Collecting Confidence: Start Where You Become the Person You Were Meant to Be is the best self-help book I’ve read since Sincero’s You Are a BadAss. And that’s high praise from someone with a high bar when it comes to this genre, having a masters in counseling with a minor in intermittent low confidence! I’ve been immune to lesser well-meaning books due to their dubious notions.

But not Kim Gravel, an authentic woman who matter of factly relays her rise and failure to the Miss America pageant followed by her reality show Kim of Queens (of which I’ve never seen, so no worries to have to study beforehand) and her QVC cosmetic line.

Kim’s childhood began in Lilburn, Georgia and her colloquialisms are both comforting and funny. One of my favorite passages from Collecting Confidence is this adage: “Life is hard, God is good, and people are crazy (me included).” Obviously by that mantra, Kim’s Christian roots are visible in Collecting Confidence, but not in a preachy way, rather as biblical quotes used sparingly for their inherent wisdom and guidance.

I found myself copying the handful of pages with larger quotes to give to women I know, who also struggle with being undervalued and consequently self-limiting. Her slogans were not only catchy, but deeply effective due to their provocative deep thought resonance.

Collecting Confidence is available for pre-order at www.sarasotabooks.com and in store on April 25, at BookStore1 Sarasota 117 S. Pineapple Avenue Sarasota, FL 34236.