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It is official! I’m an author!! After reading and blogging for years I can’t believe that I get to be an author too! I started writing Aspen Everlasting 6 years ago. It was very hit and miss. I started off with only two boys, 3 and 1 years old. Now I have 4 boys: 9, 7, 4, and 2 years old!

As I have learned more about writing the story changed and was edited many times! I’ve had some great friends that read through my book and gave great advice. I made huge changes.

My wonderful husband Colt has been my strength. He always said that one day I’d be an author even when I didn’t believe that would ever happen. He watched my boys when I needed time alone to write in my room or at the library. He helped me so much.

Okay, enough about that. You can read more of my thank yous at the end of my book. It is an eBook now. If enough sell it will publish as a paperback too!

Here are the sites where you can buy my book!
Amazon
Books & Things
Barnes&Noble
Google Play Books
Kobo
Scribd
iTunes

If you enjoy reading Aspen Everlasting, tell your friends about it!

Aspen Everlasting by Kathryn Cooper. September 8, 2015. Cedar Fort Publishing. Goodreads.

Water splashed on all sides then took control of the tires. The car swerved right toward the river.
“No. NO. NO!” I turned the wheel toward the road. It didn’t work. Fast running water pulled the car into the flooded river.Aspen Foster thinks she’s just a normal sixteen-year-old, but when her car’s caught in a flash flood, Aspen and her sister discover the superhuman strength they never knew they had.

Soon Aspen learns she’s not normal at all. She’s an Evermortal fairy, with powers beyond her wildest dreams. But the more Aspen finds out about her family’s past, the more dangerous her future becomes.

This riveting fantasy is full of action, adventure, and romance. Suspenseful and exhilarating!

A Healing Spirit (Riverview #2) by Melissa A. Hanson. August 2015. MAH. Goodreads. Book 1: A Healing Heart

A freak ski accident brings nineteen-year old Mia Kinney within minutes of death. Hurt and scared, Mia is calmed by the southern drawl and clear green eyes of her rescuer.

Twenty-one year old Dylan Blackburn is one of the first Ski Patrol members on the scene. As his patient is airlifted to the local trauma center, he can’t shake her from his thoughts.

As Mia fights for her life, Dylan, is haunted by the blond hair beauty, and knows he needs to make sure she’s going to be okay.

With a troubled past Dylan has vowed never to completely open himself up to another girl, but Mia continues to knock down every wall he’s constructed. When his past arrives at his front door and threatens once again someone that he loves, will Dylan be able to save Mia yet again? Or will he be too late this time?

A story of love, friendship, and the determination to turn a horrible experience into something worthwhile.

Just look at the cover picture! You know you’ll love this book! I read Melissa A. Hanson’s first book a few years ago. This is the 2nd in the series, but it’s from a different character. So you don’t have to read book 1, but you should because it was always a great read! Characters from the first book are in this book too.

I loved reading Mia’s story. She was a tough chicka. I think many of us become super tough when put in terrible situations. I don’t want to give things away, but she had a major injury and a hero. Dylan was the hero that worked where she was injured. I love how the story goes beyond her injury and hospital days. You really get a chance to watch their new relationship. IT WAS SO CUTE!!! squeal I loved so many of their scenes together!

It’s not just a romance story. It has injuries and scary action moments. The story goes into family abuse, not Mia’s family. It’s so sad but very real.

A Healing Spirit by Melissa A. Hanson is a must read for any of you YA or NA contemporary romance fiction lovers!

Have you read her other books? What did you think?

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: moderate ( kissing, light tongue kissing, lay on a couch together, making out scene his hand touches her breast )
Language: mild ( God-5, h*-2, da-1, sh**-1 )
Violence: mild ( woman abused by husband, boy abused by dad, sexual abuse by touching a woman’s breasts )

I received this book from the author Melissa A. Hanson. I am not paid for my reviews. My reviews are solely my opinion.

BOOKS BY MELISSA A. HANSON
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

Hit by Lorie Ann Grover. 2014. Blink. Goodreads.

After receiving a full-ride scholarship to Mills College for Girls, it appears Sarah’s future is all laid out before her that is until she walks into a poetry class led by Mr. Haddings, a student teacher from the nearby University of Washington. Suddenly, life on the UW campus seems very appealing, and Sarah finds herself using her poetry journal to subtly declare her feelings for Haddings. Convinced Mr. Haddings is flirting back, she sets off for school in the rain with a poem in her back pocket one that will declare her feelings once and for all.

Mr. Haddings has noticed Sarah’s attention; the fallout from any perceived relationship with a student is too great a risk, and he has decided to end all speculation that morning.

But everything changes when Mr. Haddings feels a thud on his front bumper when he glances away from the road, and finds Sarah in the street with blood pooling beneath her.

Hit by Lorie Ann Grover was an amazing read that hit me hard. Sarah was hit by a car and sent to the ER to save her life. Some of what she went through was so similar to what I went through with my brain tumor surgery. I shed some tears as I read Sarah’s story and remembered mine from last year.

This was such a great read! The only thing I would have liked was more story after the hospital days. I wanted to see more of her days/weeks/months after the accident. The read was still amazing though. I really felt what the family and friends were all feeling.

If you love clean teen contemporary reads with sadness and happiness then go read Hit!

Have you read Hit or something similar? What did you think about it?

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: none
Language: none
Violence: very mild ( a car accident )

I received this ARC book from Blink. I am not paid for my reviews. My reviews are solely my opinion.

BOOKS BY LORIE ANN GROVER
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

It has been ONE year today since I had a Brain Tumor removed. I’m tearing up just typing this. I know that I have been tough and strong, more than I ever expected. But looking back on this long difficult year makes me cry both for sadness and joy. I have had so many family members and friends supporting me through this. I have had God my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ my Savior, and the Holy Ghost with me to give me strength, love, and peace.

Early Monday morning on August 11, 2014 Colt, my husband, took me to the MD Anderson hospital in Houston, TX. Doctor Jeffrey S. Weinberg was my amazing Neurosurgeon. My brain tumor had been rated at level 2. Rated 4 is the worst which would mean the tumor was growing quickly. Only the surgery and testing the tumor could show them where the exact tumor rating. After the surgery they told me it was at a 3. I was told that in a few weeks I would have 6 weeks of radiation then a few weeks after that I would start 12 months of chemo. It was an overwhelming feeling.

After waking up from surgery I remember being exhausted. The surgery I think was around 11 or 12 hours. I feel terrible for Colt, my parents, and family having to wait those hours to know how it all went. I was lucky to sleep through that stress.

I had some great nurses and others that helped me out at the hospital. I feel sorry for them because I was a different person on that pain medicine. I was cranky! And I cried a lot. I know that no one blames me for that, but I still laugh and feel kind of bad for acting unlike my normal self.

Soon after waking up the hospital workers started testing me. The worst thing that put me in huge tears was not knowing my 4 boys’ names. I could picture them and remember everything about them except for their names. It was awful! I learned that my more recent memory had disappeared. I could remember my 3 brothers’ and 1 sister’s names, but I had no idea what my sister’s married last name was or any of my siblings spouses’ names. I knew my parents were Mom and Dad, but I didn’t even know their real names. It was like all I could remember was the names I knew as a child. I think I knew Colt’s name pretty quick. We met when I was 17. The plus with that was that I remembered so many friends from my growing up years. The bad was that I had forgotten more recent friends. I still have trouble remembering names of new people I meet, but I’m getting better.

I think I was at the hospital for about a week. Then I went home to my parents’ house. Colt had taken a new job so we were moving out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area down to the Central Texas area. I was so happy to be out of the huge and busy city life.

My mom and I went back up to the Dallas area to live at the home we still rented to go to an amazing brain radiologist. Doctor Choe with UT Southwest in Dallas. It was 6 weeks of living up there with my mom and my 2 youngest boys. Colt and my dad took care of my 2 oldest boys who had started school. I won’t get into all of that. I’ve posted about it before. After the radiation my MRI showed that my tumor was gone so I’m grateful for that treatment. Even though I became half bald, and the radiation was claustrophobic making!

My last chemo medicine will be taken at the end of September. Doctor Carl Chakmakjian in Waco has been great to work with. I am excited to celebrate that last chemo pill day! Plus my hair has been growing back!

Today is my huge celebration! I survived and have been so blessed. I love my Heavenly Father and know that I will see Him when I leave this earth. But until then I am grateful to still be with my husband and young boys as they grow and learn. I am grateful for the good and the bad experiences I have had and will continue to have during my life on earth.

Stacey’s Big Crush (The Baby-Sitters Club #65) by Ann M. Martin. 1993. Scholastic. Goodreads.

Stacey’s in luv again! Wes looks like a movie star, he’s a genius, and he has the most perfect smile in the world. (Or so Stacey thinks.) There’s only one problem – Wes is Stacey’s substitute math teacher.

I didn’t read a lot growing up, but I was a huge fan of The Baby-Sitters Club. If I was going to read a book it would be one from Ann M. Martin’s huge row of options.

Stacey’s Big Crush is such a funny read. I loved reading it! This brought back so any memories of my younger years. I love that this was in junior high and full of a crush. I definitely had huge crushes while in junior high. The boys were never old enough to be a student teacher. Wow, Stacey had guts in this book. I crushed on guys close to my age. They probably never knew about my crush on them and never will.

Stacey’s Big Crush by Ann M. Martin was such a fun read that took me back in time. How many of you have read any books from The Baby-Sitters Club? Do you have a favorite one? Did you have huge crushes in junior high like Stacey did?

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: none
Language: none
Violence: none

BOOKS BY ANN M MARTIN
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly post where I share a book I’m anxiously waiting to be published. hosted by Breaking the Spine

Aspen Everlasting by Kathryn Cooper. September 8, 2015. Cedar Fort Publishing. Goodreads.

Water splashed on all sides then took control of the tires. The car swerved right toward the river.
“No. NO. NO!” I turned the wheel toward the road. It didn’t work. Fast running water pulled the car into the flooded river.Aspen Foster thinks she’s just a normal sixteen-year-old, but when her car’s caught in a flash flood, Aspen and her sister discover the superhuman strength they never knew they had.Soon Aspen learns she’s not normal at all. She’s an Evermortal fairy, with powers beyond her wildest dreams. But the more Aspen finds out about her family’s past, the more dangerous her future becomes.

This riveting fantasy is full of action, adventure, and romance. Suspenseful and exhilarating!

I can’t believe I can say this, but I AM THE AUTHOR! I’ve been a book blogger mostly for teen fiction for years, and now I get to be the author! I loved writing Aspen Everlasting. I hope everyone enjoys going on this adventure with Aspen.

Aspen Everlasting is not yet on Amazon. You can go add it to your Goodreads list. It comes out first as an eBook on September 8, 2015!

What books are you “Waiting On?”

The Murder Complex (The Murder Complex #1) by Lindsay Cummings. 2014. Greenwillow Books. Goodreads.

An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate. For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

I LOVED reading The Murder Complex! I was afraid it would be too violent for me to handle, but it wasn’t. If you could handle reading the violence in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins then you can handle this.

The world was full of fighting. Most of the people sounded like violent idiots who no longer cared about lives. There were some that did care and tried to avoid fighting.

This is written from two characters’ Point Of View: Meadow and Zephyr. My favorite thing was all of Zephyr’s fake words instead of cussing. That made me laugh. I liked him from the beginning. Meadow was one tough chick. Wow. I wouldn’t mess with her. She grew in a way that made me like her tones by the end.

Book 2: The Death Code has come out so I must get it! If you love reading Action Dystopian then you’ll have a blast reading The Murder Complex!

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: mild ( mention of prostitution )
Language: mild/moderate ( he-19, da-8, a-7, God-4, Bit-1 )
Violence: moderate/heavy ( attacks, murders, abuse, hint at a girl’s sexual abuse )

BOOKS BY AUTHOR
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

Here I am finally getting to meet Lindsay Cummings, the author. She is so much fun and the sweetest!

Bianca’s Vineyard by Teresa Neumann. 2010. All’s Well House. Goodreads.

Bianca Corrotti’s vineyard is more than a piece of mouth-watering real estate in Tuscany. It’s an inheritance; a storehouse harboring the secrets of her Uncle Egisto, a world-class sculptor, and his troubled wife — a woman whose destiny converges with Mussolini’s when WWII overtakes them all. Based on a true story, Bianca’s Vineyard follows a devoted family of strong-willed men and lion-hearted women waging an epic battle against a gathering storm intent on destroying their lives.

I loved this cover which really made me want to read this book! After reading the book I think the cover should have been different. It gave me the idea that this was going to be a sweet and happy romance. At first it was, which I loved, then it changed.

The story is from 1913-1946 and goes back and forth from Italy and America. Egisto was of course my favorite character. He was brave and strong. I can’t go into detail and give anything away. My like for Armida went back and forth which I don’t want to give away. You can read this and find out yourself. The story really was interesting, sad, and strong. I learned more about how WWII affected Italy.

I’m not a huge fan of stories that cover more than a few months. Reading this made me think of it being a great T.V. series. It covers many different things over a large period of time.

I know some of my friends would love to read Bianca’s Vineyard. Also a perfect choice for a Book Club read.

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: mild ( kissing, mention married sex )
Language: very mild( a few times: damn, hell, God )
Violence: mild ( attacks, deaths, physical arguing )

I received this book from Italy Book Tours. I am not paid for my reviews. My reviews are solely my opinion.

BOOKS BY TERESA NEUMANN
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

Catching June (June #3) by Shannen Crane Camp. 2014. Sugar Coated Press. Goodreads. Book 1: Finding June. Book 2: Chasing June

June Laurie’s life in the spotlight of Hollywood is anything but normal. Between paparazzi watching her every move, and online fandoms voicing opinions on her relationship with her boyfriend and co-star Ryan Hex, things can get confusing. But June is more than confident that she has her life planned out perfectly, with her childhood friend Joseph Cleveland coming home from a mission soon, and a successful television show under her belt, things seem to be falling into place perfectly. But when jealousies both on set and off start to shake the foundation of perfection that June has tried to build up, she’ll be forced to, once again, assess just how important her deeply seated standards are, and who really fills the empty spaces in her life. With the overbearing threat of popular opinion constantly hanging over her, will June be able to clear the clutter in her life and come to terms with what will bring her true happiness?

I love reading Shannen Crane Camp books. They always have something that will make me laugh. Some of her books have exciting action scenes plus some romance, and others are just full of the romance. The romance always stays clean which makes it fun to read.

Catching June was book 3 in a great series. I am loving all of these books. June is a great character to follow. Some of the main characters are Christians which adds to the story. I have loved reading each book in this series. Shannen has told me that there will be a fourth book! It’s always fun to have another book in a series of characters you love.

If you like reading clean and fun Christian romance then you’ll love this series!

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: mild ( kissing )
Language: none
Violence: none

BOOKS BY SHANNEN CRANE CAMP
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.

Sense and Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale (A Latter-Day Tale) by Rebecca H. Jamison. 2014. Bonneville Books: Cedar Fort Publishing. Goodreads.

As if it wasn’t bad enough to be getting food from Church welfare, I had to meet one of the Ferreros—and a good-looking Ferrero, at that.

Elly Goodwin, a brilliant programmer, is so desperate for a job that she takes one from her ex-boyfriend—the same man who put her family out of business. Then she meets Ethan Ferrero, who seems too good to be true. But Elly is far too sensible to unexpectedly fall in love—especially with her ex’s brother-in-law.

But when Elly’s sister, Maren, dates the wrong guy, Elly must intercede before Maren’s passion clouds her common sense. Together, Elly and Maren must learn that a mixture of sense and sensibility is the perfect recipe for love.

A few weeks after my brain tumor surgery I had to have Radiation. Back in September 2014, right before starting Radiation, I started to read Sense and Sensibility: A Latter-day Tale. During Radiation I tried to read, but it was NOT fun going through this treatment every Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. All I could do was watch TV. I did happily go back to reading in November and finished this book in December. Sorry, this is probably more information than you want to know. I just like to share that, for me, reading helps my recovery.

The 2 main girl characters were going through some difficult stuff. The 2 sisters reacted differently. Elly holds things together. She had to hold back more than she probably would have because of her sister Maren’s reaction of heavy emotions. It was good seeing them be so real. Boys of course are also involved. Good stuff there. Also, on the side there are some good mentions of their christian church.

I love reading Jane Austen 21st century re-tellings. This Sense and Sensibility was a great one!

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details
Sexual: mild ( kissing )
Language: none
Violence: none

I received this book from Rebecca H. Jamison. I am not paid for my reviews. My reviews are solely my opinion.

BOOKS BY REBECCA H. JAMISON
As an Amazon Affiliate I receive a small portion of sales when you click then make a purchase from Amazon links on my blog.