Harmony Kent's Blog, page 141

#RRBC #PIF Week! Welcome to Traci Sanders!

Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the second of three authors I will spotlight, promote, and propel this week as part of the RRBC BT Pay it Forward Week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow board member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Traci Sanders! Traci is a supportive member of RRBC, as well as a talented author! So, lets all please give Traci as much support as we can today!

About Traci: 

Author and mother of three, Traci Sanders has been composing poetry, songs, and children’s stories since the young age of ten. In 2003, she opened her home to young children in her community offering “beyond the basics” teachings. In 2008, she was recognized by the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency as Family Childcare Provider of the Year and was featured in two local newspapers.

In 2010, she furthered her education by earning her Child Development Associates degree and was a recipient of the FIRST (First Incentive for Raising Standards among Teachers) Award presented by the Child Care Commissioner of her state. She continues to shape the young minds of the future through her home-based childcare program. Her daily interactions with these children provide constant inspiration for her writing and she plans to continue on this path until her story has reached “The End.”

Her first book was published in January 2013 titled ‘Welcome to “Poop Camp”: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth about Potty Training’. She released her first children’s book about family child care in May 2013.

To date, Traci has published five books, including her latest foray into adult fiction titled, ‘When Darkness Breaks’. She is an avid reader and writer, and finds inspiration all around her.

Currently Traci is writing her second adult novel, a light paranormal romance, titled ‘UNSEVERED’.

Traci’s Books: 

Childrens: :Little Sponges, Poop Camp,

Right at Home, Just Like Home

Adults: When Darkness Breaks

Local news anchor, Amber Woods, seemed to have it all – a thriving career, two beautiful children, and a doting husband named Drake. Life was perfect…until her world was turned upside down in one fateful night. While the incident causes Amber to renew her priorities; unable to deal with what happened, Drake begins sinking into a deep depression laced with infidelity and alcohol.

Hoping a change of scenery will salvage her quickly deteriorating marriage, Amber agrees that a move to New York may be just what they need. Unfortunately, she quickly discovers that you can’t outrun your problems and the past is not always left in the past.

Can Amber save her marriage without losing herself along the way? What will she do when darkness breaks her will to keep trying?

Traci’s books on Amazon

Traci’s Website

Traci on Twitter: @tmsanders2014 @tlckids4915

Thanks for stopping by to read all about Traci! I’m sure she’d be delighted to see your comments! For the third and final author I am showcasing on the RRBC BT PIF Week, please stop by on Friday 29th  

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#RRBC #PIF Week! Welcome to Robin Chambers!

Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the first of three authors I will spotlight, promote, and propel this week as part of the RRBC BT Pay it Forward Week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow board member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Robin chambers! Robin is a supportive member of RRBC, who is always supporting his fellow club members with retweets on Twitter,and lots of reading and reviewing, as well as a talented author! So, lets all please give Robin as much support as we can today!

About Robin Chambers … In his own words, because he does it so well  

I was born a long time ago, in the middle of the Second World War, a few hundred yards from Gladstone Dock – then the biggest dry dock in the world, and a prime target for the German bombers. The Liverpool Overhead Railway started from there, and ran all the way to the Pier Head.

My mum and I lived at 126 Knowsley Rd. For two years we must have had each other for close company most of the time. My dad lived there too, but not until he came home from the war. My brother lived there as well, of course, but he didn’t come along until 1945…

I mention these facts because they have had a major bearing on my life.

My father was a stern disciplinarian and an absolute ruler in his own house. He described us as upper working class, voted Conservative, did his best to isolate his children from the heavy, local accent and didn’t allow us to play out in the street with other children. That wasn’t any hardship for me, as I was terrified of him and the heaviness of his hand, and therefore shy and frightened of loud and vexatious children, who seemed to roam the streets at will and in threateningly large numbers.

One picture of me survives from those days. It was taken shortly before my father came home. He took one look at me and marched me across the road to the barbers to have all those girlie curls cut off. My mother was no match for him.

At the age of 4 they sent me to Miss Pride’s Preparatory School in Litherland Park: to make sure I had a flying start at Gray Street Primary School back in Bootle, a hundred yards or so from where we lived. By then my consciously engineered vowel sounds and my obviously nervous demeanour made me an easy target for the tough kids that now surrounded me in a largely unsupervised playground. I don’t think teachers then were anywhere near as good as they are now at spotting and dealing with bullies.

I really suffered. I still remember the name of the worst one. The one thing that kept me going was knowing that the cruel little toe-rag wouldn’t pass the scholarship and I would. Once we got to 11 years old, he would disappear with so many others like him into the hell-hole that was St George’s Secondary Modern, and I could take my chances with a fresh set of bullies in the three form entry Bootle Grammar School for Boys.

It was quite bad there too, for a while. What saved me finally was going to Boxing Club. I have to thank my dad for that, to be fair. I was a good pupil, and although I was always better at English and Languages than I was at anything else, I got pretty good at boxing quite quickly. There was some excitement at the club about how rapidly I was progressing, though I knew I had no interest in developing it any further after that blissful day when I faced down my main tormentor one day in the playground. I still remember his name as well. And when it came to it, he chickened out and wouldn’t fight me. I never had any trouble with him after that. It was a valuable lesson.

Drama wasn’t a school subject then; but once a year the Boys Grammar School put on a school play. We didn’t have a stage, so those few of us who were interested used to perform on the stage in the Girls Grammar School on Breeze Hill. I can still quote the fulsome praise printed in the Bootle Times about one of my performances. I think it was in 1958 (but surely it couldn’t have taken THAT long for my voice to break):

“To play the part of Lady Macbeth requires a good deal of acting ability, concentration and confidence. Robin Chambers appeared to have all three, and was well chosen for the part.”

My mother and father didn’t think I was clever. They described me to others as a “plodder”. On and on I plodded at Bootle Grammar School for Boys. The headmaster persuaded my father to let me do ‘A’ levels (he had previously been planning to apprentice me to a plumber), and eventually I became School Captain and Head Prefect.

My final year there provided me with another formative memory. There was some joint occasion held at the Girls’ Grammar School one evening that required me to stride around importantly in my little gown keeping my troop of prefects and (knowing me) everyone else in order. A girl I’d never seen before walked up to me and asked me my name. I probably arched my eyebrows as I told her and watched a look of profound disappointment cross her face. “Oh,” she said. “You’re not a bit like I imagined.”

I hadn’t known before that that I had been “imagined” by anyone.

I plodded on through University as well – as far as I know the first person in my family ever to do so: getting a good Honours degree in English at London University (plodding into the top 20 of 400 or so English graduates in 1964) and then spending another three years on a Ph.D. ploddingly entitled “Chaucer’s Poetic Uses of his Native Vocabulary”.

The grant ran out in 1967, and my Ph.D. was so massive I needed another year to finish it. What to do?

In those days you could walk straight into secondary school teaching without having a teaching qualification. Comprehensive schools had just come about, and Dunraven School in Streatham needed a suitably (i.e. academically) qualified “teacher” to take their new ‘A’ level English class (and of course a whole heap of other classes as well. I needed a part-time job, and they needed a .9 teacher (i.e. 4½ days out of the 5 day week). “I can do that,” I thought, with the blissful naivety of total ignorance. “I’ll have the evenings, and the weekends…” It’s embarrassing to think of that summer in 1967 and wonder how I could have had the gall. Even more than that, how could they have let me do it?!

So there I was, walking up Mount Nod Road in plenty of time for my interview with the headteacher, and with my head full of the approximately 1,800 instances I had found in the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer where consideration could legitimately be given to the apparently poetic use he had made of a word or phrase of “native” (i.e. Germanic) origin.

I got to the corner of the road where the school was, and it was morning break. About 500 children were running around apparently happily in the playground, and making a lot of noise. The enormity of what I was about to do hit me with the force of a sledgehammer. It stopped me dead, and tears came rushing unbidden out of some subterranean lake I hadn’t known was there.

It was a “Road to Damascus” moment. I was sobbing uncontrollably and taking another fifteen minutes walking round an enormous block trying to get myself under control. Fortunately, by the time I got back, break was over and the children were all inside. It was quiet, and I made it inside.

I have a clear memory of my first class in September. The Head of English had armed me with a set of comprehension books and told me where the kids had got up to. I was to set them the next section, get their heads down and catch my breath as I got used to what it felt like to stand in front of a class of children I didn’t know, charged with the responsibility of teaching them “English”, with only my memories of being a pupil at Bootle Grammar School for Boys to call upon.

Fortunately, Dunraven was a decent little comprehensive school in those days, with a fair number of quite well-behaved children. That class took one look at me with my stack of comprehension books up to my chin and said: “Can we do Drama?”

One minute into my first comprehensive school classroom experience and I was faced with my first big decision. I put the books down, looked at the class, looked back at the books, took a deep breath and said: “Show me what you can do?”

The tears still prickle when I think of that moment. It was 46 years ago. The Ph.D. was never finished. After a term I was made full time and was given an “allowance” as joint deputy head of the English Department. In the four terms I was at that school I directed two school plays -the school hadn’t put on a play in its previous nineteen years.

Another teacher at the school at the time gave me what she thought was a useful piece of advice. “What you do with a new class,” she said briskly, “Is look round it, spot a child who looks vulnerable and make it cry. That way, the others know you mean business.”

The woodwork teacher at Bootle Grammar School for Boys was out of the same mould. He had caned me twice for spurious reasons in front of the class in the very first lesson we had with him. I feared and hated him in equal measure from then on. Not that he taught me for long. If you had a functioning brain, you didn’t do any arts or crafts beyond the age of 12 at Bootle Grammar School for Boys.

Jack Chisel the kids called him. He turned his own bats on the lathe. A favourite trick of his was beating out a tune on some tortured kid’s backside. He would only stop when one of us guessed what tune was running through his head as he did it. He’s got to be dead now…

I never took that advice, and in my first five years in the teaching profession, the children taught me most of what was worth knowing about the art and craft of teaching. They also showed me that for some reason I was good at it. Even I could not ignore that much evidence. Twelve years after walking into Dunraven School on that fateful morning in 1967 I got my first headship…

For a brief period in the early seventies, while I was Head of English at Hackney Downs School, I had tried my hand at writing stories. I won’t say too much here about how that came about; but if you’d like to know, click on My Blogs at the top of the Homepage and read the one entitled “Was that True?” I had been successful enough at it to make me think that I should give it a serious go sometime, once I had retired from my all-consuming profession.

In 1980, the Secondary Heads Association informed its members that recent research had revealed the average life expectancy of a male teacher in a stressful inner city area, who went on until he was 65, was less than one year. They therefore advised all their male members in stressful social services areas to buy in as many years of pensionable service as possible, in order to be able to retire early.

Stoke Newington, where I was, had been designated the most stressful social services area in the country. It had the biggest police station in Europe. I had the option of paying up to 12% of my salary into the Teachers’ Pension Fund (instead of the usual 6%). This I decided to do and over the next 13 years (11 of them as the first head of Stoke Newington School) I managed to ‘buy in’ 4 years, 311 days…

I remember the precise amount because in the autumn of 1992, the London Borough of Hackney invited its headteachers to apply for early retirement. They had more of us than they needed, and some of us were more expensive than our replacements would need to be. They offered up to ten years enhancement to our personal pension fund as an incentive.

I did the sums and discovered that I could retire on a full pension in the summer of 1993 at the age of 51. I had been in the profession just 25 years, but with that ten year enhancement I had 40 years and 19 days of pensionable service to my credit. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

So why didn’t I start writing for children again, when I got my life back in the 1990s? Because, as so often happens, other events intervened. I won’t go into detail here and now; but if you’d like to know a little more about what happened between 1993 and 2011, click on My Blogs at the top of the Homepage and read the one entitled “Finally Getting Round to it.”

I finally got round to writing again for children 17½ years after retiring from teaching in order to be able to do so. Between January 2011 and October 2012, I wrote pretty much eight hours a day, seven days a week. The first four books in the Myrddin’s Heir series emerged…

…at which point – as I explain in the video on the Homepage – I decided that I didn’t want to go any further on my own. It was time to find out how many of you wanted to come with me.

For that, I needed a website with a Contact Mebutton. I don’t know much about building a website, but I have a very good and loyal friend who does, and she has a very good and loyal friend who knows even more. For the last several months they have been patiently buildingwww.myrddinsheir.com on my behalf, and doing a fantastic job, as I hope you’ll agree.

So here I am. I hope to get to know very many of you a good deal better in my new role as a writer for children between the ages of 10 and 110 (approximately). It may be that I know some of you already from my life before Gordon. In which case, I would love to get to know your children as well, once they reach the magic age…

I think the world would be a much better place if children everywhere were brought up to have open minds and to love learning, to respect difference, and to do whatever they can to protect the planet.

I’d be interested to know what your thoughts are on that.

 

Robin has written many books, not least of which is his Myrddin’s Heir Series. You can find out more about Robin HERE.

And on Twitter and Facebook!

Find all Robin’s books on Amazon for just 0.99!

 

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Continuous Drips

It gives me great pleasure to welcome three authors with their collection of short stories, Continuous Drips … 

Hello RWPPs,

Have you read Continuous Drips by The Collective (Queen of Spades, Da’Kharta Rising and Synful Desire) yet?

Blurb:
Different colors of ink collide in this short story anthology Continuous Drips:

Take a trip into darkness with Da’Kharta Rising with “Unrest”, “Omitted” and “The Kutters”.

Love, loss, and erotic heat hypnotically swirl in the mind of Synful Desire when reading “Derailed Endurance”, “Final Prep to Happiness” and “FAN-tasy Island”.

Episodes of human interaction displacement are given in doses when Queen of Spades presents “Misfortune”, “Afro Shock”, and “Útil.”

Da’Kharta Rising

Facebook

Twitter

Blog: Thoughts of a Slightly Social Anti-Socialite

Synful Desire

Facebook Author Page

Blog: Synful Interludes

Twitter @synful_desire

Queen of Spades

Facebook Author Page

Blog: A Queen’s Ramblings

Website

Twitter @authorqspades

What reviewers are saying …

Harmony Kent, Author:

“Each collection of three is different. The reader will find darker tales that make them think, those with slightly more heat under the collar, and others with a twist. Each tale is short and easy to read, and folds seamlessly into the whole. I like the alternative offerings found here, which are a bit like eating an up-market three-course meal, rather than a single TV dinner where all the flavours are the same. Chances are, this little book has something for everyone.” 4 Stars

Y. Correa, Author:
“All in all, I would say that Continuous Drips is a book that you can keep on reading. Something that you can set on your nightstand and pick up whenever you’re in the mood for a quick yet great read. These ladies won’t let you down.” 5 Stars




Here is your chance to get it at AMAZON.COM
FOR FREE, for a limited time only!

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RRBC SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR: NANCY M BELL !!!

It gives me great pleasure to host today’s Rave Reviews Book Club Spotlight Author, Nancy M Bell!!!

 

 

 

Take it away, Nancy! …

Here’s an excerpt from Go Gently: (If it’s too long, just cut it off wherever you think best)

“Dad!” Laurel stamped her foot. “Why can’t I go?”

“Don’t you stamp your foot at me, young lady,” Colt Rowan spoke evenly.

“You’re being so unfair. I have the money to pay for plane fare.” Laurel tried to lower her voice.

“It’s not about being fair, Laurel.”

“Then what is it about?” she demanded.

“Watch your tone of voice,” her dad warned.

“Fine.” She twirled a piece of hair around her finger and clenched her teeth.

“Laurel, honey. Try to see your dad’s point of view.” Anna Rowan tried to make peace with her warring family.

“I don’t understand his point of view. What’s so wrong about wanting to go and visit Ash, and Gort, and Coll?”

“I don’t like you hanging around boys I’ve never met. Why can’t you give Chance a break?” Colton argued.

“What’s Chance got to do with me going to Cornwall?” Laurel rounded on her dad.

“Nothing, other than he’s good kid and he worships the ground you walk on.”

“Dad! He’s like my brother. You’re imagining things.” She let herself be distracted for a moment.

“Colt, don’t push the boy on her,” Anna warned her husband.

“There’s nothing wrong with the boy. His parent’s land abuts ours, it’s going to be his one day. It only seems natural that the two of them should get together,” he continued.

“Hey, I’m still here. Quit talking like I’m not in the room,” Laurel broke in.

“You’re right, sweetie. Sorry,” her mom said.

“Aisling asked me to stay with her, at her house. It’s not like I’m going to be staying at Emily’s in the same house as Coll,” she argued.

“I don’t like it,” Colton growled.

“It’s Christmas, Laurel. Don’t you want to be home for Christmas?” Her dad tried a different tack.

“What if I went now and came home just before Christmas? I could fly on Christmas Eve, or the twenty-third,” she suggested.

“That might work, Colton,” Anna said. “There’s no harm in her wanting to see her friends.”

“Who’s going to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble? We don’t even know this girl’s parents. That Sarah, or Sarie, or whatever her name is, I don’t trust her one bit. She was in cahoots with my mother all that time ago,” Colton warmed to his subject.

“You could call and talk to Ash’s parents,” Laurel attempted to sidetrack her father before he really got wound up.

“We could call them,” Anna said.

“Whose side are you on? Are you saying you think her going is a good idea?” Colton demanded.

“I remember what it was like being her age and liking a boy my parent’s didn’t approve of.” She lifted an eyebrow and smiled gently. Her husband had the grace to blush.

“That was different,” he muttered.

“How is it different?” Laurel demanded. “If you like Chance so much, you hook up with him!” She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. She let the porch door slam behind her and jumped down the step. She slapped the hat she’d grabbed on the way on onto her head and crossed the yard to the barn. Even though it was November, the day was fairly warm.

She stopped at the corral fence and leaned on the top rail. Laurel whistled shrilly and waited for the small herd grazing in the pasture to come to her call. Sam threw his head up and whinnied. Wheeling on his haunches, he cantered through the open corral gate toward the fence where she stood. The buckskin gelding came to a snorting halt in front of her. Laurel reached for the halter lead shank draped over the rail and climbed over the corral fence. She fished a treat out of her jacket pocket and slipped the halter over his head. Tossing the shank over the gelding’s neck, she tied the free end to the nose band of the halter.

Grasping at handful of mane, she vaulted lightly to his back. Touching him with her heel, she turned him from the fence and trotted down to the gate. Kneeing him closer, she asked Sam to side-pass against the barrier. Leaning over, she unhooked the gate and pushed it open. Keeping her hand on it she rode through, pivoting as his rump cleared the opening. Sam side-passed neatly to help her close it. Laurel pointed the horse’s nose across the rolling prairie toward the Old Man River.

A herd of cattle grazed in the distance, she gave them wide berth, and they in turn ignored the horse and rider. The sun was warm though the wind had a bite to it. Laurel pulled the hat lower on her head and raised the collar of her jacket up around her ears. She was glad of the warmth of the gelding beneath her. She squinted at the position of the sun. It was low on the horizon and she reckoned she had an hour of sunlight left. Plenty of time to ride to the river bluffs and back. The gelding was content to amble along, picking his own way across the short grass prairie. She skirted the arrangement of large rocks laid out in a rough circle. The place had an oddly peaceful feeling to it. Often in the summer she’d ride out and leave Sam to graze while she walked among the stones, wondering how long they’d been there and what they represented.

Mom said people of the Blackfoot Nation created the circle a long time ago. She didn’t know how long exactly or what it had been used for, but she taught Laurel to always treat it with respect and never move any of the rocks. As she passed it, Laurel dropped a bit of cornbread she kept in her pocket for Sam. It always felt right to leave some sort of offering when she came there. A little further on was a figure of a man and a giant turtle laid out on the prairie in rocks covered with rusty coloured lichen. Laurel smiled and halted Sam so she could savour the sight. It always amused her and she wondered if the figure of the man was leading the turtle, or if the turtle was chasing the man. She always thought of the stone figure as the native trickster Na’pe, Old Man, in English. That’s who the Old Man River was named after, she imagined.

Shaking her head, she nudged Sam forward. She set him into a rocking lope and laughed as the wind whipped across the plains from the west. Before long she reached the clay coloured bluff overlooking the winding river far below. There were other places where trails led down into the river valley, but there was no time for that today. She let Sam drop his head and pull at the tough gamma grass. She braced her hands on his withers and watched the shadows change as the sun dropped lower. The wind whipped the grass so it rippled like the waves on the sea. Her thoughts turned back to Gramma Bella and Cornwall. Why can’t Dad see I need to follow Gramma Bella to England? And what’s with Dad going on about Chance and me like he expects us to get married some day? As if!

 

Book Blurb:

Laurel Rowan is determined to find her estranged grandmother. She wants answers to some questions that arose after her visit to Cornwall. Laurel needs to know why her father is angry with Gramma Bella. Arriving in the hamlet of Bragg Creek, Alberta, Laurel is disappointed to find Gramma Bella has gone to England. A Christmas visit to her friends in Cornwall seems like a good idea, after all that’s where all the questions started. What she finds there is both exciting and disturbing. Laurel and her friends embark on another adventure over the windswept moors and down the narrow winding streets of Cornish villages. The biggest question is: Where is Gramma Bella and what does Vear Du know about it?

Book Links:

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VH5O2HY/ref=cm_sw_su_dp  

Books We Love – http://bookswelove.net/authors/bell-nancy/

 

 

 

Author Bio:

Nancy M Bell is a proud Canadian and lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters. She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. Nancy had numerous writing credits to her name and her work has been recognized and honored with various awards. Nancy has presented at the Surrey International Writers Conference and the Writers Guild of Alberta Conference. Her publishing credits include poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

 

Twitter – @emilypikkasso

Facebook – http://facebook.com/NancyMBell

Website - http://www.nancymbell.ca

Blog – http://nancymariebell.blogspot.ca/

Thanks for stopping by and supporting our lovely Spotlight Author, Nancy M Bell. We’d love it if you could leave a comment, and spread the word on social media.

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REBLOGGED: Concept of Unity: Featuring Harmony Kent

This post is reblogged from Synful Desire’s awesome blog!

Concept of Unity: Featuring Harmony Kent
Posted on May 3, 2015 by SYNFULDESIRELeave a comment

Hello Awesome Visitors! Before I jump into the thick of things with Sunday Speak, let me provide a bit of background about an anthology that I was a part of at the start of 2015, called Concordant Vibrancy.

Concordant Vibrancy is the very 1st anthology set up by All Authors Publishing House and included members of not only the Publishing House but also part of All Authors Magazine. Using the theme “Unity” we generated our own interpretations in the form of short stories.
Now, since May is Short Story Month, I did reach out to the participants inConcordant Vibrancy and asked them one simple question:
“What was the inspiration behind the story, and how does the story tie into the concept of unity?”
I also asked each person to share an excerpt.

All right, now that we have that out of the way, let me introduce you to the 1st person that responded to my question, Harmony Kent.

Story featured in Concordant Vibrancy

“Seven Days”
What was the inspiration behind my story, and how does it tie in to the concept of Unity?
Seven Days was inspired by, and based loosely upon, the seven days of Bardo—as taught in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. However, I tried to keep it as religion neutral as possible, because—as stated in the Poem on Unity at the beginning of the story—I believe that the labels we attach to things have no ultimate meaning—that they are man-made. We human beings, no matter our religion, culture, skin colour, or philosophy, all have the same issues, fears, hopes, aspirations, and dreams. And we all belong. Every single one of us. Seven Days takes a look at the process of death, and the moving from separation and isolation, into Unity. It looks at how we separate ourselves by our judgments and choices. But we can never be truly alone, as we are all connected at a deep level. It is all the same energy. The whole universe is unified. It fascinates me that modern-day quantum physics is finding the same things out that most religions have posited for thousands of years. We call it different things, we give it different labels, but essentially it is the same. And it leads us to the same place: Unity.

Seven Days: Excerpt
Shapes coalesce and form within the mist, which is suddenly all around me. My family. My mother, my brother, my sister, my wife. Grief makes a grotesque parody of their features, and distorts them almost beyond recognition. I’ve never seen Mary look so haggard, nor my mother so old, so frail. Beth, my sweet L’l-sis, is paler than day-old snow. She looks thin and kind of tatty around the edges. Josh just looks stunned. As though he can’t take it in … can’t quite believe reality.
The visual is bad enough. Now I get the audio as well. A high, keening wail keeps coming from Mum’s lips. Josh swallows loudly and clears his throat every couple of seconds. Mary sighs, rubs her cheeks, her eyes, and sighs some more. Beth doesn’t make a sound—her silence is deafening. I want to tell them all to shut up. To just shush. But Beth … I want her to get loud. To cry, scream, babble in tongues: anything, so long as she quits with the statue impersonation.
I have to comfort them. Please, just one caress. One soft word. I beg of you, whoever you are, let me at least say goodbye. Why so cruel? What possible harm could such small mercy offer? At the very least, let them sense my presence. I am present, aren’t I? I do exist? Answer me! Is there a God? Or just this void? Is this hell? Am I condemned to watch my loved ones grieve for the rest of whatever existence this is?
The mist swirls, but never thins. All I can see are my family, no other details. It’s like they’re in this suspended animation with me. Where are we? Or, perhaps, I should be asking: where are they? The certainty I’m not really with them has crept upon my consciousness. A veil separates us—thin enough to elude my frantic search, but there. Where am I? Perhaps this is the more pertinent question.

Thank you so much Awesome Visitors for checking out this special spotlight on “Seven Days”, one of the stories in Concordant Vibrancy.

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SUPPORTING AUTHORS: RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the fifth of five authors I have spotlighted, promoted, and propelled over the last five days as part of the RRBC BT Pay it forward week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Maureen Kovach! Maureen is a supportive member of RRBC, who is always supporting her fellow club members with retweets on Twitter, as well as a talented author! So, lets all please give Maureen as much support as we can today!

About Maureen Kovach

Maureen K. Howard’s Books are humorous mysteries featuring best friends, drama professor, Francesca Egge, and journalist, Juniper Augusta. When the school year is over and the article deadlines have been met, these best friends ditch their business attire, grab their flip flops, and head to the lake to live out their favorite summertime dream: “Drink in one hand, credit card in the other, and everything else will sort itself out.”

 Unfortunately, murder, suspicion, and investigations seem to always interfere with happy hour.

Grab your sunglasses, your favorite cocktail, a copy of Sunny Side Up, and head to the lake with us for an unforgettable weekend adventure.

Muareen is one half of a mother/daughter team, Maureen Kovach and Brigette Howard, with a shared passion. Make that a plethora of shared passions. As long as they have known one another (and in Brigette’s case her entire life), they have been connected in ways that might surprise an average citizen.  Their loves include Lake Erie, boating, shopping, drinking good wine, and eating cheese in all its wonderful varieties.

SUNNY SIDE UP is their first collaborative project.

DEVILED, Book two in the Lake Erie Mysteries Series, is coming soon.

Maureen’s and Bridgette’s Book:

SUNNY SIDE UP

Available here: AMAZON UK and AMAZON US.

“Drink in one hand, credit card in the other, and everything else will sort itself out.”

The school year is over and the article deadlines have been met, so best friends, Francie and June, ditch their business attire, grab their flip flops, and head to the lake for some fun in the sun.

Instead of enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at Kelleys Island on Lake Erie, this dynamic duo finds themselves in the middle of a murder investigation. They need to find out who burned down their friend’s store, discover the identity of the charred corpse found in the wreckage, and clear Francie’s husband, Hamm, before he is charged with the crime.

Fueled up with their favorite snacks of wine and cheese, these adventure-loving ladies manage to keep their eyes open for a bargain, come up with a plan, and even indulge in a bit of romance, all while dodging increasingly dangerous attempts to silence them for good.

Grab your sunglasses, your favorite cocktail, a copy of Sunny Side Up, and head to the lake with them for an unforgettable weekend adventure.

And don’t miss their next book, DEVILED, coming soon!

They’re not wrong about their sense of humour or love of books … I just had to share this post from Maureen’s Facebook Timeline:

Maureen K. Howard
25 April at 13:36 ·

Sometimes this is just true!

I have to agree with you there, Maureen! Happily, I only have myself to starve, LOL

Maureen’s website can be found HERE.

You can also find her on Twitter: @mhowardbooks

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maureenhowardauthor?_rdr

And on RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB.

Very best of luck with all your writing endeavours Maureen (and Bridgette), and thanks for being such a supportive gal!

 

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Rave Reviews Book Club Spotlight Author: Bethany Turner!

It gives me great pleasure to host Bethany Turner today! Congratulations, Bethany, on being Rave Reviews Book Club Spotlight Author. As well as being on my blog today with her Spotlight post, I am also hosting Bethany as part of my Pay it Forward week, and that post is live today as well, so do be sure to check that out too. Lets all support Bethany and give her a week to remember! Take it away, Bethany!

Meet the Men of the Abigail Phelps Series

NAME: George Clooney

ROLE: Best friend/frequent co-star of Abigail Phelps

HE MET ABBY… In April of 1978

IN GEORGE’S WORDS: “When you’re old and gray and alone and not understanding why John and Chris don’t fight over you anymore, I’ll still visit you. And we’ll sit together and watch Out of Africa and Bolero and reflect on your golden days. I won’t even bring my 22-year-old girlfriend around, because I am your best friend and don’t want to make you feel bad about yourself.”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “He had loved me unconditionally. Since we met, I would look at George and I would see the best parts of myself, because that is what George saw. I would see happiness and nostalgia and security. Suddenly, when I looked at George I saw the doctor telling me that in spite of their best efforts, Sergei could not be revived. When I looked at George I saw the phone, not ringing, as I waited for news about the whereabouts of the Piper Saratoga. When I looked at George I saw Chris walking out of the Ivy and out of my life, taking our daughter with him. So, except when absolutely necessary for work purposes only, I chose to no longer look at George.”

 

NAME: Christopher Dean

ROLE: Ice Dancing partner/friend/occasional love interest of Abigail Phelps

HE MET ABBY… In Vienna, just prior to the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships.

IN CHRIS’S WORDS: “I’m so tired of you being everything. When you aren’t in my life, I’m better by the world’s standards. I function, which is something I can’t seem to do when you’re around. But it’s empty. Completely empty. Every emotion I feel and every action I take is half-hearted at best. All I do is function. I don’t laugh. I don’t live. I don’t love. And I’m tired of it, Abigail. I have tried to purge you from my heart time and again, and it’s useless. My heart only exists to love you.”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “I’ve lost Sergei, and I’ve lost John, and the pain has been so intense that I didn’t know if I could survive it. But if I ever lost you, I know now that I wouldn’t want to survive it, Chris. I love you, and I want you, and I need you. So much more than I ever knew.”

 

NAME: John F. Kennedy Jr.

ROLE: Abby’s First Love

HE MET ABBY… In the spring of 1980 on the campus of Brown University.

IN JOHN’S WORDS: “I screwed up royally, time and again, and somehow we have still managed to make it this far, and you have found room in your heart to love me. And I loved you before we even got your books picked up off the ground after you tripped over those tree roots, on day one. I’d never known anything like the pull I felt to you, and I still feel it. All these years later, it’s stronger than ever.”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “I was saying goodbye to John, the first man I loved. I stared out at the ocean, remembering sailboats and kayaks and summer days which John and I spent together, but I also couldn’t help but think of the Piper Saratoga, spiraling into the very waters that were gently rushing to the shore and running away just as tenderly as I cried. I was heartbroken, but suddenly I was strangely at peace.”

NAME: Sergei Grinkov

ROLE: Abby’s Russian pairs skating partner/first husband

HE MET ABBY… In Sarajevo, 1984, hours after Bolero. It was quite some time before they could speak without the assistance of an interpreter.

IN SERGEI’S WORDS: “Abby, I know I many times forget things, little things like jokes. But I never forget how much I love you and how lucky I am. I just wanted to say that. Also, by time we get home that milk will be very bad. Do not drink it.”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “George had accurately deciphered what I was looking for back in 1985, as we sat at the Oscars. He said then that I was seeking something, someone, entirely different from all I had known. He certainly hadn’t put a name to it, but finally I knew. Even then, my heart was preparing itself for Sergei Grinkov.”

 

NAME: Robert Redford

ROLE: Abby’s co-star and good friend

HE MET ABBY… In 1984 when she auditioned for Out of Africa.

IN ROBERT’S WORDS: “‘John and Daryl seemed to hit it off, didn’t they?’ Bob took a sip of his scotch but never took his eyes off of me. I probably would have spit out my drink if it wasn’t too good to waste, but I did choke on it a little bit, which was every bit as humiliating. “Did they? I guess I didn’t notice.’ He leaned forward. ‘You forget. Everything you know about acting, you learned from me.’ He was smiling kindly. ‘I’m not buying it.’”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “There are still times when I feel like the world is unraveling, and nothing gets me functional again more quickly than calling up Bob and asking him to dinner. I used to joke with him that I was going to write a play called Dinner With Redford, and it would just be him on a stage, sitting at a two-person table facing the audience. There would be roses and candles on the table, and a bottle of wine close by, and Bob would spend two-and-a-half hours eating and talking to the audience, and at the end everyone would walk away feeling like they had a little more direction in their lives.”

 

NAME: Colin Firth

ROLE: Abby’s Darcy – on film and in life

HE MET ABBY… In 1994 when she auditioned for Pride and Prejudice.

IN COLIN’S WORDS: “Well, no one has any control over chemistry. But I think a tomato could have played Mr. Darcy and had chemistry with Abby. Truthfully, I think I was in love with her from day one, but you know, she was married and had a baby. As off limits as they get. But we did reconnect later, and things were a bit different. We got very close. And now I consider her a close friend, and I will be there for her always. She knows and I know that I’m supporting her and she isn’t going through any of this alone”

IN ABBY’S WORDS: “If you didn’t know it before, you know it now: I really am insane! Colin Firth. I believe now, as I did then, that he is truly one of the best people on the planet. He is kind and humble and intelligent and hilarious and talented beyond measure. Colin has the best walk in the world. He moves his shoulders in just the right way – a combination of class and strength and masculinity and sexuality. If I could have sat down and created, one piece at a time, the perfect man for me, choosing each physical, emotional, and mental characteristic, I would have created Colin Firth. So I must have been out of mind because I just couldn’t bring myself to fall in love with him.”

Find Bethany Online!!

Twitter: @BTLiteraryStuff

Facebook: www.facebook.com/seebethanywrite; www.facebook.com/abigailphelpsseries

Website: www.seebethanywrite.com; www.abbyphelps.com

Pinterest – www.pinterest.com/seebethanywrite

 Book Info:

I’ve Loved These Days – Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSWE6U4

Scenes From Highland Falls – Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSX6HD2

Two Thousand Years – Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSYL5UQ

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SUPPORTING AUTHORS: RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the fourth of five authors I am going to spotlight, promote, and propel over five days as part of the RRBC BT Pay it forward week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Bethany Turner! Bethany is a member of RRBC, as well as a talented author! Bethany is also a volunteer on the Tweet Support Team of RRBC, which means she devotes her time every week to supporting fellow members and authors on Twitter. And, of course, I couldn’t support supportive authors and fellow book club members without giving a day to Bethany, the person who dreamed up the idea of Pay it Forward week in the first place! Even more special, is that Bethany is the newest volunteer on the Governing Board of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB, which means that she is going to be devoting countless hours each week to help ensure that the club’s members have the best book club they can. So, lets all please give Bethany as much support as we can today!

Bethany Turner
about the author

Bethany Turner is the author of the Abigail Phelps Series of books:
I’ve Loved These Days , Scenes From Highland Falls , and Two Thousand Years . You can follow her journey on her daily blog, The Year of Blogging Faithfully.

With the Abigail Phelps Series, author Bethany Turner had the unique opportunity to bring together in one series of books all of the pop culture places and things with which she has ever been obsessed. We should have known it would come to this…

Her first writing award was in the 2nd grade – at a State-level contest, students were given the assignment of writing about any living person they would choose to have lunch with, and why. While do-gooders all around her chose Reagan, Thatcher, and Gorbachev, Bethany chose John Stamos – yes, Uncle Jesse. Her obsession with pop culture continues more than 25 years later, and Bethany is proud to say that John Stamos ignores her on Twitter and Facebook, even to this very day.

Bethany is a born and bred Kentucky girl who relocated to Colorado in 2001, three years after meeting the love of her life in a chat room – back before anyone knew that wasn’t a good idea. Thankfully, it worked out in this case, and she and her husband are the proud parents of two boys.

Bethany’s Books:

Bethany is the author of the ABIGAIL PHELPS series of books … I’ve Loved these Days, Scenes from Highland Falls, and Two Thousand Years, all of which can be found HERE.

I’VE LOVED THESE DAYS: Book 1 in the series

Available here: AMAZON UK and AMAZON US.

“The very first time you met me you knew that he would never be the same again, didn’t you? For the record, I was never the same again either. And while times have changed and opportunities have been lost, I still know in my heart of hearts that I never will be. But we can’t go back, and we can’t undo. What’s more, I don’t really want to. While my life is not perfect, it is uniquely, ridiculously mine, and I would not trade it.”

Abigail Phelps has written her memoirs, but the world has never heard of her. So why should anyone care? Perhaps no one would, if the letter in which Abigail reflects on changing times and lost opportunities weren’t addressed to Jacqueline Onassis, and the man who would never be the same weren’t John F. Kennedy Jr.

Put aside all you think you know and jump into the greatest love story the world has never known.

SCENES FROM HIGHLAND FALLS: Book 2 in the series

Available here: AMAZON UK and AMAZON US.

“I knew that Senator Kennedy would not accept defeat. He would not step aside and allow his horrible error to be a wake-up call. He would not reach out to me and suggest we put our bitter feud behind us. He would try again, for Kennedy men do not give up. They don’t give up on their dreams of the White House, they don’t give up once they decide they want to spend their lives with the woman they love, and they don’t give up until they’ve gotten rid of anything standing in their way.”

The delusions of a woman detached from reality? Or the scandalous, well-kept secrets of the greatest love story the world has never known? In the second installment of the Abigail Phelps Series, Abigail’s stories become even more difficult to believe, and absolutely impossible to deny.

THE ABIGAIL PHELPS SERIES

I’ve Loved These Days ~ Scenes From Highland Falls ~ Two Thousand Years

Bethany also offers book reviews: http://www.seebethanywrite.com/see-bethany-review, and her blog can be found HERE, where she hosts many of her fellow authors. Watch out though, because the backdrop is a scene from a high rise tower block! My nervousness of heights always kicks in whenever I visit Bethany’s blog, but the awesome content soon has me calmed! Seriously, I love this backdrop and am secretly a little bit jealous

In addition to all of this, Bethany is one of the hosts for the brand new RAVE WAVES radio show! You can catch past and present shows HERE.

Bethany’s website is HERE.

You can also find Bethany on Twitter: @BTLiteraryStuff

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abigailphelpsseries

And on RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB.

Very best of luck with all of your endeavours, Bethany! And thank you for being such an awesome and supportive Gal!

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SUPPORTING AUTHORS: RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host anohter author as part of the RRBC BT Pay it forward week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

Now, I know I am posting double today, but Nancy Bell is an incredibly awesome and supportive member of RRBC and is getting all my love in this post. Nancy is also a volunteer on the Tweet Support Team of RRBC, which means she devotes her time every week to supporting fellow members and authors on Twitter. So, please, everyone, lets give a HUGE warm welcome to Nancy M Bell!

Nancy M Bell
about the author

Nancy Marie Bell is a proud Albertan and lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters.  She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. Nancy has numerous writing credits to her name, having three novels published and her work has been published in various magazines. She has also had her work recognized and honoured with various awards, and most recently, a silver medal in the Creative Writing category of the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games in 2013.  Nancy has presented at the Surrey International Writers Conference in 2012 and 2013, and at the Writers Guild of Alberta Conference in 2014. She has publishing credits in poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

Nancy’s Books:

Nancy has written a number of books and poetry, and these can be found on her website: http://www.nancymbell.ca/.

She has a series called THE CORNWALL ADVENTURES.

Laurel’s Quest is the first book in the series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A step beyond is the second book in the series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Go Gently is the third book in this series

 

Christmas storm is an enjoyable romance novel set amidst snowdrifts, a stray dog, a match-making little old lady, an ex-fiance, and a sexy new vet in town. This is an easy and fun read, and will appeal to folks who like a good old traditional romance read. And can be found on Amazon US

Connect with this lovely lady and great author on:

Her Website: http://www.nancymbell.ca/

Twitter

Facebook

And on RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB

We all wish you the very best of luck in all your endeavours, Nancy. And thank you for being so supportive and such a generous lady.

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SUPPORTING AUTHORS: RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the third of five authors I am going to spotlight, promote, and propel over five days as part of the RRBC BT Pay it forward week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Nonnie Jules! Nonnie is the founder and president of RRBC, as well as a talented author! This means she devotes countless hours every week to the club and all its members, helping to ensure they have the best book club they could have. Nonnie really goes out of her way to support everyone. So, lets all please give Nonnie as much support as we can today!

About Nonnie Jules


Rave Reviews Book Club Founder and President
Also known as WONDER WOMAN!

Nonnie established the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB in December 2013 for the sole purpose of supporting, promoting, and propelling her fellow authors. Nonnie is one of the strongest women I know, and is always thinking of ways to best support every member of the book club. I admire her dedication and commitment and drive. As well as setting up and running this awesome club, Nonnie also writes a number of blogs, and has written a number of books. Not only this, but Nonnie also offers promotional and publishing help for authors in the form of 4Wills Publishing. I have run a number of blog tours with 4Wills, and have benefited from each and every one. Nonnie goes out of her way to help authors.

Nonnie Jules was born in the mid ’70s in  TX.  When she was a mere toddler, her family relocated to Shreveport, LA where red dirt roads and pick up trucks go hand in hand.  She still lives in Louisiana today with her husband, two daughters and their many animals.  She loves to write from all genres of literature including short stories, poetry, fiction and non, as well as How-To books.  Her first book “THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS,” 100 Tips On Raising Daughters Everyone Can’t Help But Love! is on sale now on Amazon, Createspace or autographed copies atBooksByNonnie. You may also watch the trailer to “THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE…”  here on Youtube.

Her second writing,  a novel entitled “Daydream’s Daughter, Nightmare’s Friend” was just released in  November, 2013,  and was highly anticipated by many who had read only the first two chapters. It’s on Amazon as well as autographed copies at BooksByNonnie.  Check out the trailer.   “THE GOOD MOMMIE’S GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT KIDS,” The Next 100! A children’s book  is also scheduled for release sometime in the near future.

Nonnie recently started her own publishing company along with 3 partners, 4WillsPublishing. Noticing some of the work that was being put out in the industry, it became a strong desire of hers to ensure that authors were only putting out THE BEST, and that the readers were only being offered the BEST, and that’s who her company will represent: those that are already at their best and those aspiring to be the best!  So, if you have a story inside you that you want to get out, OR if you’ve already written and published, but are looking for other awesome marketing tools for your book(s),  simply visit their SERVICES page to find out about the  fantastic services the company has to offer.

In December, 2013, Nonnie founded Rave Reviews By Nonnie Jules and the Rave Reviews Book Club which you’ve probably heard so much about.  In a little over a year, this organization has reached over 500 in membership and that number increases daily!  If you’re an author (or reader) and you are looking to become a part of an organization that feels like family, one that  will support you to no end, you need to add your name to that roster of the elite members of RRBC.

This Author lives by the premise that A CANDLE LOSES NOTHING BY LIGHTING ANOTHER CANDLE.  She’s always willing to lend a helping hand to another, and her hope is that her fellow authors will do the same for others coming up in the ranks, when they are presented with the opportunity. Nonnie can be be found most often on Twitter, relentlessly promoting other indie authors.  Nonnie says that she will continue to write as long as her readers continue reading her work.

I have to give a mention to Nonnie’s ON THE SHELF INTERVIEWS. You really have to check out these hilarious (ahem) I mean informative and serious(ly dangerous) ahem, ahem … interviews! Ahem … sorry, guys, I seem to have developed a bit of a cough! Seriously though, Nonnie’s on the shelf’s have become (in)famous! You really don’t want to miss them. I’ve been a (victim) guest myself before now!  
Nonnie’s Blogs:

WATCH NONNIE WRITE!

Ask The Good Mommy

Rave Reviews By Nonnie Jules

4WillsPublishing

Nonnie’s Books:

Nonnie is the author of many books, all of which can be found HERE.

Her most recent books are:

IF ONLY THERE WAS MUSIC: The poetry of forbidden love

A compilation of poetry in collaboration with author Giani Jordan.

Available here: AMAZON UK and AMAZON US.

This is a book of poetry for and about forbidden love. These poems are sexy, sensuous and hot, but most of all, they are poems of love… and the feelings they arouse in you are unbelievable! They “feel” like love songs and you will “feel” like singing, but they are only spoken words coming from your mouth, without music. If you aren’t in love before you begin reading this book, you will go seeking a love afterwards.

DAYDREAM’S DAUGHTER, NIGHTMARE’S FRIEND

Available here: AMAZON UK and AMAZON US.

*THIS BOOK IS FOR AUDIENCES 18 YEARS OLD AND OLDER. NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN!

“She was one horrible mess. Always looking over her shoulder and avoiding becoming too friendly with the neighbors. That anxiety stemmed from a horrible place. Always fearing that someone would recognize her face, she kept to herself and didn’t go out much. And when she did, no matter the season, she wore some kind of hat or covering on her head, enough to shield her face.

Walter never understood why she was such a loner, avoiding people at all cost and just being very anti-social outside of the house. Houston was originally her home, not his, yet she didn’t even want her own family and friends to know that she had returned. The only person she found herself being able to really open up with was Walter. And although she tried to make him feel otherwise, he knew that there was still a huge wall up that even he would never be able to see over or climb.”

Marisa had a secret and if it was ever revealed, it would cost her her life and her freedom.

Nonnie also has a MERCHANDISE STORE, where you will find lots of goodies, including: book bags, aprons, cell phone cases, drinking glasses, and much more.

Nonnie’s websites are HERE and HERE.

You can also find Nonnie on Twitter: @NonnieJules

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/BooksByNonnie

And on RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB.

Very best of luck with all your endeavours, Nonnie! And thank you for being such an awesome and supportive gal!

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