Tag: Non-Fiction

#BookReviews! @fredsdiary1981 @hmkindt @nonniejules @EnigmaSeries #RRBCAuthors

Published on by Jan Sikes20 Comments

I read constantly. And it’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to post some of my reviews. So, today I’m going to remedy that.

The books and reviews are listed in random order.

THE BLURB:

A holiday can change everything…

…it did for Fred.

He went on a two-week break with three friends to the Spanish island of Ibiza in July 1976. It was so enjoyable they all vowed to come back for the following season.

In April 1977, Fred returned to Ibiza, alone, in pursuit of his dream.

Behind him, he left his family, his girlfriend, and a promising career in banking.

Challenges lay ahead.

This would be no holiday.

He needed a place to stay and to find work that would sustain him through the next six months.

This true to life memoir follows 21-year-old Fred’s adventures as he acclimatises to living abroad. In a time before instant communication, he keeps in touch with family and friends by letter. They are his lifeline to home.

If you enjoy reading about people’s life-changing experiences, then this book is for you.

MY 5 STAR REVIEW:

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir from Robert (aka Fred) Fear! As he took me along with him on the many adventures he had in Ibiza during the summer of 1977, I never lost interest or got bored. That summer changed the author’s life. It was not all roses. He had to work hard at different jobs to make ends meet. He slept in a tiny room and shared a bathroom with other tenants. But the magic of the island outweighed the discomforts. Mr. Fear gave me an inside view of moving to a foreign place and becoming a local. He immersed himself in the culture, the people, and the jobs he had to work in order to stay the entire summer. It became apparent throughout the story, that he grew through the experience. His confidence increased and his determination to have more adventures grew. This is a well-written memoir. The author made me feel as if I was there with him. I found it to be highly interesting and entertaining. Anyone who loves to read true stories will surely enjoy this one!

PURCHASE LINK:

THE BLURB:

Dottie Gale would hitch up with a tornado if it took her out of Kansas. Stuck in a dead-end teaching job beside her cheating ex Corbin isn’t her idea of a dream life. So when her wicked new principal Maxine Westward gifts her a trip to Las Vegas, she grabs her ruby slip-ons and heads for the nearest yellow brick road.

Forced to drive the entire way, Dotty picks up the motley trio of a dimwitted hunk, a heartless drifter, and a cowardly educator along the way. Far out of her comfort zone, the Kansas teacher and her passengers embark on a surprising adventure. But when Dottie reaches her destination and receives an unexpected declaration of love, she wonders if the journey has changed her far too much to accept…

As Westward’s fiendish plan to ruin her trip takes shape, will Dottie finally find her happiness somewhere over the rainbow?

Ruby Slips and Poker Chips: The Modern Tale of Dorothy Gale is an award-winning romantic comedy. If you like wise-cracking heroines, heartwarming stories, and hilarious twists and turns, then you’ll love Heather Kindt’s emerald of a novel.

MY 4 STAR REVIEW:

While this story is slightly comparable to the classic tale of the Wizard of Oz, I loved the way the author delivered it in a modern-day setting with realistic characters. Dorothy (Dottie) Gale wants out of small-town Kansas, especially after a new principal takes over the school where she teaches. She’s stuck in what she sees as a boring life with no future. Her childhood friend turned boyfriend, turned cheater (she thinks) is her main reason for wanting to run. So, when she is handed the chance to attend a teacher’s conference in Las Vegas, she jumps at it. But there are drawbacks. The evil principal insists that Dottie drive from Kansas to Las Vegas, and to save money, has to pick up two other teachers along the way. And that’s not all she picks up. A hitchhiker named Tina, joins the trio. The group has lots of adventures along the way including a visit to a county jail in handcuffs. I found this a very entertaining book to read. The choices Dottie is faced with, as well as the lessons she learns, are well executed. The author did a great job of telling this story and the book is error-free. If you like lighthearted stories with a touch of sizzling romance, you will enjoy this story.

PURCHASE LINK:

THE BLURB:

During this pandemic, I offer a 5-part Micro Read series on how COVID19 has impacted and interrupted lives around the world. Since the beginning of this crisis, I have followed and also documented every step and misstep along the way by the current administration in Washington, and also the plus and minus moments of our local leaders around the world. As deep as we are right now into this disease, some still don’t really know what’s going on, or how it’s impacting them – mentally, physically and emotionally. Now, the issue has moved extremely close to my heart. They want to send our kids back to school during the worst pandemic of our lives.

I am a Mom who values many things, but above all else, I am a Mom who values life.

Everyone is sharing their opinion about what we’re living through and how it should all be handled – now it’s time that you heard mine.

MY 4 STAR REVIEW:

Author, Nonnie Jules is well-known as someone who does not shy away from sensitive topics. In her new short story release, she stays true to that persona. She brings some valid points to light along with solid references and research. In the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, we face very uncertain times, not only in the world of education but in every facet of our lives. This short book is filled with advice, reasoning, and logic. My hat is off to educators everywhere and my hat is off to this author for putting together such a comprehensive narrative regarding the issues we face in our current times.

PURCHASE LINK:

THE BLURB:

Hopelessly in love and desperately fearful!

Zara and Buzz are products of vastly different upbringings. Their chance meeting ignites attraction they must explore. Even with lies and omissions, they find themselves falling in love. For them its good thing love is blind.

A defining incident offers the opportunity to explore a future together. They move away from everything for a fresh start. They optimize their experiences to build a life they never imagined in the Caribbean. Then their demons’ surface.

Zara distrusts love because of her past. She’s afraid to commit anyone. Buzz wants love, better than what he’d lost.

Will Zara slip through his fingers? Can they honestly bury their past? If those secrets are shared, will their love be destroyed?

MY 4 STAR REVIEW:

I love the idea of this story. It starts with a high tension rescue that grabbed me right away. Buzz and Zara have dark pasts, but they deeply love each other. This short story covers a span of several years within the twenty-five pages, which leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination. But, the main focus is the deep love they feel for each other. Buzz continuously, over the years, asks Zara to marry him and she always declines. We get a glimpse into her sordid past and what is holding her back from the big commitment. We also get to see the two share their passion for technology by imparting their knowledge to students who are hungry to learn, as they settle on the island of Puerto Rico. The ending is somewhat jolting. And it leaves the story open-ended for more, which I hope these authors will explore. I’d like to see this love resolved. While there is some inconsistency with points of view throughout the story, it is error-free and engaging. It can be read in about thirty to forty minutes.

PURCHASE LINK:

I hope at least one of the books grabbed your attention and that you are now hurrying over to Amazon to make your purchase! Thank you for stopping by and supporting these authors!

How People Get Their Politics – Book Launch – Julie Samrick @juliesamrick

Published on by Jan Sikes32 Comments

I am thrilled to introduce a new author to you and tell you about her new and very timely book, “How People Get Their Politics.” It’s different, insightful, and most interesting to see how political beliefs are ingrained in us.

Book synopsis-


Our political identities are as complex as we are as human beings, though with a single label -Democrat, Republican, Independent, progressive, liberal, conservative- we’re increasingly reduced to stereotypes.
Told through the personal stories of sixteen Americans, born between 1923 and 1998, from all over the country and political spectrum, each story offers insight into how a person’s political beliefs were ingrained.
The sixteen conversations captured in How People Get Their Politics include how cancer, religion, race, and war shaped people’s politics. There are powerful immigrant stories. Two public servants share their opposite, but equally passionate, views of what would be the best policies to move America forward.

Why I wrote the book:

My idea for How People Get Their Politics was more than a decade in the making, as I witnessed the United States reach unsustainable levels of division. This book is not really about politics, it’s about understanding. I hope it can help heal the division our country is suffering. Even if we disagree with a person’s policy position, by knowing the full story, we’d at least understand what led to a position, which will allow us to find a common path forward. 

Author bio – Julie Samrick is passionate about telling stories that capture the human experience. She is also the author of Murphy’s Miracle: One Dog’s Wild Journey, a story inspired by the miraculous return of a beloved golden retriever who spent two years lost in the Sierra Wilderness.

Julie lives in Northern California with her husband and four children. She holds a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley and is a credentialed high school English teacher. For more information visit juliesamrick.com

Purchase links- would love to be in an independent bookstore near you!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Follow the author on social media links

Website: juliesamrick.com

Facebook facebook.com/juliesamrickauthor

Twitter twitter.com/JulieSamrick

Instagram @juliesamrick

“GRANDMOTHERS: A FORCE FOR GOOD” Blog Tour @HealthMN1 @4WillsPub #RRBC #RWISA

Published on by Jan Sikes23 Comments

It is my pleasure to host Harriet Hodgson and her new book on my blog site!

Homemade Granola with Apples and Cinnamon: Fresher, Healthier, Cheaper

Grocery stores carry many kinds of granola. All are tempting. When you read the ingredients label, you may discover the granola is high in fat, sugar, and salt. Some consumers find store-bought granola hard to chew because it’s not fresh. What’s a shopper to do? Making your own granola is the answer.

I came across this recipe years ago and modified it to suit my tastes and health needs. It has no salt and is lightly sweetened with honey. You make your own by adding dried fruit you like. Homemade Granola with Apples and Cinnamon tastes great on yogurt and surprisingly good on frozen yogurt.

INGREDIENTS

6 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup sliced almonds

¼ cup honey

2 tablespoons extra light olive oil

2 tablespoons apple juice

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup dried fruit of choice: chopped apples, chopped apricots, chopped cherries, currants, raisins, blueberries, or reduced sugar cranberries

METHOD

  1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Coat two cookie sheets with baking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, cinnamon, and almonds.
  3. In a small bowl, combine honey, olive oil, apple juice, and vanilla extract.
  4. Add wet mixture to oatmeal mixture and mix well.
  5. Pour granola into baking pans, spreading out evenly.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring several times, until granola starts to brown.
  7. Remove from oven and add dried fruit. Cool completely. Store in tightly sealed containers. Makes about 7 cups

That sounds YUMMY to me! Thank you for sharing, Harriet!

Author Bio:  Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance writer for 38 years, is the author of thousands of print/online articles, and 37 books. Hodgson is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance of Independent Authors. She has appeared on more than 185 radio talk shows, including CBS Radio, and dozens of television stations, including CNN.  A popular speaker, she has given presentations at public health, Alzheimer’s, bereavement, and caregiving conferences. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband, John. Please visit www.harriethodgson.com for more information about this busy wife, mother, grandmother, caregiver, speaker, and author

Purchase Links: Amazon paperback   https://amzn.to/31Kklgs

                           Amazon eBook   https://amzn.to/31FoUt5

                           Barnes and Noble paperback   http://bit.ly/2N28jLY

                           Barnes and Noble eBook   http://bit.ly/31GeWaj

                           IndieBound paperback   http://bit.ly.2TBRpol

To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site.  If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.  Thanks for supporting this author and her work!

#RRBC 2018 WRITERS’ CONFERENCE & BOOK EXPO SPONSORS BLOG HOP – Nonnie Jules

Published on by Jan Sikes32 Comments

Nonnie Jules is known for her head-on approach to life, to writing and to raising her children. Let me introduce you to her book, THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS!

BLURB:

If you’re reading this book then you’re probably a Mom, Mom-to-Be, Guardian (or maybe even a Dad) to daughters. And although I’ve found this to be the greatest job in the world, sometimes it might leave you thinking that boys might have been a little easier . And just for the record, I’ve never had that thought! Are your daughters getting off track and you’d like to know how to get them back on? Are you a new Mommy and you want to know how to raise your daughter (almost) perfectly starting from day one? Then “THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE…” is just for you!

This guide is filled with 100 tips on how you can raise girls “everyone can’t help but love!” In her very humorous manner, the author shares how she started teaching her daughters from the very beginning, when they were in her womb, and she still swears by this method!

“I didn’t have to do much research as I lived this, day in and day out. Throughout this guide you will find my TOP tips that I used in rearing my two (almost) perfect daughters, one now an Adult and the other in her teenage years. Real life situations along with methods on how to effectively deal with each and every one. A little humor thrown into the mix is also what you will find in THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE…”

With an astonishingly surprising twist, the Author includes a few Bible Scriptures here and there without it coming across as “preachy”. They were placed first and foremost because “my daughters were raised in a Christian home and THAT is the real basis of their foundation,” she says. 

The author pokes fun at herself throughout this guidebook which makes it all the more enjoyable to read. She shows us that we don’t have to be PERFECT Mommies to raise (almost) perfect daughters, we just need to be GOOD Mommies with consistent teachings, and with that, our daughters will turn out just fine. 

This guide is great for rearing toddlers, on up to young adult daughters. It will become your personal PARENTING BIBLE.

I am sure that most of you know that Nonnie Jules is the founder and creator of the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB, an international community of readers and writers. There is no other community like it on the planet!

She also created the RAVE WRITERS INT’L SOCIETY OF AUTHORS, where you’ll find the cream of the crop of #RRBC authors!

I’d love it if you’d follow along with the rest of the amazing BLOG HOP!

Welcome to the “HELP FOR GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDKIDS” Blog Tour! @Healthmn1 #4WillsPub #RRBC #RWISA

Published on by Jan Sikes33 Comments

It is my pleasure today to host this special author who has written many books designed to help folks through potentially hard situations. Today, she talks about adding emotion to non-fiction writing. Meet Author, Harriet Hodgson!

Adding Emotion to Non-Fiction Writing

By Harriet Hodgson

I’m a non-fiction writer.  Whether it is for young children, teens or adults, all of my writing contains emotion.  Sometimes my emotions are detailed in descriptive sentences.  Other times they are expressed with dialogue.  Writing about emotions takes effort and often includes pain.

Why should you bother to add emotions to your writing?  There are many pluses and these are the key ones.

Emotion links the author and reader.  Rob Parnell, in his Easy Way to Write website article, “How to Write About Emotion,” says emotions make us uniquely human.  Life isn’t all about what happens, he continues, “it is the way we react to events and people and the things they say that defines our experience of the world.”

All of my books contain emotion.  In fact, emotion is why I write them.  My recent work focuses on loss, grief, and grief recovery.  I wrote these books to identify, track and grow from the roiling emotions I was feeling at the time.  Readers can see my journey in the words I write and the outcome in my latest book about finding happiness again.

Emotion may serve as a “hook.”  Dialogue is one way to hook a reader, according to Mary Jaksch.  She expands this point in her Write to Done website article, “3 Things You Need to Know about Using Dialogue in Non-Fiction.”  What makes dialogue a hook?  According to Jaksch, it works “because it makes a story t of mere information.”  That’s why many newspaper articles open with a quote.

Decades of writing experience have taught me that you have to set the stage for emotion.  You can’t just slap it in the middle of a page and consider yourself done.  Usually, I cite a resource from the bibliography, explain my reaction to this information, and tell how I used it.  

Emotion stirs the reader.  Steve Zousmertells how an author may stir the reader in his “Writer’s Digest” article, “Evoke Emotions in Your Readers, published in the November 2009 issue.  A mistake many biographers and memoir writers make, according to Zousmer, is getting caught up in chronology.  The success of this kind of writing depends on the author’s ability to see his or her story as more than a procession of events, Zousmer notes.

His comment made me think of my own writing.  My elder daughter and father-in-law died the same weekend.  One week later, I sat down in front of the computer and started to pour out my soul in words.  Many of these articles were posted on the Internet and they eventually became a book.  Shocked as I was, overcome with grief as I was, I somehow had the sense to arrange the articles in topical order, not chronological.

Emotion helps the reader to remember facts.  Psychologists like my younger daughter know people remember emotions more easily than facts. Still, I know when I add emotion to my non-fiction writing that I have to sound sincere, credible, and stable. 

Harriet Hodgson, Health and Wellness Author

Rochester, Minnesota resident Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance writer for 38 years, is the author of thousands of articles, and 36 books. She has a BS from Wheelock College in Boston, an MA from the University of Minnesota, and additional graduate training.

Hodgson is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). She is a contributing writer for the Open to Hope Foundation, The Grief Toolbox, and The Caregiver Space websites. Visit www.thecaregiverspace.org/authors/hhodgson to read her articles.

Hodgson has appeared on more than 185 talk radio shows, including CBS Radio, dozens of television stations, including CNN, and dozens of blog talk radio programs. A popular guest, she has given presentations at public health, Alzheimer’s, bereavement, and caregiving conferences.

Her recent work is based on Hodgson’s 21 years as a family caregiver. She was her mother’s family caregiver for nine years, her twin grandchildren’s guardian and caregiver for seven years, and is in her fifth year as her disabled husband’s caregiver. Visit www.harriethodgson.com for more information about this busy wife, grandmother, caregiver, and author.

www.writelife.com    harriethodgson@charter.net

To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site.  If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE.  

Lastly, Harriet is a member of the best book club ever – RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB #RRBC! If you’re looking for amazing support as an author, or if you simply love books, JOIN US! We’d love to have you!
Thanks for supporting this author and her work!