Book Review: Bethan White: Downward

Downward

This may contain spoilers

Author: Bethan White.

Title: Downward.

Genre: crime, thrillers & mystery, psychological, fiction, thriller, novel, crime, mystery,.

I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I got this book from t squared books.

First of all l would like to say a big thank you to Bethan White for sending me this book and giving me a chance to read it. I would like to say a big thank you to T squared books for letting me be apart of their book reviewing team.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but l also stepped outside my comfort zone I am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

Book Dedication: This book is dedicated to all who travel with a black dog at their side.

This book has 229 pages and 17 chapters in it.

I highly recommend this book.

Synopsis: Imagine a man, no stupider or thoughtless than anyone else you might meet. He struggles with depression and the denial which is so often it is traveling companion, and this takes him on a downward spiral which sucks so many others in to his wake. No fall from grace happens to just one person, the high velocity spatter of a life suddenly in ruins touches everyone and no one is ever the same again. Not everyone crashes and burns in his headlong flight, some are collateral damage and boy, do they deserve it! Some are hurt but can limp away, to carry on lives which are not worse, just different. Others gain knowledge, perspective and another layer of skin, making them more fit for the rest of their lives. Love, betrayal, lies and secrets pave the road of good intentions – just as life as never all dark or all light, downward is peopled with those you will want to slap, those you will want to applaud and those who you just want to hug until you make it better. From the time that tiny pebbles starts the avalanche until all lies in chaos at the bottom of the mountain, this book will hold you tight and may never let you go.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to. I found it really hard to put down once l started reading it. I was hooked on this book after reading the first page this book is totally gripping. It will leave you wanting more. I am so glad this book is on my bookshelf. It did not take me long to finish this book l wish this book did not end and l was sad to finish reading it. I would happily read this book again. I could not get enough of this book and storyline. I wish I could read more from this author and storyline. I can not put in to words how great this book is l would tell people to read it for themselves to know how great it really is. Chris and Megan sound like a great couple. I was sad to read that Megan's mother told people that Chris was hitting Megan and Chris ended up losing his job because of it. Chris's boss sounds stupid and I can not believe Chris's boss is cheating on his wife. No body deserves to be cheated on. I think Chris only slept with that horrible woman because of the medicine that his old friend Mark give him, l can tell Chris only loves Megan and their son Kyle. I was sad to read that Chris's father passed away and then his mother married a vicar and she sold the house where Chris and his sister Claire grew up in and his mother left behind the heights of both her children that she marked on the wall. She also left all the memories that she, her husband and her children made in the house. I hope Chris and Megan get back together. It is sad that Chris has nightmares about being attacked by a black dog. I am glad Dave's wife found about he was having a affair it is very sad he cheated on her. The woman he cheated on her with quit her job kinda glad she did. It was funny to read that Dave's wife took over her job and grounded him for life. It was nice to read that Gavin was marrying the women he got pregnant and it was really nice that he invited Chris to his stag do. I wish Dave would give Chris his job back. It was nice that Chris give Megan half his money for herself and Kyle. It sounds like Chris's stepfather is jealous of the time his wife is spending with her son. He was upset over flowers and that they ended up on his car. I hope Chris finds somewhere to go because he does not want to mess things up for his mother and his stepfather. It was nice of Chris's mother to give him some money and her husband should not be watching porn because he is a vicar. It was nice that Sam found a nice lady to look after Kyle so Megan could have a night out. I was very upset that the women Gavin was marrying got drunk while she was pregnant she clearly does not know drinking when pregnant can hurt your baby I hope the baby is okay. It was nice that Mark invited Chris in to his flat for a guys night. I like that Mark was helping Chris and l am glad Chris went to the doctors and was going to the job centreand somebody about a place of his own. Mark sounds like a great guy/friend I really liked this book. Cassie sounds like a great lady adnd she knows what Chris is going through because she is going through the same. Lily sounds like she is great with children. Kyle sounds like he really likes Lily but it also sounds like he misses his father and it also sounds like Megan misses Chris too. Sarah's husband sounds like he thinks that bringing her a plant home with make everything better I think he should know that it does not. I was sad to read that Chris's father passed away due to cancer. It was nice that Megan had spoke of her worries for and about Chris when she went to the doctors with herself or Kyle. I am glad to read that Chris is getting help with the nightmares and headaches I think he should go for a MRI scan. I was sad that the job centre and housing offices could not help Chris. It was nice that Chris went to stay with his sister Claire and it was nice that she bought him some new clothes for his past birthday's. It was nice that Megan was going out again just wish it was with Chris not Will. It is nice that Kyle likes Lily so much I can tell Chris and Megan love each other so much l think they should get back together and Kyle would have both his parents back under the same roof again. I think Megan should know that Will sleeps with both men and women. I am glad that Will told Megan that he is gay. It was really nice to read that Megan asked Will to help her find Chris and help make things right with him I was glad that Claire told Chris to confront Louise Taylor to ask why she was spreading lies about him. It was nice that Claire give Chris some money to help him. It was funny that Louise Taylor lost her job at the doctor's offices. It was nice that Megan was going looking for Chris I was very sad to read that Chris was stabbed and passed away alone in the cold park and Megan was not far from finding him it is so sad that Megan and Kyle are not going to see Chris again and I was sad to read that when Chris confronted Louise Taylor she fall and hit her head and passed away. When I was reading this book I would put some essential oils in my humidifier and put the lights on my humidifier on and chill on my bed and listen to magic or spotify or something on television or netflix. I also put on my christmas lights on that are on my christmas tree. I sometimes light a candle when l am reading this book. It is good to chill and read a good book when you are not well or in pain like l am with arthritis. I reviewed this book on goodreads, my blog, amazon UK and US and l also took a picture of this book and shared it on Instagram that l made just for pictures of my books it is called Donnareviewsbooks.

About The Book: I really like this book cover and l like that it is white and the writing and picture is black because it makes it stand out more. I like the picture it is fitting for the story and name of the book.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.

I wish I could rate this book more then the five stars because it is worth more then the five stars l rated it.

Book Review: Martin Willitts JR: How To Be Silent

How to Be Silent

This may contain spoilers

Author: Martin Willitts Jr.

Title: How To Be Silent.

Genre: Literature and Fiction, Poetry, Contemporary, American, Regional and Cultural, United States, Contemporary Fiction,.

This book I got as part as a goodreads giveaway and firstreads. I have never won anything before. I want to say a big thank you to goodreads for having a great site and I want to say a big thank you to the person who hosted the giveaway and picking me as a winner.

I would tell people that you should step outside your comfort zone with books because it is good to add more authors and genres to your reading portfolio even if you do not read books like this.

I normally read books of this genre but I also stepped outside my comfort zone. I am so glad l did because l have read so many great books and come across some great authors.

I highly recommend this book.

This book has 90 pages in it.

Quotes From This Book:

This ecstatic poets wrote lovingly about the search for god and when they found god, they were overwhelmed with god's presence. They reached out with praise, or psalms, or anguish, or tribulations, or struggled with the unspeakable, of found they could not give words to what they had seen or heard, but many of the mystics saw god as love.

You can hear the footsteps of god when silence reigns in the mind. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

We need to find god, and he can not be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence, see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... we need silence to be able to touch souls. - Mother Teresa.

In the beginning was the conversation. - Erasmus' translation of John 1:1.

Whoever discovers what these sayings mean will not taste death. – Jesus, according Thomas, dead sea scrolls, saying #1.

Know what is in front of your face and what is hidden from you will be disclosed. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. - Jesus, according to Thomas, dead sea scrolls, saying #5.

Even though you are not equipped, keep searching: equipment is not necessary on the way to the lord. - Rumi, the journey.

And then alone in cold, light, open space, yet still deep within the mature erected form, a gasping for the clear air of the first one, the old one. - Rilke, imaginary life journey.

A “daemon” according to socrates, was a spirit who would speak up when it was about to something not in accord with its true nature.

Kabir says this: when the guest is being search for, it is the intensity of the longing for the guest that does all the work. Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity. - Kabir, ecstatic poems (2004), version by Robert Bly.

We should highly rejoice that god dwells in our soul and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in god. - Saint Julian of Norwich, infinite love.

No sound of the mid-day bell enters this fastness where blue mist rises from bamboo graves: down from a high peak hangs a waterfall; none knows where he has gone, so sadly l rest, with my back leaning against a pine. - Li Po, visiting a taoist on tiatien mountain.

One night as l sat in quiet, I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast I know it is the source of all of us. - Mirabai.

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. - Meister Eckhart.

How shall the heart be reconciled/ to it is feast of losses?. - Mary Karr, facing altars poetry and prayer.

For god is not the author of confusion, but of peace. - I Corinthians, 14:33.

Synopsis: This is a collection of meditative spiritual poems Martin Willitts, Jr lives simple quaker principle of god is everywhere, in everyone”, seeing both the good and bad, but also the awe of waking every day. He turns inwards with silent meditation and outward with his own version of psalms. He knows the small objects are just as important as the large for our own survival. This book will be appreciated by people who like poets such as Rumi, Hafez, Thomas Merlon, Emily Dickinson, Lalla, Rilke, Dogen, Yeats, Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Gerard Manley, Hopkins, Blake, Kabir, Mirabai, St Augustine, William Stafford, George Herbert, Meister Eckhart, Li Po, St Teresa of Avila, Simone Weil, St Francis of Assisi, Kahlil Gibran, St Catherine of Siena, St Thoams Aquinas, Julian of Norwich, and D.H. Lawrence.

Review By Other People:

Like “finding secrets in an acorn” this book can “shush the stars” in its intense, yet humble description of a spiritual journey in to silence of listening, the silence of unexpected encounters with the frail, omniscient love. A mystic poet, a passionate and patient gardener, and an expert weaver of words, Martin Willitts Jr takes us on the way through a world “that folds into a pocket” to ecstatic visions “in the presence of absence” these poems, inspired by Rumi, Gnostic Gospels, Kabir, Li Po, Blake, mother Teresa, and other mystics, resound with birdsongs notes “building a ladder of light” and teach us to “ accept the emptiness of our hearts” - since at the end, only the “tender rain” of love remains. This book of psalms, reflections, and meditations is a manual for seekers of truth beyond religions and rituals, the truth that we breathe in, while “free-falling” into endlessness, into trust. - Maja Trochimczyk, PhD, poet, music historian, and editor of meditations on divine names ( moonrise press, 2012).

This exquisite poetry collection explores silence as a spiritual pathway, journey, search, and discovery. Each poem is a tiny gem at once delicate and deep, dark and luminous. Studded with surprising imagery – nightjars “belonging more to darkness than to the known” , A nightingale who “sings a peach blossom frominvisible stillness” - these poems rouse and delight, opening the reader's eyes to the many unexpected facets of silence, Willitts is a virtuoso at balance and harmony while his poems are tinged in dark hues of imperfection, unworthiness, and loss - “ a flight of rain has departed without you” - they never fail to bring us back to brightness at just the right moment reminding us that “loss never empties light completely” as Willitts delves into the myriad ways silence plays out in our lives, he calls on the reader to listen, closely and deeply, for the messages we will find there. - Jill Jepson, author of writing as a sacred path: a practical guide to writing with passion and purpose.

These poems are a window into a darkness that is filled with light... A meditative space filled with dusky wings that carry us aloft with those things that are greater than ourselves, shimmering with the clarity of a moonlit mountain lake. - Jared Smith, author of to the dark angels.

Review: I found this book really easy to get in to and hard to put down once l started reading it. I can not put in to words how great this book is I would tell people to read this book for themselves to know how great it really is. I was hooked on this book after reading the first page. It did not take me long to read this book. There is some great poems and quotes in this book. When l was reading this book I would put some essential oils in my humidifier and put the lights on my humidifier on and chill on my bed and listen to magic or spotify. I also put on my christmas lights that are on my christmas tree. I sometimes light a candle when l am reading this book.

About The Author: Martin Willitts Jr is a retired librarian. He was a field medic for american friends service committee (Quaker),a former jazz musician, and has built over 100 houses for habitat for humanity. He won the 2014 broad sided award, the 2014 Dylan Thomas international poetry contest, and editor's choice in rattle's ekphrastic challenge (June 2015) he has more than 20 chapbooks to his credit plus 11 full – length volumes, including the national ecological award winner searching for what you cannot see (hiraeth press, 2013) . Dylan Thomas and the writer's shed is due out from futurecycle press in 2017.

About The Book: I love the picture on this book cover. I like the colours used on this bookcover and the colour used for the font makes the writing stand out more.

Star Rating: Five Out Of Five Stars.

I wish l could rate this book more than the five stars because it is worth more than the five stars l rated it.