Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"Love of Her Lives" by Sharon Clare


Love of Her Lives
by Sharon Clare



Description
Calum and Beth are soul mates who have lived many lives together, lusting, loving, and dying for each other. While their lives are often turbulent, their eternal bond is secure - or so Calum thinks - until Beth decides to live a life on her own. Left behind in the Upper World, he sees a wrongful imprisonment in her future, so he bargains with Finn, an elven trickster, to return to Earth, rescue Beth, and reclaim her heart. Unfamiliar with the twenty-first century, he must determine who plots against Beth while playing Finn’s sensual game, a game designed to awaken her repressed passion and keep them on the run together.
Beth has no recollection of their lives together and didn't ask this sexually charged stranger to come to her aid. When she takes a risk to help an abused woman, she is horrified to find her house ransacked and her life threatened. With a secret to keep, she takes the greatest risk of all - trusting Calum. Her life soon depends upon re-evaluating everything she thought normal as she becomes embroiled in Finn's game. Her eternal bond with Calum will only be saved if Beth can rescue the man who spanned worlds to rescue her.

Excerpt
He leaned back on one heel, unruffled by her sarcasm or the look of irritation she’d sent him. Instead, his beautiful lips formed another rousing smile that reached clear to those eyes of blue. “’Tis a fine name for a lovely lass. I’m visiting summer students to conduct a study on risk-taking behavior.”
He still held her hand. In his right hand he held a clipboard that rested against his thigh. “May I come inside and ask you a few questions?” He gazed at her mouth, at her hair, and then scrutinized her from top to bottom. Geez, this man had a way about him—a way of bewitching a woman, fully confident of her surrender—no mistaking the sensual heat of an attempted conquest there.
He had to be kidding. 
She pulled her hand free and probably should have shut the door in his inappropriate face, but she couldn’t help giving him a taste of his own medicine.
She ogled him right back. The man was built like a warrior, tall, wide in the shoulders with a chest broad enough for a woman to spend the afternoon exploring. Warrior? That was an odd association to pop into her mind, as if you couldn’t go anywhere these days without bumping into a warrior. Whether he was a university professor or not remained to be seen, but he definitely looked good in those jeans and mocha turtleneck.
His fingers drummed the curve of an impressive biceps as he regarded her, regarding him. She took her time scanning the square jaw and feline angles of his face, but this guy was no tabby cat. Tabbies weren’t warriors. He was cut from the mountains—solid muscle, graceful lines and eyes smooth as still water.
“No, Professor Cunningham, you may not come inside.”

Review


By Lynda Dickson
Calum is Bethia's spirit guide. Soulmates for a thousand years, the souls of Calum and Bethia are destined to live out their lives on earth in human form. They always find each other, but Bethia's risk-taking behavior constantly lands her in trouble, usually leading to her untimely demise.
In this lifetime, Calum retains his memory of their time together but Bethia (now Beth) does not. Calum is charged with breaking the cycle of Bethia's destructive behaviour . He must save her and make her fall in love with him, without exerting his will over her. The catch - once this happens, he will be taken away from her, until their next life together 67 years hence.
This book deftly combines the elements of romance, fantasy, adventure, thriller, and even comedy. Sharon Clare has created an elaborate fantasy world. She clearly demonstrates the difference in chronological times and worlds through the use of Calum's distinctive vocabulary and his unfamiliarity with modern technology, including motor cars, elevators, the mini-bar, telephones, and even zippers. On the run from drug dealers, the police, and a boyfriend she was about to break up with, Beth and Calum form an unlikely duo as they try to clear Beth's name and uncover the mystery of a buried treasure - with a little help from their elven friend, Finn.
As with all good romances, the hero and heroine fight a battle of wills and have a love-hate relationship. This is complicated by Beth's faint memories of their past lives, lives ruled by passion and lust, but not necessarily love. She is the love of his lives, but will the modern-day Beth reciprocate this time? Will Beth be able to resist Calum's warrior charm? Or will she succumb to their destiny once more? What will happen when reality catches up with them? And what will happen when the tables are suddenly turned? You'll just have to find out for yourself.

About the Author
Sharon Clare lives in Ontario with her husband and three grown-up kids who come and go from the nest. Sharon fell in love with writing at the University of Toronto where she graduated with a science degree in psychology and professional writing. She writes paranormal romance and has published short stories, art reviews, newsletter and magazine articles. Love of Her Lives is Sharon's first novel. Her second book, Rhapsody, has just been released.
For further insights, read an interview with the author.
From the author:
"Ever since I read Tolkien as a kid, I’ve loved the fantasy world of Fairies and Elves. Years ago, I discovered Karen Marie Moning’s books and couldn’t get enough of her contemporary heroines, sexy Scottish druids and the Fae world of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. Her books inspired me to create a mystical world for my own characters to dwell in.
"Thus my Alfarian World was created. The Alfar in my stories are a noble race of elves who inhabit beautiful kingdoms in Alfheim, a dimension closely associated to Earth. Finn is an Alfarian elf who lives with us mortals after he was exiled from Alfheim due to his propensity to play games with humans. Finn can’t deny the entertainment he gleans from his games, but he also has a theory to prove and while doing so he provides humans with a much needed match making service. All the better when he succeeds in pushing people out of their comfort zones - now that’s entertainment!"

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Monday, January 21, 2013

Absence of Rules (Mike Devon Series) by Joe McCoubrey


NEW RELEASE
Absence of Rules (Mike Devon Series)
by Joe McCoubrey



Before you read Joe McCoubrey's NEW RELEASE, Absence of Rules, make sure you read the blog post on the other books in the series, Someone Has to Pay and Death by Licence. Please note that Absence of Rules is ON SALE for a limited time.

Description
To some people Mike Devon is a highly trained counter-terrorism operative. To others, he's little more than a Government-sanctioned assassin. Either way, Devon always takes the line of least resistance to get the job done, particularly when he's faced with two al-Qaeda leaders preparing to unleash a new terror campaign against America and its European allies. But Devon also has to deal with a sinister Russian oil billionaire, pulling the strings in a determined bid to return to the days of East-West conflict.
Devon has to fight his way through a plot to blow up the Eiffel Tower, and stop the assassination of some of the world's leading businessmen in a roller-coaster ride that becomes highly personal, and threatens the lives of the people he loves most.
The stakes couldn't be higher.

Review
By aro
Another thriller by Joe McCoubrey! This takes place during the "Troubles" of Northern Ireland and brings you along on Mike Devon's journey around the globe to catch the bad guys once again! During this entire book I could feel myself tensing up with anticipation of what would happen to Devon and Doyle during their trek. The characters are strong and very believable.
Just a wonderful read all the way. Dialogue and scenery descriptions are excellent as Joe is a visual writer. When you read this you can almost hear the bullets exploding! I highly recommend this book for those who love the thrill and excitement of CIA type espionage!!!

About the Author
Joe McCoubrey is a former Irish newspaper editor who is now a full-time action thriller writer. His first full-time job after leaving college was as a showroom salesman for a car-parts company. At coffee break on the first morning he walked to the nearest cafeteria, and kept on walking - he never went back! At the turn of the seventies he joined the Civil Service based at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Government, and watched behind the scenes as some of the country's most momentous events unfolded. These were the early dark days of the 'troubles' - events that reverberated around the world, and somehow served to push him towards his real passion of writing. The short action story Death By Licence was his first published work. His debut full-length thriller Someone Has To Pay was released in September 2012, followed by Absence of Rules in January 2013.
Joe McCoubrey has lived all his life in the beautiful Irish town of Downpatrick, made famous by its association with the national Patron Saint, St. Patrick.

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Friday, January 18, 2013

Betrayed - The Bethany Rosehart Story by Wade Faubert


NEW RELEASE

FREE Kindle Edition to 22 January

Betrayed - The Bethany Rosehart Story
by Wade Faubert


Description
To say life gave Bethany Rosehart lemons would be an understatement.
With her father soon to be released from prison and her mother showing signs of a mental breakdown, Bethany could only wish she was adopted. But when a strange man chases Bethany into a deserted parking garage, her mind can only conceive the worst, but when he calls her by a different name and hands her a birthday gift from her mother, she begins to think her wish may be coming true…
But not all wishes have happy endings.

Excerpt
Robert Knight quickly pulled the car to the curb and fumbled through the photos he meticulously took of his next subject. The girl reminded him of his own daughter with her shoulder-length blond hair and petite figure. However, the one thing that stuck in Robert’s mind was her smile. In every picture she had a big grin on her face, one that caused both her cheeks to break into dimples. Robert traced his finger over the picture and wondered how one person could be so happy. Happiness was something that seemed to elude his life. He was content with the sorrow and misery that each day brought with it.
Robert had done similar jobs before, but this one had the potential to blow up in his face.
Momentarily he wondered what would've become of his own daughter if only she’d never set foot in that car. The memory brought with it tears of grief, which he quickly packed away. After all, he had a job to do, one he’d failed the previous day.
As the school bell rang, Robert glanced at his watch then packed the pictures away. He checked the contents of the bag beside and quickly ran through his list.

Review
There are no reviews as yet for this NEW RELEASE. The author would appreciate your review once you have read your FREE copy.

About the Author

Wade Faubert states, "I live in Ingersoll, Ontario and enjoy writing my novels with a link to my area. Wampus Springs, my debut novel, is set in the fictional town of Ridgeway, Ontario. Ridgeway is a combination of all my favorite places I grew up in. It's a collage of Ridgetown, Rondeau park and every other water front paradise Southern Ontario has to offer."
Wades' second novel, Taken: Before Her Very Eyes, was released in October 2012. His latest book, Betrayed - The Bethany Rosehart Story, was released in December 2012.

Links

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin by Stan Spencer


NEW RELEASE and GIVEAWAY

The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin
by Stan Spencer, PhD


You're in for a treat. You have the chance of winning a paperback copy of this book. Enter the GIVEAWAY below for your chance to win. Thanks to Dr Stan Spencer for donating this awesome prize.


Description
This book isn't about the latest celebrity diet, wonder food, or miracle supplement. It's about creating a personalized weight loss plan - your own easiest path to naturally thin. While you can lose weight with almost any diet, keeping the weight off is much more difficult, requiring permanent changes in eating and exercise habits. This book provides a science-based approach for making those changes in a way that works best for you, without wasting time, money, or effort.
Dr. Spencer explains why we gain weight and why the fat lost by dieting almost always comes back. He then presents an array of practical weight loss tools for controlling emotional eating, calming cravings, boosting metabolism, and improving nutrition and exercise. In the final chapter he has you create a natural weight loss plan based on your unique set of needs, abilities, and preferences. Simple recipes are provided for weight loss foods that reduce cravings and prolong satisfaction.
What this book offers is a solid approach to weight loss - self-directed, gradual, and lasting - in contrast to the quick but fleeting weight loss offered by most one-size-fits-all diet plans.

Excerpt
If this were the early 1960s instead of the 2010s, you might not need a weight loss book. Most people were thin then.
Not now. Even with all the dieting we do, more than two thirds of US adults are now overweight, and the rate of obesity has almost tripled since 1960.
The extra weight isn’t natural, nor is it healthy. It not only affects our looks and physical abilities, it increases our risks of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, complications of pregnancy, menstrual irregularities, and cancers of the uterus, breast, colon, and kidney.
So what is behind this weight gain epidemic?
A Less-Active Lifestyle
Our bodies are designed for manual labor and long-distance walking. Many of us, however, enjoy door-to-door motorized transportation to and from a desk job followed by hours of television or other passive entertainment. Such a lifestyle not only burns few calories but can also encourage us to eat more than we would if we were busy with physical activities.
The Fattening Food Environment
Before processed foods became the norm, our ancestors filled their dinner plates with minimally processed vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Meats were unprocessed and lean. These natural foods, combined with an active lifestyle, promoted a slim, healthy body.
In contrast to the healthy foods enjoyed by our ancestors, the foods on our grocery store shelves today are often highly processed and have added fat and sugar. These processed foods are packed with calories and are so convenient and tempting that it’s easy to eat too much of them. As a result, the average adult today eats more calories than in past decades, with most of the extra calories coming from carbohydrate-rich foods such as sweets, soft drinks, potato products, pizza, bread, pasta, and white rice.
There are ten important aspects of our food environment that encourage us to eat too much.
Foods that Don’t Satisfy
Food processing produces calorie-heavy, low-nutrient, low-fiber foods that digest quickly. These foods leave us with loads of calories, soon-empty stomachs, and cravings for more.
Highly Palatable Foods
Highly palatable is a term used by scientists for foods that taste so good that we are tempted to eat them even when our stomachs are full. Most of these are processed foods high in fat, sugar, or refined flour. Such foods have become more abundant and affordable in recent decades, resulting in greater temptations to overeat. We often eat these foods for comfort or pleasure, not because we are hungry.
Highly palatable foods affect the parts of the brain that are responsible for drug addiction and cravings. The authors of a scientific study of the brain's response to highly palatable foods concluded that “overconsumption of palatable food triggers addiction-like responses in brain reward circuits and drives the development of compulsive eating.” In other words, junk food can be addictive.
Calorie-Heavy Foods
While the vegetables, fresh fruits, and whole grains our ancestors ate were high in nutrients and low in calories, the processed foods that fill our grocery store shelves are just the opposite — high in calories and low in nutrients. The result is that a typical meal of modern processed foods has more calories than we need and often too few nutrients. Calorie-heavy foods are believed to be a major factor in the weight gain epidemic.
Cheap, Convenient Food
There is inexpensive, ready-to-eat food almost everywhere we go. We have candy jars at work and cookie jars at home. We stock our refrigerators with soft drinks and our pantries with packaged snacks. Just seeing junk food can make us hungry, and food within easy reach is harder to resist than food that requires a little more effort to obtain. Eating too much has never been easier.
Large Portions
In the US, portion sizes of many foods have increased two- to five-fold since the 1970s.11 We tend to keep eating until the portion in front of us is gone, no matter what its size. Similarly, we tend to eat more when eating a snack food directly out of a large package (such as a bag of potato chips) than when served individual portions.
Passive Entertainment
Watching television or movies burns very few calories. It also encourages needless eating. If we eat during such entertainment, our distraction with the storyline can cause us to continue eating past the point at which we would normally be satisfied.
Convenient Substitutes for Water
Sports drinks, sugary soft drinks, fruit juices, and alcoholic drinks are readily available in our homes and elsewhere. These drinks quickly add calories without lasting satisfaction. Their consumption is believed to be a major factor in the weight gain epidemic.
Misleading Labels and Advertising
A picture of a slender athlete on a package of fresh fruit might make sense. The same picture on an “energy bar” consisting mostly of corn syrup and puffed rice does not. Advertisements often inaccurately depict the health benefits of the foods they are promoting.
Unhealthy Snack Foods
Common snack foods tend to be higher in calories and lower in nutrients than the kinds of foods usually eaten with meals. They are quick to add calories but slow to satisfy.
Restaurants
We eat out more now than in decades past. Restaurant food tends to be higher in calories and served in larger portions than food cooked at home. As a result, one restaurant meal might have enough calories for an entire day.
The Solution
Think of excess fat as a collection of bad habits. Lose the fat-promoting habits, and you will lose the excess fat. Each time you give up one of these bad habits (all other things being equal), you will lose fat until your body naturally settles at a lower weight. At that point you will need to give up another bad habit to lose more weight and keep it off.
Permanent weight loss requires permanent lifestyle changes. The information in this book will help you replace bad habits with good ones and make the lifestyle changes required for lasting weight loss. You will learn how small adjustments in your eating and exercise habits can result in a big difference in body fat over time, why many of the things you hear about gaining or losing weight are false, and why popular diets rarely produce permanent weight loss. You will also learn how to change your personal environment so it’s no longer fattening, boost your metabolism without drugs or supplements, give your body the exercise it needs without wasting time, eat fewer calories without counting them or going hungry, and beat temptation with the willpower you already have.
Often, the hardest part of forming new habits is just getting started. Watch for the QuickStart Tips as you read through the book. They will prompt you to pause and take solid steps down the path to your naturally thin potential.

Review
Being married to an amateur health guru who writes her own health blog, I have read countless articles, books, magazines and watched innumerable documentaries on the topic of health. In that span of time, I have learned about diets (and why they don't work), sleep, exercise and their effects on overall health. But it was not until I read this book that I found so many high-level concepts reduced to a simple language with specific tactics that make taking up a healthy lifestyle so practical, without being gimmicky in the least.
The beauty of this piece is that it deals with weight from every angle - cognitive, emotional and physical. So many works on the market deal with just one at a time, but Dr. Spencer's work provides a blueprint with tactics to manage all three at once to make simple yet effective and lasting change in the reader's life. It also comes in a book that can be read in an afternoon and the reader can start down their new path today.
The concepts Spencer addresses in the book need not only apply to those looking to manage their weight - they provide a foundation for anyone wanting to live a healthy lifestyle. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever tried a diet and not gotten the results they were looking for, as well as anyone who is serious about leading a healthy life.

About the Author

Stan Spencer, PhD, was born in Mexico and grew up in Utah, USA. He is a biological consultant and former research scientist. Stan has conducted laboratory studies in biochemistry at Brigham Young University, in botany and evolution at Claremont Graduate University, and in genetics at the Smithsonian Institution. Stan lives in southern California his wife, Amy, and a varying number of their seven children. He blogs on natural weight loss techniques at Fat Loss Science.

Giveaway

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Links


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

"World Ocean Day 2012" by Susanna Ivy


World Ocean Day 2012
by Susanna Ivy



Description
World Oceans Day in celebrated on 8 June each year. On this day, people around the planet celebrate and honor the body of water which links us all, for what it provides humans and what it represents. It is an opportunity to learn more about our ocean and take action to help conserve it. Be a part of this growing global celebration! Further information can be found on the World Oceans Day website and on Wikipedia.
This book tells in a short story in various languages how the author fell in love with the ocean and why it is important to take action and make a difference. Susanna Ivy wants to inspire everyone, especially the youth, to get out there and help protect the beautiful underwater world.



Excerpt
World Oceans Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2008. Unofficially it was already declared by Canada in 1992.
Mainly it is a day to remember and honor the ocean in the hope that our actions as individuals will help maintain its health.
The aim of World Oceans Day is to challenge participants to view ocean protection as a way of life, with a special emphasis around individual potential for wellness. It is such a large ecosystem and the problems seem so overwhelming. But it is especially important that we motivate the youth of the world to start a conscious awareness of the value of the oceans. The oceans are a complex ecosystem, they are all connected, connected to the atmosphere and if the ocean dies; so shall we. How can we instill the value of this life's blood within our children? They should learn how each species has its entitlement for existence and its role in the bigger part.


Review




By Lynda Dickson
This book is actually a short nonfiction narrative in six languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Norwegian, and Bosnian. Its aim is to help spread the word about World Oceans Day all around the globe.
Susanna briefly describes her experiences growing up in East Germany and being taught a love of nature by her grandfather. As an adult, she was finally able to leave East Germany and fulfill her dream of travelling. She studied film in New Zealand and worked as a photographer. During a holiday to Fiji, Susanna learned to scuba dive and her love of the ocean was born.
Susanna closes her narration by giving the reader some practical ideas of how we can all help in the conservation of one of the Earth's greatest assets, the ocean.

It is apparent from the writing, that English in not the author's native language. Whilst this adds to the charm and allows us to experience Susanna's true voice, this book could still do with a professional edit.
Susanna paints pictures with her words. I just wish she would have included some of her photographs as well.

About the Author
Susanna Ivy grew up in East Berlin, Germany, behind the wall. She obtained a degree in Graphic Design and an MA in Cultural Studies and Art History. She is a passionate photographer and traveler. She loves scuba diving all over the world. But her biggest love is for the animals. That is why she tries to inspire and educate people around the world to protect them for future generations. At the moment, she works as a freelance photographer, designer and author.
So far, Susanna has travelled to 30 countries and has taken thousands of photos. In 2010 she won an international competition and was able to fulfill her childhood dream and travel to the Galapagos Islands. The result of that trip was her photographic essay, Galapagos Dreams: A Photo Journey. In her capacity as graphic artist, Susanna has designed the covers of numerous books. These can be seen in her book Book Cover: Selected.

Links