Love and Other Subjects Review

For every woman who wonders if she chose the right career

Carolyn Jenkins strives for two things–to be the greatest teacher ever and to find true love. She’s as skilled at both as an infant trying to eat with a fork. Carolyn’s suburban upbringing and genuine compassion for people who don’t fit effortlessly into society are no match for weapon-wielding, struggling students, drug-using colleagues, and a wicked principal.

Meanwhile, her budding relationship with a mystery man is thwarted by his gaggle of eccentric sisters. Carolyn depends on her friends to get her through the hard times, but with poverty-stricken children at her feet and a wealthy man at her side, she must define who she is.

The reality of life after college can be daunting, the road to full-fledged adulthood long and unscripted. Can Carolyn take control and craft the existence she always wanted?

My Review

Love and Other Subjects is one of the best books I've read in a long time. This author had me literally laughing out loud! You know that moment where you want to share what you just read with someone close to you but they wouldn't get the joke because they don't know the character? I had several moments like that. I felt like I had an inside joke with this book. I mean "blow ass"? If that doesn't make you laugh then you have no sense of humor.

The main character Carolyn Jenkins is the type of person I would hang out with and not because we are close in age but because she is very down to earth. She was also a good example of how your childhood and your relationship with your parents can affect you love life. She wasn't the domestic type of girl but It seemed her mother wasn't either. Her bond was with her father which could explain why she felt a "soul slip" with Jeep aka Money. Being that he's older than her.

Carolyn's down to earth personality didn't help when it came to her career. I cringed at the stuff she put up with with her boss Klein.He wasn't the only person she needed to put her foot down with. Her ex Alex had some nerve showing up In her bed nude and Jeep's sister where on another level with there nosed turned up and Carolyn.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great comedic novel. 
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About the Author
A Language Arts Coach with a Ph.D. in Reading Education, Kathleen lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

Kathleen has also written Love and Other Subjects, award winning After the Fog and her debut novel, The Last Letter, garnered multiple awards in 2011.  The author's stories have also appeared in several of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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Amanda's Eyes Review

Think what you see is what you get? Better think again.

Waking up is the pits when you come to in a hospital with a broken arm, a colorful assortment of abrasions and contusions, and a face swathed in bandages. It’s even worse if you can’t remember what hit you.

The bad and the ugly are crime reporter Amanda “A.J.” Gregson’s business. But learning she had a ringside seat for an explosion that killed two agents of the Continental Intelligence and Investigative Service (CIIS), incinerated an entire block of warehouses, and did so much damage to her eyes they had to be surgically removed? Well, that gives the darker side of life a whole new meaning.

Haunted by elusive nightmares, A.J. waits for her transplant and struggles to remember the events leading up to the fateful night of September 4, 2075. Weeks crawl by without a glimmer, before memory finally floods back the night before surgery, every detail brutally clear.

The explosion had been the work of the Ferrymen.

“The Ferrymen. My not-so-magnificent obsession for more than a year. Only a cataclysm could have made me forget. I guess you could call them hitmen. You could also call Einstein a math whiz. Think ruthless. Think unstoppable. Think killers so proficient ‘caught the ferry’ was fast replacing ‘bought the farm’ in common usage, and you have the Ferrymen in a nutshell.”

The transplant surgery goes off without a hitch—welcome news, because A.J. is raring for a rematch with Hell’s Boatmen. But contrary to popular belief, what you see isn’t always what you get. Take her new eyes, for example. Those baby blues may look perfectly normal, but they possess a power that turns her world upside down—the power to see into the hidden dimensions of the human heart.

 When the Sight unmasks the mastermind behind the Ferrymen, the unveiling is as stunning as it is unbelievable. The revelation sets her on course for a second head-collision with evil. Will she survive the final encounter?

My Review

Captivating in every way, Amanda's Eye's will hold your attention from beginning to end. Set in 2075, you first meet the main character in her hospital bed learning right along with her how she got there in the first place. Later learning that she will need surgery caused by an event from a scoop she followed as a reporter. Amanda knows she can only hang around in town for so long. While going into hiding Amanda finds she has been gifted an extra sense. It motivates her to continue her investigation that got her where she is now. She meets plenty of interesting people and a dog.

I found Amanda's Eyes to have a good story line. It had everything an action reader would want, from murder, to investigation, to mystery. I don't read futuristic books ever but this one may have me changing my mind. I'm always concerned about books written in the future being too unrealistic but how the author explained how the North America withdrew the borders that separated them and become one large country, I became very intrigued. My only disappointment was how the story tied together at the end. I really would have loved to have felt like I was there when Amanda was rescued and when the villain was killed.

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About the Author

Award-winning author Kathy DiSanto wrote her first novel in 1997. That year, she published two romances with Bantam’s Loveswept line. One of them, For Love or Money, won a 1997 Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award. 

In 2012, Kathy self-published two futuristic thrillers. Amanda’s Eyes is a near-future paranormal thriller and the first novel in a series featuring crime reporter A.J. Gregson. Why Live? is stand-alone dystopian science-fiction. 

Thanks to her day job as a communications specialist with a major university, Kathy has written more than two hundred features for print and the web. 

She is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Alliance of Independent Authors, the Independent Author Network, the Independent Author Index, the Indie Writers’ Network, and World Literary Cafe. 

When not writing, she takes brisk walks with Molly and Lucy (her rescue dogs), reads, and indulges in her latest hobby at the firing range.

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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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Wonderfully Dysfunctional It Must Be Genetic Vol. 1 Review

 

The true story of... A woman who laughs at funerals. A gypsy mother who refuses to wear a bra and a father who refuses to leave his first wife. A brother who sleeps under the coffee table and a sister who was kidnapped. A cheating minister, a missing uncle and a feisty, red-headed grandmother who was longing to leave it all.

Buffi always knew her family was unusual, but she was lucky enough to escape that gene. Or was she? Joined by her siblings at the bedside of their dying grandmother, Buffi begins on a journey of self discovery as they recall stories of their youth including juicy family secrets, inappropriate practical jokes, abuse and betrayal. She is on a quest to find Normal but finds herself instead.

It Must be Genetic is about an American family of no particular importance, descendants of the once wealthy and revered Perry clan, but stripped of their family wealth during the Great Depression. It’s full of quirky characters like grandmother Mopsie; a sexy divorced mother of two in the 1950’s who would turn the heads of her conservative neighbors when hosting the best poker parties in town, but who can now be found sleeping her days away in the bed of a nursing home. The story climaxes when Mopsie accidentally reveals a secret that sends her family frantically searching through old documents to find the son she gave up for adoption half a century ago.

It Must be Genetic is about acceptance, forgiveness and the great capacity to love. The story is written from the perspective of a third generation divorced mother, Buffi, who realizes that the very traits that make her family dysfunctional may be the same traits that make it so wonderful. At 64,000 words, it's paced for a quick-and-easy read.

My Review

I definitely could not put this book down. I felt as though I was there seeing everything as it happened. Buffi is very talented and is an author you won't want to pass up the opportunity to read about. With the majority of the book centered around the possible death of a grandmother it is still so much more going on. The quirkiness of this family made me want to be more like them! Not worrying so much about what others think but doing what I need to do for me and live my life.

The secrets came one after another and I wanted so badly for everything to work out and have definitive conclusions but that is not always how it works. Especially in real life.  I definitely recommend this book to anyone who doesn't read memoirs. This was my first one and I have no regrets. Great read!

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Buffi Lynn Neal is a free-spirited mother of two currently living in a small town in Central New Jersey. She earned her Masters of Computer Science from Lehigh University. She also holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in both Mathematics and Physics.

Although Buffi spent twenty years working in the field of Computer Science she longed for the day that she could use her passion for writing to tell the unusual stories of her life.

Who am I? I'm a forgetful, kind-hearted, forty-plus year old mother of two who has great logic skills but spells worse than a fourth grader. I'm afraid of the dark and never shut my eyes in the shower. I bite my nails and peel my sunburn. Actually, I will peel anyone's sunburn. I would rather stick hot burning embers in my eyes than take out the garbage and I would rather be comfortable than look good. Like my mother and grandmother, I love the beach.

I am much more than I can write and I can write much more than I am.

Buffi is currently working on the second memoir in her "Wonderfully Dysfunctional" series. 

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Books to come.....

Wonderfully DysfunctionalTM - Breaking the Silence

At the age of nine I met my grandfather for the first time. It had been over twenty five years since my mother saw him. He arrived completely by surprise, bringing gifts for all, and was ready to be a part of our lives. I was the lucky one chosen to take a month trip to Florida with him. During the day it was ice cream, new clothes, and Disney World, and during the night it was something very unnatural. What my family did not know, was Grandpa Jack was a pedophile.

"Breaking the Silence" is part of the "Wonderfully Dysfunctional" Memoir series. It's the journey of a young girl who loved her grandpa so much that it would take thirty years, four deaths, two lawsuits, many lawyers and doctors before she would Break the Silence and tell her story of love and abuse through the eyes of a child.


Wonderfully DysfunctionalTM - 1982 Out Past Curfew 

It was 1982. I was only fourteen, and it was the year I learned about sex, drugs, love, and friendship. It was the year I became a woman and my mother became a person. It was the year of firsts for many of us; our first real kiss, first drink, first smoke, and first ride in the back of a police car.

We were a poor family living in a middle class neighborhood. The world was exciting and everything was new. I was a sponge soaking up all the good and the bad life had to offer. I learned that the child of an alcoholic has an unmistakable talent for holding their liquor, a teenager has the power to drive their parents to insanity, and if you turn your back on a friend you have turned your back on yourself. 

"1982 Out Past Curfew" is part of the "Wonderfully Dysfunctional" Memoir series. It's about the coming of age, the struggle to understand your sexuality and accept your past. It's about finding lifelong love and friendship from the most unexpected people. Many life lessons happened after curfew in 1982.


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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

Knowing Vera Giveaway!

ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL WIN THEIR CHOICE OF 

$20 AMAZON / PAYPAL GIFTCARD

PLUS A PRINTED BOOK FROM RACHELLE AYALA

Ending on Sunday 8th December at 11.59pm EST

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Vera Custodio has never fallen in love, though she has strong feelings for her friend and sometimes lover, Zach Spencer. Long-forgotten memories resurface when Vera discovers Zach’s mother was the woman her father supposedly murdered many years ago.

After losing his leg, former triathlete Zach Spencer reevaluates his life—and realizes he’s falling in love with Vera. After she ends their relationship, Zach is determined to prove his love and follows her to Australia in search of the killer.

Caught between a web of family secrets and a deranged adversary, Vera and Zach must depend on each other for survival. Love blossoms, but the truth explodes everything Vera knows about herself. Will she close her heart forever or risk it all for a shot at happily-ever-after?

Book 3 of The Chance For Love Series - Each book can be read standalone, but earlier plots will be revealed by reading later books.

Winners Choice of Book (plus $20 Amazon/Paypal Giftcard)
Michal's Widow
Michal is one of those fascinating women in history who had the guts to stand up to the establishment and the courage to take her punishment. I knew there was more to her story than the surface presentation in the Bible. If God was so adamant about men remaining with the wife of their youth (Proverbs 5:18-19) and not mistreating their covenant wife (Malachi 2:14), then why did it seem as if David got away with his burgeoning harem? 

Michal was shortchanged in most history books, novels and Bible commentaries, so I wrote my own version of her story to vindicate this heroic woman, too strong for her time.

#1 of The Chance For Love Series - Broken Build (Dave & Jen)
When a woman wrongs a man… can a man forgive and love?

Jen Jones wasn't a criminal. She just made a few bad choices and ruined a few lives, primarily that of her boss, CEO Dave Jewell. When her blackmailer is murdered, she becomes the next target.

Dave Jewell protects Jen because she holds the key to his company's code. What he doesn't expect is love, lies, and a link to his past. Jen must solve the mystery and thwart a ruthless killer while keeping her heart from being broken.



#2 of The Chance For Love Series - Hidden Under Her Heart (Maryanne & Lucas)
Maryanne Torres has sworn off sex. Intent on finding a marrying man, she joins a church youth group. A party at her pastor’s house turns into a drinking binge, and Maryanne is raped.

Lucas Knight’s only concern was winning the Ironman Triathlon until the morning he finds Maryanne unconscious in the church parking lot. He becomes the prime suspect, even though Maryanne cannot identify her attacker.

Maryanne wants justice but the identity of her rapist is hidden in the baby she plans to abort. A trap is set. Lucas races to clear his name and keep Maryanne’s secret from drowning her and her baby.

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Live Giveaway!

One Lucky Winner will win $20 Amazon Giftcard,

courtesy of author of Wonderfully Dysfunctional: it must be genetic, Buffi Neal

Ending on Sunday 15th December at 11.59pm EST

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The true story of... A woman who laughs at funerals. A gypsy mother who refuses to wear a bra and a father who refuses to leave his first wife. A brother who sleeps under the coffee table and a sister who was kidnapped. A cheating minister, a missing uncle and a feisty, red-headed grandmother who was longing to leave it all.

Buffi always knew her family was unusual, but she was lucky enough to escape that gene. Or was she? Joined by her siblings at the bedside of their dying grandmother, Buffi begins on a journey of self discovery as they recall stories of their youth including juicy family secrets, inappropriate practical jokes, abuse and betrayal. She is on a quest to find Normal but finds herself instead.

It Must be Genetic is about an American family of no particular importance, descendants of the once wealthy and revered Perry clan, but stripped of their family wealth during the Great Depression. It’s full of quirky characters like grandmother Mopsie; a sexy divorced mother of two in the 1950’s who would turn the heads of her conservative neighbors when hosting the best poker parties in town, but who can now be found sleeping her days away in the bed of a nursing home. The story climaxes when Mopsie accidentally reveals a secret that sends her family frantically searching through old documents to find the son she gave up for adoption half a century ago.

It Must be Genetic is about acceptance, forgiveness and the great capacity to love. The story is written from the perspective of a third generation divorced mother, Buffi, who realizes that the very traits that make her family dysfunctional may be the same traits that make it so wonderful. At 64,000 words, it's paced for a quick-and-easy read.

Author's Website

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Amazon.com
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Live Giveaway!

3 LUCKY WINNERS WILL EACH WIN A $10 AMAZON GIFTCARD

Courtesy of author of Both Sides, Paul Stawski

Ending on Sunday 8th December at 11.59pm EST

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Imagine if you were in a tragic accident – unable to move or speak but otherwise cognizant of everything around you. Imagine hearing doctors deciding your fate without you having a voice in the outcome.

Alex is a 16-year-old girl who finds herself in that exact situation in Both Sides, a novel that begins when – while on a class field trip – Alex and another girl, Sandra, end up in a horrible accident.

If the doctors act quickly, they may be able to save one body…and one brain. Amid the confusion and uncertainty, we hear everything that’s going on in Alex’s mind – from her initial disbelief to her quips about the absurdity of it all to her realization that she may have to go through the rest of her life living in the body of a girl she couldn’t stand. If she survives.

Both Sides tackles these issues and more. Within its pages every reader will find her own answers and discover, in the end, a story of courage and a girl who never before existed.

Award-winning author Paul E. Stawski captures the minute-by-minute struggles of a 16-year-old girl whose world is suddenly turned upside down in Both Sides. Radical brain surgery is the only option. Time is running out and Alex’s mind is racing: will she still be the same person when she comes out on the other side?

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Both Sides Review

Imagine if you were in a tragic accident – unable to move or speak but otherwise cognizant of everything around you. Imagine hearing doctors deciding your fate without you having a voice in the outcome.

Alex is a 16-year-old girl who finds herself in that exact situation in Both Sides, a novel that begins when – while on a class field trip – Alex and another girl, Sandra, end up in a horrible accident.

If the doctors act quickly, they may be able to save one body…and one brain. Amid the confusion and uncertainty, we hear everything that’s going on in Alex’s mind – from her initial disbelief to her quips about the absurdity of it all to her realization that she may have to go through the rest of her life living in the body of a girl she couldn’t stand. If she survives.

Both Sides tackles these issues and more. Within its pages every reader will find her own answers and discover, in the end, a story of courage and a girl who never before existed.

Award-winning author Paul E. Stawski captures the minute-by-minute struggles of a 16-year-old girl whose world is suddenly turned upside down in Both Sides. Radical brain surgery is the only option. Time is running out and Alex’s mind is racing: will she still be the same person when she comes out on the other side?

My Review

The plot to this book alone is intriguing in itself. For something so powerful I feel the author did a wonderful job. I love how the author portrays the teenagers as exactly that, teenagers. Alex is not the "lovey dovey" type. She is at the age where she just wants to be treated like an adult. She loves her parents but they should just know that already without her having to say anything. Her best friend can be both a convenience and inconvenience depending on who is around. Alex is just a typical teenager. I found myself wanting to tell her about herself many times.

I personally identified more with Sandra. So naturally I wished there was more written about her. It had to be extremely hard for Sandra's mother to look and her daughter's body and know it's not really her or is it? The moment when Alex cried but didn't want to,had me wondering if Sandra's body was functioning on it's own.

Both Sides is a great book and I can barely wait to read the second book and find out what life will be like for Alex and Sandra. Who's in control, Alex or Sandra? Will the law change their mind and consider Alex/Sandra a living person? Will Alex/Sandra get to stay with Alex's parents or will Sandra's parents fight for custody?

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About the Author
Paul E. Stawski won the Highlights for Children fiction contest for his short story, Code Red, a science-fiction story about a little girl who has to make a very grown-up decision. As a child, Paul was the subject of Newbery-Award winning author Lois Lenski's We Live in the North. Then, as an adult, he taught at an all-girls' high school before becoming a full-time writer. Both Sides is his first novel, he is currently writing the second book in the Both Sides series, Taking Sides due to be released January 2014. He lives in Troy, Michigan, with his wife and two cats.


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Taking Sides is the second book in the Both Sides series. In BOTH SIDES, Alex grappled with the idea of her brain being transplanted into Sandra’s brain-dead body. In TAKING SIDES, she struggles with her new reality, starting with the ride home from the hospital and the ensuing media circus. She’s now a celebrity who literally comes face-to-face with her new identity every time she looks in the mirror – and every time someone else looks at her. How will her friends react? How will Sandra’s? And what about their classmates and their parents? With everyone taking sides, Alex begins to wonder: is anyone on her side?

Tour Dates

I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.