G622 Book Review of Heart Dancing a story alchemy adventure by Kathryn Eriksen

Name of Book: Heart Dancing a story alchemy adventure

Author: Kathryn Eriksen

ISBN: 9780990849728

Publisher: Self published

Type of book: spiritual, troubles, secrets, divorce, broken family, inner wisdom, dancing, philosophy, concepts

Year it was published: 2014

Summary:

Brian, his wife Christine and their 14-year-old daughter, Savanna, are a typical American family. Their lives begin to unravel when a dark secret from their past threatens to destroy them. Divorce is imminent unless they discover a miracle.

Savanna refuses to stand by and watch her family self-destruct. A mysterious young woman and her dog show Savanna how to look past the physical and see the spiritual side of her situation. A leap of faith and willingness to change her perspective gives Savanna a new view of her life, her values and her purpose.

But can the adults give up their stories about the past that are tearing them apart?

Brimming with inspiration, transformation and empowering messages, Heart Dancing is life changing. It also introduces the 4 step process called "Story Alchemy," which transforms the character’s stories that threaten their peace and happiness.

The Story Alchemy Process can give you the same benefits. You will notice that:
•you are calmer and more grounded in the present moment;
•you no longer get upset or angry about past events or people; and
•your heart starts dancing with joy, love and acceptance.

As you cheer for the individual choices made by Brian, Christine and Savanna Hartt, you will also reflect on your own stories that keep you playing small.

Heart Dancing – it’s the only way to live!

Characters:

The main characters include Savana, a thirteen year old girl that struggles with the fact her parents no longer want to be together, school and a deep secret that her mother has revealed to her. She is very curious and open minded towards different thoughts. Christine is Savana's mother and has a secret that she obsesses about, and she also refuses to acknowledge the real truth why she had done what she had done. Avery is Savana's mentor who has a golden retriever named Avatar and she is the that teaches the Hartt family about different truths and mindsets. Jane Andersen is the school principal who used to work as a marriage counselor and like Avery, Jane is intelligent and explains things and concepts very well.

Theme:

You are in charge of creating your own story

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from a lot of characters' points of views, although main ones are Savana and Christine. I have to admit that the transitions between the points of view is sudden and tended to be without a warning. Something that I liked is that the characters struggle with the concepts and they feel human instead of someone who are not realistic, and just like humans, they have setbacks as well.

Author Information:
(From iRead Book Tours)

Buy the book here:   Amazon ~  Barnes & Noble

Meet the author:  

Kathryn Eriksen is known as the "Story Alchemist." She has touched many people with her inspirational books, blog and articles about living your best life. A lawyer by training, she transformed her own life story from anger and frustration to love, joy and peace through the use of the same techniques that she shares in "Heart Dancing."

Connect with the author:    Website    Twitter    Facebook

Opinion:

I'm really not a stranger to reading books that discuss spiritual aspects of life, but unfortunately, this is one of the times when I felt a bit uncomfortable reading this particular story. Why? I'm not really sure, maybe because I often wondered what would someone in third world country make of the story, or perhaps the use of the word "god" had me raise my defenses, and the fact that I often equate the word god and love with christian proselytizing. I think I would have felt more comfortable with terms like "higher power" would have been used instead. The story is well written, although a bit improbable for my tastes, but its a cool concept and I can see what the author is trying to do.

This is for iRead Book Tours

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Tour Schedule:

Aug 10 - Unshelfish - review / giveaway
Aug 11 - Readers Muse - review / author interview
Aug 12 - Did YOU Hear About the Morgans? - review
Aug 13 - Rockin' Book Reviews - review / guest post / giveaway
Aug 14 - Working Mommy Journal - review / giveaway
Aug 16 - Writer and Authors - book spotlight
Aug 17 - The Autistic Gamer - review
Aug 19 - Book Stop Corner - review / author interview / giveaway
Aug 20 - Jessica Cassidy - review / guest post / giveaway
Aug 21 - Sarah Rehmatullah - review
Aug 21 - Create With Joy - review / giveaway
Aug 24 - Life as Leels - review
Aug 25 - Book and Ink - review / giveaway
Aug 26 - Reading Authors - review
Aug 27 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
Aug 28 - Deal Sharing Aunt - review / giveaway
TBD - Svetlana's Reads and Views - review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)