About the Book

Book: The Seductive Slayers of Success

Author: Rosalinda Rivera

Genre: RELIGION / Christian Living/Women’s Interests

Release Date: November 19, 2019

“I am not a neat nut. Let me start with that confession. Don’t let the title of this chapter, Clean the Clutter, fool you into thinking I have all my ducks in a row. If I had ducks, they would not be in a straight line. Or all accounted for.”—Rosalinda Rivera

The snooze button on your alarm clock. The “brilliant shortcut” that makes you late. The unwritten to-do list that you follow from the time you get out of bed till the time you crawl back in it, making each day seem like the last.

These are some of The Seductive Slayers of Success—the little things that add up and try to stop you from moving forward and realizing your dreams. Rosalinda Rivera has been there and she knows just how to help you get up, move on, and Harness Your Strengths to Take Control of Your Destiny.

Using stories from her own life as well as Scripture, Rosalinda offers encouragement to help you kick the negative aspects of life to the curb and jump start your way to a brighter tomorrow. Like a close friend, she gives inspirational, down-to-earth advice with a dash of humor thrown in.

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About the Author

Rosalinda Rivera is both outspoken and passionate about helping others change their lives and accomplish their dreams. She is a sought-after speaker by major companies, non-profits, and ministries around the world for her high energy, humorous, and down-to-earth motivational style.

She is the executive director of New Life For Adults and Youth, Mercy House, and Mercy Moms House, a place for single mothers to find hope and healing. Rosalinda has been reaching out to families in crisis, poverty, and hopelessness for over twenty-five years.

Using her business skills, she developed a model of social enterprise to sustain the nonprofits she leads by creating businesses that train people in job skills and leadership. Rosalinda is the founder of Bella Women’s Ministry in Richmond, Virginia, which hosts annual conferences for over five hundred women.

She is also the author of Dare to Begin Again: Let God Write Your Best Future and Wonder Women: Becoming a Hero for Christ.

Rosalinda has been a featured presenter at various events nationwide and has ministered throughout the world. From the White House to the local community, she has been nationally recognized for her impact in bringing hope to the hopeless. Rosalinda was appointed to the Board of Governors of the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations & Executives, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Style Magazine selected her as a “Top 40 under 40” leader for her impact in Virginia.

Rosalinda is the daughter of Victor Torres, an ex-gang member from the streets of New York, and his wife, Carmen, the founders of New Life For Youth and pastors of New Life Outreach International Church. She served as an associate producer on Victor, a movie about her father’s journey from drugs and gangs to Jesus and redemption.

Rosalinda and her husband, Carlos, have three children: Alana, Gabriel, and Victor.

More from Rosalinda

Shoot Your Snooze Button

Time doesn’t stop and allow us to make up for minutes wasted. Procrastination is not preparation, no matter what we tell ourselves as we reach for that seductive slayer of success. Think I’m being dramatic? The snooze habit is a symptom of a much bigger problem—one that seeps into many areas of our lives. The struggle is real.

Delay is the destroyer of dreams. It reduces our resolve. Procrastination is the poison that paralyzes our potential. How many opportunities are you hitting the snooze button on? Putting it off until tomorrow can easily become the habit that defines our lives. Instead of building the life we hope for, we are adding another log to the fire of future regret.

Right now, you may recall specific life-goals that have fallen by the wayside. In what areas of life have you chosen to roll over, closing your eyes to what your inner dreams require of you? Look at your gifts. Your talents. Are you harnessing your strengths to propel you in the direction of your desires? Or are you letting that power go to waste?

You’ve likely heard someone say, “She has potential.” Sounds like a good thing, right? In truth, it’s a compliment with a caveat. To say someone has potential is like looking in their pantry and noting there’s ingredients in there to make a cake. It does not mean there’s a cake. It doesn’t mean they will ever bake a cake. It just means this person could make a cake, if they so desired.

If you want to have your cake and eat it, too, you have to do something with what you’ve been given. If you want red velvet deliciousness in your future, remember: it’s not going to bake itself. Potential is pointless until it’s proven in performance. Are you ready to see your possibilities manifest into something tangible?

My Review

“Sin subtly seduces you in stages, slowly slaying your success.”

Far from being just another self-help book that promises to reveal the secret of how to “live your best life”, Rosalinda Rivera’s “The Seductive Slayers of Success” opens the door to the things that hold us back from becoming the people whom God has created us to be. Most of all, we have to want to be successful, and we have to be willing to put in the hard work that it takes to get there. As we are setting our goals, we need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and make sure that our hearts are right with God so that we are listening to and following His guidance. After all, as Rivera notes, “God knows we will find our satisfaction, purest joy, and absolute peace when He is the object of our desire.” In order for that to happen, we have to trust Him above people, paying no heed to the cynics as we choose to move forward with the dreams that God has planted in our hearts.

Something that I think makes this book both instructive and relatable is Rivera’s tone. She directly addresses her target audience, women, and uses slang, which makes this reading experience convicting as well as akin to having coffee with a candid friend. To be honest, as an introvert this felt overwhelming, and I personally found it off-putting at times, but this is just my own quirk. I did appreciate that the author added a few disclaimers regarding context for situations such as abuse and other issues that might be exceptions and therefore call for a different approach. The formatting in the advanced reader’s e-book copy that I read was disjointed, with page headers in the middle of the text and superscript notes meant to be at the end of the page showing up in the middle of the text, as well as all words containing “ll” missing the second “l” and sentences continuously being repeated back-to-back, word-for-word. However, I do not fault the author and have not deducted any stars; I trust that these issues do not exist in the final Kindle edition.

Each chapter builds upon the one before, and Rivera briefly summarizes them as the book progresses, refreshers that I welcomed because they tie the book together as a cohesive whole. One of the most helpful topics for me was the comparison between experiment and commitment. Rivera explains how writer Scott Young divides the two: “Before you start any activity that will last more than a day, decide whether it should be mentally categorized as an experiment or commitment before going further. Experiments are okay to quit…A commitment is a worthwhile endeavor with the goal of success.” I found this very insightful because I tend to try to do too much and sometimes impede my own progress.

Beginning each of the fifteen chapters with a relevant epigraph and ending with a New Life Plan, “The Seductive Slayers of Success” serves as a handbook for making the necessary godly changes in your life to achieve the success of a life lived for Jesus, the One who gave His life for us. Rivera reminds us that “God is looking for people who will make themselves available. He wants you to be one of the world-changers, the difference-makers.” Yes, YOU!

I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.