Blog Archives
Soul Can You: Opening Consciousness Within, Healing and Transcendence
Lisa Gilbert’s Soul Can You is part memoir, part spiritual exploration, and part psychological roadmap. The book follows Gilbert’s journey through trauma, healing, and transformation via Holotropic Breathwork® and other nonordinary states of consciousness. Drawing from her life as both psychiatrist and seeker, she recounts vivid encounters with inner visions, long-buried memories, and spiritual entities. It’s a work that blends scientific insight with mystical experience. Beneath its explorations lies a simple truth: that healing begins when one dares to meet the soul head-on, without fear of what it may reveal.
Gilbert’s writing pulses with honesty. She doesn’t sugarcoat the pain or distance herself from it. Her words feel lived in. I could sense her vulnerability in moments of loss and awe. I admired how she used storytelling as a bridge between psychiatry and spirit. Her scenes of breathwork, those intense, body-soul journeys, made me feel like I was right there, breathing with her. At times I questioned what was literal and what was visionary, but that uncertainty felt right. The power of the book isn’t in proving what’s “real.” It’s in showing how real healing feels.
I couldn’t help but be drawn in by her sincerity. The rhythm of her prose changes like breath itself, fast, then still. I found myself moved by her courage to face shame, grief, and abuse without hiding behind her medical training. I’ve read plenty of books about trauma and consciousness, but few manage this balance of intellect and heart. Gilbert’s voice is gentle and unpretentious, even when describing experiences that defy logic.
I’d recommend Soul Can You to anyone standing at the crossroads between science and spirituality, or to those who feel stuck in their own healing. If you’ve ever wondered whether the soul can survive the chaos of a modern life, this book says yes, and shows you how it learns to breathe again.
Pages: 376 | ASIN: B0FM8R3V7C
The Criminalization of Addiction: The US vs Gary Scott Hancock Case
The Criminalization of Addiction tells the tragic and deeply personal story of a mother watching her son, Gary Scott Hancock, fall into opioid addiction and then be swallowed by a justice system that confuses illness with criminal intent. Written by Scott’s mother, Dr. G.D. Hancock, a retired professor of finance, the book traces her son’s descent from a normal, middle-class upbringing in St. Louis to a twenty-year federal prison sentence for sharing fentanyl with a friend who later overdosed. What begins as a story about one family’s heartbreak expands into an unflinching critique of how the U.S. legal system handles addiction. Hancock lays out how drug-induced homicide laws, mandatory minimums, and prosecutorial power punish the sick rather than heal them. Through a mix of biography, legal analysis, and raw emotion, the book asks a hard question: when did compassion become a crime?
Hancock’s writing doesn’t hide behind theory or legalese. I could feel her disbelief turning into fury as she realized her son wasn’t seen as a person at all but as a statistic to feed a broken system. The writing moves between moments of aching tenderness and pure outrage. It’s not polished in the literary sense, and that’s what makes it powerful; it’s the voice of a mother who’s seen too much. I found myself angry right alongside her, especially when she exposed how prosecutors twist facts and judges’ hands are tied by mandatory sentences. Her mix of love, guilt, and disbelief feels brutally honest. The tone is emotional but steady, and it carries the weight of lived experience rather than abstract policy talk.
This is a very emotional book. There were moments I had to set the book down to breathe. Still, that exhaustion mirrors what the author lived through. Her background as an academic gives the story structure and evidence, yet she never loses the personal edge. The sections on medical evidence and justice reform could have been dry, but her anger keeps them alive. It’s heartbreaking to see how easily an addict’s cry for help can turn into a life sentence, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how many families must be living this same nightmare without the words to tell it.
I would recommend The Criminalization of Addiction to anyone who believes justice should be fair, or who thinks it already is. It’s especially important for lawmakers, medical professionals, and families dealing with addiction. The book isn’t easy to read, but it shouldn’t be. It made me ache, it made me furious, and it made me want change. If you’ve ever looked at addiction and thought, “That could never touch my family,” this book will prove you wrong.
Pages: 54 | ASIN : B0FNLX2T2K
Secrets That Remain: The Emil Fricker Story
Secrets That Remain tells the haunting and personal story of a family bound by silence and shadow. It unearths the dark legacy of Emil Fricker, a respected Illinois farmer whose life spiraled into scandal and tragedy during the 1920s. Told through the eyes of his descendants, the book blends history, memoir, and fiction to explore the ripple effects of buried secrets across generations. At its core, though, it’s about the women who survived him, Rose, his steadfast wife, and her descendants, who spent decades piecing together what really happened when love, jealousy, and pride collided on the Fricker dairy farm.
The writing is vivid and tender, with a rhythm that feels both old-fashioned and relatable. The authors don’t just tell a crime story, they tell a story about endurance. Their style has an honesty that made me forget I was reading about people long gone. I found myself caught between empathy and disbelief, shaking my head at the choices Emil made and aching for Rose, who bore the cost of them. The mix of real newspaper clippings and narrative gave the book a gritty authenticity that made me want to keep turning pages late into the night.
Some chapters sank into so much detail that I wished for a pause to breathe between the grief and revelations. But that weight also mirrors the emotional load the family carried. It’s a book that doesn’t look away, and I respect that. The storytelling feels like a conversation between the living and the dead, with the authors trying to make peace with ghosts. I admired their courage in confronting painful truths that their family once hid.
When I finished, I sat for a long time just thinking. I’d recommend Secrets That Remain to anyone who loves historical family sagas, true crime with a human heart, or generational stories about forgiveness and resilience. It’s especially for readers who understand that the past never really stays buried.
Pages: 388 | ASIN : B0FGT35QGM
The Living Bridge
Mike Cleveland’s The Living Bridge continues the sweeping saga begun in The Broken Bridge, drawing us back to the world split apart by the shattering of the ancient stone span across the Vitae River. This second volume narrows its focus to five broken lives in the months before Geshriel, the carpenter, gave himself as the keystone of a new living bridge. We meet Mary, tormented by demons of grief and despair; Lydia, stranded far from her family and branded an outsider; Matthias, the cursed builder crushed by guilt over his son’s death; Cleopus, a revolutionary consumed by anger; and Tamar, condemned by her own betrayal. Their stories unfold in three movements that build toward the moment when Geshriel’s love begins to transform both individuals and communities. The book blends allegory, spiritual reflection, and raw storytelling in a way that feels both ancient and startlingly present.
I found myself drawn in by the way Cleveland writes pain. He doesn’t dress it up or keep it at a safe distance. Instead, he lays it bare. Mary’s torment felt claustrophobic and heavy, yet it rang with truth about how grief can twist into lies we start to believe. Lydia’s yearning for her family carried me straight into her loneliness, and I felt her ache as if it were my own. The sorrow runs thick, and I caught myself needing to set the book down just to breathe. But that intensity is also its strength. It’s not a story of quick fixes or shallow hope. The book forces you to sit with loss before it shows you healing, and that honesty made the moments of light feel earned rather than cheap.
I appreciated the style of the writing. At times, it leans into bold, sermon-like declarations that give the story a sense of weight and authority. The message often comes through with such clarity that I found myself stopping to take it in, underlining sentences I didn’t expect to linger on. Phrases about love that refuses to let go or hope that survives silence stayed with me. The blend of allegory and character-driven narrative gives the book a unique rhythm, and when the two meet, the effect is powerful, striking straight at the heart.
The Living Bridge presses on wounds most of us carry in some form. But for readers who are willing to wrestle with grief, forgiveness, and the idea that love is stronger than death, it offers something rare. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christian fantasy with a strong allegorical bent, and to anyone who needs a story that admits the depth of human pain yet still dares to point toward healing.
Pages: 227 | ASIN: B0FX5WS62Y
Heart Horse: Soulful Stories of Equine Healing, Grace & Companionship
Heart Horse is a moving anthology that weaves together twenty deeply personal stories about the bond between humans and horses. Each chapter opens a window into a different life, people from all walks of experience who have found meaning, recovery, or transformation through their connection with these gentle, powerful beings. From stories of illness and survival to redemption and rediscovery, the book explores the spiritual and emotional resonance that horses bring to human lives. It’s not a how-to manual about horsemanship. It’s about how horses become mirrors for our hearts, showing us what we hide, helping us heal, and calling us to live more honestly.
The writing, contributed by a mix of scholars, healers, riders, and ordinary horse lovers, is heartfelt and honest. Some stories are written with elegance and restraint, others with raw emotion that catches you off guard. The tone shifts from tender to fierce to reflective. I found myself slowing down to reread sentences that hit deep. The horses in these pages are not props or metaphors; they are partners, teachers, even saviors. The language is simple but carries weight. There’s something about the way these writers describe touch, breath, and stillness that pulls you right into the moment.
What I liked most was the humility threaded through the stories. The humans come to the horses broken, unsure, seeking something they can’t name. The horses meet them without judgment, offering lessons about patience, presence, and love that asks for nothing back. At times, I found myself tearing up, not out of sadness, but because the honesty felt so pure. There were passages that made me smile, too, small, funny details about stubborn horses or awkward first rides that reminded me how life’s lessons rarely arrive gracefully. Editor Allison Brown curates these voices with care. Her introduction adds warmth and context, explaining how this collection came to be, and why horses, with all their mystery and grace, continue to reach into our souls.
I’d recommend Heart Horse to anyone who’s ever loved an animal deeply, whether or not they’ve ever ridden one. It’s for readers who crave real stories about growth, grief, and gratitude. If you’ve ever felt lost, lonely, or uncertain of your own footing, this book will meet you there.
Pages: 256 | ASIN : B0FLQFB8F5
Awakening Stories
Awakening Stories is a collection of personal essays written by twenty-three individuals who share their spiritual and emotional transformations. The book begins with an introduction by Dr. Allison Brown, who frames the anthology as part of a broader human awakening, a time when individuals and societies are breaking down old ways of being to rebuild something more authentic and compassionate. Each story follows a different thread: grief, addiction, faith, illness, self-discovery, and love. Together, they form a patchwork of healing, vulnerability, and inner strength that echoes one truth, awakening isn’t a single event but a lifelong process of remembering who we are.
Every chapter opened a window into someone’s private reckoning with pain and renewal. The writing varies, sometimes lyrical, sometimes blunt, but always sincere. I found myself pausing often, not because the text was dense, but because it stirred things I hadn’t planned to feel. Some stories shimmered with beauty, like Julie Sivell’s reflection on homesickness for the divine, or Evan Brown’s raw recollection of a moment of awakening in a Hawaiian temple. Others punched harder, especially those that dealt with trauma and survival. There’s a rhythm to the book, like waves of confession and clarity, and though the voices differ, there’s a common heartbeat pulsing through them: hope.
Stylistically, the book has an intimacy that pulls you close. It doesn’t read like a polished self-help manual or a philosophical treatise, it reads like a gathering around a fire. Some passages drift into the mystical. It invites you to question, to lean in, to wrestle with what you believe. Dr. Brown’s vision as editor feels grounded in compassion rather than doctrine.
I’d recommend Awakening Stories to anyone feeling lost, restless, or curious about the deeper layers of being alive. It’s not a quick read, it’s one you sit with. If you’ve ever faced a moment that cracked your sense of self, this book will meet you there and whisper that you’re not alone. It’s for the seekers, the skeptics, the wounded, and anyone brave enough to believe that breaking apart might just be the first step toward becoming whole.
Pages: 287 | ASIN: B0DKG1RNT3
The Seven
Igor Stefanovic’s The Seven begins as a vivid family drama wrapped in mystery and tension, and it quickly evolves into something much larger. The story follows the Meyer siblings —seven of them —each scattered across continents after their father, Abraham, sets them on a strange quest to find sculptures that represent the purity of love. The setup feels biblical, almost mythic, but the execution is modern and cinematic. From luxury yachts and family mansions to deserts and laboratories, Stefanovic paints a sweeping world filled with ego, guilt, ambition, and buried love. The tone shifts from thriller to introspection and back again, and by the end, it feels like the first act of a much grander saga.
The writing is rich and immersive, the kind that drops you right into a scene with the scent of bourbon, the thrum of a yacht party, the quiet wheeze of an oxygen tank. It’s hard not to feel something for Abraham, the dying patriarch, trying to shake his spoiled children awake. Stefanovic writes him with compassion and grit. The dialogue, though occasionally heavy, feels raw and lived-in. Some parts hit hard, like watching someone confess a lifetime of regret.
The ideas in The Seven stuck in my head. It’s about privilege and purpose, about how easy it is to lose your soul when you’ve never had to fight for it. I found myself angry at the characters but also weirdly protective of them. Stefanovic’s sense of irony is sharp, and he never lets anyone off easy. The emotional punches are subtle at first and then land all at once, like waves catching you when you’re not ready. Sometimes the prose feels indulgent, but then it snaps back with a line so clear it cuts. I liked that unpredictability.
I’d recommend The Seven to readers who enjoy family epics with emotional weight and moral complexity. If you like stories that mix glamour with existential dread, this one’s for you. The writing has heart and ambition, and it always reaches for something real.
Pages: 511 | ASIN : B0FQJNYQHF
Wing Haven
Wing Haven, by Naomi Shibles, is a beautifully imagined fairy tale that feels both timeless and new. It tells the story of Almond Nettlesworth, a reluctant fairy who doesn’t quite fit into her messy, mossy world. After being outshone and betrayed by her younger sister, who suddenly becomes queen, Almond is thrust into an adventure that forces her to confront danger, friendship, and her own sense of belonging. Alongside unlikely allies like a chipmunk named Nutsie, she journeys through the wild forest in search of purpose and freedom, discovering a forgotten dollhouse that becomes a kind of refuge. Beneath the fantasy, the story hums with ideas about independence, family, and what it means to find beauty in imperfection.
What I liked most was how the book blended the charm of childhood imagination with the weight of adult emotion. The writing is lush and cinematic, full of textures like glittering wings, sticky sap, and the smell of damp moss. Shibles has a gift for description that makes even tiny moments feel alive. Still, it’s the heart of the story that got to me. Almond’s frustration with her world, her yearning for cleanliness and order in a place ruled by chaos, hit closer to home than I expected. I found myself rooting for her even when she stumbled, even when her pride made her prickly. The relationship between Almond and Pepper, sisters bound by rivalry and love, felt raw and real. Their clash mirrors the kind of quiet wars siblings fight when one grows up too fast and the other gets left behind.
I felt the pacing sometimes slows under the weight of its detail. The world-building is rich, like a garden that needs a little pruning. Yet, I didn’t mind walking through that garden. The story invites you to pause and notice the small wonders that are hiding. I also admired how the author used the natural world not just as a setting, but as a character. The forest breathes and sighs, both nurturing and cruel. It reminded me of how nature holds contradictions, beauty and decay, danger and shelter, and how those same tensions live inside us.
Wing Haven left me with a quiet ache and a deep sense of wonder. It’s a story for readers who still believe that magic exists just out of sight, for dreamers who feel out of place in the noise of the world. I’d recommend it to anyone who loved The Secret Garden as a child and now wants something more grown, more tangled, and more tender.
Pages: 219 | ASIN : B0FQBXFWPQ
LITERARY TITAN 