Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Teaser Tuesday ~ You Never Could Be

Blurb

 A passion-fueled encounter in the corridor of a hotel convention room reveals two anguished hearts struggling to reconnect despite life’s difficulties. Will Carlisle, the eye candy of the office, is every woman’s dream, tall, handsome, and dashingly charming. Sara Rozek never guessed he has secretly wanted her for months now. When a bad day falls upon them and Will breaks the reins of his own restraint, she sees the burning passion in his eyes, and there is no denying the mutual attraction. Will and Sara’s start quickly runs awry, and Sara becomes convinced she was played for a fool. Will begs her to listen to him, but she turns away in fear. Can Will mend her broken heart, or will the passion they shared vanish forever?

Excerpt ~

Will finished his conversation and hung up his phone, having booked himself on the next available flight. Highway assistance had solved their lug nut challenge. They were back on the road to the airport. Sara saw the exit and glanced at him with a grin, her stomach churning. His phone beeped, he glanced at the screen with an audible sigh.

“Is everything okay?” Sara asked.

“Uh, yeah. It’s fine.”

“You don’t sound so convinced.”

“I’m not.” His focus went to the window, a deafening quiet lying between them once again.

“Are you going out of the same terminal?”

“Yeah, I think so, American.”

She grabbed her drive-thru pass and headed to the terminal. They reached it, but the curbside thorough way was closed. She pulled into the garage and found a space. She exited the car unwilling to break the boundary of silence he’d put up and wordlessly popped the hatch.

“Make sure you get a new tire, you shouldn’t be driving on the donut for longer than a day.” He came around the side, pulling his luggage from the back.

“I will.” She pulled her fingers against her hair. The tension was killing her. Sara had enough. “Will…”

“They’re replacing me.” Her blood turned to ice.

“What?”

“The phone call, it was Regan. They decided to split the departments, and my position has been absorbed into the transition.” Unable to deal with the news without emotion, she turned away from him. “There are a couple positions available in Phoenix. They are setting up interviews for me.”

“When?”

“I’ll announce it Monday, they want me to work through the transition so probably a few weeks.”

“I can’t believe this is happening. Will, you’ve been—“

“It’s okay, Sara. It’s not personal, we knew with all of the changes stuff like this was going to happen.”

“Yeah, but not to us.”

She saw him take a deep breath before he closed the hatch. Her emotions rose in her chest again, and she wasn’t sure what to do. She did her best to gulp it back.

“Well, at least you’ll be around for the next few weeks, so I can still harass you when needed.” She meant for the statement to be light, but it came out like a final farewell. “You’ll have to come up with an excuse to come to visit. I’m sure the group of us can come up with a plausible justification.”

“I’ll be around.”

“I know you will, you’re always around when I…we need you.” His eyes bore 
through her. Sara’s body involuntarily tightened. “You’d…uh…you’d better get going, or you’re going to miss your plane again.”

“Yeah. I think I would have a hard time using the flat tire excuse twice.”

“Have a safe trip.” She stepped into him, wrapping her arm loosely over his shoulder in a hug. Her heart raced at the solid heat of his body against hers. 
“Let me know if you need anything. Seriously, if you need anything, just call.”

“You too.”

She nodded and went to step back, his hand lingering on her hip. She hesitated, he moved. She took another step back. He threw his laptop case over his shoulder and unfolded his luggage before waving goodbye.

A heaviness settled in her chest, forcing a deep sigh. Her mind felt thick. She pulled herself away, turning to get in her truck. She lifted the handle when the smacking of hurried footsteps against concrete got her attention.

“Sara!”

She spun on her heel, following his voice around the truck.

“Did you forget something?” He didn’t respond just kept walking, a startling determination in his eyes. She waited in open confusion. He kept coming. Before she could react, his hand curled around the back of her neck. His mouth crushed hers with a heated demand. Giving her no choice but to give in.

She opened beneath him, and his tongue dove into her mouth. He shifted his arm, wrapping it around her waist, resting at the small of her back. His mouth still dominating her attention, his overpowering torso pressed her against the truck. She was trapped, unable to escape his possessed siege of her mouth.

The kiss broke. They both gasped for air. Will’s eyes searched her face. His fingers kneading her neck. He wordlessly pulled at her lips. Her hands balled against his chest.

She took another gasp of air, looking up into his heavy-lidded eyes.

“Don’t go.”


“I was hoping you’d say that.” His voice, deep and gritty, seemed to caress her body like rolling thunder. She shuddered, and he captured her lips again, this time with gentle persuasion. He pulled back, and her heart sighed. “Let’s get out of here.”

~

~

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Monday, May 27, 2019

Romine Reviews - How to Cope with Intense Drama and Survive by M Lemont & Taylor Green

Blurb
Every 13 minutes someone in the United States dies by their own hand. More than 41,000 died last year and 1,400,000, suicide attempts.
One out of every four people suffer from some form of mental illness and go undiagnosed until tragedy strikes. If you know someone that has been emotionally abused, have had abusive parents, like a stepmom or stepdad, or know someone with severe mood swings, or a person who’s been bullied, they could be affected and have a mental disorder. This book is not a manual, inspiration, or a self-help guide. It is based on a true story of how one woman found the courage and strength to survive the cruelty and emotional trauma of her family. It’s an intense real-life drama, intriguing and poignant; it deals with serious challenges related to mental illness and could be upsetting for some people who have endured similar incidents of trauma.
~

Review

It took me a long time to read this book. When I was reading How to Cope with Intense Drama and Survive, I found myself gripped and propelled forward with a pace and nuance I have rarely experienced. I love to read. I am a writer, so I read a lot. This review is difficult, not in the sense that I have anything negative to say, but I am somewhat speechless. As a woman who has a family history filled with current and past mental illness, this was a very difficult read.

The narrative is enthralling and concise. The descriptions are horrific and mind-blowing. The emotional upheaval I experience throughout this book is unmatched thus far in my lifetime. The only thing I can equate this book to is the ocean. Beautiful, clarifying, refreshing, and inspiring. In the same breath, this story, like the ocean, is overwhelming, thought-provoking, real, emotional, horrific, and powerful.

How to Cope with Intense Drama and Survive is the closest dual sided narrative about mental illness in the world. Leaving out the medical jargon and social stigmas it tells the hard, ugly truth. Pulling you in and not letting go, even when you walk away from reading it for a while. It changes your perspective, your empathy, and your understanding of the devastation mental illness has on not only the person but the people surrounding them.

A few years ago, I watched a scene in one of my favorite shows, The Blacklist. In it, the Main Character describes the aftermath of suicide.

Have you ever seen the aftermath of a suicide bombing? I have. … The shock wave knocked me flat, blew out my eardrums. I couldn’t hear. The smoke… It was like being underwater. I went inside. A nightmare. Blood. Parts of people. You could tell where (he) was standing when the vest blew. It was like a perfect circle of death. There was almost nothing left of the people closest to him. 17 dead, 46 injured. Blown to pieces. The closer they were to the bomber, the more horrific the effect. That’s every suicide. Every single one. An act of terror perpetrated against everyone who’s ever known you… Everyone who’s ever loved you. The people closest to you… the ones who cherish you… are the ones who suffer the most pain, the most damage.

This emotional speech shook my core. This book flattened me.


Kudos to M LeMont and Taylor Green on such a masterpiece. Well done. 

Buy it Here!

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Saturday, May 25, 2019

Saturday Seven ~ May 25th 2019

Happy Saturday, what have you been up to this week? Here is a rundown of highlights for the week. I hope you find them useful in your life! My goal as a person and a writer are to always Pay-It-Forward, so please let me know how I can help you. YES, YOU!
Enjoy your weekend & this post! Amazing things to come!
~Amy

What am I Reading? -  I have been reading one particular book on and off for a few weeks now. It is a great book but man, tough. How to Cope with Intense Drama and Survive by M LeMont & Taylor Green. This book is well, it is enthralling and not for the faint-hearted. Not because of any horrific physical reasons but the mental and emotional upheaval of the story. Read more about it in my upcoming review.

What am I Listening to? –  I have been listening to a lot of talk radio as of late. Politics and Sociology, in general, is one of my fascinations. In today’s world, one of social media documentation of every freaking word, hiccup, and mis-step the ‘opinion’ has become king, and facts have become an afterthought. This makes all media in general very versatile and yet also very jaded. With everyone inputting their opinions into their particular media form. Again, making for an enthralling mix of left, right, black, white, gray, and green. (analyze that statement for a minute).
       
·    What Quote am I pondering? –  The RIGHT doors will open for the RIGHT version of you. ~ Kinda goes along with ~ The universe will only give you what you can handle. ~

·    What am I Researching? – Pickle Juice – Y’all just went – what? Well, I was at the dentist the other day, and an older woman said she was feeling a lack of energy and she needed to go drink some pickle juice. I got curious and Googled it. I suggest you do the same. Pretty interesting. I even found out that our favorite sports drink Gatorade was born from the consumption of pickle juice by football players! Go figure!

     CoconutOil – I knew coconut oil is awesome, but I found another use I did not know. Last year I started oiling (using coconut, oil or grapeseed oil to detoxify the yucky stuff in your mouth) it worked pretty well. After a recent trip to the dentist, I found out that brushing with coconut oil can help reduce and strengthen your gum line. People who brush with coconut oil before they brush with their favorite toothpaste were able to stop their gums receding and repair the strength of the remaining tissue.

        Amazing what you can learn at the dentist!

·    Yummy Meal of the Week – Egg Salad, yes is my favorite item this week. I was craving it on Monday, and I crave it often, Could be my amazing mixture of Olive oil Mayo, Garlic Mustard Aoli and perfectly hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes I leave out the mustard and add some pickle relish just to mix it up.

·    What did I Learn? –   I learned that spring cleaning is not only something you do to your residence. Spring cleaning is something that you can do with your life and your mind. A few times a year, my house gets cluttered, and I have this urge to clean, purge, and rearrange. This is very cathartic, and I feel renewed when finished. This is something I do mentally, as well. I evaluate my current life and activities. Good and bad. Positive activities and negative. Taking a look at what I am doing, when I am doing it and the results. Sometimes things need to be rearranged, cleaned and purged. Rearrange your schedule to when you are most productive. Identify who or what is draining your mood and or your energy. Purge the negative and focus on the positive. Clean out your insecurities, negative thoughts, crappy habits, and clean out your mental closet. What gives me joy, and how can I do more of that?

·    What am I Watching? –  The OrvilleMany of you may, or may not know, I have a HUGE intellectual crush on Seth McFarlane (Creator or Family Guy, American Dad, Actor, writer, etc.). The Orville is his latest project, and I’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ve had absolutely no time to watch anything lately and was honestly trying to avoid watching it out of fear. I am such a fan I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. This changed the other night, and I watched a few episodes. I really like it, but not for the reasons you would think. I am enjoying the show overall. Its Star Trek throwback with a mix of the realistic dialog is very entertaining. What I love about the show is the transparency of its message and humor. Seth is a genius at taking the world and tilting just enough that you are laughing and thinking at the same moment. It is his gift. The Orville is definitely a labor of love for him, you can see it in the careful planning and execution of the production. It is not the best show on television, but it is the one with the most genuine artistic heart.  

        I also watched My Strange Addiction on Netflix with my kids. All I am gonna say is people are freaking weird and everyone needs therapy.

Have any thoughts on my week’s activity or want to make a recommendation? Drop me a line or a tweet. Never want to miss a blog post or a Saturday Seven? Join my mailing list, and I will be happy to send it straight to your inbox!

Check out a recent Podcast I was interviewed on ~ Write Away Podcast 

**Special Treat! ~ If you haven’t seen it yet, please check it out my teaser trailer for Finders!




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