Liz Loves Books.Com.

Available February from Hay Publishing.

Thanks to the authors for the copy via netgalley.

Ok so the first thing to say is, I’m not a fan of “self help” books. I’ve always found any that I have dipped into rather preachy and smug as if to say “well if you would only do THIS your life would be fantastic”. But I read the blurb on this one, and as the content struck me as extremely relevant to my personal life at the moment, I thought well, why not?

So over the last evening and this morning I read the whole thing cover to cover – and I was very surprised at just HOW relevant it was and how much of what the authors were saying struck a cord with my own feelings and emotions right now. Suffering any kind of loss is hard – we all know that – often coping skills are hard to find. What I found within the pages was a way of focussing those feelings, understanding them a bit better, and realising that nothing I was thinking or feeling was wrong.

This book does not preach at you. It does not attempt to make your suffering go away, in fact after reading this I’ve accepted that suffering is just something we have to go through in order to move on. And that there IS a way of moving on and retrieving your own sense of self worth after a loss, a break up, or indeed any huge life change.

It is simple to read and understand – you are not dazzled by important sounding words or over excessive psychology – it speaks simply to self. Through the stories and experiences of others, it helps you understand that you are not alone, that you are not strange or unusual and that there ARE ways of making it, if not easier, then more productive.

The layout is great – separate chapters speak to separate issues – the issue that is affecting me most, that of moving on after a long term relationship comes to an end had its own specific pages, as did the death of a close friend or relative and various other issues that we all face at some point in our lives. If you just want to read the relevant chapter to your situation, you can.

I read it all – the advice given was straightforward, extremely helpful and very calming. I’m not sure my heart is healed JUST yet – but now I know what to expect, I have some mechanisms to help me cope, and there are certainly some passages in this book that I shall return to whenever my emotions get the better of me.

I would recommend this to anyone who is finding it hard to cope after an emotional issue – it won’t cure the problem or make it go away – what it WILL do perhaps is, help you to move through every part of the grief process with a greater understanding and more rational thinking.

My thanks to the authors once more – you have helped. Truly.