Book Review by Jas

July 28, 2025

Book Review: Love Side Up: How Is Believing In Jesus the Secret to Living a Good Life?

The book provided is a comprehensive exploration of Christian theology, focusing on the transformative power of Jesus’ love and the concept of living a “good life” through faith, hope, and love. ​ The author delves deeply into the essence of salvation, the role of suffering, the importance of forgiveness, and the rejection of legalistic approaches to sanctification. ​

Book Review: Love Side Up: How Is Believing In Jesus the Secret to Living a Good Life?

“Love Side Up: How Is Believing In Jesus the Secret to Living a Good Life?” is a thought-provoking and deeply spiritual work that challenges traditional notions of Christian sanctification and offers a fresh perspective on living a life rooted in the love of Jesus Christ. The author masterfully weaves personal anecdotes, biblical references, and theological insights to present a compelling case for embracing the transformative power of God’s love.

Key Themes:

  1. The Centrality of Love: The book emphasizes that love, as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross, is the cornerstone of Christian life. ​ It argues that true sanctification comes not from following rules but from living out sacrificial love guided by the Holy Spirit. ​
  2. Freedom from the Law: The author critiques legalistic approaches to Christianity, advocating for a life free from the condemnation of the law and focused on the grace and love of God. ​
  3. The Role of Suffering: Suffering is presented not as a punishment but as a tool for spiritual growth, teaching believers to rely on God and embrace His love even in the darkest times. ​
  4. Forgiveness and Reconciliation: The book highlights the importance of forgiveness—both receiving it from God and extending it to others—as a key to living a good life. ​
  5. Faith, Hope, and Love: These three virtues are explored as the foundation of a meaningful and abundant life, with love being the greatest and most transformative. ​

Strengths:

  • Personal Narratives: The inclusion of real-life stories, such as the author’s experiences with his father and the story of Kraig, adds authenticity and emotional depth to the theological discussions. ​
  • Biblical Foundation: The book is rich in scriptural references, providing a solid biblical basis for its arguments.
  • Accessible Language: Despite tackling complex theological concepts, the author uses clear and relatable language, making the book accessible to a wide audience. ​

Challenges:

  • Length and Depth: While the book is thorough, some readers may find the extensive theological discussions overwhelming. ​ A more concise presentation of key points could enhance readability.
  • Repetition: Certain themes, such as freedom from the law, are revisited multiple times, which may feel redundant to some readers. ​

Conclusion:

“Love Side Up” is a powerful and inspiring book that invites readers to rethink their approach to Christianity and embrace a life transformed by the love of Jesus. It is ideal for believers seeking a deeper understanding of their faith and a practical guide to living a life of love, grace, and forgiveness. ​ The book’s emphasis on the Spirit-led journey and the rejection of legalism makes it a refreshing and liberating read for those weary of traditional religious constraints. ​

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) Recommended for: Christians, theologians, and anyone interested in exploring the intersection of faith, love, and personal transformation. ​

November 30, 2022

Book Video Review #16: Born To Rise by Lorna Blake

Born to a poor teenage mother in rural Jamaica, Lorna experienced poverty, abandonment, and abuse. She boarded a plane to Canada on her own as a teenager with no guarantee of a visa, eventually gaining citizenship. Lorna defied the odds, overcoming poverty to graduate from university with an honors degree in social work while becoming the mother of two young children.

Her passion for learning and helping people transform their lives has led her to work in 5 different countries, where she’s taught and inspired thousands globally. Her compelling story of confronting the truth of her paternity was featured in an anthology published in 2018. Lorna’s latest work is her first autobiography account that details her early upbringing, life lessons learned through major life setbacks, and the exhilaration experienced in defying the odds.

https://www.smsnovel.com/product-page/born-to-rise-a-journey-from-setbacks-to-comebacks-and-lessons-learned

Facebook Profile https://www.facebook.com/lornamblake

Facebook Business: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057393680390

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lornab09 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lornamblake/

The scores are: Internal Layout: 10/10 Plot Development: 10/10 Key Takeaway Message: 10/10 Overall score: 30/30 If you have books with issues that matter to the society and you want me to review them, check out https://internationalbookpromotion.com/books-that-matter/ ​ #booktuber

 
April 12, 2022

Remembering You: A Novel Inspired by True Events by Anthony Jordan

Hi, I’m Anthony Jordan. As a young child, I enjoyed and played a variety of sports. And as a young adult, I still enjoy sports, and being a coach has been one of the things that brought me joy. I’ve always had a passion for writing, although I didn’t know it would lead me down this current path, especially because I acquired my degree in business management. As a young adult, the challenges I have experienced in recent years have increased my desire to share my experiences to inspire and encourage others. My new novel ‘Remembering You’ was born out of my tremendous grief of losing my fiancé and a desire to bring self-healing. My new direction is to continue writing, doing philanthropy work, traveling the world, and sharing my experiences.

Blurb:

Facing one setback after another, Jordan, known as ‘J’ in this novel, finds himself confronted with the past showing up in his present life in a way that shattered his life into pieces.

J takes you on a journey of life still in the game based on true events of failures, trauma, love, and tragic loss, and the will to self-reflect to find one’s passion.

There were many coffee visits to my mother’s house, but one turned out to be one I would never forget. Mid conversation, I stopped to show my mom a funny meme from a social media platform when a post in my feed made my stomach drop. Confused, I saw a picture of my fiancé, Angelica, with a black ribbon on the side of the picture.

“WTF?!” was all I could think. In disbelief, I went to Angelica’s page and saw multiple posts saying she was gone, no longer on this Earth.

Four days had passed without any communication between the two of us. The last time we spoke was via text message while attending a football game with my father. We had moments when we would give each other space, but this silence was different. To randomly find out why she was not responding to my daily messages was that she was dead? A gulp trickled to my heart. Though I struggled to breathe, I covered my mouth, trying to make sense of this image.

How could this be?
What happened to her?
Who can I speak with to confirm if this post is true?

Six months before our wedding, she was gone. The woman I had fallen in love with, the one that brought me light and joy, had left me standing in my mother’s kitchen heartbroken and confused about what caused her death.

Review:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A painful read right from the first page as I got reminded of my friend’s death that came through my social media feed a few years ago, leaving me confused and dejected. I could relate to the sudden death and getting to know it through social media. J shared a very meaningful connection with Angelica and I could feel his emotions and love that he had for her in this book. It leaves me feeling sad and painful for the author for having lost his girlfriend. What left me feeling confused is how a person can camouflage pain despite seeming to be doing good on the outside. Nevertheless, I am happy for J for having met Angelica in his life and for having shared a love that is deep enough for him to carry through his life.

March 31, 2022

Book Review by Jas: Listen To Me – How My Down Syndrome Brother Saved My Life by Lynne Podrat

Blurb:

This memoir was written to honor my youngest brother’s influence over my life, the good, the bad, and the ugly, of living with a Down Syndrome sibling. It tells the story of the children of my family, despite our parents’ frailties, remaining committed to each other through life’s many changes and separations. Who I am today is directly related to who I needed to become.

I enjoyed reading this short memoir, which is a little under 100 pages. ‘Listen to Me’ is a heart-wrenching story of a sister who faught for her younger brother’s rights who had Down Syndrome to be able to stay home with the family, rather be sent to an state run insistution. I personally feel that the love the author has for her younger brother named Bruce led her in finding her life partner by the same name. It is amazing both the gentlemen got along very well until the last days of Bruce who had cancer later in life. It is an emotional read, especially if you have a younger brother. It makes you walk down the memory lane, recollecting memories of your childhood.

January 26, 2022

Book Review by Jas: Square Up: 50,000 Miles in Search of a Way Home by Lisa A Dailey

Have you ever wished you could run away and leave your life behind? Born on the “Day of the Wanderer,” Lisa Dailey has always been filled with wanderlust. Although she and her husband had planned to take their family on a ’round-the-world adventure, she didn’t expect their plans to come together on the heels of grief, after losing seven family members in five years. Square Up shows us that travel not only helps us understand and appreciate other cultures, but invites us to find compassion and wisdom, heal from our losses, and discover our capacity for forgiveness, as well as joy.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lisa Dailey started travelling with her family after losing 7 loved ones in only a 5-year period. She started the journey with her husband and two sons after quite a bit of contemplation, due to her grieving and anxiety. The family cover many months of travel from one country to another, some without pre-planning and with little preparation. Part of the reason they couldn’t pre-plan all of their travel is because they travel mostly via miliary air travel, as her husband is in the military. Along the way, her husband reminds her to trust “The Force” and over time, Lisa begins to trust The Force that is taking care of her and her family. She also learns to deal with the grieving better. |She learned to reassure herself that she will find her way back to herself. I like how the visit to a temple in Singapore was an eye-opener in Lisa’s life, and many other visits taught her invaluable life lessons. The family also educated their children on life as a whole, and their experience is something we all could relate to, especially when we are missing travels post Covid.

A live interview of Lisa is coming up on the 6th of Feb on Facebook. Watch out this space

https://www.facebook.com/InternationalBookPromotion/videos/?ref=page_internal

December 13, 2021

Book Review by Jas: Uncomfortable Ideas by Dr. Bo Bennett

Prepare for a Bumpy Ride.

Many of our ideas about the world are based more on feelings than facts, sensibilities than science, and rage than reality. We gravitate toward ideas that make us feel comfortable in areas such as religion, politics, philosophy, social justice, love and sex, humanity, and morality. We avoid ideas that make us feel uncomfortable. This avoidance is a largely unconscious process that affects our judgment and gets in the way of our ability to reach rational and reasonable conclusions. By understanding how our mind works in this area, we can start embracing uncomfortable ideas and be better informed, be more understanding of others, and make better decisions in all areas of life.

Some uncomfortable ideas entertained in this book:

  • Political correctness can be harmful
  • Identity politics is a dangerous game
  • Morality is functionally democratic
  • Victims often do share some of the responsibility
  • God is a far more horrifying character than Satan
  • There is no such thing as freewill
  • Americans are manipulated into being pro-war
  • Non-whites can be racist, and women can be sexist
  • Some people do “choose to be gay”
  • Sometimes the bad guys win
  • Obese people are not perfect the way they are
  • It’s okay to find inappropriate jokes funny

Facts don’t care about feelings. Science isn’t concerned about sensibilities. And reality couldn’t care less about rage.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A bumpy ride indeed. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the content, it still manages to make one think critically about certain things, and that is always a good thing. What’s more, it is being presented in a non-threatening, clear, balanced, and objective way. A great way to tackle uncomfortable ideas.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Very eye-opening. Making us question the things that make them uncomfortable and why, is what we all need. Love it!”

Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Definitely a book that requires some time for the readers to read and reflect on many uncomfortable aspects of life. I certainly enjoyed reading this book and took time to ponder upon the questions summarized at the end of the book. Many of the ideas discussed are something I have questioned myself before and as we humans have biasness, these questions may not always have a truthful answer and we may also find ourselves conflicting what we said in the past just because we now think differently and therefore think what was not acceptable in the past can now be accepted. I think it is especially true when it comes to relationships and polyamarous relationships. It can be a very difficult subject to handle but while polyamarous relationships are certainly possible, I would question the level of fulfillment one gets out of relationships as a whole, when attention is divided between many parties involved.
Likewise, the author has also mentioned that extreme feminism can cause people to question the reason behind the movement in the first place, which I agree.
I think this book is worth reading from the perspective of a professional who wrote the book to encourage people to embrace different ideas.

November 18, 2021

Book Review: Disasters To Dreams: A Gritty Guide to Finding Success In The Face Of Failure

Fired, robbed, divorced, and with two businesses down the drain, Chris Patrick was stuck on a one-way street of screwups and failures.The life he was leading wasn’t what he wanted—but sometimes, not getting what you want is exactly what you need.Disaster to Dreams is the story of one man’s biggest catastrophes and greatest comebacks, but it’s also a story that demonstrates how amazing opportunities lie just on the other side of adversity—if you’re willing to do the dirty work and dig through defeat. Refreshingly candid, this tough-love and unfiltered self-improvement guide will motivate you to transform stress into stability, train wrecks into trophies, and disasters into dreams.You’ll discover:The ultimate personal growth mindset to help you create your own rules and master life-changing manifestation.Interviews with entrepreneurs, full of inspiration to help you power through any obstacle.How to swallow your “bad” pride and ask people for help—because sometimes finding your purpose takes some hand-holding.Self-reflection exercises to unearth the seeds to future success in the dirt of your past.A step-by-step business-booming process that can improve your subpar enterprise into a prosperous empire.Build triumph on the foundation of failure. No path is a dead end, no matter how epic your mess of defeat. Get Disasters to Dreams and prepare for a path of limitless opportunity in your perfect storm of success!

Review:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I loved the honest sharing of the author in this book, detailing out his experiences and how he rose from all the struggles life threw his way. From having a bad father, to finding a great father figure and losing dear ones (including relationships), the author has detailed out very clearly what went wrong in his life and how he strived through it. We also get to see how his family stood by his side when he was falsely accused of rape. As the story develops, we see how Chris developed love for entrepreneurship, how he failed in some his ventures before finding success. We could also learn from his multiple relationships before he found his wife, and the lessons behind the struggles to conceive a child.

I particularly like the way the book is written with multiple short interviews with successful people, and there is an element of surprise in one of the interviews as well. Each chapter is accompanied by a “What About You” section to help us readers reflect on our life as well – and I thought this format is similar to Evan Carmichael’s book “Built to Serve”. I also got a feeling of reading Mark Manson’s book with the use of sh*t throughout the book. But other than that, I really think any entrepreneur would enjoy reading this book, as we all can related to most of the lessons conveyed in this book.

I also liked how he suggest to find a tribe or community for support as this is what I am particularly trying to do in my life right now. If you doubt the law of attraction, you may want to give this book a read.

May 13, 2021

Book Review by Jas – Birth of a Unicorn: Six Basic Steps to Success by Heather Wilde

Birth of a Unicorn: Six Basic Steps to Success by Heather Wilde

Blurb:

Have you ever dreamed about creating your own company? Have you wondered what it takes to make it to that elite, inner circle of the “Unicorn Club”?

In this book, you’ll find the true story behind one of Silicon Valley’s famous companies on its rise to the top. Peek behind the curtain as you see the highs and lows from an insider perspective, on the roller coaster that is the startup life. What emerges is a lasting friendship, a billion-dollar company, and an understandable framework of success for you to replicate.

You’ll learn:
● How to find the balance between your career and personal life.
● Why emotional awareness and critical thinking are as important as specialized knowledge.
● How to identify the real skills you need to build a “Unicorn” team.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Heather, along with her husband, was one of Evernote’s first employees. Heather, unlike other self-help writers who have built successful businesses in Silicon Valley, shows us the reality of building a Fortune 500 company, which includes the strain it can cause on relationships, health, and emotions. Heather walks down memory lane to the time where she and her husband worked hard with the other founders of Evernote, how the workload brought them together but also separated each other. Heather also came to a point where she had to prioritize her marriage amidst the increasing workload and how as a couple, she managed to do it. The challenge doesn’t stop just there, as she had to deal with fatigue and sleep deprivation.

The core of her coaching methods rests on six basic needs for humanity: uncertainty, significance, love/connection, growth, contribution, and certainty. I love how she placed an emphasis on love and connection because, without these two elements, life gets very meaningless. I also think that as entrepreneurs embrace greater challenges, they often forgo their health, family, and friends, which are the very reasons why they started working hard in the first place.

Some of the marketing efforts she made can serve as inspiration for anyone having small businesses and I feel that her opinions are honest and they come from a place to help people.

The formatting of the book was a little confusing and the headings were all over the place, which made it confusing. The narration sometimes gets a little repetitive, especially surrounding the relationship with her husband however, this is a worthwhile read.

January 12, 2021

Book Video Review #9: Built to Serve by Evan Carmichael

Book Video Review #9

As you know, I’ve started doing book video reviews as a #booktuber and my reviews would be book-fiction books.

This book review is #BuilttoServe by #EvanCarmichael

The scores are:
Internal Layout: 9/10
Plot Development: 8/10
Key Takeaway Message: 8/10
Overall score: 8.7/10

If you have books with issues that matter to the society and you want me to review them, check out https://internationalbookpromotion.com/books-that-matter/

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September 15, 2019

Book Video Review #4 by Jas: High Tea in Mosul by Lynne O’Donnell

High Tea in Mosul by Lynne O’Donnell

Book Video Review #4. Be sure to drop your comments below, follow the channel and blog. I’d be happy to make new friends as I make book video reviews.

Book Video Review #4

As you know, I’ve started doing book video reviews as a #booktuber and my reviews would be book-fiction books.

This book review is for High Tea in Mosul by Lynne O’Donnell.

The scores are:
Internal Layout: 5/10
Plot Development: 7/10
Key Takeaway Message: 8/10 Overall score: 6.7/10

If you have books with issues that matter to the society and you want me to review them, check out https://internationalbookpromotion.co…