I wouldn't recommend it.

I just finished reading Witches Protection Program, as painful as it was. I would classify this book as a cross between the sixty’s television show Bewitched, the Harry Potter book series with junk food trivia and technology gone badly. If that sounds like I didn’t care for the book, you are right.

Apart from that, I can’t say too much. Based on the title I had expected an interesting read similar to the television program ‘In Plain Sight’ which showed the difficulties witnesses and US Marshalls have with the program. There really was nothing about the Witness Protection Plan in this book.

The story told of a cosmetic firm attempting to get mass market buy in of their facial cream which contained a secret ingredient allowing the cosmetic firm, along with its political allies, control of women’s minds. Wait, maybe this is actually being played out in the US; does either of the political parties have an interest in the cosmetics industry?

This could potentially be a fun action movie for young teens. Alas, it was of no interest to me.

Take me back to an earlier time

I was originally drawn to author Lea Wait's Threads of Evidence by the cover, an image of a cozy fireside spot, surrounded by needlework. However, after I began reading, the cover was soon forgotten and I was drawn into the story. In addition to the intrigue of the unfolding forty-five-year-old mystery, the quotes from historic samplers inspired me.

It would not be necessary to be a needlepoint hobbyist in order to understand the story but having this knowledge certainly makes the story resonate more strongly. The wall hangings in an ancient home reveal the awareness that a lingering mother has of her daughter’s murderer. When the local police fail to investigate the death as anything other than an accident, the grief stricken mother uses her needlework to provide the clues she has uncovered in hopes that one day the crime will be solved.

I was additionally captivated by the quotes from samplers done by young women in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Continually stressing virtues and character as the keys to a life of happiness and contentment I found this meaningful in today’s world as well. While we don’t adhere to the same standards for morality and virtuosity as were appropriate in those times, ideals are still mandatory in steering your life course to a higher level.

I would recommend this book to anyone who feels drawn to the small towns in Maine as well as those who enjoy working with colorful threads and historic needlepoint samplers. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and was disappointed when I had to turn the last page, completing my visit to Haven Harbor, Maine.

I did receive a free copy of this book from Kensington Books via Net Galley in order to write this review. I received no monetary compensation and was not obligated to make it a positive review. I was simply asked to give my honest opinion which I have done.

The Keywords are “Be Good to Yourself”!

 I loved this book, even more than I loved Christiane Northrup’s book on Menopause and that’s a stretch because there was so much important information in that book. Ditto with this one. I did watch her PBS special where she outlined the book before a television audience after I had read the first few chapters. Fortunately, since I had the book, it wasn’t necessary for me to take notes during the presentation as I knew the references to books, authors and websites would be covered in the book. 

What a read, a streetlight for going forward in this Century. The good Doctor presents a paradigm shift for the inevitable ‘if you don’t die syndrome’… I won’t name various choices, but you know phrases that have the word ‘age’ in them. For Women, and she does include men here and there, this is a book for women because where we are now, we’ve never been before and we could use a few guideposts along the way to help us navigate this new world. We could say 70 is the new 50 but you get the idea.

As her previous books have revealed, Dr. Northrup embraces both the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our biological processes (Menopause and Age) and she’s not bemoaning any of it. She’s not locked into testing this and that to prevent some disease or other and she’s not suggesting you just play cards with the folks at the senior center. She is inspiring us to Greatness! Great Lives, adventure, creativity, pleasure and with those comes the big one, Health!

From the esoteric to the practical, she covers seeking pleasure on a daily basis to getting your sugar number. She covers diet but she also covers daily movement, and not necessarily an exercise plan.

I did receive a free copy of this book from Hay House Publishing in order to write this review. I received no monetary compensation and was not obligated to make it a positive review. I was simply asked to give my honest opinion which I have done.

Review of The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries and the Return of the American Family Farm by Tim Ryan

One fact in this book stood out above the rest for me and that was in 1920 a chicken took approximately 16 weeks to reach 2.2 pounds. Now, they can reach 5 pounds in 7 weeks.  As the author points out, this is because American farming has changed over the last several decades with small and medium scale farms being replaced by giant productions focused on increased productivity and efficiency. New farming practices with new technology have doubled milk production since 1960, tripled meat and quadrupled eggs at a rapid speed. However, the downside of this increase is that they do not supply our country with sustainable heathy food supply.  

The author, Congressman Tim Ryan, a democrat of the northeastern part of Ohio, lets us know who’s who that’s working for us and who is against us, that we need to know if we are interested in real change in the way that our country handles our food and labeling of that food. He appropriately compares the information we are required to be given with regard to automobiles, credit cards and banking but leaves us in the dark as far as how our food is processed. He also compares the way that other countries demand their food is handled and how these same standards are not required and therefore not followed for Americans.

The amount of processed foods, potato chips, quick oats, boxed cereals and prepared frozen or boxed meals with added ingredients that Americans are eating are not necessary healthy for us, they are leading to an epidemic of food related diseases including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The book encourages us to make healthier choices in our food, purchasing local and organic where possible and making some informed choices based on how animals are raised and suggesting that it might be more humane to give up meat and poultry altogether. However, if you do choose to remain a carnivore, at least look at grass fed and free range alternatives.

The Congressman encourages us to vote with our purchasing choices looking to buy fresh from local farms and leave behind the Frankenfood in the grocery stores. Big Business concerns lobby congress and our votes don’t have the impact that our buying choices do. The book provides many resources to look to for answers and grass roots efforts from organizations that are willing to help, websites and addresses are listed. 

This is an important book on an important topic. He backs up his claims with facts, figures and names names. If you are hoping to find a way out of the health care crisis facing us, this book will inspire you to get started locally.

I did receive a free copy of this book from Hay House Publishing in order to write this review. I received no monetary compensation and was not obligated to make it a positive review. I was simply asked to give my honest opinion which I have done.

Noise

Where does it come from, all the tones & decibels, the just barely more than silent electrical hum of the clock, refrigerator, humidifier of our home that drones on endlessly? 

We try to ignore the barely-there annoyance of the dripping faucet, the distant TV, the working people’s forklift backing-up that is creating unpleasant sounds.

We enter the gas station, grocery store or Walmart’s and the background continually verbalizes advertisements, the various barkers extolling the virtues of their products.

As we take a walk outdoors, the distant highway emits a steady roar; the overhead planes release a barely noticed engine whine. The birds, squirrels, bees and flies are only heard when we stop and listen for them.

Those are the quiet days.

We visit a classroom, a family home, a library and we hear clicks, booms and raps from electrical boxes. We hear punches thrown, tires screeching and shots fired. We turn on the TV and there’s more where that came from.

But noise, loud noise, so loud I can’t hear myself think over, that is the noise in my head: sometimes resentments, warnings, criticisms of them or me or hopefully the more alluring promises, hopes and desires. That’s the real noise, the sound of my own internal chatter.

Can you hear it?

Review of the Remembering Process

This fascinating book deserves all the accolades it will receive. This is an amazing book that takes the power of positive thinking and affirmations to a new level. Beyond believing that you have already received your good, this book asks you to remember how you felt when you received it.

I thought at first it might be too simple of a concept, just reaffirming that affirmations work, but it isn’t. Thankfully this book helps us to look at the total package of the affirmation we are making – the feelings, step by step and the reasons why it might or might not work. Important information for those of us who know that there is a ‘right’ way and a ‘wrong’ way of phrasing affirmations so as to not limit us and to clarify exactly what it is that we want to bring into our lives. 

The authors, Daniel Barrett and Joe Vitale, detail how they have used the Remembering Process to create the future they desired. It was very interesting and very exciting. After reading half-way through the book I began to revision my future and take myself one step further to remember how I achieved it. 

However, what I liked most about the book was the well rounded perspective they provide, if you read the book all the way to the end. The chapter “Striking the Right Balance” speaks with us about being human and living in the reality of our physical world. They warn us to not attempt to take a spiritual bypass. What might that be? The authors tell us that spiritual bypassing is when people try to live in the spiritual world all the time, relying on just thinking or praying or ‘remembering’ to solve all of their problems for them effortlessly. In other words, the words they use are these, “it’s like a person who goes to church and prays to God to find a job, and then just sits and home and waits for God to answer the prayer. It doesn’t work that way”. We have to do the footwork, take the action, don’t just remember success but work for success and remember being successful.

Additionally the authors touched on the concept and related questions regarding attempts to control the Universe, forcing our own way, vs allowing the Universe to decide what is best for us and staying open to receive. The answer they propose is that our earthly desires are in alignment with our higher selves wishes for the best for us. Are they? I personally do not know. I know for me it is important to tag onto my affirmations my commitment to ‘this or something better is now manifesting for the highest good of all concerned’. While I think this is the intention of this section, they focus more on the concept that ‘if you want this, here’s what you’ll go through to get there’. If you follow their guidance to remember your success, hang on to your hat because the Universe will bring you all the lessons you need to learn in order to get there. You might want to say, wait a minute, I’m not ready for all that. 

But you will need to be ready. I believe we do have the power to manifest creative positive changes in our future by the power of the affirmation process, which I think this is another facet of. When we do this, we must be prepared for the changes, some pleasant, some not so much, that will be brought into our consciousness in order to bring us to the point of receiving our desired outcome… which might not make us as happy as we thought it would.

Bottom line, this is an excellent book and provides the insights and considerations that must be part of the process. Once again, I believe this is a well-rounded directive on the power of our mind and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion on the ethics and wisdom of writing our future as if we were already past.

I did receive a free copy of this book from Hay House Publishing in order to write this review. I received no monetary compensation and was not obligated to make it a positive review. I was simply asked to give my honest opinion and this is it.

Review: The Man Who Risked It All

Laurent Gounelle, personal development specialist and leader of international seminars, wrote his fourth book to assist us in understanding the principles of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), by initially portraying himself as a lowly employee, lacking in self-confidence, The Man Who Risked It All, and ultimately finding a level of confidence in himself, unforeseen in the opening chapters.

By the final chapter our narrator has become self-confident enough to pull off a solo sting operation at the firm which would have been his former employer if his plan had not worked. We watch the hero’s journey unfold as he initially finds himself on a window ledge, determined to end the pain and suffering of the life he feels destined to be his. Only by the presence of the stranger appearing at his side, does he become obliged to give life another try. Our author finds he is unable to break a promise he has made to the stranger. Fear controls his life and he feels assured if he runs, the threatened consequences will be delivered.

While reading the story, I pondered whether the stranger was to be revealed as an earthly version of Satan? However, by giving our leading man assignments that will open the door to his knowledge of how he has truly been limited by his own lacking self-confidence in his skills and abilities, we will ponder at the puzzle of his rude and painful treatment of our man in juxtaposition with the overall improvement of confidence in himself.

Accounting is his career and he has no qualms regarding his mathematical abilities as shown through his ability to perform mental math while being accosted from every side with negative comments, under the rueful eye of his employer. However, his self-confidence, as we might understand, eventually falters under the artful besiege of insults. The surprise ending reveals the stranger’s identity and his manipulations made behind the scenes.

The book held me spellbound as I drove to find out the stranger’s identity, the reason for his interest and our protagonist’s eventual success or failure. A very favorable review is in order. I plan to share this book with several friends, I highly recommend it.

I did receive a free copy of this book from Hay House Publishing in order to write this review. I received no monetary compensation and was not obligated to make it a positive review. I was simply asked to give my honest opinion and this is it.