Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Author Interview: D.T. Dyllin



Author Interview:
D.T. Dyllin, author of Enemy Through The Gates (a P.J. Series). 





Tell us something about yourself, your background, (where you were born, live? Your work prior to becoming a writer). I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and now live in Nashville, TN. Because of that I have this weird hybrid accent that’s part Pittsburghese, part Southern, and also mixed with the influence of my Italian grandfather who came over from Calabria when he was 18 years old. I never realized how “Italian” I am until I moved to Nashville. It was quite a culture shock in the sense that things I thought everyone did (dipping bread in olive oil) were things associated with the Italian culture. Oh, and I thought I was going to starve to death with the lack of decent Italian food in Nashville! Seriously…what kind of place doesn’t have pasta shops??! Not to mention the severely lacking pasta section at local grocery stores…ugh. Okay, I’m going to move onto the next question before I type 20-page dissertation about Nashville’s need for better Italian food. 


When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? I’ve always been a writer of some sort, whether it was short stories, poetry, songs, or now novels. I made the jump to novels when songwriting no longer seemed to satisfy me creatively. When I write a song, it’s like creating a snap shot version of a character’s emotions at a particular point in their lives. In my head there was a before, and an after, but I didn’t get to share all that went into the creation of that character for the song. Eventually, the characters I created had too much to say, and not enough time to say it in a 3-4 minute platform. I was left feeling like my creations were unfinished and incomplete. That’s when it became clear to me that my characters needed to have their stories truly told, and that it was time to move on to a different medium. 


Is this your first "published" book? Yes. (Sweet, a one word answer question!) 


How did you come up with the idea for the book? All of my ideas come to me from my dreams. Sometimes it’s just a particular character, or sometimes it’s the backdrop for the story. But once I have the first little spark of creation, everything else always seems to just fall into place. In this case, I dreamt that I was P.J. in what is now the opening scene of my book. It was if I was in her head, and could hear her thoughts, but I was still me. When I woke up the next day, P.J.’s presence stuck with me, and by that evening I had already written the first couple chapters in ‘Enemy Through The Gates’. 


How about the characters? Are they based on people you know? P.J. has some of me in her, both emotionally and physically. When I dreamt her up, I didn’t really see what she looked like, so she ended up having a lot of my physical attributes. I’ve always hated being tall, and I’ve always felt too skinny and self-conscious about it. And now so does P.J. I like when heroines are flawed in stories, and I have enough insecurities and flaws to spare, so I gave some of mine to her. It was amazingly cathartic. The rest of the characters are sort of a hodgepodge of traits from friends and family mixed together. No one is really based on anyone I know in real life. Although Bryn’s physical description was definitely influenced by my life long love of everything ‘Superman’. When I dreamt him up it was clear where my psyche got its inspiration. 


Who are your favorite authors and why? I’ve read so many great authors over the years. Who I would consider my favorites would greatly depend on my state of mind and what sort of phase I’m going through when you ask me. Right now I’m kind of going through a “reliving my childhood phase” and re-reading a lot of books that I grew up on such as…The Anne of Green Gables series by L M Montgomery, and The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Amazing authors write both series, and right now they are my current favorites…again. But like I said, ask me again in a couple of weeks and my answer could be completely different. 


Yay, Anne Rice's books are amazing!! Those were my first vampire books! What are you reading right now? I’m re-reading “The Vampire Lestat”. It’s been many years since I’ve read it, and I’m surprised how many little things I’ve forgotten about the story. Lestat holds a very special place in my heart, and is still one of my favorite vampires of all time. 


Oh liked Louis better than Lestat. Maybe because of that movie  - Interview with the Vampire. What do you do when you are not writing and reading? It can be a very bad thing when I’m not writing, or at least reading. I have a somewhat obsessive personality and if I don’t have a creative out let to channel my “crazy” into then I start all kinds of little projects to obsess about. Usually my Hubby tells me to go write before I drive him insane. He hates coming home to find me in tears because “our house will never be organized and I hate everything about it,” or me saying, “What do you think about me dying my hair black again?” or “We should take a pottery class together!” So really…when I’m not writing and reading…I’m driving everyone insane. Whoops. 



Thank you so much Dara for being here today! Can't wait to read the next installment of your book!



About the author's book:





P. J. Stone, like most eighteen-year-old girls, is a little boy crazy and somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect boyfriend. Some days she feels like she might be the last remaining virgin in her entire high school, and maybe even the entire tri-state area.


After a traumatic night at a friend’s party, P. J. realizes what she truly wants has been right under her nose all along. Bryn O’Bannon, her best friend and partner in crime since age five, is head over heels in love with her, and she feels the same about him.


But P. J.’s life isn’t that simple. She’s a member of a separate society that exists secretly among the rest of the world; the society raises gifted individuals to protect the world from interdimensional interlopers, and P. J. was taught to put duty before her heart. She is expected to choose a suitable mate in order to perpetuate the Seer line. Unfortunately, Bryn is a Guardian and is forbidden to date—let alone mate with—a Seer such as herself.


As if figuring out her love life isn’t complicated enough, P. J. begins having visions of a threat to her world only she is able to perceive. Now, she must concoct and execute a plan to avert world disaster while at the same time avoiding the dissolution of her love life.



Read my book review here.
Buy here


Monday, February 27, 2012

Book Review: His Steadfast Love by Golden Keyes Parsons

His Steadfast Love


Author: Golden Keyes Parsons
Paperback: 331 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers (November 1, 2011)
Amazon Link



Note: I received a review copy of this book free from BookSneeze. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.


Ratings:


★ ★ ★ 


My thoughts:


His Steadfast Love is a Christian book about two people in love divided by the Civil War. Amanda Belle and Captain Littlefield romance blooms before the war started. The two met while attending a church service. When the Civil War erupted, Captain Littlefield went back to his duty as a captain from the Union Troop (North). Unexpectedly, Amanda's brother signed up to fight for the South - the Confederates States. As Captain Littlefield has so much respect for Amanda's father, being the town's only pastor, he formally asked Reverend Belle's permission to continue communicating with his daughter but was surprised when he refused saying that he simply cannot allow his daughter to communicate further to someone from the North.


The book is rich in American history, it was interesting to read something about the Civil War. In this book, the war started because the North wanted to free the slaves while the South didn't agree with this. I thought the book was okay for a historical novel though I wasn't sure about the romance part. I just didn't feel Amanda's connection with Captain Littlefield. I guess maybe because the author focused on the war. The slaves jargon also annoyed me in some parts of the book.

Overall, His Steadfast Love is recommended for readers looking for a good historical novel.


About the book:



In one of the most heartbreaking times in American history, a Southern preacher's daughter makes a tragic error that pits her against the very people she loves most.


It's the spring of 1861 on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Although Amanda Belle never thought she would marry, her attraction to Captain Kent Littlefield is undeniable.


When Texas secedes from the Union, her brother Daniel marches off to war to fight for the Confederate States and Kent remains with the Union troops.


Her heart is torn between the two men she loves and the two sides of the conflict. When she turns to God for help, Amanda expects direction and support, but hears nothing. Is God listening to her anymore? Does He not care about the atrocities of war-and whose side is He on?


The war is dragging on for much longer than expected, and Amanda struggles between the opposing philosophies of slavery. But after the death of her pastor father, she learns some hard truths about love, the human condition, and God's role in her life.


Amanda must trust God to bring her family through the chaos that threatens her home, her family, and the beloved state of Texas.



About the author:


Golden Keyes Parsons is a popular retreat and conference speaker, author of historical novels and an ordained pastor. Her book, "In The Shadow Of The Sun King," (Thomas Nelson Publishing), first in a four-book series based on her family genealogy, released Fall 2008, and was named a finalist in the ACFW's Book of the Year Debut Author category. The book chronicles the saga of the Clavell family in 17th century France, where, as French Huguenots, they suffer persecution at the hands of Louis XIV's Catholic government. The second book, "A Prisoner Of Versailles," was released September 2009. Book Three, "Where Hearts Are Free" is scheduled to release Fall 2010. 

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Guest Author: Andrew Gavin


In constructing The Darkening Dream I wanted the meta-story to play off conventional tropes. Broadly, a cabal of ancient supernatural beings has sent one of their number to recover an artifact needed to destroy the world. And surprise, it turns out a group of teens are all that stands between them and Armageddon. How much more Buffy can you get? But that's just the high level. I also wanted to ground this preposterous scenario in real history and legend. So as a methodology, in designing my array of supernatural beings and occult practitioners I turned to historic sources. Before our modern science and technology rendered magic quaint, it was the domain of religion and superstition. Of belief. And each spiritual and magical system has its own framework. Proponents wrote out of certainty, out of faith. I merely dig up their writings and take them at their word.  

Villains


What binds a group of ancient evil beings together? Not some grand principle of villainy. Evil is just extreme selfishness. But hatred can go a long way. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So who from the ancient world has suffered the most? Might it be the old gods? Or those who worship them? Who offers sacrifice anymore to Osiris? Who fears the shadow of Anubis as they step from this world into the next? Who believes the beetle god Khepri drags the sun across the sky behind him? No one. And those that remember the glory days are pissed off. So who's been lurking around since the time of the pharaohs?


  The Comte de St. Germain has, or so he told everyone in the court of Louis XV. Apparently, at the very least, he is party to the secret magics of Osiris, Son of the Earth, King of the Dead. The elixir of Osiris is said to prevent death. And so the comte, which is but one of his many names, has been lurking about for some time. But the old magics are not what they once were. Their power has diminished with their gods. So he whispers in the ears of kings, pulling on what strings he can, seeking allies where he can find them. And old gods may fade, but as long as a single soul still believes, they never die. Even the ancient blood gods and their vampire acolytes. Born in ancient forests of the north where men offered midnight blood sacrifice. Of their king, their Ancient Master, raised from the dead a hundred centuries past, nothing remains but pure fury. Hatred for the burning sun, hatred for his mortal prey, hatred for the new world of foul brick and lifeless steel. But in hatred, perhaps, there is common cause.  

The Artifact

Clearly, the physical goal of our baddies had to be something really big. Something useful to them in their plots. The fall of antiquity was not about barbarians at the gates of Rome. No. The rising tide of monotheism was what really swept away the old order. So it is against God that our villains lash out. 


 And I found the perfect legend in the most unlikely of places. I was passing the time during Yom Kippur services by reading the story of Abraham offering Isaac for sacrifice (Genesis 22). 




This has always been a passage of particular interest to me, dealing as it does with the nature of the relationship between man and God and the meaning of ritual sacrifice. But it was in the commentary that I noticed something peculiar, a cryptic remark that "the Ram in the Thicket is but one of ten special things created by God on the eve of creation." How's that for a magic seeker's wet dream. Back at home I dug into this and discovered that on the eve of the first Sabbath, before the creation of world, God created ten special things (which besides the Ram include the rainbow of Noah, the staff of Moses, and other goodies). These items are eternal, having existed before the universe, they have no temporal beginning or end. God, it seemed, placed the Ram into the trust of the Archangel Gabriel, who kept it in the Garden of Eden until Abraham needed it at Mount Moriah. Afterward, nothing of the Ram was wasted. Gabriel took the horns and brought one to Moses so that he could sound the arrival of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The other was kept by the archangel, hidden in the Garden, so that at the appointed time it might be brought to Elijah to sound the End of Days. This notion of a horn blast sounding the end of the world is a highly persistent meme. It's found not just in the Jewish traditions regarding the Messiah, but in the Revelations of John where seven angels (including presumably, Gabriel) sound the end of time and the Last Judgment. And also in diverse mythologies such as the Norse, where the Gjallarhorn shall announce the onset of Ragnarök. In the world of The Darkening Dream, all beliefs are simultaneously true, as brought forth and conceived by their believers. This means that anything as consistent as the horn legend is doubly true. Archetypal truth made manifest. And what of Gabriel's Horn? Eternity is a long time and the archangel flits hither and yon. Might not a busy seraph misplace such a thing... if only for a short time?  

The Myriad Layers of the Esoteric World

How to properly envision a world in which vampires, the Archangel Gabriel, witchcraft, and Egyptian gods all exist? Many might just toss them together arbitrarily, but I wanted to find a framework consistent with traditional mysticism. Having read hundreds of religious and magical texts I have identified numerous 
consistencies in the thought patterns of the esoteric mind.


  By way of example, let's place ourselves in the mind of my protagonist Sarah's father Joseph. As a Rabbi, scholar, and mystic Joseph draws his world view from the Zohar and other great texts of the Kabbalah. In this conceptualization, which can be summed up as "hidden and not revealed," the world is a many layered thing, like an onion, with the portion we perceive merely the lowest of ten modalities, all simultaneously overlaid. The pure conceptualization of God pervades everything, and is the highest. Yet the human mind can not fully comprehend this level of divine and celestial purity. In between are various layers that express important truths like "Beauty" and "Wisdom." 


In Joseph's orthodox world, God is all powerful, so powerful that even the Archangel Gabriel is but a manifestation of His Strength. The angel is not an independent entity, but a protrusion of God's will into these middle layers of reality. Joseph might actually see the angel, but in his mind, this is just his perception of an aspect of God leaking into the mortal layers. The human mind cannot comprehend the divine, so God softens the blow with the angelic form. As hard as this might be to get your head around, it seemed reasonable to extend this kind of framework to many forms of magic in the book. The villainous Puritan warlock, Pastor John Parris, works a school of traditional witchcraft, yet it too is based on layered perception of reality. For him, the magical realm is twisted into a less spacial form, with objects and people adjacent not just by physical proximity, but by the likeness of their form and nature. So, a person's hair, separated as it might be from their body, provides magical access to the owner. Likewise, his religious conceptualization allows for the layering of hell dimensions, separated by flame. With the help of his succubus lover he is able to step through these fiery gateways and bend the rules of time and space. While occasionally, as is the case with the Horn, the mythological drives the story, most often the structural needs of my plot demanded esoteric action. I therefore required interoperability between diverse magic systems in order to make the action work. For example, when Joseph wishes to protect his home from the intrusions of the evil Parris and the ancient vampire al-Nasir, he prays to invoke the archangels and align the physical rectangle of his house with the metaphysical form of King Solomon's Temple. For him this is an act of faith drawing on protective aspects of God's divinity. But Parris too is able to perceive this change in the nature of reality, albeit in his own terms. His plans to gain entry requires the construction of an elaborate ritual analog. Like a voodoo doll for a building. Just as the limbs of the doll can be broken, the metaphysical walls of the temple may be breached.  

Succubus from the source

For each of my supernatural beings I strove to draw upon classical source materials rather than rely on 20th century pop culture. My warlock, Pastor Parris, is a man of repressed passion based on serial killer profiles. His only emotional connection to the outside world has been through a series of dominating female figures. First his puritanical grandmother, then following her grisly demise, his succubus lover Betty. Like all magic in the world of The Darkening Dream, Betty is a conceptual product of her beholder. So I turned to The Malleus Maleficarum, the rantings of two 15th century clergymen, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This book, which translates as the The Witch Hammer, was used by the Inquisition as a handbook for identifying and persecuting witches and demons. Along with a five page essay on the mechanism by which Succubi and Incubi transfer semen, the Maleficarum has this to say about Succubi:
Devils have no lungs or tongue, though they can show the latter, as well as teeth and lips, artificially made according to the condition of their body; therefore they cannot truly and properly speak. But since they have understanding, and when they wish to express their meaning, then, by some disturbance of the air included in their assumed body, not of air breathed in and out as in the case of men, they produce, not voices, but sounds which have some likeness to voices, and send them articulately through the outside air to the ears of the hearer.
From this passage, we know that one of the means of identifying Succubi is that they do not move their lips when speaking, but manipulate the elements of fluid air near their mouths directly. Hence, in my novel, Betty does not open her mouth to speak, but the air in front of her shimmers as she does. In keeping with my fast paced action oriented novel, I never make an issue of this, but like thousands of other details in the book it is informed by the source. Clearly brothers Kramer and Sprenger knew what they were talking about, as they inspired thousands to burn at the stake.

The Power of the Word

With each different school of magic I tried to extract the historic flavor and mindset of past occultists. The mysterious Khepri, another of my villains, practices an ancient Egyptian magic entirely different from Parris' devilish thaumaturgy. The spirit of Egyptian magic often derives from the use of secret names and the spoken word — nay command. The sorcerer/priest orders, by way of his secret magic, the very gods and demons to do his bidding. So it is that when Khepri invokes the miniature sun which is his weapon, he cries these words from The Egyptian Book of the Dead:
Re sits in his Abode of Millions of Years. The doors of the sky are opened for me, the doors of the earth are opened for me, the door-bolts of Geb are opened for me, the shutters of the sky-windows are thrown open for me. I know you, I know your names; Release him, loose him!
By sheer force of his sorcerous will he demands the sun yield to him. And so it does.  

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

By writing a modern fantasy adventure, but by grounding the magic and supernatural in tradition, I wanted to prove that the old adage really is true: Truth is stranger than fiction. The twisted imaginations of our ancestors, devoid of the distractions of the current age, were often far more creative than the half-assed creations of Hollywood and the like.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Book Review: Enemy Through The Gates by D.T. Dyllin

Enemy Through The Gates


Author: D.T. Dyllin
Hardcover: 424 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (January 27, 2012)
Book Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, D.T. Dyllin. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★ 



My thoughts:

This is the first book to the P.J. Stone series, a very good story about dragons... aliens, and mixed with a very intense romance! I liked the main characters, P.J. and Bryn. They've been best of friends since five, they care about each other but the  platonic love they shared over the years has grown into romantic love. I enjoy reading stories about best-friends turned lovers. I can totally relate to the situation, and so I had a good time reading the book. However, P.J. cannot date or be in love with Bryn. According to their laws, a seer (P.J.) cannot be mated to a guardian (Bryn). What would you do if you find out you are in love with your best friend but cannot be with him? 

I am not a fan of science fiction genre, I rarely enjoy books with futuristic story lines but I was surprised I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the author's writing style. She wove a story of aliens and dragons believable to the readers. 

While I enjoyed most part of the book, I was a little annoyed with the men in the story. I hate it when two (or more) guys fall MADLY in love with the main character. In this book, however, there is a reason why all men are attracted to P.J. That's one of the interesting twists in the story. Enemy Through The Gates is a great book, full of emotions! I am interested to read more about this series!

About the book:

P. J. Stone, like most eighteen-year-old girls, is a little boy crazy and somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect boyfriend. Some days she feels like she might be the last remaining virgin in her entire high school, and maybe even the entire tri-state area.

After a traumatic night at a friend’s party, P. J. realizes what she truly wants has been right under her nose all along. Bryn O’Bannon, her best friend and partner in crime since age five, is head over heels in love with her, and she feels the same about him.

But P. J.’s life isn’t that simple. She’s a member of a separate society that exists secretly among the rest of the world; the society raises gifted individuals to protect the world from interdimensional interlopers, and P. J. was taught to put duty before her heart. She is expected to choose a suitable mate in order to perpetuate the Seer line. Unfortunately, Bryn is a Guardian and is forbidden to date—let alone mate with—a Seer such as herself.

As if figuring out her love life isn’t complicated enough, P. J. begins having visions of a threat to her world only she is able to perceive. Now, she must concoct and execute a plan to avert world disaster while at the same time avoiding the dissolution of her love life.

About the author:


D. T. Dyllin was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and very spoiled GSD. This is her debut novel.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Book Giveaway: The Darlings by Cristina Alger








A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.


Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.


But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?


Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional "Too Big to Fail" and the novels of Dominick Dunne, "The Darlings" offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.



GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

Penguin is giving away a paperback copy of The Darlings. This is open to readers and bloggers from the US and Canada, and must be 18 years old and above.
  
To join the giveaway, just follow Bookingly Yours, leave a comment with your email or comment and email me at kaori.books@gmail.com with the subject "Cristina Alger giveaway". This give away will end on March 7 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. 


GOODLUCK!!!


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Guest Author: Luke Benoit


ALL STORMS PASS; The Anti-Meditations
Author, Luke Benoit


I started writing a book 2 ½ years ago without really knowing it.


It turned into a book of meditations called ALL STORMS PASS; The Anti-Meditations.


Meditation is a funny word. 


People generally come up with a picture of a man sitting quietly cross legged on a mountain top or under a tree chanting.  And there are many definitions of meditation.  In this context, I think we are simply talking about a reading meant to quiet and produce thoughtful pause and maybe some increased clarity.


People always ask me right away “Why ‘Anti-Meditations’ or ‘What does ‘Anti-Meditations’ mean?  The most real answer is that those words just presented themselves to me in an inspired way that told me to use them that way.  But the point also is that the meditations in this book are very different from meditations in “regular” meditation books like the Hazelden Meditation books series or the Language of Letting Go” meditation books by Mellody Beatie.




Those books are generally day by day entry books with constructive hope messages and suggesting tools that someone in struggle or dealing with addiction or codependency can use to handle difficult situations or even just a difficult day.


The meditations in ALL STORMS PASS are not dated or daily numbered.  And while they are meant to engender hope, they also deal some pretty dark themes.  They often present as puzzles that are designed to make the reader stop and think and ruminate.  And the book really works best when it’s read with 2 or more people and the meditations can be used as springboards for discussion.  They focus on difficult relationships and codependency but also on striving for personal spiritual growth and realizing solid and strong Self-Esteem.


This is the kind of book that could almost be a coffee table book that you pick up in a moment of confusion or need for clarity, open randomly and maybe receive a message you need about exactly where you are.  The print in the pages is very large making the book about 645 pages but filled with lots of white space on purpose.  It weighs about 2 ½ pounds and feels very substantial in the readers hand and the cover and it’s picture of storm clouds clearing makes you stop and pay attention. 


I started writing the meditations as a teaching tool.  I was running therapy groups at a lock-down acute care mental hospital for patients who had tried to commit suicide, were severely depressed or were hearing voices or dealing with other psychoses.  The groups were lower functioning and sometimes hard to get going or moving.  So I got idea to start bringing ideas into the group to use as that “springboard” or jumping off point to give the groups a shape.  Initially – and you can see this in the book – the ideas were more simple.  Somewhere along the way, they morphed in process and turned into the more complicated thoughts and meditations that appear in the book.  The progression is actually very visible and obvious because the timeline of their writing has been preserved.  They appear in the same chronologic order in which they were written. 


People’s reactions to these were STRONG right away and I began making copies of these and giving them to everyone I worked with and then people started waiting for them.  Then I started emailing them out of people until I was sending them to about 180 a day and they developed their own following. 


And somewhere along the way someone told me that I needed to write a book of these and incorporate them into a volume and “Poof” 2 ½ years later, here is ALL STORMS PASS.


I have loved doing this project.  While it hasn’t started selling a lot of copies on Amazon yet, I can’t seem to keep enough books in my hands.  Since January 10, 2012 when the book went up on Amazon (I self-published this book through Amazon’s CreateSpace) I have been through four cases of books.  I can’t keep enough on hand for the requests I am receiving to buy them.  When I go lecturing as a Life Coach, the books have consistently sold out and I have had to take mail orders home to fill.


The reviews for this book have been AMAZING.  Right now, on Amazon, the book has 10 – 5 Star rating reviews (highest) and 1 – 4 Star rating.  And the ratings on GoodReads are also excellent and those are all 5 Stars.


But maybe the neatest thing of all about ALL STORMS PASS has been the deepening connection that the project has brought about for me and my parents as it has progressed.  My parents really love the book and I have kept in very close daily touch with them telling them about every exciting step that has happened along the way.  They are so happy that I wrote this book and it just keeps bringing us closer.  


It’s very much like we’re doing this together.  


Amazon Reviews Link    
GoodReads.com Reviews


Find me on FaceBook


Luke Benoit LifeCoach
All Storms Pass: The Anti-Meditations by Luke Benoit: Self-Esteem Help Book

Monday, February 20, 2012

It's Monday! What are you reading?




"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read last week and our reading plans for this week. 

Read and Reviewed




Books for Posting Review



Currently Reading:



Anna Lee Cooper has a secret mission. That's why she starts a pet washing business at her family's car wash. Pretty soon, Anna Lee is up to her elbows in soap and fur. And trouble. Neighborhood bully, Roland Tuttle, just won't leave her alone. Anna Lee will do anything to hang on to her hard-earned money--even if it means taking on Roland all by herself.

But things aren't always as they seem. When Roland's family gets in a jam, Anna Lee has to decide if helping them is more important than completing her own secret mission.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

In My Mailbox


IMM (In My Mailbox) is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren


This is a way to share books we received for review, bought, and borrowed from friends or library.


Received for review


Four D consists of four chapters: “Space”, “Four Rooms”, 
“The Principle of Luidgi”, and “Guest”.
“Space” is a story about disappearances. The characters lives in a world of disappearing people and objects, which might or might not be important. In such a flexible reality, one should not get used to or attached to anything. However, the main character falls in love and finds a best friend despite all risks. To top it all off, he is visited by Space—the power that stands behind all the disappearances.
“Four Rooms” is a story about a young woman called Elise. Elise had always been a prisoner of her own mind. But at some point everything took a turn. She had to make a stand when she found herself at a life changing situation in a dark room with four doors. She has to open all doors and enter every room with its own mystery and secrets and has to do it immediately. Going through the four rooms is a challenge Elise has to complete to find something she needs so badly – the truth. 
“The Principle of Luidgi” is a story about Luidgi. Luidgi has everything: a beautiful girlfriend, a good job, a lovely apartment, trusted friends but instead of being happy and grateful he’s sick and tired of it all. Luidgi decide to change everything despite all costs. 
“Guest” is a story about the character who wants to meet the Guest. Finally one day he makes decision to do “it” and Guest arrives. Now all his questions are about to be answered, but is it really what he wants? 
These tense mysterious stories with incredibly engaging plots will not leave any reader feeling indifferent. 




Hex signs protect every barn and outbuilding. Babies disappear at birth. When a brick wall unearthed at the site of a new restaurant collapses, and raw sewage carries hundreds of baby bones into the pit left behind, it looks like the devil's made Three Bridges his playground. 




Pallas is a friendless teen from a backwater village on a forgotten shore. Born a slave like everyone around her, people hate her clothes, her parents… especially her strange name. Pallas doesn’t believe in the gods except to blame them for drowning her mother. But she’s forced to shelve her moody cynicism when she accidentally rescues an obnoxious cat. Suddenly caught in a celestial war, Pallas must do the unthinkable – champion the very goddess she hates. Masquerading as a mythic princess, she convinces everyone she’s a child of Atlantis. Jealousy hounds her at every turn as she battles dangerous fanatics, a boorish prince, and a stunningly beautiful princess. Yet nothing can save her from certain doom, when the Volcano god reaches out to slay her. For how can a mortal fight a god? 




P. J. Stone, like most eighteen-year-old girls, is a little boy crazy and somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect boyfriend. Some days she feels like she might be the last remaining virgin in her entire high school, and maybe even the entire tri-state area.


After a traumatic night at a friend’s party, P. J. realizes what she truly wants has been right under her nose all along. Bryn O’Bannon, her best friend and partner in crime since age five, is head over heels in love with her, and she feels the same about him.


But P. J.’s life isn’t that simple. She’s a member of a separate society that exists secretly among the rest of the world; the society raises gifted individuals to protect the world from interdimensional interlopers, and P. J. was taught to put duty before her heart. She is expected to choose a suitable mate in order to perpetuate the Seer line. Unfortunately, Bryn is a Guardian and is forbidden to date—let alone mate with—a Seer such as herself.


As if figuring out her love life isn’t complicated enough, P. J. begins having visions of a threat to her world only she is able to perceive. Now, she must concoct and execute a plan to avert world disaster while at the same time avoiding the dissolution of her love life.


Received as gift


The new blockbuster from one of the world's greatest storytellers delves into the life of Emma Harte—the original Woman of Substance—and the ambitious, passionate, and volatile women of the next generations.
Evan Hughes, Emma's American great-granddaughter, is trying to integrate into the powerful Harte family. She is caught between her estranged parents, her new family, and new love. But a dangerous enemy hovers in the background.
Tessa Longden, Evan's cousin, is battling her husband for custody of their daughter, Adele. When Adele suddenly goes missing, Tessa is forced to seek help from her half-sister Linnet—a woman who has been her rival all their lives. 
Linnet, the most brilliant businesswoman of the four great-granddaughters, is desperately trying to show that she is the natural heir to her mother, Paula. But her glittering future at the helm of the vast Harte empire means many sacrifices, perhaps even the loss of her sister’s fragile trust.
India Standish, the traditionalist in the family, falls in love with a famous British artist from a working-class background. Madly in love, India is determined to marry him, no matter what her family thinks. 
Evan, Tessa, Linnet, and India: four extraordinary women. Three generations of Hartes. One indomitable family whose loyalty binds them together and whose enemies want to tear them apart.
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