C.J. Zahner's Blog, page 5

March 21, 2022

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Rating: 5

General Rating: This was a can’t-put-down novel for me. Confession: Not sure I would have LOVED this book as much if I hadn’t watched the Netflix series. Reese Wetherspoon’s voice echoed through my head with the turn of every page. (I love that girl.)

Skip factor: O% This doesn’t happen very often, but I skipped nothing. Not one word.

Who should read: Anyone who has watched the series. Women who are in their own heads too much. (You’ll identify with Maddie.) Mothers with angry teenage daughters. Rumor mongers. Women who are bored and need to spice up their life. (I say boring is good. This novel spiced up my dull little life.) Mothers who share custody of their children…oh, forget it, let’s say all women…

Summary: I’ll attempt brevity. Jane, a single mom, enrolls her son, Ziggy, in Pirriwee School. There she meets Madeline, a head-strong, thinks-too-much, underdog-defending mother of three. Madeline takes Jane under her wing and the two of them, along with Madeline’s best friend, Celeste, take up arms when another mother, Renata, accuses Ziggy of bullying her daughter.

Celest is rich and beautiful but married to an abusive husband. Madeline is married to a good guy, but her ex-husband and his much-younger wife have moved into the Pirriwee school district. They inadvertently flaunt their life in Madeline’s face. Madeline, bitter because her ex-husband left her when her now teenage daughter was a baby, becomes outraged when that daughter opts to live with him.

The disturbing crux of this novel is Ziggy is the result of Jane’s one-night-stand turned rape. She has returned to the scene of the crime, the Pirriwee area, in hopes of finding and confronting Ziggy’s biological father.

I won’t say more than that about the story, so I don’t spoil it. I truly want you to read this one.

Here are three of the main characters whom Moriarity creates and whom I loved:

Madeline – love, love, laughed-out-loud loved her. She’s relentless. Her thoughts, hysterical. If you don’t love this character, you’re not human.Celeste is Maddie’s best friend and the mother of twin boys. She’s so sweet you’ll adore and root for her.Renata, is originally cast as the villain, but Moriarity had me loving her, hot-headedness, materialistic flaws, and all.Oh, and the husbands – I didn’t care for a single one. Maybe that was Moriarity’s intention?

Storyline: Early on, the author lets you know there will be a death at a Pirriwee school function. The story unfolds through the eyes of Madeline, Jane, and Celeste. Each has their own storyline. In each chapter, Moriarity includes brief transcripts of police interviews of other school parents. Some are hilarious. Some reveal more of the back story until everything unfolds at the event.

Writing style: The writing was superb. Moriarty has a way of allowing the readers to see past Madeline’s pettiness and take her side. Pacing was excellent. I loved the dialogue, and again, the police interviews were brief and entertaining. Evoked suspicion and interest. Perfect. Felt as if I was right there at Pirriwee school, standing beside Madeline.

Read this author again: Absolutely. Already did. See my 4-star review of The Hypnotist’s Love Story. I fully intend on reading everything Moriarty writes.

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake and Project Dream, two crime thrillers with sixth-sense components, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House, women’s fiction. These last two novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. See the video of her own paranormal experience, a premonition of 9/11 here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 06:31

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Rating: 9

General Rating: Excellent writing and character development. I even loved the mule, Junia, named for the single female apostle. (Google to verify.) This novel reminded me of The Whip, only I enjoyed it much more.

Skip factor: Nothing.

Who should read: If you like fabulous writing about simple people but with deep meaning, you’ll love this one.

Summary: It’s the story of a blue girl from Kentucky. (There truly was a blue family in Troublesome, Kentucky, and other blues have been identified in other places on occasion. Methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder, cause the blue-tinged skin.) Cussy Mary or Bluet or Book Woman, as she’s sometimes called, takes a job in the Pack Horse Library Project distributing books to poor Kentucky families in the wilderness.

Every night her father lit a courting candle, hoping to find a husband for her, but Cussy Mary wanted nothing to do with marriage as a married woman wasn’t allowed to work for the Library Project.

The novel follows her hard life as she distributes books to the impoverished of the backwoods. She lives to deliver her books to her patrons.

Characters: Great character development. The interaction between Cussy Mary and her dad, along with her relationship with her clients—especially Angeline and Henry—captured my heart.

Storyline: I had not heard of the Pack Horse Work Project before reading this novel. Although this is fiction, this story is completely believable and realistic.

Writing: The writing is tremendous. No more need be said.

Read this author again? Absolutely.

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 06:06

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Rating: 6

General Rating: No, no, no, no, and no. I don’t usually bad-mouth other authors or books but this is a hard no. I give it an 8 for writing but a 4 for content.

Skip factor: 20% At least. I skipped much. I don’t like reading the sex details between a pervert and a child.

Who should read: For the first time I’m talking about people who SHOULDN’T read this rather than those who should. No one under eighteen (maybe twenty-one), that’s for sure. No one that doesn’t like sex scenes, and certainly no sex addicts. (Let’s not encourage them to get off thinking about kids.)

Summary: It’s the typical student-teacher sex affair. I’m not going to say much more.

I read similar student-teacher story, Choose Me, by Tess Gerritsen and LOVED it. This one? I googled the publishing company to see who would allow sex scenes between a child and pervert to go to print. Okay, they weren’t long lived, but the author sneaks in information I thought better left unsaid.

Characters: The character development was good. Characters seemed unlikeable and true-to-life. I felt complete empathy for the abused girl. I searched after to see if the author had done extensive research on victims, but could not find.

Storyline: Classic retold teacher-student sex—not love—story.

Writing: This author writes well. My unworthy two cents is that she needed a better edit. (This is my blog and I’m usually cautious in criticizing other authors, but this story went too far.)

Read this author again? Not if she publishes with this publisher again. I’m totally shocked other authors condoned this.

Find another book and read on!

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 05:46

Hadley and Grace by Suzanne Redfearn

Rating: 8

General Rating: This is Lucy and Ethel turned Therma and Louise.

Skip factor: 6%. I skipped a bit a quarter of the way through along with long paragraphs thereafter.

Who should read: You’ll like. People who need a break from deep should read this. Or, enjoy humor? You’ll like.

Summary: Thelma—I’m sorry—Hadley is the wife of Frank, a bookie and small-time drug lord, Of course, Hadley has no idea of her husband’s extra-curricular job activities. She’s too busy planning her get away. She’s leaving Frank and his demanding, bad-tempered, chauvinistic personality.

Enter Grace.

The story begins slowly, but wait for it. WAIT FOR IT.

Grace works for Frank. In and out of foster homes all her life, Grace has done time for something unextraordinary (in other words, I can’t remember it). But she’s out and married, the mother of a colicky baby, and she’s landed the perfect job working for Frank. But when Frank reneges on a commission he’s promised her, she decides she’ll go to the office on a Friday night and remove the files she’s worked so hard on.

Serendipitously, Grace runs into Hadley, who’s there to steal Frank’s cash—she’s sure he has some cash somewhere—and leave him. Instantly and despite their common interest of getting back at Frank, the two womens’ personalities clash.

Ready?

They find and take Frank’s money and through a series of mishaps they find themselves on the run from the FBI, who have been watching Frank and his laundering-money doings.

Enter recently divorced, nice-guy, FBI agent ???.

From here on out, this story takes turns only an unhinged roller-coaster could take.

Characters: Superb. I loved Grace, Hadley, Maddie, Skipper and ??? nearly the moment I read the first letter of their names. No sense belaboring the point. Redfearn has mastered character development.

Storyline: This story is cute. At about 30% in I lost interest, but again…wait for it… the storyline picks up speed and carries you to the finish. It’s the story of two who can’t take any more of the same man. One is leaving her marriage and the other her employment. It’s cute, different, and readers will find themselves smiling and saying, “Oh, no…” A LOT.

Writing: Writing is good but the humorous flow of the story is better. I’ll have to go back and reread some. I don’t recall stopping to say, hey, this is a beautiful piece of writing, but then I was laughing too hard.

Read this author again? I’d try another Redfearn novel. Yes.

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 05:36

A grand old time

Rating: 8

General Rating: A cute little story about old age. The main character, Evy, captured my heart immediately. It took a bit longer for me to warm up to the storyline, but I was in love with Evy so gladly kept going. By the second half of the book, I loved the story, too.

Skip factor: 5% I skipped parts in the first half and not a word in the second half.

Who should read: Older women, but be warned, remember this is fiction. Following in Evy’s footsteps could be disastrous.

Summary: If you’ve ever thought hard about future days in an assisted-living facility or nursing home, read this. After Evie’s husband passes away, she goes to live at Sheldon Lodge. She has one child, Brendan, whom she adores, but when she decides she no longer wants to live at the Lodge, she doesn’t bother Brendan and his wife. She embarks on a journey of her own.

Without a spoiler, the plot is not completely believable but so cute you keep reading. Evy’s lucky number is four, so when she decides to leave Sheldon Lodge, she finds herself at a race track betting on her lucky number four. She wins a very large amount of money and takes herself on an adventure.

Characters: Leigh’s main character, Evy, grabs your heart from the start. Her other characters take some warming up to. Here they are in the order I liked them:

Evy is a quirky little old lady with a wild imagination. You can’t help but like her. Simply, she lies for fun, inspiring readers to wonder what she’ll do next. That anticipation keeps you reading.

Jean-Luc – I loved this character, maybe as much as Evy. Jean-Luc is the man Evy eventually falls in love with. He is introduced as a grumpy old man at a bar, but Leigh’s writing cleverly makes you take note of, even like, him immediately. Leigh hints he is cranky for some unknown reason, and readers fall in love with him along with Evy.

Maura is Brendan’s wife. She enters as a nagging minor character but in the latter half of the book, Maura emerges as a kind soul. Evy, who never cared for Maura, begins to see this better side of her, too. I went from not liking her at all to loving her in the second half of the book.

Brendan, the son, I didn’t like at all. He’s a negative person who never expresses himself. I do think Leigh conveys to her readers what it is like to be an introvert. I kept thinking, “Speak up Brendan,” but he barely does. He changes for the better, but not until much later.

Minor Characters abound during Evy’s travels. When she finally settles down, some advance to the forefront. I liked most of them, but none impressed me as much as the main characters. They flitted in and out for the purpose of helping readers grow to love Evy even more, which worked.

Storyline: A cute story of a little old lady who refuses to sit idle in her senior years. She sets out on an adventure and finds love and happiness. The story is fun and simple, but it has underlying life messages including: live for the moment so you have no regrets in your old age, and life is not always as it seems. Evy’s perspective on life has changed over the years. What once seemed important to her, no longer is. A great lesson.

Writing: Leigh’s simplistic writing draws you in easily. It’s a clever slow burn rather than page-turning. I wasn’t compelled to read long into the night. YET. I found myself reaching to read more of Evy’s adventures early in the morning, to find out what she was up to. Her writing is clean, crisp, and clever.

Once again as I’ve done in many books, I struggled a bit toward the beginning, but its slow start was purposeful. A reviewer of one of my own novels put first-chapter struggles better than me. She said: It took me a little bit to get into it, but I later realized the beginning of the book created the love for all the “friends who move bodies”.

Read this author again? Yes. I’m looking to read many more of Leigh’s novels. If you have one you liked in particular, shoot me an email!

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 05:23

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Rating: 9.5

General Rating: A must read. Fabulous writing and a fantastic novel. I loved the straightforward talk of Eleanor coupled with hints sprinkled throughout that something in her past was awry. That combination kept me turning pages.

Favorite line: “Everything seems worse in the darkest hours of the night.” (So true!)

Skip factor: 1%. I skipped little.

Who should read: All women, especially those who have felt alone at times, and those who like quirky characters and good writing.

Summary: Eleanor Oliphant appears to be a person with autistic traits. The story is told through her mind and is fun to read. She is straightforward, often takes words out of context, and continually insists she is fine being alone with herself. When readers discover, however, that she may have experienced a traumatic childhood, they begin examining her in a different light.

Coworkers poke fun at her but she doesn’t mind. When a new employee, Raymond, walks with her one day, they come across an elderly man, Sam, staggering. Eventually, they end up escorting Sam to the hospital, and the three become friends. The story progresses, always with Raymond at Eleanor’s side, until Eleanor, like anyone who has suffered trauma, is forced to face her past.

Characters: Honeyman creates unique characters, which, in reality, you might not like or think about, but in print, you fall in love with quickly.

Eleanor has no filter and often takes words and phrases literally. Her thoughts sneak up on you at times and make you laugh. I loved this character almost instantly.

Raymond is an odd character whom I also liked right away. Readers are given a great description of him through Eleanor’s internal criticisms of his appearance. (Loved that.)

Sam is an older “Teddy Bear” personality who draws Eleanor out. When he wakes in the hospital, he offers Eleanor a warm, introductory handshake which she, having experience very little human touch, finds enjoyable. Warm.

Eleanor’s mother is odd, hard, crass, and it took me time to figure her out.

Other characters are exceptionally placed. A few from Sam’s family and Eleanor’s place of employment came and went. I was fond of her boss and one of Sam’s sons. The others were introduced at the perfect time to add to the story.

Storyline: This tells the story of an abused child who grew up in foster care after a traumatic youth. Eleanor Oliphant may be fictional, but her story mirrors real-life people who were forced to develop unusual coping skills to survive.

Writing: Honeyman’s writing is fabulous. She deserves a 10 in this category. Her final score of 9.5 is given for other reasons I won’t reveal (no spoilers). This is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve read in a long time.

Read this author again? Yes, yes, yes, patiently awaiting.

Read on!

_________________________________________________________

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 21, 2022 03:28

February 19, 2022

What I Saw in the Chapel

What I Saw in the Chapel cjzahner February 20, 2022

What was that? Am I crazy? Or am I having (gulp)—a vision?

At the risk of sounding deranged and for the lack of a better description, I’m admitting I experience occasional, brief, inexplicit “movies in my head” without reason. These little episodes surprise me in different settings: at home while relaxing on the couch, at my workplace, the bank while talking to a teller, or in a chapel while I’m praying. This last setting was the inspiration for the first chapter in my new novel, Project Dream.

What happens in the book is much more melodramatic than my real-life experience because, well, because I write fiction and real-life isn’t all that exciting. So here’s what I conjured up:

In Project Dream, ten-year-old Izzy Jimenez visits a chapel in San Diego, California. An angel appears. The ghostly spirit swoops down and begs Izzy to dissuade a forlorn woman in that chapel from going to New York City. Reluctantly, Izzy approaches the woman and relays the advice of the angel (who she thinks is the woman’s mother). The woman asks Izzy what the angel’s name is. Izzy doesn’t know. She doesn’t hear the angels, only sees them, but they do give her signs.

“Wait!” Izzy says. The spirit opens her arms. She’s holding roses. “Rose? Is your mother’s name Rose?” And with that verification of the mother’s name—walla—the woman cancels her trip. Izzy has saved her life.

Was that the real-life story?

No. I wish it was. My 9/11 vision (read that story) was so vague, it helped no one. I often question why I had it. I knew a building would collapse and I suspected people would lose their lives, but I had no idea where the building was located other than somewhere in northeastern America near a body of water.

The single advantage of that premonition was personal confirmation. That vision made me, CJ Zahner, believe I wasn’t crazy. It was too accurate to be coincidental.

But I digress, what actually happened in the chapel?

Many years ago, a new friend asked if I would like to visit a side chapel of a Catholic church—not in San Diego, but in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The chapel struck me as lovely. I knelt beside my friend and immediately began praying. I don’t recall who I prayed for, probably my kids. Regardless, there I was—minding my own business praying—when I had this swooshing feeling like an angel came down out of the ceiling. I attempted to ignore the sensation, blaming my wild imagination. This time, however, the woman, white spirit, ghost, whatever you would like to call her, was relentless. She wouldn’t leave.

She said, quite clearly, “My daughter doesn’t believe in this sort of thing.” She chuckled, told me she wanted her daughter to know she loved her, and just before she left, she opened her arms and showed me roses.

The dream seemed so real that I was quite shaken. When we were leaving, my friend asked what was wrong.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” I said. “But I think the mother of one of those women in that chapel appeared to me.”

My friend didn’t know me too well at that time so, of course, she looked at me like I was nuts. But still shook, I described what the angel relayed, and my friend became quiet.

“What was the woman’s name?” she asked.

I told her I’d seen lots of spirits, but I never seemed to get their names right. They usually only gave me feelings or showed me signs. Then I remembered the roses.

“Oh, wait,” I said. “The woman’s name may have been Rose.”

Again, silence from my friend. I was sure she thought I’d lost my mind. Finally, she spoke. “My mother’s name was Rose.”

And from that true-life experience, I conjured up the entire first chapter of Project Dream.

Read on!

____________________________________________________

CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake, and Project Dream, two thrillers that carry a sixth-sense paranormal element, and two ChickLit novels Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Many of her novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here.

Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.

Hi! I'm CJ,

a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, true girl’s girl and lover of people. I am an e-book hoarder, coffee junkie, chocolate addict and mellow-glass-of-wine drinker. I live with a read-write-run disorder.

Welcome to my world!
Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you’ll stay for a while. If you’re like me and love heartfelt conversations and spooky chats, you may enjoy one of my novels. I write women’s fiction and chick lit for melancholy, messy-hair days. And I compose riveting psychological thrillers and psychic crime fiction stories to keep you awake at night.

@import url(https://static.mailerlite.com/assets/...

.ml-form-embedSubmitLoad{display:inline-block;width:20px;height:20px}.g-recaptcha{transform:scale(1);-webkit-transform:scale(1);transform-origin:0 0;-webkit-transform-origin:0 0}.sr-only{position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px;padding:0;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);border:0}.ml-form-embedSubmitLoad:after{content:" ";display:block;width:11px;height:11px;margin:1px;border-radius:50%;border:4px solid #fff;border-color:#fff #fff #fff transparent;animation:ml-form-embedSubmitLoad 1.2s linear infinite}@keyframes ml-form-embedSubmitLoad{0%{transform:rotate(0)}100%{transform:rotate(360deg)}}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer{box-sizing:border-box;display:table;margin:0 auto;position:static;width:100%!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer button,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer h4,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer p,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer span{text-transform:none!important;letter-spacing:normal!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper{background-color:#f6f6f6;background-image:url(https://bucket.mlcdn.com/a/1590/15907... center;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:cover;border-width:0;border-color:transparent;border-radius:4px;border-style:solid;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block!important;margin:0;padding:0;position:relative}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper.embedDefault,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper.embedPopup{width:400px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper.embedForm{max-width:400px;width:100%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-align-left{text-align:left}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-align-center{text-align:center}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-align-default{display:table-cell!important;vertical-align:middle!important;text-align:center!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-align-right{text-align:right}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedHeader img{border-top-left-radius:4px;border-top-right-radius:4px;height:auto;margin:0 auto!important;max-width:100%;width:6912px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody{padding:20px 20px 0 20px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody.ml-form-embedBodyHorizontal{padding-bottom:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent{text-align:left;margin:0 0 20px 0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent h4,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent h4{color:#000;font-family:'Playfair Display',sans-serif;font-size:30px;font-weight:400;margin:0 0 10px 0;text-align:left;word-break:break-word}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent p,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent p{color:#000;font-family:Roboto,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:400;line-height:20px;margin:0 0 10px 0;text-align:left}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent ol,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent ul,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent ol,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent ul{color:#000;font-family:Roboto,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent ol ol,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent ol ol{list-style-type:lower-alpha}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent ol ol ol,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent ol ol ol{list-style-type:lower-roman}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent p a,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent p a{color:#000;text-decoration:underline}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-block-form .ml-field-group{text-align:left!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-block-form .ml-field-group label{margin-bottom:5px;color:#333;font-size:14px;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;display:inline-block;line-height:20px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedContent p:last-child,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-successBody .ml-form-successContent p:last-child{margin:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody form{margin:0;width:100%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-formContent{margin:0 0 20px 0;width:100%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow{float:left}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm{margin:0;padding:0 0 20px 0;width:100%;height:auto;float:left}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow{margin:0 0 10px 0;width:100%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow.ml-last-item{margin:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow.ml-formfieldHorizintal{margin:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input{background-color:#fff!important;color:#333!important;border-color:#ccc;border-radius:4px!important;border-style:solid!important;border-width:1px!important;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px!important;height:auto;line-height:21px!important;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;padding:10px 10px!important;width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box!important;max-width:100%!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-webkit-input-placeholder{color:#333}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input::-moz-placeholder,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input::-moz-placeholder{color:#333}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-ms-input-placeholder,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-ms-input-placeholder{color:#333}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input:-moz-placeholder,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input:-moz-placeholder{color:#333}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow textarea,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow textarea{background-color:#fff!important;color:#333!important;border-color:#ccc;border-radius:4px!important;border-style:solid!important;border-width:1px!important;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px!important;height:auto;line-height:21px!important;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:10px 10px!important;width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box!important;max-width:100%!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before{border-color:#ccc!important;background-color:#fff!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow input.custom-control-input[type=checkbox]{box-sizing:border-box;padding:0;position:absolute;z-index:-1;opacity:0;margin-top:5px;margin-left:-1.5rem;overflow:visible}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before{border-radius:4px!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::after{background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 8 8'%3e%3cpath fill='%23fff' d='M6.564.75l-3.59 3.612-1.538-1.55L0 4.26 2.974 7.25 8 2.193z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e")}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::after{background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='-4 -4 8 8'%3e%3ccircle r='3' fill='%23fff'/%3e%3c/svg%3e")}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input:checked~.custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox input[type=checkbox]:checked~.label-description::before{border-color:#000!important;background-color:#000!important;color:#fff!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label::before{top:2px;box-sizing:border-box}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before{top:0!important;box-sizing:border-box!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before{top:0!important;box-sizing:border-box!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after{top:0!important;box-sizing:border-box!important;position:absolute;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:1rem;height:1rem;content:""}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before{top:0!important;box-sizing:border-box!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::before{position:absolute;top:4px;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;pointer-events:none;content:"";background-color:#fff;border:#adb5bd solid 1px;border-radius:50%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-control-label::after{position:absolute;top:2px!important;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:1rem;height:1rem;content:""}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::before,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::before{position:absolute;top:4px;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:16px;height:16px;pointer-events:none;content:"";background-color:#fff;border:#adb5bd solid 1px;border-radius:50%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after{position:absolute;top:0!important;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:1rem;height:1rem;content:""}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after{position:absolute;top:0!important;left:-1.5rem;display:block;width:1rem;height:1rem;content:""}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-radio .custom-control-label::after{background:no-repeat 50%/50% 50%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedPermissions .ml-form-embedPermissionsOptionsCheckbox .label-description::after,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-interestGroupsRow .ml-form-interestGroupsRowCheckbox .label-description::after{background:no-repeat 50%/50% 50%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-control,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-control{position:relative;display:block;min-height:1.5rem;padding-left:1.5rem}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-input,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-input{position:absolute;z-index:-1;opacity:0;box-sizing:border-box;padding:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-checkbox .custom-control-label,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-radio .custom-control-label{color:#000;font-size:12px!important;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:22px;margin-bottom:0;position:relative;vertical-align:top;font-style:normal;font-weight:700}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-fieldRow .custom-select,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow .custom-select{background-color:#fff!important;color:#333!important;border-color:#ccc;border-radius:4px!important;border-style:solid!important;border-width:1px!important;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px!important;line-height:20px!important;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:10px 28px 10px 12px!important;width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;background:url(https://cdn.mailerlite.com/images/def...) no-repeat right .75rem center/8px 10px;-webkit-appearance:none;-moz-appearance:none;appearance:none}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow{height:auto;width:100%;float:left}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal{width:70%;float:left}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal{width:30%;float:left}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-button-horizontal.labelsOn{padding-top:25px}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .horizontal-fields{box-sizing:border-box;float:left;padding-right:10px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow input{background-color:#fff;color:#333;border-color:#ccc;border-radius:4px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:20px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding:10px 10px;width:100%;box-sizing:border-box;overflow-y:initial}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow button{background-color:#000!important;border-color:#000;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-radius:4px;box-shadow:none;color:#fff!important;cursor:pointer;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px!important;font-weight:700;line-height:20px;margin:0!important;padding:10px!important;width:100%;height:auto}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-horizontalRow button:hover{background-color:#333!important;border-color:#333!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow input[type=checkbox]{box-sizing:border-box;padding:0;position:absolute;z-index:-1;opacity:0;margin-top:5px;margin-left:-1.5rem;overflow:visible}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow .label-description{color:#000;display:block;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;text-align:left;margin-bottom:0;position:relative;vertical-align:top}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label{font-weight:400;margin:0;padding:0;position:relative;display:block;min-height:24px;padding-left:24px}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label a{color:#000;text-decoration:underline}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label p{color:#000!important;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif!important;font-size:12px!important;font-weight:400!important;line-height:18px!important;padding:0!important;margin:0 5px 0 0!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow label p:last-child{margin:0}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit{margin:0 0 20px 0;float:left;width:100%}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button{background-color:#000!important;border:none!important;border-radius:4px!important;box-shadow:none!important;color:#fff!important;cursor:pointer;font-family:'Open Sans',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif!important;font-size:14px!important;font-weight:700!important;line-height:21px!important;height:auto;padding:10px!important;width:100%!important;box-sizing:border-box!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button.loading{display:none}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-embedSubmit button:hover{background-color:#333!important}.ml-subscribe-close{width:30px;height:30px;background:url(https://cdn.mailerlite.com/images/def...) no-repeat;background-size:30px;cursor:pointer;margin-top:-10px;margin-right:-10px;position:absolute;top:0;right:0}.ml-error input,.ml-error select,.ml-error textarea{border-color:red!important}.ml-error .custom-checkbox-radio-list{border:1px solid red!important;border-radius:4px;padding:10px}.ml-error .label-description,.ml-error .label-description p,.ml-error .label-description p a,.ml-error label:first-child{color:red!important}#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow.ml-error .label-description p,#mlb2-5482577.ml-form-embedContainer .ml-form-embedWrapper .ml-form-embedBody .ml-form-checkboxRow.ml-error .label-description p:first-letter{color:red!important}@media only screen and (max-width:400px){.ml-form-embedWrapper.embedDefault,.ml-form-embedWrapper.embedPopup{width:100%!important}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm{float:left!important}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow{height:auto!important;width:100%!important;float:left!important}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal{width:100%!important}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-form-horizontalRow .ml-input-horizontal>div{padding-right:0!important;padding-bottom:10px}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-button-horizontal{width:100%!important}.ml-form-formContent.horozintalForm .ml-button-horizontal.labelsOn{padding-top:0!important}}

@media only screen and (max-width:400px){.ml-form-embedHeader{display:none!important}}

Sign up for CJ's Newsletter

Books, More Books, Women & Wine!

Read about CJ's Books, other trending Books, & find fun Women & Wine threads!

Subscribe
Loading...

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

function ml_webform_success_5482577(){var r=ml_jQuery||jQuery;r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-success").show(),r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-form").hide()}

More To Explore

Deconstructed by Liz Talley

Deconstructed by Liz Talley Rating: 9 General Rating: A cute, easy read about a woman married to a cheater. Skip factor:

cjzahner March 10, 2022

What I Saw in the Chapel

What I Saw in the Chapel What was that? Am I crazy? Or am I having (gulp)—a vision? At the risk of sounding deranged and

cjzahner February 20, 2022 The Night I Met Fright

The Night I Met Fright Dream Wide Awake was inspired many years ago on a night I met fright. I was sleeping in the attic of

cjzahner February 19, 2022 Reach Out!

Reach out to me at the form below about books, women, wine, running, chocolate or just to say hi! I love to hear from readers and I will gladly respond!

Name Email Message Send

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 19, 2022 18:19

The Night I Met Fright

The Night I Met Fright cjzahner February 19, 2022

Dream Wide Awake was inspired many years ago on a night I met fright. I was sleeping in the attic of my grandparent’s home—just like LeeLee in chapter three.

In a pitch-black hour, I awoke when someone grabbed my hand. My arm was wedged between the head board and mattress of my bed. I felt someone’s fingers slip into mine and when I opened my eyes, he didn’t let go.

I say “he” because I was sure I clasped hands with a devil. I didn’t see him, but could feel him with every inch of my three-year-old being. I screamed and my mother came and lifted me into her arms, pulling me from his grip. She said I was dreaming, but I knew better.

Fast forward fifty years. This single incident, still so alive in my memory, inspired Dream Wide Awake. The story is fiction, but the setting in chapter three is my grandparent’s attic. My own grandmother was bedridden as in the novel, my mother did have to help nurse her, and my parents, brother, and I moved into a makeshift apartment in her attic.

How impacting was that single incident of feeling someone’s grip in the night? Well, one, I have never once slept with a hand dangling over the side of the bed since, and two, it inspired a novel.

The novel

Dream Wide Awake is a paranormal thriller about a family of seers. And at the risk of having some people think I’m crazy and others ask what their future holds, I’ll admit I have had an occasional premonition. My most substantial one being a vague forewarning of 9/11.

For two months before the twin towers fell, I had visions that I was approaching a northeastern American city, near water, from a plane’s eye view. The image came (and there is no sane way to describe this) as a movie in my head. First, I was in the sky moving, and next, I was in a building and the gray floor boulders were buckling beneath me. The building was collapsing.

I kept notes of this vision on my big July desk calendar. Wouldn’t throw it out at the end of July or August because I was sure a building was going to fall. On September 11th when the first building collapsed, I dug my calendar out from under a myriad of paperwork, and there were my notes. All contained in the big box of the 11th of the month. I nearly passed out.

Hence my belief: premonitions can be real. Do I believe in psychics and mediums, too? Yes, to varying degrees.

As a freelance writer I once interviewed a true medium, Anne Gehman. Gehman participated alongside four other mediums in a University of Arizona professor’s afterlife experiments. (The Afterlife Experiments, Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of life After Death, by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. with William. L. Simon.) She said clairvoyance was like playing the piano. Some people sat down and played naturally. Others, no matter how long they trained on the keys, would never make great pianists. But some who practiced long and hard? Did became proficient.

This made me wonder. Could children be trained to be psychic?

The notion

In Dream Wide Awake, three boys have been abducted in a small town. Mikala Daly, a six-year-old girl from a normal American family, is having visions of those boys, but her parents must hide her sixth-sense abilities because of a governmental program called Project Dream.

The backstory is that after 9/11, the CIA initiated an innovative national security test program. Twenty-five children were removed from reformatory facilities across the country and placed in Project Dream. The program’s purpose was to augment the adult remote-viewing program. Scientists believed children might be more easily trained and more successful in identifying threats to the American people and government through remote viewing.

When the project produces stunning results, they “recruit” seventy-five more children. Good kids without juvenile records. Children selected had two main characteristics: a sixth sense and physical superiority.

Mikala Daly’s aunt Rachel was one of the original Project Dream kids, and now no one in Mikala’s family will divulge Mikala’s gifts for fear the government will take her away to Project Dream, too. Unbelievable? (Let me remind you of the immigration debacle.)

This story is fiction, not a premonition—I think…

Read on!

____________________________________________________

Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.

Hi! I'm CJ,

Welcome to my world!
Thanks for stopping by!

@media only screen and (max-width:400px){.ml-form-embedHeader{display:none!important}}

Sign up for CJ's Newsletter

Books, More Books, Women & Wine!

Read about CJ's Books, other trending Books, & find fun Women & Wine threads!

Subscribe
Loading...

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

function ml_webform_success_5482577(){var r=ml_jQuery||jQuery;r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-success").show(),r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-form").hide()}

More To Explore

Uncategorized What I Saw in the Chapel

What I Saw in the Chapel What was that? Am I crazy? Or am I having (gulp)—a vision? At the risk of sounding deranged and

cjzahner February 20, 2022 The Night I Met Fright

The Night I Met Fright Dream Wide Awake was inspired many years ago on a night I met fright. I was sleeping in the attic of

cjzahner February 19, 2022 My 911 Premonition

My 9/11 Premonition Do my premonitions scare you? How would you like to be me? You can get away from me. I can’t. When I

cjzahner February 19, 2022 Reach Out!

Reach out to me at the form below about books, women, wine, running, chocolate or just to say hi! I love to hear from readers and I will gladly respond!

Name Email Message Send

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

1 like · Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on February 19, 2022 14:10

My 911 Premonition

My 9/11 Premonition cjzahner February 19, 2022

Do my premonitions scare you? How would you like to be me? You can get away from me. I can’t.

When I was three years old, I had a paranormal experience with a black devil. (This is the basis for Chapter Three in my novel, Dream Wide Awake.) When I was thirteen, I thought bad spirits were going to infuse their ectoplasm into me and take over my body. For years I couldn’t walk into a funeral home without shaking because I felt like the person in the casket was, somehow, still in the room.

And when I turned thirty? I said, “Well, if mental illness hasn’t surfaced in me by now, it never will.”

These are some of the events in my life that led to my belief in the paranormal, which led to my Novel, Dream Wide Awake. (Read an excerpt and/or purchase on Amazon.) But truthfully, I’m an extremely logical person. So, from a young age, I thought something was terribly wrong with my brain. I could feel spirits, ghosts, energy, whatever you’d like to call the phenomenon, but because I could not see anything with my eyes, logically, I concluded I had a wild imagination.

Learning the secret

I learned the secret early on: don’t talk about the wild imagination.

When I was thirteen years old, I scared the daylight out of my cousin, Jane, while we babysat. I walked into a house and felt like something or some spirit would overtake my soul. I told my cousin I was afraid I was going to turn into someone else. (I know you remember this, Jane. Believe me, I was frightened, too.)

Shortly thereafter, my mother told me I had to stop talking about “this thing,” or I was going to end up in a mental ward. So, I did. I stopped talking about it for thirty years.

Ignoring the movies

There is no way to make this sound sane. I had to force myself to ignore the movies in my head: A bank teller’s grandmother standing behind her waving her arms. Ignore. My friend’s mother hovering over her at the hospital church mass. Look away. The spirit floating above the gravestone. Leave. The military guy lingering behind a mother who innocently came to my front door to sign her child up for soccer. Don’t tell her.

I remember when that soccer mom left, I leaned my back against the door, slid to the floor, and cried, saying, “I’m crazy.”

But I wasn’t crazy.

The premonition that changed my thinking

I’m not sure why I had the 9/11 premonition. I was never able to see the vision clearly enough to gather what exactly would happen. And even if I had, what would I have done? The only thing I know is if I hadn’t had the vision of being inside one of those World Trade Center buildings when they began to fall, I might still to this day think I was crazy.

The vision began two months before the tragedy. The first time I recorded anything, I wrote notes in the July 11th box of my desk calendar.

In the first half of this “movie in my head,” I floated toward a city. I realized, months later, I was seeing this from a plane’s view. I was in Northeastern America floating above pine trees and approaching water. I thought I was near a Great Lake in upper-state New York. I mistakenly wrote Huron for Lake Ontario, because I am geographically challenged.

I also wrote tall building and sm city for small city. Later I crossed out small and wrote med for medium. Later still, I put a question mark after med, because with each vision, I came closer to the city and saw its size. I wrote 27 F for the 27th floor, but I remember thinking, no, 72nd floor. (I never wrote that down.)

In the second half of this vision, I was at my desk, working, and the building began to move. The first time I had the vision, I thought an earthquake rocked City Hall. The room swayed. I glanced down and saw huge gray floor boulders buckling beneath me. The entire building was collapsing.

That was it. I had this vision three days in a row, and then weekly once or twice for the next two months. I was always at my desk at work, and it was always morning. I wrote before noon, 10:14, and 10:16, but never wrote any more times because I always experienced this vision between 10 and 10:30.

Keeping the calendar

At the end of July, I told myself I would keep the calendar one more month. I was sure a building would collapse.

At the end of August, I attended a training in Washington DC in a building about one mile from the pentagon. The class was in the basement and the entire time I thought, “I hope this isn’t the building that’s going to collapse, because if it is, I’m dead.”

On September 1, I couldn’t throw the calendar away. I said if a building didn’t collapse by September, 30th, I’d toss it then. (That calendar is pictured in the cover of this article.)

On 9/11

On the morning of 9/11, a co-worker mentioned two planes had hit the World Trade Center. Our director moved his television into our office reception area, so people could watch throughout the morning.

Around 10 am, a coworker walked by my cubicle, announcing one of the buildings had collapsed. I asked if people had still been inside and he said yes. I was mortified. I returned to my desk, thinking about those people. Then I realized—I was sitting in the exact place where I’d had those premonitions.

I went out to the reception area where people had gathered to watch, and said, “I know you guys are going to think I’m crazy, but I’ve had this premonition of a building collapsing for two months. What time did this happen?” Someone said it began at 8:30 and I said that made me feel a bit better, because I always had the vision of the building falling between 10 and 10:30. That’s when our secretary, Sharon, said the building collapsed at 10.

I was so upset, I rushed to the ladies’ room and splashed water on my face. By the time I returned, the second building had collapsed.

Sharon asked if I was all right, and I said she must think I was crazy. Then I remembered my notes. Frantically, I pushed my work aside and exposed the desk calendar, still flaunting July. I showed her and she said nothing.

“I know. My notes don’t really do justice to what I saw,” I said.

“Oh, I believe you,” she replied. “Look where you kept your notes.”

All of the notes I took were inside the box marked 11.

Other premonitions

I’ve had other movies in my head—crazy movies. But I’ll leave those for another day.

For now, I’ll just say that since 9/11, I pay attention to the things I see. I don’t believe in coincidences and so I’m sure that 2001 vision served some purpose. I’m not completely sure what that was. The vision didn’t seem to help anyone—except maybe me.

I no longer believe I’m crazy

___________________________________________

Cyndie Zahner is the author of Dream Wide Awake and Project Dream, paranormal fiction novels inspired by her own experiences. This is the first in a series of blogs about her inspiration behind the novel.

Hi! I'm CJ,

Welcome to my world!
Thanks for stopping by!

@media only screen and (max-width:400px){.ml-form-embedHeader{display:none!important}}

Sign up for CJ's Newsletter

Books, More Books, Women & Wine!

Read about CJ's Books, other trending Books, & find fun Women & Wine threads!

Subscribe
Loading...

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

function ml_webform_success_5482577(){var r=ml_jQuery||jQuery;r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-success").show(),r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-form").hide()}

More To Explore

Uncategorized What I Saw in the Chapel

What I Saw in the Chapel What was that? Am I crazy? Or am I having (gulp)—a vision? At the risk of sounding deranged and

cjzahner February 20, 2022 The Night I Met Fright

The Night I Met Fright Dream Wide Awake was inspired many years ago on a night I met fright. I was sleeping in the attic of

cjzahner February 19, 2022 My 911 Premonition

My 9/11 Premonition Do my premonitions scare you? How would you like to be me? You can get away from me. I can’t. When I

cjzahner February 19, 2022 Reach Out!

Reach out to me at the form below about books, women, wine, running, chocolate or just to say hi! I love to hear from readers and I will gladly respond!

Name Email Message Send

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 1 comment • flag

Published on February 19, 2022 10:52

February 14, 2022

Saturday Morning Runs

Saturday Morning Runs cjzahner February 14, 2022

From the sky it looks like a puzzle piece, Presque Isle. The sort of piece that finds your hand first because it’s the most colorful, most distinguishable. It’s the one you want to begin with, fit the other pieces around. From high above, its jagged edges disappear into the blue water, and its magnificent green hues mix with soil brown and take your breath away.

There is so much to love about Presque Isle.

A bald eagle took my breath away there once as he soared along the shores of the bay. Three of us were lucky enough to witness his wide wings slowly and gracefully, rising and falling in flight. He was there and gone in an instant—a small, blessed piece added to each of our puzzles on a near-perfect morning.

I’ve logged over thirty years of Saturday mornings in the same manner. Running. Mostly on that little strip of land jutting into Lake Erie called Presque Isle State Park. And usually with my best running buddy, Robin. Runners have come and gone over the years, but Robin and I remain—a little slower, a little wiser, and, more profoundly, a little closer to gathering up all of our journey’s puzzle pieces and heading home.

Ernest Hemingway once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” At a stone’s throw from sixty, I know the importance of the journey.

And that thirteen-mile stretch of road on Presque Isle State Park has been a big part of mine. Its contour is flat and lazy. Yet, there are times, bone-chilling mornings, when its frost and ice-bending trees hide the beauty within its edges, when woods and wildlife cower, but somehow I appreciate even its worst days with Robin and Heather and Carol and Laura and Jan at my side. Good friends and encouraging words firm up the slickest footing and most treacherous terrain. As we talk on those days when our breath fades into the air like puffs of icy powder floating away, we slip in and out of each other’s lives and forget the biting cold. Even in life’s most wickedly cold hours, the pieces snap warmly into place.

I buried a child on a cold February day. An infant. A little girl with a full head of hair that would be flowing over her shoulders by now if she had lived. For a long time afterwards it was hard to run at that park, nearly impossible to see its beauty. Yet every Saturday, my friends showed up and ran beside me, their shoulders so close to mine I could feel their warmth, their strength. They would not let me fall.

Life is precious. It’s sad to think of death on land so alive, and yet death, too, is a part of the journey.

So, occasionally when I run at Presque Isle, I reflect on my little angel or on other loved ones who have journeyed home, and my thoughts sometimes settle on a June Saturday in 2015. I began that morning as usual, congregating with other runners, leaning against my car, texting late friends, “Are you coming?” The mood was light. The conversation, jocular. I didn’t know my path was about to cross Death’s path once again. That Death would swoop down in front of me and claim another mother’s child.

He was seventeen years old, and seventeen is so much a child to someone finishing her sixth decade. My running buddies and I first saw him at the mouth of the Peninsula. A car sped by. He was a passenger inside. I don’t recall the exact time or the temperature or his face, but I remember the air was thick that morning. One runner mentioned the car’s erratic ride, but we began our run with hardly a thought of it. We were a mile or two down the road when we heard the crash, a half mile from the accident when the metallic smoke singed our nostrils.

A few minutes later, the scene was horrifically upon us. There was a cyclist standing near the car and two hunters came toward us, herding us away, saying we didn’t want to see inside. I remember the quiet anguish of the air. The stillness that fell on life. I will never forget that scene—that moment in time when the boy’s journey ended, when his path crossed other paths for the last time. A senseless car accident, metal against tree, and he was gone—a mere memory, one small but much-loved piece forever clicked into eternity’s puzzle.

I think of him whenever I pass his resting place. Pray for his family. Pray for my own children and my friends’ children, because on that little patch of road, I watched every mother’s fear come to life. I was ashamed that I knew her grief before she did. Hated that, really. His last piece falling to complete strangers.

Yet, one never knows how many lives they have touched until that final piece finds its place. I still take in the beauty of Presque Isle State Park, but I treasure the people who run beside me a little more now because of that child. He taught me that life is fleeting and that every encounter I have, no matter how brief, fits finely together with the others and shapes me.

Next Saturday, Robin and I will probably meet at Presque Isle. On that path of profound beauty, we’ll run alongside each other, placing one foot in front of the other until we finish our journey. We will talk about our families and the places we have been or the people we have met and the pieces we’ve gathered, because, like Hemingway, we know the journey is more important than the end.

And if our run becomes taxing and our legs heavy, we can remember that day we saw the eagle. Watched as his massive wings floated up and down in splendor. Took in his beauty as he sailed along the parkway. We can recall his flight toward the sky as he glided upward, soared, ascended like an angel flying home, and then gazed down at us as we journeyed up and down and over and around on winding path.

Yes, from above, the path looks unfettered and the journey amazingly clear, and Presque Isle, like a beautiful puzzle piece embedded in stark, jagged blue—and in me.

Cyndie Zahner is a freelance writer at www.athletchic.com and www.cyndiezahner.com . Follow her on Instagram at athletchicz or on Twitter @Tweetyz.

Saturday Morning Flights was originally written in 2013 and then updated on April 20, 2017.

Hi! I'm CJ,

Welcome to my world!
Thanks for stopping by!

@media only screen and (max-width:400px){.ml-form-embedHeader{display:none!important}}

Sign up for CJ's Newsletter

Books, More Books, Women & Wine!

Read about CJ's Books, other trending Books, & find fun Women & Wine threads!

Subscribe
Loading...

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

function ml_webform_success_5482577(){var r=ml_jQuery||jQuery;r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-success").show(),r(".ml-subscribe-form-5482577 .row-form").hide()}

More To Explore

Uncategorized What I Saw in the Chapel

What I Saw in the Chapel What was that? Am I crazy? Or am I having (gulp)—a vision? At the risk of sounding deranged and

cjzahner February 20, 2022 The Night I Met Fright

The Night I Met Fright Dream Wide Awake was inspired many years ago on a night I met fright. I was sleeping in the attic of

cjzahner February 19, 2022 My 911 Premonition

My 9/11 Premonition Do my premonitions scare you? How would you like to be me? You can get away from me. I can’t. When I

cjzahner February 19, 2022 Reach Out!

Reach out to me at the form below about books, women, wine, running, chocolate or just to say hi! I love to hear from readers and I will gladly respond!

Name Email Message Send

View more on C.J. Zahner's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 14, 2022 13:52

← Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 14 15 Next →

C.J. Zahner's Blog

C.J. Zahner's profile
677 followers