Everything I’ve Learned About Motherhood by Zeena Moolla- book review

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I received for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Everything I’ve Learned About Motherhood From My Single-Parent Dad by Zeena Moolla to review via NetGalley. You may find out more about the author on her blog.

Here is the book blurb.

Motherhood is amazing and the devotion you encounter is staggeringly strong. But when you’re in the eye of the shitstorm, veering between love and lunacy, wondering how this tiny, adorable human can wreak so much bedlam in your life, I believe you need a robust sense of humour to help save your sanity.

For Zeena Moolla, the early days of being a new mum were a heady cocktail of sleepless nights, acid reflux and aching boobs. But finding the funny in the chaos buffered so much of the stress. And she has her dad to thank…

Being brought up solely by a single dad, one of a foreign, Muslim background, exemplified beautifully that parenting and families come in all different shapes and sizes. His massive-hearted parenting shaped the kind of mother Zeena is, and as the funniest person she knows, he can also turn any situation around with warmth, wit and a cheese sandwich. If that’s not a vital skill in parenting, then what is?

With top tips for surviving sleep deprivation (spoiler alert: embrace a cantankerous mood and don’t buy crap coffee) to dealing with judgy idiots, getting to grips with shitty mum-guilt and returning to work, Zeena will show you that motherhood won’t just get better, it’ll be incredible.

Laugh-out-loud funny, honest, tender and packed with real life advice – this is essential reading for every new mother not cherishing every moment, feeling like a misfit or simply finding this parenting lark all too much.

I just knew this was going to be a fun read from the opening sentence and I was correct. Let me share that opener with you, it is a quote from Zeena’s beloved papa, a South African-Indian Muslim who brought her and her siblings up as a single parent, juggling working and parenting.

‘You know Zeena, I raised THREE children without any “fancy-pants” book!’

The book skips back and forth between when Zeena was a new mum and the parenting style of her papa, interspersed with motherhood now that Zeena’s children are aged 8 and 6.

It is both humorous and doesn’t leave out the swear words. Never mind the parenting manuals, this is the book for new mums to read. It encompasses plenty of top tips plus a chapter addressing racism in the world of Instagram mumfluencers.

Everything I’ve Learned About Motherhood is available on Amazon in paperback, audiobook or Kindle format. Such a fun parenting book.

The hashtag for this title is #EverythingIveLearnedaboutMotherhoodFromMySingleParentDad

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How To Be A Boss At Ageing by Anniki Sommerville – book review

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I received for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book How To Be A Boss At Ageing by Anniki Sommerville to review via NetGalley. You may find out more about the author on her website.

Here is the book blurb.

Do you find yourself fighting the urge to go to bed at 8pm? Do you look at your laughter lines and wonder what was ever so funny? Do you listen to the charts and not have a clue who’s singing? Do images of celebrities over forty in swimsuits just make you want to drink more wine?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then this is the book for you.

Funny, honest, and packed with advice, this is a must-read for any woman experiencing – and not particularly relishing – the effects of ageing. Anniki Sommerville shares her own experiences with those of other women as well as advice from experts – Sali Hughes, Cariad Lloyd, Meg Mathews, Emma Gannon and Dr Karen Gurney among others – to help you navigate this journey including:

Demystifying the menopause and how to deal with fluctuating moods and hormones.

Breaking the taboo of cosmetic surgery and why we need to start having honest conversations about ageing and beauty.

Exploring the reality of fertility treatment and motherhood including what happens when you’re peri-menopausal and parenting small kids.

How feeling bad about our bodies can often be a barrier to feeling good about sex and tips on how you can change that.

Why ambition is not a dirty word in middle age and how to stop feeling invisible in the workplace.

How to deal with grief and losing loved ones as we age.

How to be a Boss at Ageing will show you how not to give up when ageing creeps up. It’s time to rip up the rule book on what it means to grow older as a woman and embrace midlife. There’s no need to retire into cardigans and comfy slacks just yet.

This isn’t one of my usual genres to read but the blurb made it sound so fun, that I decided to give it a try.

Anniki crams plenty of topics into this book including physical ageing, tiredness, infertility, older parent, work, Botox, moods, menopause, anxiety, booze, sex, grief, social media.

She compares her views at age 18 versus now at age 47 plus predicted view at age 85. Also internal voice 1 talking at odds with internal voice 2. And plenty of fab lists like 10 things to do before you’re 50 plus a great alphabet of ageing.

This book was written during the Coronavirus pandemic, so of course that gets a mention too.

How To Be A Boss At Ageing is available on Amazon in paperback, audiobook or Kindle format. A really fun read, but with good advice as well. I must check out Anniki’s podcast next.

The hashtag for this title is #HowtoBeaBossatAgeing

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100 Ways to be Kind by Theresa Cheung- book review

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I received for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book 100 Ways to Be Kind: Everyday Actions to Change Your Life and Save the World by bestselling author Theresa Cheung to review. You may find out more about the author on her website.

Here is the book blurb.

Acts of everyday kindness can boost your mood and immunity, lower blood pressure, ease anxiety, slow the ageing process, improve the quality of your relationships (including the one you have with yourself) and give you a sense of deep meaning and purpose.

100 Ways to be Kind is a road map of practical, simple and immediately actionable ways to be kind including how to be kinder to yourself, to others and to nature.

Theresa debunks the damaging myth that being kind is a weakness and shows that it is not anger or aggression that brings out our true inner grit, but kindness.

Science has proven that there are powerful, potentially lifesaving reasons to be kind. The kinder you are, the more likely you are to experience happiness.

Kindness is the simple and scientifically proven remedy that everyone needs to administer right now. So, if you want to harness the power of kindness to transform your life and help save the world at the same time but aren’t quite sure how – this book is for you.

This isn’t one of my usual genres to read but when I was asked to review this book, the tagline of Everyday Actions to Change Your Life and Save the World got me interested. Regular followers of my blog will be aware that I am trying to focus on sustainability and doing my best for the environment.

This book was written during the Coronavirus pandemic at a period when I saw so many people stepping up in my local community with acts of kindness. I did my bit too, volunteering to help with shopping and collecting prescriptions for those shielding.

The book starts with a long introduction followed by the science of kindness including plenty of reasons why kindness is also good for our health. Then it debunks some myths about kindness. For instance “It’s too late” or “I’m too old“. No you’re not. Look at how many millions Captain Tom Moore raised. I’m sure some of my UK readers contributed to his fundraising, just like I did myself.

We then move onto the ways to be kind, starting with 25 ways to be kinder to yourself, 15 to be kinder online, 40 to be kinder to others and 20 to be kinder to nature. I certainly gained some great ideas but also saw that some of the suggestions were things I already do daily. However I felt the book was key to helping us put kind acts into practice.

The author urges the reader to carry out at least one way to be kind every day for 100 days. It isn’t 100 days since I started reading the book but I sincerely hope the kindness remains at the front of my mind. This is the first time that I have been out distributing Christmas dinners and I would like to think that perhaps this book helped motivate me.

100 Ways to be Kind is available on Amazon in paperback, audiobook or Kindle format. A great book which you can easily dip into for a revisit.

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Guest Post: Blind to Succeed by Michael Atkins

My other half recently received a free e-copy of the self-help book “Blind to Succeed” by Michael Atkins

Here is the book blurb.

If suddenly you were blind, would you be willing to push yourself to your limits in order to gain your sight back? Would you do whatever it takes to restore your vision? Author, Michael Atkins, examines what it takes to achieve personal success from his own life experiences as a writer and entrepreneur.

He takes a writer’s perspective to look at what gives writers and other artists their “winning-edge”, and to explore why some people are more successful in life than others. Michael Atkins has spent years studying successful writers, and in this inspiring book, he shares what he has learned about what it takes to succeed in writing and in life.

What he has found is that sometimes you have to first become blind before you can achieve great success in life.

“Blind to Succeed” will show you how you can change your perspective and conquer your fears in order to unlock your true potential for greatness. You will learn about:

-Beliefs that stop you from succeeding
-What it means to be brave
-How to change your perspective
-How to win your inner game
-Why the little things matter
-Why you need to sell your heart
-How to demystify the impossible
-How to overcome the obstacles to success
-How to battle fear
-The nature of talent
-Why you must learn to love
-Why you should never give up
-And more

Whether you are already a writer, an author, an artist, an entrepreneur, or you are aspiring to become one, this inspirational book will show you how you can transform your ideas and dreams into tangible success.

And this is what my other half had to say about Blind to Succeed.

The book was fairly short and the better for it!

Each chapter started with a well chosen quote and built well from it.

It encourages the reader – aimed at aspiring creatives – to commit to their art and recognise that it will be a sometimes difficult but worthwhile journey.

It addresses difficulties likely to be experienced along the way and how the author handled them.

My favourite theme was that it is better to live a creative life than a bland life.

Blind to Succeed is available on Amazon, currently priced at £2.70 in Kindle format.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book we were sent for free.  All opinions are our own.

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