POP MANGA COLORING BOOK REVIEW

Adult Coloring Book
Published by Watson-Guptill
Jul 19, 2016 

80 Pages

ISBN 9780399578472

Manga artist and Pop Surrealism superstar Camilla d’Errico presents her first ever adult coloring book, filled with portraits, patterns, and the stunning artwork her fans and collectors have come to love.

This one-of-a-kind book offers you the opportunity to collaborate with d’Errico, adding your colors to her gorgeous black and white linework. Featuring everything from haunting and surreal character portraits to pages filled with patterns and designs all rendered in d’Errico’s inimitable style, Pop Manga Coloring Book is guaranteed to provide hours of coloring fun and excitement.

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REVIEW

In 2001 I found my first adult coloring book in one of the big chain bookstores and have been hooked ever since. I have never read a Pop Manga book before or have I experienced any of the art so when I opened this book it blew me away. This is far from your run of the mill coloring book. The pictures are hand sketched therefore giving them a unique quality it is as if you’ve been given a person’s sketchbook to color.

Camilla d’Errico did a remarkable job creating such an unconventional collection of drawings that it stands alone in its own class of adult coloring books. What you will be coloring is a mix of odd, peculiar, and bizarre with a dash of adorable tossed in. For example, a young person with trees growing out of their head, many freakishly cute creatures, pictures of a girl who wears mysterious Steampunk like headgear. I could go on for hours about how amazing the coloring book is but it is now time for me to get out my instruments and color these pictures!

Go forth my coloring book fans and buy yourself one it is well worth it...  

Oh, I now plan on going to the library and checking out some Manga books I think I will like them. Do you?

CAMILLA D’ERRICO 

has gained wide acclaim for her illustrative work and has been nominated for the Joe Shuster Award and the Will Eisner Award. She is the co-author of Pop Manga and the author of Pop Painting. She has worked with Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Hasbro, Disney, Sanrio, and Neil Gaiman, and created her own cult-sensation properties Tanpopo and Helmetgirls. She is also well known for her melting rainbow, big-eyed girl oil paintings, which have made her a hit in the international Pop Surrealism movement. 

camilladerrico.com | Twitter | Facebook

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

BOOK BLITZ ICE CRYPT + Giveaway of $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of Ice Crypt, and a crochet mermaid tail

Ice Crypt
Tiana Warner
(Mermaids of Eriana Kwai, #2)
Publication date: July 25th, 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

From award-winning author Tiana Warner comes the sequel to Ice Massacre, the #1 Amazon Kindle Best Seller.

Meela has just returned from the Massacre—the annual attempt to wipe out the mermaids threatening her people’s survival. After forming an unlikely connection with Lysi, a mermaid she was trained to kill, Meela is determined to stop the war between humans and merpeople for good. She knows of a legendary weapon that could bring peace if she uses it against King Adaro, ruler of the Pacific Ocean. But her people have plans for future Massacres and rfuse to help her uncover it.

While Meela works in secret to unearth the Host of Eriana, Lysi is held captive under Adaro’s tyranny. Sent to the battlefront, Lysi joins forces with a band of rebels that could either bring her freedom—or have her executed for treason.

Separated by the vast Pacific Ocean, Meela and Lysi must find a way to defeat King Adaro and end the war that has been keeping them apart.

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Grab book 1 – Ice Massacre – for only 99¢ until July 31st!

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EXCERPT:

Hanging from the crooked branch of a maple tree wasn’t that glamorous—not what my people would expect from an honoured Massacre survivor. Legs swinging to try and get a foothold, strands of hair clinging to my face, I heaved myself onto the next branch.

This would have been easier if I’d had the use of both hands.
Out of breath and halfway up, I paused, deciding how best to continue. The tree had forked and my legs were splayed, one foot against each trunk. In my fist, the owlet gave a feeble hoot.
I glared at him. He could hardly be called cute, with his sparse white fluff and oversized feet.
“Your family reunion better be worth all of this,” I said.
I pushed off one trunk and wrapped my limbs around the other, then shimmied higher until I was level with the nest.
Two owlets peered back at me, identical to the one in my fist.
“Gaawhist,” I said. Home, sweet home.
I placed my rescue next to his siblings, where he toppled sideways and blinked a few times. I poked him to make sure I hadn’t squeezed him too tightly. He ruffled himself and settled in.
Maybe I couldn’t help everyone survive, but I could, at least, save this one life.
I just hoped the mother would return soon.
I leaned against the trunk and caught my breath, my thoughts turning back to what I’d come here for. I inhaled slowly, letting the sweet scent of maple buds calm me.
From this height, the wooden, mossy cabin below seemed less imposing. I could see how these grounds might have once been used for camping—back when seaside camping was not a life-threatening activity. Now, this cabin was one of many classrooms at the Safe Training Base. Once a place to connect with wilderness, now a place to learn the best way to slaughter a sea demon.

Author Bio:

#1 AMAZON KINDLE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Tiana Warner was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her horse, Bailey, and collecting tea cups.

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GIVEAWAYS!

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Goodreads Book Giveaway

Ice Crypt

by Tiana Warner

Giveaway ends July 25, 2016.
See the giveaway details

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A signed copy of Mirror Image and $10 Amazon gift card @ The Stolen Twin Book Blitz

The Stolen Twin
Michele Pariza Wacek
Publication date: November 16th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Psychological Thriller

On the surface, Kit Caldwell has it all. A senior in college with her future ahead of her, lots of friends, lots of parties…not to mention also having the eye of Tommy, the star quarterback of the football team.
But underneath, Kit’s life is a charade, built on a foundation of secrets and lies, including one so dark it threatens to tear her world apart: her twin sister, Cat, was kidnapped when they were both seven, never to be heard from again.
That is, until one dark Halloween night.
But is it really Cat? Or is it someone else, someone playing a sinister and deadly game?
To save herself from imminent danger, Kit, with the help of Tommy and her friends, is forced to go back in time and confront her own personal demons, as she finally discovers what really happened to Cat, all those years ago.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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Guest Post by Michele Pariza Wacek:

Why it Took Me 10 Years To Publish “The Stolen Twin”

Back in 1998, I quit my job to become a fulltime freelance writer/copywriter.

At the time, there were no coaching, masterminding or mentoring programs that taught you how to set up and run a successful business (or, if there were, I didn’t know about them as the Internet was still in its infancy) so I went to the Small Business Association (SBA) and got myself a counselor.
When the counselor learned what my business plans were, he invited a retired freelance writer to come in and give me some tips.
Well, her “tips” turned out to be her trying to talk me out of becoming a freelance writer. For about 45 minutes, the conversation went something like this:
“Being a freelance writer is a really difficult way to earn a living.”
“Okay, what should I do?”
“Can you get your job back?”
“No, I can’t get my job back.”
“Are you sure? It’s really difficult to earn a living as a freelance writer.”
“Yes, I’m sure I can’t get my job back.”
“You could work full time at your job and on nights and weekends do freelance work until you have enough work to quit.”
“I really can’t get my job back.”
You get the idea. Finally at the end she said “Okay, I guess I can’t talk you out of this so here are a few tips.” And she finally gave me those “tips,” which I dutifully wrote down.
We were getting read to leave when I decided to chime in and tell her “you know, one of the reasons why I’m so excited to become a freelance writer is because then I’ll have time to finally work on my novels.”
She got a look of complete horror on her face and said “Oh my God, NEVER tell anyone you’re working on fiction. You’ll NEVER get any work.”
Now, basically this woman was pretty much dead wrong on everything she told me that day. Even her “tips” were basically worthless. But, for some reason, what she told me about the novels stuck. So, I didn’t talk about my fiction very much, I especially didn’t share about the novel I had written 2002/2003.
If you do have a dream or a creative project that in your heart you know you really want to be working on (what Stephen Covey calls the “important but not urgent”) I’d love for you to take a moment and just breathe into what’s stopping you. You don’t necessarily need to do anything — just take a moment to see what’s keeping you from working on this project.
In my case, I had completely forgotten about this whole exchange until I was getting ready to publish my novel and one of my clients exclaimed “why isn’t it we’ve never heard until now that you’re publishing a novel?”
In other words, something I didn’t even remember kept me stuck.

Author Bio:
When Michele was 3 years old, she taught herself to read because she wanted to write stories so badly.
As you can imagine, writing has been a driving passion throughout her life. She became a professional copywriter (which is writing promotional materials for businesses), which led to her founding a copywriting and marketing company that serves clients all over the world.
Along with being a copywriter, she also writes novels (in fact, she just published her first novel, a psychological thriller/suspense/mystery called "The Stolen Twin" and her second novel "Mirror Image'" is set to be published in May 2016) plus, she is also the author of the "Love-Based Copy" books, which are a part of the "Love-Based Business" series and cover both business and personal development.
She holds a double major in English and Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently she lives in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona with her husband Paul and her border collie Nick and southern squirrel hunter Cassie.

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Giveaway of Gift Pack which includes a $40 Amazon Gift Card + much more! State of Fear (Collapse Series, #8) Book Blitz

State of Fear
Summer Lane
(Collapse Series, #8)
Publication date: June 24th, 2016
Genres: Dystopian, New Adult

The world has gone nuclear, and the militias have met their first major defeat.

Torn and desperate, Cassidy Hart and her team make a difficult decision to relocate their forces to the cold, barren wilderness of Alaska. In the snowy mountains of the Gates of the Arctic, Yukon City has become a stronghold for survivors of the apocalypse.

Or has it?

Commander Chris Young remains in California to combat the shadowy forces of Omega, while Cassidy attempts to rebuild the militia’s strength at Yukon City. Uriah True has ideas of his own when it comes to surviving, and the militias are splitting apart.

Veronica Klaus is unleashing hell upon the west coast. The true, terrifying nature of Omega is revealed at last. A dangerous, desperate move is made to find reinforcements and seize a weapon that could give the militias an upper hand.

The downside?

It just might kill everyone on planet earth.

Cassidy, Chris, and their friends have made it this far.

How much longer can they survive?

How much longer can the world survive?

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Q&A WITH SUMMER LANE

This is the 8th book in the Collapse Series. How do you keep the storyline and world going this far into the series?

The issue with Cassidy Hart is not running out of stories – it’s containing them! Cassidy’s world is monstrously huge and the options for story pathways are endless, so I really had to zero in on what I wanted the eighth book to be. In terms of technicality and research, this was a challenging book – but it was also exciting to write. I was able to utilize some elements that I have wanted to use for a long time like submarines and ice…trust me, it’ll make sense when you read the book!

Do you find it difficult to write about one set of characters for ten books?

No, I don’t. The longer you’re with your characters, the better you get to know them. In this case, I have had the opportunity to get familiar with my characters to such a level that their development and characteristics are incredibly organic. It’s a real blast!
Are you Team Uriah or Team Chris?

A lot of people like to think that Uriah is the perfect guy for Cassidy – while some much prefer Chris, since he is the original male lead (and he’s pretty awesome, in all honesty!). I have my own secret thoughts on this subject, and I don’t like to project my opinions on such an emotional element of the series. I leave that to my readers. But I will say that, in the end, Cassidy is a strong woman who doesn’t need anybody. She’s one of those kickass characters that can survive no matter what – and anyone she falls in love with is just a bonus. I don’t say to belittle the importance of the male leads, but to stress that Cassidy is just that kind of character at this point in the series.
What’s with the title? Why ‘fear?’ What’s there to fear in this book?

The title is really a projection of the underlying theme of this book. My characters are thrust into a type of warfare that’s really unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. They go to the barren wilds of Alaska, where the icy glaciers surround them and the dark winter solstice blots out the sun. Omega could kill them all – so many terrible things have happened, and could continue to happen. Cassidy is doubting herself and her relationships. This book is about exploring all of those fears, and then figuring out if our heroes are going to succumb to the darkness or stand up and kick its butt. It’s gritty, it’s dark and it’s intense. It’s my kind of story, and that’s why I wrote it.


Author Bio:
Summer Lane is the #1 bestselling author of The Collapse Series, The Zero Trilogy and The Bravo Saga. She is also the author of Collapse: The Illustrated Guide, a #1 bestselling graphic companion to the phenomenal original series.

She is the owner of WB Publishing and Writing Belle, an online magazine where she has worked with countless authors from around the globe. Summer is also an accomplished journalist and creative writing teacher.

Summer lives in the Central Valley of California, where she spends her days writing, collecting tea, and writing some more.

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Braving It Review - Powerful Read

Braving It by James Campbell

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published May 10th, 2016 by Crown

ISBN 0307461246

BLURB

The powerful and affirming story of a father's journey with his teenage daughter to the far reaches of Alaska

Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to only a handful of people, is a harsh and lonely place. So when James Campbell’s cousin Heimo Korth asked him to spend a summer building a cabin in the rugged Interior, Campbell hesitated about inviting his fifteen-year-old daughter, Aidan, to join him: Would she be able to withstand clouds of mosquitoes, the threat of grizzlies, bathing in an ice-cold river, and hours of grueling labor peeling and hauling logs?

But once there, Aidan embraced the wild. She even agreed to return a few months later to help the Korths work their traplines and hunt for caribou and moose. Despite windchills of 50 degrees below zero, father and daughter ventured out daily to track, hunt, and trap. Under the supervision of Edna, Heimo’s Yupik Eskimo wife, Aidan grew more confident in the woods.

Campbell knew that in traditional Eskimo cultures, some daughters earned a rite of passage usually reserved for young men. So he decided to take Aidan back to Alaska one final time before she left home. It would be their third and most ambitious trip, backpacking over Alaska’s Brooks Range to the headwaters of the mighty Hulahula River, where they would assemble a folding canoe and paddle to the Arctic Ocean. The journey would test them, and their relationship, in one of the planet’s most remote places: a land of wolves, musk oxen, Dall sheep, golden eagles, and polar bears.

At turns poignant and humorous, Braving It is an ode to America’s disappearing wilderness and a profound meditation on what it means for a child to grow up—and a parent to finally, fully let go.

REVIEW

Most of you I bet have seen those photos that have someone reading a book and above that book are multiple pictures of what it could contain. It actually was like that for me while reading this book the author’s writing is breathtakingly descriptive, almost in a poetic way so it felt like the images were jumping off the pages with the majestic and mesmerizing prose. Braving It is Chock-full of interesting facts regarding Alaska and the Arctic Circle area, the animals that live there, how people live in the bush, there is just so much great information packed into this book what I previously mentioned could fit on the tip of a needle.    James and Aidan go on three separate adventures in Alaska each one very different from the last. Therefore, each magnificent in its own way. The conditions that they endure are intense with daily survival always at the forefront of their minds. In addition to, you will be impressed with what 15-year-old Aidan is able to do and handle in such extreme conditions. Very few individuals older than Aidan could have endured what she did. Campbell outdid himself writing an outdoor book, unlike others I have ever read before putting Braving It up at the top with the best of them. I am looking forward to reading all his other books. “Thank you, Blogging for Books, for allowing me to give an honest opinion” PURCHASE HERE AMAZON | B&N | BAM! Author, adventurer, and producer James Campbell is a native of Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife and three daughters. He has written stories for Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Military History, Backpacker, Audubon, Field and Stream, and many other magazines and newspapers. His first book, The Final Frontiersman was chosen by Amazon in 2004 as the #1 Outdoor title of the Year and one of the Top 50 books of the Year and by the Midwest Booksellers Association as one of the Top 2 nonfiction titles of the year. His fascination with New Guinea and the war in the South Pacific led him to the story of the 32nd Division, the Ghost Mountain Boys, and his book of the same name. In 2006, he followed the route of the Ghost Mountain Boys across New Guinea -- a journey that historians describe as "one of the cruelest in military history" -- and shot a documentary film in the process. His story, “Chasing Ghosts,” about that expedition, which appeared in the May 2007 issue of Outside magazine, was chosen for The Best American Travel Writing 2008. The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea – the Forgotten War of the South Pacific was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and History and Military BOMC selections. It also won the 2008 RR Donnelley Literary Award, given for the highest literary achievement by a Wisconsin author. Campbell’s newest book, Braving It: A Father, A Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey into the Alaskan Wild will be released by Penguin-Random House in May 2016. Campbell is the co-Executive Producer of the Discovery Channel series, The Last Alaskans, which was inspired by his first book, The Final Frontiersman.

http://www.jamesmcampbell.net/ | TWITTER  

BAD BLOODS BLITZ & GIVEAWAY of Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box (Intl winner would get eBook prizes)

November Rain
Shannon A. Thompson
(Bad Bloods #1)
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: July 18th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Serena isn’t human. She is a bad blood, and in the city of Vendona, bad bloods are executed. In the last moments before she faces imminent death, a prison guard aids her escape and sparks a revolt. Back on the streets determined to destroy her kind, Serena is spared by a fellow bad blood named Daniel. His past tragedies are as equally mysterious as her connection to them.
Unbeknownst to the two, this connection is the key to winning the election for bad bloods’ rights to be seen as human again. But Serena is the only one who can secure Vendona’s vote. Now, Daniel must unite with her before all hope is lost and bad bloods are eradicated, even if it means exposing secrets worse than death itself. United or not, a city will fight, rain will fall, and all will be threatened by star-crossed love and political corruption.

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EXCERPT:

“She used to tell me that a full moon is when mysterious things happen and wishes come true.” I stared at the little paper in my hands. “Do you think she tells my sister those stories?”

Daniel didn’t respond. He only listened. I had told him before I had a sister. He had probably assumed I lied, but I hadn’t. It was the truth, and it tumbled out like a story my mom created before bedtime. I tried to picture her telling stories to my sister, but nothing came. I only saw the little girl, with Mom’s hair and Dad’s eyes, standing in the road, saying my name.
“I’ve never met her,” I confessed, staring at the writing bleeding through the folded end. “I think her name is on this, but I can’t read.”
Daniel reached for it. “I can—”
“No.” I held the note against my chest. “I want to learn and read it on my own,” I explained, softer than my previous snap.
Daniel’s head tilted. “Robert never taught you.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but I responded anyway. “He can’t read.”
Daniel’s eyes swept over me. He took the time to rub his face before looking away.
“He can’t read,” I repeated, studying his reaction. “Right?”
Daniel’s hand lowered to his lap. “I can teach you,” he said, and when he faced me again, he was remarkably closer than I realized. His hand moved to rest on my knee. My heart stabilized. “What else do you want?”
It was a question I had never heard before, and the way Daniel stumbled over the sentence suggested he had never been able to say it before either. Bad bloods weren’t allowed to want anything. Not even life. So, when I was asked, my mind spiraled into obscurity, never actually solidifying an answer even though I searched for one.
“I’ve never been allowed to want anything,” I confessed.
“Me neither,” Daniel agreed, and for a brief second, I was oblivious to the fact that his lips were on mine.

Author Bio:
Shannon A. Thompson is a twenty-three-year-old author, avid reader, and habitual chatterbox. She was merely sixteen when she was first published, and a lot has happened since then. Thompson's work has appeared in numerous poetry collections and anthologies, and her first installment of The Timely Death Trilogy became Goodreads' Book of the Month. As a novelist, poet, and blogger, Thompson spends her free time writing and sharing ideas with her black cat named after her favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart. Between writing and befriending cats, she graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor's degree in English, and she travels whenever the road calls her.

Visit her blog for writers and readers at www.shannonathompson.com.

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Review of UNDER THE HARROW

Paperback, 240 pages

Published June 14th, 2016 by Penguin Books

ISBN 0143108573

BLURB

As UNDER THE HARROW opens, Nora is on the train to visit her sister, as she has done a thousand times before—bottle of red in her purse, happy to soon be cooking with Rachel in her countryside home, a respite from Nora’s noisy London existence. Everything is normal until it isn’t. What Nora finds when she arrives at the house—Rachel, slain, her shirt soaked in blood—she can barely process. Unsure what to do with herself, she checks into the only hotel in the quiet town and begins to hunt for clues. An unsolved assault—a trauma from the sisters’ past that bound them together, and haunted Rachel through her adulthood—has shaken Nora’s faith in the police; she can’t trust them to find her sister’s killer. Her fear turns to obsession, and the more she digs the farther away she feels from her beloved sister. As she turns her suspicion toward every possible suspect, her behavior increasingly erratic and desperate, Nora is under the harrow: deeply distressed and in danger.

Beneath the mystery of UNDER THE HARROW is a heartbreakingly honest portrait of sisterhood’s contradictions and complexities: jealousy, rivalry, long-held grudges, devotion, unspoken understanding, and forgiveness. UNDER THE HARROW is a thrilling and heartbreaking novel that will stay with readers long after they discover it's surprising resolution.

REVIEW

I am not the type of reader who tries to guess what will happen next in a book I am just along for the ride, but this author changed me for the first time in my life I am trying to figure out whodunnit. Rachel decides to stay in Marlow determined to find out who killed her sister, therefore, you get to know the supporting characters. So as a reader you feel as if you are in this small quaint town along with her every step of the way.  

The author did a brilliant job writing this story. The prose flows smoothly, it has this unique way of pulling in the reader making it impossible to put down the book. In addition, I enjoyed the extensive creative detail the author used to describe even the smallest element. I have never read a book written in this manner before. The clues are undetectable so minute and part of the story no matter how hard you try “you’re never gonna get it”.

“ When I open the door, I think someone else is inside. I have a sense of pressure changing, a floorboard lowering. I wait on the steps. Listening, but I don’t hear another creak, or a door close.”

“Thank you, Penguin, for allowing me to give a honest review”

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Flynn Berry is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and has been awarded a Yaddo residency. Under The Harrow is her first novel.  

http://www.flynnberry.com | Twitter

$100 Amazon Gift Card and a signed copy of The Patience Trilogy PLUS Courage in Patience REVIEW

The Patience Trilogy by Beth Fehlbaum

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Courage in Patience

Courage to endure.

Courage to survive.

Courage to overcome.

Tenacious 14-year-old Ashley Asher claws her way back to normalcy after enduring six years of an unimaginable Hell. Uprooted from her negligent and selfish mother, Ashley finds solace in the safety of her father’s home. Building a relationship with her stepmother, she’s finally able to open up and confront the past that haunts her.

With the help of her stepmom, therapist, and a group of troubled adolescents, Ashley battles her demons, struggling to find the normal teenage life she’s always wanted. Can Ashley find the strength and courage to overcome the horrors of her past while fighting for the future she so deserves?

REVIEW

Not having heard of this series before I started with the first book in the series Courage in Patience therefore that is the book I am reviewing. I found the book considerably different than any other young adult books that I read before. Some people say young adult fiction is 12-20 years old, others say it is 15-20 years old, but this is a dark and troubling book and as an adult in my forties I found more parts than not difficult to read. Therefore, I think this book is appropriate for mature older teens and above. While reading, it surprised me at the number of disconcerting topics that the author covered from molestation, rape, gay bashing, mental abuse, to the KKK who are involved in severe beatings, pet poisoning plus other atrocities. Some of the previous things mentioned are written in graphic detail. Beth Fehlbaum is quite a bold author to take on such a slew of demanding topics in a young adult book although it is a bit overwhelming. As to the actual writing, I did encounter grammatical and spelling mistakes.  

“”Honey, our quiet little town has enough problems without bringing the homosexuals here. If they find out they’re welcome in the books our kids read, they’ll think they can just move in here and live among us, too!...””

Though the book consists of numerous tough topics the author did a favorable job of finding positive aspects to add to the prose. Such as, Fehlbaum does an excellent job of explaining P.T.S.D; even better than I have read some therapists describe it. My favorite part of the story is when an important character who followed others and did what he was told stood up for what he believed in and became his own person. Also, the main character with psychological help starts to make some progress in dealing with what happened to her. You should take a chance with this book and see if the positive aspects outweigh the negative for you. As for me, I am not sure yet if I will continue on with the series.

"Thank you, Xpresso Book Tours, for allowing me to give an honest review”

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AUTHOR BIO:

In addition to writing Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Beth Fehlbaum is a high school English-Language Arts teacher who frequently draws on her experience as an educator to write her books. She has a B.A. in English, Minor in Secondary Education, and an M.Ed. in Reading.

Beth is a featured author on the 2015-2016 Spirit of Texas Reading List- High School for the Kirkus Starred Reviewed Big Fat Disaster (Merit Press/F+W Media, March 2014) and The Patience Trilogy: Courage (1), Hope (2), and Truth (3) (Steady On Books, April 2016).

Beth is a member of the RAINN (Rape , Abuse, Incest National Network) Speakers’ Bureau. She has a following in the young adult literature world and also among survivors of sexual abuse because of her work with victims’ advocacy groups.

She has been the keynote speaker at the National Crime Victims’ Week Commemoration Ceremony at the Hall of State in Dallas, Texas and a presenter for Greater Texas Community Partners, where she addressed a group of social workers and foster children on the subject of “Hope.”

Beth is in-demand as a panelist, having presented/appeared at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference, the American Library Association’s annual conference, YALSA, and N.C.T.E./ALAN, and she is a member of The Author’s Guild.

She is a survivor of a traumatic childhood, like Ashley in The Patience Trilogy, and the day-to-day manager of an eating disorder much like Colby’s in Big Fat Disaster. These life experiences give her a unique perspective, and she writes her characters’ stories in a way meant to inspire hope.

Beth lives with her family in the woods of East Texas.

www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com | Facebook | Twitter