T is for Transformation| Book Review

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Pages: 272
Published: November 7, 2017
Publisher: Rodale

T is for Transformation by Shaun T.
Synopsis:

“Your mind is a sledgehammer. Swing it!”
(Shaun T, pg. 20, 2017)

In T is for Transformation, Shaun T unveils the 7 transformational principles that guided his progress through life and that are at the core of his incredibly successful workouts. T is for Transformation is a motivational master class as Shaun shows you how to become more flexible and resourceful, give everything you’ve got, and, most importantly, trust and believe in your path to success. The only real obstacles in life are the mental ones, and T is for Transformation can train you to achieve astonishing results in your own life, just as Shaun T has in his. (Goodreads)

Review:

My rating: 5 of 5 stars!
“And another one, and another and another one bites the dust ” – Queen

I love Shaun T. I can remember the first time I saw an insanity infomercial and I knew that I needed to be doing this program. And that’s what I did all throughout high school and was in the best shape of my life.

So, when I heard that this man came out with a book I was on the quick train to pick it up at the bookstore. His writing mirrored a lot of the things that he says to you during a workout. “Trust and Believe” and “Dig Deeper”. But, those words not only have the context to me that I can push myself through a difficult workout, but I can push myself through life.

I read this book at the right time in my life, and I highlighted all my favorite quotes. This book makes you want to get up and get going and try to do all the difficult things that you have not done because of the little voice in your head thats telling you to doubt yourself.

Personally, I think that this book is a great read for athletes and performers. Shaun T, gets his roots as a dancer. It shows the difficulty of auditioning, injuries and life in L.a. as a performer. But, the powerful thing about this book is that no matter how many time Shaun was knocked down, he was passionate in what he was doing that nothing was going to stop him from getting up and going for his dreams.

There are a few trigger warnings such as child abuse, and rape.

This book also contains LGBTQ+ content.

I think this book is remarkable. I think it teaches a lot about tolerance, peoples differences, and acceptance. Throughout the book, Shaun shares his “Truthbombs” with the reader which are lessons that he has learned about the hardest times in his life. These truth bombs are followed by superpowers, and man those superpowers have the ability for you to feel amazing. Each of us has superpowers, and knowing how to unlock those superpowers is so powerful. I think the mind-shift that develops through this book really helps in unlocking those superpowers.

There is no quick fix to fixing your life, or fixing your body. Shaun, tells each one of his readers that they themselves and only themselves are in charge of the choices that they make every single day. Even those small choices that seem insignificant can play a big role in getting you closer to your dreams. My take away from this book is; show up every single day no matter how difficult it may seem because each little step is a step into the direction of your goals.

Half the game is showing up.

This book is an inspiration but it also gives you a glimpse into the life of Shaun T, and what events that have occurred in his life to make him the person he is today. Amazing would be a great way to sum it up.

A Wrinkle In Time |Book Review

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A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1) — Pages. 219
Published: November 7,2017
1st Edition Published in 1962
Publisher: Square Fish

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Synopsis:

It was a dark and stormy night.

Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure – one that will threaten their lives and our universe.

Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s classic Time Quintet. (Goodreads)

REVIEW:
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a beautiful read! I listened to the audio book for this story. And it was so intriguing. I loved the characters and the plot was interesting to me. I think that this story has a deeper meaning.

It was written as a fantasy novel for the time, but it is something else indeed. I think everyone can find something to relate to in this book.

Apart from the magical elements in novel, the book holds a stronger meaning of love, friendship and family. And how the support from your friends and family can get you through the darkest of times.

I think that the darkness that is identified in the novel, is a darkness that is among all of us. Only love can break through the darkness and heals us.

This novel is beautiful with a lot of hidden meaning that is meant to be identified by the reader themselves.

Surprisingly enough this was not one of the books that I read in school, experiencing this for the first was something magical.

Madeline E’Langle has so many beautiful quotes but my favorite of these is the following one “the problem is, it’s not too difficult for kids, but that’s it’s difficult for grown ups. Too many grown ups tend to put themselves into little rooms with windows that don’t open and doors that are locked. And they want to close themselves off from new ideas.”

Book Review

Leah On The Offbeat | Becky Albertalli

October 15, 2018 Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment

Pages: 368

Synopsis: Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended. (Goodreads)

Review: /5

This book was one of my most anticipated reads this year. This was a book I bought on a release day. This very rarely happens. However, this book was over hyped for me. I wanted more from this book.

I really enjoyed our main character, she was such a kickass, firey, female lead. I saw a lot of myself in her. I enjoyed that this character was portrayed as a larger girl. I really enjoyed that there was a lot of LGBTQ+ representation which played a huge role in this story as the main character is trying to figure out her own sexuality. I think is important to have LGBTQ+ representation just to be more aware of and know about because it is something that our society is open about. I also think that young adult and middle-grade books and media need to be putting out LGBTQ+ content because this is the most confusing age for people when they are coming out, or having feelings about the same gender. I think that books are a good way to offer support and make people feel like they are not alone.

I struggled to get behind the main character love interest. I loved it when the characters finally got together, but the process that made them get together was extremely long and overly dramatic. It also hurt a lot of people, which took away from the whimsical feel that I had after reading “Simon and the Homosapien Agenda”. I also felt that there were a lot of loose ends at the end that were not tied together. I was left with a lot of questions about what was going on with the other characters in the book.

I think that a major reason I gave this book a 3/5 is that it went back and forth on the development of relationships. The character would make progress in their relationship and then a few scenes later take a step back. It seemed that the relationships were constantly being started over, and although I enjoyed that this whole book is not a fluffy love story. I think it did do a good job of showing how one may be unsure of their sexuality and it supported that idea really well. I just didn’t agree on how that influenced the other characters I felt that a lot of the characters got hurt, and some of the hurt could have been lessened if the events played out differently.

I also did not like that there were a lot of loose ends at the end. There were many characters that didn’t get the proper closure that they should have. However, I was pleased with the end result of the book between Leah and her love interest.

Leave me a comment down below letting me know if you read this book and if you liked it.

With Warm Cups of Tea and Just a Few More Chapters,

Rina

currently reading

It’s Monday: What are you reading?

March 12, 2018March 12, 2018 Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment

Happy Monday Bibliomanics,

It’s Monday, so that means I get to tell you what I am currently reading.

I am currently reading as always like a million books. I started reading “The Great Gatsby”, last week because I was craving a short Classic. “The Great Gatsby”, is great. “Hardy Har Har.” But, I am really enjoying it so far. This time around I am annotating it.

I am also reading “Overcoming Chronic Pain through Yoga”, this was a new release that came out last week. I have been reading it on my Ipad, normally at night when I am all settled in. I am about 39% of the way through it.

As far as audiobooks go, I am listening to “Shatter Me”. I am absolutely loving it. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read this. Especially because Whitney from Whittynovels on Youtube talks about this series all the time.

I hope that by the end of this week I will also have read “A Wrinkle in Time.” I read a chapter of it on e-book before realizing that I would love to have a physical copy of this book. So, I am waiting for it to come in the mail tomorrow.

If I get to all of this books this week I will consider it to be a success. Last week was a super funky week, I honestly wasn’t in the mood to read anything. I wasn’t even in the mood to listen to anything on audiobook either.

Hoping for a better reading week!!

With warm cups of tea and just a few more chapters,

Happy Reading!!

Rina

Book Review

Your Creative Career: Turn your passion into a Fulfilling and Financially Rewarding Lifestyle By Anna Sabino| Book Review

January 22, 2018January 22, 2018 Marinainw0nderland2 Comments

Your Creative Career

(I was provided a copy for an honest review from Netgalley.)

Pages: 192

Publisher: Career Press

Release Date: 1/22/18

Synopsis: Anna Sabino is an artist, but certainly not a starving one. She wasn’t born into a wealthy family, didn’t inherit money from a distant relative, and doesn’t have a rich husband. But she made it as an entrepreneur, as a single woman, and most important, as an artist.

In Your Creative Career, she shows her fellow artists and creatives how to build a business that reflects their talent and true calling while generating serious cash. Whether the goal is to build an empire and be financially free, create a lifestyle business, or just to have more time, Your Creative Career guides you through every aspect of creative entrepreneurship.

If you want to start your creative career, transition into it, or give it a boost, this book is a must read that features:Proven systems and strategies to create ideally priced products that keep selling.The importance of going through all the steps of making it from idea inception and execution to branding and distribution.The importance of transitioning from artistic solitude to collaborative, creative entrepreneurship.
The most effective marketing and PR methods adjusted to the new reality of short attention spans and information overload. (Goodreads)

(Book Images belong to Ana Sabino, and Career Press.)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Review:

This book came into my hands at the right time. I was really inspired by this book. I felt that it had a lot of good information for a person who is looking to start making money off their creative projects. However, I also felt like it was a nice shove into creating.

I wanted to start creating anything and everything after reading this. One of my resolutions for the last few years is to be more of a creative force. However, I have had a bunch of different excuses that always stood in the way of doing what I wanted and love to do.

I think that the biggest lesson that I have learned from reading this book is CONSISTENCY AND CONFIDENCE. I recognized that I will not always be making the best art or coming up with original content to create and thats okay. But, what I am personally not okay with is to stop creating out of fear that my work will not be recognized by others.

If you can’t tell yet, I really loved this book. If you are a creator or small business owner I highly recommend to read this book.

As I am not creating a physical product for sale, I felt a little disconnected with the passages that talked about product selling stand point. But, I still felt that everything this book talked about could be implemented in any creative situation that you may find yourself, whether you are a blogger, Youtuber, or even a small creator. This book is magical because I truly believe that any creative reader can gain a little something from it.

There was a lot of information that in the back of my mind I already knew about but, I still felt like it was a beneficial reminder. Most importantly it reminded me that in order to be a creator, you must be creating for the right reasons. Although, going viral and selling a product is a great thing, I personally gained that if I loved creating something I should continue creating it. However, I should also be open to creating things that I know my consumers would be enjoying as well.

Besides inspiring you this book, shows you the starting point of taking your creative side and moving it into a career. I really liked that the information was not overwhelming and it didn’t seem to be out of reach of accomplishment. I feel like a lot of times you can become overwhelmed with the information that is presented to you but, this book didn’t do that. It gave you a starting point, leading you on your way. And I really, really liked not feeling that my goals were not accomplishable.

I really liked that you could connect with the book because the author shared her own story, while she was leading you on a path of establishing your creative career. I like that a reader could relate to what the author went through, using their own creative experience.

This book definitely makes you reflect on your own creative process. Which I felt was very helpful. I personally, feel I have more direction on where I would like to take my creative projects.

If you are on your own creative journey and you need some inspiration, I think that this book would be right up your ally. If you have an idea execute it. Don’t let things hold you back from trying.