Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Inner Strength Review and Giveaway

The Chicken Soup for the Soul books continue to arrive from the publisher for me to review.
We have all their books that were reviewed here in the past: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas in Canada, Chicken Soup for the Soul: O Canada, The Wonders of Winter, Chicken Soup for the Soul: It's Christmas, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Reader's Choice, and Chicken Soup for the Soul 20th Anniversary. Here's our next. What makes this one different from the rest?

The Find Your Inner Strength title came out on October 28th. It is full of 10 sections of empowering stories of resilience, positive thinking, and overcoming challenges:

1. Overcoming Self-Destructive Behavior
2. Fighting Health Challenges
3. Powering Through Loss
4. Moving Past Disabilities
5. Accepting the New Normal
6. Accepting What Makes You Different
7. Learning to Reach Out
8. Rising to the Challenge
9. Pursuing Your Dreams
10. Taking Back Your Life

The forward is written by Fran Drescher. She starts with "I suppose I was asked to write the forward for this book because I've been pretty public about my personal encounters with adversity and how I've managed to not just survive, but also to blossom as a result." And, that gives a good feel for what the book is about. She's now president of the Cancer Schmancer Movement, an organization whose mission is to shift the nation's focus from just searching for a cure to prevention and early detection of cancer in order to save lives.

All of the stories here start on the dark side and show how the author overcomes something bad. There is plenty of alcoholism, drug use, cancer, death, addiction, religion, sobriety, and recovery. I've been letting my seven year old read the Chicken Soup books lately and this is definitely not one I'll be sharing. While they all end with people overcoming challenges, it is the challenges I don't want him exposed to just yet.

Like the Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas in Canada book just reviewed, this is one of the longer books in the series at 424 pages. Given the subject material, the stories are deep and sometimes require a little bit of back story or a longer lead to show how bad things got before they were turned around. This is not an upbeat title. For many of the authors, the writing of these stories was part of their recovery process. Opening themselves up publicly to just how far down they were.

The publisher's book description is as such:

We're all stronger than we think, and we often discover our inner strength and resilience when a problem arises. The 101 empowering and uplifting stories in this collection by people who have overcome challenges, solved problems, or changed their lives will help you find your own inner strength, resilience, and remind you to think positive, count your blessings, and use the power that you have within you.

And, now onto the giveaway. We're giving away three copies of the book to US and CA residents who are 18+ (void where prohibited like Quebec). The giveaway runs through 11:59 pm EST on November 29th, 2014. Enter for your chance to win. Good luck.

Entry-Form

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions stated are my own and may differ from yours. See my disclosure policy for more information. Java John Z's is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment.