Whatever Arises, Love That by Matt Kahn

Summary
There are four simple words that point the way toward liberation and fulfillment: whatever arises, love that. This is the life-changing teaching that Matt Kahn has been sharing with millions of YouTube viewers around the world. "Whatever Arises, Love That" offers a collection of powerful teachings by this highly regarded teacher, providing you with a series of deeply healing insights and practices to ignite the spark of your highest potential. Topics include:

Discovering the first step in finding inner peace

Reclaiming the passion, joy, and inspiration of your true innocent nature

Exploring the essential role of surrender throughout the spiritual journey

Unraveling the patterns of ego with compassion and ease

Mastering the vital skill of conscious communication to uplift every relationship and encounter

Reuniting the mind and heart as a doorway into greater spiritual evolution

As Matt often says, The deepest invitation in any moment is to heal the root of human suffering and celebrate the Spirit in all by opening your heart to its absolute potential. In a universe of endless questions, love is the only answer. "Whatever Arises, Love That" is the blueprint for a new spiritual paradigm and your companion in exploring spiritual evolution in the most heart-centered way."

Impressions

To be very honest, it was a surprising read.
When I've started to read this book. I was hooked from the beginning, I was turning the pages, finding some interesting answers when the author lost me...for a few pages...to grab me until the end.

While reading, I've tried the meditation, I've tried to smile more and to make peace with my inner child and I was happy. I'm probably on a long road to find myself but this book was a wonderful way to express myself differently.
Hope I will be able to stay on track.
A nice read for people who are looking for answers.

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

Surprise Me by Deena Goldstone

Summary
A bittersweet debut novel, Surprise Me is an unconventional love story about two writers who see more in each other than they see in themselves, and how that faith transforms them.

The fragile dream of becoming a writer takes hold of Isabelle Rothman during her senior year of college. Feeling brave, she begins a one-on-one tutorial with a once highly praised novelist, Daniel Jablonski, who is known on campus as eccentric, difficult, and disengaged. Despite his reputation, Isabelle loves his early novels and hopes Daniel can teach her the secrets of his luminous prose. But their first meeting is a disaster. He never read the chapters she submitted and will not apologize for being unprepared. He has lived up to his reputation, and she feels dismissed, humiliated, and furious.

But slowly, over the semester, they gingerly form a bond that begins to anchor both of them. And over the next twenty years, as they live very separate lives—she in Northern California and he finally settled in a tiny New Hampshire town—they reach out to each other through e-mails, phone calls, and visits. Their continual connection helps Isabelle find the courage to take greater risks and push Daniel to work through layers of self-loathing and regret that have kept his career from flourishing. They are the single constant in each other’s life and the most profound influence.

Daniel and Isabelle recognize they are among the blessed few who meet at the exact moment they need each other the most, and that their lives are transformed by this connection. In a final collaboration, the boundaries of teacher and student give way to a work that heals something in each of them. They truly see each other as extraordinary—as people do when they love—and that belief makes all the difference.

Impressions
Unusual!
Not at all what I was expecting when I first read the summary. I thought it will be a love story when it was the story of a deep connexion and a wonderful meeting of two connected writing souls.

Both Isabelle and Daniel are teacher and student during their life. Through their relationship, they are helping each other to live, to face fears and to think outside the box.

It was an interesting read and the author was able to beautifully describe two people who love each other but are not in love with each other.
A great one!

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

Signs of attraction by Laura Brown

Summary
Do you know what hearing loss sounds like? I do.

All my life I've tried to be like you. I've failed.

So I keep it hidden.

But on the day my world crashed down around me, Reed was there.

He showed me just how loud and vibrant silence can be, even when I struggled to understand.

He's unlike anyone I've ever known. His soulful eyes and strong hands pulled me in before I knew what was happening.

And as I saw those hands sign, felt them sparking on me, I knew: imperfect could be perfect.

Reed makes me feel things I've never felt. It's exciting...and terrifying.

Because he sees me like no one else has, and I'm afraid of what he'll find if he looks too closely.

The only thing that scares me more than being with him? Letting him go.

Impressions
Like looking through a beautiful window into the heart of two private strong people.

This love story is a sweet one, very well written, where you enter into the world of deaf boy and hard of hearing girl. It's full of simple details of the daily life that help us to understand how it can be difficult to adapt into a system who is made for people with good hearing.

I've liked the close community who behaves like a second family for Carli and make her feel welcome. And Reed was really a wonderful character with depth and an amazing personnality. Willow and Val were cool and fun too. Laura Brown has a great simple fun way of pulling you into the world she has created. Very well done!
It's a touching story and I hadn't have time to get bored.
It was a really cute and sweet one!

Quotes

"I wanted to kiss someone. And not just someone in the large, grand ocean of availability. This person across from me. my heart doubled its efforts and my stomach thought maybe the coffee was too hot. How long had it been since I'd felt that way?"

About the author
Laura Brown lives in Massachusetts with her quirky abnormal family. Her husband’s put up with her since high school, her young son keeps her on her toes, and her three cats think they deserve more scratches. Hearing loss is a big part of who she is, from her own Hard of Hearing ears, to the characters she creates.
laurabrownauthor.com

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

How to Make Out by Brianna Shrum

Summary
Sixteen-year-old Renley needs three thousand dollars for the math club’s trip to New York City, and she knows exactly how to get it: she’s going to start a how-to blog where people pay for answers to all of life’s questions from a “certified expert.” The only problems: 1) She doesn’t know how to do anything but long division and calculus. 2) She’s totally invisible to people at school. And not in a cool Gossip Girl kind of way.

So, she decides to learn to do . . . well . . . everything. When her anonymous blog shifts in a more scandalous direction and the questions (and money) start rolling in, she has to learn not just how to do waterfall braids and cat-eye makeup, but a few other things, like how to cure a hangover, how to flirt, and how to make out (something her very experienced, and very in-love-with-her neighbor, Drew, is more than willing to help with).

As her blog’s reputation skyrockets, so does “new and improved” Renley’s popularity. She’s not only nabbed the attention of the entire school, but also the eye of Seth Levine, the hot culinary wizard she’s admired from across the home-ec classroom all year.

Soon, caught up in the thrill of popularity both in and out of cyberspace, her secrets start to spiral, and she finds that she’s forgotten the most important how-to: how to be herself. When her online and real lives converge, Renley will have to make a choice: lose everything she loves in her new life, or everyone she loves in the life she left behind.

Impressions
Super sweet, cute and fun !

When I've read the summary, I thought it will be fun to follow Renley adventures.
And I've been lucky!

The author has been able to create fresh nice characters. I had a fondness for Drew who was my favorite since the beginning; as he brought me into memory lane and made me think of my own childhood friend.
And that's why I was very pleased about this book...Because I haven't been able to put it down after starting it.
I was smiling and I end up with my jaws hurting from Renley antics.

It's a light fun read! A cool one if you want to change your mind and feel young and silly again.
Great discovery too as the author has a very lovely way of expressions emotions.
A great book!

About the author
Brianna Shrum lives in Colorado with her high-school-sweetheart-turned-husband and two uber-hyper, superhero-obsessed little boys.
She thinks chai tea is proof of magic in the world, and loves all things kissy, magical, and strange. She'd totally love to connect with you, so you can find her online at briannashrum.com or saying ridiculous things on Twitter @briannashrum.
www.briannashrum.com

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

Denial by Lisa Renee Jones

Summary
Book one in the CARELESS WHISPERS series. This is a standalone spin-off of the INSIDE OUT series (soon to be a TV show) that follows Ella Ferguson, Sara McMillan's best friend.

Ella Ferguson awakes alone in Italy, unsure of who she is, and a gorgeous man has claimed her as his own. He’s tall, dark, and sexy, with money and power, the kind of man who makes a girl want to be possessed. And he does possess her, whispering wicked wonderful promises to her, stealing her trust and her heart. Soon though, the past finds her, yanking her from a cocoon of passion and safety. Everything is not how it seems. The truth will shatter her world, but it can set her free, if it doesn't destroy her first.

Impression
I've been able to put my hands on this new serie of Lisa Renee Jones and I was glad to take a breath from my usual books to dig into this sexy read.
I've spent a great moment with Ella trying to understand the puzzle of her life through her eyes and memories.
The ending is scary cool and let you curious for more. :-)

I've liked the main characters, even if I'm not a fan of the sister and brother duo. Really liked the strong heroine who doesn't take no for an answer.
And Of course, the sexy Kayden is perfect! ;-)

But during my read, I've also thought that the author was buying time by adding scenes between Detective Gaylo and Kayden just to build action. Idem for some of Ella's memories that were putting some length into the text.

However, you recognize the style of Lisa Renee Jones and you can be sure that you will enjoy yourself. I have and I will definitively be waiting for the sequel!

About the author
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT SERIES, and is now in development by Suzanne Todd (Alice in Wonderland) for cable TV.

In addition, her Tall, Dark and Deadly series and The Secret Life of Amy Bensen series, both spent several months on a combination of the NY Times and USA Today lists.

http://www.lisareneejones.com

Source
*Arc provided by Netgalley
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.

True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

Summary
If you asked anyone in his small Vermont town, they’d tell you the facts: James Liddell, star athlete, decent student and sort-of boyfriend to cute, peppy Theresa, is a happy, funny, carefree guy.

But whenever James sits down at his desk to write, he tells a different story. As he fills his drawers with letters to the people in his world--letters he never intends to send--he spills the truth: he’s trying hard, but he just isn’t into Theresa. It’s a boy who lingers in his thoughts.

He feels trapped by his parents, his teammates, and the lies they’ve helped him tell, and he has no idea how to escape. Is he destined to live a life of fiction?

Impressions
I was attracted by the synopsis. Especially, by the idea of writting letters to people, putting your thoughts down uncensored and never sending them away. It's a good exercice to express yourself and let go of some negative feelings.
Of course, you know when James is writing them that it will end up badly. And it was well written with fun moments.

There is also the subject of homosexuality and how to confess/announce to the people close to you how you feel when you are a teen. The author has put it nicely and honestly without avoiding the bad reactions and the dissapointment about some narrow minded people. You feel James fears of rejection, of being treated differently by his parents, brothers and friends.
A cool quick read.

About the author
Kenneth Logan grew up in Freehold, NJ, and taught high school English in Vermont and San Francisco. Currently, he’s a PhD student in literacy education at New York University. He lives in Brooklyn.

Source
*Arc provided by Edelweiss
I received this book in exchange of a fair and honest review.