Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Book Tour: LIVE, LOVE, REPEAT SERIES by Shaunna Gonzales




One life...
Trevor Palmer must sink or survive, quite literally. Choosing to manipulate the changing hands of his company for his own good, he relocates to the rough country of Idaho, in searching for his great great grandfather's mine.

Porsche has sworn off all men but meeting Trevor has changed her best laid plans, throwing her resolve to find the perfect man for her sister against her, stumbling head on into the ideal man for herself.


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Living to love...

Trevor Palmer must not only deal with his emotional loss but cope with being wheelchair bound. Paralyzed he must choose to move on with his life or let his misery consume him.

Mercedes has worked hard to get her job as a therapist for a new age rehabilitation clinic but will her creative therapy heal Trevor or bring them both to destruction? Trevor's disability may be more in his head with his Conversion Disorder but it may be physical as well.




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~ Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ 


Trevor Palmer is paralyzed from his mining accident but it may be in his head with his Conversion disorder.


Mercedes has worked long and hard to become a therapist for a new age rehabilitation center but will she let her feelings for her patient overshadow her life when a family catastrophe hits her family?



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Shaunna Gonzales currently resides with her family in the greater Seattle area. Married over thirty years, her role as wife and mother of four continue to be her priorities.
A storyteller in her youth, she endevored to extend her love of stories to the written word and in 2005 began to write her first novel. Though that manuscript will remain buried, she has continued to learn.
Once told by her doctors that she would never leave her wheelchair -- due to her Multiple sclerosis. It has been tucked in a closet while she continues on. (In other words muddles on.)

Shaunna has worked as a professional reviewer for InD'Tales eMagazine for three years. In 2012 she also served as the vice president of Moonwriters, the on-line chapter of American Night Writers Association (ANWA She prefers to write romantic fiction and has ventured into the romantic suspense, and time-travel genres. Her debut novel, Dark Day s of Promise was released by Desert Breeze Publishing in 2012 re-released 2015.
Although she prefers to spend her days writing, she is willing to share what she has learned from the school of life and is often found "giving back." 


Connect with the Author here: 
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The copy I received of the first book in this series was not a full book, so I will leave it to others to review that book. I did read books 2 and 3 in the series.

Book 2, In Her Hands, is a continuation of the story between Trevor and Porsche Roemer after an accident that has left Trevor wounded as much psychologically as physically. He believes Porsche is dead, his belief reinforced by being unable to contact her family in Idaho, the location of his copper mine where the accident took place. However, Porsche is still alive, but in a coma, and she still plays an interesting role in this story. I enjoyed the way the author wrote her character along with the other characters in this book.

Unbeknownst to him, Porsche’s sister, Mercedes, becomes Trevor’s physical therapist once he returns to his home in Las Vegas. As much as the two interact, it seems strange they don’t make this connection, but they are both very private about their feelings regarding Porsche.

Meanwhile, the relationship between the two of them grows. There is a lot of sexually suggestive dialogue in the book—some of it might be typical since Trevor is a young man worried about how he as a paraplegic appears to women. Beyond that, the issues of dealing with health care employees coming into his home and the details about his therapy were interesting, especially in light of his doctor’s  suspicions about the true nature of his disability. I found that even though I did not read the first book in this series, there was enough information in this book that I could read it as a stand-alone without feeling lost because I hadn’t read the first book.

Book 3 in the Live, Love and Repeat series, His Choice, continues the story of Trevor and Mercedes. Some of the same characters from book 2 were also present. It continues Trevor’s progress with his physical therapy he receives from Mercedes, plus he chooses to take more responsibility in his own recovery. He also resolves the true nature of the feelings he had for Mercedes’s sister, Porsche, and his sense of guilt over her loss.

I found the characters engaging in spite of there being quite a bit of sexually suggestive dialogue. It was interesting how the author dealt with the relationship that grew between Trevor and Mercedes. He wished to return to his mine in Idaho, and she refused to return for any length of time to the home where she felt she always lived in her sister’s shadow. And, although Porsche has left her earth life, she still plays an interesting role in this three-book series until the end.



To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 



Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Wednesday Wonders: THE FORGOTTEN GIRL by Heather Chapman




















Today I'm featuring 
The Forgotten Girl
by Heather Chapman

About The Forgotten Girl:


It is 1906, and sixteen-year-old Stella's life in Durliosy, Poland, is bleak. Her only hope of surviving is to travel to America, a land of freedom and opportunity, and reunite with her brother in Baltimore. There she'll find new challenges, and perhaps, if she can put her painful past behind her, a new chance for love and lasting happiness.

Excerpt:

          My brother shakes his head, and I see his shoulders rise. His eyes are dark, a faraway look in them. "You forget," he says, his voice growing deeper. "Poles are not welcome in America."
          I wipe my cheek with my sleeve, praying Jozef did not see the tear roll down it. Not welcome?
          My chest feels like it is on fire, and it is as if only my rebuttal can quench it. "We are not welcome in our own country," I say, my eyes falling to the floor.
          Jozef lets out a deep grunt, so deep that it rolls throughout the room, bouncing along the floorboards and between the others seated at the table. I lift my head to see his hand twist around the back of the chair as if meant to crush the wood between his fingers. "At least tell me you have not forgotten your Polish pride," he whispers, his voice cracking like a whip against a mule.
          I shake my head, too angry and stubborn to say anything in reply. I do not forget. I cannot forget.


My Book Review:

I enjoyed this book very much. Although this novel has its roots in the author’s own family history, it reads like the novel it is, one full of intrigue, challenges, conflict, trials and love, one that touched me emotionally at every turn. Told in the first person, the main character, Stella, is a strong-willed young woman unwilling to accept a life of an impoverished orphan subject to the abuse and control of her older brother and his wife. Although it breaks her heart to leave behind a beloved niece, she yearns to go to America to join another older brother where she hopes to enjoy some freedom and work towards a better future.

Once she arrives in America, finds her brother is not what she thought he was. He and others again threated to take away her freedom for their own benefit. Instead, she finds she must make her own life in a society and subject to laws where women do not have as many rights as men.

The author wrote her characters in a way that was believable and engendered empathy—even for those characters that were less than admirable. The story was a window into a past society. She brought to life the difficulties of a society of lower-class immigrants who spoke very little, if any, English. She touched on the deplorable working conditions and the few enjoyments of the era. Her characters never forgot that as bad as they had it in America, their family members back in the old country had it worse. At least in America, there was hope for a brighter future.
 

Purchase links for The Forgotten Girl:

 

About Heather Chapman:
 
Heather currently resides in Soda Springs, Idaho, with her husband and four children. She graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University. Heather has worked in various administrative assistant roles and as an event planner. Heather has also worked as a piano accompanist and piano teacher on the side. She currently spends her time writing and working as a stay-at-home mother.

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