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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🌐 Website: ginamariefit.com

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

Stay Connected:

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Website and Blog: https://www.ginamariefit.com

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

Listen on all podcast platforms: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/
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New episodes every Tuesday. Please share this one with someone who needs it.

There's a huge gap between saying "I want to do UGC" and actually building a UGC business. Most people stay stuck in the first category far longer than they need to, not because they lack talent, but because nobody hands them the actual starter kit.

In this week's episode of Mindset, Health, Empowerment: The Unfiltered Trainer, I'm breaking down the second installment of The Unfiltered Content Creation Series. If last episode was about the lies people believe before they start, this one is about what actually happens once you decide to take it seriously.

I get into the proof you need before any brand ever pays you a dollar, why waiting for the "right" gear or the right follower count is the biggest thing holding new creators back, and the three actual doors that lead to paid gigs, most people only ever try one. I also walk through a 14 day challenge I want you to try if you're serious about getting better on camera, and the five specific things that quietly cost new creators money before they even realize it's happening.

This one is part checklist, part reality check, and fully unfiltered, the way this podcast always is.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or watch it on YouTube. Link is below.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit
Listen on Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/

New episodes every Tuesday. If you're building something right now, whether that's a UGC business or anything else, this one is for you.

Has someone ever made you the villain in a version of events you weren't even present for? Side comments. Assumptions. Conversations held about you in rooms you were never standing in.

In this episode I'm talking about whispers, gossip, and being rewritten into someone else's story. Since moving to Tampa, this has been the norm for me, in the fitness industry and in healthcare, two completely different worlds with the exact same pattern. People always have an opinion. People always have something to say. Almost nobody says it to my face.

I'm breaking down why until someone addresses you directly, they don't have an issue with you, they have an issue with themselves, why being gossiped about by someone you already distanced yourself from isn't a loss, and why staying exactly the same while people squirm is the most powerful response you actually have.

Message me and let me know where this has shown up in your life.

Stay Connected:
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Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ginamariefit
Website and Blog: https://ginamariefit.com/

New episodes every Tuesday.

Welcome back to Mindset, Health, Empowerment: The Unfiltered Trainer and another volume of The Unfiltered Bookshelf 📚

Five thrillers. Five completely unfiltered opinions. And a couple of books that had me questioning everything.

This month I'm breaking down:

📖 The Divorce by Freida McFadden — 4/5 ⭐
A domestic thriller where literally nobody makes good decisions… and somehow that's exactly why it works.

📖 Ward D by Freida McFadden — 4.5/5 ⭐
A locked psychiatric ward, disappearing patients, secrets, and one very long night where absolutely nothing feels safe.

📖 The Only One Left by Riley Sager — 5/5 ⭐
My first Riley Sager book and an instant favorite. A gothic mansion, a decades-old family murder, and a twist I absolutely did not see coming.

📖 Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah — 4/5 ⭐
A devastating premise that turns into a complicated courtroom thriller about family, blame, secrets, and one decision that changes everything.

📖 Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney — 5/5 ⭐
A remote island, a missing wife, questionable residents, and the kind of ending that made me sit there and process what I had just read.

Throughout the episode, I'm putting each book through The Unfiltered Bookshelf Rating System — the Green Flag, Red Flag, WTF Moment, Twist Test, and who should actually read it.

No sugarcoating. No "everything was amazing." Just real reads, real reactions, and real ratings.

Which book would you pick up first? And if you've already read one of these, did you agree with my rating?

Follow The Unfiltered Bookshelf for more thriller reviews, book recommendations, TBRs, book hunts, and unfiltered bookish opinions.

Drop a comment and tell me if the twist worked for you or lost you completely! 👇

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A leggings company is suing another leggings company over a seam, and that's not really a lawsuit story. It's a female competition story, and I've watched it play out in gyms and studios for thirteen years.

In this episode I'm using that lawsuit as the entry point into something much bigger: what happens when women in a competitive industry stop seeing each other as community and start seeing each other as threats. I'm sharing what it was like being in leadership and having to hold other women accountable, what happened when someone I fired rewrote the story instead of taking accountability, and the pattern I've watched over and over of trainers taking other people's work and calling it their own.

This industry markets itself as sisterhood. I'm talking about why it doesn't always feel that way, and what I think is actually driving it.

Message me and let me know which part of this one hit home for you.

Stay Connected:

Listen on all podcast platforms: ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/createdbyginamarie/⁠

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Website and Blog: ⁠https://ginamariefit.com/

Everyone sees the aesthetic. The bookshelves. The brand partnerships. The content that looks effortless from the outside.

Nobody tells you the truth about what it actually costs — or why the lies you believe before you start are the exact things that will slow you down once you do.

In Episode 123 of Mindset, Health, Empowerment: The Unfiltered Trainer I am breaking down the three biggest lies about building a BookTok presence and a UGC creator business at the same time and the unfiltered truth behind each one.

In this episode we cover:

• Why you do not need a huge following to land brand deals and what actually matters to brands when they hire a UGC creator
• The real ninety percent of the creator life that nobody posts about: including what building looks like when your health does not cooperate
• Why choosing one niche might actually be the thing holding you back and how a thriller reading brain makes a better UGC creator than you would expect
• The most unfiltered truth about building something online when nobody fully understands what you are doing yet

This episode is for anyone building something in public who has ever felt like they are doing it wrong. You are not. Keep going.

Watch the YouTube video version of this episode: youtube.com/@ginamariefit

Follow on Instagram: @ginamariefit

Follow on TikTok: @ginamariefit

Book a UGC partnership: ginamariefit.com

Get The Badass Blueprint on Amazon

New podcast episodes every Tuesday. Book reviews every Friday on YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss either. 🎙📚

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