A Pet for Christmas Book Review and Giveaway

NEW RELEASE...

Dedication 

To those who still suffer the wounds of war. 

 >>><<< 

Kelly Kennedy thought her life was finally on track. Engaged to the man of her dreams and with a baby on the way, she reassures her five-year-old daughter, Bree, that the father she picked for Christmas still loves her.

Unfortunately, war veteran Tyler Manning has been away most of the year. Recovering from PTSD isn’t easy. Rather than worry Kelly, Tyler spends his time traveling to Afghanistan to work at a children's charity he founded.

Kelly decides to distract Bree with promises of a pet for Christmas. When Tyler is taken hostage by terrorists, she finds it hard to convince Bree that they will truly be a family in time for Christmas.

A Pet for Christmas is a sequel A Father for Christmas. While it can be read as a standalone, you'll get more of the relationship aspect between Kelly, Tyler, and Bree by reading A Father for Christmas first.

My thoughts:

A Pet for Christmas is an incredibly sweet, heart-wrenching and terrifying story. Bree finally has what she asked for last year, a Daddy! And her mom Kelly has another baby on the way. But Bree has been missing her new Daddy since he went back to Afghanistan to work with displaced children. So she's been asking her mom for a pet... repeatedly!

Kelly is late in her second pregnancy, trying to keep things together while Tyler is gone, worried for him and wondering whether their relationship can really last. When the compound Tyler is in is bombed and he goes missing, Kelly is terrified for his safety. As we follow Tyler's imprisonment by terrorists it's unclear whether he'll ever see Kelly and Bree (or his unborn baby) again.

Can Kelly keep her children safe? Will Tyler make it home? And will Bree find a pet for Christmas?

Available to buy from...

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"Heartwarming story of hope and second chances.” - Ruth Davis on Book 1, A Father for Christmas

"Absolutely breathtaking love story." - Amber McCallister on Book 1, A Father for Christmas

Also Available
A Father for Christmas (A Veteran’s Christmas Book 1)

Dedication

To all the veterans who gave so much.

 >>><<<

Single mother Kelly Kennedy can't afford lavish gifts for her four-year-old daughter, Bree. Homeless veteran Tyler Manning doesn't believe he deserves a Merry Christmas.

When Bree asks Santa for a father and picks Tyler, both Tyler and Kelly vow to keep Bree from being hurt while fighting their feelings for each other.

Tyler struggles with frightening flashbacks that scare Kelly. Meanwhile, Kelly's criminal past threatens her chance for happiness. Tyler and Kelly must believe in the power of love to give Bree her best Christmas ever.

My thoughts:

Kelly used to have it all, a beautiful daughter that she loved, a high-powered job that provided everything her family could want, and a loving mother. Then her job crashed around her, and Kelly is struggling to provide for her daughter. She splurges to let her daughter visit with a mall Santa, and Bree asks for a gift that Kelly never expected... Bree wants a Daddy for Christmas! Bree has finally noticed that most other kids have a Dad, and she's decided that Santa can bring her one for Christmas.

Tyler Manning is a homeless veteran who suffers from serious PTSD flashbacks. He feels guilty for what he did in the name of war, and he's crushing himself holding the weight of the world on his shoulders so that he can never be happy. When Bree finds Tyler sitting under the Christmas tree in the mall, she decides that Tyler is the Daddy that Santa sent. Suddenly Kelly has a daughter who not only wants a Daddy, but she wants a homeless man with violent flashbacks as her Daddy.

This comes across as a light holiday read, but because of the heavy topics of homeless vets and PTSD, it actually is a surprisingly deep, heartfelt story.

Available to buy from...

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About the author

Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling Asian American author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous, sexy contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes hot. She writes emotionally challenging stories but believes in the power of love and hope. 

Rachelle is the founder of an online writing group, Romance in a Month, an active member of the California Writer’s Club, Fremont Chapter, and a volunteer for the World Literary Cafe. She is a very happy woman and lives in California with her husband. She has won awards in multicultural and historical romance.

Find the author on the following pages....

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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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When Dreams Touch Book Review and Giveaway

Caught between the 1980’s HIV/AIDS global pandemic and the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, three women strive to realize their dreams.

Pregnant and uneducated, 16-year-old Adelaide trades her dream of escaping the grinding poverty of her rural village for hopes of a better life for her unborn child. Kate, a young American physician, often finds her roles as mother and wife to be in conflict with her childhood dream to practice medicine in a third-world country. Giselle, a university-educated artist, lives in Port-au-Prince. While she sympathizes with the plight of her fellow Haitians, she envisions her and her family’s future as a comfortable life in the United States.

When the violent 1991 coup d’état erupts in Haiti, these three women’s lives intersect and are forever changed. Despite different cultures and life circumstances, the women share a vision of a better future for their children and the troubled country of Haiti. Their personal stories of adversity, tragedy and triumph are embedded in the complex social, political and cultural climate that evolves when international assistance programs influence individuals and communities in the developing world. Often in startling contrast, the women portrayed in When Dreams Touch are united through mutual understanding and respect. With courage and perseverance, they confront the broader injustices of the world they live in and create a legacy of enduring hope.

"When Dreams Touch" was awarded: the 2015 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for superior work by a debut author, the 2015 Eric Hoffer Award for e-book fiction, the 2015 National Indie Excellence Award for regional fiction and the 2015 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for historical fiction. The book was also selected as a Historical Finalist, as a First Novel Finalist, and as a General Fiction Finalist in the 2015 IAN Book of the Year Awards and featured in The US Review.

My thoughts:

I came into this story with a little trepidation about what I was going to read. It's historical fiction that reads like non-fiction, following the lives of 3 women from different backgrounds and their lives inside and outside of Haiti. Once I got into the story I had a hard time putting it down, wanting to know more of the stories of these amazing women!

The people of Haiti have been slammed with continuous struggles, from extreme poverty to AIDS and cervical cancer epidemics, and devastating hurricanes and earthquakes. Yet the women of rural Haiti continue to plant, sell their wares and try to educate their children. Everyone is trying to make a better life for themselves and their children.

This book will make you smile, it'll make you cry, and it will definitely open your eyes to how different the world is outside your safe bubble. Not only that, you'll get ideas of how you can help, both in Haiti and all over the world.

Will you take the chance and see what you can learn about the tiny world we live in?

All proceeds from sales of When Dreams Touch go to health and education programs in Haiti. 

Available to buy from....

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"Hanrahan, a physician who has a decade of firsthand experience living and working in Haiti and other developing countries, brings a realism to her novel that only one who has seen it for themselves can hope to portray." RECOMMENDED by the US Review

 "The author's voice is smooth and professional and she has a way with words that will pull you in and entertain you. In fact, I found it really hard to part with. I'm very impressed with the skill here.... All in all a wonderful read that I highly recommend." - 22nd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards

 

Sister Carmelle, the director of Fondwa Clinic in Haiti practicing drawing blood as part of training for the community’s HIV/AIDS program funded by the College of American Pathologists Foundation and Partners in Progress..Sister Carmelle passed away in March 2012. "When Dreams Touch" is dedicated to this incredible woman. An inspiration and dear friend to me and so many others.

About the Author

Dr. Rosemary Hanrahan Edwards knows how powerfully dreams can touch lives and bring people together, as they do in her first novel, When Dreams Touch. Her experience as a physician, involvement with international and public health non-profit organizations, and leadership in health, education and community development in Haiti are the inspiration of "When Dreams Touch." 

Rosemary started volunteering and working in developing countries, including Nepal, Botswana and Haiti, in 2001. Since then, she has touched the lives of many people through her tireless work and her life has been deeply touched by her many colleagues, friends and partners in the developing world. 

Rosemary was the 2003 and 2006 recipient of the College of American Pathologists Foundation Humanitarian Grant Award for her medical laboratory work in Haiti. In 2007, she received the Delta Omega National Honor Society Award for Best Master's Thesis in Public Health and the Outstanding Student Award for Academic Excellence from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. 

The mother of two adult sons, Rosemary currently lives in Western Pennsylvania, where she practices medicine as an independent consultant for anatomic and clinical pathology practices. In addition to volunteering as a consultant in international healthcare and writing grants for non-profit organizations, she has been a board member of Vincentian Collaborative System (VCS) since 2010. VCS provides a continuum of senior services in the Western Pennsylvania region. 

When she is not practicing her medical profession, Rosemary enjoys outdoor activities, travel, competing in triathlons and writing. When Dreams Touch is her first novel, which will be published under her pen name, Rosemary Hanrahan.

Find the author on the following sites...

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In October, Rosemary will travel to Haiti, as a volunteer, with PA PS Team International, H3 Missions and Rotary international District 5330 to conduct cervical cancer screening and treatment for over 2000 Haitian women. Fifteen local Haitian doctors and nurses will also be trained so they can continue this critical screening effort. 

As depicted with Adelaide’s story in When Dreams Touch, Haiti has one of the highest cervical cancer rates in the world and treatment is extremely limited. The average Haitian woman who dies of cervical cancer leaves behind five and eight orphaned children. 

Your donation of $20 U.S. will cover the cost of a PAP smear and, if necessary, life-saving treatment for cervical cancer for one woman in Haiti. 

To make this life-saving U.S tax- deductible donation, please go to: http://bit.ly/H3MissionsGFM1

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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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Booker No Mas Book Review and Giveaway

New Release....
No more deception.

Brought to the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic on the premise that he could finally close the chapter on the darkest moment of his life—and rid the world of a cold-blooded killer—Booker T. Adams instantly finds a far different scene. Set against the backdrop of a city consumed by the rising fear of terrorism and a brutal drug lord, a woman, seemingly with two lives and even two faces, uses her hypnotic charm to get what she wants, sending Booker on a mission to rescue a teenage boy held hostage.

No more lies.

Befriended by a fired cop and a homeless kid with nothing to live for, Booker struggles to understand fact versus fiction, while staving off wild bores, snakes, terrorist traps, and a past that has haunted him for almost thirty years. Is he dealing with people believing their own hypocrisy, or have they simply perfected the art of betrayal and treachery?

No more killing.

The all-powerful rule with brute force, killing women and children like they’re swatting flies. It’s a savagery that Booker can’t comprehend, let alone defeat. With the smell of death stuffed down his throat, the man with everything to lose puts everything on the line—because he can stand…

No more.

My thoughts:

John W. Mefford has done it again! I was leery at first when I picked up this book, since Booker wasn't on his home turf, with all of his beloved friends, family, and coworkers. So I wasn't sure that I would enjoy a book that was only about Booker. Leave it to Booker to find a couple of great sidekicks who could help him find his way around the most dangerous parts of the Dominican Republic.

Booker travels miles from home following a tip that a crazy killer (who happens to be his ex-girlfriend) was in the Dominican Republic. As soon as he lands he finds out that he's not in the US anymore and everyone is trying to take advantage of him. What he discovers while there has the potential to change Booker to his very core, and will keep you guessing until the very last page.

All in all, I loved this book. It can be read as a stand alone book, but I definitely recommend picking up the whole series so that you have more of the back story.

Available to buy at...

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Check out the other books in the series

 
 

About the Author

A veteran of the corporate wars, former journalist, and true studier of human and social behavior, best-selling author John W. Mefford has been writing novels since he first entered the work force twenty-five years ago, although he never put words on paper until late 2009.

John writes novels full of intrigue, suspense, and thrills, but they also evoke an emotional connection with the characters.

When he’s not writing, he chases three kids around, slaves away in the yard, reads, takes in as many sports as time allows, watches all sorts of movies, and continues to make mental notes of people and societies across the land.

John lives in Frisco, Texas with his beautiful wife, three opinionated kids, and a feisty fat cat who rules the world.

Follow the author on the following sites...

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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY

Win John W Mefford's NINE ebook Library!
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