It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review and I’m really excited to jump back into that water with these two books! They are the first and second books in a new series, and since I read them at the same time, I’m going to review them together as well.
The First Rule of Ten
by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
Purchase links: Amazon, B&N, Hay House
The Second Rule of Ten
by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay
Purchase links: Amazon, B&N, Hay House
I love personal development books and I love fiction, but I have never before met a book that successfully combined the two. I’ve found most attempts at the combined genre of to be downright dreadful – trying so hard to cram the lessons into a flimsy story that they come across as preachy and heavy-handed.
When I learned that Gay Hendricks had begun a series of novels based on the principles he teaches in his non-fiction books, I was intrigued…and nervous.
Hendricks’ Conscious Loving was a profoundly life-changing book for me.
I learned so much about my sabotaging behavior in relationships, the reasons why they had come to be, and strategies for self-correction. I wanted desperately for his fiction to be just as revolutionary.
I am over the moon to report that The Rules of Ten series is exactly that. First and foremost, the books are telling compelling STORIES.
And they are very cleverly weaved around a character who is constantly trying to find the balance between his deep spiritual beliefs and his real-world life – just like the rest of us.
Many self-help books teach their particular lessons and make it sound like when you adopt this practice, it will make a magical change in your life. What this character so brilliantly provides is the “after” – what happens when you’re implementing the principles in your life, but still falling down and messing up and trying again.
Our hero is Tenzing Norbu (Ten for short, hence the title). He spent part of his childhood in a Buddhist monastery and then came to the United States and became an LAPD cop. When we meet him at the beginning of book one, he is making the decision to go out on his own as a private investigator.
Guns and spirituality. Violence and Buddhism.
They aren’t concepts that you would normally put in the same sentence, and yet these books incorporate both worlds in a way that is completely believable.
Each book has a lesson that Ten is struggling with throughout. In the second book it is the idea of looking for unconscious beliefs that keep him from seeing the truth. And while the theme plays out in both his personal and professional life, it never feels heavy-handed.
I met Hendrick’s co-author, Tinker Lindsay, at a conference last fall, and I contacted her recently to tell her how much I’m loving the books. I said that the one thing I really wanted to know about is Ten’s back story – his time in the monastery as a child. I was super excited when she replied that there is a novella coming this summer that will dig into exactly that time of his life.
I look forward to the coming chapters of the Tenzing Norbu story – both for the sheer fun of a great detective story, and for their ability to mirror the process of incorporating spiritual principles into every day life.
I am thrilled to say without reservation that I HIGHLY recommend these novels!
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.
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