Category: Book Reviews

A Soldier’s Boots

Published on by macjam477 Comments

Please visit Kim Gosselin’s blog to read this very moving and heartfelt poem written in honor of those who have stood in harms way to protect this great land of ours and it’s people.

kcg1974's avatarChronic Conditions & Life Lessons

Please help bring me back

Pink eraser to wipe away pain in my head

Untie laces of dusty brown from sandy boots on feet

Remove them one by one to stroke white of limbs

Hold fingerless hand while stroking healing scars

Kiss my cheek with warm gentle lips

Like an angel’s light warm so bright

I’m more than a uniform of flesh and bones

Look at me and you may see what I used to be

I was your neighbor next door

A father or mother, a husband or wife

A sister or brother, an uncle or aunt, a cousin or friend

People loved me

Yes, I used to feel real…

With a body that moved this way and that

Before these sandy boots on my feet

 

I laughed and joked

Sat in the grass to play with my kids

Skipped in bare feet near the ocean so blue

Walked to…

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World MS Day

Published on by macjam474 Comments

Carol Balawyder's avatarCarol Balawyder

 World MS Day

A day to celebrate global solidarity and hope for the future

World MS Day is officially marked on the last Wednesday of May every year, though events and campaigns take place throughout the month of May.

It brings the global MS community together to share stories, raise awareness and campaign with and for everyone affected by multiple sclerosis.

In 2009, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) and its members initiated the first World MS Day. Together we have reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world, with a campaign focusing on a different theme each year.

In 2016, the theme for World MS Day is ‘Independence’. It will explore how people with MS can be independent, acknowledging that independence can mean different things to different people.

MSIF provides a toolkit of free resources to help everyone to take part in World MS Day. Anyone can…

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Waking Amy

Published on by macjam4739 Comments

By Julieann Dove

Waking AmySynopsis

Amy Whitfield is blindsided when she comes home and finds a note on the fridge from her husband, Wesley, stating that after four years of marriage, he’s leaving her. Amy was in the midst of trying to spice things up, to bring life back to their boring marriage. It seems now that she was too late.

As Amy sits with her head between her knees, trying to figure out what to do next, a call comes from Mercer General Hospital. The ER nurse is telling Amy’s answering machine that Wesley has been in a car accident.

When Amy arrives at the hospital, she finds her husband in a coma. The doctors say there is no sign of brain damage, and Wesley will eventually wake up. Relieved, Amy sees this as her second chance: the chance to get it right this time. To channel the girl Wesley won’t leave when he regains consciousness… She just needs some help to pull it off. After all, she was voted girl most likely to die a virgin in high school.

Amy would never figure on getting that help from Mark Reilly…Wesley’s doctor! He’s a non-committer, too-cute-for-his-own-good bachelor, and completely the guy Amy begins falling for. It’s a race against time to see who wakes up first—Amy or her husband.

Publication date – February 23, 2016

My Review

Amy is walking through life accepting her marriage for what it seems until she finds a note from her husband on the refrigerator door – he’s leaving her.  She can’t envision not being married to him or to living alone and is confident she can make Wesley fall in love her again.  While she is still reeling from the reality of Wesley’s note, she receives a call from the hospital. Wesley was in a terrible accident and is in a coma.

Though the book deals with the reality of Amy’s situation and Wesley’s accident that occurred as he was driving away from her, there is a lot of laugh out loud humor, and it all begins when she meets Wesley’s doctor Mark.

Amy enlists Mark’s help to teach her how to be attractive and sexy so that Wesley will wake up from his coma and realize the mistake he made in leaving her.  When Mark agrees, the fun begins.

In this character-driven story, the author paints Amy as someone who is searching for her own identity. She has always been there doing Wesley’s bidding and accepting their marriage as it was – virtually platonic. Wesley’s departure and his accident, force Amy to take stock of herself.

From the first, I despised Wesley, but because he’s in a coma your knowledge of him is second hand until much later in the book.  However, you will learn enough upfront to dislike him instantly.

Mark is definitely swoon-worthy but has his own problems to overcome.  As the handsome doctor who sleeps with someone different every night, can he convince Amy he’s the one for her?

Dove did a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters. Amy was complex. She was sheltered and unsure of herself, but with the help of other characters, she became strong and self-assured.  The storyline was believable and filled with fresh humor.  A fast-paced story, I read it in one sitting.  Waking Amy is one of those books you can’t put down.  It is contemporary romance, chick-lit, and comedy rolled into one.  If you enjoy any of these genre’s you will enjoy reading Waking Amy.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

About the AuthorJulieann Dove

Julieann lives in Virginia, yet longs to live everywhere else. It doesn’t come as a surprise that along with her gypsy soul, comes an active imagination. That’s why she loves to write and invent worlds and people, so that she can formulate their happily ever after. Hobbies include cooking new recipes, sewing, and spending time with her cute boyfriend/husband and five fabulous children. Vacations happen in Nantucket or the Carolina beaches—anywhere there is inspiration for her next book. One day she hopes to travel to Italy, drive one of those little cars around the countryside, and speak the language fluently!

Connect with the Author

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Newsletter

Buy Waking Amy – Amazon

Thanks for reading! To return to the FICTION WRITERS BLOG HOP on Julie Valerie’s website, click here: http://www.julievalerie.com/fiction-writers-blog-hop-may-2016

 

Unforgettable

Published on by macjam475 Comments

A day of remembering the unforgettable.

George T. James's avatarThinkin' Things Over

Farrell USMC

It was a beautiful crisp morning at Arlington Nation Cemetery about five years ago when we were visiting my father’s grave. Our youngest son, who was in the military, and his wife were with us. As we were walking toward another area we crossed paths with a young mother carrying her young daughter.

We overheard her whisper to her daughter, who we found out later had never met her father, “Let’s go see Daddy.” We were speechless by such a simple comment. We talked with the young mother walking with her to her husband’s grave. We hugged her. We cried with her. There wasn’t a dry eye among us. Unforgettable.

On another visit a few years later, she wasn’t there, but there were paper cut-out hearts and a toddler’s toys beneath his niche. The young mother will not let her daughter forget the father she never knew. – He is…

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Picture books for those with dementia…

Published on by macjam472 Comments

Please take a moment to read about this fantastic effort.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Following my 12th May reblog of a post ‘Top Ten Reasons Picture Books ROCK’ from Author Michelle Eastman’s blog, I was delighted to see a conversation between Michelle and Author Carrie Crebbe Lange about picture books for those with dementia.

Michelle came up with a link I felt needed to be made better known, so I’ve extracted the following from that link:

On 6th August 2013, in order to help Lynn Palmer, Reference Librarian at Davenport Public Library, Goodreads Librarian Cheryl created a Listopia section to list picture books suitable or recommended for reading to someone in the latter stages of dementia.

***Only 87 books have been recommended to date!***

Qualities that seem to appeal are:

-a simple, straightforward storyline (not abstract metaphor or literary devices)
-simple and straightforward sentences
-a little humor
-not a lot of text
-a familiar story (folktale or fairytales)
-a story that depicts aspects of…

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Where Valor Rests

Published on by macjam4710 Comments

George T. James's avatarThinkin' Things Over

Arlington Tomb of the Unknown 2015

On June 10, 2009 I buried my father in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.  He was 86 and an Army veteran of WWII, Battle of Okinawa; part of ‘the greatest generation.’  As we drove to the burial site we passed row after row after row of white tombstones perfectly aligned in all directions.  The tombstones reached out over rolling hills like fields of wild flowers.  As I absorbed this journey, the tombstones seemed to speak out, in ever so soft voices, offering untold stories of service to our Country.  Is anybody listening?  Will you remember me?  Do you care? 

Arlington 3Many of the graves are of young men and women who never got the chance to grow up and age with their families.  Lives cut short, standing their watch, so the rest of us could enjoy the freedom provided by this great Country.  In the vastness of this hallowed ground…

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May is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month

Published on by macjam478 Comments

Carol Bakawyder is offering her book NOT BY DESIGN on Amazon for 99 cents in honor of May – Multiple Sclerosis Month.

Carol Balawyder's avatarCarol Balawyder

Untitled design (2)

This Mother’s Day weekend think of offering a bouquet of carnations – the symbol for Multiple Sclerosis – to your mother in support of raising awareness of MS, a disease which changes the lives of young people affected by it – In general, it strikes people who are between 15 and 40 years old.

 The video below shows what happens in the central nervous system when a person has multiple sclerosis.

  What Is MS?

Felicity Starr, the protagonist of my latest novel – Not By Design – develops MS. Like many other writers, I like to give the reader a bit of information as well as entertainment so that they come away with a feeling that they’ve learned something and had some fun as well. In Not By Design I look at  the effects that this complex disease can have on family, friends and the person suffering from MS.

In honor of raising…

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Not By Design

Published on by macjam4739 Comments

A Getting To Mr. Right Series

By Carol Balawyder

Not Byy DesignBook Blurb

Not By Design: A Feel Good Novel
In a life turned upside down, Felicity finds joy is sometimes just around the corner.
Ever since she first appeared in Getting To Mr. Right, Felicity Starr has been struggling to find her own kind of contentment. Now, at thirty-five and living in Rome, Felicity is about to break into the world of fashion design, and caught in a flurry of plans for her wedding when calamity strikes.
Her father’s sudden death brings into question the whole meaning of success. Then Marco, the man she’s about to marry, leaves her when he learns of her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.
Forced to return to Montreal, Felicity finds her life thrust into unexpected turns. As she confronts the on-going challenges presented by her disease, she gains the strength to let go of old beliefs and face her inner truths.
Love, friendship, and rewarding work come in different forms and Felicity finds it all in ways she never imagined – in a life that’s not by design.

My Review

When I began reading Not By Design, I expected it to be a twist on a traditional romance novel but was delightfully surprised to find it was much more than just a variation of the conventional romance.  Felicity left her father’s company in Montreal and moved to Rome to pursue her career in art causing a rift between Felicity and her father that could not be healed.  While in Rome, she found love and a proposal of marriage, along with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. When Marco, her fiance, learned of her diagnosis, he said, “Arrivederci.” Frightened about what was in store for her in the future, Felicity decided to move back to Montreal where she could have health insurance and be near her life long friends Missi, Suzy, and Campbell. But what frightens her the most is whether or not with her diagnosis, will she ever be able to find true love.

The characters were true to life, and as much as I loved Felicity from the start, I equally disliked Marco.  Felicity had a love-hate relationship with her mother Nicole in the beginning, but I was happy to see some of the walls between them torn down and a much better mother-daughter relationship take hold.  I love characters that serve to lift up a friend or family member. Missi, Suzy, and Campbell convince her to get a puppy and a cane. Her friend Eduardo, who ran an art gallery, and her new found friend Jeff who walked his dog Clyde at the same dog park where Felicity walked her dog Bonnie, all figure into Felicity’s acceptance of her multiple sclerosis and her outlook on the future.

The book was well researched, and the story took us through Felicity’s depression and hopelessness for future happiness to learning to lean on friends for the love and support they so willingly gave, and finally to acceptance of what her life with MS would be, and making the best of it.

I don’t often read a book straight through, but I couldn’t put this one down.  I honestly can’t find anything I didn’t like about it, other than Marco.  It was a heartwarming story of a person learning to accept and live with a debilitating disease.  There is no reason for me to not award Not By Design five stars.

File Size: 2161 KB

Print Length: 164 Pages

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Publication Date: January 31, 2016

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

Genre: Contemporary Romance
About the AuthorCarol Balawyder

Carol Balawyder holds an undergraduate degree with a major in English Literature and a graduate degree in Criminology. She has taught English in various colleges in Montreal, Concordia University and Ho Chi Minh University of Technology in Vietnam. During this phase of her teaching career, she developed teaching material including Open For Business (Harper & Row), Windows on Sci-Tech (Thomson Publishing) and Pour Etre Ganganat (Beauchemin Publishers).

In the second half of her teaching career, she taught criminology in Police Technology and Corrections Programs. She helped set up and animate a writing workshop for women in prison and has worked in halfway houses and drug rehab centers.  She has self-published Mourning Has Broken (a memoir on grief) and her Getting to Mr. Right Series. Her short stories have appeared in Room Magazine, The Canadian Anthology of Fiction, Mindful.org, Between the Lines, Carte Blanche and she was given an honorary mention for a play submitted to The Canadian Playwright Competition.

Connect on Social Media Links

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Balawyder/e/B00HVETKWM

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7704883.Carol_Balawyder

Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/cbala

Website – http://carolbalawyder.com/

Blog- http://carolbalawyder.com/blog/