Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 98

Be AWARE of Hearing Loss

The month of May is Hearing Loss Awareness Month. I'd like everyone to take a moment...not just now, not just this week or even this month, but try to remember throughout the year, that millions of people throughout the United States have hearing loss.

Some tips for the hearing world:

-The next time you speak to someone in a public place and they don't acknowledge you, don't just automatically assume they're being rude. Stop a minute and ask yourself, "Did they hear me?" Maybe they have hearing loss. Hearing loss isn't a visible illness. You don't SEE it. Hearing aids can be well hidden.

-Make it a habit of speaking clearly and enunciating your words. Don't mumble; don't stare at the ground; don't talk too fast. Try to make sure people are looking at you when you speak to them. This was a rule taught in my household growing up, regardless of if someone had a hearing impairment or not. Back in those days, it was a sign of respect to look at someone when they speak to you and vice versa. We need to bring this back.

-Facial hair...is a nightmare for us hard of hearing lip-readers. If we can't see your lips, we don't understand you. Men, keep that hair trimmed.

-Do not assume that because we can't hear, that we're any different from you. I can get married (I am!), I can have children, I can drive, I can ride a bike. I can do everything you can do, except HEAR. This does not in any way or form hinder my mental capabilities or make me dumb. Let's separate deaf and dumb. It's past time.

-Do not speak to us as though we are slow. Speak normally. There's a big difference in plain enunciation (speaking clearly) and spending one minute on each word you utter. Don't draw it out and move your mouth in an exaggerated fashion. We learn to lip-read normal moving lips, not comical.

-Don't yell at us. Many of us are deaf to certain sounds and it doesn't matter how loud you say it, it won't get through. Plain and simple: if you're not speaking clearly, we won't understand it. Your quiet blah blah blah maw wah just becomes a very loud BLAH BLAH BLAH MAW WAH.

-Don't leave us out of things and talk over our heads. We feel ostracized. When everyone around us is laughing at a good joke, we want to laugh too! Include us. Make an effort. If you feel it's too much work to talk to us, we're going to decide it's too much work to be your friend. And you could really miss out on a good friendship.

-Hearing helpers are just that: HELPERS. If you're asked to be a hearing helper, don't permit others to speak to you as though we aren't there. Don't answer for us. If someone says to you, "What does she want to eat?" do not tell them, "She wants pizza." A hearing helper should turn to the deaf person and say, "He asked what you wanted to eat." We can and will answer for ourselves. Be careful not to take over and remember to just help. We do value our independence.

-Don't say something and then get mad when we ask you to repeat it for the second or third time. Count to ten if you have to, but try to avoid that callous "never mind". If you said it once, I'm going to assume you wanted me to hear it. It must be important enough. It's very frustrating when people do this.

-Cochlear implants and medical procedures of that ilk are personal matters. Do not try to fix us. Many of us are happy the way we are and have no desire to change. We don't see ourselves as broken or in need of fixing, so don't act like we are.

-Teach your kids that we're no different from them, that deaf isn't dumb, that hearing aids are nothing to be ashamed of. Talk to your children about bullying and its long-term effects.

Thank you for your time. In honor of Hearing Loss Awareness Month, I'd like to announce that two of my titles, one my memoir of growing up deaf and working in a hearing world (Hear Through My Ears) and one (Love Request) a contemporary novel featuring a hearing-"impaired" heroine, are on sale for 99 cents the rest of May.

Dirty Harriet by Miriam Auerbach

This is proof you don't need a romance in a book to be wholly entertained and love every minute.


I was hooked from the get-go. The story opens with Dirty Harriet telling us about how she killed her husband at a wedding with a .44 and confesses she said, "Go ahead. Make my day."

I knew from that moment this was my kind of heroine.

What follows is a mystery involving illegal immigrants in tomato fields, mysterious female problems, car and motorcycle accidents, rick women, and more. To reveal too much would ruin the story. But I was not able to figure it all out until Harriet did--a plus for me. I like to have an inkling but I don't like to figure it all out by page 50.

The mystery was good, but what makes the book awesome is the heroine's wit, snark, and thoughts. And just her, herself. She's very down to earth, though she hasn't always been. She's dealing with her mother, who's on a cruise and babbling about a mysterious man. She rides a motorcycle and works on it herself in her free time. She cracks jokes about it being a 500-pound vibrator "always up for a ride, the pushrods pumped hard and the tires never deflated..." If you haven't figured it out, she was saying her bike was better than a man. LOL

She talks to an alligator and drink scotch at the end of the day.

There's even a moral in the end. Two, actually. 1. Never assume. 2. Nobody can be free until we're all free. Everyone is a prisoner to something.

I think my favorite, LOL moment was when Harriet has to get a pap smear...I laughed so hard, I was glad I wasn't in public. I'd have appeared like a lunatic.

"Please scoot up here a little bit," the doctor said. That was gynecological code for, "Shove your ass in my face." 

Hilarious. Fun. Empowering. No damsel in distress here at all. I highly recommend this and I'll be eagerly watching for book two, due out this summer.

5 stars. I got this from netgalley.

Tasty Review Tour: Horse Charmer By: Angelia Almos

*Horse Charmer is on sale for $.99 (ebook) to celebrate the two year anniversary*
Blurb
A gifted princess. A special horse. A quest for the truth.

At sixteen years old, Cassia would rather spend her days in the royal stables than in the royal court. But as the eldest child of King Robet and Queen Sarahann she obediently performs her duties as the Princess of Karah.

Her safe world changes forever when her father is murdered in the neighboring kingdom of Vespera. Cassia grapples with his loss as her mother prepares her for her new role as queen. Her first task - she must travel to Vespera to marry a prince she barely knows to fulfill the treaty her father signed just before his death.

Nothing is as simple as it seems with political intrigues and unusual powers shadowing Cassia on her search to find out who killed her father and why.
****My Review****This took me some getting used to. The writing style has a nice flow, but it's a wee slow at first. Despite all the drama happening--her father's death, fighting with her mother, her shocking marriage announcement--my mind began to drift. However, once she escaped and started conversing with her horse, I was hooked. What an intriguing plot twist!

The heroine discovers she has a special power. She's able to charm horses and make them do what she wishes. While she gets to the bottom of who murdered her father and why, she begins to utilize these newfound powers.

There's a subtle romance going on with a horse wrangler, nothing too racy, and the ending leaves enough that you want to read sequel. And for a while there in the last quarter, I thought for sure the family wasn't going to get themselves out of this mess.

It kept me guessing and I want to mention...with fantasy, the author has the leeway to create their own world and do not have to be historical accurate. I've read old-world fantasy books that were supposed to take place in medieval times, but had balloons. This author didn't do anything like that. Her setting (even with the horse communication  was believable and I was able to transplant myself mentally into this world she created with the same ease as if it was reading a historical fiction.

Very well done. A likable and realistic heroine who at times acts impetuous. She's feisty without it being unbelievable. The prose was smooth. The action once you got to the middle entertaining.

Four stars.

Author Info
Angelia Almos' love affair with horses began when she was five years old and talked her parents into her first riding lesson. Horses have always been a huge part of her life. The initial idea behind Horse Charmer came to her when she was fourteen. The image of a teenage girl riding her horse through a meadow appeared. Who was this girl? Where was she going? What was she running from? Those questions led to the creation of Horse Charmer.
Author Links
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AngeliaAlmosAuthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AngeliaAlmos
Blog: http://angeliaalmos.blogspot.com
Website: http://www.angeliaalmos.com
Google+: https://plus.google.com/109925456863894987370
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1027877.Angelia_Almos

Book Links
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468801-horse-charmer
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051BOAMC
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/horse-charmer-angelia-almos/1101976975
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/horse-charmer/id442235188?mt=11
Giveaway ($20.00 Amazon/B&N Gift Card)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour here.

Stag Hunt by Laura DeLuca

For those of Book Babe's readers who like a strong heroine, look no further. Stag Hunt is here. A quick read/novelette, it's a great pick me up when you need that boost of feminist power. In it, the the heroine not only dresses as a boy, but attempts to take down the legendary and powerful stag. If she succeeds, she'll not only win the princesses's hand in marriage for her brother, but put a stop to an impending war--if she doesn't succeed, YIKES! Folks didn't take too kindly to gals that dressed as lads back then. LOL
In ancient Britannia, the warrior who brought down the king stag was named the defender of the land.
Eartha’s brother Balen has been in love with Princess Galiene since they were children. Upon the death of the High King, the tribesmen of the realm vie for the throne, and with it, the hand of the fair princess.
Balen is desperate to win his lady, but a rival tribesman is equally determined to keep them apart.
With her brother, her dearest friend, and the country she loves all hanging in the balance, Eartha must do the unthinkable to ensure her brother’s victory in the stag hunt. Sometimes true love needs a helping hand...or some blood to be spilled.




Purchase

Amazon * Goodreads



About Author Laura DeLucaLaura “Luna” DeLuca lives at the beautiful Jersey shore with her husband and four children. She loves writing in the young adult genre because it keeps her young at heart. In addition to writing fiction, Laura is also the sole author of a popular review blog called New Age Mama. She is an active member of her local pagan community, and has been studying Wicca for close to eight years. Her current works include Destiny, Destiny Unveiled, Phantom, Morrigan, Player, and Demon.

Stay for a Song

Love Request: a story about two people reconnecting on the Internet and a young woman discovering she can indeed be truly loved despite her "disability" while at the same time, facing down the bullies from her past. She could have been beaten down, refused to face it, went through life resentful and distrustful, but instead she chooses to open her heart and forgive.


I couldn't settle on one song for this book so I'm sharing with you today two songs, both by Amy Grant. I'm a huge fan of her.

The first one: Stay for A While. This is how Ciara remembers Hunter, years later.

Long time since I've seen your smile, But when I close my eyes, I remember You were no more than a child, But then so was I, Young and tender.
Time carries on; I guess it always will, But deep inside my heart Time stands still


The second one...this one has always touched a place deep inside me and though Ciara was never sexually abused, she faced a trauma of a different sort: bullying. Bullying does have long-term effects on people. The feelings of insecurity, fear of people, and extreme self-consciousness stay with people long into adulthood. The question is...how does one handle it? Can they be like this woman in Ask Me? Can they look in the mirror at a lovely woman face and see no more frightened little girl? Or do they still see that frightened child afraid to go to school for fear of what will be done to be her that day?

Now she's looking in the mirror at a lovely woman faceNo more frightened little girl, like she's gone without a traceStill she leaves the light burning in the hallIt's hard to sleep at all.

Not an official music video, but I love it. Someone named Terapath made it.
Make sure you don't live your life as a victim. Live your life as a person.

I Will Not Be Branded.

I've been told countless times..."brand yourself".

Now we've talked about target marketing and how I've thrown that out the window. Today I want to talk about the "branding" thing going around. 

If it works for you, great. If you want to write the same thing over and over and it doesn't bore you, fabulous. I'm happy for you, but me...

If I get a historical idea, I write it. If my muse says she's a shapeshifter, I write it. If suffragettes are screaming in my head, I write it. If I got this fun idea for a contemporary romance with humor, I write it.

Lots of authors say the key to selling is to BRAND themselves, write the same thing over and over. "I write only western romance. I write only regency." 

You get the picture. 

And while I'm not going to tell anyone they are wrong, here is why I disagree it's the right thing for me:

I'm a reader, have been one for a lot longer than I've been a writer. And I find books I want to read by visiting blogs. Let me take you through a timeline...

1. Blog I follow has awesome cover art posted...and a catchy title. Upon cover art catching my eye, I open the page to read the blurb or review.

2. Blurb/review may or may not interest me. If it sounds like 5,000 other books I've read, I shrug my shoulders and move on. If it sounds unique, it goes on my Amazon wishlist and Goodreads To Read.

3. Some time goes by. I have a lot of books already to read, but I will get my hands on that book and I will read it. I either like it or I don't.

4. Assuming I liked the story, upon finishing it, I promptly look to see what else the author has penned. He/she may have ten titles available. Again, I read the blurbs. Some will interest me, some will not. The ones that do, I put them on my to read and wishlist.

Where in all this do you see the step "I promptly looked for their brand"?

You didn't, 'cause I don't. As a reader, I could care less what an author's brand is. For me, it's all about blurbs. If the first book I read by an author is a strong woman in historical fiction book, whoo eee! If they have maybe two others like that 5 science fictions (not my forte) that doesn't stop me from reading the books that DO interest me.

So, from a reader's POV here, branding is...it's not doing anything for me. It doesn't persuade me to read your books one way or the other.

Thoughts?

Four Sisters, All Queens by Sherry Jones

I was totally enthralled with this book, riveted for all 400 plus pages. The book opens when the young sisters of Provence are young, the oldest being 12, the youngest a baby. Their mother is carefully grooming them to be queens.


Margi is the smart queen. Eleanore is the warrior queen who can hunt as well as any man. Sanchia is the pretty one with little in the brains department. Beatrice is the baby...and as a result may have to fight a little harder for respect.

Margi marries the King of France only to discover his mother will never step aside. This was my favorite part of the book. So much scandal, indecent hints, and the MIL problem aroused incredible anger in me. I was just that sucked into the story. I found myself gritting my teeth and just hoping that soon Margi would take control. The White Queen is horrible. This is a story about lunatics and religion and a woman putting up with it all.

Eleanore is my favorite queen, the Queen of England. Ambitious, fair, strong-willed. Her own husband even kicks her out for a month because she outshines him, refuses to take orders. She has a lot of spunk. She even attacks a harlot in the street. The people hated her, but I could not see why. This was a story of love (most of the time), a woman who constantly must prove herself, and constant strife within a kingdom.

Sanchia promises to marry Jesus, but instead, her parents promise her a cruel man who is attacking Provence. They know he is evil and they do not expect the pope to annul his marriage. Boy, are they surprised! This part of the story was riveting too. I was on the edge of my seat, dreading the day this horrid man came to collect her. It was also fascinating how much whatever pope was in control was finagling everything. In the end, she becomes the queen of Germany, after marrying the wealthiest man in England. Her tale involves lies, adultery, murder, guilt, drunkenness.

Beatrice also barely escapes the bad man who wants Provence. Instead, she is literary carried away by Charles, brother to the King of France. This was a passionate, volatile, bordering on abusive relationship. It, however, seemed they were made for each other, but he hates her sisters and in the end, the trouble this causes... Here we have passion, a woman torn btw family and husband, and desire to conquer.

It's quite sad to see how greed, secrets, spite, jealousy, and constantly comparing oneself to others can really set one back in life and family relationships.

You are only a queen as long as you have a king (at least back then.) but your sisters are forever...hmmm.

A spine tingling, exciting ride of a historical story as it bounces court to court, country to country, queen to queen. I was set to give it five stars, but some little things bugged me, some odd moments where I found myself scratching my head.

Example: In the beginning of one scene, Margi is arguing with her husband and it's noted she is heavy with child. A few paragraphs later, she is having relations with another man. A few paragraphs later, she realizes she was "unsafe" and rushes to have relations with the husband. If you're already preggers, what are you worried about? *If this was not the same night, the book wasn't clear with scene/time changes.*

But the final thing I had a hard time with: death by chess piece? Just how big were chess pieces back then?

Otherwise, I absolutely loved this. Four stars. I received this via Paperback Swap.

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Chynna Lennox

Book: Twisted Ties
Author: Jim Cooper
Heroine: Chynna Lennox

The sexiest thing about Chynna is her confidence. Facing the trails she does, addiction recovery and new physical handicaps, she never lets go of her loyalty to her friends, her loved ones and the need to know the truth of the events that surround her. She's also sarcastic as hell and doesn't take crap from anyone.

Blurb:
"Chynna Lennox? A sleuth?? Yeah, right…"

An unlikely one, at best. It's not enough for a girl to stay sober, manage a rock band of eclectic musicians and keep limber behind the drumkit. But when she discovers DaKota Gibson, her lead guitarist and former lover, murdered, Chynna wants answers. She grudgingly turns to former boyslug and newspaper narcissist, Christian Snevley, to quietly snoop around, hoping to unmask DaKota's killer before Lead Detective Gralewski sticks Chynna with a murder charge and has her fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

But then Chynna's step-brother vanishes, a mysterious woman keeps appearing in all the wrong places and a near fatal accident leaves the snarky redhead with physical challenges she never imagined. Through the painful recovery process, friends new and old rally at her side. There's just one problem. The killer is still on the loose and Gralewski is waiting in the wings for her release. A true Scorpio remains undaunted and Chynna pushes herself closer to unmasking unimaginable secrets from DaKota's past, secrets that reveal a frightening web of Twisted Ties...

Giveaway & Book Blitz: Hardened Desire by Layna Pimentel

What is it about these fascinating sculptures that holds my intrigue? While I’m sure I’ll never know that answer, the one thing I can say for certain, I don’t think I’ll ever stop collecting them any time soon. Whether it’s a garden ornament or an ornate carving in a picture, in my eyes, they’re beautiful no matter how grotesque they appear.

Even at the end of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, I was disappointed how they were magically transformed into cherubs. Cherubs on a castle! How outlandish is that? I’ve never seen anything more horrifying. Perhaps that’s just me being over dramatic, but I love the dark and mysterious.
Do you have a favorite garden ornament, knick knack, sculpture, or painting? I’d love to hear from you. For one lucky person today, I’ll be giving away a surprise paranormal romance book from Secret Cravings Publishing. (Not one of my own.) Be sure to follow the rafflecopter link on how to enter, and please leave an email address with your comment. The winner will be drawn and announced on May 16th. Thanks!



a Rafflecopter giveaway



BLURBWhat could Luc Mercier, a gargoyle who's more than a century old, possibly have in common with modern introvert, Gillian Harris? Loneliness and isolation. When meddlesome friends bring the two together, neither is prepared for the flurry of emotions nor revelations that overwhelm them. That is, until Gillian stumbles across the truth and struggles with how she let her guard down.Learning to love again has never been harder.
EXCERPTLuc picked up a newspaper from the stand and tossed a two-dollar coin to the elderly man working the counter. He ascended the cavernous stairs of Bloor and Dufferin subway station, irritated by the lights flickering intensely. I should have just taken my car.But if he did, Luc would have missed an opportunity to observe society other than from the café he frequented lately. A society he didn’t belong in, technically speaking, and had no business being a part of. Long gone were the muddy, off-beaten roads of provincial France. Long gone was the time when an over-flowing bodice was considered scandalous.Now people thrived on exposing as much skin as possible. The modern day sentiment of what was attractive and acceptable embarrassed him to the core, from the mode of dress to the inappropriate use of language. Didn’t anyone know how to speak without using an expletive every other word? Where had humanity gone wrong? It was ghastly enough that children didn’t respect their elders, much less their parents.Nevertheless, as much as this modern world perplexed him, nothing could deter him from at least enjoying his freedom, regardless of the limitations restricting his activities to the darkness of the night.He did, however, miss the ambiance of candle light and the soft cries while seducing a woman, tormenting her with his wicked tongue. Exploring deviant, but heavenly, practices of binding and mixing pleasure with pain. Sweet promises falling from his lips while exploring every inch of her delicate and exquisite flesh.These days, the few women he was able to enjoy weren’t interested in highly sensual liaisons. No. Today’s women thrived on being in control of seduction, whether they were proficient or not. There certainly wasn’t anything wrong with the scenario, but it wasn’t his taste. He preferred his women soft, like Genevieve…his sweet, sweet Genevieve.No matter how many decades passed, the only woman he’d ever confided in, and planned to wed, crept into his mind many a time. Genevieve was an old soul, who found him and fell in love. Then, much like a Greek tragedy, their story ended woefully. The trust and courage it had taken to confess to Genevieve of the monstrosity he had become left him restless and, for once in his miserable existence, vulnerable. If not for her kindness, encouragement, and love, who knew what he would be doing and where.This last week, though, he thought to explore the possibility of trying again. A particular woman, who frequented the café where he spent his early evenings drinking a brandy and reading The Daily Sun, had caught his particular interest. Her laughter aroused his curiosity in the few and far between moments when he contemplated actually living life. Her voice, whether chuckling or whispering to her friend, always made his body react in an animalistic way.While they had never met, she seemed like someone he’d be interested in getting to know, at the very least, for a little while. Luc doubted very much he’d find another woman like the love of his life and often thought it would be better that way. How could he even begin to explain why he only ever spent time with her at night, and why he’d always be gone before the first sign of daybreak?
WHERE TO BUYwww.secretcravingspublishing.comwww.amazon.comwww.allromanceebooks.comwww.barnesandnoble.comwww.bookstrand.com
WHAT AM I WORKING ON NEXTI’m working on the third installment of my Pleasure Garden Follies series. The first book Scandal at Vauxhall will be releasing this July, so make sure to stop by my site for latest updates.
BIOGRAPHYBorn and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Layna discovered her love of reading at an early age. When she isn’t devouring salacious romance novels or writing, she enjoys losing herself in researching ancient history and mythology, weaponry, and hiking. She lives in Northern Ontario, with her husband and two daughters.Layna is a member of the Romance Writers of America, and is a monthly contributor at 69 Shades of Smut. For updates on her upcoming releases, or to leave her a comment, you can find at:Website: www.laynapimentel.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/LaynaPimentelFacebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLaynaPimentel

Cause Sometimes We Need to be Reminded...

...that we're be-you-tiful.

Obtained from Arise Decals, I placed this on the wall of my bedroom where I can see it everyday when I wake. What woman doesn't need a reminder here and there that we're lovely just the way we are?



On that note, I don't care how much you weigh, how many zits you may have, if your hair is frizzy or straight...you be sure to have a.....



day.