The story revolves around these two characters: Addie Downs and Valerie Adler who were best friends when they were nine. But they have not spoken to each other for the past 15 years after an incident in high school created a rift between them. During that time, someone had committed an atrocious act that left Valerie emotionally shaken. In a bid to defend Valerie, Addie made an accusation against a popular guy, but this resulted in her becoming a scapegoat and the subject of condemnation in school. Addie was also ostracized by her schoolmates because of her obese figure, while Valerie was an outgoing cheerleader who’s popular in school.

Addie leads the most mundane life with no other human social activities (besides caring for a brother who suffers brain damage) to call her own. The only other activities that keep her busy are her hobby of painting greeting cards and searching for Mr. Right online.

But things change drastically when her former best friend comes knocking in the middle of the night 15 year later since they last seen and spoke. Valerie (a weather-girl at a television station), shows up on her doorstep with bloodstains on her trench coat and pleading for help.

Valerie’s sudden appearance forces both of them to question the choices they have made in their lives. All this while, Addie has been thinking that she was the only one who was struggling through high school while Valeria had everything going for her, but in reality, Valerie was having as much as of a hard time at home. It also give them the opportunities to learn about love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, and overcoming the odds in life.

The plot itself is a bit too contrived for my liking. Weiner did inject witty humor into this slightly disenchanting book but it somehow fails to capture my attention for a lengthy period. The only time I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough was the action part which sadly is only one-seventh of the whole book.

This book, Best Friends Forever, is a downer in comparison to Weiner’s earlier books—one chick literature that I don’t quite enjoy. Wish I had this book with me when I was in-flight alone (a surefire way to avoid mindless chats with the stranger next to me and if that stranger happens to be an interesting stud then putting down a disenchanted book isn’t so hard to do) instead of my recent trip to Hong Kong with FwB. Guess what, I left this book in our hotel room! Okay, I wasn’t being very green per se, but I couldn’t make myself put it into my luggage considering I had far more important things to bring home to.

• How to Drive Husbands Off the Wall…Effectively
• Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
• Duma Key

It isn’t all rehash or trash for that matter, but I sincerely think one has to be in a trance or semi-hypnotized or theta stage to be able to read through the whole book without questioning what they had just read. I believe it should be done in this way—read in beta and do the six-step process in theta not read and do in theta brainwave stage.

I’m not talking about being open-mindedness. For all I know, you can be as open as any open book but that doesn’t mean you allow junks to be thrown at you with open arms and mind.

As you begin to read on, assuming you’re in the beta stage—small brain as the author addresses many times throughout the whole book—you will slowly start to question the credibility of the author and her ability to believe what she “preaches” will work.

I was searching high and low for some concrete theories on how she came about this six-step process to prove myself wrong. Unfortunately there is none. The plan came as an epiphany when she was having a nervous breakdown. Yes, just like that! No mention of her taking any courses related to her teaching. She experimented on herself and it worked so the author decided to spread her knowledge and conducted courses base on that epiphany.

Three Things that The One Command Irks Me:

Repetition: I mentioned this many times before; I hate repetitive text/message. The one thing that she drilled so repeatedly is this one phrase:

I don’t know how I (any positive attribute or possession you’d like to acquire). I only know that I do now, and I am fulfilled.

And then I began to question if her six-step process is redundant since only 5 pages are dedicated to that script. By the way, the six-step process are: Ground, Align, Go to Theta, Command, Expand, and Receive with Gratitude.

Success Stories: I don’t understand why the need of many testimonials (success stories) spread between chapters. I don’t know about you, but when I find one tries too hard to convince or prove her six-step process work the less convinced I am.

Getting to the Theta Brainwave Stage: Anyone with a sound mind cannot possibly believe that walking on six pieces of paper with a partner reading her script can get you in a theta stage. Seriously?

Firstly, not many have the gift of reading texts in a meditating voice. If you have been listening to different guided meditations, you know that some just don’t have that soothing and relaxing voice. And these experts have been doing for a while, let alone laypeople like us can achieve that in two takes.

Secondly, to be in a theta stage without any help of listening any brainwave music or have some sort of meditation prior to it’s just impossible to attain. And the irony is that the author doesn’t provide any free MP3 download on her website to prep you into theta brainwave stage. She expects everyone can achieve that stage effortlessly base on her script.

I just ordered Theta Healing Brainwave to use with EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques Energy Tapping, and I’m going to give her six-step process another go. Until then I can’t fully convinced that her technique works.

For the price of $21, this just doesn’t worth it. Overall, I’ll give it 2 stars.

• A Happy Pocket Full of Money

Somehow, the more I tried to look pass this book on the
customers-who-bought-this-item-also-bought menu, the more it kept showing up even on books I was browsing that weren’t of any hinge of relatedness.

Out of irritation and curiosity, I clicked to check the book out. Upon closer look at the cover, I came to know that the author was the creative consultant on The Secret—mere mentioning of this book almost caused me to gag. I hate The Secret—the book and the DVD; just hate them. They are simply overhyped and overrated. There, I finally say it.

On with this book, A Happy Pocket Full of Money, a hefty price tag that is selling two and half times more than many other paperbacks in Amazon. And with almost all 5-stars ratings, I just couldn’t help but to get this book and investigate.

So, was this book worth my time and money? Here’s my take on what I like and dislike about this book.

What I like; on:

Content Delivery: With a doubt, the author’s insights on creating wealth, abundance, and joy are incredible. He uses many metaphors to illustrate how LOA works. They are current and realistic which make them easy to understand and relate to.

He begins the first few chapters on basic understanding of quantum physics, and then gradually moves onto the spiritual aspects of LOA.

One of my favorite takeaways of this book is this:

Desire and intend, and you shall always have it. Quest for the truth and knowledge, and you shall always know what you seek to know. There are no real boundaries to your growth, for you are more than welcome to experience any choices you make. But you must be certain that these statements are true, for if you believe they are not true or they are partially true or selectively true, that is exactly what you will get.

Especially the last sentence—partially or selectively true—it rings so true for me. Quite often when I moved pass my complete doubt on a particular quest/belief to partially doubt, the result I got from it was always partial or selective.

What irk me about this book are the:

Borders and Line Spacing: Talk about abundance, the author or the publisher certainly didn’t apply one of his “laws” when it comes to line and paragraph spacing and borders especially the right border which width measures only 0.312 inches.

It put tremendous strain on my eyes when reading a whole chunk of texts in one cramped page. Some paragraphs go as long as four-fifth of a page.

For the price of $29.99 for a 228-pages book, least they could do is to be generous with the line spacing. The content itself isn’t at all different to comprehend but I had to pause many times between pages; making it thrice as long for me to complete a book with the same amount of content.

Subliminal Message: It took me almost a quarter of the book before I could muffled the—I AM WEALTH. I AM ABUNDANCE. I AM JOY—subliminal message between paragraphs and quotes. To be honest, I don’t quite appreciate these subliminal messages. It looks like the author was trying to accomplish too many tasks at one go.

I’m no expert on subliminal messages, but to my understanding, they are meant to be, a lack of better word, “hidden” and not thrown at you so vividly and often in infrequent intervals.

With clamped text and subliminal messages scattered all over is enough to clutter your brain and most probably dampen your reading pleasure.

Repetitive Phrases: I read one of the reviews at Amazon, and this reviewer loved the repetitive phrases use so often in the book. I don’t about you but I certainly don’t.

Not all repetitive phrases in the book are in exact wording, some are rephrasing one idea into two or six ways. I understand why some like repetitive stuff because it takes a while for the message to drill it in. Here’s what I think about repetitive messages, nag. Remember how your mom’s constant nags that you completely not hearing her?

I agree with the author that repetition is powerful, but what good does it make if one doesn’t pause to reflect or implement them once received. For what it’s worth, repetitive messages are nothing but noise.

If the literature is of worthy read, I can always reread it many times and highlight those that deem to be useful for me. But for the first take, I’d like to get through the book without jumping through hoops.

So-called Teasers: I don’t mind one or two teasers spread across the book but having one or two in almost every chapter just drive me nuts. Most are towards the end of the chapter but some are midway into a chapter. What teasers am I talking about? Here are some excerpts randomly picked from the first 108 pages:

• All this will make more sense when you understand…
• The pieces of the puzzle will fall into place as you read on…
• As you will see throughout this book…
• It will make sense when…especially after reading…
• Some…will only become clear after you have read the whole of this book.
• This will get easier and clearer…
• You will know more about them in later chapters.

A couple of chapters, the author talks great length about being in the Now; as you see from the above excerpts, these are certainly not the Now talking. How can I be in the Now—enjoying what I’m reading now, when the author so often reminding me about what I will understand or learn in the next few chapters? Subconsciously, I’m anticipating and not able to fully appreciate what I’m doing Now. I’d rather be shown (when I get there), not told (before arriving).

Spelling Errors: I, too, am guilty of making some spelling errors on my blog posts and also notice them on some of my friends’. I tend to be more forgiving on blogs. But for books, it can be annoying when you know there is an in-house editor to do the nitty-giddy checking and editing; unless it is a self-published book. Fortunately those errors are very minimal.

Conclusion:

So, does this book, A Happy Pocket Full of Money, warren your time and money? Yes, it still does if you can overlook the first four points the irked me. But seriously, I would recommend this book to those who are new to LOA or those who haven’t fully comprehend how LOA works or those seasoned LOA practitioners who want different perspectives. Having said, I honestly can’t give a 5-stars rating like many Amazon’s reviewers did. The content only rates 4 and the overall presentation is a 2-stars for me.

Strangely, this book doesn’t dedicate a page on author’s biography or a short bio at the back of the book.

It may interest you to know that the author’s website literally screams Internet Marketing sales copy to me—the layout, bonuses, endless testimonies, and the standard IM web copywriting. I have nothing against IM but many of these products just look plain scrammy and unprofessional. Maybe it’s about time the author hire a good web copywriter and a web designer to redo and update (…offer ends Oct 25. Hmmm, what year?) his site if he wants to increase sales and be taken more seriously.

• The One Command

The story begins with a flat note, it starts to kick in (just a tiny weeny little bit) where Edgar strangled a dying dog with his invisible hand. I only began to see where the story was heading when Edgar painted Illy’s boyfriend before he knew his existence. Call me slow, call me illiterate or whatever but I just didn’t get the plot until page 88 or so. In all honesty, if this book was written by an “unknown” author I’d have stuffed this book in the cylinder and dumped it in Lake Phalen. But because it was King, I persevered and eagerly anticipated for more goose skin effects. Sadly, I was let down a few times along the way. It’s definitely not a page turner even though the plot thickens (again, a tiny bit) moments before Elizabeth Eastlake kicked the bucket (p. 499) where Illy and her could see faces in the water in Edgar’s Girl and Ship No. 8 picture. Thereafter, Edgar, Wireman, and Jack began to hunt for that ghost.

It’s a 769-page book and to have readers (maybe it’s only me) read through 60% of the book before getting some goosebumps, it’s just not fair! We are talking about mystery/thriller book, right? If I’d to use metaphor to describe the book, I’d have to say it’s like rollerblading on children playground. Should one fall, he is cushioned not by his gears but the cushy ground. Now you may wonder why I bothered to finish the book despite the unadventurous terrain I described.

Thank goodness for the audio book I borrowed from the library. If it wasn’t for John Slattery excellent voice over, I’d probably have taken a month to finish the book and might have forgotten half of the characters in the book along the way. FYI: For those who think this book is good, you don’t know King’s crafty talent until you read The Shinning, Misery, and Carrie. I beg you every strand of your hair stands throughout.

Duma Key

How Does this Book Fare as a:

• Renter: Yes.
• Borrower: Yes.
• Buyer: No. Well, not for this book in my opinion. You’re better off buying King’s earlier works as mentioned above. And who knows, they might become classic.
• Gift: Yes. Especially to SK fans.
• Audio Book: Definitely worth it. As I said earlier, John Slattery did a great job. I didn’t expect him to manage the various accents effortlessly.

Overall Rating On Duma Key: 3½ stars.

• Best Friends Forever
• How to Drive Husbands Off the Wall…Effectively
• Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

What’s even more puzzling to me is that this book is listed as one of the bestsellers in Amazon with many reviewers giving 4 to 5 stars. Hmm…were they rating based on the book cover or the content? I wonder if we read the same book.

If you intend to buy this book hoping to read how a rescued, ordinary library cat in a rural area like Spencer who never left his “home” more than once managed to charm the world then you will be greatly disappointed.

With a subtitle like The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched The World and a picture of a cat on its book cover, I was expecting a TOUCHING story of the life of a cat named Dewey. Instead a third of the book is autobiography and a quarter of it talks about Spencer’s farm crisis during the 80s. A quick math here, 40 per cent of the book goes to Dewey which the author failed to show us (a good story shows, not tell the readers) how charming the cat was.

There are a few things in the book don’t quite resonate well with me (i.e. Dewey’s constipation and finicky eating—but I’m going to let these pass as I’m commenting here and not over at my pet blogs) in particularly the word/phrase world and Dewey Goes to Japan (Chapter 22).

Dewey never went to Japan rather it was the Japanese TV crew (consisted of six people including an interpreter) came to do a documentary film. Being featured in a Japanese magazine and film is not the same as being physically there. Figuratively speaking, yes! I just have to congratulate the author’s clever use of words.

As to the word world, the author again used it very loosely. The world consists more than these five countries—USA, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, and one more country (I can’t remember). There are 190 more countries which the author missed.

I’ve read quite a few memoirs on animals (because I’m a sucker for animals), but none is as dull as this book. There are a few Dewey scenes which I think the author could develop further showing us more eccentric behaviors of this cat. If only the author had spent equal amount of time observing Dewey with the patrons as she did with her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren then she would have more writing materials on Dewey to cover in the book instead of filling numerous pages of unconnected personal tales.

If the author was trying to meet the quota to get this book published by filling in a hundred or so pages of fluff then it’s pathetic. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand that no publishing house would consider publishing a non-fiction adult book under 200 pages. Unless you have compelling persuading skills like Richard Bach (Jonathan Livingston Seagull), very rarely we see such “lengthy” book published.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

How Does this Book Fare as a:

• Renter: No. Don’t bother to waste a dime on this book. There is plenty of good books to rent but not this one.
• Borrower: Yes or maybe no. I’m sure most libraries would have it since it revolves the life of a library cat. Do so only if you really love cats and have no other good books to sink your claws in.
• Buyer: No. Since I declare it isn’t a renter, then it’s pretty obvious it’s not worth buying.
• Gift: Yes, if you want to put the receiver to sleep! Jokes aside, I suppose most cat lovers won’t mind receiving this book especially with such a handsome cat on the cover. Whether or not they will read pass chapter 2 is very questionable.
• Audio Book: If you must read this book, then I suggest you borrow the audio version from your local library. It’s abridged; and why didn’t they do that for the book! For those who read the book and feel it’s a self-important prose, honestly it isn’t half that bad compared to the audio book. Kudos for Suzanne Toren who did a wonderful voice over capturing the author’s accent.

Overall Rating On Dewey: 2 stars. I’d very much like to give one star but because Dewey I gave it a two.

• Duma Key
• Best Friends Forever
• How to Drive Husbands Off the Wall…Effectively