non fiction

Non Fiction Review: The Loneliness Companion

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The Loneliness Companion by Shrein H. Bahrami
The Loneliness Companion: A Practical Guide for Improving Your Self-Esteem and Finding Comfort in Yourself
by Shrein H. Bahrami

5 out of 5 stars


This book gives practical advice for connecting with others and finding fulfilling relationships. I love how the chapters are organized, beginning with why loneliness can be so crippling, how to pull yourself out of it, and how to cultivate healthy and meaningful relationships and friendships.

Each chapter ends with a page of affirmations and encouraging sentences that you can claim as your own life lesson or mantra. Instead of just a book that “tells” you about loneliness, there are meditations, activities, and journal prompts that get you involved in the process of finding freedom from loneliness. These steps are truly helpful! So many of the things in this book would help the reader to heal from past hurts, and look to the future with hope. Continue reading →

Cookbook Review: Whole Food Vegan Baking

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Whole Food Vegan Baking by Annie Markowitz
Whole Food Vegan Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Healthy, Natural Ingredients
by Annie Markowitz

4 out of 5 stars

This vegan cookbook includes recipes for Breads, Biscuits, Muffins, Scones, Cookies, Brownies, Bars, Cakes, Cupcakes, Pies, and Tarts. The introduction begins with some information about how to bake without eggs, butter, or milk, using vegetable substitutes like applesauce, nut butters, almond milk, or pumpkin puree to function as the oils and fats that bind a dough together. There are sections about types of flour and natural sweeteners as well.

Each recipe has information about whether or not the food is soy-free, gluten-free, or nut-free. There are excellent tips for storing your baked goods, as well as variations on the recipe to try out. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Beginner’s Guide to Weight Lifting

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Beginner's Guide to Weight Lifting by Kyle Hunt
Beginner’s Guide to Weight Lifting: Simple Exercises and Workouts to Get Strong
by Kyle Hunt

4 out of 5 stars

“The best way to change your life is to improve your health and fitness.” This book gives advice on using weight lifting to get a healthier heart, stronger bones, better mental health, increased metabolism, and better flexibility and balance. Beginning with goal setting and information about muscle groups, this book has everything a beginner needs to begin training.

I really like that this book includes a glossary for weight lifting terms that not everyone would know. There is really good advice about warming up, cooling down, muscle groups, recovery, and nutrition.
There are tips for how to find a good gym or set up a gym at home, as well as gym etiquette rules and how to choose the right weights.
There is an entire chapter just about warming up, and then there are sections for basic exercises, as well as routines for designing your workouts for 4 weeks. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Aromatherapy for Self-Care

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Aromatherapy for Self-Care by Sarah Swanberg
Aromatherapy for Self-Care
by Sarah Swanberg

4 out of 5 stars

This book begins with general advice about self-care, and the role that aromatherapy can play in your mental, physical, and emotional well-being. There is a chapter about the types of essential oils and carrier oils, as well as lists of recommended materials and tools. I especially appreciated the section on how and where on the body to apply oils using acupressure points.

There is a list of Top Ten Essential Oils and their uses, substitutes, and how best to blend them with other oils. There is also a lengthy chart with many other essential oils and their healing properties.

The following chapters have recipes for essential oil blends to be inhaled or applied topically to the body.

Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Minimalism Room by Room

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Minimalism Room by Room by Elizabeth Enright Phillips
Minimalism Room by Room: A Customized Plan to Declutter Your Home and Simplify Your Life
by Elizabeth Enright Phillips

2 out of 5 stars


This book guides the reader through the decluttering journey with chapters for each room. The writing style is excellent with practical advice on how to make decisions for keeping or tossing your possessions. One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the way it encourages the reader to examine their emotions about their home and possessions. The book provides affirmations and inspirational advice to fuel your motivation and create a new way of living.

It was odd to me that Bathrooms were lumped together with the Entryways in the same chapter. What do Bathrooms have in common with an Entryway? It made no sense to have those two areas together and made for a very confusing chapter. And the Laundry Room is included in the chapter with the Master Bedroom. The information is poorly organized. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Moving Through Grief

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Moving Through Grief by Gretchen Kubacky PsyD
Moving Through Grief: Proven Techniques for Finding Your Way After Any Loss
by Gretchen Kubacky PsyD

4 out of 5 stars

This book gives practical and realistic ways to deal with grief by accepting your feelings instead of pushing them away. I immediately felt confidence in the author’s voice, because the ideas in this book ring true and show a lot of common sense. I admire how the chapters are organized in a progression of healing that leads the reader into deeper living with healthy emotions.

Beginning with basic self-care and reconnecting with relationships in your life, this book addresses defining your core values that keep you anchored through tough times, and gently moves the reader into reassessing the “story” they tell themselves about their life. I really loved the chapters about the “observer self” and how we can remain detached from untrue thoughts that threaten to disconnect us from the reality of our grief. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Toddler Activities Made Easy

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Toddler Activities Made Easy by Krissy Bonning-Gould
Toddler Activities Made Easy: 100+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Busy Parents
by Krissy Bonning-Gould (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars


This book gives fun and engaging activities for toddlers that require very little set-up, materials, or preparation. In the first pages, there are lists of specific motor skills, language skills, and emotional intelligence that you can look for in your toddler based on their age. There are labels for different skills that are used in each activity.

The activities include things like matching games, pretending to be animals, recognizing shapes and letters, hopscotch, dance parties, and simple construction projects with materials like paper, cardboard, and rubber bands. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils

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The Beginner's Guide to Essential Oils by Christina Anthis
The Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
by Christina Anthis

4 out of 5 stars

This book begins with an explanation of what essential oils are, how they are manufactured, and safety precautions for their use. There are lists of basic equipment, types of applications, blends and dilutions that can be used.

The next sections detail types of carrier oils and essential oils with all their properties, uses, and precautions. There are even suggested substitutes for each oil in case you don’t have it.

The last section is divided into recipes and blends for physical and mental health, for the home and family, and for personal care. The recipes include soaps, salves, compresses, throat gargle, deodorant, lip balm, facial cleanser, moisturizer.
Their uses include relief from pain, stress, cough, congestion, nausea, eczema, headache, insomnia, and dozens more. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Grateful Together

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Grateful Together by Vicky Perreault
Grateful Together: A Gratitude Journal for Kids and Their Parents
by Vicky Perreault
4 out of 5 stars

This guided journal is for parents and children to write in together as a reminder to be grateful for something each day. The prompts include things like being grateful for friends, laughter, favorite books, pets, acts of kindness, and teachers.

A guided entry might ask the writer to do an act of kindness or generosity and then journal about it and how it made them feel to help someone. Another entry will ask the writer to write about a time when someone helped them, and how grateful they are for the generosity of others. Continue reading →

Non Fiction Review: Figure Drawing for Kids

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Figure Drawing for Kids by Angela Rizza
Figure Drawing for Kids: A Step-By-Step Guide to Drawing People
by Angela Rizza

4 out of 5 stars


This book gives step-by-step instructions for sketching and drawing the human figure, beginning with basic shapes, proportions, and teaching how to draw movement and add shading. All the example drawings and instructions are appropriate for this age level, and full of fun and useful information!
I like that there is not a ton of fancy equipment required to do the drawings and sketches in this book. Simple pencils, fine-point ink pens, nice colored pencils, and a basic sketchpad are all you need.
Continue reading →