Book review from Equities.com

What’s on Your Reading List?

Desireé Duffy Follow | Wednesday, 29 March 2017 11:27 (EST)

For any trader or entrepreneur, the daily grind of reading depressing headlines and perusing a constant stream of data can be physically exhausting and mentally draining. While you may long for a vacation, for most of us, the demands of work are nearly ever-present. However, there is one great way to reset your brain and rejuvenate your spirit: Reading a great book!

No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop bouncing from one great book, and from one genre, to another. A good mixture of fiction, non-fiction, and provocative books are necessary for a well-rounded life.

If you agree, then you’ll appreciate this list of must-read books that you’ll want to add to your list. I understand, you probably have your 2017 reading list planned-out already. Well make room, you won’t regret adding these “un-put-downable” books!

The Fragrance of Angels

Are you ready to get a glimpse of heaven?

Join Martha Brookhart Halda as she shares her incredible journey to the Other Side. Just be warned, you might not be the same after reading this book.

On a fateful night, Halda was thrown from her vehicle during a horrific car crash. She died not once, but three times. Then she came back. Her life changed forever, and when you read this memoir, you will find out why.

The Fragrance of Angels is filled with love and challenges. It is a tale about physical beauty, emotional upheavals, frustrations beyond compare, as well as spectacular triumphs.

There is also a surprise that I must admit, I never saw coming; it is something Martha realized when she visited Heaven, and you will soon know it, too.

This is a book that will lift you up, bring tears to your eyes, and laughter to your heart. Trust me, The Fragrance of Angels needs to be added to your reading list today.

 

SO… after reading such a wonderful book review, and being the first book mentioned in her 2017 recommended reading list, I am super excited for all the blessings coming my way this year.  I also have a review coming from the Huffington Post. What a dream come true: not many authors receive this kind of coverage.

1st English book review. Summer Reads, Carlsbad Style

WOW, am I ecstatic! My first literary review in English, of The Fragrance of Angels, came out in my hometown mag, Carlsbad Magazine. What a wonderful feeling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wendy Hinman put together ‘Summer Reads, Carlsbad Style”, with the opening of “stretch out your beach towel with books from local authors,” and what a list she put together. I feel so honored to be a part of it! There are so many reasons and people in this issue that make it feel complete, not to mention that Wendy gave me one of the best compliments I could have asked for, which is, “Halda just tells her story and what she learned without being preachy.” That was exactly my intent, so it’s wonderful to know that I achieved this.

She starts out mentioning the renowned local author Victor Villasenor and how his stories describe recognizable environments, and that it is an encore of sorts for the 2016 reading list. I wrote my book honoring a promise to my father, Ray Brookhart, who Villasenor describes in his memoir Burro Genius (pages 296-297.) My father had been one of Villasenor’s teachers, and Villasenor’s words about my Dad describes him to a ‘T’.

However, there is more to this tale. A Fragrance of Angels stands between the magazine’s covers with friendly faces and names. There was Caulerpa Conquest, written by a new friend, Eric Noel Munoz, which covers the story of an invasive marine seaweed that nearly smothered the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Eric was among the key members of a community and statewide effort to eradicate Caulerpa taxifolia from the lagoon. This book was edited by my honey Robert Yehling, so I have a little more understanding of what a huge accomplishment this effort was.

Next, Shirts & Skins was written by local legend Gregory R. Nelson, Sr. I got to know Greg first at about the age of ten. Greg was like a big brother, a type of counselor of sorts. When he first started out, Greg worked with my dad at The Army Navy Academy and Greg was the cool young guy when I attended summer camp there. The book relates how sports can help create the drive, direction and passion in a man or women, a drive and habit that can later present itself well in business and life. Greg spent years, and many of his philanthropic talents and dollars, raising boys to men at the Carlsbad Boys Club. I also knew him from golfing; we had been members at the same country club. During my coma (detailed in The Fragrance of Angels) he and his stunning wife, Barbie, asked their kids’ youth group to pray for me for the two months I was under. They later told me that my recovery was a beacon of sorts for those kids. I am honored to be in the same summer reads reviews as Greg.

I don’t know author Cynthia Mestad Johnson, but I can’t wait to read her book Legendary Locals of Carlsbad. I’m sure once again to feel at home reading stories of our wonderful town, many of which I may have already heard.

The piece d’resistance, when it comes to being at home, is that the cover story is about longtime good friend Billy Stang. The feature article, also written by Wendy Hinman is titled “Pure Stang Pure Stoke – the last of the great soul surfers.” I have to say Billy is certainly that… A Soul Surfer. It was great fun reading Billy’s story as he describes stories of the mid to late 70’s. Billy discusses how he gave up competition and the life of a professional surfer to stay real and keep his sport about the stoke and joy, not the greed.

I have to say this first literary review could not have been more perfect for me. Everyone in this group of authors did exactly what Billy did — went out and wrote about what we have experienced, not for the cash, but for the pure stoke, the pure joy of life and love. What more do any of us need than that? Enjoy your summer with a good book, a book that can take you anywhere you want to go.

 

Thoughts of Easter

  My thoughts on Easter.He died for our sins… with arms wide open.

Jesus was here for the salvation of ALL Mankind, for the forgiveness of ALL of our sins. This is what I was raised with, and to me Easter… is by far the most important holiday, more so than Christmas. In “The Book”  I’ve read it does not say for the salvation of only a select few, it does not say for the forgiveness of sins of only a few.

While recently discussing my book, A Taste of Eternity, my girlfriend, a woman I love and respect, suggested that I should review my thoughts to know if I’m Christian. I appreciate her concern, and want to assure her I most definitely am a Christian! However I do not judge others for their beliefs. I was a little emotionally let down by her question but I trust that everything happens for a reason. I feel we are born into our social, and cultural lives for a reason.

I believe in the end only Kindness matters. I believe whether your Christian, Metaphysical, Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Scientologist, or Catholic you may just well be welcomed into Heaven. During my Taste of Eternity review I was shown that Love is the strongest energy and force in the universe. We’re all looking for something we can rely on, and love is the source most people need. We are all searching for that unconditional love.

I’ve been judged by friends and stranger’s over the past few years for my statement that I believe that the God I saw, the Divine Energy I met, the pulsating sphere of Total Knowledge, would not only let practicing Christians into Heaven, that his love seemed open to All. I’m sorry but I do believe this, the Love that engulfed me was far too great to be judging.

Lord knows I am not a perfect person … I am only human, and we All fall short of what God wants of us. We’ve got a lot to learn but God knows we are worth it. As a human I cannot say why I feel that God is not judging, but I felt only love. My thoughts of late have been that perhaps at a person’s final moments, when we are in front of the Divine, our life review has passed through us and we encounter this magnificent love, perhaps then a non-Christian may have a moment that they may choose to believe in Jesus only. I don’t know what the final moments are for other people, I do not judge them, I pray that they call on their Angels for peace. The only thing I know is that for me the Heavens were full of love, beauty, and colors that would make the most spectacular Easter eggs ever.                             I send All my wish for A Happy Easter to every one.

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings of a book dream come true

Christmas often makes people stop to acknowledge all their blessings. The end of this year 2015, I am doing just that exactly.

October 15^th, 2015, I entered the Frankfurt Messe book festival amazed by its size! With nearly 150,000 guests, and close to 40,000 venders working the trades show it was over whelming.

 

Once entering the correct (one of four) three-story buildings, I wondered how on earth the sorriso-verlag booth would be found. As we, Robert Yehling (aka Bob editor extraordinaire), and I went down the escalator he verbalized just this worry. My heart and mind halted because, with all his trade show experience, this was the last thing I expected to come from his lips. Worried… I started scanning the mass of booths on the floor below; the escalator seemed to move in a slow time warp, my eyes scanned everything. How will we find it in this seemingly endless crowd?

However, I quickly learned that my publisher Karen Christine Angermayer is a master at marketing and doesn’t miss a thing. Her attention to detail is amazing; she had her logo set high smiling out at the crowds from the very top of her booth. That bright yellow smile of sorriso was like a beacon laying a guiding light for me.

As we walked closer to the booth, suddenly I saw my own face smiling back at me. The booth was white, its floor a bright yellow, and a photo of each of the five writers she was debuting was displayed in a large 3’ by 5’ headshot (a models dream) on the wall of the booth. Many writers dream of having their books make it to the European market, some wish that they would be given such presence from the publisher, my dream had now come true.

While in heaven I promised God, my heavenly father, the Divine Energy (too many names to chose only one), that I would share the loving grace that awaits us in Heaven.  Once back on earth, after two months in a coma, the first thing I promised my earthly father, Ray F. Brookhart, was that I would write this book, and share the knowledge of the love that awaits us with all people interested in knowing more.

 

Our trip to Europe was full of wonder… the countryside God Germany and Austria are full of (God given) natural beauty, the likes of which a California girl doesn’t get to see often.  We played in the sound of music filled city of Salzberg, enjoyed Mozart street music and so much more.We hiked the wonderful hillside of the Austrian Alps in St. Johanna all the while basking in the beauty of this life we have been give.

Again last week, another Christmas gift, I was blessed with a visit by my publisher Karen Christine Angermayer, and her charming love Pino, they were here from Germany for business.

We met in the coastal town of La Jolla California.  While admiring the Pacific Ocean waves, and the many seal’s lounging on the beach.

We talked about sorriso-verlag extending the publishing of Der Duft des Engels to a more International European distribution.

I could not be more blessed, so this year 2015 and I am certainly whole-heartedly counting my blessings.  I ‘am grateful for Gods blessings in my life yet again.

 

 

I warmly look forward to a new and exciting 2016, and wish everyone a blessed new year. Cheer’s

 

Frankfurter Buchmesse, a.k.a. the Frankfurt Book Fair; Vibrant, Inspiring Memories and Discoveries

Books create worlds and new ideas. They help to shape our society and its values.

My desire in writing my book A Taste of Eternity is to do just that: I want you to experience (as much as a book will allow) my view of the Love I experienced and which is offered to each of us in Heaven.

Now, I get to do it halfway around the world, when A Taste of Eternity makes its worldwide reveal at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, a.k.a. the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the three largest in the world.

I can’t believe my lucky stars that this is the place of my book’s debut! The Frankfurter Buchmesse takess center stage of Frankfurt every October (October is an auspicious month. My accident that led to my taste of Eternity happened in October 1999, and I completed a 26.2-mile full marathon in Ireland three years later — after being told I would spend my life in a wheelchair). Located on the banks of the river Main, with its skyscrapers intermingling with the historic part of town, it is often jokingly called “Mainhattan”.

The most famous son of the city by far is novelist, playwright, poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was born there in 1749. During his lifetime, Goethe wrote the equivalent of 140 books 400-pages long (a task now fully appreciated). His protégé, Rudolf Steiner, established the education philosophy we know today through the Waldorf Schools. Now, Goethe’s legacy is preserved by the book fair.

The Fair is a vibrant publishing landscape, Dynamic! It’s international, interactive and inspiring. The gathering place for the Who’s Who of publishing — publishers, agents, film producers, booksellers, and authors! It’s clearly the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licenses worldwide. The industry comes together to create something new.

         More than 7,000 exhibitors are expected from over 100 countries. Frankfurter Buchmesse will be home to publishers from Asia, the Arab world, Australia, Canada, France, Greece, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scandinavia, Spain, Southeast Europe, Turkey, UK, and the USA.  Having my Book debuted there offers the opportunity not only wished for by authors worldwide but hopefully (I pray) will give me an opportunity to expand my network, build bridges into the future, and make new memories and discoveries.

I promised God, and my ‘Pop’s” Ray Brookhart that I would write this book. They asked me to share all the memories I could layout there, describing the Divinity of Heavens Colors on my empty white pages. Feeling guided all the way, God has made this Heaven sent.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, Angels, and the Ten Commandments.

We hopped across the street to the California Science Center from the Campus of USC, where I was talking with writers and publishers at the LA Times Festival of Books.

On display were The Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Greek is the predominant language due to nearby Ancient Greece. The Essenes are the sect regularly identified as the Dead Sea Community. The Community had Rules one of them was “All who submit freely to His truth will convey all their knowledge, their energies, and their riches to the community of God.” The Dead Sea Scrolls original writers and copyists considered Jerusalem polluted and profane. They lived secluded, austere lives of piety, and were the founders of the Essene religion (secret order to which Jesus belonged)

The Scrolls were written mostly on parchment, with some written on papyrus. They’re incredibly important documents. They are central to the belief system for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Wow who’d a thunk it…  that they had so much in common?

The story goes in 1947 a Bedouin shepherd, tossed a rock into a cave and heard a pot shatter, which led to the recovery of more than 900 scrolls. They date between 150 BCE and 70 CE. The traveling “Dead Sea Scrolls” exhibit featured more than 600 ancient artifacts, including selections from 10 scrolls, housed in low light and dry conditions similar to the caves near Khirbet Qumran, where they were preserved for 2,000 years. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth (1,400 feet below sea level).

I had some favorites, first was the song of Sabbath Sacrifice. These 13 songs were for the first 13 weeks of the Sabbath each year. Yeah now we are talking, these songs were songs of angelic praise, angelic priesthood, and heavenly temple, which gave the community’s sense of engaging in a common worship with angels.  The Scroll known as the Angelic scroll, is apparently loaded with Jewish mystical imagery, and descriptions of angels. It is potentially more important than any of the other scrolls so far examined, and is thought to be around 2000 years old. The text describes a ‘tour of the heavens’ undertaken by its author in the company of an angel named ‘Pnimea‘. The author of the Angel Scroll is taken on a journey where he is shown the “secrets of the universe.” He is taught to contemplate signs in the sun and the stars and through them forecast events. To notice the signs in the raging waves of the sea, and in the clouds of the heavens, and how to use medical plants and stones to cure disease and predict the future.

This was amazingly similar to what I was shown when I had my review.  It was almost eerie to read such a straightforward guideline so close to how I feel when I’m walking in nature, along the beaches of Carlsbad, where the majestic energy and strength of the Ocean can be overwhelming.

My personal favorite is: “a vision was revealed to me from the Most High, and Pnimea, Prince of Angels lifted me up in spirit and I ascended Heavenward above the high places of the clouds, and he showed me the great world and the image of the gods. And I pondered the appearance round about and there was no time and no place and their appearance from the dwelling places of light was like a rainbow in the clouds.”

Well needless to say WOW…when I read a description like this and knowing it is nearly 2000 years old, I feel its descriptions chill me to the core, because it is so similar to what I saw and knew during my Taste of Eternity – it makes me feel normal. No I’m not crazy, I did have a normal experience with and Angel. My Guardian Angel and so have others, even way back than 2000 years ago.