Book Review: Soul Girl
Katie 
Soul Girl drew me in with its tagline, “For souls that don’t know where they’re going but are in the rush to get somewhere…” I sometimes feel like I have no future, I have no realistic 5-year plan and I have no idea where I’m going but I could say that I might be in a rush to get there. The author, Kristina, early in the book pointed out “you are not alone, not now, not ever.” and while it may seem like I am the only one with these struggles, I very clearly am not because if I was – Kristina wouldn’t have gone through this as well and she would have had no reason to write this book to help out the rest of us!
A lot of these self-help books are “this is what I did, and you can do it too”, but Kristina notes that her Mom taught her independence and how to be self sufficient when she was a child and she sent her to buy the crayons she needed for school. Yes, Kristina tells us what she did, but in addition to that she asks the readers questions to figure out things for themselves. Much like her Mom and the crayons, Kristina is teaching us to think about ourselves positively and find our strengths that will ultimately lead us to being self sufficient for ourselves in a way that we need it, even if that may be different than what Kristina needed for her life. Another quote that resonated with me was “if I could travel alone, I could do anything in the world.” and while it may not be possible for everyone, I did find traveling alone does have a sort of liberating feel to it. You don’t have to make plans based on what everyone else wants to do, you can sleep late if you want and no one will be groaning at your for missing out on time sightseeing. You do what you want when you want and that’s an empowering thing.
If you are looking to look deeper inside your soul and find out more about yourself, then I think you should give Soul Girl a read.
I received an e-copy of this book in order to write a review for Reedsy Discovery!
About the Book
Soulgirl is a gentle and empowering self-help book written memoir style for girls who won’t settle for second best.
If you’re running from place to place, relationship to relationship, in the hope of finding a home and peace for your heart, and in search of bringing real meaning to your life, then Soul Girl has so much to share.
You see, the author was one of those girls whose outward life was packed with adventures, parties, trips, education abroad– none of which she was born into– and it was fun while it lasted. But she’s been always haunted by a feeling of not quite belonging, of being lost, of not knowing where she was heading inwardly.
While living in six different countries she realized something– the more places she moved to, the more bridges she burned, and the more disconnected she felt within.
Over the past two years everything’s changed. She’s stopped searching for answers and permissions outside herself. This is her story. She hopes it will inspire you too.
He’s growing is a fable about a clever, orange tomcat. A fable is a short story that typically has animals as the characters, conveying a moral. This book follows this orange tomcat who ends up hungry and decides it may be in his best interest to find a family who will take him in and feed him as it has gotten harder and harder for him to forage for food out on his own. Every few chapters, the cat grows larger – starting as a house cat, then a Main Coon, a lynx, a leopard, a cougar and finally he is nearly as big as a lion! The family that takes him in is made up of a mother and father and their 2 children, a daughter and a son. We never learn the families names but each of the family members feels differently about the cat moving into their home, especially since they just lost the family dog not too long ago. They seem to come across as more of “dog people” than “cat people”, but have offered up their home to this cat. The bigger he gets, the more annoyed the mother seems to get with him. Then the cat figures out how to talk to the family and the mother ends up even more annoyed while the rest of the family are all enamored with him.
I recently read a compilation of the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 6. Every now and then I like to “treat” myself to something a bit racier but I have found that a lot of times the back story is boring and it takes a while to get to the “good stuff”. With these compilations, there are many short stories within them so I can read a whole bunch at once or one every now and then, but since they are so short to fit many in the book – they get to the point relatively quickly! This book was made up of stories with all different situation – male female, female female, those who are recently divorced and looking for fun, married couples looking to put some spice into their marriage after children and of course, mermaids.
Every now and then I need to read something to give me a little kick in the behind and some motivation to stop blocking myself by being scared. Recently it was reading What’s Stopping You? Face your fears, ignite your passion and activate your dreams. The book is broken up into 6 sections: Tips for the Journey, Encouragement for your Journey, What Is Stopping You?, Call to Action, and Book Discussion Questions. There also is a free companion Activation course that goes along with the book – you can either do it after you finish the book or go along with it as you read the book. I believe the most important takeaway from this book and something I really need to realize and over come is “NO ONE can keep you from being you but YOU.”
