Enduring Everything Spotlight & Excerpt plus Giveaway

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Pam

Time doesn’t always heal old wounds. Often time makes them worse. Especially when you push those wounds to the back of your mind and focus on the life you want to lead.Then the day comes when you finally have everything.

It is then, you realize that nothing ever goes away.

In order to put years of heartache and abuse behind her, Ren learned to bury the past deep down inside herself and focus on one thing; raising her daughter Sophia. As the years passed, she found peace in the daily routine of her job and becomes content with being a mom.

On the night of her daughter’s wedding, Ren takes a risk and strays from the predictable world she has set up for herself when her longtime friend Jackson rekindles a loving promise he made to her long ago.

Ren cannot keep her past buried, and the two struggle when old problems start to creep back into their lives. She cannot get her world back in order and her instinct is to shut everyone out.

In the midst of it all Ren is coerced into helping Charlotte, an adopted teenager of her close friends the Roberts’. Reluctantly agreeing, Ren finds Charlotte is in dire need of self control and direction. Upon discovering they share a similar upbringing Ren feels she can advise Charlotte and keep her from repeating her own mistakes. Taking steps to ensure Charlotte’s recovery, her new found purpose causes a rift in the family she has come to know and love as her own.

Battling issues, both new and old, will Ren & Jacks be able to endure everything life has thrown at them or will Ren give up everything and isolate herself from the inevitable pain that will follow when all her secrets are revealed?

Excerpt

Careful not to tip the lounge we were sitting on over, Jackson stood up. Standing in front of me, in only his dress slacks, he flashed a wide smile before getting down on one knee. Suddenly my heart was beating erratically in my chest. Shifting to face him, we were at eye level as he took my hand and placed it over the wren and Celtic heart tattoo on the left side of his chest.

“When I first met you, I thought you were cute. The first time I talked to you, I knew you were a smart ass. On our first date, when I kissed you and said not to be nervous, I was talking to myself. Even though I almost ruined our date, I knew you liked me when you said you would see me again. We claimed each other at seventeen but I’m not sure when I started to love you. I know it broke my heart when I had to leave you at your parent’s house after knowing what your father did to you, when you said you wanted us to just be friends, when you came back and I found out you were pregnant and I honestly thought it was going to kill me when you got married. More than once you tried to get me to let you go but I never could. No matter how hard it was on both of us, you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I am a better man with you. You didn’t steal my heart, I gave it to you. Marry me and I swear the only thing I will ever want from you is your heart in return.”

Feeling his heart under my hand as he spoke and the way it would beat faster when he mentioned moments from our relationship, I replied, “Yes.”

A wide smile preceded a softer one as he slowly kissed me before offering, “I’ll take you inside now.”

Shaking my head, I pulled him back onto the chaise lounge with me.

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Playlist

Morning Afterglow-Electrasy

Just Give Me a Reason-Pink

The Damage in Your Heart-Weezer

Warmness on The Soul-A7X

I Won’t Give Up-Jason Mraz

Sorry-Buckcherry

All of Me-John Legend

Special Playlist additions

Kasey Fitzgerald ~’I Got You’-Jack Johnson

A.C. Haury~Devil’s Spoke-Laura Marling

Nicole Griffin~’She Will Be Loved’-Maroon 5

About the Author

Born in Baton Rouge Louisiana, I now live in Brazoria Texas with My Husband, Three Kids, Three Dogs and Two Cats. I wrote my first short story when I was in high school and instantly fell in love with writing. However, life sometimes gets in the way of aspirations and it wasn’t until years later, when my life calmed down, I was able to start writing again. For me, each new book I write or character I create feels like the first time and I find myself falling in love with writing all over again.

Website

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↓Read Chapter 1↓

Sophia’s Wedding Day

GoodReads

Purchase Links

Amazon/Nook/Smashwords/Itunes

Giveaway

****All images and wording were provide by Broken Bird Media.****

Daisy and the Pirates, A Children’s Book Review

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Pam

Image from Goodreads

Title: Daisy and the Pirates

Author: J.T. Allen

Published: 2012 by Sumus Press

Genre: Children’s Fiction

Purchase Daisy and the Pirates from Amazon

Daisy is not your typical eleven year old American girl. She knows how to survive, and thrive, on a desert island. Let me start from the beginning. Daisy’s parents are divorced. She spends the school year with her mom, but she and her older sister spend the summer with their dad. Their dad is an archeologist and is always working in remote locations. At the end of one of his projects, the ship the family is on gets kidnapped by pirates! Then there’s a storm and they all get shipwrecked. Talk about bad luck. Or is it???

This book made me laugh. Or perhaps I should say that Daisy made me laugh. As a typical kid, she’d love to miss as much school as possible.

I remember thinking, I’ve just been shanghaied by real pirates and shipwrecked and with any luck we’ll be castaways for the whole school year. (Location 367 on Kindle)

Although this was a children’s book I actually learned a lot. Seriously. My husband learned a lot as well because I would tell him all the random facts I picked up. For instance, I learned what Naples Syndrome is. Whoa. (Google it.) Also, did you know that quicksand is usually only a few feet deep? Movies like to exaggerate; so if you ever get stuck in some, calm down and you’ll probably hit bottom. It’ll still take a while for you to get out of, but keep it calm. Unless you’re really short, it’s probably not going to go above your head.

Daisy knew so much above roughing it outside it put me to shame! For instance, how to make fire, how to find fresh water, how to fish using Kon-Tikis, and that you should smoke out where you’re going to sleep at night to get rid of bugs and other unseemly creatures. She made me want to take a survival course, or at least watch some more Discovery channel so I’ll be better prepared.

The one and only thing I didn’t like about this book was it had the word ‘bitch’ in it. I’m sure kids know swears by middle school, but now that I’m a parent I don’t like the idea of a swear word in a children’s book. However, it was only used the one time.

Even though Daisy and the Pirates is a children’s book, as you can see it’s definitely enjoyable by adults as well. Get it for yourself. Get it for your kid. Just don’t be mad when they don’t come down to dinner because they need to see what happens next. I stayed up so late reading this book and loved every minute of it.

I definitely recommend.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

~Pam

*****I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.*****

Ace’s Wild Cover Reveal

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Pam

Coming June 29th 2014

Synopsis

Ace Caplin is a rock star destined for fame but plagued by addiction. That addiction becomes responsible for his crash to rock bottom. As he begins to put the pieces of his life back together, he’s finally ready to join his band mates on tour again. Little does he know, he’s been replaced. Will this discovery push him over the edge into a drug filled abyss? Or will he make an unforgettable come back?

-Enter Melody-

Mel was at one time an outgoing girl with a passion for life but a couple of years ago her family life was turned upside down by her fathers deceit. She’s left with a broken heart and an emotional scar so deep she may never trust again. With a little brother to help take care of, college to finish, and trust issues to sort out, will she find love again? This is the journey of two very different individuals whose lives intertwine and finally get the chance to have something neither of them ever thought that they deserved- Love.

Teasers

Author Bio

Erika Van Eck lives in Northern California with her husband and two young children. When she’s not chasing around her kids you can find her typing away on her laptop with a caffeinated beverage near by.

She has loved writing since a young age but mostly focused on poetry until her senior year in high school when she took creative writing and fell in love with the writing process in its entirety.

Ace’s Wild is her debut novel but she does have other books in the works. Mostly New Adult but there will also be a Paranormal Romance Series at some point.

Erika Van Eck’s Author Page HERE.
Webpage HERE.
Add Ace’s Wild to Goodreads HERE.

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****All images and wording provided by Ms. Erika Van Eck.****

Feature & Follow Friday #29, #FF, Picture Time

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Pam

This is a blog hop, a way to find and follow new blogs,

hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

You can follow me by using any one of the options over on the left sidebar.

This weeks question: Snap it Time! A picture is worth a thousand words. Anything and anything. Just give us a pic.

I like to call this one Babies:1, Grandpa:0.

grandpa

Hahahaha. Cracks me up every time.

Happy Friday!

~Pam

Beautiful Failure Review & Giveaway

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Pam

Title: Beautiful Failure

Author: Mariah Cole

Genre: New Adult

Publication Date: December 17, 2013

Tour Host: Dreams Come True Promotions

If you’re looking for a heartwarming story about a girl who falls deeply in love with a troubled boy who changes her life–a sob story with pretty metaphors and a million ways that’ll tell you how “broken” she is, STOP. Don’t read another word of this.

I’m not that type of girl.

My name is Emerald Anderson and I’m not going to bulls**t you: I flunked out of college after my sophomore year, I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever taken, and I’ve never had a fully functioning relationship in my life.

I wish I could say that I had a cheerleader in my corner, someone who says, “No, Emerald–You’re great and you are good at something!” but I don’t. My grandparents are completely oblivious to my life, and my mother’s dying words to me were “You’re going to end up just like me one day. A beautiful nothing.”

She was right.

As I decide to start my life over and take two jobs that will forever change me–one from the inside, and one from the outside, I keep my mother’s words close to my heart so I can keep the sexy and mysterious Carter Black away.

He’s the first man who’s ever pursued me, the first man who seems bent on finding out why I am the way I am, but he’s wasting his time.

I’m not broken. I don’t need to be fixed. I’m perfectly fine being a beautiful failure…

Were you intrigued by the synopsis? I sure was. I thought, finally, a book that isn’t about a girl wanting to be rescued or even getting rescued. And that’s part of what made this book so good.

Emerald is what she is, who she is, and she isn’t sorry for it. Her mom did a royal job of screwing her up though. I usually hate blaming the parents, but I feel that it really was her mom’s fault. Not only was her mom a prostitute, but also an alcoholic. A habit that she shared and encouraged with Emerald at way too young an age. Anyways, her mom commits suicide (I’m not giving anything away, this happens right at the beginning), and leaves Emerald practically alone.

Emerald does go to live with her grandparents, her mother’s parents. They’re good people, but kind of oblivious and extremely religious. I commend Emerald for going on after her mom’s suicide, I really do. She can’t keep a job, but hey, at least she tries. Then one day working as a barista at Starbucks, she meets a good looking guy named Carter. She also makes her first real friend, even if she doesn’t know it at the time, Sarah. She notices that Sarah has a lot of really expensive things and learns that she works for an exclusive strip club. Emerald ‘interviews’ there and the patrons love her. And guess who she runs into. Yep, Carter! And on the side, Emerald has to attend court ordered AA meetings because she got in a little trouble.

So as you can see, Emerald’s been through hell. But she is such a strong character for it. Although she’s not always in the right, she definitely stands up for what she believes in. And the confidence this girl has, can I have some?

She is definitely wary of Carter, and it takes her a long time to warm up to him. And just when you think you know where the book is going, you don’t. I’d normally be a bit peeved at a cliffhanger ending, but I really can’t wait to read the next one!

It’s because it’s not all puppies and rainbows that I really enjoyed this book, and I definitely recommend it. And if you read it, read the author’s note at the end. It cracked me up.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars