Tag: Memoirs

Indie Spotlight: Book Review of My Grief Jar by Deborah Waffle

BonnieReadsAndWrites12 Comments

Indie Spotlight is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. You can help too by sharing this post far and wide. Below see my review of My Grief Jar by Deborah Waffle. It is a memoir of a Mom who has lost her daughter, and how in the midst of her grief, she decided to help others.

BOOK REVIEW

My Grief Jar is the story of Deborah Waffle’s daughter, Kelsey, and her battle with constant pain and severe complications from Small Fiber Neuropathy. But it is also the story of Deborah’s journey after Kelsey’s death, as she sought to fulfill Kelsey’s wish that her Golden Retriever, Brody, become a therapy dog.

Deborah shows us Kelsey’s debilitating pain and her own grief in such an honest way. Her decision to honor her daughter by helping others and getting Brody trained as a therapy dog is admirable, and as I read her story, I could see it was the absolute best choice. She was able to visit hospital patients with Brody, bring them joy, and feel close to her daughter at the same time. The analogy of the grief jar is a powerful one–the grief stays the same, but the vessel holding the grief can grow, and helping others helped Deborah to grow. She and Brody became a source of joy for hospital patients and Deborah then became a writer, for this is a very well-written book.

I feel honored that Deborah asked me to share her book, her beautiful daughter, her walk through overwhelming grief, and her remarkable journey afterwards with Brody because, just maybe, somebody will see this post, read the book, and be helped by it as well. Highly, highly recommended.

I downloaded this book on Kindle Unlimited. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Deborah Waffle taught second and fourth grade for 33 years and is now retired. She lives with her husband Marty, and their dog, Brody, in Broadalbin, New York. Deborah and Brody visit several different medical facilities once or twice a week as a therapy dog team. They recently celebrated their 50th therapy dog visit. Brody brings smiles to all the people and patients he meets.

PURCHASE LINKS

Click on the image below to purchase My Grief Jar. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.

BEFORE YOU GO

Remember, if you read the book, please leave a review. Reviews help the author so much, because the more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it. The review does not have to be a masterpiece. Just a sentence or two about how the book made you feel will be perfect, and will make the author’s day. Please also remember to share this post with others so they will see this wonderful book.

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.

Indie Weekend: Review of “Miss I Wish You A Bed of Roses” by Sherri Moshman-Paganos

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. Marketing is a daunting task, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this post far and wide with all of your social media followers. Below is my review of Miss I Wish You A Bed of Roses by Sherri Moshman-Paganos. It is a delightful memoir about teaching English at a secondary school in Greece.

BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)

Teaching: you’re frustrated and exhausted one day, gratified and fulfilled the next. Teaching is not like other careers; teachers give their whole selves to their students day after day.

Blending a humorous memoir with classroom ideas, the author looks back on her 40 years of teaching international students. She writes about her teaching insecurities, secondary school and college composition classes, the difficult and the great, the base and the sublime. She describes school grades, bells and meetings, and the routines of any high school. Although teaching in Greece has unique challenges, Greek teens are like teenagers everywhere, full of hopes and dreams for the future. Besides looking at her own career growth, the author offers advice for language and literature classes, and ideas for using poetry, songs, and film to create a lively atmosphere for learning.

Whether you are a new teacher interested in suggestions for your classes, including ESL or EFL teachers, or an experienced teacher looking for new ideas, this book is for you. But anyone who has taken an English language or literature class or has children taking literature classes will enjoy this spirited memoir, enhanced by the author’s poetry and student comments. Her main advice: “Content counts, but more so, formulating your teaching philosophy. And don’t forget to keep your temper and your sense of humor!”

BOOK REVIEW

This is a memoir that teachers will definitely enjoy, but I also recommend it to anyone interested in literature and interactions with other cultures. Moshman-Paganos recalls her early days teaching English in Greece and all the challenges, highs, and lows. The book is peppered throughout with poems and quotes that will both inspire you and make you smile. The author’s insight into working with teenagers and her helpful tips will definitely provide great ideas and inspiration to other teachers. 

I most enjoyed the many, many stories about the author’s students and the appendixes in the back that included student answers to questions such as “When Are You Happiest?” and “What Occupation Would You Choose If You Didn’t Have To Worry About Money?” I enjoyed the samples of Student job application letters, especially the one for the vacant position of Defense Against The Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts. Moshman-Paganos’s clever and endearing way of teaching and interacting with students is admirable, and I think prospective teachers will be motivated by this book. 

I downloaded a copy of this book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sherri Moshman-Paganos taught English to international students in New York City before joining the American College of Greece faculty in 1983. Here she taught secondary school English and college freshman composition classes.

Since her retirement in 2018, she has devoted herself to writing. She publishes a travel/culture blog on her travels in Greece and life in Athens called Olives and Islands. Besides “Miss I wish you a Bed of Roses,” she is also the author of a fictionalized memoir on her years in Manhattan: Step Lively: New York City Tales of Love and Change,  and a collection of poetry, Wanderings: Poems of Discovery.

Click on the cover image to buy this on Amazon. Kindle Unlimited Subscribers can borrow this for free.

BEFORE YOU GO

*If you read the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.

*Please click on the WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!

WWW Wednesday: What Are You Reading 12/27/23

BonnieReadsAndWrites23 Comments

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking On a World of Words. 

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

CURRENT READ

This is the latest Eve Dallas. I’m only about halfway through, but it is COMPELLING. Teenagers are being murdered at clubs, and Eve is on the trail of the killer, who is injecting teens with a lethal substance while they dance, and then slipping away.

JUST FINISHED READING

I did a lot of reading while I was off for Christmas. 

CHRISTMAS PIE is another Christmas Story by Jodi Taylor, who always releases a short story on Christmas Day. This is my favorite one ever! For the last several years I’ve enjoyed the Christmas tradition of reading Jodi’s latest story, and I thank her for that. My review is here.

THE WOMAN IN ME by Britney Spears should scare the crap out of you, especially if you don’t have trustworthy people in your life. My review is here.

CHARLIE HUSTLE by Keith O’Brien shares all the dark secrets about Pete Rose, who I still think should be in the Hall of Fame. This isn’t published until April, so my review will come later.

WHAT AM I READING NEXT?

Publisher’s Description: 

As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.

As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future.

I will start this soon. I’m doing a blog tour for this book with Austenprose PR later this month.

Inspired by the true events of the most notorious evictions in Irish history…

1861, Donegal, Ireland

Ten years ago Declan Conaghan’s father died in the Great Famine, and since then, Declan has kept his promise to keep his family out of the workhouse. But all that is threatened with the arrival of new landlord, John Adair. Adair is quick to cause trouble and fear among his tenants. When he turns them off his land, Declan has no option but to break his promise…

Declan is in despair until he receives a letter from America offering him the chance of a new life and salvation for his family. But it would mean signing up to the US Army and fighting for Lincoln. Despite knowing nothing of war, or US politics, Declan leaves behind all he knows.

Set against the wild landscapes of Ireland and the turbulent times of the American Civil War, this sweeping narrative takes us on an epic journey to understand the strength and endurance of the human spirit.

This is the only book on my Netgalley shelf that is late, but I also picked up the audiobook and I’ll be listening to it soon.

UPDATE

Christmas was wonderful. I’m back to work, but luckily I can listen to audiobooks while I drive, and that helps me keep up with my reading. Looking forward to New Year’s and the Rose Bowl. ROLL TIDE!!!

Book Review and Giveaway: Taken at Birth

BonnieReadsAndWrites5 Comments

GIVEAWAY

The winner of the giveaway was drawn randomly, and I’m pleased to announce it is Nancy B. Klein. Nancy has been contacted and I’ll be sending the book to her soon.

Taken At Birth by Jane Blasio is the story of Blasio’s struggle to find her birth family, as well as the birth families of hundreds of other people after finding out about a baby-selling operation in a small town in Georgia. It all revolved around a hometown doctor, Thomas J Hicks, in the small town of McCaysville, Georgia.

Blasio’s struggle with uncooperative townspeople and her own anger and loss of faith makes for a fascinating read. Her journey to find not just her family, but her faith again is poignant. Her determination to find out the truth from a town that was mostly unwilling to give it up is admirable. She details her anger at her own adoptive parents, who were unwilling to reveal much information until right before their deaths. The book contains stories of some of the birth mothers and their dealings with Dr. Hicks, and shows his heartless, selfish, and creepy personality very well. Overall, this is a compelling read. Anyone interested in true crime stories and stories of family separation will enjoy this book.

There is also a six episode series, Taken at Birth, which aired on TLC in 2019.

I received a free copy of this book from Baker Books. My review is voluntary.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jane Blasio

     
(In Her Own Words) My personal birth search, as well as acting as a search facilitator and representative for those sold by Doctor Thomas Hicks, has personalized my expertise and reputation. Today, I continue to assist those who are still bound to the Hicks Clinic and looking for answers. I’ve found most of what I was looking for, but not how I ended up at the clinic in the first place. The search of what happened in the clinic will not end until the deception which has marked everyone it touches, is burned off and truth restored. Truth that is owed to all of us lost and torn from the Hicks Clinic.

BUY TAKEN AT BIRTH

AMAZON

BARNES AND NOBLE

TARGET

BAKER PUBLISHING GROUP

#Book Review: Keeping The Lights On For Ike

BonnieReadsAndWrites5 Comments

Rebecca Daniels shares the letters, thoughts, and memories of her parents, Alec and Mary Daniels, mostly during the time when her father was serving in Europe during World War II. Accompanying each letter or story from her parents, Daniels provides the rich history of what was going on in the war, the country, and/or the military at that time. The history is well researched, and the letters of her parents are an interesting look at what it was like to write letters that they knew were going to go through a censor. 

The importance of letters and the post office in general really resonated with me as well. In this day of smartphones, Facetime, and quick emails, few people really think about hand-written letters, but they were the lifeline of families during WWII. Both the soldiers and the families waited hopefully for the post, and when it finally came, drank in the only communication with their loved ones they may have had in weeks or even months.

One of the most poignant quotes for me came from Daniels’ father about the nature of war. I myself have never been in a war zone and would not presume to know what it is like, but his words rang true for me. When talking about a Christmas celebration during the war in December 1942, he said: “…The dinner was a great success and everyone forgot their trouble for a moment and had a grand old time. You see, Mary, a war isn’t all that you think it might be. You just have to be in one to understand how people live almost as they would if no war existed, except for short periods of extreme activity.” Of course, he couldn’t put anything more descriptive than “extreme activity,” or it likely would have been censored.

The letters and snippets of stories from Mary Daniels showed a woman of deep thought with real writing talent. I am the spouse of a retired military member, and when Mary described what it was like living near a Navy yard, that instantly brought me back to my own time living on military bases, and my own visits to Navy shipyards. Mary’s writings that were provided show she had a talent for connecting with the reader.

This is a well-researched and interesting memoir, and really provides a window of what things were like for World War II era couples, separated for so long but trying to keep the lines of communication open.

This is a great tribute from Rebecca Daniels to her parents, and a thoughtful history of what life was like at that time.

I downloaded the book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can borrow it for free. I also received a PDF from the author. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Daniels

Rebecca Daniels (MFA, PhD) Rebecca Daniels taught performance, writing, and speaking in liberal arts universities for over 25 years, including St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, from 1992-2015. She was the founding producing director of Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, OR, and directed with many professional Portland theatre companies in the 1980s. She is the author of the groundbreaking Women Stage Directors Speak (McFarland, 1996) and has been published in multiple professional theatre journals. In 2015, she retired from teaching and moved to the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts where, in 2018, she completed the manuscript for Keeping the Lights on for Ike, a book based on her father’s letter home from Europe during WWII, which was published in 2019 by Sunbury Press. In 2019, she also served as literary manager and co-producer for Silverthorne Theater Company in Greenfield, MA. Lately, she has been working on two full-length plays and recently completed a memoir called Finding Sisters (to be published by Sunbury Press in 2021) that explores how DNA testing helped her find her genetic parents and other relatives in spite of being given up for a closed adoption at birth. 

BUY KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON FOR IKE ON AMAZON

VISIT REBECCA’S WEBSITE

MY AMAZON REVIEW (HELPFUL VOTES APPRECIATED)

Book Review: Sunshine Girl – An Unexpected Life

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

For whatever reason, I don’t enjoy posting reviews about books I did not like, although I have done it in the past. Usually when I do, I feel strongly that people may want to see what I found wrong with the book and choose for themselves whether or not to buy it. That was the case here. See my review below and decide what it is you want out of the book before you buy it.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

Sunshine Girl by Julianna Margulies is her memoir about being a child of divorce, living different lifestyles with her mother and father, and navigating difficult adult relationships. She is candid about her childhood and her adult relationships. This takes up a majority of the book. She spends very little time on her two major roles, Carol Hathaway on ER and Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife. Fans who are expecting a lot of interesting stories about these shows and her fellow actors will be disappointed. Fans of ER and The Good Wife might want to look at the table of contents before spending $14.99 on the Kindle version. Chapter 12 is about getting the part on ER, and most of Chapter 13 is about leaving ER 6 years later. George Clooney’s name is mentioned 9 times, but 7 of those times are in the story about getting the part in ER, and two mentions are while she’s complaining about fans, which I will go further into below. I could not find any mentions of Anthony Edwards, Sherry Stringfield, or Noah Wyle. As for The Good Wife, the amazing Christine Baranski is mentioned in one anecdote about a medical problem Margulies was having, but fans of Matt Czuchry and Josh Charles will be disappointed. I could not find them in the book. 

There was one story that completely bugged me because she complains about how embarrassed she was when a group of fans stopped her to talk about her two famous roles. People watched these shows for years, and are still watching them. She continues to benefit from these shows. At least she could treat her fans with respect instead of slamming them in a memoir.

Of course it is her prerogative to write about anything she wants, but fans of ER and The Good Wife might want to decide if it’s worth the money, depending on what they hope to get out of the book.

As someone who has enjoyed ER and The Good Wife, this fell flat for me. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning about Julianna Margulies’ childhood and relationships, and very little about her two hit shows. The title is also deceiving. There’s no sunshine in this book.

BUY ON AMAZON

My Goodreads Review (Likes appreciated if you are so inclined)

RECOMMENDATION:

As a contrast to this disappointing memoir, I would like to recommend Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, by Alison Arngrim. Her book is everything this one is not. She shares VERY personal information about her childhood, but also talks about the show (Little House), the fans, and her fellow actors. She even mentions members of the crew. She is witty, gracious, funny, and clever. It is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. Warning: She was sexually abused by her brother as a child and talks about it in the book. Interesting fact: Nobody liked Mary. I read this years ago but I will probably put up a review soon.

Book Reviews: Memoirs of a Karate Fighter

BonnieReadsAndWritesLeave a comment

Memoirs of a Karate Fighter

Novelist and former karate champion Ralph Robb recounts his experiences at one of Europe’s toughest dojos and provides an insight into the philosophy and training methods of a club which produced national, European and world titleholders. In a hard-hitting story, Ralph tells of the fights on and off the mat; his experiences as one of a very few black residents in an area in which racist members of the National Front were very active; and the tragic descent into mental illness and premature death of the training partner who was also his best friend.

BOOK REVIEW

This was an interesting and engaging memoir by Ralph Robb about his life as a member of the Wolverhampton YMCA Karate Club, his championship battles, his struggles against racism, and his fights in and out of competition. He also relates his determination to build a safer and better life for his family, and his beloved cousin’s battle with mental health issues.

Although I do not know very much about karate, I enjoyed reading about the karate competitions and especially the real-world situations in which Robb used karate to protect himself. Robb shares how karate helped him deal with everything from racist skinheads to drunks and mobsters in the real world. The story of his strong relationship with his cousin Clinton and Clinton’s battle with mental health issues is heartrending.

This is not just a book about a karate fighter. This is a book about a youth who comes into his own while dealing with racism and while cultivating a skill that would shape his life. It’s also about karate, its history, its varying styles, and some of the greats who have practiced and taught it. But most importantly it’s about the growth of a young man, from fighter to father, and the lessons he learned from karate.

This is a must read for fans of karate and those who enjoy coming of age stories.

I received a free copy of this book via Rachel’s Random Resources. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

Purchase Links 

AMAZON UK  

AMAZON US

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ralph Robb was born and raised in the industrial town of Wolverhampton, England and now lives in Ontario Canada with his wife, cat and dog. A proud father of four, Robb works as an engineering technician and loves rugby, martial arts and a good book. His world is balanced by quality TV, global events, great outdoors and of course his grand-daughter. 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RalphRobbBooks

Twitter: @RalphSRobb

Webpage: www.ralphrobb.com

Blog Tour by Rachel’s Random Resources

MY GOODREADS REVIEW

MY AMAZON REVIEW (HELPFUL VOTES APPRECIATED)