7 Cups Of Coffee
Release date: October 21st 2025
Preface
It is inevitable: one day, the tower will come crashing down around you. Your foundation, shaken to its very core. In a single moment, the life you have built—and the future you thought was certain—falls away.
What remains after the collapse is an overwhelming need to understand. There is a hunger to open, a desperation to find faith—the kind you may have searched for year after year.
Your dreams and ideas about the future shatter. Suddenly, there is nothing left but space and time. There is nothing left but tears that even your soul cannot explain. You stand there, surrounded by memories that feel like ghosts—fragments of a life that no longer fits.
You begin to question:
What is real in my life?
What is simply a projection of the pain I’ve buried inside?
Have I forgotten how to live in the present?
Have I forgotten what it feels like to laugh—to be alive?
The mind takes over, quietly. It builds a prison—not of iron bars, but of self-doubt, mistrust, and half-truths. Inside this prison, gratitude becomes invisible. Emotion becomes unbearable.
Facing the unknown—facing our fears—is a brutal task when we walk alone. But that’s when the soul begins to stir. It whispers, keep going. It pushes us toward our truth, peeling away ego and illusion, inviting us to discover what we are made of.
The steps forward are painful. They are slow. Like walking in shoes that don’t fit—too tight, too small, not made for the journey. And still, we walk.
Each step aches—not just in the body, but in the heart. The heart begins to shut down, not out of weakness, but as a defense. Until we are finally forced to sit with what’s inside.
We sit in the dark. We watch our ideals crumble. We ask for a sign—was this collapse for a reason? We pray that it meant something—that it was the beginning of something deeper: a journey back to the soul.
And then one day…
You wake up different.
You feel stronger. Strong enough to begin clearing the debris—the remnants of the tower, the pieces of your former self. You face the wreckage with new eyes. You see not ruin, but invitation. The burdens that once crushed you are now gone. You remember that you are more than this moment. You are bigger than your fear.
That’s when you begin to overcome. That’s when you start to rise.
In the darkest times, we search for the sunshine. And eventually—the sunshine appears.
And for the first time in a long time, you look in the mirror… and you finally see your face.
EDITORIAL REVIEW
In 7 Cups of Coffee, Carla J. Brooks leads the reader on a journey of life, through the stories of twenty individuals’ lives she meets along the way on her own literal and spiritual journey. Over the course of several months, states, and miles, Brooks stops amid the busyness of everyday life to connect with strangers one on one. Through sharing their stories on these pages, we are drawn into a story that transcends all humanity, a rapport between everyone.
7 Cups of Coffee is the type of book that stays with a person long after the pages are read and the book is closed because its language is universal. While certain aspects might remind us of self-help books, such as forgiveness, loving oneself, and moving on from the past in order to heal and keep forging forward, Brooks’s story is one that plays out on the stage of humanity. It crosses age, religion, race, creed, ethnicity, and more.
The premise on the surface is simple: imagine sharing seven cups of coffee with a stranger while they share his or her life story. But the implications are deep, soul-searching: while listening to their story, it is ingested, digested, and becomes a part of a thread that unites us, bringing us back to universal truths.
A concept that may resonate deeply with many readers is the author’s expression of not waiting to find validation from other people. Many of us go through life trying to please others or seeking approval, only to find disappointment or feelings of being lost. Brooks doesn’t strictly stick to any one religious or spiritual background with this book, although the people she interviews range from Muslim to Christian to New Age. The reader may take from this information what they wish, but many could find peace and reassurance from the results.
Some stories deal with serious issues such as depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse, divorce, infidelity, and self-harm, so the reader should be aware of these heavy topics. Hinting to the reader earlier in the book might be beneficial so that readers are more aware what they’re getting into; however, these are all real-life problems that many people struggle and deal with and could benefit from reading about. The stories within these pages are often raw and real, presented without judgment and as they are. The beauty found in ashes isn’t possible otherwise. The author expresses that we cannot know light without darkness, goodness without evil, wholeness without brokenness, and such is the twisted beauty of life.
Carla Brooks gives readers a gift wrapped with honest reflection with 7 Cups of Coffee. Readers can imagine sitting down across from Brooks over a cup of coffee, or seven, while sharing their own stories with heartfelt truth. Anyone seeking to go deep into the human experience, with all of its shards of hurt that glint the light of hope, will be consumed by 7 Cups of Coffee, its timeless message echoing long after the pages are turned.
— Book Review Directory
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