My take on: Afterburn

Ever wanted a second chance at love? Ever thought about the one that got away? Ever wonder what could have been? Gianna "Gia" Rossi was once in the throes of a hot, hot, romance with Jackson "Jax" Rutledge. Their relationship ended abruptly, and Gia has done everything possible to forget him. She's just landed her dream job with restauranteur Lei Yeung. Everything in her life is going right....that is until he shows up. Jax is back in Afterburn, the latest romantic adventure from author Sylvia Day.

Clocking in at 135 pages, it's a quick and easy read. But it feels like a little bit of a tease. There is a decent amount of back story on Gia. She comes from a loving family. The Rossi family restaurant taught Gia all she knows about the business, but she wants something for herself. Working for Lei Yeung is a chance for Gia to pave her own path in the restaurant business. All of her brothers, some of whom hate Jax, serve as her protectors. But of course Jax returns.

I just don't think we know enough about Jax and his character. Jax comes from a wealthy political family. He's a typical playboy. Or is he? It seems like Gia has an image of Jax in her mind and doesn't want to entertain anything else. It's hard for Gia to believe that Jax might actually love her. By the end of the book she's entertaining the thought that Jax has changed. But the book ends before it can delve any deeper. Which is why I say......what a TEASE. I know enough about Gia, but I want to know more about Jax. He exudes power and sex appeal, but I don't know what makes him tick. What are his vulnerabilities? I want to be inside his head. I'm kind of hoping that Aftershock, the next book, is told from Jax's perspective. There's always hope, and I'm looking forward to the next book!!

Rating: Give it a try

Note: I received an ARC from Little Bird Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

Red-Hot Reads and a giveaway!!!

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and

shake it up and what do you get??

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Why have these two not come together sooner? How about a few stats about these two companies?
More than 1 million Cosmopolitan readers bought at least one romance novel in the last twelve months. Cosmo reaches 1 in every 7 women who read romance novels. And..the Cosmo Red-Hot Reads section of the magazine is one of the most popular features. Harlequin has long been one of the leading publishers of series romance. Harlequin.com receives 7 million page views and 450,000 unique visitors per month. So it makes perfect sense that these two have come together to form Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin.

The e-books will be short stories of 30,000 words. They're very affordable at $3.99, but if you order from Amazon.com of course they are a little cheaper. The kickoff author is bestselling author Sylvia Day. Until a couple of days ago, I had never read a book by Sylvia Day. I did attend the kickoff party for Cosmo Red-Hot Reads and I got a book signed by Sylvia Day at BookExpo America. I do own the Crossfire series but......like a lot of my books I haven't read them yet. But I'm inspired to do so after reading Afterburn. 

Afterburn is out now, but now I want to read the next book Aftershock -- which will be released in November. The first book felt like a little bit of a tease. The story is just beginning. I don't want to give away anything right now because I will be posting a review later this week. Both stories will be released as a two-in-one paperback in November.

Future stories from this new venture will include e-books by Lauren Dane, Tawny Weber,
Helen Kay Dimon, Jina Bacarr, and Sarah Morgan.

As a special treat, I have a goodie bag (courtesy of Little Bird Publicity) available for giveaway!!

Hopefully, the Rafflecopter giveaway posted below works. Let me know if it doesn't!! The giveaway is for U.S. residents only, and ends on August 26th. Just enter your e-mail and leave a comment. Extra entries if you follow my blog or on Twitter. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My take on: Sharp

"Just as Presley said, I was becoming like many young men who go from a first visit at a mental hospital and then to the fifth and then the tenth and then are suddenly transformed into chronics. That was a significant lesson I learned quickly -- it's excruciatingly hard not to return to a psychiatric ward. Once you've been broken to a certain point -- attempting suicide or cutting or having a breakdown or psychosis, you will probably be admitted again. It's a horrible fact, really, but it's truth."  -- Pg. 193

That's a long passage to begin with, but I felt it was one of the most insightful in Sharp: My Story of Madness, Cutting, and How I Reclaimed My Life by  David Fitzpatrick.

For starters, this book isn't for everyone. After just a couple of chapters I wasn't sure it was for me. Initially, David Fitzpatrick sounded like a typical college student who never grew up. But as I delved deeper and deeper into the book, I realized that wasn't the case. In college, Fitzpatrick was subject to some horrible bullying by his college roommates. It went beyond the typical college hazing. With each instance, I'm screaming internally for Fitzpatrick to stand up for himself. Say something. Say no. Fight back. Don't let people walk all over you. His college roommates weren't the only reason for his descent into mental illness, but they certainly didn't help.

Internally, there is a war going on inside Fitzpatrick's head. He tries therapy. His family thinks he's getting better. He tries to do normal things, like going out with friends, even though he would rather retreat within himself. Somehow cutting becomes the answer. It's a release. It's freeing. His descriptions of cutting and mutilating himself are rather stomach-churning. After a long stint in a hospital, Fitzpatrick just left the grounds on a whim. To the outside world he might have appeared as an overweight and somewhat weird man in his 20s, but who could know about the war going on inside his head. Left to his own devices, he bought a bunch of razors, cut himself from head to toe, and smeared his blood all over the hospital grounds. It's hard to read. It's hard to know that so many people have reached that point. I'm not sure he was trying to kill himself. It was more like he was trying to disappear or not feel the pain. It's hard to disappear when you do something like this, but you can tell he felt like a burden to his family. Mental illness runs in Fitzpatrick's family, but he felt like he was sucking all the attention away from his siblings.

Sometimes you think he's making progress, but he's really just afraid to get better. Afraid to get at the root of the problem. That's why I opened with that quote. I thought it was very perceptive of him. After that last incident, his therapist forced Fitzpatrick to take a hard look at himself. He could become like a lot of mentally ill people, he could find himself in a never-ending cycle of hospitalization. Or he could finally start to feel again, he could finally get to the root of the problem and start living a normally. It didn't happen overnight for him, there was no quick fix.

It's refreshing to read a book like this. He was willing to be open and honest about everything. He's willing to let the world know about his life and its ups and downs. In his youth, he had a bit of naivete about sex and sexual identity, but as an adult he was very graphic about his sexual exploits. But at the same time, he was very aware that something was wrong with him mentally. His writing is very blunt and gritty. It's not easy to read, but ultimately it's a story of redemption and hope.

Rating: Superb

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (HarperCollins) as part of a blog tour with TLC Book Tours

Book Spotlight: The Perfume Collector

Last month I just wasn't feeling The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley and did not finish. It was the July selection for She Reads, but......I did not post a review. I was kind of indifferent about it. Time to time that might happen. That's not the case with the August selection, The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro.

Except......I've already read it. I did love the book!!! I'm a sucker for historical fiction.

Here's a little snippet of what I said in my review of  The Perfume Collector:

"The life of newlywed Grace Monroe is in a state of flux. She's having trouble fitting into the 1950s London social scene. She doesn't know the right thing to say or do. She wants a life that isn't all about her husband. Grace is thinking about getting a job, but her friend Mallory tries to dissuade her. Grace isn't supposed to want anything for herself. She is supposed to attend society parties, look pretty on her husband's arm, and start a family. Is something wrong with Grace because she wants more out of life? I guess it was during this time period."

This book reminded me a lot of M.J. Rose's reincarnationist series. Like Rose's books, Tessaro's writing is a trip for the senses. I was really immersed in this book. So it's definitely worth reading. Check it out!!

Please welcome Bill Hayes !!

Please welcome Bill Hayes co-author of
Triumphs and Tragedies: A Story of Wealth and Addiction

Establishing a Sense of Place

Triumphs and Tragedies: A True Story of Wealth and Addiction is the sensory-stunning life story of philanthropist Karl McMillen. Writing it was, for me, another amazing exercise in dissecting a life in a way that not even the extraordinary person who lived it had ever envisioned.

And that is an artistic windfall that offers the ultimate in satisfaction for a writer.

My writing/editing partner, Jennifer Thomas, and I have been extremely fortunate in presenting the stories of people who have defined life in ways far beyond the mainstream. We have looked into the eyes and souls of a founder of the Black Panthers; a former leader of the Hells Angels; an imprisoned victim of international corruption; one of radio’s most legendary personalities; young women who have fought back against dark societal odds; and now, in Triumphs, a multimillionaire who has waged a war against the drug demons that stole his sons. One thing common to all these individuals is that it has been hard for them to look objectively at their lives from the inside out.

These people lived these lives. Chronology, organization, exposition, even facts weren’t exactly top priority during gun battles, solitary confinement, rotting in a foreign jail, stowing away on the Beatles’ airplane, or—in Karl’s case— aiding and abetting one son as he faced life imprisonment and pulling the plug on another when he OD’d on drugs.

Even in hindsight—often decades later—it’s difficult for such people to sort things out objectively through their emotions and tears and laughter and humbleness and the passage of time. And that’s fine.

That’s our job.

When you work in nonfiction, you don’t have to create as much as you have to interpret. You have to open your eyes as wide as they’ll go, and your mind even wider. You take whatever or whoever you’re writing about and you place it or them into the world as a whole, giving it its place and the reason for writing about this subject. You load the cannon for the impact.

In Triumphs and Tragedies, we took the always-sinister subject of hard drug addiction—the frightening force that began its dismantling of Karl McMillen’s family in the 1960s—and we gave it its place. We showed how the slime and evil of needles in veins finds a place far removed from inner-city back alleys. And, jumping to the other side of the tracks, how it finds a place apart from rockers and movie stars who make headlines when their bodies are found. Karl’s story exemplifies how this horror finds a place somewhere in the middle, too—a place among the other wealthy, the ones who aren’t seen on television and movie screens or on the cover of People.

It finds a place where such choices are made as: An Ivy League education or another hit of crank? Inherit the most successful business of its kind or spend another few years in a state prison? Follow the sun and surf around the world or let a once-perfect athletic body atrophy in anesthetized agony?

What drug addiction did to the family of Karl McMillen is so chilling because it is so relatable. Most of us don’t find ourselves hanging out behind skid-row dumpsters or in the company of woozy untouchable stars. But we do drive down streets and find ourselves in upscale neighborhoods where the homes look ideal. Spotless and shameless. With doors that open to beautiful views and allow in the most beautiful people.

Triumphs and Tragedies: A True Story of Wealth and Addiction is a disturbing and compelling chronicle of just where those portals can really lead.

My take on: Traveling Light

I've watched dozens of episodes of Hoarders, and with each one I wondered how people got to that point. How can a person be so attached to stuff? So much so that it can destroy their family? Of course, I'm one to talk I own more than 500 books!! But I don't need an organizer or 1-800-GOT-JUNK trunk to sort it. I promise. The reason I'm saying this is because I recently finished Traveling Light by Andrea Thalasinos. Hoarding plays a central role in the book, and that was a huge selling point for me. All I saw was the word "hoarding," and I was sold.

Paula Makaikis feels stuck. She has a great job as the director of the Center for Immigrant Studies at NYU. But lately it's been hard to focus on work. All she can think about is the huge problem she has at home. Her husband Roger is good at hiding things. Most people see him as a successful scientist. But only Paula knows the real Roger and the secrets he's hiding. Everyday Paula returns home she is confronted with a mountain of boxes, furniture, books, and magazines. She didn't start this mess, but she wishes she could end it. The house belongs to Roger. She should have seen the signs when they were dating. They always went out. They always went to her apartment. That's not weird is it? Paula found a way to rationalize things even after they got married. After two failed marriages, Roger was the first to make her feel special. Besides he will clear out the house someday right? As soon as Roger gets on a good sleep schedule, Paula won't have to sleep on the couch anymore. One day they will be like other married couples. One day Paula won't have to hide the truth from her family and friends.

But a chance encounter offers Paula a chance to come out of hiding.

Paula's best friend Celeste, who is a social worker, needs her help translating for a dying Greek man. He tells her of his beloved dog Fotis, who was taken away from him. Paula has never given thought to adopting a pet. Where would she put it? Roger certainly wouldn't like it. Roger is allergic pets and to change. But change is just what Paula needs. Fotis is coming into her life at just the right time. Paula finally takes a break from her marriage and career, and hits the open road with Fotis. What was supposed to be a trip to visit her former college advisor turns into something more for Paula. While at a rest stop in Minnesota, Paula sees a help-wanted sign for a wildlife clinic. Of course she gets the job, embarking on a new phase in her life.

It was a wonderful read. Whether you have a hoarder in your life or not, I'm certain people can see themselves in Paula. Her problems were no different from the average person. Adopting Fotis was Paula's therapy. If Fotis didn't come into her life, would Paula have had the strength to change her life? Why continue to deny her own happiness just for Roger's sake? She has a right to be happy, healthy, and comfortable. Overall, it was engaging story with quirky, emotional, and funny characters.

Rating: Superb

Note: I received a copy of the book from Authors on the Web as part of a blog tour.

Please welcome Andrea Thalasinos!!

Please welcome Andrea Thalasinos, author of Traveling Light. Hoarding plays a big role in this book, Thalasinos made that the focus of her post. My review of Traveling Light will be posted on Wednesday. 

       

Ten years ago after reading a student research paper on hoarding, I was struck by the corrosive effect this form of mental illness can have on families and loved ones.  I was so moved by the paper that I was left with the sense that someday this would become the foundation piece for a character in one of my novels, (Traveling Light, 2013, Forge/Macmillan).  I’d always encouraged students to pick a topic that had a “charge” to it, meaning enough interest and “juice” to propel them through writing a 15 page, double-spaced research paper complete with MLA.  At the time, little did I know how seriously one of my students would take it. 

           Apparently my student’s mother was a hoarder.  “Stuff” had driven off the woman’s husband and two daughters since the growing hoard had (literally) pushed family members out of the house.   Her mother’s mountain of Christmas decorations, doll collections, unopened mail and packages, plus boxes filled with sundry items packed the house, leaving nowhere to sit, sleep or eat.  Clothes with price tags were piled to the ceiling, filling hallways, staircases and common living areas.  As she interviewed her mother, (I encourage primary, case-study research) it dawned on her that her mother’s “stuff” was more important than the well-being and happiness of those who loved her.   The record of my student’s anguish came through the pages despite her trying to keep the project objective, as well a sociology research paper should be.  

         This experience taught me that material for writing can come from anywhere (the old “Bloom Where You’re Planted” adage) and that students are a wealth of life experience.  Such information and ideas can trigger storylines, character formation and dialog.  The old wisdom of Write What You Know can also apply to People Whom You’ve Known. 

             The premier of the popular TV show, “Hoarders” sparked memories of that student’s paper. I too watched in abject horror at the conditions in which these individuals lived.  I was even more riveted by the hoarders reactions to their families’ grief, anger and pain.  Just like my student’s paper so many years ago, it became clear that “stuff” had taken on a proportion more important than the physical and emotional well-being of loved ones.  I found family reactions, in some cases, even more compelling than the squalor, the packed rooms, and the filth.   And it was at this juncture point that I knew I had to develop “stuff” as a character. 

             In the case of Traveling Light, Roger’s “stuff” takes on the guise of his lover, consuming his affection and devotion as it edges Paula (the main character) out of her husband’s bed and life.   It’s at this juncture point that Paula is faced with the realization that she must act.  And while it might be too late for Roger and her marriage, Paula has to decide if she’s got “juice” enough to make one more run for it to save her own life.