Carolyn J. Braden • 4 Minute Read
Life Changing Books I Read via Audible, Amazon Prime & My Local Library
Discover the most life-changing books I’ve read through Audible, Amazon Prime, and my local library. From personal growth to inspiring stories, these top book recommendations will motivate, uplift, and transform your daily life. Perfect for book lovers, Audible listeners, and library enthusiasts alike.
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Don’t feel like reading my brief reviews below? That’s okay….find them all here with lots of GLOWING reviews via my Amazon Shop here.
Books can change your life!
More Than a Book a Month
After discovering EMDR therapy and fully integrating my healing into it and clearing pathways in my brain cluttered with hurricane related trauma, abuse trauma and more, I started adding in more research into everything I’ve learned via books.
After reading the first book recommended by my therapist, Recovering From Emotional Immature Parents, I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to read more and more and more! This can get costly, but I utilized some free services and lower cost book memberships to satisfy my hunger for reading.
How I Saved Money via Audible and More
I ended up getting an Audible membership, using my one free audio book via my Amazon Prime Membership (all Prime members get this) and utilizing our local library to read all the books I wanted. I love audiobooks and listen to them while I put on my makeup and do my hair every day.
It’s amazing how listening to books while you get ready makes time fly and you learn a lot! Listen like I do in the mornings, or in the car, or before you go to bed. Social media and TV shows can wait if you want to read. In 2025, I’ve read 12 books (and I am writing this in October and am reading even more!) and am proud of my dedication to reading as an adult. Too bad there isn’t a Book It program for adults. I liked that program as a kid so much!
Books can be healing and inspiring
How These Books Changed My Life
I am a huge advocate for getting therapy. I love talking anyways, but therapy gives you a trained professional to be a sounding board for your talking, which ultimately gives you a new way of looking at things and new ways of navigating feelings. We all have feelings….all of them! Like the little girl in the movie Inside Out, we have anger, sadness, joy and more and it’s okay to feel them all.
Between the talking, my therapist does EMDR with me (learn about what EMDR is here) and then I sometimes get homework. The books have been some of my homework and while my book selections may not be what you need in your life, I think you may want to take a peek at one of them below.
Reading can help you reach your life goals
The insights, the humor (yes, some of the self-help books I read have humor in them, and I love humor!), and the new ways of thinking about life via other people’s experiences have made me feel safer in feeling my feelings, feel like I can express myself better and helps me understand I am not alone in feeling the way I feel. These books are not therapy and cannot be mistaken for therapy, but they can enhance therapy and your daily life.
My Picks: All links go to Amazon and most are available via audiobook
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kaafa
This book reminded me of how we should never let our family and friends dictate who we are, how we feel or what we do. The main character, Gregor, is a roach and well, very, very sad. It reminded me of a former friend, how sad he was and how there was nothing I could say or do that helped. It also reminded me that I don’t want to be like him or Gregor. A quick and easy read, translated into English.
The library is FREE and full of great books!
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins
A best seller written by a mother and daughter team. I can’t say enough good things about this book. It teaches you how to basically mind your business and don’t worry about changing people using common sense, humor and a lot of science to back it up, everyone should read this at least once in their lives.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
A woman who became an entrepreneur, a sort-of chef (her words) and so much more, Ina can motivate you to make more out of your life and career through her own interesting life experiences.
Read a physical book or an audio book…both are great!
Leading with Heart by Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K)
This book was featured heavily in The Bear (show), so I got curious and read it and so did my husband. It’s great for sports fans and anyone needing to understand how great leaders and coaches can change the world. With lots of “famous” coach friends like Jimmy V, it’s very inspiring.
See Jimmy V’s famous ESPY speech below or here via YouTube:
Books by by Lindsay C. Gibson PsyD
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
Until I read this book )recommended by my therapist), I didn’t know about EIP’s. I knew about emotional intelligence, but the immaturity is a whole different level and I learned SO MUCH about my childhood via this book.
Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People
Self-care for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
The two title above are branches of the first book I read by Dr. Gibson, and they focus on other people’s immaturity, and not just family and also how you can heal and honor your own emotions.
Click the image to see all my book recs on my Amazon Shop
Books by Dr. Sherrie Campbell, PhD
All three of the books below are must reads if you have experienced families that just don’t feel like family. These books and therapy opened my eyes up to many things that I kept tucked away in my brain…the things that told me I was the problem when truly I was only a child under 25 when the traumas occurred. Did you know our brains are still forming up until we are 25? True fact to consider when dealing with childhood traumas.
The books I read by Dr. Campbell:
Winter and fall are great book reading seasons!
Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PHD
This book uses folktales to help a WILD WOMAN archetype find more purpose in life and more.
50 Ways to Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine PhD, Maha Zayed Hoffman PhD and more
A very scientific way to look at anxious feelings, your silly little amygdala, and how to prevent anxiety from taking over your brain.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Lori is truthful and wrote this book full of personal stories about what she’s learned from her patients and her own personal therapy experience.
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Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.