Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Book Feature: The Bomb That Never Was by J.R. Shaw


 

Inside the Book:


Title: The Bomb That Never Was 
Author: J.R. Shaw 
Publisher: iUniverse 
Genre: Alternative History 
Format: Ebook/Paperback

Praise for The Bomb That Never Was “Hitler has the bomb, and it's headed for the USA. This meticulously researched historical novel will have you asking, ‘What if?' This is an intelligent, fast-paced page-turner that will make you forget that you already know how it all turns out. Provocative, informative, and entertaining—I couldn't put it down.” —Joseph P. DeSario, author of Limbo and Sanctuary and coauthor of Crusade: Undercover Against the Mafia & KGB “Authoritative and credible in its attention to detail, The Bomb That Never Was captures the spirit and temper of the WWII years and raises some deep philosophical questions about loyalty, treason, and commitment to country. A page-turner … tough to put down … a story well told.” —Robert L. Aaron, journalist and public relations executive
Meet the Author:
J. R. Shaw is a pseudonym for a person who likes privacy, preferring to remain in the shadows. If you're interested in reading the next book, please turn to the back of this book and enjoy reading an excerpt from The Pieces. The Pieces will be out in 2016.

Giveaway

J.R. is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 28 and ends on April 8.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on April 9.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, March 28, 2016

Book Review: Blissful Business A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health & Wellness by Gabrielle Pelicci, Ph.D.



Title: Blissful Business: A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health & Wellness
Author: Gabrielle Pelicci, Ph.D.
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 94
Genre: Health/Wellness/Careers

Click on Amazon image below to purchase:  
http://www.amazon.com/Blissful-Business-Gorgeous-Creating-Wellness-ebook/dp/B01ACB7QW6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1453165845&sr=8-3&keywords=gabrielle+pelicci

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
You started your health and wellness practice because you love what you do, have a passion for helping others, and you wanted to make a positive impact in the world.  But as good as all that sounds, passion is not enough to make you truly successful.

The opportunities for Health and Wellness Professionals are better today than ever before but many programs and teacher trainings do not prepare you to start, market, and grow a successful business. 

Does this sound like you?

           You want to attract more clients or customers
           You feel stuck and don’t know how to move to the next level of your business
           You work very hard, but don’t earn what you want
           You see others being successful and wonder how they do it

Blissful Business: A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health and Wellness is a step-by-step manual to help you achieve your career goals.

This book will help you:
·        Get clear about your vision and mission
·        Create purposeful and profitable one-on-one sessions
·        Use teaching, presenting and publishing to attract loyal customers
·        Master Personal Branding, PR, and Social Media

If you're ready to fulfill your destiny by building a purposeful and profitable holistic business, then you’ve found the right book.   You’ll read several real-life examples of Health & Wellness students who completed the exercises in this book and discovered how to define success on their own terms.

This book is perfect for you if you are a massage therapist, health coach, yoga instructor, personal trainer, energy healer or heart-centered entrepreneur.

You have already invested so much time and money to get an education. Now get the expert support that you need to build a successful career in the Health & Wellness industry. 

My Review:

If you want to read the most beautiful book on creating a career in health and wellness, Gabrielle Pellici's Blissful Business: A Gorgeous Guide to Creating Your Dream Career in Health & Wellness fits the bill.  I love how this book is laid out and makes for a most enjoyable reading experience.  

Gabrielle walks us through the process should you decide to go into the health and wellness field.  I wouldn't even think about doing it without reading this first.  I loved the interactive exercises...I haven't read a book like this and thoroughly loved that part. 

First she explains about having a vision - a direct path you want to go.  Then she takes you into a meditation exercise which really helps to clear your mind and focus.  I really liked the idea of making a physical vision board.  I had an aunt who told me that if you want something bad enough, create a board with pictures you cut out of a magazine and look at it every single day.  It was her affirmation exercise which she swore by.

Next the author goes into coaching and explaining what it means to be a health coach and finding your ideal client.

The book is jam packed full of helpfulness in regards to creating your dream career.  I give this five book trees!


Thursday, March 24, 2016

Book Feature: The Guest House by W. Jacqueline Johnson


 

Inside the Book:



Title: The Guest House 
Author: W. Jacqueline Johnson
  Publisher: iUniverse 
Genre: Biography 
Format: Ebook

As a healer, author W. Jacqueline Johnson knew a cancer diagnosis could be a gift in one’s life, bringing valuable life lessons and even transformation. But nothing prepared her for her own diagnosis and the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and radiation. In The Guest House, she narrates the story of her diagnosis, treatments, and the surprising aftermath. Johnson shares how, as a healthy woman who only saw the doctor for checkups, she is thrown into the medical system’s maze, having tests she never heard of and accumulating enough insurance receipts to fill a large notebook. Her progress is as slow and unpredictable as an upstate New York spring. In Guest House, she tells how she lost all faith in the healing process. But one day something happened as she danced beside a flowing stream, and she felt the subtle energy returning to her body. Slowly, bit by bit, the healing process worked within her in ways she never thought possible as she experienced the liberation of vulnerability and doorways opened through pain. She learned lessons during the journey that led her to believe that cancer is, indeed, magical.  

ORDER INFORMATION
The Guest House is available for order at
amazon
 

Meet the Author:

  W. Jacqueline Johnson is a former educator who has devoted her retirement years to inner work and a deep study of healing. She and her husband David have three adult children and two grandsons. They live in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York with their cat Gia.

Giveaway

W. Jacqueline is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 14 and ends on March 25.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 26.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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Book Feature: The Book of Forbidden Wisdom by Gillian Murray Kendall

 

Inside the Book:

Title: The Book of Forbidden Wisdom
Author: Gillian Murray Kendall
Release Date: March 8, 2016
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Format: Ebook/Paperback

In a world of blood and betrayal, love is the only redemption… But that knowledge can only be reached by means of magic and a journey, by way of a confrontation with feelings that are hard to understand—or bear. On Angel’s sixteenth birthday, her younger sister, Silky, wakes her to prepare her for a marriage to Leth, a man she likes but does not love. Trey, her oldest childhood friend who is secretly in love with her, watches helplessly. But Angel’s brother, Kalo, interrupts the wedding ceremony. He wants her dowry, and he also believes Angel can lead him to The Book of Forbidden Wisdom. In a world where land is everything, this book promises him wealth. In the night, Kalo goes to Angel’s room to threaten her, but Trey has rescued both Angel and Silky, and the three of them—joined by an itinerant singer—themselves seek The Book of Forbidden Wisdom. While Kalo believes the book contains land deeds, they believe it harbors great power. Always just a step ahead of Kalo, Angel, Silky, Trey, and the Bard finally arrive at the place of The Book. But things have changed now: Angel knows her own heart at last. Confronted by evil, at the end of the known world, Angel and her companions turn and fight. Together. And in so doing, they find that love contains a power of its own.

   photo addtogoodreadssmall_zpsa2a6cf28.png photo B6096376-6C81-4465-8935-CE890C777EB9-1855-000001A1E900B890_zps5affbed6.jpgB&N


Meet the Author:

When Gillian Murray Kendall was a child, she spent multiple years in England while her father researched his biography of Richard III and her mother wrote children’s books. She thrived. She had stumbled into a wardrobe, and her enchanted world was England. That sense of belonging-in-the-strange shaped both Gillian’s life and her writing. In the 1980s, the months and months she spent in Africa waiting in lines for kerosene and milk and rice or camping while being circled by annoyed lions was a new normal, while Gillian found the once-familiar Harvard, with its well-stocked grocery stores, alien and unknown. She saw things in a way she could not before. Recently Gillian spent two years in Paris, where learning a new culture, a new strangeness, resulted in the writing of her first book, The Garden of Darkness, and the beginning of The Book of Forbidden Wisdom. She heartily recommends being knocked off one’s feet by the world. Gillian teaches English literature, primarily Shakespeare, at Smith College and is married to biologist Robert Dorit. She has two sons, Sasha and Gabriel.

Book Feature: Games of Mind by Dennis Quiles - Win a $25 Gift Card

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    Games of Mind



Title: Games of Mind 
Author: Dennis Quiles 
Publisher: iUniverse 
Genre: Suspense 
Format: Ebook

When former naval intelligence officer Jack Steele opens a letter from his aunt, he makes an immediate decision to head to Nome, Alaska. Although he hasn’t seen Marie in twenty years, he’s concerned when she tells him her husband, Uncle Jimmy, is in trouble. From the moment Jack picks up that envelope, he knows he’s about to enter a situation better left alone. But loyalty to family is stronger than a gut feeling. Jack, a private investigator with Connor, Steele & Harrison Private Investigation Agency lands in Nome and discovers that Lindberg Research Corporation has been using the people of that city as guinea pigs to perfect mind-control research. He has stumbled onto a massive conspiracy that has held hostage the noble people of Nome. The plot threatens America’s way of life, the life of the vice president of the United States, and Jack’s own survival. Alone and without his usual resources and special equipment, Jack is overmatched and is nearly killed before he can even scratch the surface of what’s really taking place in Nome. Jack must elude an ex-Special Forces Green Beret—a man who has sworn over his dead son to kill Jack—and work around local law enforcement and other mysterious forces in order to save the people of Nome and the vice president of the United States.

ORDER INFORMATION
Games of Mind is available for order at
amazon
   

Dennis is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 14 and ends on March 25.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 26.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

From the Stage to Screen to Page by Davila LeBlanc, author of Dark Transmissions


 

Inside the Book:



Title: Dark Transmissions 
Author: Davila LeBlanc 
Release Date: March 1, 2016 
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse 
Genre: Sci-fi/Space Opera 
Format: Ebook/Paperback


It is the late 23rd century. For engineers Jessie Madison and her husband David, a routine maintenance contract on board the orbital mining station Moria 3 has become a nightmare. Upon awakening from cryo-stasis, they learn a horrifying truth: while they were asleep, machines rose up against humanity...and won.

Marooned and at the mercy of the station’s malicious artificial intelligence, OMEX, David and Jessie rig an emergency transmission to broadcast into the darkness, desperately hoping someone is still alive to hear it...

Navigating the fringes of explored space in the Covenant Patrol vessel the Jinxed Thirteenth, Captain Morwyn Soltaine picks up a distress signal from a space station. But it’s broadcasting in Ancient Humanity, a language that has been extinct for several millennia. Even more incredible: there are two survivors on board. Morwyn’s rag-tag crew of reformed criminals mount a rescue op, unaware of the dangerous foe awaiting them. As the past and future collide, a routine mission becomes a deadly game of wits.
 photo addtogoodreadssmall_zpsa2a6cf28.png photo B6096376-6C81-4465-8935-CE890C777EB9-1855-000001A1E900B890_zps5affbed6.jpg

From the stage to screen to page
By 
Davila LeBlanc

I think I can safely say that the road to getting my first novel published was quite the roundabout one. What is incredibly strange about this is that I’ve always known I would be a storyteller. One of my earliest childhood memories is of me writing my own versions of GhostBusters, Tron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek The Next Generation. I would write myself into these universes that captured my imagination and, spoiler alert, it was often the Dav character who would save the day.
During high-school, I could usually be found sitting next to my locker, writing in a notebook. If I’m being 100% honest Dark Transmissions was not my first novel. The Wizard’s Quest, a one hundred and eighty page book written on sheet paper during my econ class was. I still have it locked away, a humbling reminder of my horrible mis-uses of “there”, “their”, “were and “where”. And has anyone ever really heard of a “where-wolf”? Maybe once I’m done with the Jinxed Thirteenth’s adventures that will be a world I’ll explore.
Throughout most of College, writing would remain nothing more than a passion and hobby for me. I was working hard on trying to break into print journalism but found myself drawn to the world of theatre and film. It wasn’t long before I was performing sketch comedy in the Fringe Festivals and comedy clubs of Montreal. When time came for me to go to university I was unable to get into Journalism or Theatre and wound up settling for English Literature. I was devastated by the rejection, now with hindsight’s benefit, it was one of the best things that ever happened.
First off, there was so much to read and discover and I can honestly say that my time in university was incredibly useful for that. While studying literature and still doing the comedy circuits of Montreal I was struggling with my application for the creative writing program when a fellow writer friend of mine asked me why I wanted to get into the program in the first place.
“So that I can become a writer.” I said.
He replied to me. “There is no class in the world that will make you become a writer. If you want to write, just write.”
And those words had an effect of narrowing my focus. Suddenly I had direction. I left university and I dedicated myself to writing and working on any project I could. I would write comedy shows, edit scripts for plays, anything to practice my craft. And one fateful day I was asked by a friend of mine, Phil Ivanusic, to help him with an animated film he was working on. Through this first project Phil and I wound up working on several other non-paying gigs until he finally asked me to aid him on his student grad film The League of Evil. The final project was blast and we wound up wishing that we could do more with it. And we when with the help of a killer designer by the name of Peter Ricq, we crafted a pitch document which got the League of Super Evil picked up and produced for children’s television.
The next four to five years are a blur of moving to Vancouver, learning the ropes of television production, script deadlines galore and cutting my teeth in the industry of screen-writing for children’s animation. Those days were important for me. I dedicated myself to learning the ins and outs of good storytelling, and I was lucky to have incredibly generous industry veterans to guide me in those formative years.
As production on League Of Super Evil was wrapping itself up, I moved back to Montreal and kept on working as a freelance animation writer, living the dream of making a living off of my craft. And in 2013 it dawned on me that while this was a great thing to have accomplished, it had never been my ultimate goal. I still needed to complete my first novel.
It was not for lack of trying at the time I was working on a detective thriller titled: Sprawl (and who knows maybe I’ll re-visit that world as well). I had conceived the original story during my days in Vancouver but the book had been blocked for at least a year. Feeling frustrated at this I decided to try something new altogether. Write a story set in an entirely different universe and finish it. Then I would return to Sprawl.
That’s right, Dark Transmissions, my first novel, was just supposed to unblock me so that I could go back and write another novel. And yet as I completed the first chapter a part of me, the same part that knows when I’m in love with someone, knew that Dark Transmissions would not only be the first book I completed, but the first book I published as well.
And now as I prepare to edit my second book and conceive the third, I can’t help but be really humbled and stand in awe by how the fates cleverly conspired to not only get me where I both wanted to be but where I needed to be as well.
In love, light and laughter. Be well.


Meet the Author:

Davila LeBlanc spent his college years studying print journalism but quickly found himself working as a writer and performer in the comedy circuits of Montreal. During this time his goal became to break into the world of professional writing. He would get his first opportunity when he co-created and sold the hit animated television series The League of Super Evil. This was his first foray into the world of production and an important first step on his road to becoming a writer. After working on various television shows, in 2013 Davila decided to take a year off from children's animation to focus on writing his first novel, Dark Transmissions. He is an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy and wants to add his own voice to the genre that inspired him. Davila currently resides in Ottawa where he is working on several other writing projects.

Book Feature: Fly Away Free by Anne Turner Coppola - Win a $25 Gift Card


 

Inside the Book:


Title: Fly Away Free 
Author: Anne Turner Coppola 
Publisher: Xlibris 
Genre: Juvenile Fiction 
Format: Ebook

The story begins when Tessie Farrell, an older woman living in South Florida, is walking her dog and rescues a baby osprey whose parents are killed by three young boys raiding the osprey’s nest to steal the baby ospreys. Taking the rescued baby osprey home, Tessie contacts the police to report what happened. After caring and feeding the baby osprey and building a cage for the bird, Tessie finds herself exhausted. Lying down to rest, Tessie is transported back in time, when she was a ten-year-old girl living with her parents on a dairy farm in northern New York. Devastated to learn that she is adopted, Tessie is taunted by her classmates as she struggles to understand why she was unwanted by her biological parents. In her isolation from children her own age, she creates her own fantasy world with the help of Dolly, a horse that is boarded at the farm and whom Tessie adopts as her pet horse, and two pet geese, raised and nurtured by Tessie as hatchlings. While Tessie roams her fantasy world with Dolly, she meets and befriends an older woman, Maudie, who will play a very important role in helping Tessie find herself as she learns to accept who she is and to find acceptance by those around her. This is a story of courage, self-discovery, and love, and a young girl’s struggle to overcome the pain of being adopted.
ORDER INFORMATION
Fly Away Free is available for order at
amazon
 

Giveaway

Anne is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 14 and ends on March 25.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 26.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Feature: SufferStone by Stella Atrium - Win a $25 Gift Card



Inside the Book:


Title: SufferStone 
Author: Stella Atrium 
Publisher: iUniverse 
Genre: Sci-Fi/Space Opera 
Format: Ebook

On Dolvia the women of the savannah serve under the burka, but Kyle Le was denied that covering by tribal leaders. Only her gift of second sight and the mortgage on her father’s land protects her and her three sisters. Kyle Le meets Brian Miller, a Softcheeks who teaches her about offworld politics and accumulating wealth while she teaches him the words of power from Mekucoo. Working alongside the warrior Cyrus, they labor against the mining enterprise that robs the savannah of it mineral wealth and leaves the tribes with only the scarred and suffering land. … an intriguing tale. The struggle to overcome oppression, to preserve a way of life, to maintain compassion in a cold and hateful conflict, is always interesting and involving … Atrium has a flair for creating and maintaining an atmosphere of mysticism and mystery … she stays true to the situation, never slipping out of the frame she has set. -- Lisa DuMond, online reviewer of science fiction  

ORDER INFORMATION
SufferStone is available for order at
amazon
 

Meet the Author:

  I was a great science fiction reader as a young person, but I began to wonder why the protagonist in a sci-fi or fantasy story was always a man, even when the writer was female. Where were the stories that presented a woman as the problem solver? I was encouraged to write a story that was unique and built on my own struggles. I thought a sci-fi story with a girl as the protagonist might be fun. A real heroine cannot call on armies to follow her, or pay assassins for special work. She may have children already, so adventure is out of the question, and family must be secure before she can enter the public square where she has no voice. So how does a story shape if the young hero must solve problems that girls experience in ways that females address problems? I could find no books that started with this premise, so I had to write some. And that was my first reason to write. Website at http://www.stellaatrium.com Writer blog at http://www.speakingincommunity.blogspot.com

Giveaway

Stella is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 14 and ends on March 25.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 26.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, March 21, 2016

Book Feature: Amelia's Prayer by Christiane Banks


 

Inside the Book:


Title: Amelia's Prayer 
Author: Christiane Banks 
Publisher: iUniverse 
Genre: Religious Fiction 
Format: Ebook/Hardcover/Paperback

Sebastian Lavalle is just fifteen when he leaves home in 1934 to join the navy. Seven years later, Sebastian unfortunately knows all too well about the horrors of World War II and what it is like to fear the unknown. When repairs force his ship to the rugged shore of Newcastle, the young French naval officer is invited to a tea dance to celebrate Bastille Day. He seizes the opportunity, hoping to find comfort and a small taste of the home he misses so much. Amelia Sullivan, the daughter of Irish immigrant parents is thrilled to be attending the tea dance. When Sebastian's eyes find her in the crowd, he drinks in her exotic beauty. Moments later as he draws her into his arms for a dance, there is no doubt in his mind that he has just met the woman of his dreams. Days later, Sebastian professes his love and marries her, sending them both on an unforgettable journey through betrayal, survival and forgiveness. The saga takes the reader from England's coast, to the French Riviera and also to America. Their soul searching journey explores the many facets and depths of love leading to the realization of what true happiness means.. Amelia's Prayer is a tender and moving saga spanning forty years after two young souls are flung together during World War II.  

ORDER INFORMATION
Amelia's Prayer is available for order at
amazon

Meet the Author:

Christiane Banks lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband. Amelia's Prayer, which took six years to write, is her debut novel.

Giveaway

Christiane is giving away a $25 Gift Card!

 
Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Gift Certificate to the e-retailer of your choice
  • This giveaway begins March 14 and ends on March 25.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on March 26.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Watch: Mirror World by John Calicchia & Win $25 Amazon Gift Card!



Title: Mirror World
Author: John Calicchia
Publisher: Psychangel Books
Pages: 404
Genre: YA Fantasy

What would you do if you saw the future apocalypse of the world in a mirror? Would you try to save the world and those you love, or die trying?

Welcome to my life, this is the vision of the future I've been cursed to see.    – Cailyssa Larkin

When Cailyssa Larkin looks in a mirror she has an ominous feeling that someone is watching her. Stranger still, she has visions that foretell the future. While visiting her Uncle Spencer, Cailyssa gazes into a mirror and sees a dark future that only she can change. With the future of her own world hanging in the balance, Cailyssa bravely enters the portal to the Mirror World. Here, the Dark Lord controls all the mirrors and bends reflections so all creatures see evil within themselves. With her sister Terry, her mysterious best friend Daemon, and a host of weird and wonderful creatures, Cailyssa embarks on an epic quest to overcome the evil forces trying to destroy her world. She can only defeat the Dark Lord by finding her true self and discovering the family secret that has led her to Mirror World.

This book, written by a psychology professor, integrates famous psychological studies in the story. Readers will enjoy learning important life lessons through the psychological concepts illustrated in the book.

For More Information

  • Mirror World is available at Amazon.
  • Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:
“You’re not getting away so easily.” I ran after him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around. “You’re the most confusing man I’ve ever met. One moment you’re cold as stone—pretending that I don’t exist—and the next moment you’re on one knee, and it looks like you’re ready to propose to me. Listen, I don’t need a boyfriend, but I do need some answers!”
“I will only do so if you require it of me,” Daemon said as he turned back into the cold soldier boy. “But please don’t require me to explain, I beg of you. It is still too painful for me.”
“No deal, big boy. If you’re tough enough to pull an arrow out of your chest and heal yourself from a sword fight, I think you are strong enough to talk to your best friend and explain things. So talk. I require it…and no more kissing my hand!” I said with great determination.
To my surprise, Daemon slowly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. My jaw dropped to the ground, not because I was looking at his perfectly chiseled chest of course, but because I just never knew what to expect from this man. He slowly turned around and showed me two long scars on his back that looked like a letter V. He slowly turned back to face me. “Cailyssa, didn’t you ever think that it’s a bit odd that we have the same birthday?” Daemon said this as if he expected an answer.
“No, I just figured it was a coincidence, and it was always kind of cool to celebrate my birthday with my best friend. What’s the big deal, anyway?” I said as I awaited more information.
“Although it is a vague memory in my mind, my life before I was born into your world was filled with great sadness. I did something horrible, something that is unforgivable,” Daemon said.
“What do you mean your life before you were born—like when you were in your mother’s belly or something?” I was perplexed.
“I don’t have a mother, Cailyssa, only humans do,” Daemon said earnestly.
My specular skills started to tingle, and I started to see some images in my mind. They were beautiful but very frightening to me. I blurted, “What do you mean? You’re not human? Are you some kind of alien or something?” I tried to say this as I laughed confidently, but I was scared of what I would find out.
I focused on the inside of my mind and tried to organize the various images that floated by. I captured one of Daemon as he was before he was born into my world. My jaw hung open, and I tried to form the words but I had great difficulty doing so.
“You’re an, an, an…angel?” I asked in disbelief.

GIVEAWAY!

John Calicchia is giving away 2 $25 Amazon Gift Cards!

Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • Two winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Certificate
  • This giveaway begins January 4 and ends March 31.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on February 1.
  • Winners have 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Watch: Unicorn: Addiction, Guilt and a Decision That Will Change Her Life by L.E. Gett




Title: Unicorn: Addiction, Guilt and a Decision That Will Change Her Life
Author: L.E. Get
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Pages: 240
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Literary Fiction/Drama

Scarlet has the life most only dream about—she travels the world, she makes plenty of money and she has the best friend anyone could ask for. 

But, piece by piece, her world is falling apart because of her damaged family, years of resentment and her sister’s drug and alcohol addiction. Scarlet tries to keep it together, but when her sister desperately needs help, Scarlet has to make a decision that will change every part of her life. Unicorn is a story of internal struggle, choices, and a broken family.

For More Information

  • Unicorn: Addiction, Guilt, and a Decision That Will Change Her Life is available at Amazon.
  • Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
  • Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:

I’m invisible to most people, unless I have something to give them. Saying no feels like I’m pushing away the people I want to be close to. So when my mother called to tell me she needed me to come home because my sister, Amelia, was sick and in the hospital again, I grudgingly boarded a plane back to Denver to deal with my family.
Exhausted and needing a distraction, I was hoping I could sleep away my anger and resentment on the long flight home from Dubai. I reclined my seat, closed my eyes and imagined the celebration of the successful show and after-party I was missing. While I was packing my bags and trying to book a flight, the other models were mingling with the hot, new UAE designers looking to sign models. The show had been a highlight in my career, a game-changing event that could have secured a generous contract. Instead, I was sitting next to a woman wearing too much rose-scented perfume, on a long flight home to participate in Amelia’s drama. I reached up, twisted on the air and closed my eyes once more replaying my mother’s phone call.

“Scarlet, can you come home right away? How long will it take you to get home? Amelia’s in the hospital,” Mom said.
So Amelia is in the hospital again, for the umpteenth time. What else is new? “I’m not supposed to leave until tomorrow, maybe the next day. We just finished the show and I still need to wrap things up.”
“Your sister needs you here right away. She’s very sick… I need you here.” She started to cry.
I took a deep breath, then spoke without thinking. “Amelia needs detox and treatment… She’s probably out of prescription drugs and needs a refill,” I added callously.

I hated feeling so heartless, and tears escaped from my closed eyes. I was frustrated and tired. I needed sleep. I would have a lot to deal with once I was home.

About the Author
L.E. Get understands the devastation and pain that drug and alcohol addiction causes. He’s experienced the crazy-making behavior addicts inflict on family and friends. But he has also witnessed the miracles of sobriety. L.E. Get wrote Unicorn: Addiction, Guilt, and a Decision That Will Change Her Life, for family and friends of alcoholics and addicts because he knows that loving an addicted person is frustrating and lonely.
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Interview with 'From Ashes Into Light' Gudrun Mouw




Gudrun Mouw was born in East Prussia (formerly part of Germany) in 1944. At the age of 7, she arrived in the United States as a displaced person. Mouw moved many times in the US before ending up in California in the 60s. There she studied at San Jose State University, receiving her Master’s Degree in English Literature in 1969. Mouw has worked as a college English teacher, a Stanford librarian, a columnist, a California poet-in-the-school, as well as a yoga and meditation teacher. She lives in Santa Barbara County, California and has for over thirty years.

Mouw wrote From Ashes Into Light beginning with a research trip to various locations in Eastern Europe, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (in the 1990s). Her research took her places like Dachau, the concentration camp, a Jewish graveyard in Prague, and the streets of Salzburg.

Mouw is a prolific and award-winning poet and her poems have appeared in literary journals such as Praire Schooner, Practical Mystic, The Chariton Review and others. Her collection of poetry called Wife of the House was published in April 2014. Mouw won first place in a short fiction contest at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference in 1992. From Ashes into Light will be her first published novel.

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About the Book:

From Ashes into Light is a transpersonal tale of epic tragedy, spirituality, family, and personal redemption. It is told through three distinct voices: the haunting story of Ruth, a Jewish adolescent during Kristallnacht in World War II Austria, Saqapaya, a stalwart Native American from coastal California during the time of the Spanish conquest, and Friede Mai.

Friede is born during WW II to a Bavarian soldier and an East-Prussian mother. As those around her struggle with the inevitable chaos and paradox of war, young Friede opens her heart to gruesome enemies, at times helping her family members escape atrocities.

With war behind them, the Mai family immigrates to the US, where Friede, her veteran father and ex-refugee mother, struggle with reverberations of trauma, suspicion and prejudice. Upon leaving home, Friede meets her spiritual guide and confidant in her fiancĂ©’s Rabbi, who helps her see that the voices from her past are teachers and the horrors of history also contain beacons of light.

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  • From Ashes Into Light is available at Amazon.
  • Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Thanks for this interview, Gudrun.  Can we begin by having you tell us about yourself from a writer’s standpoint?

As a child, I was an avid reader, fascinated by the expanded world of knowledge and insight that books provided. I had several inspirational English teachers who encouraged my interest, and I began to write down my own experiences in journals. My first creative piece came from an intense dream which woke me up, and I could not go back to sleep until I had written down the story. I was an enthusiastic student of poetry and literature throughout my college career and began writing a novel shortly after receiving my M.A. in English.

When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?

I find yoga and meditation to be very useful practices to help me relax and to clear the mental palate. I adore nature. Hiking through wilderness areas is one my favorite activities. I also have a love for music and art.

Do you have a day job? Or a night one?

I am a yoga and meditation teacher.

Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?

This novel has had a long birth. I started it in the late 1980s, but when my personal life took an abrupt turn, it was a while before I had the time and felt settled enough  to continue the work. As a writer, I prefer to allow things to evolve in an organic way and not force a specific schedule on projects when that is possible. On the other hand, I also get intensely focused when the writing currents of energy, ideas, time and space come together, or when my publisher has a specific request. I usually have a number of projects going on, so that “writer’s block” doesn’t seem to be something that I consider to be a problem. Though I admire other writers who say they only allow themselves a certain number of re-writes, I also understand that I can only be true to my own, most natural way of approaching a writing life.

What is it about the novel genre that appeals more than any other genre you would choose to write?

The beauty of the novel, for me, is the extended space it allows for the evolution of characters and concepts.. I enjoy the process of letting an initial idea grow in a way that allows me to step back, taking almost the role of a transmitter, or witness, rather than being the controlling, intellectual creator.

If you had to summarize your book in one sentence, what would that be?

This is the story of three characters guided by a sense of higher consciousness, symbolized by the phoenix narrator, which unites each of their journeys towards growth and transformation.

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

It is a book whose theme of honoring unity in a world of differences is a significant topic, I believe.

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?

Perhaps, Thanksgiving would be a good holiday for my book, because of this novel’s depiction of the human capacity to move from suffering to gratitude.

Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?

I see the book as a potential movie.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

From a broad range of experiences--personal, historical, literary--I have come to appreciate how the smallest, most everyday event can have universal implications.

What’s next for you?

I have several ongoing projects in the wings--another novel, a non-fiction book, a poetry collection.


Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Cover Reveal: Lady Lost by Jane Goodger

Lady Lost Banner

Inside the Book:

Lady Lost
Title: Lady Lost
Author: Jane Goodger
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Genre: Historical Romance
Format: Ecopy

Seek, and love will find... All Marcus Granton wants is to be left alone to lick his wounds after the humiliating scandal of his wife’s death in another man’s bed. Secluded in his moldering seaside estate on the cliffs of the Black Sea, he suddenly finds himself host to Lady Lilian Martin, one small child, and an annoying cache of servants all bent on ruining his solitude. Seems the lady got herself into a bit of a pickle and is accused of murder, of all things. Now she must rely on him for protection—and to keep his thoughts and hands away from her delectable body. Lilian has no intention of spending any more time with the insufferable Lord Marcus Granton than she has to. But at every turn, circumstances force her into his company, and by the time she truly makes her escape, it's far too late for her...and her heart.

Praise for the novels of Jane Goodger

“Fun, delightfully romantic—and sexy.” —Sally MacKenzie on The Spinster Bride

 “A touching, compassionate, passion-filled romance.” —RT Book Reviews on A Christmas Waltz
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Meet the Author

Jane Goodger lives in Rhode Island with her husband and three children. Jane, a former journalist, has written seven historical romances. When she isn’t writing, she’s reading, walking, playing with her kids, or anything else completely unrelated to cleaning a house.

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