Elizabeth's Best

Discover The Guidebook Series by bestselling author Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino. Published by HCI Books, the original publisher of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, these award-winning books help readers navigate change, achieve meaningful and comprehensive success, cultivate gratitude, and create lasting peace.

Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino shares why she stopped hiding her story and started embracing it. Discover how life's challenges, food allergies, family experiences, resilience, and personal growth can help us find purpose, create connection, and serve others.

I believe we are not entitled to time. Life has taught me that lesson more than once. Most people are surprised when I tell them that one of the most defining moments of my life involved a chocolate chip cookie. At first, it sounds almost impossible. How could a cookie change everything? But it did. On June 5, 1999, I was six months pregnant with my son Cameron when I unknowingly ate a chocolate chip cookie containing walnuts. Within moments, I experienced a severe allergic r