WAKE UP Your Life! By Doris Roper

WAKE UP Your Life! By Doris Roper

(Review by Nikki Leigh)

Are you a woman in a transformational stage of your life? Have people told you that your life needs some major changes? Do you feel that things in your life need a change? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are a person who needs to read this book. It is geared toward women, but men can benefit from the advice.

Doris Roper writes his book from a unique perspective. She tells us about a woman taking, not one, not two, but three husbands from her. That’s right – three husbands. At that point, Doris realized that she and her life needed some definite changes. That’s what started her trek to WAKE UP her life and being able to help other women wake up their lives. The book is called “A Woman’s guide to real personal power”, but the information can be great for a man who is stuck in a bad situation and really needs to make changes.

Doris Roper’s target audience are women who need to make a change and also women who are being forced to make a change because of their situations, that can include: divorce, death of a spouse, big financial change, illness or any other major change that would mean the women’s life will change dramatically.

These are some of the chapter titles to give you an idea of the topics that are covered:

Chapter 1 Getting clear on my quest.

Chapter 2 Pain is a blessing, not a curse.

Chapter 3 Forget rejection, think redirection.

Chapter 4 Give up your power, give up your life.

Chapter 5 Focus on your limitations, and you will only see brick walls.

Chapter 6 Remember the Butterfly Effect – your view of things affects others.

Chapter 7 Forgiveness is for you, not for them.

I would tell you which chapter was my favorite, but I found things that I really liked in each chapter. In the opening couple of chapters, I got the feeling the message was to get off your backside and realize your life NEEDS to change. And, there are many people who need to hear that message. I have a habit of making that point to loved ones pretty bluntly sometimes, so that really resonated with me.

It is so true that pain is a blessing in many instances. It reminds us of the old adage that what does kill us makes us stronger – and stronger is not a bad thing. Strength can help us to get through very trying times and each of us have the ability to be strong and to survive some unbelievable situations, sometimes we just need the chance to proof it.

I also liked the idea of redirection instead of rejection. Have there been times in your life when your really needed to change the direction your life was taking, but you hesitated to make that change? I think we all have and rejection can be the motivator we need to make that change. I especially liked chapter 7 and the idea that forgiveness is for us and not the other person.

The book is only one thing that Doris does to help women in transition. Doris is the founder of The W.I.T. Institute, an educational and support organization for women to master their financial lives. Doris helps women to change their belief systems about life, money and success as she knows that it’s their limiting beliefs that keep so many women from being successful. She offers assistance in many ways including special programs on her website to help women make those needed changes.

I highly recommend reading WAKE UP Your Life. It could be just what you need or you may have a friend who needs a nudge to make changes in her life or who is facing an incredibly trying time and just doesn’t know how to make the changes that are needed. That’s where Doris and WAKE Up Your Life comes in.

For more information about Doris' book and her work, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/12/wake-up-your-life-by-doris-roper.html and her website http://www.witinstitute.com/

The Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver

I'm made myself a promise that each holiday, I'll try to take some time off from working and I'll treat myself by reading a book just for fun. The vast majority of the books I read are for clients and although I thoroughly enjoy those books - its fun to read a book just for fun. So, you will probably notice that on many holiday weekends, I've posted reviews for Jeffrey Deaver books :)

The Broken Window is a high tech story about identity theft taken to extremes. Picture this, you are at your home having dinner or watching TV and the police knock on your door. They ask where you have been that evening and even though you know that you haven't done anything wrong, the police find evidence that ties you to a crime - murder. How can that be? They have a shoe print that matches your shoe, the condom at a rape scene matches the condoms you bought a couple of days ago, the potato chip crumbs at the scene match a bag in your garage and the worst news is that the victim's blood was found in your car.

This master criminal thinks that he has all the necessary information to pull off repeated "perfect crimes" and he did for years. Then he makes a "fatal" mistake - he frames Lincoln Rhymes cousin. That brings the renowned forensic specialist to the case and that means the criminals days are numbered (he would appreciate the pun :).

As the criminalist and his crew work on the crime, they find their way to a business that collects every bit of available information about every man, woman and child in the US. The business gives credence to the concerns about 'big brother watching you'. They know where you were, what you did, what you bought and much much more. The idea that a company could have all this information is creepy enough - but then imagine that a criminal mastermind has access to that information.

We see bits and pieces of the criminal and he lashes out at Rhyme, Amelia, and the other people who work with Rhyme. Literally, no one is safe from him and while Rhyme is very good - he has limited access to the information he needs. As always there are plenty of people who appear to be guilty while the reader is given tidbits to help us figure out who the mystery man is.

For anyone who likes a detailed and well researched thriller, I highly recommend this book. If you are a fan of Jeffrey Deaver - this book does not disappoint.

NOTE: I read through a number of other reviews before I posted this and I enjoy the immense detail that Deaver brings to his book and as an author I know the amount of pain staking work that is involved in being authentic and bringing this realism to a story. There was a lot of detail in this book and his usual multiple sub plots, but those are all things that make a Deaver book so great. Its not short or full of fluff and it is very possible to get lost in the story. I didn't think this book had as many whiplash twists to it, but with the detail that was included, I'm not sure that would've worked as well in this novel.

How Obama Won by Earl Ofari Hutchinson

How Obama Won by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
A Comprehensive Dissect of Obama's White House Win

I have to be honest that I’ve never followed politics for many reasons. But in the past year, I’ve worked with Earl Ofari Hutchinson, read four of his book and followed his blog posts. I can tell you that it has been a crash course in politics.

The unbiased details that he shares and the historic information that he provides to support his conclusions are fascinating to me because I love to learn the story behind the news. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally recognized political analyst and author who has had his finger on the pulse of the political system for years and he uses that experience to help the reader dissect Obama’s win.

That is also one of the things I really liked about his latest book, How Obama Won. So many things happened through the 20+ months of campaigning, that I had lost track of many of the details. Through the 20 chapters of this book, he starts with Obama announcing that he will run, his big and important win in the Iowa primary and brings the reader through the final days of the election. I was talking to a friend who was reading this and he mentioned that it felt like a friend was explaining the election to your personally.

In the pages of How Obama Won, Hutchinson discusses many things that helped propel Obama to victory and some things that had the potential to derail his candidacy. These topics include: the economy, fund raising, the black vote, Oprah’s support, “the Bradley Effect”, Jesse Jackson, Reverend Wright, the race issue, the Clintons, choosing the right vice president, Sarah Palin, Colin Powell, blue collar America, and more.

There are very high expectations for President Obama and his administration. This book is to the point and will take you back through the election process and remind you of the details that got Obama to his current position. Take a look back at this historic election that people will study for years to come. This is your chance to dissect Obama’s win. Sure Obama got more votes, but what lead up to him getting those votes? That’s what you learn in How Obama Won.

The Sinner’s Guide to Confession by Phyllis Schieber

Take three best friends, each woman has her own life and family. They share just about everything – but each friend has a secret that she won’t share with her friends or family. Will people think less of her if they know the secret she is hiding? How will her life change if she admits the truth? Will her life be better if she shares the secret? Admitting the truth gives friends and family the chance to help her with the secret – is that what she wants?

Barbara, Kaye and Ellen live in New York and they are each around 50 years old. Barbara recently lost her husband when he died unexpectedly. Thankfully, she has a lucrative career as a romance author and an even more lucrative secret. Her children are grown and on their own, but she is their mother and children have certain expectations about what their mother’s should do.

Kaye has a life with her husband and her children are adults, but her relationship with her husband has grown stale – is her future with him or another man? She meets a man who makes her feel sexy and desired, that makes her “stale” relationship with her husband even harder to tolerate. What will the future bring for Kaye and her family?

Ellen was forced, by her parents, to give up her daughter for adoption. This made her relationship even more strained with her parents and siblings. This forced adoption is even harder to handle as Ellen is married and she is unable to become pregnant. Will Ellen be able to meet her long lost daughter and if she does, can they forge a relationship?

Each of these women has a strong support system in place, but she needs to make the decision to trust these people with the secrets she is hiding. Their journey to self discovery takes you on an interesting, touching, emotion and at times a humorous trek through the pages of The Sinners’ Guide to Confession. Female relationship stories are not usually my favorite reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and often found myself laughing at great one liners and other times reaching for tissues as I read this very well written book by Phyllis Schieber.

Phyllis Schieber is touring cyber space in January 2009 to promote Sinner's Guide to Confession, for complete details - http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/12/sinners-guide-to-confession-by-phyllis.html

The Mind of A Genius by David Snowdon

Imagine if a genius created an invention that could literally change the world – for the better? What would a world changing invention be worth and what extent would be go to in order to get their hands on it? That is the premise behind The Mind of a Genius. I won’t tell you details about the invention, for that you need to read the book.

Malcolm Prince is a brilliant British scientist and he’s finalized the world changing formula. The word is out that he has succeeded and the British, American and Denmark governments are all interested. But, there are a few problems. Malcolm Prince dies without revealing the details and no one knows where he stored the formula. So, the brilliant scientist accomplished the impossible, but the world can’t benefit if the formula isn’t found. Then you have the concern that the formula could fall into the wrong hands.

The race is on – who will find the formula and how many people will go to jail because of their failed attempts to get their hands on the formula? A lot of money is being offered for the person or people who can get their hands on the formula. Which of these mysterious and devious people would you prefer has control of this world changing creation?

One government is trying a different approach. MI4 brings in their suave and very dangerous special agent Jason Clay. Clay is known to be a womanizer and the plan is for him to get close to Malcolm Prince’s beautiful widow. It’s a plum assignment for Clay and the money is good too. He meets Laura Prince and they get to know each other in the coming days. As they get acquainted and get closer, there are plenty of other people who want to get close to the beautiful widow or at least get close to her husband’s formula.

The Mind of a Genius brings together some very colorful and memorable characters to the story board and the action takes the reader from London to Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Australia. Who will find the formula? What is the formula? Will Jason Clay fall for the beautiful widow? Who is the dwarf? Who is Gorgeous Steve? And, who is the young man who keeps breaking out of jail? These are just a few of the answers that author David Snowdon answers in the pages of The Mind of a Genius. Get ready for international intrigue and mystery in the pages of this book.

David Snowdon is touring cyber space from mid January to mid March. For more information, vist http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/12/mind-of-genuis-by-david-snowdon.html