COVER REVEAL: Love's Sorrow by Terri Rochenski

SYNOPSIS:

Hired as a nanny for her cousin’s children, Anne Tearle finds security and a loving family.  The children are a dream, but London society is a world of its own, one where a displaced farm girl has no business being.  But, wealthy rake, Gavin MacKay, helps her to see associating with the upper class might not be as horrid as she first assumed.

Like all things worthwhile, love comes at a price, and the cost soon bestows more anguish than joy.  Lost, but not undone, Anne must find the courage to begin life anew, or succumb to sorrow's unrelenting waves of grief.

About Terri Rochenski:

Terri started writing stories in the 8^th grade, when a little gnome whispered in her brain. Gundi’s Great Adventure never hit the best seller list, but it started a long love affair with storytelling.

Today she enjoys an escape to Middle Earth during the rare ‘me’ moments her three young children allow. When not playing toys, picking them back up, or kissing boo-boos, she can be found sprawled on the couch with a book or pencil in hand, and toothpicks propping her eyelids open.

Author Links:

GoodReads - Twitter - Website - Google+ - Blog

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Joining the following link-ups:

    

REVIEW: Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt

(Disclaimer:  I received this e-book free from Story Cartel in exchange for an unbiased review.  My opinions are my own.)

At my 5-year high school reunion, a fair number of the students were married and had at least one child.  But what happens when you life does not follow that 'usual' path?  Where does the life you are living intersect with the life you want to live, and the life you were meant to live?

Allison and her friend Sharaya set out on a 6-month trip around the United States.  ALL of them.  They will visit each of the 50 states, earn money by Sharaya performing with her guitar and Allison selling merchandise (cd's, etc.), blogging and writing a book.  They will depend (more than once) on the kindness of strangers.

Nothing is held back.  We hear the successes, the joys, the sorrows, the fights, the sorrows, the pettiness, the sacrifices made by each participant.  I think these two ladies did what a lot of performers and artists dream of doing ... trading the "have to in order to survive" life for "this is my life in which to THRIVE"!

A lot is said in the book of the beauty of Sharaya's voice.  While I have not heard her music, I figure it must be good or this journey would not have happened.  I want to give a shout out to Ally as well.  Her voice comes through, clear like a bell in her book.  It is itself sweet, sweet music.

I am oh, so grateful to both Ally and Sharaya, as well as their supporters, friends and family for sharing this experience with us.  They took a HUGE leap of faith and are the better for it.  Indeed, the times when I  have stepped out of my comfort zone and taken a chance, I have been blessed with both tangible and intangible rewards.

So, if you are satisfied with your life the way it is, read this book and pass it along to someone else when you are done.  (They invite you to do just that in the "afterward" of the book, so I figure it's ok for me to do it here.)  Or buy them a copy! (*wink*)  If you are feeling that your life has gotten a bit 'samey', get this book, read it ... then come find me so we can help each other get from where we are to where we want to be!

This book helps me fulfill the following reading challenges for 2014:
Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
2014 ARC Reading Challenge
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Linking up with:

  

Bout of Books 9.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Since I've signed up for *ahem* quite a few reading challenges for 2014, I thought a little 'jump start' would be in order.  Then I found information about the Bout of Books Readathon on the blog "My Reader's Block".  I like the no-pressure feature of this readathon, because the last one I did lasted a contiguous 24 hours;  I don't know it if was my age, or my health, or a combination of the two, but that experience put me down HARD - towit, I have only done one blog post since that time.  But 2014 is a new year, and with reading challenges etc, I'm planning on coming back in a big way.  So...

If you are a reader, you should sign up (there are mini-challenges and giveaways to tempt you)!

If you are not a reader, YOU SHOULD REALLY SIGN UP!  *lol*  (Seriously, although I did not do well on my reading challenges in 2013, I read more than I have in years...and that is a very good thing!)

For some (like me) the cost of lots of books could be prohibitive.  There is, of course, a library.  And, there are kazillions of sources of free Kindle or e'books online...so many, that if I had to carry hardback copies of all the books I have on Kindle Cloud Reader (exclusively online), I'd probably wind up in traction. :O)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ringing in the new year with: