My TBR and a Quick Thank you!

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m here in the Midwest and we’ve had our first snowfall for the season. My plan for this season is to burrow in and get some reading and writing done. I’m almost done with my WIP and I’ve already got another idea simmering in the recesses of my brain. J

That’s great you say, but what’s on my TBR list?

I thought you’d never ask. 😉

 

Right now I’m reading:

 

“A haunting and mesmerizing story about sisterhood, family, love and loss by literary luminary Edwidge Danticat.

Giselle Boyer and her identical twin, Isabelle, are as close as sisters can be, even as their family seems to be unraveling. Then the Boyers have a tragic encounter that will shatter everyone’s world forever.

Giselle wakes up in the hospital, injured and unable to speak or move. Trapped in the prison of her own body, Giselle must revisit her past in order to understand how the people closest to her — her friends, her parents, and above all, Isabelle, her twin — have shaped and defined her. Will she allow her love for her family and friends to lead her to recovery? Or will she remain lost in a spiral of longing and regret?

Untwine is a spellbinding tale, lyrical and filled with love, mystery, humor, and heartbreak. Award-winning author Edwidge Danticat brings her extraordinary talent to this graceful and unflinching examination of the bonds of friendship, romance, family, the horrors of loss, and the strength we must discover in ourselves when all seems hopeless.”

The next couple of books that I plan to read are:

 

“When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival.”

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching . . . for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don’t expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words, “I love you,” are said for all the wrong reasons. These are five moving stories that remain separate at first, then weave together to tell a larger, more powerful story–a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. And figuring out what sex and love are all about.

TRICKS is informed and inspired by living near Las Vegas–a big teen prostitution scene–and by the fact that teen prostitution is not exclusively the result of kids running away from abuse. Kids from “better” families are selling themselves for hefty sums in order to finance addictions or even just to buy jewelry or clothing. In some cases, parents prostitute their children for the same reason. So what happens to the kids who are asking themselves, and asking us, “Can I ever feel OK about myself?”

Highly charged, TRICKS is a gripping experience that turns you on and repels you at the same time.

 

Five teens victimized by sex trafficking try to find their way to a new life in this riveting companion to the New York Times bestselling Tricks from Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank.

In her bestselling novel, Tricks, Ellen Hopkins introduced us to five memorable characters tackling these enormous questions: Eden, the preacher’s daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue; Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body; Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined in a heroin haze; Ginger, who runs away from home with her girlfriend and is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop; and Cody, whose gambling habit forces him into the life, but who is shot and left for dead.

And now, in Traffick, these five are faced with the toughest question of all: Is there a way out? How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade. Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home.

 

I also wanted to give a huge shout out of Thanks to some great authors, reviewers and bloggers. These people have been very helpful in helping me get the word out about my books and I truly appreciate them!

If you have a few minutes stop by their blogs and say hello and check them out, you’ll be glad you did!

 

Kay Springsteen at https://kayspringsteen.wordpress.com/

Dianne Bylo at http://tometender.blogspot.com/?zx=4587a3ef8ad762a5

Sharon Ledwith at http://sharonledwith.blogspot.com/

Melanie Macladie at http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/

Paul Hewitt at http://paulrhewlett.weebly.com/

Sherry Gloag at http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/

Iris Blobel at http://iris-b.blogspot.com/

Tara Ellis at http://taraellisauthor.blogspot.com/

Linda Lee at http://www.lrwlee.com/

Tressa at http://www.wishfulendings.com

I’d also like to thank Goddess Fish Promotions. They’ve done an excellent job for me on my blog tour. Here’s their link:

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/10/nbtm-starlight-chronicles-by-lisa.html?zx=ccff7e282d9d8b

 

I’m also very excited to be working with Magic of Books Promotions. I’ve got a blog tour scheduled with them for the end of December and I’m already impressed with their work! Here’s the link for them as well:

http://magicofbookspromo.blogspot.com/

 

So there you have it. My TBR List and my thankful list. What are you planning to read over the holidays? What are you thankful for? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

 

Second Round of Chemo

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with the second round of chemo under my belt. I was a little anxious because I’ve been told that the side effects grow worse each time you have a treatment.

I spoke with the nurse about this and she told me that the only side effect that gets worse is the fatigue. Well, fatigue I can handle, it’s the nausea that gets to me and since there’s the wonderful anti-nausea medication, I feel like I’m good to go.

Since I’ve had one treatment, I know what to expect. For example, in my concoction of chemo drugs there’s a steroid that makes sleeping difficult. Now that I know this, I’ve been able to prepare for that and take something that’ll help me sleep.

The biggest difference between the first and second chemo is the loss of hair. I was hoping that I could bypass this side effect somehow, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I started noticing my hair coming out in tiny clumps when I was in the shower a day before my second treatment.

After my second treatment, it came out in huge clumps. When I brushed it, there were even bigger clumps stuck in my brush. I’m not bald yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

I expected it and prepared for it, but it’s not a happy moment to say the least.

There are some positive effects to this event in my life. I know what you’re thinking, how can this be? Well, first and foremost I’ll have my life back in just four months.  According to my oncologist, I’ll be cured. The cancer won’t come back. That’s a big positive in my book.

However, there’s more to it than that. It’s brought my family closer. Hubby and the boys are more attentive and we appreciate each other’s company more than we did before. It’s hard to explain, but there’s a tenderness there that wasn’t present before.

I also have a  lot of support. I have a long line of strong women in my family, both on my mom and dad’s side. So it’s nice to have these women rally around me and offer their support.

Speaking of support, I have to mention my friend from Gilda’s club. Her name is Ginger, and she has been a constant source of positive energy for me. She calmed my nerves when I found out I had to have chemo. She took the same drugs that I’m taking and she was very helpful because she shared her reaction to them. It really set my mind at ease.

My thoughts on “Gone Girl!”

 

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with a book review. The book I’m talking about is “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn. The cover and blurb are below.

 

 

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

MY THOUGHTS

I was expecting a story about a woman who disappears and her husband’s desperate attempts to find her. This does happen, but there’s a twist that I did not see coming that made this story darker and much more intriguing.

This is a story of a husband and wife who slowly fall out of love with each other. Gillian Flynn flawlessly develops the characters and shows how sacrifices in a marriage create resentment and build walls between the husband and wife.

The characters in this story are human with strengths and flaws. Nick convinces Amy his wife to move back to his hometown after they both lose their jobs. She agrees and they end up buying a bar. Nick runs it with his sister while Amy stays at home.

Nick becomes involved with another woman and Amy finds out. I won’t say any more than that because I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but I will say this was a much darker story than I expected and I certainly got lost in it.

If you enjoy dark, intriguing tales this is a must read!

Health Update :)

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you. It has been a while since I’ve posted on my blog and I must apologize because I had every intention of keeping up with it, but the joke was on me because I had no ambition what so ever. All I wanted to do was sleep. I forgot how tired your body is after surgery and couple that with pain meds and well there isn’t much time to put a coherent thought together, let alone type it in sentence form. 🙂

It has been about two weeks since my surgery, so I thought I’d give you an update. My sentinel node was clear. This is incredibly good news because it means the cancer has not spread to my lymphatic system. So naturally I was jumping up and down, in an understated way of course, I don’t want to jiggle anything that still needs to mend.

With that great news hubby and I decided to take the kids up north. At first, I was concerned because the way I’ve been able to sleep is kind of sitting up. It was extremely painful for me to rise from lying flat on my back and we didn’t think there was a place for me to sleep comfortably in an upright position. Nevertheless, hubby figured it out and I was able to sleep quite comfortably.

The weather was perfect, nice, and breezy and lots of sun. In addition, I have to confess that I wore my pajama pants all weekend. Even during the day. I decided I’m recovering from Cancer; I don’t have to dress for anyone. So I didn’t. 🙂 However, I did put on a pair of capri pants when I went to the store. I’ll only take my rebellion so far, after all, I’m setting an example for my boys! 😉 I know I’m living on the edge.

So while we’re celebrating the sentinel node being clear, there’s one more test that has to be conducted and it takes about 2 weeks. This test, I have no idea what the name of it is, but what it determines is whether or not chemo therapy will be beneficial for you. We’re hoping that the results state that chemo would not be beneficial.

The reason I feel this way is that chemo is very hard on the body. And the way I figure it, I’ve eliminated the chance for the cancer to come back by having a double mastectomy. Now it can come back to another part of my body that’s true. But my type of cancer needs Estrogen to survive. So, I figure I’ll just take an estrogen blocker for the rest of my life and no more cancer. 🙂

I’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say about that. So if you could send some positive vibes/prayers asking that I don’t have to do chemo, I’d really appreciate it!  Speaking about my doctors, I’d like to say a huge thank you to them for diagnosing my problem and answering all my questions. I had a lot of them. 🙂

So, there you have it. My health update. If you’ve had similar issues, leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you!

Please Welcome JQ Rose as She Gives Teens some Awesome Advice

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you! I’m taking my kids to the zoo today, so I thought I’d reblog a guest post that I hosted last year. The author is JQ Rose and she has some awesome advice for Teens! Without further ado, take it away JQ!

Hello Readers.

Lisa, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today.

Are you familiar with the song, “Little Boxes” written in 1963 by Melvina Reynolds?

~If you want to use the youtube video here’s the link~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Lyrics from http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/malvina_reynolds/little_boxes.html

Listeners to the catchy tune and lyrics have several ideas for its meaning. One of them is the protest against all the cheap housing of suburbia which sprang up in the 60’s. People called the sub-divisions a cookie-cutter method of building homes with ticky tacky or shoddy materials.

The message I receive from the lyrics…

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My Thoughts on “Allegiant”

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another book review. I’ve been on vacation and I finally finished the third book in the Divergent Series. I say finally because it has taken me forever to finish it! The cover and blurb are below.

 

What if your whole world was a lie? What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything? What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

 

The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth’s #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

 

That’s right. I finished “Allegiant” and I didn’t have the same reaction as many of Veronica Roth’s fans did when I finished it. Many had a very negative reaction when Tris died at the end. I didn’t. Probably because I wasn’t as emotionally attached to the characters as I was in “The Fault in Our Stars.”

I attribute this to the fact that I seem to prefer Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, as opposed to the Dystopian Genre. This third book of the series didn’t hold my interest as much as the first two, maybe because it was told from both Tris’ and Tobias’ point of view. The story oscillated between the two characters and for me I wasn’t able to get as attached to them because of this.

It’s probably just me. 🙂

Anyway, this is an intriguing series. I can see where something like this could happen in the future. Where scientists think they can eliminate certain characteristics by changing human’s DNA. I can see all kinds of controversy starting because of this. It makes me wonder what kind of world we’ll be leaving to our kids.

This was a very interesting and well-written series. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I admire the author’s creativity.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and reading my post. If you have any other book recommendations, please leave a comment. I’m always looking for something new to read. 🙂

Teen Depression: What it looks like and What You Can Do

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you. Because we’re on vacation and I’m dealing with some health issues, I’m reblogging this post from a year ago. I hope you don’t mind and I hope it helps you with your teen! Happy Reading!

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you!

I’m back on track today discussing issues that affect young adults. Today I wanted to touch on a topic that affects many people, but it’s especially tricky to spot in teenagers. That issue is depression.

According to Familyfirstaid.org, suicide is the 3^rd leading cause of death among young adults between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. I don’t know about you, but I found this statistic staggering!

The most common cause of suicide is depression. That being said, I’m deducing that since suicide is the 3^rd leading cause of death among teenagers that many teens are depressed, but only 1 in 5 teenagers receive help for this ailment. So, my theory is that if we start treating the depression in our young people the suicide rate will drop.

According to Helpguide.org, occasional bad moods and acting out is normal…

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My thoughts on “Insurgent”

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Book Review. I’ve read the second book in the Divergent Series titled, “Insurgent.”

 

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful.

Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth’s much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this second book as much as the first one. Although my first love is not the dystopian genre, I liked Tris and her companion Tobias. I enjoyed how their relationship bloomed while they battled for their freedom from oppression.

It seems the Erudite want control of all the factions and they’re using the Dauntless soldiers to do this. They use a special serum to do this, but because Tris and Tobias are divergent, they can fight the control of the serum. The leader of the Erudite knows this and that’s why it’s so dangerous to be divergent, because as soon as they’re discovered the divergent are executed.

This story shows the creativity of the author. I’m very impressed by her world building and the imagination it took to create the Faction system and the characters in it.

In the second book of the “Divergent” series the author delves into more detail about what it means to be divergent and it’s interesting to learn why being divergent is such a danger.

There’s a lot of action in this second book and I liked it enough to pick up the third book in the series. That being said, however, I’m a contemporary girl at heart.

 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Let me know how you feel about the series by leaving a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Thinking about my Dad on Memorial Day

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. It’s Memorial Day today and I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day!

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to take today and remember my dad. He passed away about fifteen years ago and even though he’s gone, I think about him every day. I see his personality in my brothers whenever I get together with them, especially my youngest brother. He has the same mannerisms as my father and that same tone whenever he’s being cynical. I laugh whenever I hear my dad’s signature sigh. My brother isn’t even aware that he does this, but I see it.

This photo courtesy of Creative Commons Flickr.com. Photographer Senor Condo

It’s funny the things I remember about my dad. Like the way he used to say my nickname, or when he used to get irritated with me for being late for dinner, but then he’d feel bad afterward and ask me to play catch. 😉 He could never stay mad at me for very long. Now that I’m a parent, I understand how irritating being late can be! I just loved being outside and I didn’t want to come in. I was just a kid after all.

Just being with him had a calming effect on me, like everything was going to be all right. I’m kind of a worrier, so it was a relief to feel that way whenever I could. 🙂

So, here’s to my dad! (Raising a glass of wine to the sky) I miss him and wish he were still here. I wish he had been around to meet my kids. He would’ve loved being with them. I also would’ve loved to see his expression when I became a published author. He would’ve been so proud. Sniff.

Speaking of publishing, I do have some other news that I’m excited about. My fourth book has been accepted for publication and it’ll be coming out in November. Squeeee….I’m so excited! In fact, my publisher wants to break up my story into three books. Gulp! At first, I wasn’t sure about that, but after thinking about it, I’m on board with the idea. So, instead of one book titled, “Gideon Lee,” there’s going to be three books. I’m so excited about this series!

That’s all I can say for now, but I’ll keep you posted!

 

I hope you all have a Happy Memorial Day. I’m going to take a few minutes and remember my dad, hoping he knows about my kids and my accomplishments. I hope he’s proud. 🙂

We need Diverse Books!

 

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! I’m back today with some exciting news. My website/blog is getting a new look. You can already see some of the changes, but there are more to come, so please bear with me as the construction commences!

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on in the Twitter World, but this last week the #weneeddiversebooks hashtag trended. I even tweeted and retweeted some of the messages because I think it’s true.

Although, the trend was mainly bringing to the attention of Tweeties everywhere that most books are of Caucasian construction, I think we need to look at all kinds of diversity and not just skin color.

There’s diversity of religion, diversity of sexual orientation, as well as racial diversity. In my humble opinion, if there were more books on these subjects then people would become more knowledgeable and with that knowledge, they’d become more tolerant of these different groups. Maybe this would help the bullying issues we seem to be facing in our schools and workplaces. Wouldn’t that be great?

A few books out there deal with racial diversity. Not the subject so to speak, but one of the main characters is of a different racial group than Caucasian. These books are a start in the cry for diversity. Below are a couple of them that I’ve come across.

 

Esperanza thought she’d always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico–she’d always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. Esperanza isn’t ready for the hard labor, financial struggles, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When their new life is threatened, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances–Mama’s life, and her own, depend on it.

 

Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.

I’m wondering if there were more diverse books available, would there be less anxiety in our teens. When you think about it, the teen years are full of angst because everyone’s trying to fit in. What if they learned through reading that we’re all different and that’s okay? There’d be less teen angst that’s for sure. Wouldn’t it be great if teens spent their time investing in themselves as opposed to trying to fit some unrealistic ideal? More books that are diverse could accomplish this, wouldn’t you agree?

So not only do we need more of these types of books in our bookstores, but we also need to have our kids read them. 🙂 So make sure when you come across a book where the hero is other than a Caucasian or may be of a different sexual orientation, give it a shot. You might be surprised by what you learn. Remember, reading fiction is a great way to learn too.

Thanks for reading my post today and if you know of a great book that deals with diversity leave a comment. I’d like to read it! 🙂