Mama Bear Reviews

How Joyful People Think: 8 Ways of Thinking That Lead to a Better Life by Jamie Rasmussen is a book for spiritual growth. This book is written by a pastor that shares his insight of how joyful people think from his personal examples and from examples from the bible as well. One of the big takeaways from this book for me was that sometimes it is important to slow down and think things through before we respond or act. I know that I am not always giving the best version of myself to the people that matter most to me. There are many ways in which I could improve and this book gives some great examples of how to do so. I think anyone that would like to have more joy and spiritual peace in their life would enjoy this book. There are a lot of tips and examples on how to make personal change and this book is very easy to follow. I received a copy of this book from Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.

Not the Boss of Us: Putting Overwhelmed in its Place in a Do-All, Be-All World by Kay Wills Wyma was a much needed read for me. Anxiety is something that I have struggled with but it is only something that I have truly acknowledged and talked about in the last year or so. I believe that there is power is speaking about the truths of life. We should share how we really feel and truly try to help others. If everyone only presents the joys of life, such as what is often seen on social media, it can be easy to feel as though our own lives do not measure up.  Kay Will Wyma discusses with great honesty the struggles that she faces in her own life and the struggles that she sees within her children. She opens the book with a heart wrenching story about teenage suicide. I think this book is so important for anyone that is feeling their own struggles with depression and anxiety or that may be raising children that are dealing with these issues. This is not a topic that can be swept un

Think Learn Succeed : Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace, and in Life by Dr. Caroline Leaf was a very interesting and timely read for me. I am starting work on my graduate degree next week and thought that this book provided a lot of information and tips that will be helpful for me to implement in my studies. The first section of the book contains the mindset guide which is broken up into 16 easy to use and understand sections. My favorite part about these sections is the list of questions that is provided to better make use of the information. The second part of the book contains a quiz so that we can better understand the way in which we think. This part also has helpful ideas on how to increase different areas of the brain. For example, if you would like to increase your musical thinking then you could play classical music in the background. Most of these tips seem to be simple things that will be easy to implement. The third part of the book

Crack Yourself Up Jokes for Kids by Sandy Silverthorne is a silly joke book for kids ages 6-12. My children are 6 and 8 and they snatched this book up as soon as it arrived and started cracking each other up with different jokes. While some of the jokes in this book are familiar, what I really loved is that there is a lot of fresh material in this book and that is not an easy thing to do in this market. We really like goofy jokes in our house but my kids will be quick to point out if they have already heard a joke so they loved that they had a lot of new silliness to share with this book. Though the book is short at just 138 pages, it is the perfect size for kids in this age group and packed full of enough material to keep them entertained for hours. This book offers up wholesome humor that the whole family can enjoy. It was a hit in our household and I'm sure many kids would love being able to enjoy some new jokes. I received a copy of this book from Revell in exchange f

A Rumored Fortune by Joanna Davidson Politano  is a book that kept me interested from beginning to end. Tressa and her mother are summoned home with urgent news. When they arrive, she finds that her father is presumed dead and that the debts are adding up around the estate. She also finds a handsome stranger that claims to be the new vineyard manager that was hired by her father prior to his death. Tressa struggles through most of the story trying to decide who she is able to trust. Those that she believed closest to her or those that have been kind to her may not have her best intentions in mind. She is surrounded by fortune hunters that are trying to find the treasure that her father has hidden and kept a secret from everyone, including Tressa. As Tressa, begins her investigation she becomes even more uncertain about who she is able to trust and wonders if father is the man that she has built him up to be inside her memory. I really enjoyed this story because Tressa was such a

High Impact Teams: Where Healthy Meets High Performance by Lance Witt is marketed as a church leadership book. Though this book does have overall scripture based advice, I feel that it could be applied to many team settings. The author suggests that all members of the team have a copy of the book and go through each of the sections together. I think that this is a great idea especially as the sections all end with questions that the team can discuss with each other. This would also help to work on the overall theme of team building. Though I probably do not fit the demographic that this book is marketed towards, I found it to be very inspirational. There were a few passages that I found myself going back over to read again. I found this especially true in the section regarding work/stewardship ethic. The work has to be put in on a daily basis and the small things that we ignore can really add up. I feel that this book would be really good for anyone that is looking for ways to stre

More Than Meets The Eye by Karen Witemeyer is a historical romance novel that focuses on a makeshift family. The books starts with the characters as children on the orphan train. I found this really interesting because this is the second book that I have read recently where the characters were sent out on the orphan train and I have always found this to be so fascinating. When an accident happens on the train, a promise is made that turns the remaining children into family. Evangeline is an interesting character because she has two differently colored eyes. Because of this, she has been ostracized for most of her life. Only her "brothers" really accept her for who she is, that is until Zach comes along. Unfortunately, Zach has arrived to settle a grudge against Evangeline's brother. This was a very sweet and touching story. It is about growth, friendship and the love of family even if that family is not formed by love. I enjoyed the time period in which this was set a