Author: Tamara Branch
Publisher: Heart Project Publishing
Pages: 98
Genre: YA/Self-Esteem
Format: Paperback/Kindle
Writer, artist and speaker, Tamara Branch serves up 40 bite-sized chapters on how to build unshakable self-confidence, honor your life, and shine bright in the world, in ITGIRL4LIFE: How to bring out your special something and so much more. Packed with sage advice, life-changing insights and affirmations to help you soar, ITGIRL4LIFE offers ideas, tools and principles that you can reference and build upon, supporting you in becoming your best. Get ready to fall in love with your own wisdom, beauty and strength.
Giveaway:
The Author is also hosting a Rafflecopter Code for $25 iTunes Gift Card Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
My Impressions:
This was a short read, less than 100 pages, but an exceptional one for the most part. Filled with wisdom, advise and lessons for young girls this quick read will help parents and family with daughters turn a negative experience into a positive one.
I love books that encourage girls to see their worth and appreciate the unique ways God made each of us. But I disagree with the premise of this book. As a christian I prefer to teach my children and guide them to look towards God for their strength, courage, wisdom, etc., not inwardly. That being said, the basic principals this book lays out are not all bad. The author does offer insight and wisdom in letting girls know they need to investigate their feeling and girls do need to have a strong sense of self-worth. She also touches on helping girls understand their hidden talents and motivations. With that being said if parents have filled their children with scripture and the will of God over their will, they could still use the guiding principals the author lays out and tweek them to a focus upward.
Guest Post:
It’s all in
the NAME: How I came up with the title for my first book
by Tamara Branch
When a prospective reader comes
across a title that pops, they want to open up that book, flip through and
investigate. Your title is like the first hello, the introduction. You want to
make it good. I started writing my first book under the working title, Foundation
for Girls — an inspirational handbook on how to build unshakable
self-confidence, honor your life and shine bright in the world. I wanted to
write a book that reminded girls of their wisdom, beauty and strength. I wrote
40 empowering ideas, tools and principles that would support girls in stepping
into their greatness. The working title was spot on for writing purposes
because it gave me a strong theme to follow. However, I always knew it was not
the IT. I needed a title that resonated with the target audience emotionally,
was as clear and concise as a hashtag yet captured the true essence of what book
is about.
First let me say that coming up
with a great title was not easy. It took a minute. I finished the content and
it was time to start brainstorming. I began honing in on my book’s message, and
intention. The book was packed with the important foundational principles that
we often forget when we are feeling stressed, scattered, or out of balance. I
kept jotting things down. Every
brainstorming session brought me closer. This book is chock full of ideas on what you can do to empower yourself
in any given moment. One day while watching one of the entertainment news
shows, I finally got it! The reporter said, “The new IT girl is blah, blah
blah,” I forget who they were talking about but it was a new Hollywood starlet
that made a splash onto the scene. We all know she has about 15 minutes, before
she’s off her throne, right?
Anyway, just hearing that phrase
sparked a whole train of thought. I started thinking about the ‘it girl’ idea
prevalent in Hollywood and how it stems from the notion that certain people are
stars. She has IT - that ‘special something’ - that smile, that style, those
boobs, those legs, that hair, that particular talent, etc. This idea has become a part of the psyche of
our society. The ‘it girl’, on tv, in films, at school, on the cheerleading
team, at work and on the block, shines brighter than the rest. She’s favored
and often celebrated for all of her superficial qualities. The celebration
doesn’t last long. After her popularity dies down, a new girl is given the ‘it
girl’ title and on and on ‘it’ goes. When taken out of context it can be
damaging and the unfortunate pervasive message to many girls is that only a few
are special, and that specialness is fleeting and based on other people’s
judgement.
Ding, Ding Ding! After my ponderings,
I had the perfect title for my book and it expressed exactly what was in my
heart. ITGIRL4LIFE: How to bring out your special something and so much
more, came to me fast and furious, along with a definition. “An ITGIRL4LIFE
is a girl who loves herself, is authentic, takes charge and makes a difference.
She has IT. IT is the GREATNESS she was born with.” That was IT! The message of the book is that
you have IT already. It’s your job to tap into IT and live your life to the
fullest and here is a blueprint to help guide you to bringing out your specialness so you
can create an amazing life for yourself. I was pleased.
About the Author:
Tamara has worked as a professional model and actor for almost two decades. She strutted down the runway for designers Calvin Klein, Donna Karen and Christian Dior, acted in a few independent films, co-hosted PBS New York’s education series, “What’s up in Technology” and appeared T.V. commercials and print ads for Levi’s, Old Navy, Hershey’s, Colgate, Kellogg’s Special K, Revlon, Hanes, Nike and many others. A Penn State alumnus and lifelong student of personal development, Tamara is deeply passionate about uplifting the human spirit.
After graduating from Institute for Integrative Nutrition,
studying under Deepak Chopra, Dr. Andrew Weil and some of the top health
and wellness experts in the world, she was inspired to raise the bar on
her own ‘self care’ and support others in living more vibrantly. She is
an abstract artist and teaches a dynamic dance class, where she gets to
fuse her varied background, having trained in everything from jazz,
ballet and modern to Afro-Caribbean and Salsa.Tamara was recently asked to become a Female Visionary Author guest blogger for The Brave Heart Women Global Community. She’s a SAG/AFTRA member since 1998, a member of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and is represented by Abrams Artists Agency.
Tamara currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband of seven years and offers ITGIRL4LIFE workshops to assist girls on their self empowerment journey.
For More Information
- Visit Tamara Branch’s website.
- Connect with Tamara on Twitter.
- Find out more about Tamara at Goodreads.
- Visit Tamara’s blog.
- Contact Tamara.
**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from Pump Up Your Book.
Comments