BOOK REVIEWS
101 Things I Wish I Knew
When I got Married
Simple Lessons to Make Love Last
By Linda & Charlie Bloom
When we realize most people have more training to drive a car than they do
in “driving” a successful relationship, that is when we need to look for real
answers that work. These answers can be found in “101 Things I Wish I Knew
Before I Got Married.” As a two-time divorcee myself, I see in hindsight there
were many things that may have helped salvage the marriages if they had been
implemented early on.
So if you are newly married, thinking about getting married, or have been married for 50 years, this book is for you! The wonderful format of this priceless gem allows you to flip open the book to any page and find immediate answers, or you can read it from cover to cover the conventional way. Even better, look in the table of contents for the specific problem you need to work on, and it will be there in this unparalleled book.
With 101 short chapters that have titles such as “Marriage is like yoga”; ”Great relationships don’t just happen, they are created’; ”Forgiveness is its own reward; and my two personal favorites — “Sex can improve at any age” and Marriages never outgrow the need for romance.”
I am sure you can see this is one book everyone in a relationship must have. 10 stars on this one!
Published by New World Library, this book is available at local bookstores.
Reviewed by Maryel McKinley
POSITIVE ENERGY
Ten Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue,
Stress and
Fear into Vibrance, Strength and Love
By Judith Orloff, M.D.
This incredibly valuable book offers a lifeline to everyone who is
exhausted or stressed out. It helps you realize the energetic power
that
has always been within you. Dr. Judith Orloff is the real deal — a
physician, an authentic human being, a skilled medical intuitive and
teacher of energy medicine. In her book, she teaches you how to connect
with the flow of positive energy within and around you, how to stop
“energy vampires” from draining you, and how to lead a balanced life
that brings happiness and inner peace.
“Positive Energy” presents ten specific prescriptions for building energy focusing on essential topics such as creativity, sexuality, and spirituality. Throughout the book, Dr. Orloff uses case histories of patients she’s worked with, offers wonderful exercises to boost vitality, and gives intimate examples from her own life, including lessons learned from her own energy crash. She describes her practice of Energy Psychiatry, a field Orloff has pioneered which incorporates intuition, the body’s subtle energies (sometimes called chi), and traditional medicine.
Dr. Orloff also addresses what she has coined “technodespair,” burnout from e-mails, beepers, faxes and phones. You learn that machines absorb your vibes just as you absorb their’s, and that your emotional energy, especially anger and frustration, can disrupt technology and appliances.
If you’re interested in the energetic aspects of health, healing, and relationships you must read this book. “Positive Energy” fulfills its promise by teaching you how to “transform fatigue, stress, and fear, into vibrance, strength, and love.” For more information about Dr. Orloff’s books and workshops visit www.drjudithorloff.com
Published by Harmony Books, this book is available at local bookstores.
Review by Joan Borysenko, PhD
Where Were You
When I Needed You Dad?
A Guide For Healing Your Father Wound
By Jane Myers Drew, PhD
This is a book for men and women whose fathers were “Absent, Judgmental,
Abusive, Distant.” It is a practical guide for processing your own personal life
while looking at your relationships. You may wish to take a new look at
one of your primary relationships, the one with your father from earliest
childhood.
Jane Myers Drew did not realize she had any father wounds because her father had died when she was just a baby. In her mid-thirties she was working with unresolved issues in her own life when her counselor suggested her father-relationship needed to be reviewed. Jane says she was certain it was all about her mother and not a father who was not even there, through no fault of his own!
However, in time as she began to take a long look at how that had affected her life, she discovered, “If your father was absent when you were growing up, or if he was abusive, judgmental, or emotionally unavailable — you almost certainly struggle in at least one of the following areas; achieving career success, asserting yourself, or sustaining satisfying relationships.”
Jane’s step-by-step journey to healing her father-wound is now in this book to help others who may be trying to understand, release, and reframe their unresolved longings, sadness, and anger toward their dad. The compassionate process in this book helps individuals begin to act as their own ‘good father’. They will experience satisfying, positive changes in their own intimate relationships, while creating bonds based on confidence and self-love, not out of father-hunger and neediness!
Published by Tiger Lilly Publishing, this book is available at Amazon Books, or call (949) 645-5907
Reviewed by Kay Walburger
Love On A Rotten Day
An Astrological Survival Guide
to Romance
By Hazel Dixon-Cooper
Cosmopolitan Magazine’s bed-side astrologer, Hazel Dixon Cooper, has just
topped her literary best in the outrageously funny yet accurate astrology for
lover’s book, “Love On A Rotten Day.” If you want to know the REAL truth about
your sign, or that of your lover, then get this book as it cuts through the
flowery frilly language found in most zodiac guides and gets down to the
nitty-gritty truth!
Did you know being hooked up with a Scorpio is a “Karmic Thing” that will jump you ahead several lifetimes? (Uh oh I am a Scorpio!) Or that Cancer men love to be babied, pampered and pacified? (I take the 5th amendment as to who is a Cancer in my life!) This hilarious, yet extremely deft guide to the stars, is a one-of-a-kind handbook that no single man or woman should leave home without — especially if you are going on a blind-date.
But seriously folks, “Love on A Rotten Day” is not only funny, it is one of the best astrological survival guides to romance this book reviewer has ever seen. I must admit that it was refreshing and enlightening to read the truth about my Sun sign, and that of my loved ones.
Published by Fireside Books, this book is available at local bookstores.
Reviewed by Maryel McKinley
How To Be Cherished
A Guide to Having the Love
You Desire
By Marilyn Graman & Maureen Walsh with Hillary Welles
“How to Be Cherished” is so powerful I believe it could save even the most
doomed relationship. This book will teach you how to keep the honeymoon glow in
your marriage long after it should have waned. The truth is, when you find out
the real reasons your relationship isn’t working, you can realize that there is
nothing wrong with you. What you will discover after reading this fantastic book
is that you are far more powerful in your relationship than you could ever
imagine!
This book offers gentle and insightful guidance to help you through any problems your present relationship may be having. In fact, this book is so full of good practical information even the authors themselves guarantee that after reading “How To Be Cherished,” you will be experiencing much more of what you want and need in your relationships!
When we learn to love ourselves first, then we can set the stage for true romance that can last a lifetime. No longer do we need to settle for less, or to repeat old unwanted patterns. This book will free your mind and spirit, while giving you some practical tools to help you in every area possible, enabling you to be a more loving and lovable person living in forgiveness, gratitude and love. Full of sage-like wisdom, “How to Be Cherished” is by far one of the most outstanding books on relationship I have ever read.
Published by Life Works Books, this book is available at local bookstores.
Reviewed by Maryel McKinley
Sharing
A Place Without Losing Your Space
A Couples Guide to Blending Homes, Lives, and Clutter
By Regina Leeds
Regina Leeds’ newest book, “Sharing Your Place Without Losing Your
Space” is a dream come true for those who are contemplating moving in
together, or even for a single person with A.D.D.! This is the only book on the
market that will guide you step by step throughout the unsavory process of
trying to blend your “stuff” with someone else’s and making it work like magic.
Covering the gamut of how to keep an organized home, Leeds will show you everything you need to know from how to keep a proper guest room, to being a responsible pet owner in your new home. As the leading expert in bringing a Zen-like atmosphere to your personal space — whether at the office or in your life in general, Leeds was not only voted “Best Organizer” by Los Angeles Magazine, but also the author of the best seller “The Zen of Organizing: Creating Order and Peace in Your Home, Career and Life. “
At last the word “MOVE” does not have to be a four-letter word. I found this book extremely helpful in my recent move from Newport Beach to Kansas City — especially since I have a home office and see clients in my home as well. Thanks to Regina Leeds, the mess that was in my u-haul truck now looks like a beautiful showpiece model home. Ten stars to Regina Leeds and her outstanding book, my house, my guests and I are forever grateful!
Published by Alpha, this book is available at local bookstores.
Reviewed by Maryel McKinley
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