[SapphireSphinx9]

Stand Up for Your Life - Cheryl Richardson
review from amazon
Oprah life makeover maven Cheryl Richardson wants you to start rocking the boat. Stand Up for Your Life urges readers to stop playing it safe by putting their needs and priorities aside. Her premise: by spending less time listening to others and more time strengthening your relationship with yourself, you can learn to govern your own life and influence others.
A personal coach and the bestselling author of Take Time for Your Life, Richardson promises readers "self-honoring strategies to transform your fear and doubt into self-trust and power." Drawing on self-quizzes, examples from her coaching clients, and her own experiences, she explores key issues for developing this inner authority. The book focuses on creating boundaries, developing "courage muscles," resolving conflict phobia, clarifying purpose, honing self-discipline, stating intentions, and graceful truth-telling.

At times, her clarity is compromised by pop-psych speak and references to her earlier books. Richardson is at her best when she is specific--for example, the well-targeted exercises and self-assessments or an insightful list of behaviors that prevent people from leading their own lives. Readers who follow her lead can expect an attitude adjustment and increased ability to leverage self-knowledge into a purposeful life. --Barbara Mackoff

Product Description:
We all want to make a difference in the world. We want to know that our lives matter, that our presence on Earth has meaning and purpose. I can assure you that you have a Divine assignment -- an important mission to fulfill. The first step in discovering and fulfilling this mission is to take a leadership role in your life.
-- from Stand Up for Your Life

In this book I'll take you on a journey that will provide you with new "self- honoring" strategies to transform your fear and self-doubt into power. You'll learn to trust yourself. You'll build new courage muscles that will increase your self-esteem. And you'll develop the confidence to step out into unknown territory so you can realize your greatest potential.

As we go through the program outlined in this book, I'll challenge you to:
• Know who you are
• Define your values
• Stop hiding your power
• Stand up for yourself
• Build your courage muscles
• Pass up good for great
• Center your life around your values
• Contribute to others in a meaningful way
If you're ready to stand up for your life, you've picked up the right book. Let's get started!


He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys - Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
review from amazon
From Publishers Weekly
It’s a classic single-woman scenario: you really like this guy, but he’s giving mixed messages. You make excuses, decide he’s confused, afraid of commitment. Behrendt, a former executive story editor for Sex and the City—and a formerly single (now happily married) guy who knows all the excuses—provides a simple answer: he’s just not that into you. Stop kidding yourself, let go and look for someone else who will be. After all, as Behrendt sensibly puts it, "if a (sane) guy really likes you, there ain’t nothing that’s going to get in his way." If you’re not convinced yet, by all means read this smart, funny and surprisingly upbeat little book, full of q’s and a’s covering every excuse woman has ever made to avoid admitting to herself that a man just wasn’t that smitten with her.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description:
He says:
Oh sure, they say they're busy. They say that they didn't have even a moment in their insanely busy day to pick up the phone. It was just that crazy. All lies. With the advent of cell phones and speed dialing, it is almost impossible not to call you. Sometimes I call people from my pants pocket when I don't even mean to. If I were into you, you would be the bright spot in my horribly busy day. Which would be a day that I would never be too busy to call you.

She says:
There is something great about knowing that my only job is to be as happy as I can be about my life, and feel as good as I can about myself, and to lead as full and eventful a life as I can, so that it doesn't ever feel like I'm just waiting around for some guy to ask me out. And most importantly, it's good for us all to remember that we don't need to scheme and plot, or beg anyone to ask us out. We're fantastic.

For ages women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men.

He's afraid to get hurt again.
Maybe he doesn't want to ruin the friendship.
Maybe he's intimidated by me.
He just got out of a relationship.

Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo are here to say that -- despite good intentions -- you're wasting your time. Men are not complicated, although they'd like you to think they are. And there are no mixed messages.

The truth may be He's just not that into you.

Unfortunately guys are too terrified to ever directly tell a woman, "You're not the one." But their actions absolutely show how they feel.

He's Just Not That Into You -- based on a popular episode of Sex and the City -- educates otherwise smart women on how to tell when a guy just doesn't like them enough, so they can stop wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationship.

Reexamining familiar scenarios and classic mindsets that keep us in unsatisfying relationships, Behrendt and Tuccillo's wise and wry understanding of the sexes spares women hours of waiting by the phone, obsessing over the details with sympathetic girlfriends, and hoping his mixed messages really mean "I'm in love with you and want to be with you."

He's Just Not That Into You is provocative, hilarious, and, above all, intoxicatingly liberating. It deserves a place on every woman's night table. It knows you're a beautiful, smart, funny woman who deserves better. The next time you feel the need to start "figuring him out," consider the glorious thought that maybe He's just not that into you. And then set yourself loose to go find the one who is.


Last Writes - Laura Levine
review on amazon (customer review)
Jaine Austen, freelance writer extraordinaire, still hasn't found a great guy to settle down with, and somehow, everything she eats goes straight to her hips, but thanks to some help from her best friend Kandi, she's finally landed a paying job as a sitcom writer for the teen show MUFFY 'N ME. Sure, the show isn't going to win any Emmy's, but writing a funny teen sitcom sure beats writing brochures and advertisements for plumbers. Everything looks like it will go well, until murder steps into the picture. Jaine immediately puts herself on the case, and realizes that all the trouble started when Quinn Kirkland, one of the hottest male stars began having an affair with the married head writer, as well as one with the barely-legal actress who plays Quinn's niece on TV. Now, with Quinn dead after eating a poisoned donut, and Jaine's best friend, Kandi, accused of the murder, Jaine realizes that it's going to be harder than she thought to catch the killer, seeing as how many enemies the gorgeous Quinn actually had.
Jaine Austen was hilarious in THIS PEN FOR HIRE, and she's just as hilarious, if not more, in LAST WRITES. Laura Levine is truly a gift to the world of mystery fiction. Jaine is the character who we've all been waiting for to appear in a mystery, and it has finally happened. Her quirky commentary is enjoyable, and her constant complaining about the size of her butt and thighs is hilarious. Her best friend, Kandi, is a cynical protagonist at times, but in a funny way, and will have even the most grumpy person laughing before long. Anyone looking for a cute, fast-paced, feel-good mystery should definitely check out LAST WRITES.