The Four Agreements

Available at Amazon.com

The Four Agreements
Miguel Ruiz
Hardcover, 168 pages
Published September 14th 2001 by Amber-Allen Publishing
First published 1997
ISBN 9781878424501

In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

Self-help, philosophy, or inspirational. Where this one falls within the shelves, I'm not entirely sure. Most classified it as a book focused on spirituality and I definitely have an argument with that one. I will say this with absolute certainty though: The introduction flew right over my head. So it took a re-read to settle my thoughts and thoroughly process the three page prologue. Sad. But true.

And unfortunately, I went from a numbing confusion to a deep depression with The Domestication of Humanity. Ouch!

If we compare the dream of human society with the description of hell that religions all around the world have promulgated, we find they are exactly the same. Religions say that hell is a place of punishment, a place of fear, pain, and suffering, a place where the fire burns you. Fire is generated by emotions that come from fear. Whenever we feel the emotions of anger, jealousy, envy, or hate, we experience a fire burning within us. We are living in a dream of hell.

The gist of this book is a simple one. We are living a dream. A dream constructed by others, shaped by those who love us, and agreed upon by ourselves. It is our hell. And knowing that I am personally molding the hell in which my son will grow, suffer, and war within simply by rewarding him in my efforts to teach right from wrong... it's not such a happy thought.

2 out of 5 stars.

A New Earth

"Love and do what you will." -St Augustine

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A New Earth
Eckhart Tolle
Hardcover, 315 pages
Published October 11th 2005 by Dutton Adult
ISBN 9780525948025

Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.

Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one.

In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are—which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently think we are—and learn to live and breathe freely.

You're there. That what-the-fuck moment, where you're trying to fathom why a book like that is on a blog like this.

This year (2014), for myself, is about opening up to new experiences. Preparing myself for the revelations of the world. I started here with what was available to me, because this, and many books like it, is what my husband reads. Oh yes, while I am lost in romance and fantasy, my beloved is expanding his consciousness. As it happens, we share the resulting benefits of one another's ride.

Outflow determines inflow.

Being of such a vastly different concept as what I typically gravitate towards, DH had some concerns with my ability to grasp or even appreciate what all A New Earth held inside. But reading, as a whole, enables us to open our minds to something beyond. I had no doubt I would enjoy this book, despite it's lack of smut and declarations of undying love which, yes, is the usual *must* for me. But the suspense of a topic previously unexplored, combined with the very real relation it had to my life, and what I want for that life, kept me engrossed enough to see it through. And I find, ever so subtly, that I have taken it with me from its pages.

What you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself.

4 out of 5 stars.

Morgan's Fate: True Destiny #4

"You've traumatized my cheerios!"

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Morgan's Fate
Dana Marie Bell
True Destiny, book four
ebook, 184 pages
Published August 13th 2013 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 9781619216150

His Fate is finally in front of him...
And he’s never letting go.

Morgan and Magnus Grimm return from their search for Skuld, Norn of the Future, only to find that she’s been living under their noses this whole time. Now that Morgan finally has the woman of his dreams within reach, nothing—not amnesia, not Odin, not even his father’s death—will prevent him from claiming the Fate he’s wanted for centuries.

Skylar Kincade is lost among these crazy people who swear that they’re the old Norse gods. But…there’s something that strikes a chord deep within her. Something from which the hot, redheaded Morgan wants to protect her.

But when the memories burst free, there’s no softening the devastating blow. For overstepping her bounds and changing their fates to save their lives, her powers were stripped away, leaving her as just another Norn.

And it seems more punishment is coming down: one of Logan’s children is missing. Skye is determined to do her part to make it right—by journeying all the way to Valhalla to meet a fate from which Morgan may not be able to save her.

Morgan Grimm, once Modi, is the son of Thor. Or... was. Thor's dead now, and it's up to Morgan and his siblings (including his twin brother, Magnus - aka Magni) and allies to avenge him with Odin's demise.

Hello, and welcome to confusion. Thor is Fred. Odin is Oliver. Baldur is Kir, son of Odin/Oliver and brother of Thor/Fred. Loki is Logan, and God help you if it all that made sense because you're madder than Skye is convinced all those people are!

You're guaranteed to laugh while reading one of Bell's books. I have before, did here, and will again because she is one of my most loved authors. That said, this book was sickeningly sweet. Basically, Morgan gets his Fate. And it's like they've always been together. Absolutely no qualms. No hurdles. Nothing at all keeping the two apart. So yes, sickeningly sweet describes it well.

2 out of 5 stars.

Code Word Storm

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Code Word: Storm
Sydney Croft
ACRO, book 1.5
Included in the Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance.
Also included in Deadly Desires 2 in 1 with Shiloh Walker.

The extremely secret Agency for Covert Rare Operatives is the only thing that stands between the human race and complete chaos. Now, two agents with special abilities, Annika Svenson and Creed McCabe, are sent to stop a man who has harnessed the power of the supernatural world.

But Creed and Annika have a history that puts them at odds -- and in closer, hotter contact than they'd like. In this ACRO story, which falls in the series timeline between Riding the Storm and Unleashing the Storm, Annika and Creed grow closer, despite their resistance. And with their lives are on the line, they find they must not only work together, but be together, or risk a terrifying fate that could consume them both.

Creed and Annika *so* deserved their own full length book, but hey, at least Croft (aka Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler) gave us this. Which, all in all, is rather satisfying.

Their story began back in book one as a filler to Haley and Remy's book, but for me, C&A were the story even then. Discovering they weren't the protagonists of the sequel had a bit of a shock factor but thankfully the two were not left to the background. They get their happily-for-now in their very one novella. Here, Annika and Creed are sent to destroy Bender, a man who has summoned demons, subsequently losing control over them, and deals in child slave trafficking. It's quick, not all that hot or heavy, but well... at least they weren't forgotten.

3 out of 5 stars.