Book Review: Wishcraft by Barbara Sher

I'm back with another review. This one's a self-help workbook/book. Wishcraft by Barbara Sher was an eye opening book for me. The book's subtitle is 'How to get what you REALLY want'. I think that describes it pretty accurately. The book is intended for people who have been shelving their dreams or people who don't know how to get there. The book challenges your mind and forces you to come up with ideas to turn your dreams into reality. If you're an amateur looking to be a pro, this book is a good starting point. Equally, if you want to be self employed, develop a secondary source of income or just live your dream, this book may be very useful.

The book is broken into eleven chapters. The sequence of the chapters is one of the things that makes the book work. Barbara Sher focuses on removing mental blocks to success in the beginning chapters. She makes the reader re-examine their childhood and weed out all the negativity and excuses that are holding them back. Instead of fearing negative thinking, she teaches us to embrace it.

What I absolutely loved about the book was its 'hands on' nature. It's filled with exercises that force you to think. I had a lot of fun doing the exercises. When I was done, I had a plan for success. Though the book starts out at a very approachable and basic level, it quickly progresses to the nitty gritty of making dreams come true. Barbara Cher talks about many important facets of success like how to leverage connections or 'barnraising', goalsearch, time management, delegation etc. But none of these sound like a chore when you do the exercises. I am a kinaesthetic learner so I loved doing the exercises. I think it helped me overcome the first weakness of any amateur- inaction (or procrastination).

As you progress through the book, she makes you challenge your ideas and weed out the unrealistic or unrelated bits. She inspires you to follow the plan. When you write down a plan as realistic and achievable as this one, it makes you feel like success is within reach.

Barbara Sher correctly identifies the areas in which amateurs need work. The book is planned in such a a way that it never gets pushy.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to turn their dreams into reality.

Overall rating: 4.2/5

Pros

Structured (step-by-step)
Detailed
Hands on

Cons

New readers may get lost

Book Review- Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

Hi there. I'm back with another book review. It's been a long time since I reviewed a book. The book I'm reviewing today is very different from the kind of books I usually review. Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by famous new age guru Deepak Chopra is a spiritual and philosophical work. Like many other books on success, it seeks to demystify the elusive ideal of success. The book however focuses on spiritual success and seven laws that anyone can follow to achieve it. The book is very short at 118 pages and makes a good coffee table book or quick read. It however requires a few re-reads to fully understand and apply the content of the book.

What I liked about the book was that it is well structured and clearly organised into seven distinct chapters. The seven laws are as follows:
1) The Law of Pure Potentiality
2) The Law of Giving
3) The Law of Karma
4) The Law of Least Effort
5) The Law of Intention and Desire
6) The Law of Detachment
7) The Law of Dharma.

The book is inspired based on Hindu spiritual traditions and practices. However, it is not a religious work and doesn't seem to preach any religious philosophy.

If you've ever wondered why many successful and famous people achieve success, this book will decode their state of mind. The book was an eye opener for me too. After reading the book and listening to the interviews and life experiences of many successful people, I realized that they subconsciously follow these laws. I often wondered why many successful people give similar answers in interviews. Is it because they have similar experiences or is it something to do with their state of mind?

The law of least effort and law of detachment were particularly relevant to my current life. When you re-read it, you may find yourself dwelling on different parts of the book. You may even notice sentences you didn't before. Sometimes sentences we read during the first or second read shine with a completely different meaning upon re-reading the book. The book focuses on success from a mental and spiritual point of view. It endeavours to get the reader into a state of mind which is conducive to success and achievement. In other words, it makes your mind a fertile ground to sow the seeds of success. It however, does not offer any practical ways to succeed in any particular field.

Overall, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a great read. If you enjoy self help and new age books, this may be your cup of tea. I seem to have developed a sudden interest in spirituality and meditation these days. Therefore, I found this book to be useful. It is a good read for someone who doesn't want to read a full length novel but try out something new. Give it a try and maybe you'll decode the keys to success.

Overall rating: 4/5

Pros

Easy to understand
Structured
Quick read


Cons
Not very detailed
May not interest someone who is not into this genre

Book Review- Trade Me by Courtney Milan

Trade Me is a new young adult novel by Courtney Milan. 

Here is the blurb: Tina Chen just wants a degree and a job, so her parents never have to worry about making rent again. She has no time for Blake Reynolds, the sexy billionaire who stands to inherit Cyclone Systems. But when he makes an offhand comment about what it means to be poor, she loses her cool and tells him he couldn’t last a month living her life.

To her shock, Blake offers her a trade: She’ll get his income, his house, his car. In exchange, he’ll work her hours and send money home to her family. No expectations; no future obligations.

But before long, they’re trading not just lives, but secrets, kisses, and heated nights together. No expectations might break Tina’s heart...but Blake’s secrets could ruin her life.

The two things that made me interested in this book were 1) the premise of trading lives. I wanted to see how this would work out. 2) Interracial romance- I am always interested in these. 

It starts off okay. I have to admit though, I found it a bit hard to like Tina in the beginning and even in the end. Blake, however, I liked from the start. He is sweet, sensitive and mature. I found Tina a bit too difficult to understand and stubborn and always using her poverty to become defensive about everything. 

But anyway, on to the story. The story was well paced and there was some interesting stuff going on. A lot of it is similar to other contemporary romances, in how you would expect it to develop. Towards the end is when it becomes really exciting as  many secrets about the characters start surfacing.  Also, this could  just be my opinion, but I found Tina's poverty a bit too exaggerated and becoming the theme of every conversation in one way or the other. 

The supporting characters, especially Blake's father and Tina's father and Tina's roommate  were very well fleshed out and I probably liked them even more than the main characters.  However, I found Tina's mother just as annoying and stubborn as her in her ways. I guess it's genetic. 

But flaws aside, this series has an interesting backdrop and some really good characters whom I hope to read more about in future books (especially Blake and Tina's fathers). If you are interested in new adult romances and anything with the word 'billionaire', this book is a good read. 

Ratings 

Characters-4/5

Story- 3/5

Writing style- 5/5

NOTE- I received this book for review. However the opinions are not influenced by this in any way. 

Author Interview with Courtney Milan

                                    

Hi there, everyone. I am excited to present to you an author interview with historical (and now contemporary) romance writer Courtney Milan. 
TRIVIA

Favorite color- Blue/Red

Zodiac sign- Cancer

Place of your dreams- I like variety, so if I could go back and forth between London and Telluride I'd be happy.

Favorite writer(s)- Way too many to list! I have a list on my website, though: http://www.courtneymilan.com/whattoread.php

Favorite romance novel(s)- Agh, again, how am I supposed to restrict myself? I love Tessa Dare's A Week to be Wicked. And my latest obsession is Nalini Singh--and I don't think there's anything better than Heart of Obsidian.

Now the questions: 

RC- Trade Me is your first contemporary romance. How was writing a contemporary new adult romance different from writing a historical romance? 

CM-That is a really difficult thing to describe. For me, I felt like I had a lot more direct experience that I could bring to bear in writing the contemporary. For my historicals, I have to do a little more extrapolation of "what would this feel like" and "how would we deal with it" and that kind of stuff.

I also had to do a lot more research for my contemporary--everything from current video technology to reading biographies of, for instance, Larry Ellison and Bill Gates, to reading multiple books and articles about modern-day China.

RC-The main characters Tina and Blake are pretty much polar opposites: Rich-poor, good looking-average looking etc. Generally, what kind of main characters do you like to create or read about?

CM-I don't think Tina and Blake are polar opposites in many ways. Yes, Blake is rich, and yes, Tina is poor. That's just about it. 

I don't think Tina and Blake differ so much in objective attractiveness, except to the extent that Blake has had stylists picking his clothing and doing his hair since he was a kid and so has always presented himself as the most attractive version of himself.

Tina and Blake are actually quite similar: being at the extremes of wealth as they are, they've both been put into positions of responsibility that are unusual for their ages, and they respond to that in each other. In that sense, they're older than their peers.

RC-Is the life of a writer how you imagined it to be? How is it different?

CM- I don't know that I ever imagined what a writer's life would be like except in the very abstract. There's certainly a lot more time wasting, and a lot less time spent furrowing my brow over word choice. I spend a lot of time figuring out what I'm writing.

RC- What is a typical day in the life of a writer like?

CM-It varies. I have no typical days. And I'm sorry if that sounds like a cop-out, but there are days I get nothing done and don't even try, and there are days I work 19 hours and sleep furtively because I have things I need to do.

RC- What hobbies/interests do you have other than writing?

CM-I walk, a lot--right now I'm training up for a walking half-marathon that I'm doing with friends. So after I hit send on this, I'm going to go out and get an eleven mile walk in.

I do a lot of reading, and I try to read on lots and lots of random topics.

RC- Please tell the readers more about what they can expect from this series and from you in the future. 

CM- Readers can expect (a) more of Cyclone Systems, (b) more of Adam Reynolds, the foul-mouthed founder of Cyclone, even though he won't be sitting in the CEO position, and (c) more characters in interesting situations who I hope you will relate to.

Her latest book Trade Me has just been released. You can find out more about this book and her other works on her website- http://www.courtneymilan.com. I will shortly be reviewing Trade Me on Review Carnival.

J-pop group interview- 4TE

Hi there everyone. It has been a long time since there was a post on Review Carnival. However, here I am today, interviewing j-pop group 4TE. 4TE is a very unique group in that they are a concept group where all members met and collaborated over the internet, to finally release their single More/Ippo zutsu. I was really excited when I heard of something so novel so I decided to interview them. Here is the interview. The details of their first single are at the end. There are 4 members in this group: Jenny, Chii, Micchi and Mei.


Some Trivia about the members:

Name of member- Jenny
Favorite color- Red
Zodiac sign- Capricorn
Place of your dreams-  Osaka
Favorite artist/singer- Utada Hikaru


Name of member- Chii
Favorite color- Pink
Zodiac sign- Taurus
Place of your dreams- Harajuku
Favorite artist/singer- Mariko Goto

Name of member- Micchi
Favorite color- Blue
Zodiac sign- Aries
Place of your dreams- Akihabara
Favorite artist/singer- °C-ute

Name of member- Mei
Favorite color- White
Zodiac sign- Taurus
Place of your dreams- Shibuya
Favorite artist/singer- Beyoncé


The interview

1) Your group concept is very unique and all of you are from very
different backgrounds. Just to make it clear to your fans, can you
describe what you do (or used to do)  and how you met the other members of
the group?

Chii: Living in a Mexican community that values its rich heritage, it was
difficult to find other fans of Japanese music and like many others, I
turned to the internet to reach out to like-minded people. I started a
youtube channel where I uploaded primarily anime theme songs and Showa
Kayou. I knew most people wouldn’t listen to my songs if the videos only
featured audio so I decided to give MV-type videos a spin. Naturally, the
more time I invested in this hobby, the more I took it seriously and
learned more about lighting, cameras, recording etc. Without even feeling
it, I had invested all of my attention in music production and all of the
things that follow it. Eventually, I was contacted by a net-idol group and
through that, met the other members of what would finally become 4TE.


Mei: Before I became a part of 4TE, I was auditioning for commercial
acting and singing gigs. I owned a Youtube channel, but had only stuck to
solo covers and originals. The amount of collaborations I’d done online
were close to zero. One day when I was searching for auditions, I found
one for a net-idol group - and it was through this project that I had met
the other talents and staffs in 4TE. I honestly felt like the whole “idol”
image wasn’t my thing, it felt way superficial (now that’s not saying
nothing else in the music industry isn’t, haha!) - but it wasn’t me. So
after we left, we decided that we were going to create a J-POP group that
didn’t restrict us to one image, and this was perfect for us. We’re
artists, we create, each of us are unique, and each of us have something
artistically different to offer. Not being bound by one image gave us the
freedom to create this beautiful mish-mash… thing that we call 4TE, and I
love it.


Jenny:  I originally started off on youtube as mainly a vocaloid cover
artist (utaite or youtaite as they call it in the community). I met the
rest of 4TE after I auditioned and became part of a “net-idol” project
over the internet. On our own, we decided that we wanted to start our own
thing and follow our own path into J-pop so we created our 4 member group,
4TE.

Micchi: I had been a fan of anime since I was a little girl, and I
eventually discovered Japanese pop music through youtube. When I saw that
people were posting recordings of their singing and dancing online, I
wanted to join the fun and made my own channel when I was 12. I also had
been taking various dance lessons, so my love of dance and performing
inspired me to make videos. To this day, I’ve been posting singing and
dance covers of Japanese songs to youtube. The J-pop youtube community was
very small when I first started out, and it’s amazing to see how much it
has grown since then! I auditioned for the net-idol group that everyone
else was in, and from there, I joined 4TE.




2) Producing and releasing a single is hard work. How did you share the
work? Who wrote the song, who produced it and how did you record it and
get a label to release it since you are all in different places.

Chii: If there is anything unique about this group, I’d definitely say
it’s just how much we all individually take part in the creative process.
Anything from music to video production, we all have a strong voice in the
matter. One song may feature the writing of Mei , for example, and another
may be all of us. In “MORE”s case, our producer (known as promwolf on the
internet) created a short concept and Jenny and I worked at coming up with
a vocal melody on top of it. Turns out, we both really liked how ours
sounded together! So, we went with: intro, verse, spoken part, written by
me, and chorus, ad lib, written by Jenny. From there, promwolf extended it
and wrote based on the structure that was being formed. Some little
snippets of instrumentation thrown in were actually parts I wrote myself
too. (such as the piano part and a synth heard in the background of the
chorus) Our other producer (Felipe) contributed to the chord progression
in the chorus to give it more energy. Once lyrics were completed in
English, our manager Berry wrote the Japanese lyrics. I mix the vocals in
the first stage, and it gets sent back to Promwolf to master. In short, we
certainly all do our part in bringing our music to fruition.


Jenny: We have a few producers working with us. Our producer, “PromWolf”
is mainly responsible for our sound. He’d come up with a demo and we’d
kind of pass it around and record melodies over it, we listened, and tried
to figure out what worked and what didn’t. Then when it came to recording
the real thing, we’d have to do it seperately in our own homes and then
send it to Chii who would mix everything together to create the final
product. As of right now though, we actually aren’t apart of any label.
We’re what people would call “Independant” and all the work and
distribution is done by both the members, producers, and managers.


3) When did you decide that you wanted to be a singer and what advice
would you give to aspiring singers who want to pursue their dreams?

Chii: I grew up being too afraid to sing. I only began to seriously work
towards it once my confidence went up and I finally pushed myself to
publicize my growth. My biggest piece of advice to aspiring singers is to
find a balance between high confidence to keep going,  taking risks even
when the outcome is slim, and having humility to continue improving.

Mei: In elementary school, we were taught to memorize dozens of patriotic
songs, and in second grade, I remember having to sing in class with
everyone else. My teacher noticed my singing (or wailing at the time, I
can’t honestly remember how I sounded in second grade.) and told my mom I
could sing. Not long after, I found myself awkwardly singing on top of a
desk in front of the school, swallowing my mic while singing the national
anthem. That was my first performance, and since then, I had been working
towards my goal of becoming a singer. My advice to singers who want to
pursue their dream is to keep going. You’re going to get a lot more “no”s
than “yes”es. Sometimes it is you, sometimes it isn’t you, but regardless
of the reason, keep working on your craft, be in the know (knowledge is
power), and always aim to better yourself.

Jenny: For a long time, singing was only a hobby for me. I originally
wanted to go into Illustration haha but I’m honestly not very good. It
actually wasn’t until I met my fellow members that I really decided to go
for it as a singer. The best advice I could give to other aspiring singers
is to educate yourself in as many aspects of the field as possible. It’s a
bit cliche’ to say I know, but I can speak from personal experience that
the classes I’ve taken in music business, sound engineering, and vocal
training has proven it’s worth time and time again.

Micchi: I mainly focused on dancing, but I would always enjoy singing my
favorite songs everywhere I went. I never took singing too seriously until
I started posting song covers online, and my singing started to improve
over years of making videos. Joining 4TE was really what caused me to push
myself further in singing, and my parents also helped in supporting me! My
advice for aspiring singers would be to just have fun and to never give
up. If you really love what you do, then that will truly inspire you to
keep going at it and keep improving no matter what obstacles you face!

4) What are your future plans? Are you planning to release more singles,
or maybe an album?

Chii: We’ll probably release a couple more singles to get ourselves
established and then we’ll have enough of an audience to release a full
album. That’s just my thought process anyway~


Jenny: We have a lot of songs in the works! I wish we could show everyone
everything we’re working on! But they say patience is a virtue so… haha


5) Where can fans watch you perform live? Do you have any plans of touring
yet?

Chii: Although we wouldn’t necessarily associate our music with anime,
there is much more of an appreciation for J-pop in that community here in
America so we will most likely make plans to tour at cons in the US.  As
for Japan, there aren’t currently any solid plans but we are certainly
willing!

Mei: Right now, we’re aiming for performing at cons. However, if the
occasion arises, we would also be open to performing at events - music,
fashion, anime, anywhere that you can possibly imagine hearing J-POP
performed. We do have touring in the works, and if it were to happen,
we’ll probably have something up and running towards the later half of the
year.

Jenny: We would like to try and book a small tour at the end of the summer
in texas at different anime cons. It would be nice to spread out from just
cons but time will tell!

Micchi: Conventions are definitely places we are aiming for. It’d be
exciting to be able to perform in front of an audience that shares our
love of Japanese music! As we continue to grow as a group, hopefully our
venues will expand as well!

6) What message would you like to give your fans?

Chii: We promise to be an ever-growing group so please stick around to
witness it! Thank you for all the support.

Mei: You guys are freaking awesome! Thank you guys so much for all the
help and support. Every bit of support pushes us to work harder. We love
creating art that you all can enjoy, so we hope that you continue to
support us!!


Jenny: Thank you so much for the overwhelming show of support for our
group. We did not expect to gain as much attention as we did. I really
hope you truly enjoy what we do as much as we enjoy doing it for you and
please look forward to hearing more from us in the future!

Micchi: We truly appreciate all the love and support we’ve been getting!
We have so much more amazing things to share with you all, and I hope you
continue to stay with us along the way. Thank you all so much!

And as promised here are the details for their single:

"M O R E / 一歩ずつ "
released 08 January 2015
Debut Double A-side Single
credits


1. M O R E
Melody: Christi Arredondo, Jennifer Diaz
Lyrics: Berry Risa, Christi Arrendondo
Music: Richard Garza, Felipe Vilches, Christi Arredondo
2. 一歩ずつ (Ippo Zutsu)
Melody: Christi Arredondo, Jennifer Diaz, Mei Sasmita
Lyrics: Berry Risa
Music: Richard Garza, Christi Arredondo
3. M O R E (instrumental)
4. 一歩ずつ (Ippo Zutsu) (instrumental)

Right now it can only be purchased through the group's site https://4teofficial.bandcamp.com/album/m-o-r-e  but there are plans for an iTunes release.