An engaging spiritual primer.
A spiritual guide to manifesting a fulfilling life.
In these pages, Gottlieb presents a dynamic spiritual approach to applying attraction principles for achieving intentional life-fulfillment. Drawing on her personal experiences in addition to her skills as a writer and illustrator, the author presents an approachable system for manifestation that blends historical and contemporary perspectives. The book is divided into two sections, beginning with a conceptual overview of the law of attraction before outlining seven core principles for conscious living; these include manifestation, magnetism, unwavering desire, delicate balance, harmony, right action, and universal influence. According to Gottlieb, our thoughts and emotions produce vibrational signals that attract matching experiences when we maintain alignment and focus. She explains that our inner emotional state determines the shape of our outer reality, and that wonderment serves as an essential frequency for attracting what we want. Readers are directed to examine their restrictive beliefs through journal prompts, self-assessments, and reflective exercises designed to help redirect their energy toward empowering narratives. Throughout the book, authenticity stands out as the most powerful driver of transformation, because it means living in alignment with personal inner truth (“When we tap into our authentic selves and have the courage to live from that place, we will experience true happiness and satisfaction that the shoulda-woulda-couldas will never create”). This work stands apart from other similar-in-subject texts by virtue of its friendly, approachable style. The author maintains an encouraging, playful tone, which motivates readers to try new things rather than follow strict rules. The book places more emphasis on intuitive connections than scientific evidence—readers who require empirical proof or structured methods for change might be disappointed by the guide’s abstract nature. Those who welcome spiritual and psychological elements along with self-help principles will find that Gottlieb’s heartfelt guidance leads them to rediscover their creative power and innate abilities.
An engaging spiritual primer.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9798891386075
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Amplify Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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