Book Review: Priestess of the Forest by Ellen Evert Hopman

This is the last book I have to review for now. I requested this book from Llewellyn Press and they sent it to me in exchange for a review. I absolutely love this book. While it took me a little while to read it (well longer than normal for me) I fell in love with it. This book left me feeling so nostalgic, and not even sure what I was nostalgic for. This is one of those books that speaks to your soul. The story in this book rings true to your heart. It is well written and so much fun to read. It is also written in the old bardic way so if you pay close attention to the story you'll learn lessons of the Druidic path.

I think what I loved the most about this book was the lessons in herbcraft. Like I said if you pay close enough attention you learn lessons from this book and it is chock full of herbal lessons. Not only does it teach of Druidic beliefs, it speaks to the healer's soul because the heroine in this book is a healer.

This book is filled with herbal, Druidic, and life lessons. This is a wonderful book to read to your children, although there are some parts that could be edited for children such as some of the love scenes. While the love scenes are written tastefully and do not bring smut books to mind, some may feel it inappropriate for their children, but if you are raising Pagan children, this is a terrific book to help them understand Pagan beliefs.

Now, for the part that leaves me feeling sad. You all know that I am about co-existing. I think if everyone would just be respectful and not shove each other's religions down each other's throats and respect each other's differences things could be peaceful. This book illuminates the reason that co-existing, while working for certain people (like my best friend's Marissa and Miss K and myself), may never work on a global scale. I respect the Christian religion. My best friend Marissa is Christian, Miss K is Jewish, and they are accepting and understanding; however, most Christians aren't. They believe their religion is the one true way to get to God and that anyone who isn't part of their religion will go to what they call Hell. This book has two characters that I just want to punch. Yes I know, violence isn't the answer, but it would have made me feel better if I had been alive during the time this book is set in. But, this book also shows the virtues of remaining graceful in the face of worrisome change.

As I stated at the beginning of this review, I absolutely loved this book. I give it 5 stars and hope that everyone will grab a copy of this book and read it!

Book Review: Solitary Seance by Raymond Buckland

So, even during moving I can still find time to read and do a book review for you guys! Earlier I emailed Llewellyn Publishers and requested a couple of books to be able to review. They sent them to me in exchange for me reviewing them. Here's the first one. Solitary Seance by Raymond Buckland is a very informative book. I really enjoyed reading about the different ways that a person can contact spirits. However, the book was a little short and seemed a little vague on certain points.

There were several things that surprised me when it came to ways to contact the dead. I had no idea I could contact them using the Tarot, for instance. If you want to read about different ways to contact the dead this is the book for you. If you want something that digs deeply into seances and their history, etc. find some other book. All in all, while slightly disappointing, this is a wonderful book to introduce you to solitary seances. Really the only reason I find this book slightly disappointing is because I was hoping for more. I wanted to dig deeper and broaden my understanding. I did broaden my understanding of different techniques and got to have a couple of conversations with my grandma, but all in all I had hoped for way more from this book. I do recommend this book because it is a good, quick read.

Book Review: Sylvia Browne's Afterlives of the Rich and Famous

This book review is part of the TLC Virtual Book Tours. I'm running a little late on this and I am so sorry for that. Things have been really busy here. Anyway, on to the book. As most of you guys know, I'm a big fan of Sylvia Browne. She is a renowned psychic and reading her books about the afterlife always make me feel better since losing Grandma. Her book Afterlives of the Rich and Famous is an okay book. It details the lives of some of our most beloved actors that have passed on. I enjoyed it for the insights into the afterlife. I don't worry myself too much with what goes on with celebrities when they are alive so I'm usually not too worried about what they do with themselves on the other side either but this was a lovely book. I enjoyed getting to know about what life can be like on the other side. I particularly enjoyed reading about Heath Ledger. I was a big fan of his and missed him deeply when he passed on... It is good to know he's doing great on the other side. This book is great for those of us that enjoy knowing about celebrities, but it is also great for those that are curious about life after death. Sylvia, along with her spirit guide Francine, give us wonderful hints and paint a beautiful picture of Home. I give this book four stars.