Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Brené Brown

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 4, 2017)

ISBN-10: 081298580X

ISBN-13: 978-0812985801

https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Strong-Ability-Transforms-Parent/dp/081298580X?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&psc=1

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

I was assigned this title as a monthly reading for a book club I belong to for widows and widowers going through the grief process. Is this a book helpful for readers like us? At first glance, no, not really. Brown's focus is how to get off the ground after you've fallen face down and need to admit your own vulnerability and shame to work through your recovery. Well, those going through the grief process already know about vulnerability and shame rarely applies to that situation.

I admit I felt like I should have liked the book much better after reading some glowing reviews at Amazon and Goodreads.  So clearly there is a very responsive audience for Brown's very academic and formulaic approach for working through the hard situations in life. I started to tune out a bit when Chapter Two kicked in and Brown talked about a pivotal moment in her marriage. During an unhappy swim, her husband didn't respond the way she wanted in a brief conversation. Not exactly a turning point for most people. It seemed like the sort of missed communication you can have countless times in a day.  That was the first of such small moments that inspired chapter after chapter where Brown, her colleagues, family and friends worked through usually rather small-scale crises. Well, not small-scale to them, of course.

Whatever setback or crisis you face, Brown has a three-part formula for you: The reckoning where you tell your story so you can understand it; the rumble where you face your challenge and take ownership of it; the revolution where you have a transformative experience and move on. Put another way, fall. Get Up. Try again.

Other teachings in the book include: Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.

Hmm, now that I've written all this down, I think I need to rethink my introduction.  I still don't think the book is especially helpful for that suffering grief. The section on broken hearts is rather short and did disappoint me. That's what I most needed to explore. But the lessons do seem quite helpful in human and business relationships if you're willing to look at things in ways you hadn't before. For example, if you're willing to accept that most people are doing the best that they can.

So, while Rising Strong might not be the first self-help book you might want to pick up this year, or even the first Brené Brown title to read judging from descriptions of her earlier titles, it's still a tome full of nuggets and insights well worth the price of admission. It could very well be a transformative book in your life.

 This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Aug. 5:

https://waa.ai/3FxZ

Broken Beautiful Hearts - Kami Garcia

I have been a fan of Kami Garcia ever since I read her Beautiful Creatures series and I've been meaning to pick up one of her contemporary books for a while now. I am very, very happy that I ended up loving this book. A lot.

Broken Beautiful Hearts is the story of Peyton and her journey of healing and finding strength, courage, and the true meaning of friendship. Peyton is a girl that went through a lot of things. Her father died in an explosion when he was deployed, her boyfriend turns out to not be the perfect guy but instead pushes her down the stairs, causing her to have a torn knee ligament that puts her future in danger, her friends abandon her, and she has a stalker. She has moments when she's scared that history will repeat itself with another boy, she has moments when she feels like she needs to hide what happened to hear for fear of being judged or be seen as that girl, the victim, but I also think she hides what happened because she's ashamed; like she should have seen it coming and prevent it in some way. I was very happy when her new friends show her that Reed was the one who should be ashamed, not Peyton. I also loved how Peyton learns to be strong, whether that means finding out what truly happened with her dad, or learning to accept and move on from what Reed did. She goes through a transformation. All of that is secondary to one important lesson: asking for help. I feel like that is the main theme of this book, learning how to ask for help when you need it, how not to be ashamed of something someone did to you, and it's an important lesson to learn.

Owen is a great guy, that has some secrets of his own. I liked Owen, mostly because he represented the courage that Peyton learns to have. He also has a reckless side, probably due to his childhood and his family situation, of which you learn more about as the story moves on. I liked how he doesn't push Peyton beyond what she's comfortable with, in their relationship, but he does challenge her to learn how to trust again.

This was a great story, just as great as I expected from Kami Garcia. I only wish Peyton had found that courage to trust again in herself and in others by herself. The pacing was great and there were a few surprises along the way that I didn't see coming. I just wish there was a book for Peyton's twin cousins, because I loved them.

All in all, I loved this book, and it showed me exactly why I love Garcia's books.

Broken Paper Hearts was very abrupt. It was also very short. While I see this extra settles the abruptness of the terribly events in this story, I was a bit unsettled by it. I knew it had to be coming since I was nearing the end of the short stories, but somehow it still took me by surprise (which it really shouldn't have been considering the title).

I'm not looking forward to reading the last story, The Star of New Mexico, now...

Lies generally serve a purpose.

To save someone from harm. To make one look better to their peers. To get out of a jam.

When we were children, we were always told to NEVER tell a lie. You would get into so much trouble if you told a lie as a child. I for one remember the punishments for lying.

As you got a little older you found out there others have lied to you before...but it's okay. It was just a white lie...which to our understanding THAT lie was to save us from harm.

Then we grew up. One lie after another. But it's okay. We are now adults, so we can tell big lies. We just tell the kids it's a white lie and that they shouldn't lie at all. (And we get away with it.)

Well, sometimes we can get away with them.

A group of parents are getting ready to take their kids to school. A few moms stick together like before; a few new mothers are in town needing guidance. First day of school can be hectic, but once you deal with the cliques; getting the kids ready the rest of the day should go easy as baking a pie.

Apparently someone forgot to set the timer on that pie for it just burned!!

A child is accusing another child of bullying; teachers get worried, want it solved right away so saying your sorry is in order. But, the child in question says it wasn't him. As any parent would do they stick up for their child. Of course other Mom's don't agree with that policy and name calling gets thrown out into the air, and people start having opinions of others (especially if they are new to the town) and start gathering in their cliques to force others to choose: Truth, or power.

It isn't easy for Jane to be new in town and trying to understand the small town antidotes but when her son is accused of bullying and she fully well knows he didn't do it, it just takes the cake. Good thing she became good friends with a woman wouldn't shouldn't be reckoned with. Madeline has been there, done all that even had a divorce. She knows the in's and out's of the small town and knows everyone and everyone knows her. Even though she used to part (or known) the cliques, she sides with the new girl. Helps her out of jams once in a while. Of course she doesn't do this alone, she has help from her friend Celeste.

A woman who has everything: wonderful, handsome husband and two loving boys. She has a wonderful house, beautiful looks, great clothes. Everyone marvels on how she can handle twin boys and always being there for the school/church activities. But we must ask ourselves...do we really know our neighbors? Or do we see what we are supposed to see?

Lies are like a domino effect: once one gets going, it gets tough to stop them from growing. But also like in domino's, somehow, somewhere the domino's stop falling. How would you like the domino's to stop thought is the question? Towards you? Or something more sinister?

Today’s post is for M.O. Kenyan’s Broken Hearts . We will have info about the books and author. A great interview with M.O. As well as a great giveaway. Make sure to check everything out and enter the giveaway.

Happy Reading :) 

A wife for hire, turned into his most precious possession. Drew had to annul his marriage hours after he said I do, when he found his wife and best man in a compromising position. In order to claim his inheritance he needs to find a wife in 24 hours.     Falling in love with sleeping beauty. Piper first saw him in the ER after a gruesome accident, she watched over him for several days, finding something new to love each day. So when he finally wakes up and asks her to marry him, she obviously said yes. Piper just didn't know that this fairy tale, didn't end with a Happily Ever After.

Buy Link

Tell us about your writing - What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

Currently I mostly write about contemporary romance. I only have one action romance, it’s called SECRETS, feel free to check it out.

My personal favorites has to be ONE NIGHT STAND: THE NEW YORKER BOOK 3 and, HIS LOVE, SECRETS. There are those books that make me want to write more and those two are my picks. Actually One Night Stand is the reason why The New Yorker series was born. There were all these people around Rich and Cat, and I also wondered what their lives were like. I am currently writing Book 6 & drafting book 7, I’m excited because they are going to be different. I love growth stories like HER LOVE STORY & HIS LOVE, dislikable but characters you can empathize with. Real, I’m the girl who stood up at literature class and said Romeo and Juliette was a dumb story. Love should be something that drives you to open your eyes and face life every day. Your first love should always be yourself, Book 6 of The New Yorkers kind of touches on that. The reality of love, it’s not always a happy ending. (MY PATH)

New stuff, I am always scribbling ideas my main problem is time. I’m a Digital Editor of a magazine in Kenya, so if a day would have 48 hours instead of 24, it would be great. I’m also drafting a couple of scripts….let’s just say my creative mind never sleeps.

What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

I spend most of my time in my imagination, but I’m not oblivious to reality. I’m am a realist through and through. But I want to fall in love with love, so that’s where my writing comes in.

Relax? I watch K-Dramas or Mexican and Filipino telenovelas.

Favorite movie? It’s like asking me my favorite song. I don’t have one. Call it commitment issues, but there is never that one for me. At the moment I’m into K-pop groups Shinee & APink, for obvious reason. But I really love Camilla and Louis Fonsi, they are Mexican musicians.

Hobbies, writing, singing, basketball and dancing off beat.

What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to a music, and do you want to share your playlist?

That depends, I can look at something, hear a phrase of just a beat and I want to write. I take out my pen and note book and scribble. I have so many notebooks with scribbles that wouldn’t make sense to anyone but mean everything to me.

Playlist, nothing really specific, just songs that make you catch that ‘I’m going to cry feeling’. Honest songs, sang honestly. You should try Ailee, Beige, Hyorin, basically OST. That takes care of Kpop. Camilla, Luis Fonsi, Jencarlos Canela from Mexico, Sarah Gerenimo, Regina Valasquez, Yeng Constantine and KZ Tandigan from the Philipines, Elani from Kenya….basically it’s a mix of different artists from different countries and languages.

"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

I don’t like cats, I feel like they are up to something. Planning my demise as they lick their paws kind of suspicion, plus I’m a little allergic. I don’t keep cats near me.

What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers? Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

Organization….as in publisher? I don’t really have a specific one. I’ve had around 7 publishers since I started out. Each had different experiences. As for advice I would say self-publish, and put it out there for free. Just like a small book of 10,000 words. Allow the critics both with good and bad intentions to slaughter you. Pay attention to what makes sense, and that will help improve your writing. If someone gives you a valid reason for a one star look into it, if they didn’t even bother to finish the book, that person should be a nonfactor to you.

So basically my advice would be to pay attention. There is so much life around you that can inspire your writing to be great. Copy pasting other people’s work is the influence of the devil. You’d be cheating yourself, your talent and destroying any trust you had in yourself.

Reading,Writing,Romance, Creativity and Imagination. These are the words that describe my work. I was born in Nairobi Kenya and had a passion for books ever since I could remember. Romance and love have always been a strange phenomenon for me. I have always wanted to change the ending of a love story. I decided to start writing my own.

Links

Facebook *** Website *** Twitter *** Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Official Event Page