Mama Bear Reviews

I have always been a dog lover and I am a big fan of adopting pets. When our 16 year old min pin passed away 2 years ago, we only making it a week before deciding that we needed another dog in our family. We went to the local animal shelter and came home with our dog Lily who had just been saved from being euthanized at another shelter. She has been a joy in our lives and has become a part of the family. The book Second-Chance Dogs: True Stories of the Dogs We Rescue and the Dogs Who Rescue Us by Callie Smith Grant is a compilation of true stories from people that have an inspiring story from their own lives about owning a dog. These stories were very sweet and I felt a connection with a lot of the stories. I always love to hear about the amazing role that pets can play in our lives. From meeting our emotional needs to helping to protect us physically, dogs play a big role. If you are an animal lover, you will love this collection of stories. I received a copy of this book fr...

There are a lot of worries that come with being a parent. One of those tricky times to parent is when your child is having a difficult time or going through a rough patch. When Your Kid is Hurting: Helping Your Child through the Tough Days by Dr. Kevin Leman is non-fiction parenting book.  This book offers up ideas to handle a variety of issues that children may face such as the loss of a loved one, bullying, depression, eating disorders and acting out. Though the natural response may be to step in and try to make everything right for your child, this book offers up solutions to help them make it through these times and become a stronger individual as a result. My favorite section is at the back of the book where there is question and answer segment with the author. This area really helped me to better think about how the information from the book may be applied to my life.  I enjoyed reading through this book and feel that it would be a good one to pull out when ...

Summer is wrapping up. The weather will soon get cooler and Christmas will be here before we know. At Christmas time, I love to read the kind of books that play out as though they could be a Hallmark movie. This type of book a Christmas screams comfort for me and A Christmas by the Sear by Melody Carlson fits this bill. This story follows Wendy and her son who go to Maine right before Thanksgiving to fix up the cottage that she has inherited from her grandparents. Wendy is hoping to sell the cottage to make some money and return home. Her son is hoping that this will be the start of a new life for the two of them. Along the way, Wendy rediscovers a bit of her childhood and finds a new way of life among the people and hobbies that she discovers. This story was really sweet read and will be perfect for the Christmas season. Why not get an early start and jump into the warm holiday fuzzy wuzzy feeling now? I received a copy of this book from Revell in exchange for my honest revi...

I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel  is a non-fiction novel about reading and readers. As I write a blog about books and am constantly consuming new novels, I felt that this would be a great read for me. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from this little book when I first opened it but I found myself agreeing with the author over and over again. She mentions some of my favorite books and some of the experiences that she has had as a reader that I could also identify with. I started my reading life bringing home every book I could get my hands on at the library but lost touch with books until somewhere in my early twenties. I thank books for pulling me through many difficult situations in my life and for always being a friend. This author knows the amazing power of books and wants to share that with the world. This is really a love story  directed towards books and the experiences that they create. It truly is a lovely book...

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 swep...

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 ...