kailey_luminouslibro's Reviews (3.79k)

Your breath is a powerful tool to nourish your body and mind. Simple breathing exercises can unlock the healing instincts of your nervous system, and relieve stress and anxiety. You'll sleep better, find more energy, and be able to stay calm in difficult situations. Conscious breathing can build up your immune system and help reduce inflammation in the body.

This book guides you through different breathing exercises and mindfulness meditations. It explains how the breath controls so much of how your body responds and functions in daily situations when you are sleeping, driving, working, laughing, or walking.

I really liked that there are inspirational stories of people who turned to breathwork to manage their anxiety and health issues. There are moms, athletes, invalids, and people with high-pressure jobs that learned to tap into the power of their breath. Their stories of healing are full of hope and joy!

There are whole sections describing exactly what goes on in your lungs when you breathe. The science in this book is very well researched! There is a big section all about the parasympathetic nervous system, and how our nerves and brain chemistry respond to our breathing patterns.

I picked up this book at a time when I was having some difficult health issues and that was causing me a lot of anxiety which in turn worsened my health issues. I was stuck in this bad pattern of stress. This book really helped to pull me out of that pattern and find some relaxation and healing!

I love the writing style of this author. Every page is full of compassion. The whole atmosphere of this book is one of peace and gentleness. The author encourages the reader to explore some difficult emotions and meet yourself with kindness; then take a deep breath and relax into those tough feelings, allowing yourself to nurture your soul and accept healing.

This book is exactly what I needed! It covers so many aspects of emotions, physical health, mental attitudes, and spiritual growth as well.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

The Bobbsey family travel to Washington for a visit and see all the famous tourist sites. They wait outside the White House hoping to catch a glimpse of the President, and they see him and the First Lady driving out of the gates. They smile and wave, and the First Lady blows a kiss to the cute twins.

Bert and Nan are on the look out for a special set of china dishes. Their neighbor has promised to pay $100 to anyone who can find her stolen heirloom dishes. Everyone keeps telling the twins that it's very unlikely that the dishes will every turn up again, since they were stolen years ago, but the Bobbsey twins are trusting to luck to perhaps find the missing china.

I used to love these books when I was a girl. The writing is very simple and the plot is straight-forward. Not much really happens. It's mostly peaceful and happy with little adventures that resolve quickly. Just right for little readers.

I have enjoyed reading more of these books as an adult. They are just so peaceful and soothing, reminding me of happy times in my childhood.

This cookbook has recipes for desserts made in the traditional Mexican style, but sometimes with a new twist! There are recipes for Flan, Empanadas, Pie, Cake, Cookies, Donuts, Gelatin, and tons more. And of course, there is an entire section for Holiday recipes that are deliciously Mexican.

These recipes take me back to my childhood in Mexico! Just reading the book makes my mouth water. Every recipe has a large colorful photograph that shows you the delectable result. I'm so impressed with how attractive this book is!

The instructions are clear, and most of the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store. There are a few ingredients like cajeta, dried hibiscus flowers, and tamarind that you might have to buy at a Hispanic market. But there are dozens of recipes to try that don't require any fancy ingredients.

There are also a few tools that might not be in a regular American kitchen, like a tortilla press or molinillo (to whisk hot chocolate), but you could probably make do without it if you had to.

The recipes I really want to try are the candied pumpkin empanadas, peanut butter cajeta cookies, and the churro muffins.
I am especially impressed that there is a recipe for making your own concha bread in the REAL traditional style. All these recipes look so amazing!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

Everyone worries, but there are ways to combat those negative thoughts and find calm! This book dives deep into the cognitive distortions, mental habits, and mistaken beliefs that keep you worried and stressed. You'll learn how to let go of your worries, corral those chaotic thoughts, and cultivate peace in your life.

I'm not even a mom, and I found this book really helpful! I read this book before giving it as a Mother's Day gift to my sister-in-law.

I love that this book is so positive! Even while addressing difficult issues and negative emotions, the author keeps the focus on gratitude for good things in your life. The language is so encouraging and compassionate.
Sometimes I criticize myself for having anxiety, as if I'm supposed to always be perfectly happy. This book helped me to know that it is normal to have up and down emotions, and gave me tools for dealing with difficult emotions.

I appreciated that this book is NOT just mild encouragement for burnt-out moms with some cutesy platitudes that sound nice but don't really help. This book REALLY gets into the heart of anxiety and what causes it. And the advice is actually helpful and doable. It really makes a difference!

I also was glad to see that this book includes small sections about faith and prayer. The best way to overcome anxiety is to tap into spiritual strength from God! This book is not necessarily Christian, but it does include two or three Bible verses, and much of the underlying philosophy is based in Christian thinking. The author uses phrases from the Bible like "renewing your mind".

I enjoyed the writing style of this author. It's funny and vulnerable and heart-felt. It's like the author is coming alongside you with encouragement and a warm hug. It never sounds preachy or cutesy. It feels honest and real, and that meant a lot to me. It takes courage to write that way.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

Mr. Bobbsey has bought a houseboat for the summer vacation, and the Bobbsey twins travel up the river on their way to visit Lake Romano and the beautiful waterfall there. Along the way, they meet a young boy who is beaten by his employer, and Mr. Bobbsey tries to stop the man from mistreating the boy. However, the man exacts his revenge by fencing off his portion of the river so that the Bobbsey houseboat can't pass through his land on the way to the lake! The Bobbsey twins will have to figure out some way to help the boy and get their houseboat past this obstacle.

I used to love these books when I was a girl. The writing is very simple and the plot is straight-forward. Not much really happens. It's mostly peaceful and happy with little adventures that resolve quickly. Just right for little readers.

Of course, the setting reflects an older time when gender stereotypes and racism was the norm. It is terrible, but I think it's an important look at history to see how certain ideas were considered normal at one time, although they are known to be offensive now. It might be a good conversation to have with a child about how the only true moral compass that can be trusted to stand the test of time is the Bible.

The good creatures of Redwall discover a riddle that could lead to the lost treasure of Gonff, the Prince of Mousethieves. Hundreds of generations ago, Gonff stole four beautiful jewels from the Doomwyte caves, and hid them somewhere in Redwall Abbey. Now a new generation of young creatures are following the clues to find the priceless jewels.

I didn't care for this book as much as other books in this series. First of all, I can't stand snakes, and there are a lot of snakes in this story. Also, I just didn't connect to the characters as much as I usually do. The characters are fun, and the plot is interesting, but I guess I wasn't in the right mood or something.

The plot was going in a bunch of different directions, with dozens of characters doing different things. I prefer a more linear story that focuses on one group of main characters. I skipped most of the scenes that follow the villains. I just didn't want to hear about their nasty squabbling and killing.

There are a lot of grisly deaths in this book, which is true of most Redwall books, but it just seemed like a bit too much in this one.

There are a few characters that I really liked though. I liked Bisky, the young mouse who starts the whole adventure by relating the tale of Gonff the Mousethief to the Abbey babes at bedtime. I liked the voracious hare, Laird Bosie, who eats everything sight and never backs down from a fight. And I liked Samolus, the old mouse who first discovered the legend of Gonff and the hidden jewels. And I loved Abbot Glisam, who leads the Abbey with wisdom and kindness.

In this fourth book of the series, Max is worried that he might be dying from a strange alien condition. His only chance is for them to find the alien ship that crashed decades before. Liz will do anything to save him. The group of friends spend their days scouring the desert, looking for a clue to the whereabouts of the crashed ship. Maria admits her true feelings for Michael, and Alex stands up to his father. Isabel feels a special connection to Max and Michael as they explore what it means to be human or alien. Each character is growing in different directions, but they all unite around Max when he needs their help.

I loved the Roswell TV show when I was a teenager, and it was so fun to rediscover this story through the books! I don't think I would have enjoyed the books now as an adult if I didn't already have the nostalgia of the TV show.

I like that the books are different than the TV show and have different plot lines. It keeps it interesting for me, and it's fun to see how the books differ from the show. The character's personalities are a little different too. Michael is way more funny and less brooding. Isabel is more haughty and proud. Alex is more confident. Max is way less calm than in the TV show. It's weird to see these different sides to their personalities.

The writing is really dorky and has all the high school tropes that you would expect from a 90s teen novel. But I don't care! I love it anyway! Most people would probably roll their eyes at the teen angst, but it just makes me laugh because I already adore the characters.

I can't wait to read more from this series! 

Three siblings and their cousin, Richard, visit the wood behind their cottage, and at the center of the forest is the Faraway Tree. It is the largest tree in the world; so large that the top reaches the clouds, and at the very top the Faraway Tree connects to a magical land.

But the magical connection changes every week, so that you never know which land will be at the top of the tree. It might be the Land of Treats where everyone gets to eat anything they want. Or it might be the Land of Tempers, where everyone is angry all the time. It might be a land where you can get magical medicines to cure any illness. Whatever land there is, the children and their fairy friends are sure to have a wild adventure!

This writing is similar in style to the Wizard of Oz books, and very enjoyable! I like how imaginative each different land is; you never know what will happen next!

There are quite a lot of different fairyland characters. Goblins, pixies, brownies, talking animals, and others who defy description. Even the trees can talk in this magical forest!

Such a fun book! 

Richard Hannay is serving as a general in WWI, when he is called away from the warfront to engage in some counter-espionage back in England. A dangerous group of radicals in a small county village might be hiding an evil mastermind who is the center of a ring of German spies, hiding in plain sight on British soil. Richard meets some old friends who return to be part of the team, and he is introduced to the beautiful Mary, a voice of wisdom in all their plans.

I love the adventure in this third book of the series! However, it takes some time to get to that point. The beginning is a lot of setup before the action can get started. I liked some of the political and philosophical conversations about the war, but it slowed down the plot too much.

The espionage is thrilling. The mystery is intriguing. We travel to many different settings all over Europe from Scotland to the Italian Alps.

I liked the romance between Richard and Mary, but it seemed sort of insta-love, and I wish that they had had more than three conversations before they fell madly in love. And then, when they do declare their love for each other, it just seems like it's kind of understood between them that they are engaged without there ever having been an actual proposal. All their friends magically know that they are engaged, but we never hear about the actual proposal or an announcement to their friends. It seems like there are holes in the story regarding this romance. It doesn't evolve in a natural way. Maybe some things happened behind the scenes or something, but the reader is left wondering about the missing pieces.

I enjoyed the writing style very much. I like that we get to experience all of Richard's inner thoughts and emotions. The writing is so powerfully descriptive that the reader feels all of Richard's fear and elation as he escapes from danger.

I also enjoyed learning about this time period of history from a story written right in the middle of WWI.

There is an underlying theme that connects all of the books of the Chronicles of Narnia, influencing the tone of each story, the imaginative elements of the plot, and the roles the characters play. This thread woven through the entire series is the medieval mythology of the cosmos, a subject which fascinated C.S. Lewis.

The seven medieval planets and their respective "deities" represent particular ideas and characteristics that are the foundation of each of the Narnia stories. These include Jupiter (in LWW), the deity of the hunt, of kingship, and revelry; Mars (in PC), the deity of war and silvan woodland; Sol the sun (in VDT), the deity of gold, fire and dragons/lizards; Luna the moon (in SC), the deity of boundaries between worlds, insanity, silver, and water; Mercury (in HHB), the deity of theft, language, swiftness, quicksilver, and twins; Venus (in MN), the deity of femininity, familial love, original temptation, laughter, and the Morning Star; and finally Saturn (in LB), the deity of death, sorrow, destruction, and time.

I really loved that this book has an extremely scholarly foundation with lots of quotes and letters and references, and a very large index full of proof of each little detail of the author's findings. I started out very skeptical that anyone had really found some secret code in the Narnia books, but I was quickly convinced of the truth of the author's premise. The scholarship here is very thorough.

But this book does not read like a boring doctoral thesis. I found it very readable and easy to follow. It is full of funny anecdotes and interesting stories about Lewis. There are many clever insights into, not just the Narnia series, but Lewis' other works as well. I loved diving into the details of the Narnian characters and their personalities.

The first chapters go into some basic background about Lewis, his scholarly interests, and how he was fascinated with medieval philosophies regarding the Greek deities and the cosmos. The main focus is the influence that these philosophies had on medieval literature in the characteristics that the deities represent. Obviously Lewis and the medieval scholars did not actually believe that these deities existed, but that they were representations of ideas in human history.

Each of the deities is brought forward in its own chapter with sections about their influence on literature and especially on Lewis. We see how their most prominent characteristics and roles are seen in the person of Christ. We see their influence especially in Lewis' Space Trilogy and in some of his poetry. And finally, we bring all the threads together in each Narnia book, showing how the characters, plot, and settings all revolve around a central theme, a planet deity from medieval philosophy.

The last chapters explain some more about the possible writing process that Lewis went through to create this structure for the Narnian stories, and about how the author himself first came to realize that this was a hidden theme in Narnia. There are also some guesses as to why Lewis thought it important to keep this a secret even after his death. Once you see the influence clearly, does it have the same influence on you as when you were just enjoying it unawares? It's the shadowy influence that is in the background which has the most effective impact. Lewis believed that hidden things in literature were more powerful than the things on the surface.

I especially liked that the idea of the planetary deities was always brought back around to Christology, and how the person of Christ brings to fruition each of the characteristics that are explored. The author is a Christian and he showed how Lewis kept Christ at the center of the Narnia stories, both in the person of Aslan and also in the personalities of the other characters.

I found this absolutely fascinating! I will never read the Chronicles of Narnia the same way again. It's amazing how each little detail in the Narniad supports this overarching structure of the planetary deities. Even when a character randomly exclaims, "By Jove!" it has a special meaning now.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nigel Patterson and enjoyed it very much. The paperback copy has some illustrations from Pauline Baynes showing crucial scenes from Narnia that illustrate points made in the book, and also some photos and paintings of Greek gods demonstrating their famous roles in mythology.

You can find out more about this cool book at http://www.planetnarnia.com