Invitation Only

This is the book number 2 in the Private Series by Kate Brian. Now that Reed has officially been accepted into Billings it's unbelievable until she is forced to spy on her friends by her roommate Natasha. She blackmails her by showing her pictures of her with Witt a guy at a party who kissed her. This could get her expelled and she can kiss her Billings status goodbye. She also hasn't heard from Thomas her boyfriend who disappeared. She thinks he is in rehab. So she wants to go to the Legacy party to see him. The Legacy is a very exclusive party and Whitt is her way in. Witt pursues her and she pretends to like him so that she can be his date. It works but Thomas never shows up but she has fun with her friends. But when they return to campus they discover that the police have found Thomas. He has been murdered!!!

Taking Charge of Adult ADHD

This was an excellent book regarding adult ADHD. It talked not only about what it was but how to change your mindset - knowing and own your ADHD, change your brain - how to master ADHD, change your life - everyday rules for success, and change your situation - mastering ADHD in specific areas of your life. I have read many books on ADHD to learn about my disability and this book I found to be very insightful. This also had a lot of statistics and studies that were performed to learn more about the impact of ADHD in the real world. The studies also focused on ADHD diagnosis in childhood versus adulthood too. But one has to remember that everone with ADHD is different and not everything will apply but I learned a lot about myself. I loved the focus on Adults as well. It gave real life examples too. I would highly recommend this to anyone that has it.

Private

This is book number 1 in the Private Series by Kate Brian. Reed hates her life at home. Her mom is a junkie and her dad is a good dad. She enrolls in Easton Academy an elusive boarding school to start a new chapter in her life. At Easton, she discovers she must keep her grades up while seeking the attention of the Billings Girls. The Billings Girls are the people that matter. everything that they do is perfect. They have the best grades, are the team captains of the sports teams, and if you get invited to the Billings House and graduate you are basically guaranteed a very good job. Reed does whatever she can to gain their attention and it pays off. Meanwhile, she gets into a relationship with a guy Thomas Pearson who then disappears at the end of the book.

Walking with the Lord

This was an excellent book about prayers that were written about how God is there for you and how to strengthen their faith. A very good reference book for any Christian or people who want to learn more about God.

Carrie

Totally not my typical read. But I watched the movie and was obsessed!!! The book was just as good. The only thing I didn't like was that there were not any chapters. The movies followed the book too. Carrie White was sick of being ridiculed by her classmates and tormented by her mother. Carrie gets invited to the prom by Tommy. She discovers she has telekinesis and develops this ability. Chris and her bf decided to dump pig's blood on her during the prom. After the pig's blood is dumped she carries out her revenge by trapping everyone inside the prom. Then she kills a bunch of random people too. What I like most about it is that King told you what happened the days following the prom. This is the part I was most curious about.

The Real Deal on Realtionships Finding Your Focus and Finding Your Keys ADHD According to Zoe

This book was very good! I didn't want to stop reading it. She was really funny. She would tell her story and then she would connect it to ADHD. I learned some new things about my diagnosis that I didn't know. I would recommend this to anyone who has this diagnosis or lives/works with someone with the diagnosis. It will be going into my personal library.  

The Sound of Glass

This was an ok book. Not really my style but it had a good message about cherishing your family and dealing with your problems. It took me a long time to get through this book because of the writers writing style. It was weird. Merritt inherited her husband's grandmothers house after she passed away. she packs up everything and moves to North Carolina to start over after her husband's death. She meets Loralee and Owen. Loralee is her stepmother. They move in with her to help her clean out the house. She also meets Gibbes who is her husband's brother. Loralee helps Merritt to face her past and she falls in love with Gibbes. She then helps raise Owen after Loralee dies.

Parenting Your Child with ADHD

This was a very good book regarding ADHD and the struggles someone goes through. Then it talked about proper ways for parents to help their kids. I have noticed that a lot of books have been written in the last few years about Adult ADHD. I wish I had had opportunities to read these types of books when I was a kid. But if I ever have a kid that has ADD I can help parent better because of this books and other books.

Orphan Train

I enjoyed this book very much. It was really interesting and I couldn't put it down. It talked about a time in history that was almost forgotten about. These orphan trains ran in the US from 1853 to 1929 relocating around 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children. They were unofficially adopted by families that wanted children. Most were not adopted and were treated terribly by their families because they were orphans. A lot were considered to be free labor. It reminded me a lot of the children that were moved from war torn areas in Europe during WWII. This was a fictional story that was based on real events. The author interviewed actual people that rode on the trains and did extensive research. This is thoroughly explained in the back of the book. I also really enjoyed this book because it went back and forth between the past and the present.

A Kid Just Like Me A Father and Son Overcome the Challenges of ADD and Learning Disabilities

This was a very interesting book about the challenges a father faced while advocating for his son. I actually learned a lot about myself by reading this book. I don't have a learning disability but I do have ADD and there were some similarities. The boy in this book had a lot more advanced problems than I have. I know that one day when I have kids that get ADD I can help them just as much. The only downside to this book is I don't know how Joshua is today. I would also like to hear a book from his perspective if that is possible.

10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD

This was a very good book about the struggles of Add and how to overcome them. Personally having ADD I found this very good and would recommend it to anyone who has ADD or is in a relationship with someone who has it. Sometimes the books out there have suggestions that I have heard over and over that I already use. I like this book because it focused on adults and gave some tips that I have never thought of before. There were chapters on reducing clutter and getting organized, stop losing stuff, managing time, managing money, self-care, finding the job that fits, improving social skills, and enriching relationships. There was also a chapter on medication and understanding the disorder.

People that have ADD tend to have problems with executive functions because they lack the receptors in the brain that regulate the frontal lobes. This results in a lack of organizing skills, processing information, making decisions, planning ahead, regulating moods, storing information, learning from mistakes, starting tasks, forgetting things, interrupting others, getting motivated, and having a proper place for things. Some of these things I found most interesting about ADD I didn't even know was an ADD thing.

For example

• Hate waiting for traffic
• Inner feeling of restlessness
• Hyper focus is the difficulty of switching tasks because we are so into focusing on the task we are in
• Frequent burn out because of tackling too much at once
• Overload of stimuli
• Losing your car when parked
• Constant interruption difficulty getting back on track
• Over estimate time needed to get somewhere
• Tend to get stuck in tv and computers
• Wired to be a night owl
• Tend to get so caught up in compensating for diffusivities focusing and following through we get Stuck in the cycle of perfectionism
• Very visual
• Difficulty sticking to a budget due to impulse buying
• Very creative and inspired
• Live a fast pace life and forget to slow down
• Lower levels of dopamine
• Variety important
• Like instant gratification
• Eat too quickly
• More likely to have a sleep disorder
• Don't wake up refreshed
• Difficulty falling asleep because of lack of melatonin
• More prone to grinding teeth at night
• Sensitive teeth
• Difficulty listening to the body
• Short fuse
• Need to escape
• Have a higher rate of being fired
• Jobs need to have a fast pace, have variety, can move around, support, intellectually stimulating, Multitask ability, firm due dates, frequent feedback, clear expectations, flexible schedule, social, and Have immediate rewards
• Take rejection personally
• The difficulty with the perception of how close something is to you
• Talk to loud
• Ramble
• Difficulty pacing myself
• Need to know the point
• Don't know when to end a conversation
• Difficulty recognizing people
• Bluntly honest
• Get bored easy
• Sensitive to people's' moods
• Give too much or take too much

It's Not Him, It's You The Truth You May Not Want to Hear But Need to Hear

This book explained the top 10 mistakes that women make when it comes to dating and then gave research based advice on how to fix them.

Top 10 Mistakes Include 

1. You Think Men Have a Clue
2. Your Attitude Sucks
3. You Think Rejection is About You
4. You Have Weak Standards
5. You Don't Get Men
6. You Think You Need to Be a Supermodel
7. Let Him Choose You
8. You Ignore the Red Flags
9. You Plan Your Wedding After the First Date
10. You Listen to Your Mother

There was a lot of good ideas in this book. I didn't agree with everything but it was very good. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants some more insight to date better. I think that we need to be proactive with looking for our forever mate but I have learned that the closer you are to God the more he reveals the stuff that you desire in a man and who is not right for you.

The Winter Ghosts

Freddie was in a car accident in France. He somehow manages to get out of his car and walk to the closest town Nulle. He takes a room in an in. The innkeeper invites him to go to a celebration in the village. He accepts and finds himself in a bar with all these people. He meets a girl and they both recount on their life. The next day he talks to the innkeeper about the celebration but she says that he wasn't there. He also goes out with a search party where he retrieves his car. He then finds his mysterious woman and she leads him to a cave. He goes in and rips down a man-made wall that was put there to entomb these people in the 14th century because of their religious beliefs.He solves an unknown mystery that no one knew about and helped him heal himself in the process. I really liked it a lot. The writer was very eloquent and it took you there.

Heiress for Hire

Amanda's dad cuts her off from her money and she goes to Cuttersville, OH to take a break from Chicago life. She doesn't know what to do without money until she meets Dan. He is a farmer who just found out he has a kid, that was dropped on his doorstep. He helps her out by giving her a job as his babysitter. They are resistant at first but eventually start a relationship and instead of going back to Chicago she follows her heart and stays with Dan.

Loving What Is

This book was ok. I almost didn't want to finish it because the writer had a lot of fluff and sometimes was boring. But it really helped me to see how to start working on looking at my negative thoughts and how to start working on them. She calls it the work which is a 4 question process to work through.

The 4 questions
1. Is it true?
2. Can I absolutely know it's true?
3. How do I react when I think that thought?
4. Who would I be without the thought?

After analyzing 1 negative thought you then have to turn it around by finding examples of how the turnaround is true in your life.

Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community

This was a very good book that helped me find my strengths. This book comes with an access code that lets you take the Clifton Strength Finder Test. It will give you 5 signature themes and then you can learn about how these talents fit into who you are and offer tips on how to utilize these talents. It also talked about how to serve others with your talents. It could be a very fast read if you read just the areas on your themes. There are 30 different possible themes. I read through each one just because I was curious.

Dating, Relating, and Waiting God's Word on Purity

First of all this books title is very catching. I read this book because I was very interested in what the Bible had to say about purity and what you should do about it. It was a short book but provided a lot of good information about connecting with the opposite sex. Especially from God's point of view. It talked about how to attract the right person, communication differences, figuring out what you really want, the impact of sex on your relationship, how to set healthy boundaries, guilt free sex God's way, starting over if you already had sex, and praying for your future mate.

7 Secrets You Need to Know About Girls
1. You need to see out inner beauty
2. Guys who are emotionally strong are the ones we are most attracted to.
3. We need to feel safe around you
4. Faith in Jesus means everything.
5. Accountability is key.
6. Learn to Cherish us.
7. We want the right kind of intimacy.

7 Secrets You Need to Know About Guys
1. Most Guys are all about the eyes.
2. I am a poet and a warrior.
3. My ego is fragile.
4. Sometimes I don;t talk much, but I hear you.
5. I want a girlfriend who is close to God.
6. My world can feel so brutal.
7. I need time in my cave.

Valkyrie #1

This was the first book in the Valkyrie series. Freya is a Valkyrie who lives in Asgard. She has her ceremony to become an official Reaper in the battlefield but she is unhappy and wants something more. After her first reaping, the man that she reaps tells her to help save his family. After the guy leaves she goes to Misgard, what they call Earth, to find his family and help them. She can get in a lot of trouble for this but she goes anyway because of her promise. She meets Archie a boy that she saves from some bullies. He helps her find the soldier's family and helps her blend in as a human. She even starts going to high school. She finds along the way that she like likes the humans and she likes to help them. This bully terrorizes her and a bunch of students so, she helps them learn to fight. The real danger that the soldier's family is living in an area that this company wants to tear down their house for development. She helps them with this problem. Maya, Freya's sister, comes down from
Asgard to find her and take her back but she doesn't go because she wants to protect Archie. Maya stays and then a big battle is fought because Freya left Asgard. She was going to get punished but the angels of death save her and she goes back to Asgard.

Today is the Day Find and Embrace Your God Given Dreams

God-given dreams are natural talents given from God. He pre-wired them into us when he created us. You may be wondering how you know what they are? This book explains that which is why I decided to read it because I am really lost about what God wants me to do with my life. My purpose. Which thanks to this book I have a way better understanding.
       There are 8 clues to figure out what your God-given dreams are. 1) It will be powerful and persistent. 2) It will solve problems for others. 3)  It will include a burden for people. Who do you want to help? 4) It will involve access to resources. 5) It will help God's work in the world. 6) It will grow from your abilities and talents. 7) It may grow out of adversity. 8) It may seem crazy or arrogant to some people.
       The following chapters described how to think big, turning dreams into goals, praying about them, strengthening your confidence, diligence, developing the action habit, having integrity, recruiting your dream team, getting advice, and choosing to be a blessing.

Move On When Mercy Meets Your Mess

Life is a mess. But God makes us provisions to helps us move beyond our messes. In this book, she talks about a lot of topics but mostly she focuses on saying goodbye to the person you have been pretending to be. She talks about the need for approval, the struggle of broken dreams, shame, guilt, idols, legalism, Christian snobbery, how to deal with your mess, God's purpose for hardship, leaving your past behind you, the struggle with sin, and falling down vs falling forward.

Writing Begins with Breath Embodying Our Authentic Voice

This was a very good book! It talked about how to connect with your body and emotions so our writing becomes an expression of our true self. It had exercises and yoga poses to write better. It also covered the writing process.

God's Not Mad at You

This was a very good book. Its focus was that you don't need approval from God. His mercy and forgiveness are freely given. All its chapters were good. It talked about perfection, approval, rejection, guilt, shame, and running to God. It's a very good book for people who need to break free from approval addiction.

Speaking in Tungs

Marleighn moves from San Francisco to PA to look for her birth parents. She takes a job as a speech therapist. She has 5 clients that she sees for house visits once a week. The first time she saw Beryl she lost his dog and he refuses to work with her. Everyone else is fine with her working with them. She meets Lawyer who is a firefighter and hems and haws over if she wants to go out with him. Marleighn gets attacked on 4th of July and her purse is stolen. Also, someone steals some other stuff from her. Make a very long story short she was attacked because she had a photo she took of Beryl's dog on her phone when she saw him one day. There was a guy in the photo that was a wanted fugitive and he didn't want her to find out who he was. I kind of reminded me of the creeper episode in Scooby Doo. She then decides to stay in PA.
    I didn't really like this book. It was ok but the main focus of the book description was about her finding her birth parents and it didn't really focus on that part. Also, she had a lot of characters so it was hard to keep track of who everyone was. The story itself was hard to follow too. But I did learn some things about speech therapy.

Perfect Trust

This was a short book about how to trust God which is a thing I struggle with personally. But after reading this I can say I trust Him a lot more. The book had some useful facts that stood out to me.

The secret to responsible trust is acceptance.

God gives us wisdom.

When you worry about what you don't have you can't enjoy what you do.

God's Strength to Comfort Me
God's Might to Uphold Me
God's Wisdom to Guide Me
God's Eye to Look Before Me
God's Ear to Hear Me
God's Word to Speak for Me
God's Hand to Lead Me
God's Way to Lie Before Me
God's Shield to Protect Me

Faith is like lighting the torch that passes from one person to the next. You can't light the torch of another if yours isn't burning.

Trusting God doesn't change our circumstances but perfect trust changes us.

When we embrace God's sovereignty we find that our confidence increases, insecurities fade, worries decrease, and calmness replaces striving.

Strength comes from choosing to fully trust, pray, and praise.

Waterfall

This is the second to the Teardrop series. After Eureka cries and floods the place where she lives her dad, Cat, Ander, and the twins start the journey to where they need to go. They travel in air bubbles created by Eureka. Ander tells her she needs to find Solon, a seedbeer, who lives off the grid. He can help her with her Atlantan history and how she can stop Atlas. After finding Solon she finds out that she is the really the daughter of Delphine, the evil chick, that destroyed Atlantis. She does raise Atlantis from the bottom of the ocean after she sneaks away from her friends.  She succeeds in killing Atlas and saves Brooks. She also learns that Ander is not a Seedbeer and they can be together.