Tag: cancer

Indie Spotlight and Review: The Empty Side Of Our Bed by Bill Beckett

BonnieReadsAndWrites16 Comments

**Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors share their books with others. You can help too by sharing this post with all of your social media followers. Together we can help Indie books succeed. Below is my review of an honest and very personal story of loss and grief by author Bill Beckett.

BOOK REVIEW

The Empty Side of Our Bed is Bill Beckett’s story of the loss of his beloved wife Bonnie to cancer, and his painful journey forward. Beckett makes it clear that there are no easy answers and no step-by-step guidelines to cope with losing the love of your life. Instead he shares his emotions from the beginning of his journey until the present. His description of heartache as an actual, physical pain is so real, and he describes the darker times when he was overwhelmed with the physical agony of it, along with the mental anguish. At the same time, he shares happy memories with Bonnie and stresses the simple moments that we should all embrace to the fullest, because they are the ones he misses the most. He shares how he has learned to live with grief, and he honors his late wife and his love for her.

This is a wonderful tribute to the author’s wife, and at the same time, a deeply honest story of experiencing grief and moving slowly forward.

I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Beckett is a former IT and digital forensics professional who turned to writing after the loss of his wife, Bonnie. He is the author of Love, Family, Cancer, a heartfelt account of their journey through illness. His current project, The Empty Side of Our Bed, is a deeply personal memoir about grief, healing, and rediscovering identity. Bill writes with raw honesty, offering comfort to fellow widowers and anyone navigating profound loss. He is a father, grandfather, and storyteller who believes in the quiet power of words to help us carry on.

PURCHASE LINK

Click on the cover to purchase on Amazon

BEFORE YOU GO

**If you read the book, please be sure to leave a review on Amazon. It helps Indie authors so much. A review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a sentence or two about how the book made you feel will make an author’s day and help their books succeed.

Book Tour and Review: An Impossible Choice by #AlisonRagsdale #Family #ChildhoodCancer

BonnieReadsAndWrites5 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Mothers talk about impossible choices. But, as I look at my daughter in a hospital bed, her red hair fanning out around her, my heart feels literally torn in two. Should I risk my son’s life to save my daughter, or keep my little boy safe and watch my precious girl slip away?

My darling daughter Tara has a rare form of cancer and there’s nothing I can do. At eleven years old, she’s already been so brave, but my sweet girl is hanging on by her fingernails. She has one last chance: a bone marrow transplant from her little brother. But nine-year-old Callum has an autoimmune disease, and there’s a chance it will put him at risk.

It’s life or death for one of my children and I have to make this decision alone.

I wish there was someone by my side to help me and my family through this terrible time. But life has hit us so hard recently. A few months ago, my beloved husband died in a tragic accident and now I might lose Tara too. All I want to do is to protect my children: so much has been taken from us already. I hope for a miracle, but my daughter is running out of days, and I have to choose.

If I make the wrong choice, will I lose one of my precious children forever?

Totally heartbreaking and gripping fiction about parenting, loss and finding light in the darkest of times. If you love Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Jojo Moyes, this novel will stay in your heart forever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alison Ragsdale writes contemporary women’s fiction novels set in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, her homeland. They are emotionally charged stories about family, love, loss, forgiveness, and finding new ways to happiness despite life’s toughest challenges. 

Ragsdale’s novels are heart-wrenching tales of family dynamics and relationships, inspired by the extraordinary in the every-day. For more information, previews of upcoming books, and signings, sign up for the Highlanders Club newsletter at www.alisonragsdale.com.

A former marketing executive, originally from Edinburgh, Alison now lives near Washington D.C. with her husband and dogs. She was educated in England and holds an MBA from Leicester University.

For more information on upcoming books go to her website.

Alison’s Social Media Links:

Facebook | X (Twitter) | Instagram

BOOK REVIEW

Thank you to Bookouture for the opportunity to read An Impossible Choice and provide a review. Childhood cancer is one of the most heartbreaking situations to read about. It is difficult to get through without tears, and I didn’t. Honour has experienced so much loss already, having lost her husband in an accident. Now her daughter is fighting cancer, and possibly her brother can save her, but the needed bone marrow transplant will put him at risk too. This is a choice no parent wants to face.

This is an extremely touching and heartbreaking read. It is hard to fathom what a parent has to go through when their child has cancer, and Honour has already experienced one shattering loss. Honours desperation, guilt, and the hardships a parent has to go through when their child has cancer are all honestly portrayed by the author. The moments when Honour has to tell both her children, who have just lost their father, the bad news, are perfectly done. I like the fact that the families of cancer patients need help, and the way the help was offered and accepted was heartfelt. This is a compelling story with a sad topic and a surprise that will shake you up. I received a free copy of this book from Bookouture. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

My review is 4.5 stars, round up to five on sites with no half-star option.

PURCHASE LINKS

What if?

BonnieReadsAndWrites28 Comments

Learning about Tanka poems today. Tanka poems are Japanese poems. They are 31 syllables, 5 lines. The first line has five syllables, the second 7, the third 5, and the last two lines have 7. The first three lines are supposed to evoke an image, and the last two describe an action based on that image.

Since I found out I have to get a biopsy today for a possible cancer scare, I wrote my first Tanka poem about it. Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing, but here are the thoughts in my head:

What If?

There’s a mass they said
Tests and doctors await me
Hospital is cold

I start to wonder what if?
Drawing up plans for battle.

The image I’m trying to evoke is of of course waiting to have tests done in a hospital or doctor’s office. The action would be my “plans for the worst” running around in my head.

The photo above is not of me. I hoped it could look like any woman, waiting.

The photo below is of my very favorite place, Deep Creek, part of the Smoky Mountain National Park and located in Bryson City, NC. That’s where I go in my mind to stay calm and where I go in person when I can.

Photo by Doug DeMoss

Hopefully I’ll find out in a few days that this was all nothing, but I wanted to get my thoughts down. My next poem will be about how waiting for medical news sucks.

I’ve just starting writing poetry after many years, so any feedback would be great.