Cindy C. Bennett's Blog, page 56

Immortal Mine Review

I would like to thank Rhonda from readalot for reading and writing a review about Immortal Mine .  

Here is a little bit of the review.

Rhonda said:

"i liked this story, I laughed and cried while reading it."
"It deals with a lot of issues. I like the characters and how slowly they built and let us know more."
" I hope that Cindy writes more books about these characters."

 For the full book review click here. 

You can purchase Immortal Mine on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Goodreads.

Esucha Means Listen Review

 Escucha Means Listen
From the mowing of the lawn to the splish-splashing of rain puddles, Talia Aikens-Nuñez’s bilingual picture book Escucha Means Listen introduces toddlers and babies to the sweet sounds around them.
Take a journey through the world—just listening. Escucha Means Listen helps children discover sounds around them in English and Spanish.
Excerpt
Buzz. Buzz. Qué oyes? (What do you hear?)
Las abejas (The bees) circling the flowers.
Woosh. Woosh. What do you hear?
El viento (The wind) is whistling by.
Shh. Shh. Qué oyes? (What do you hear?)
Las hojas (The leaves) are dancing on the trees.
My Review of Escucha Means ListenEsucha Means Listen by Talia Aikens-Nunez was sent to me for review. I have to admit, since it's a childrens book, I wasn't expecting much. I was wrong. Esucha Means Listen is an adorable book that teaches some basic Spanish using a cute story with absolutely beautiful illustrations by Dina Ashraf Helmi. It teaches the Spanish version of sounds such as an ambulance (la ambulancia) and bells (las campanas). The little girl drawn featured in the book is cute as can be. It's short at 17 pages, but perfect for the intended age group. My only critique would be wishing it had a pronunciation guide at the end of the book for those of us who are Spanish language illiterate. If you have little ones, I highly suggest reading them Esucha Means Listen. It's super cute.
 
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Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop

I have several copies of Its a Love Thing on my shelf. So I decided to give one away. It is full of really cute love stories just in time for Valentines Day. 


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Winners

Its time to announce two wonderful winners of the Best of 2012 Giveaway Hop and Mid-Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop. 
They are...
Elizabeth for the Best of 2012 Giveaway Hop who won a copy of Slammed by Colleen Hoover  and
Giedre for Mid-Winter's Eve Giveaway Hop who won a copy of Snow White by Me

Congrats!  

Happy New Year 2013 Giveaway Hop

Announcing the Happy New Year 2013 Giveaway Hop
Hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & Babs Book Bistro
January 1st - 7th 2013To kick start 2013 I am going to be giving away a $10.00 Amazon gift card. Good luck! and Happy New Years! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kate & Henry’s Sleigh Ride

Kate & Henry’s Sleigh Ride
by Cindy C Bennett
Characters from Heart on a Chain by Cindy C Bennett


“Where are we going, Henry?” Kate bounces up and down in excitement in the passenger seat. I grin at her, threading my fingers through hers and bringing her hand up to my mouth for a kiss.


“It’s a surprise,” I say. “You’ll just have to wait.”


“I hate surprises,” she says, her shining eyes and wide smile belying her words.


When we get close, I pull over. She glances out the window at the snow covered trees in confusion. “Where are we?”


“Not there yet,” I say, leaning over to kiss her. Her enthusiastic response has me wanting to laugh aloud.
Man, I love this girl. I reluctantly pull back and hold up a scarf. “This is a total surprise. You get to wear this so you can’t see until I say.”


“Okay,” she agrees.


Anyone who doesn’t know Kate, with her history of abuse at the hands of her mother and severe bullying at the hands of her previous classmates, wouldn’t think anything of her easy capitulation. However, I know the story too well and understand how momentous it is for her to trust me so implicitly. I almost decide not to blindfold her based on that alone. She makes the decision for me by taking the scarf and tying it around her eyes.


“Let’s go then,” she commands happily. I laugh and comply.


When we arrive, I lead her from the car across the snow packed ground, holding her tightly to keep her from slipping. Well, that and just for the purpose of holding her tightly. We stop and I say, “Ready?”
She nods and I remove the scarf, standing in front of her to watch her reaction. Her eyes take in the scene in front of her and widen. She turns her gaze to me, questioning.


“You did this for me?”


“I did,” I say proudly. I hoped she’d like it. I should have known that, as usual, I underestimated how much she loved every new experience that she’d previously been deprived of.


“Henry, it’s a sleigh,” she says in awe. “A real, live sleigh . . . with real, live horses. And bells!” She walks up to the horse, reaching out to jingle the bells and nuzzle the nearest horse.


“Wanna go for a ride?” I ask.


She turns to me, pressing against me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. “Thank you, Henry. I love you.”


Deciding that deserves a kiss, I oblige her.


We climb into the sleigh, tucking a heavy blanket around us. As the sleigh begins to move, Kate laughs happily. Even the snow kicked up by the horse doesn’t dim her joy. I wrap an arm around her and hold her close, wanting to keep her warm. My thoughts flash back to the time I found her outside my house, bloodied and broken, and nearly frozen in the red stained snow. I push the thought away. I won’t let anything like that happen to her again. I’ll always keep her safe and warm.


We ride in the sleigh for half an hour before our designated stop. My nerves kick in. I didn’t think I’d be nervous when the time came, but I am. Almost as nervous as the first time I kissed Kate when we were twelve. Or when I took her on our first date to the football game—I’d had to talk hard to convince her to go with me. Or when I went to the college she attended to beg her to take me back.


“We’re stopping here?” she asks.


“Just for a little while,” I say, climbing out of the sleigh and helping her down.


I lead her up the incline which is steep and slippery. We laugh as we make slow progress from our continual slips down the icy hill. As we near the top, the light becomes obvious.
“What is this?” she asks, hearing the music.


We step through the copse of trees into the opening. Kate gasps at the sight of the trees all wrapped in twinkling, colorful lights. The music plays from a battery powered stereo. In the center of the clearing a fire burns, warming the area. A small table holds the makings of hot cocoa and Kate’s favorite, s’mores.
“Henry, this is too much. How in the world did you arrange everything?”


“I had help.” My family loves Kate almost as much as I do. It wasn’t hard to convince them to help me.
We sit next to the fire, roasting marshmallows and sipping our cocoa.


“Remember Christmas two years ago when we were in Florida?” she asks. How could I forget? That was the year Kate first told me she loved me. It was also the year she was nearly killed by her own mother.


“Of course I do,” I say, pushing the bad memories away and holding onto the good. “Your first time seeing the ocean.”


“I’ll never forget that Christmas as long as I live, Henry. You showed me what a family is supposed to be. You taught me that I was loveable. When you told me you had a surprise for me tonight, I didn’t think you could top that. But this . . . this is pretty amazing.”


“Have I topped two years ago?”


She smiles at me. “Close.”


“Give me a minute, and maybe I’ll change your mind.”


Her eyebrows lift in question. I swallow nervously. Now is the time. I set down my cocoa, and take hers from her hand, setting it next to mine. Then I move to kneel in front of her.


“Henry?” she asks quietly.


“Kate, I love you. I’ve loved you most of my life. I don’t deserve you, I know that. But I’m going to try to keep you anyway, for the rest of my life.” I repeat the very thing I was thinking in the sleigh. “I promise I’ll always keep you safe and warm.” I pull the little square box from my pocket, and Kate squeaks, covering her mouth with her hand. I open the box and hold it up to her. “Would you consider marrying me? Spending the next several years living like paupers while I become a doctor, and listening to my sappy declarations of love every day?”


Tears spill down her cheeks, glistening like diamonds in the firelight. The song changes and plays, Baby, It’s Cold Outside. I grin at Kate and she laughs, dropping her hand from her mouth.


“Yes, Henry, I’ll marry you.” She laughs again. “I can’t believe you’re asking me. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to have someone like you in my life. I love you so much.”


She throws her arms around my neck and I pull her close, pressing my mouth to hers as we kneel together on the snow. I don’t notice the cold. Kissing Kate is unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced in my life.


She manages to pour every ounce of love and passion she has into even the simplest of kisses.


When I pull back, I take the ring from the box and slip it on her finger. She admires it in the firelight, a soft smile on her lips. She glances up at me from beneath her lashes and I’m struck by the beauty of this amazing girl who loves me, of all people.


“You win,” she says.


“I win?”


“This Christmas is better.”


Later, as we ride back in the sleigh, Kate nestled happily against my side, I look up to the sky. A bright star twinkles in the dark sky. I give thanks for whatever powers brought Kate and I together, and that will keep us together as long as I have any say in it.

Teen Author Boot Camp

TEENAUTHOR BOOT CAMP
Shine those combat boots and sharpen your pencils. Teen Author Boot Camp is approaching—only three more months until one of the largest teen writing conferences in the nation takes place in Orem, Utah.
Utah Valley University and Writers Cubed will host a slew of amazing authors—including me (haha)—at its third annual conference coming up March 16, 2013. To see what I’m going to teach and everyone else who will present, check out “Drill Sergeants” on TABC’s website.
In conjunction with the conference is a writing contest. Teens who register are  encouraged to submit the first chapter of a novel they’ve written (up to ten pages) to Writers Cubed. Two prizes valued at $100 will be awarded to the first place winner in both the junior high and high school division.
For those interested, here is the information:
When: Saturday, March 16, 2013
From: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (registration begins at 8 a.m.)
Where: Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah
Who: Teens ages 13-19, no adults allowed :)
Cost: $49 before February 16th, 2013, $59 after
Includes: tuition, lunch, t-shirt, backpack, unlimited drinks, snacks, entrance to the writing contest, and more.
The class that I am going to be teaching is...

Marketing ~ A Necessary Evil That You Start NOW – The word “Marketing” brings a shudder to even the hardiest of souls. However, it’s a necessary evil if you want to actually sell any of the books you write or have written. If you are under the mistaken impression that you’ll submit to a publisher who will then market for you, you’re in for a surprise. If you think your book is so good it doesn’t need to be marketed to sell a million copies in its first year, guess again.


In this course, I’ll teach you what you should be doing right now, before you’ve ever written your first word. Already finished? I’ll show you where to go from here. I’ll teach you the most effective ways I know to market your book both before and after publication. If you have a good basis in place before publication, it will make post-publication marketing that much easier. This class is designed to give you the tools you need to be successful and to learn to embrace – rather than fear – marketing your books. (I promise the topic is not as boring as it sounds.)

 
For more details and to register go to:  www.teenauthorbootcamp.com. Space is limited.
If you’re from out of state, don’t worry. This year there will be a Live Broadcast of the conference you can watch and participate in real time via the internet. Get more details at TABC’s website under “Live Stream.”
See you there!

Best of 2012 Giveaway Hop

Best of 2012 Giveaway Hop
December 27th to 31st

For the Best of 2012 Giveaway I decided to give away a copy of Slammed by Colleen Hoover, Insight by Jolene Perry, or if you prefer an inspirational book, Rebecca's World of Inspirational Poems .

While I can't say any one is my absolute favorite book of all-time, they're really good ones. In Slammed, Lake is a cool chick, and the poetry was really interesting. I fell head-over-heels with Kel and Caulder, the younger brothers of Lake and Will. They were the most interesting aspect of the book in my opinion.   In I nsight , I found the concept of being unable to touch people without getting a vision about them, their future, their past, or whatever it is Micah gets from the person, fascinating to say the least. The book quickly surprised me by turning in an unexpected (by me, at least< direction).    Rebecca's World of Inspirational Poems is just a really beautiful book of amazing photographs and inspirational poems inspired by the author's life.

I spend so much time writing that I rarely have time to read anymore so whenever I do get a chance to read, it needs to be something to make it worth my time to stop writing long enough to enjoy someone else's work. 

All three of these fit into that category for me.

The winner can choose any one of the books. I'll gift Slammed or Insight to the winner via Amazon or Barnes & Noble (your choice, depending on your reader) and Rebecca's World of Inspirational Poems will be via Smashwords.

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End of the World Winner

Congrats to Tiffany Renee Sill for winning the End of the World Giveaway Hop.  She has won a digital copy of   Dissidence by Jamie Canosa.

Book Lovers Holiday Hop Winner

Congrats to Alina for winning the Book Lovers Holiday Hop!She won digital copies from my Enchanted Fairytale series:Beautiful BeastSnow White Red and the Wolf   
Better luck next time to all!