Victor and the Sun Orb, by Amy Nielson

Victor and the Sun Orb, by Amy Nielson, introduces the story of Prince Victor of Solandia, born to the king and queen of the sun fairies; however, long before the prince is born, a terrible thing happens in Solandia—the sun orb is stolen. The culprit is caught and imprisoned, and the matter is thought to be resolved. Prince Victor is born years later; but on the day of his baptism a spell is put on him that will transform him into a mortal on his thirteenth birthday. At that time, he'll be forced to leave Solandia and join the human world.

Not long after Victor becomes human, the sun orb is stolen again. War begins in the fairy world. Mysterious events take place. Victor must embark on a quest to get back the sun orb, his mortality, and his human friend, Annika. On this quest, he finds himself up against enemies and mythical creatures, but with the help of friends and others he meets along the way, he defeats them all.

Written specifically for older children, they should enjoy this story quite a bit. There's some lessons in it, as Victor goes through his education and his quest, that Nielson's young audience may benefit from, along with briefly touching on some bigger questions that older children will just be starting to discover. On the other hand, the story seemed a little detached from its characters, even Victor. It was a little difficult to try and care for the cast and whether or not they completed their goals and saved their people. The story does have elements of slightly more traditional fairytales and has some of that style and tone, and is overall a good story of courage and strength.

Victor and the Sun Orb is intended for children ages 8-12 but those somewhat older than this might enjoy it as well, and any child that enjoys fantasy should enjoy this book.

This book is available in print edition from Amazon.com.

Review by Diana Reed

The Hardline Self Help Handbook by Paula Renaye

The Hardline Self Help Handbook teaches the reader how to apply tough love to him/herself. It's full of lists of hard-to-aswer questions that penetrate right to the heart of the matter. As the reader confronts him/herself and forces himself to answer the questions honestly, confusion clears and clarity begins to take hold.

In addition the book has structured writing assignments, that once again take you deep within to find the answers, and along with the answers you will find solutions because these writing assignments are perfect ways to enlist our subconscious in the fight to help ourselves and make a better life. You can open the book randomly and find a helpful exercise on any page, such as suggestions for making a vision board and script, or examining your dreams for guidance.

Written by a professional coach and a regression hypnosis practitioner, the professionalism of the book is evident. Available at Amazon and the author's website at: www.hardlineselfhelp.com, the book is priced at $19.95 for the paperback and $9.95 for the Kindle edition. This book is one of the books being offered in our subscribers drawings. So subscribe to one of our newsletters at the box on the right and be entered in our twice monthly drawing.

Review by Julia Widdop

Double Your Creative Power by S. L. Stebel

Double Your Creative Power contains a number of useful exercises to discover what your subconscious feels passionate about, because as the author, Stebel points out your writing will be much stronger if you are passionate about your subject matter.

Stebel recommends that you write the book jacket material before you start the book. He also recommends writing a review of your book before starting to give your subconscious a target to aim for in the real writing of the book.

Double Your Creative Power is full of tips and exercises to access your subconscious and enlist its help in the creative process. I specialize in accessing the subconscious and I thought Stebel's methods were very useful.

For example he says watch for conflicting agendas between you and your characters. In bold type the author insists that the character's agenda always takes precedence over your agenda. The character's conflicting agenda is coming from the writer's own subconscious.

I had a hard time deciding on the most useful tip in the book, but finally decided it was the solo brainstorming technique he recommends. He recommends repeating the solo brainstorming process several times until you recognize that it is time to stop. Connections will have been made he says and a story will begin to emerge. I tried this exercise and I was impressed with the amount of targeted material I generated.

Available at Amazon, this hardcover book is priced at only $14. The solo-brainstorming exercise was worth that price alone.

Review by Julia Widdop

Review of Awakening Hope by Mary Crocker Cook

By Mary Crocker Cook, licensed therapist and public speaker, is Awakening Hope: A Developmental, Behavioral, and Biological Approach to Codependency Treatment. In the prologue, Cook explains her particular interest in codependency. She briefly tells the story of her personal experience as a codependent, which she refers back to throughout the book. Her purpose for writing this book is her determination to not only fill in the blanks that counselors have missed in attempting to treat codependency, but to also give guidance to codependency sufferers.

Awakening Hope is divided into four parts; in its two parts, Cook breaks down the psychological aspects of codependency, particularly Attachment Theory and codependency symptoms. Cook devotes the entirety of part three to describing the physical consequences of codependency, largely ignored by counselors, and to explaining their connection to what goes on in the mind.

In Part Four, the book comes full circle and ends with the treatment of codependency. Just as Cook discussed the individual symptoms in previous chapters, she returns to this outline and provides methods for recovery. These methods guide the codependent away from the self-destructive patterns in their relationships and give the sufferer a basis for forming healthy relationships. Cook also discusses the treatment of codependency—how it has changed, what has worked, and how codependency should be approached both clinically and by the sufferer.

Through this book, Cook seeks to educate and speak both to the codependent and to the therapist, and she balances this well. Cook relates her own experience and observations, as well as case studies, and matches it with her extensive research of the topic. In her book, Cook proclaims her wish to redefine codependency, and puts herself well on the road to doing so. While it may seem her target audience is mainly other professionals, her sights are set largely on codependency sufferers and giving them the knowledge and guidance to take control of their lives and their recovery.

Awakening Hope is available from Amazon.com in its print edition.


Review by Diana Reed

Your Health is Your Responsibility by Roya Wadtley

This densely packed book is so full of health information that it resembles an encyclopedia. The author says that she wrote the book to help others after she discovered that she had diabetes at the young age of 35. It's obvious that she took responsibility for her own health and learned everything she could, not only about her disease of diabetes, but about healthy eating and living in general.

The author discusses in depth the factors such as smoking and lack of exercise that adversely affect your health. She admits she had a tendency to develope diabetes because of her genetic makeup, but she doesn't let herself or her reader off the hook for taking responsibility of their health. The major area where the author calls upon the reader to take responsibility in in the area of food. She looks closely at the American diet and lifestyle choices, and makes recommendations to improve them. She also looks closely at the causes of several of the most common diseases in our world today such as cancer, heart disease and arthritis.

Available at Amazon Your Health is Your Responsibility is priced at $22.95, which is a bargain for this huge book. This book is one of the books being offered in our subscribers drawings. So subscribe to one of our newsletters at the box on the right and be entered in our twice monthly drawing.

Review by Julia Widdop

Review of Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, & Market Your Book by Patrika Vaughn

Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish & Market Your Book couldn't be written by anyone more experienced in the publishing industry than Patrika Vaughn. She has been widely published and has worked as a literary agent and professional writer for over thirty years. Throughout her book, her mission is simple: to set writers up for success.

In this self-proclaimed manual, she addresses both the writing and business side of a book. Her overview is brief but takes on the amount of depth necessary for the reader to start on the path to writing and provides a step-by-step approach to creating a book.

Vaughn begins by walking the reader through the writing process and assisting the reader in creating a vivid story or work of nonfiction. Vaughn provides a more systematic approach to writing; therefore, her method may not work for everyone. However, it is worth reading and is a perfectly adaptable format to any writing style, as she takes into consideration the aforementioned possibility.

As Part I and II are about the process of writing, Part III is about the business—what to do with what you have written. In this part of the book, Vaughn gives a general overview of self-editing, the preparation of manuscripts, and of the various markets that might take the completed work. Following these sections, there are two chapters that focus specifically on self-publishing and marketing the self-published book. Because this book was originally published in 1997, the advice given here should be taken with some caution and the reader should research today's book market for up-to-date information.

The one thing I dislike about this book is that the author tries to cover too much in a small space. Also, its focus is very broad, attempting to cater to both fiction and nonfiction writers when both need different kinds of attention, which limits the book to being a good general overview for the writer just starting out. Though Vaughn's book is geared more towards the beginning writer, any writer should be able to benefit from this information-packed book.

Patrika Vaughn's book, Writer, Publish & Market Your Book, is available from Amazon.com in print and Kindle editions.

Review by Diana Reed

Review of Death with Dignity by Robert Orfali

Author Robert Orfali examines all the intricacies of dying for the terminally ill and structures his arguments in a logical and helpful way. Whenever I had thought of suicide for terminally ill people I had always thought they could use the running car in the closed garage option which I have heard is pretty painless, but the one thing I hadn’t thought of was the dilemma that Orfali addresses head on in this book. What if you want to live as long as possible, but do not want overwhelming pain at the end? Are you going to be able to go to the car, start it, and complete the necessary tasks at that stage? Are you even going to be able to swallow?

Orfali points out that many times people die in ICU while being treated aggressively and painfully to try and prevent that death. He makes a case for belief that this aggressive treatment, in terminal cases, is more like torture than treatment.

Orfali’s perfect (but in most states illegal) solution is to be able to administer either by swallowing or by injection, a fatal dose of Nembatul. Orfali points out that we treat our dying pets better than we do our dying human loved ones. He support his argument with solid data from Oregon where physician-assisted dying is now legal.

The author provides logical arguments in his Great Debate chapter structured as points and counter points. He invites activists to use his book to create a better death options in all states. he says he knows that most people are not highly motivated enough to fight for legal death with dignity, but it hopes that some will. He makes that even easier by pricing the ebook at only 99 cents.