Friday, November 28, 2014

Black Friday deals: Freaky Frank and Gina and Mike




Get FREAKY FRANK for 99 cents.

Here's the skinny: In many ways, Frank Fratello is a typical teen. He plays baseball, hangs out with his friends at the mall and gets in trouble at home. But there’s something very different about this sixth-grader—he can read minds. And reading minds can cause problems. Like when Frank says what someone is thinking before they say it. Or answers a question before they ask it. 

Despite being telepathic, Frank must deal with everyday middle school life, which includes battling a bully who hates him. Nasty Nate and his flunkies live to get others in trouble—especially Frank. 
But Frank and his friends aren’t giving up. There has to be some way to bring Nasty Nate down. They just have to find it.


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FREE contemporary romance

The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike. 

Review: This was such a fun book to read. Ok so let me rephrase. It was a sad and trying book because the drama was killing me. It was fun because I love how the author switches POV's between the two main characters often. In any given chapter you can go back and forth a couple of times, I happen to really enjoy it. As for the story it was so exhausting. You know from the blurb what happened to Gina and that it tore her and Mike apart. A good chunk of the beginning of this story takes place in the past showing you what happened. Ok so then we jump ahead 20 years and all I can think is wow that is a lot of wasted time. Mike is this fantastic guy who loved his girl and had no clue what happened. Gina was a loving girlfriend whose life was ripped apart and didn't know how to cope. The entire time I'm reading I wanted to scream TELL HIM but life kept getting in the way. It was a sad book but with a very happy ending. The drama just kept coming and I kept wondering when will my HEA come. I enjoyed reading this story, it had humor and sadness but the story was so well done. It was a quick read, at least for me, and I was sad to see it end. I was very excited that I already had book 2 ready to go.

Friday, November 7, 2014

There's a lot of me in 'Ella's Rain'

I’m often asked how much of what I write comes from personal experience. I don’t think you can be an author and not have what you are be a part of what you create. 

I was recently editing my book “Ella’s Rain,” due out early next year. At the end of the book are 365 letters Grandma wrote to Ella before she died. Grandma instructs her best friend, Maddie, who becomes Ella’s guardian upon her death, to give Ella a new note every day. 

When I wrote the notes, I thought about my sons and what I’d want them to know if I wasn’t able to grow old with them. I also thought about my sister, Wendy, and her husband, Brad, and all of my friends who have passed away and the children they left behind. What would they want their children to know? 

What I discovered while writing the notes is that many of them were born out of actual conversations I’ve had with my sons over the years. When I completed them, I felt not only good about the guidance Grandma had provided Ella, but also a sense of pride in the legacy I’m leaving behind.

Here are some of those notes. 

Believe in yourself: Sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself. That little monster called Doubt taps you on the shoulder and makes you question if you really have what it takes. Shoo that beast away. You must believe in yourself, even if no one else believes in you. Too many dreams are lost because a person gave up too soon.