This was my luckiest reading month yet. Two five star reads in the same volume. One book I donated the second I finished it. And a Freida McFadden read where not a single character is likeable and somehow that made it impossible to put down.

Volume 5 is ranked from least to most recommended so you know exactly where to start and exactly what to skip.

Starting at the bottom: Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah at 3 stars. Devastating premise. Disappointing execution. I donated it after finishing and would not recommend it based on my experience.

Working up: The Divorce by Freida McFadden at 4 stars. Unhinged characters, chaos from start to finish, and a Freida twist that delivers. Nobody in this book is likeable and that is exactly why it works.

Then: Ward D by Freida McFadden at 4.5 stars. A psych ward, a power outage, a narrator you cannot trust, and a premise that deserves a screen adaptation immediately.

And your two five star reads at the top: The Only One Left by Riley Sager and Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney. Both earned it. Both will stay with you.

New episodes every Tuesday. The Unfiltered Bookshelf drops the first Tuesday of every month on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and everywhere you listen.

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You made it through. So why does it feel like you are still lost?

Nobody warns you about the disorientation that comes after a hard season. You are not in crisis anymore, but you are not okay either. You are somewhere in the in-between, trying to figure out who you are now, what you actually want, and how to move forward without pretending the last season did not cost you something real.

In this episode I am giving you the honest guide to what comes after the hard part. Not the motivational version. The real one.

We cover what regrouping actually means and why stillness has to come before strategy. We talk about how to audit what is and is not serving you now versus what was only serving you in survival mode. We get into why rest feels dangerous for high achievers and how to tell the difference between real recovery and performed recovery. And we end with grief and gratitude, and why you do not have to choose between them.

I also share what this past year has taught me personally, from health challenges to stepping back from in-person training to losing people I love. Because the most important thing I can do from this mic is show you the real journey, not just the lesson after it is tidied up.

If you are somewhere in the after right now, this one is for you.

What You Will Take Away:

The three questions that reveal which habits belong in your next chapter and which ones were only meant for survival

Why high achievers are the most likely to get stuck in survival mode long after the threat has passed

What real recovery looks like versus the performance of recovery that leaves you still depleted

How to hold grief and gratitude at the same time without forcing either one

The four things you owe yourself after a hard season

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September is Suicide Prevention Month. And this year I am marking it the only way I know how. By telling the truth.

I call it Perspective Day. The time of year when I sit with everything I have survived and everything I almost did not. This episode is the most unfiltered thing I have ever said out loud on this show. And I am saying it because someone listening right now needs to hear it.

This is the story of losing my grandfather, my dad, and almost myself. Of getting my affairs in order. Of sitting on my best friend's floor while she told me her cancer had progressed and receiving the perspective that changed my direction. Of a car accident I did not think I would survive and a podcast I launched on my birthday because I did not know if I would see it.

Eleven years into this grief journey. Three years post accident. Still here. Still choosing.

This episode is for anyone who is carrying something heavy right now and wondering if they can keep going. You can. And I am going to tell you why.

If you are in crisis right now please reach out:

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: https://afsp.org

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