that when I read a book blurb that says you are four steps away......... - then I expect to open the book and hit the ground running. Unfortunately that was not what happened in this book. I was good and read the intro blurb which I would usually skip, thinking I would be rewarded with "the goods" straightaway afterwards. 

What happened instead was I read a lot of background and a lot more and then some. It was ok, in fact a lot of it I was already aware of through other books I have read. For other readers this may not be so laborious as it felt to me. What was good was the science that was shown to back up what I already knew. I haven't read The Secret so can't comment on how the books compares with that as other reviewers have.

My favourite quote used in this book was this:- 

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can't read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn    AlvinToffler

Then I got to the action part and I discovered it involved writing a journal and that this was the only way to proceed. So, if you are not one for writing down your thoughts this may not be the book for you. I personally don't like journalling but carried on and took what I could from the book, in the main preparing an action board.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC to review.

Happy Ever After - Paul Dolan

Description

'A passionate, provocative book. It isn't just a self-help book. It is a manifesto for a better society' Sunday Times

'One of the most rigorous articulations of the new mood of acceptance...a persuasive demolition of many of our cultural stories about how we ought to live' Oliver Burkeman, Guardian

Paul Dolan, the bestselling author of Happiness by Design, shows us how to escape the myth of perfection and find our own route to happiness.

Be ambitious; find everlasting love; look after your health ... There are countless stories about how we ought to live our lives. These narratives can make our lives easier, and they might sometimes make us happier too. But they can also trap us and those around us.

In Happy Ever After, bestselling happiness expert Professor Paul Dolan draws on a variety of studies ranging over wellbeing, inequality and discrimination to bust the common myths about our sources of happiness. He shows that there can be many unexpected paths to lasting fulfilment. Some of these might involve not going into higher education, choosing not to marry, rewarding acts rooted in self-interest and caring a little less about living forever.

By freeing ourselves from the myth of the perfect life, we might each find a life worth living.

Review

Based on the description for this book I thought I was going to be reading a self-help book. But instead I found it to be more like a text book for academics on the subject of happiness complete with graphs, or in the case of my kindle ARC no graphs, which wasn't helpful. I can only assume if you buy the kindle edition there will be graphs.

I was off to a bad start with this book when the author proclaimed that as an LSE professor he was not expected to swear. He then goes on to say that there is no correlation to swearing being due to poor vocabulary/and or low intelligence. There is however evidence to suggest that students pay more attention to a teacher who swears! That's my exclamation point. The author then says that swearing is only ever harmful when it is aggressive or abusive and proceeds to litter the book with swearing as if to prove his point. This I found unnecessary and crude and felt it didn't help me learn in the slightest.

The book carries this rather sanctimonious attitude throughout and really I felt I was being preached at. Yes, there are studies in the US and UK reported with "x" results - but we all know about statistics! I thought this book was going to be a little bit more real life than quoting research at me.

At the beginning of each chapter you are asked  two questions about yourself and then the same two questions thinking about them in relation to a friend - at the end of each chapter the conclusion is then revealed. When I wrote papers my conclusion had to be a paragraph - succinct, sum up what I had written. Unfortunately the conclusions in this book were so long winded and over many pages, that I lost the point of the conclusion. 

There were a few glimpses of things that I thought - "now this is interesting" but they passed and in the main I found the book unappealing. If you are going to be writing a thesis I can imagine you will find plenty of material to quote in this book. If you are just someone interested in being happier maybe look up the art of hygge!

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

The Forgotten Guide To Happiness - Sophie Jenkins

Description

A life-affirming debut, perfect for fans of Rowan Coleman and Lucy Diamond.

You can lose your memory, but you never forget how to love…

Lana Green has a talent for pushing people away. As a writer, she’s perfectly happy to be left alone with her books. But when she meets Jack Buchanan and Nancy Ellis Hall, Lana’s solitary life will change for ever.

Nancy has dementia, and social services believe this makes her vulnerable. But Lana can see the funny, brilliant woman underneath the illness.

As Lana and Jack struggle to keep Nancy out of a care home, Lana starts to question everything she ever thought mattered.

Because what’s the point in stories, if there is no one to share them with?

Review

I wasn't really sure what this book was going to be about exactly - I was intrigued by the idea of Lana (28 yrs old) becoming a house mate with an 80 year old woman. Once I began to read this book I was just hooked straight in - it felt like coming home, I just instantly clicked with the character of Lana.

Maybe it helps because Lana is a writer and I am always intrigued by writers. We also get to follow her to the publishers for a little chat about her newest book and other writer type things. I just loved it! If that wasn't enough she then she moves in with Nancy who is an octogenarian famous writer - two writers in one book!  I just loved the description of Nancy's house too. Unfortunately Nancy has dementia and there was a whole other side to the story with her forgetting most of the time what she was doing and getting muddled up. I felt that the dementia aspect was very true to life and well written. 

Lana has a bit of a writers block but she needs to pay her way in the world so she begins to teach a writing course and I found the little insight into writing techniques fascinating and it became a book within a book. There were also the would be writers on the course and their stories too along with Nancy who Lana invites along. Lana feels if she could only take some tips from Nancy, get to know her technique she could be a better a writer.

Aside from all the girl fan writing stuff there is a love story here too. Nancy has lost a love but maybe she's found another - or has she. A little bit of will they won't they which by the end had me racing to find out - well will they or not! 

A lovely gentle read which I was sad to finish. I just loved it - did I say that already! I'm giving it five out of five stars. My thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for my ARC to review.

Don't You Forget About Me - Mhairi McFarlane

Description

You always remember your first love. Don’t you…?

’I loved it! So funny and warm. A delicious read’ Marian Keyes

’Hilarious, warm and life affirming’ Jenny Colgan

It began with four words.

‘I love your laugh. x’

But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (© Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (© Georgina’s best friends) in bed with someone else.

So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something.

The only problem? He doesn’t seem to remember Georgina – at all…

Review

It seems like forever since I read a new Mhairi McFarlane book and now it will seem like it again. I loved reading it so much and would have read it in fewer sittings but the eyes aren't what they used to be and started to close down on me.

I've said before that I don't really class Mhairi's books as chick lit and I do now think that she should have a new category of fiction named after her! This latest book shows how her writing has developed into something with so many layers (some I am still uncovering in my mind), so much humour, and yet still with an intensity that leaves you thinking - "I know just how that character feels". She also deals with heavier subjects I've not seen in her writing before. However because by then you know Georgina, it was hard hitting but thought provoking. 

After the first page I didn't think of them as characters anymore, they were alive and well in my world with me and I couldn't wait to get back to them. I did at times despair of the leading lady Georgina or Gog! She really does find herself at the end of things that "aren't her fault" but to all the world they seem as if they are, which results in her being seen as a little ditsy when she's far from that. Unlike in traditional chick lit where I would be thinking "yeah! as if that would happen, it's included for comedic effect" in Mhairi's writing you just know it could have happened. Her "Worst Boyfriend in the world" was a real piece of work and at times I got a little frustrated that I couldn't give him a piece of my mind.

The book starts in the past but then the most refreshing thing about it was that it didn't then flip flop back and forth - in fact at one point I thought I had missed something. But no, we were fast forwarded without a look back and little by little in the present day we discover what happened in the past. Just like books used to be!

There were some brilliant one liners but I would spoil some spectacular moments for you if I mentioned them. Instead I'm going to say that if you want a good read about people you will feel that you could or have met in your day to day life, then this is the book for you.

I'm giving it five out of five stars. My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for my ARC.

The Paris Seamstress - Natasha Lester

Description
How much will a young Parisian seamstress sacrifice to make her mark in the male-dominated world of 1940s New York fashion? 

1940. Parisian seamstress Estella Bissette is forced to flee France as the Germans advance. She is bound for Manhattan with a few francs, one suitcase, her sewing machine, and a dream: to have her own atelier.

2015. Australian curator Fabienne Bissette journeys to the annual Met Gala for an exhibition of her beloved grandmother's work - one of the world's leading designers of ready-to-wear. But as Fabienne learns more about her grandmother's past, she uncovers a story of tragedy, heartbreak and secrets - and the sacrifices made for love.

Crossing generations, society's boundaries and international turmoil, The Paris Seamstress is the beguiling, transporting story of the special relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter as they attempt to heal the heartache of the past.

Review

As a lover of sewing and fashion the title of this book called out to me. Now in the past I have been disappointed when the book then contains any sewing or fashion! Not this time though - I've been lost in fabulous descriptions of sewing, bolts of cloth, cutting lines and sketches across decades. If that were not enough it is also partly set in New York one of my other fave things in a book.

I didn't want it to end and wanted to savour the beautiful descriptions. So why I have raced through this book in less than 48 hours? Because the author set a little mystery within the book too and it was so delicious and I just couldn't fathom it out and I had to know what had happened.

Part of the book is set in occupied Paris during the 2nd world war and whilst it was a little gruelling to read in places it gave me a sense of what it must have been like.

I hope to read more by this author as not only was the subject matter one I enjoyed immensely the writing was great too. I'm giving it 5 out of 5 stars and thanks to my library for the book to read.

The Mother of all Christmases - Milly Johnson

Description

Eve Glace - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time.  But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them …

Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child.  But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable.

Palma Collins has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself.  But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep?

Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directive started by a forward-thinking young doctor to help mums-to-be mingle and share their pregnancy journeys. Will this group help each other to find love, contentment and peace as Christmas approaches?

Review

What can I say? - this is another great read from Milly Johnson. It was really nice when reading the book and as characters were introduced I was thinking - I know her!  I haven't yet read all Milly's back catalogue but I did recognise some of the characters from other books. I felt right at home amongst everyone. It can absolutely be read as a standalone novel, it was just fun to know the back story of some of the characters.

Milly has had a varied life and this shows in her writing; and what she doesn't know about she researches, like the cracker factory some of the girls in the book work at. It was all so realistic and down to earth and I felt like I knew people like this in real life.

As is the norm for her books there is a lot of humour, but there are also some sad and poignant parts which did bring a tear to my eye. The other thing is the excerpts from the "Daily Trumpet" the local paper that cannot report a story correctly to save its life! I even read some of these out loud to my partner as you didn't have to be reading the book to enjoy them. Right at the end of the book are loads and loads of Christmas cracker jokes - and I hadn't heard most of them either - very funny.

Although this is a Christmas book not all the story is set at Christmas and it would be a good read any time of the year. The main thing that pulls the story lines together is the pregnant ladies and their membership of the Christmas Pudding Club. 

My only reservation is the title - if it hadn't been by Milly it would not have been on my radar. She does explain at the end of the book that it was going to be called The Christmas Pudding Club at one point as she had a previous novel The Yorkshire Pudding Club which was written from her own pregnancy diaries.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review.

Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell

Description

She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. 
She had her whole life ahead of her. 
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a charming and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet.

But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter.

Because his daughter is the image of Ellie.

Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What really happened to Ellie? And who still has secrets to hide?

Review

This is one of those books that when you finish reading it you keep thinking about it and wanting to read more, but then recalling that you finished it lol! I raced through this book, desperate for time to get to read it, wondering when I would be able to fit in some more pages, it really was that good.

The book begins with Laurel narrating - she has arrived at her daughters flat with no sign of her having been home. Her mind begins racing and we find that 10 years before her other daughter disappeared and has never been found.

We then get Ellie narrating the time line before she went missing - her life, what she was up to as a teenage girl. The book then continues with a flip flop of the story mainly from Laurel's viewpoint in the present day,  and her first foray into a romance since Ellie disappeared.

Her romantic encounter introduces her to the man's daughter, a young girl who looks like Ellie. After this point I began to feel like I had in my hand one of those magic squares with a tile missing. Somehow I felt I should know the answer to what was happening, but it was just out of my grasp, however what followed was a real roller coaster I needed to stay on until I got to the end.

A couple of other characters narrate the story towards the end and so you get a feel of the story from different perspectives which I found really interesting. There are a few loose ends which are maybe too neatly tied off at the end of the book, but I could live with that. The very end of the book is rather moving and not what I was expecting.

I loved the accessible writing - so easy to read and felt so real and earthy. I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. I have never read a Lisa Jewell book before but I think I need to read more now.

My thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review.