Posts Tagged ‘loss’

It is with great pleasure and joy that I am showcasing Taylor Dean’s newest release i’m with you.

I’ve known Taylor for some time now and have read almost every book she’s written. If she didn’t write so many, I could say I’ve read them all!!

I have almost all of her books in print copies and they have their own special bookshelf to display her lovely covers.

Enjoy the blast and be sure to enter the giveaway ya’ll!

 Thanks for another wonderful story Taylor. I’ll be sure to have my kleenex handy as I smile through the tears.

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I'm with youI’m With You by Taylor Dean

Can three little words irrevocably change your life?

When the doctors inform Chloe Brennan that her pregnancy is “incompatible with life,” her subsequent choices will change her path forever.

She becomes one of the quiet, unsung heroes of this world, incredibly strong, yet somehow wrongly looked upon as damaged.

Three people will pierce Chloe’s existence: her husband, a stranger, and a precious baby.

One will say goodbye, one will say hello, and one will say both at the same time.

I’m With You is a novel about selfless love and the sacredness of life.

Please note: While this book is a romance novel, it also deals with the sensitive issue of baby loss grief.

The emotions are real, and sometimes dark.

If you are sensitive to this issue, this may not be the book for you.

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Praise for I’M WITH YOU:
Taylor Dean creates a beautiful story of loss, grief, and love.
~Jana (Book Reviewer)
Chloe’s story of grief, growth and healing is poignant and had me wanting to shed tears one moment, and then smiling as hope took root and bloomed in her heart.
~Charissa of Joy in the Moments

It’s amazing how these tragic moments in our lives shape our futures, and this wonderful grandson of Ms. Dean’s gave her the strength, courage and words to let others know about grief as well as Trisomy 18.

~Katherine (Book Reviewer)

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Excerpt from I’m With You:

Jack turned and looked at her, his eyes wet with tears. “I’m sorry you had to go through it alone.”

“If I could have, maybe I would’ve left too. I didn’t have that option. I don’t blame Mark, I really don’t. Who wouldn’t want to escape? It was a horrific experience.”

“I don’t think it was,” Jack stated quietly.

Startled by his words, Chloe said, “Excuse me?”

“I don’t believe you.”

Chloe felt surprised by his perceptiveness. Her breath caught in her throat as she said, “You’re right. Losing him was horrific. But the experience was one of the most precious times of my life. I’ve never felt so full of love for another individual. It consumed me. I loved him with an intensity I’ve never felt before. He’s the greatest blessing I’ve ever received in my life and I don’t regret a single moment. Maybe I never actually heard him speak, but he said more to me in his short life than anyone has ever said to me in my lifetime. He spoke to my heart in ways that are unfathomable. He changed me and left an imprint on my life that I will never forget. He taught me the true meaning of love and what it’s like to love someone else more than yourself.”

Jack shook his head, fighting emotion. “I can see that, I can feel that. This room is a testament to that love. I can feel your overwhelming love for your child just by glancing in here. That’s how strong it is.”

“Not everyone would agree with you. Mark hates this room. It represents loss to him.”

Jack took a step closer, his eyes blazing. “It represents love, completely unselfish love that few people in this world will ever understand or experience. I’m amazed by you, Chloe.”

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A word about I’m With You:

Baby loss is a difficult subject. The accompanying grief is complicated and heartbreaking.

In December of 2011, my daughter lost a baby at eight months gestation to Trisomy 18. If you don’t know what that is, I didn’t either, until it happened to us. (You will learn all about this devastating condition during the course of the book.) I’m With You is a romance novel that includes my daughter’s Trisomy 18 story. I knew I wanted to write about the experience one day, but it took me awhile to emotionally prepare myself to actually do it. It has been highly therapeutic. My daughter granted me permission to share her Trisomy 18 story with the hope that it will help others who are dealing with baby loss grief.

There is a song written for and dedicated to the families of Trisomy 18 and 13 babies. It is beautiful and deeply expresses the love parents feel for these special babies.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

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Taylor DeanAuthor Taylor Dean

Taylor Dean lives in Texas and is the mother of four grown children. Upon finding herself with an empty nest, she began to write the stories that were always wandering around in her head, quickly finding she had a passion for writing, specifically romance. Whether it’s paranormal, contemporary, or suspense-you’ll find all sub-genres of CLEAN Romance in her line-up.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

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Blast Giveaway

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Click on the Rafflecopter below to enter.

Raffle button

Ends 5/31/14

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Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

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A funny thing happened while I was reading The Twelfth Child. I became so engrossed in the story, I forgot to take notes for my review. I always keep pens and scraps of paper handy wherever I am when reading.

I was so into Bette’s story, I plum forgot my notes. So. smiling happily, I dove right back in and read the complete story again.

All of Bette’s books are laced with her southern prose, making me feel at home, looking for an old rocking chair to sit in while I read, with a glass of iced tea handy, the condensation dripping down the sides.

Come up on my porch, pull up a chair and get comfortable.

I have many things to say about The Twelfth Child and a really great giveaway too!

The Twelfth Child

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Abigail Anne Lannigan couldn’t marry a boy she didn’t love. She ran away to escape and it broke her heart, knowing her father would never forgive her.

Seventy years later, Abigail is in her twilight years but still going strong. A chance meeting with Destiny, the young lady who moved in across the street, is the beginning of a lasting friendship.

Destiny is young and determined to make it on her own. She just moved in, has little money and not much to start a home with. As her friendship deepens with Abigail, she accepts her gifts of unused furniture, but insists on working for it.

What started as just a helping hand here or there, becomes more nurturing as Abigail’s health begins to fail.

About this time, a young man named Elliott enters the picture. He claims to be a distant cousin from Abigail’s long lost family. He wastes no time in making life difficult for Destiny.

He knows the old woman has a million dollars stashed away and being a money hound, he figures Destiny is trying to steal it.

He accuses Destiny of absconding with the million dollars and she’s hard pressed to prove otherwise, hiring a dashing lawyer to defend her.

Only Abigail knows what really happened to the million dollars and she’s not in a position to tell.

One thing I always enjoy about Bette’s writing is her ability to take you into the past and flash you forward to the present in her stories without a glitch and as always, her characters are authentic, they live and breathe.

Abigail’s early years were fascinating and her brave young heart was still the same so many years later. Some of the things she said, the words she used had me cracking up. I just wanted to hug her. If I had a friend like Abigail I would be so lucky.

Destiny is happy-go-lucky. You could say she has a rosy personality, always seeing the best in people. She’s sweet and funny, a joy to be around.

I was scared for her when Elliott accused her of stealing Abigail’s money.

She is loyal, nurturing and honest. A tender soul facing a horrible accusation.

And every story needs a bad guy. Someone to loath. Elliott is just that guy. A real stinker.

Elliott is greedy, selfish, manipulative, and a big fake. I wanted so bad to give him a swift kick in the you know what, hard!

I always feel welcome and at home in Bette’s stories and become so attached to the characters that I share their emotions. I care what happens to them, laugh with them, cry with them, and fall in love with them.

Bette added just a little bit of the supernatural to this story, making it that much more fun.

5 Stars

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Winner of The National League of American Pen Women Award for Fiction

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About Bette Lee Crosby

Bette Lee CrosbyBette Lee Crosby’s work was first recognized in 2006, when she won the National League of American Pen Women Award for unpublished fiction with What Matters Most. Her novel, Cracks in the Sidewalk, received the 2009 Royal Palm Literary Award and then went on to win the 2011 FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal. In 2011 Spare Change received the Reviewer’s Choice Awards and it garnered a second Royal Palm Literary Award. Her books have earned numerous five-star ratings with readers acclaiming them as heartwarming and captivating.

Most recently, Bette completed a memoir written for Lani Deauville, a woman the Guinness Book of Records lists as The World’s Longest Living Quadriplegic.

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

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Bette is giving away one signed copy of The Twelfth Child (US Only)

And one e-book (International)

***When entering, please specify if entering for the signed copy or ebook and answer this question:***

“Have you ever had a friend you were so close to you would call them family?

This is a Tag Team Event hosted by myself and Sherry at fundinmental. You can visit Sherry’s blog for another chance to win and see what she thinks about The Twelfth Child HERE.

Giveaway ends September, Friday the 13th!

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AMAZON TOP 100

SPARE CHANGE and THE TWELFTH CHILD are both in the top 100 HISTORICAL MYSTERIES

CRACKS IN THE SIDEWALK is in the top 100 FAMILY SAGA

You can find all of Bettes books HERE.

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Winner of Five Literary Awards,BookBundlz Finalist, Voted Goodreads Best Unknown Fiction, FPA President’s Book Award Silver Medal

MY REVIEW

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Winner of a Royal Palm Literary Award for Women’s Fiction

MY REVIEW

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Winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award and FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal

Reviewing Soon

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Reviewing Soon

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Reviewing Soon

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And keep an eye out for her newest release coming soon!

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Reading as soon as I get my hungry hands on it!!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For all of my giveaways go HERE.

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Welcome to my stop on the Blast for The Three Kitties That Saved My Life by Michael Meyer.

I don’t often read true stories but this tugged at my heart strings.

I’m sure I’ll need to keep a box of tissues handy. As Michael says, I’ll laugh and I’ll cry.

Enjoy the glimpse inside and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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The Three Kitties That Saved My Life

by Michael Meyer

Inspirational Romance

Categories: Memoir, Love and Loss

Publisher: Pacific Books

Release Date: April 23, 2013

Heat Level: Sweet

Length: 134 pages

Available at:

AMAZON / B&N

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Description:

AN UPLIFTING TRUE STORY OF LOVE

Losing loved ones is an awful fact of life; losing one’s loving spouse, one’s day-to-day partner through life, especially in the prime of life, is one of the most unbearable tolls that we humans are forced to endure. This is the true story of my journey from grieving widower, not caring if I lived or died, to the once-again happily married man I am today, a man who both loves and cherishes life. My three kitties have given me a new zest for living.

Both inspiring and entertaining, my story might just make you laugh at times, or bring a tear to your eye, as you journey along with me.

Enjoy this peek inside.

My life with my cat, Coco, was good. We had a lot of fun together. Every day was joyful. I never knew from one day to the next what type of trouble the little guy would get himself into. There was always something new to explore, a new pose to assume.

But I still ached for close human contact. I wanted to be hugged. I wanted to be held in someone’s arms. I wanted to be loved, and to love, but I was scared and I also felt guilty feeling these thoughts, although I realized that they were all rational. I just could not force myself to take the first step in this direction. I would see couples holding hands, and I would be jealous. I would see couples embrace, and I would yearn for the same. I wanted to be with someone who cared for me, and I for her. However, the guilt at thinking such a thing, that I was somehow betraying the commitment that I had made to my deceased wife, still ate at me.

I was scared—of both the future and of what the past had already done to me. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not shake the feeling that somehow I would be betraying Ciba if I sought love again.  I knew I was not thinking logically, but logic really had nothing to do with any of it. I was a lost man, and I so desperately wanted to be found. But that first step was huge, and it was so painful to contemplate.

“Tiny steps now, Mike,” I remember telling myself, but saying and doing are not the same.

It was clear that my legal commitment to her, “to love and to cherish until death do us part,” had been fully met, but the powerful emotional attachment still clung to me.  I wanted to get on with my own life, but I could not. Time had frozen for me, and I was its prisoner.

I fought to move on, but I just could not. It was too painful. I spent huge chunks of my waking hours inside my head, trying to think things through. I listened to my sisters, and to my friends. My library of books and pamphlets on how to deal with losing one’s spouse kept growing.

I read everything I could get my hands on, but nothing could help me to break away from my thoughts of guilt. I read and reread, several times over, my complete library on coping with grief. I practically memorized each work. I could have been a professional grief counselor since I knew so much by now. The things I read were wonderfully written, right to the heart. I cherished every word, but still nothing seemed to really provide the jolt that I required.

That is until one day on the Internet, I stumbled upon a two-page response that a rabbi had written to a young woman who had posed the question, “How will I ever date again?” a year after the loss of her husband. For the first time since I had begun to scratch the urge to meet someone, the rabbi’s words had a profound impact on me, so profound, that after reading and rereading his words, after savoring every word, after thinking deeply about what he was saying, I was convinced that wanting to start dating was not only the right thing to do, but that it was exactly what my deceased wife would want me to do.

The whole two-page response made total sense to me, but the part that really convinced me was the following passage: “Your husband loved you and you loved your husband—you will never forget that. But his memory should not be a dark cloud that haunts your existence. Your memory of his life should be an inspiration, not a painful albatross.”

Pow! I had been hit smack dab over the head with precisely what my own problem was. I had defined myself as a widower. I was a widower. Everyone I met, learned this. The word defined my very existence.

And I was a widower, but that was not the whole me. I was also much more than that. I had forced my life into a box, and now it was time to climb out from that confinement. I would do so with love and dignity, never forgetting how my deceased wife had loved me and how I still loved her. I knew in my heart that she would want me to be happy. The rabbi’s words convinced me of that.

I had no idea how to date. What would I say? How would I act? Where would I meet someone?

About the Author:

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Mike Meyer recently retired from 40-year career as an English professor. He literally taught at universities throughout the world: Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the Virgin Islands, and he spent the last 24 years of his teaching career at a California community college. He lives in Southern California wine country with his wife, Kitty, and their two adorable rescue cats. Contact Mike on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelMeyersWritingLife.

Follow the tour HERE for more about Michael Meyer and The Three Kitties That Saved My LIfe.

For more about Michael Meyer and his books go HERE.

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

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Are you ready for the launch of Carlie’s newest book, Heart Search: Book Two, Found?

It’s that time and I have some goodies for you.

This is going to be such a fun tour. So much more is coming!

First, feast your eyes on her cover art. I believe she has a signature for her covers now. Further down in my post you can see the cover art for Heart Search:Book One,  Lost and you’ll see what I mean.

Heart Search: Found, Book II

Blurb

One bite started it all . . .

Another mysterious disappearance sparks a frightening chain of events for Remy and her family. Events foretold come to pass, and more strange and alarming occurrences assail her life. Where can she turn?

Coven politics continue to threaten Joshua’s existence, but an even bigger menace looms . . .

And Remy’s life hangs in the balance – can Joshua save her?

Fate still toys with mortals and immortals alike, as hearts torn apart by darkness confront perils which could lead to their doom.

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Heart Search: Found is now available to purchase!

Amazon US / Amazon UK

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Check out the new trailer!

Carlie has done something incredible!

You’re going to want to run right over and get this book. Just sayin!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Carlie M A Cullen

Carlie M A Cullen was born in London. She grew up in Hertfordshire where she first discovered her love of books and writing. She has been an administrator and marketer all her working life and was also a professional teacher of Ballroom and Latin American dancing until recently.

She has always written in some form or another, but Heart Search: Lost is her first novel. This was launched 8th October 2012 through Myrddin Publishing Group and book two, Heart Search: Found, is due out early July 2013. She writes mainly in the Fantasy/Paranormal Romance genres for YA, New Adult and Adult.

Carlie is also a professional editor.

Carlie also holds the reins of a writing group called Writebulb. Their first anthology, The Other Way Is Essex, was published September 2012 under Myrddin Publishing Group. Their second anthology is in editing.

Carlie currently lives in Essex, UK with her daughter.

You can find Carlie M. A. Cullen at the links below:

Blog/Twitter

I’ve read Heart Search, Book One: Lost and loved it!

Heart Search: Lost (Heart Search, #1)

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Go here to read my 5 Star Review

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Stay tuned for more fun and exciting things to come as the tour continues!

Check out these others wonderful bloggers participating in the tour.

Tour host’s:

Sherry Fundin

Joy Keeney

Donna L Sadd

Michelle Birbeck

We will be revealing more about Carlie’s new release with inerviews, reviews and exclusive excerpts

Come join the fun and help spread the word!