Inglath Cooper's Blog, page 14

Great FREE Books for Kindle on Amazon

 

Check these out, but Click Quick – they don’t stay FREE for long!

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train comes a beautifully wrought novel about a daughter’s search for the truth about her mother’s death. Both a Southern literary saga and a psychological thriller, “it will grab readers from the first line” (Chattanooga News-Free Press).

Click Quick – won’t stay FREE for long!  http://amzn.to/QxqxV0

When a baby is found on the doorstep of The Heartbreak Café in Lakeview, everyone asks – what kind of parent would abandon their child?

Hollywood actress Ruth Seymour is home for the summer. But has an ill-advised fling with a handsome co-star resulted in a seriously unplanned consequence?

Jess feels increasingly left out as the only non-mum amongst her friends. Terrified she might lose them altogether, she embarks on becoming a mother too. But is she really ready?

Nina has come to Lakeview to live with her estranged father, Patrick after a bad break-up. But will she ever dare tell him about the secret she is concealing?

One thing’s for sure: someone knows more than they’re telling. And the truth won’t stay hidden forever…

(Published in the UK as The Truth About You)

Note: Lakeview books can be read standalone in any order as they are all separate stories/characters. What the novels have in common is that each is set/partly set in the picturesque Irish tourist village of Lakeview, and features some recurring secondary characters and locations.

Click Quick – won’t stay FREE for long!  http://amzn.to/1rjxjLd

In a moment of desperation, two strangers make a wish, only to discover that sometimes a wish can take you down an unexpected path … straight toward a life-changing love. WHEN WISHES COLLIDE, Book #3 in the WISH Series, is an emotionally compelling and suspenseful contemporary romance by #1 NY Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy.

Adrianna Cavello’s life changed in an instant when a break-in at her restaurant took the life of her boyfriend and left her too traumatized to return to work. Months later, with everything she’s ever wanted on the line, Adrianna makes a wish by tossing a coin into a fountain known for making miracles.

Wyatt Randall is also in need of a miracle. Two years earlier, his ex-wife kidnapped their daughter, and Wyatt is desperate to find his little girl. A new lead raises his hopes, but quickly fizzles out. When his coin clashes with another, he sees what little hope he has flying away.

Adrianna and Wyatt soon learn that they have more in common than two coins that collided. In fighting for the lives they lost, they must learn how to trust again. Only then will they discover that meeting each other and falling in love might not be what they wished for, but exactly what they need.

Click Quick – won’t stay FREE for long!  http://amzn.to/1lEGYwS

Aelissm Davis figured she would eventually return home to Northstar, Montana, but not like this—driven to seek the tranquility of the secluded valley by memories of her dead boyfriend and the advances of an obsessive former friend. Just when she begins to relax, a call from her old friend makes it clear he wasn’t deterred, and she calls her overprotective uncle for advice. Things become even more tangled when he sends Patrick O’Neil “on vacation” to keep an eye on her. Aelissm is pretty sure her uncle is playing matchmaker again, but despite her annoyance, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Pat. He is a haunted man with a kind smile and sad eyes, and he may just be the best thing to ever happen to her… if she can convince him to stay.

Click Quick – won’t stay FREE for long! http://amzn.to/1tE9XSq

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Library Love

 

I’m sitting upstairs this afternoon in the library that is a focal point of our small town.

This is actually the new version. When I was growing up, the library was much smaller, and it was located “uptown” right next to the courthouse. The library we have now is wonderful with lots of modern niceties. But my favorite remains the old one, the one I went to as a child. I even set my first book – Truths and Roses – in a fictional version of this library.

Honestly, getting to go there was more thrilling than any shopping trip, more so, even, than going out for ice cream. I remember, too, when I got my first library card. It felt like I’d been handed a key to another universe. And, really, I guess I had. All those books. All those stories I couldn’t wait to read.

We usually went once a week. On Saturday morning when we would go to town for groceries. I can still remember the smell of the building and what it felt like to have a chunk of time to browse the aisles for the places I would get to visit during my reading travel the following week.

I’m really thankful for that library. I would never have been able to read all the books I read growing up if it hadn’t been there.

Did you have a favorite library when you were growing up?

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-love-dogs-free-gift

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Picking a Path Even if It Takes Courage

But it’s not always easy to do.

There’s some comfort to be found in blending with the crowd, not standing out too much. Being different means being noticed. And sometimes, that’s not always comfortable. Even so, it may be the road we need to take to get where we want to be.

In my life, writing has been an example of this. I spent many years learning how to write a book that did all the things a good book should do. My first few manuscripts were worthy of the rejection letters they received from publishers. Yes, I can see and admit that from here.

When my books began to sell, it was an extremely rewarding time, a long term goal achieved. I made many wonderful friends, worked with great editors and finally felt that my hopes of being a published author were no longer pie in the sky dreams.

But writing for someone else means sometimes accepting things you wish you could do differently. Things like titles, covers, marketing. I yearned for more say in the total vision of my books.

When independent publishing began to appear on the horizon of opportunity, this desire actually became a possibility. But the thought of striking out on my own was terrifying. That seems strange to me from where I am right now, but it truly was. And it took me some time to come to the conclusion that this was a path I wanted to take.

I think about how easily I could have given in to the self-doubt, the fears that I would fall on my face. There was a good stretch of time where I stood at the intersection of Robert Frost’s two roads, completely unsure which one to take. I’m so glad I took the one that at the time was less travelled for me. I would have missed out on so many wonderfully fulfilling moments on this writing journey of mine.

Is there something in your life you’re struggling to decide on? Something your heart very much wants but is afraid to reach out for?

Your journey may be very different from mine, but don’t let the fear of being different hold you back. Taking that step onto the less worn path is often just the thing to show us who we really are.

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Run After Your Passions

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Helping Someone Else

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. – Booker T. Washington

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Living Life to the Fullest

 

I love this quote. It’s a wonderful reminder to live life to the fullest. Look for those moments that make for wonderful memories. Plan special time with friends and family. Make a long list of places you want to see. Books you want to read. It’s nice to think that in doing so we might store up many memories of moments that took our breath away.

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Memories

Remember when:

You were five, and your mother’s hugs smelled like vanilla wafers.

You were six, and you were absolutely sure those were reindeer hooves you heard on the roof.

You were seven, and you thought there really could be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

You were eight, and lightning bugs on a July night were fascinating.

You were nine, and so what if you still liked to sleep with that raggedy monkey you’d had since you were two?

You were ten and camped out with your cousins by the fish pond.  The frogs sang all night.

You were eleven, and a trip to the library was almost as good as a blizzard from Dairy Queen.

You were twelve, and the middle school had a Sadie Hawkins dance.  Why was it so hard for a girl to ask a boy?

You were thirteen, and had a best friend who thought you were cooler than cool.

You were fourteen, and acne stunk the big one.

You were fifteen, and that first kiss felt like fourth of July, Christmas Eve and your birthday all rolled into one.

You were sixteen, it was Friday night, and your first car date.  Your date at the front door looked so good you could barely speak.  It was ten-thirty before you held hands across the front seat, but it was worth every moment of the wait.

You were seventeen and taking the SAT.  It felt monumental, as if your future hinged on how well you did.

You were eighteen, the middle of June, graduation day.  Joy, sadness, wonder.  Cap in the air.  Nothing would ever be the same.

Remember. . .

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Hateship Loveship

Hateship Loveship. What a wonderful discovery this indie film is! It’s so rare to run across a film that has all the elements of a story that draws you in from moment one and doesn’t let go until the very end.

Here’s the Wikipedia plot summary:

Johanna Perry (Kristen Wiig) moves to a new town to work as a housekeeper for Mr. McCauley (Nick Nolte), an elderly man who needs help keeping house, and to be a caretaker for McCauley’s granddaughter, Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld). She meets Sabitha’s father and McCauley’s son-in-law, Ken (Guy Pearce), who does not live with Sabitha or McCauley, but instead resides in Chicago. Sabitha’s best friend, Edith (Sami Gayle), tells Johanna (after Johanna asks where Sabitha’s mother lives) that Ken’s wife died several years ago. As a practical joke, she and Sabitha forge a love note for Johanna, addressed from Ken, never dreaming that Johanna would want to reply. She and Edith volunteer to mail it, only to open it and read it themselves, before writing a reply, then setting up a fake email account for Ken (who does not have email) and send love emails to Johanna, calling her “my only friend”. But trust must be evaluated when “Ken” asks Johanna to visit him in Chicago, and the truth about the man she loves, while it might be time for McCauley to trust Ken, who might just find new love.

I love Johanna. She’s just so real. In the beginning, we see that she’s accepted that her life is never going to be anything other than what it is. She’s a caretaker. One who acts from the heart. When she begins to fall for Ken through the letters she thinks are from him, we can see her love for him begin to unfold within her. 

Ken is a drug addict with a messed up life, but there’s goodness in him, and we see this from the beginning.

This love story doesn’t involve perfect people living perfect lives. But Johanna and Ken are two people you will ultimately want to root for.

Great escape rating for Hateship Loveship? 5 Stars!

You can rent it on iTunes. Watch the trailer.

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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Friends Care

Aren’t the simplest gestures of friendship often the most meaningful? If caring is the common ingredient in a friendship, not much else matters.

It is only the great hearted who can be true friends. The mean and cowardly, Can never know what true friendship means.

Charles Kingsley

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There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.

Paramahansa Yogananda

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Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us – never cease to instruct – never cloy.

Charles Caleb Colton

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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10 Dollops of Wisdom on Reading

1. The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. – Elizabeth Hardwick.

2. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. – Thomas Carlyle.

3. Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him. – Maya Angelou.

4. We read to know that we are not alone. – C.S. Lewis.

5. You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. – Paul Sweeney.

6. Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world. – Voltaire.

7. Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window. – William Faulkner.

8. Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book. – Jane Smiley.

9. Books are a uniquely portable magic. – Stephen King.

10. I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here:http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-lo...

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