Ruth Anne Benziger's Blog, page 26
July 25, 2020
Starting a Journey to Weight Loss
I’m starting a journey to weight loss by changing my eating habits, starting a consistent exercise routine, and beginning the process to getting weight loss surgery.
I’ve always been overweight, it started when I was in high school. I found that I had a thyroid issue and a few years later was diagnosed with PCOS. Those two things could explain the weight gain. I’ve fluctuated over the years.
At the age of fifteen or sixteen, I weighed over 200 lbs. So, when I was an adult I struggled to get under that weight. I hovered near it but could never get under it. When I was exercising, eating well, and managing my medical issues, I still couldn’t get lower than 220.
If you’ve been following me, you’ll know that I have Crohn’s Disease. I’ve had multiple surgeries including a rectum removal. This occurred in 2018. I had to lay down for 8 weeks to recover. That took a toll on me.
Then, I was in school and struggled to find the time (excuses, I know) to work out. After graduation, I got divorced (and depressed). So, there was a lot of stress eating going on. I got lazy and I ate things that I shouldn’t have.
Quarantine happened and the eating habits got so out of control that I’m finally putting my foot down. I’m saying enough of this crap. I need to do something. I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been.
So, I’ve started the process of weight loss surgery. I’ve changed my eating habits and I started working out.
Here are a few meals that I’ve eaten so far.
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I’ll be posting the meals that I eat and sharing my journey with you. If you want to tag along, let me know. 
July 17, 2020
Asher’s Promise COMING FEBRUARY 2021
I’m so excited about the progress I’ve made so far. Asher’s Promise will be available soon. I’m hoping to get beta readers and critique partners soon. I also would like to offer advanced copies for an honest review to get a jump start on advertising my book. If you are interested in being a beta reader, critique partner, or early book reviewer, please contact me by the end of November. Thank you!
I’ve written a ton of novels and have agonized over publishing. I’m putting my foot in the water and I’m going for it.
Coming FEB 2021 The first book in the Burke series will be available on Amazon.
Asher’s Promise:
Asher Burke runs the family business with his brothers. He’s hard-working, determined, and stubborn. Traits all the Burke men share. Asher’s father is putting pressure on him to marry his business partner’s daughter. He’s known about the deal for years but he’s dragging his feet. He’ll have to use all the charisma and courage he can muster to convince her to go along.
Lori Walker is a nutritionist in the small Texas town of Meadow Ridge. Her father has brought her up by himself, taught her to be self-sufficient, and to work towards her goals. When Asher Burke, her childhood friend takes in interest in her, she starts to think…
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July 9, 2020
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
Yum! Salad’s are some of the most versatile dishes you can make. There are so many different things to add to a salad. Even more when it is a pasta salad.
Check out this recipe from EatingWell.
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/265896/buffalo-chicken-pasta-salad/
July 7, 2020
Avocado Brownies
We all struggle with eating healthy and wanting to eat the yummy treats our bodies crave. So, I’ve been trying these alternative tricks and checking out awesome websites that let me have my sweets without the guilt.
I’ve stumbled across some recipes and this one is not different from the outside the box thinking.
Well Planted by Erin has a plethora of sweets that are healthier options than those yummy treats we buy in the stores.
I love this avocado brownie recipe and I think you will too.
https://www.wellplated.com/avocado-brownies/
If you use this recipe, tell me how it turns out. Because I think it’s delicious and I’m not even a big fan of avocados.
Check out this video to see how they are made.
https://www.wellplated.com/avocado-brownies/?jwsource=cl
Book Review: More than Want You by Shayla Black
I’m Maxon Reed—real estate mogul, shark, asshole. If a deal isn’t high profile and big money, I pass. Now that I’ve found the property of a lifetime, I’m jumping. But one tenacious bastard stands between me and success—my brother. I’ll need one hell of a devious ploy to distract cynical Griff. Then fate drops a luscious redhead in my lap who’s just his type.
Sassy College senior Keeley Kent accepts my challenge to learn how to become Griff’s perfect girlfriend. But somewhere between the makeover and the witty conversation, I’m having trouble resisting her. The quirky dreamer is everything I usually don’t tolerate. But she’s beyond charming. I more than want her; I’m desperate to own her. I’m not even sure how drastic I’m willing to get to make her mine—but I’m about to find out.
My Thoughts
I enjoyed the reader writing in male pov. I quite enjoyed that part of it. Maxon is a real estate mogul in Maui who works hard and does whatever he can for a deal. Being rivals with his brother, he is even more competitive. At a bar one night he sees a woman sing and concocts a plan. She’s what his brother would get tongue-tied over. So, he approaches her to see if she’ll distract his brother. Only he finds he’s got a connection to her.
It was angsty and emotional. Keely is hurt because she feels like he wants her to be his whore and she only wants the brothers to talk and work their shit out. It comes to a head when he chooses his deal over her.
It was good but a little long and the ending could’ve been a little better with the explanations. It leads up to the next book with another set of characters.
Book Review: Promise by T.K. Leigh
He was supposed to be my first kiss. My first love. My first everything…
There are moments in our lives that define us.
For Brooklyn Tanner, it’s the summer before her junior year of high school. The summer boys finally begin to notice her. The summer he finally begins to notice her.
Andrew Brinks. Handsome. Popular. Star hockey player.
Her best friend’s brother.
For one summer, she’s happy, carefree, and convinced she’ll finally experience what she’s been dreaming about for years…her first kiss.
But just like everything else in her life, it comes at a price she may not be ready to pay.
One he may not be ready to pay, either.
My Thoughts
4.5
Brook is a carefree nerdy teenager who is dealing with her body changes and the impending summer activities. Her best friend’s brother is someone she’s always thought would be a great first kiss. She’s always felt invisible and like the last choice.
When opportunity knocks, she answers. When Drew ignores her and goes off with another girl, she feels rejected. So, she goes to a party where she proceeds to make a big mistake.
Drew saves her from major embarrassment and kisses her. A real bone-deep kiss. He promises to be her first the next morning before flying out or college. But, he never shows up and she has no idea the reasons. In her mind, he shoved her off and got what he wanted.
A great start to the series.
July 6, 2020
Book Review: Sinful Surrender by Erika Wilde
A debt repaid . . . in the form of her surrender.
Rich and powerful, Maddux Wilder has built his empire with one thought in mind . . . exacting revenge against the man who killed his parents. But he never planned for his enemy’s daughter, Arabella Cole, to offer herself in exchange for her father’s debt. Innocent and captivating, Maddux can’t resist her allure, or the lust she stirs within him.
When Arabella sacrifices her life to save her father’s, she does so with the intention of hating the man who now owns her. But beneath Maddux’s gruff, boorish exterior she discovers a compelling man. One who makes her burn with need and awakens deep, forbidden desires she can’t deny. Soon she’s surrendering more than just her body to Maddux.
What starts as an act of vengeance becomes something far more consuming. Can this beauty tame the beast, or will revenge cost them both everything that matters most?
SINFUL SURRENDER is a seductive and modern take on Beauty and the Beast.
My Thoughts
Maddux is a powerful man who seeks revenge for the death of his parents. When he has the chance to seek revenge on the night of a ball, he’s faced with a decision to make. He is in financial control of his enemies assets. The daughter of his enemy offers herself in exchange to save her father who is in poor health.
Arrabella is determined to help her father and she’s not scared to sacrifice herself to do so. But she’s incredibly naive and knows nothing of her father’s transgressions
A Beauty and the Beast reference romance. It was interesting to see how Maddux was closed off but she seems to get under his skin and the arrangement they had didn’t pan out how they’d like. Good read.
Book Review: His for a Season by K.A. Linde
I’m not prepared to meet someone as sexy as Sam Rutherford on the first day of my new job.
Then I find out we’re sharing an office…for the next year.
I can’t deny that I’m intrigued by his charming Southern drawl and rugged good looks. Normally I would have jumped at the chance.
But there’s only one problem.
He has no idea who I am. I’m not just Lark, the cute girl at work.
I’m a multibillion-dollar heiress. And I made a deal with my parents: one year away from the city and then I take over the family business.
Despite everything, I want to risk it.
I want to be his for a season.
My Thoughts
Lark is working for a campaign of a senator she feels passionate about. Getting away from her wealthy lifestyle and her smothering parents, she feels free to be someone other than an heiress. Sharing an office with Sam, she falls for him quickly.
The beginning of the story is quick and easy to read. However, Lark makes some major mistakes that drives Sam away and leaves her with a broken heart.
A set up to the next novel in the series.
July 5, 2020
Book Review: Part-Time Lover by Lauren Blakely
It was only supposed to be a marriage of convenience…
Let me just say, this whole part-time lover thing was her idea. I’d have gone all-in from the start, but hey, when a gorgeous, brilliant woman invites you into her bed, and only her bed…well, I said yes.
But then, one hysterical phone call from my brother later, begging me to find myself a wife so grandfather’s business stays in the family, and I need a promotion with Elise. Turns out a full-time husband suits her needs too, and a temporary marriage of convenience ought to do the trick, until we can simply untie the knot…
As long as no one finds out…
As long as no one gets hurt…
As long as no one falls in love…
But our ending was one I never saw coming.
My Thoughts
This one was really cute. The characters had great chemistry and it was loaded with sexual tension. The marriage was convenient and helpful to the male mc to gain his company. I laughed a lot and found the male mc insanely charming. Quick, sexy, and lovely read.
Book Review: Inferno: Part 1 by T.K. Leigh
When I stepped on that flight to Rome, I never could have imagined the man sitting across the aisle from me would tilt my world on its axis.
He claimed it was fate that brought us together.
But I never believed in such notions.
That was something for the dreamers, the romantics, not someone as practical and pragmatic as I.
Fate had nothing to do with me walking in on my soon-to-be husband in a compromising position with his secretary.
Fate had nothing to do with me hopping on a plane to Rome, effectively standing up my former fiancé on our wedding day.
And fate certainly had nothing to do with the handsome stranger sitting across the aisle from me, one w
ho would open my mind and heart to things I never thought possible.
Because if fate is real, she’s cruel and unforgiving.
I thought I’d left my past behind when I stepped onto that plane.
I was a fool to think I could ever truly escape my past.
Not when it’s so viciously intertwined with my present.
My Thoughts
This book was fast-paced and leaves you breathless.
I thought it was a good premise with the female mc leaving her fiance at the altar for cheating. Going to Rome, she meets a guy that offers to rock her world. But the elements of the story seem a little odd to me. Like not knowing who this man is even though he’s famous. It leaves the ending unbelievable, in my opinion.
Despite those issues, it left me with an enjoyable read and at the ending was abrupt and had me scratching my head and gasping at the revelation.
