Glad you could stop by today and visit.  Samantha from JKS Communications is here to introduce us to today’s guest.  Please help me in welcoming Ms. Theresa Rizzo to CMash Reads!

THERESA RIZZO

Theresa Rizzo is an award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she now lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty years.

Connect with Theresa at these sites:

ABOUT THE BOOK

He Belongs to Me is a love story . . . a tale of betrayal and deception and of a young mother’s determination to recover what belongs to her.

Forced to leave her baby and tricked into relinquishing her parental rights, four years later Catherine Boyd is back and she’ll do anything to regain custody of her son–even reconcile with the husband falsely accused of killing their son’s twin.

All in the name of love for a little boy, generations of pain and tragedy are exposed in a courtroom drama.

Read an excerpt

BOOK DETAILS:

Paperback: 394 pages
Publisher: Theresa Rizzo (June 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0989045013
ISBN-13: 978-0989045018

PURCHASE LINKS:

THANKS TO SAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I HAVE ONE (1) DIGITAL COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO ALL–EBOOK

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We have a very special guest visiting today in honor of Mother’s Day.  I want to thank Samantha, from JKS Communications, for giving me the opportunity of hosting Mr. Johnny Tan.  Welcome to the group!

JOHNNY TAN

Johnny Tan lived a life of unconditional love for the last 33 years. His journey began when he started college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Adopted at birth by his Malaysian mom, he realized the rich spiritual connections that resulted from meeting his foster mom in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and 7 other women who would play important roles in his life. They represented his teachers, coaches, and counselors. Guided by his business achievements and his 9 moms, Johnny experienced the passion to compose From My Mamaʼs Kitchen to honor his moms and mothers everywhere. Released with the endorsement of the National Association of Mothers’ Centers, the book has won five awards and made the Amazon Best Seller List in several categories.

The bookʼs success lead Johnny to establish a powerful platform. He launched his consulting and speaking career to teach strategies on how to use the power of unconditional love to attain harmony. Johnny is also a featured host of a weekly Internet radio program, FMMK Talk Radio, which ranks in the top .1% of Blog Talk Radioʼs most popular shows. Guests have included The New Times number one best-selling authors and experts from the U.S. and other countries.

Johnny’s leadership experience extends from being a former corporate executive for eight years to owning his own business. He also served his community as chairman of Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitor Bureau in 2001, commissioner of Baton Rouge Sister Cities Commission in 2000, chairman of Louisiana Restaurant Association Education Committee in 1998, as well as chairman of Project Baton Rouge 2020—a Vision of Opportunity with a World of Possibility in 1997, and president of Louisiana Restaurant Association Baton Rouge Chapter in 1995.

Vision and Mission Statement

Johnny believes the best way to know him is through his personal vision and mission statement, which he composed in January 1996.

For Myself: Using my gift of creativity and imagination, I will continue to invent the future by expressing my visions courageously in words and actions. I will always be a professional – honoring integrity, justice, kindness, and will always be humble and have a sense of humor in everything I do.

For My Family: They are my treasure. I will always promote and take the lead in building healthy and loving relationships that allow each of us to become his or her best.

For My Professional Life: I will create a learning environment that is fair and honest. I will cultivate and inspire others to greatness and success by acting as a catalyst in a shared vision.

For My Community: I am committed to enriching the lives of all who cross my path. I will let potent leadership permeate through the community. I will join hands with my brothers and sisters respecting everyone’s rights. I will support the people I represent, and endeavor to bolster their spirits and the good of the community.

Connect with Johnny Tan at these sites:

GUEST POST

Celebrating Mother’s Love

The Mother’s Day that we celebrate today tracks back to ancient times. The Greek’s spring festival honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of many deities in Greek mythology. The Romans used their spring festival, Hilaria, as a dedication to Cybele, a mother goddess. Early Christians celebrated the fourth Sunday of Lent in honor of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. England later designated it to be Mothering Sunday, to honor all mothers.

Various observances honoring mothers existed in America during the 1870’s and 1880‘s. However, the modern Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in America. She secured a trademark creating the Mother’s Day International Association in 1912. Thanks to her courageous effort, today, over 140 countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day some time during the year. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first official Mother’s Day on May 9, 1914.

From My Mama’s Kitchen –“food for the soul, recipes for living” celebrates Mother’s Day throughout the year. Mothers all over the world share an abundance of unconditional love for their loved ones. The power of unconditional love transcends all religious beliefs, genders, cultures and ages. It reminds us that we are all part of the bigger world, and we all have potential to succeed in life.

The content of my book pays tribute to my 9 moms and moms everywhere. What started as a project of collecting recipes evolved over seven years into a collection of 30 timeless recipes for living I received from his 9 moms. The book reminds each of us that a strong home team supports us and our efforts of learning and growing. It rekindles those incredible feelings we shared with our mothers and those we considered as mothers. When love is given without regard to conditions it provides us with the empowerment that drives our ambition to succeed.

How did I manage to have 9 moms, you ask? Most of the time, before I have a chance to answer, people would follow up with, “Is it a blessing or a curse?” My answer is always a blessing, a tremendous blessing. Adopted at birth by my Malaysian mom, I spent the first 18 years learning from her. Among the many things she taught me, everyone of us holds a seed of greatness—the key to success in life. The gem of this seed is the asset that develops our dreams, goals and wishes. At 18 I came to the United States to attend LouisianaStateUniversity in Baton Rouge. Here is where I began to meet my eight other moms one at a time over a period of the next 18 years. Starting with the first, my Southern Belle mom, Eleanora Carter, to the last, my German mom, Dianne Heise, they were my teachers, coaches, and counselors, always available to listen to my ideas and console me during need. Most of my 9 moms have since passed away, but each of them has left me with a valuable lesson that collectively formed the basis of my success.

Many look forward to this Mother’s Day with anticipation to express love for their mom. Whether it is an expensive gift or a just a nice dinner that mom doesn’t have to cook, she will know it was from the heart. Mothers have a way to mould the soul and guide the heart. For those whose mothers have passed on, Mother’s Day gives us a chance to recall those magical loving moments. It is this unconditional motherly love that makes us who we are. The book offers solutions and provides the skills and wisdom to assist us to become better teachers, coaches and counselors to our loved ones.

ABOUT THE BOOK

From My Mama’s Kitchen book is dedicated to the realization and mastery of the power of unconditional love as potent leadership. It offers a wealth of wisdom, practical living skills, and effective communication techniques.  The book reveals 30 timeless recipes for living, ranging from the power of relationships to the nature of love and the meaning of life brought to the reader in the nurturing comfort of a kitchen setting. From the virtue of spiritual awareness to self-actualization, Johnny Tan’s 9 moms have nourished him with their wisdom to become a person defined by his thoughts and actions.

Released with the endorsement of the National Association of Mothers’ Centers, the book has won five awards: Mom’s Choice Awards, Mr. Dad Seal of Recognition, Publisher’s Choice Awards by Family Magazine Group, International Book Awards, and National Indie Excellence Book Awards. The book also made the Amazon Best Seller List in the following categories: Parenting & Family Relationships: Parent and Adult Child, Self Help: Spiritual and Motivational, and Cooking, Food & Wine: Essay.

Designed as a keepsake for all occasions, meant to last and inspire forever. The book has a dedication page for readers to inscribe their own loved one’s name, and a space where readers can record their recipes for living.  At the end of the book, Johnny incorporates nine of his favorite food recipes.

BOOK DETAILS:

Paperback: 150 pages
Publisher: THC Investments (January 19, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982023502
ISBN-13: 978-0982023501

PURCHASE LINKS:

THANKS TO SAAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS

FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW

GIVEAWAY ENDS MAY 25th AT 6PM EST

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We have a very esteemed and award winning guest today.  So without further ado, welcome Dr. Joan Steinau Lester!!

JOAN STEINAU LESTER

Connect with Dr. Lester at these sites:

GUEST POST

Being a fulltime writer is a strange occupation. I work all day alone in a tiny cottage behind my house, hunched over my computer, lost in an imaginary world. If I weren’t producing coherent literature, some might consider this behavior peculiar, at best–or worthy of psychiatric intervention.

Even at night my characters follow me, so real are they. I hear their voices, worry over their troubles, wish they hadn’t decided to do that.  “Oh no,” I want to warn, while I grit my teeth and let them have their way.

Odder yet, I’m always maintaining a dual perspective, for at the same time I feel enmeshed with my fictional people (“Ruby, please call home!”) I am simultaneously aware of my role as their creator, and consumed by technical issues. Take verb choices, for instance: which one will give the most accurate and vivid picture of my characters’ reality? Does Solomon, the father in my novel Mama’s Child, stride into a room, lope, or guiltily sidle in, after he misses an urgent parent meeting with the head of his daughter Ruby’s school?

Yet despite my sometimes sleepless nights as I mull over the best possible word to describe my character’s behavior–words in harmony with the kind of person he is–I love the solitary life, creating worlds over which I have total control.

And then, another oddity of the writing life occurs, if one is successful: after years of happily laboring alone, growing intimately acquainted with my characters’ lives over a span of time (in Mama’s Child we watch the family fracture and reassemble over forty years), then, suddenly, it’s publication day! Now a whole big world comes tumbling in. Reviewers, readers, interviewers–everyone has a response, everyone wants their say. My private imaginary world is suddenly a public one.

Even as I’m thrilled to hear others’ enthusiasm for Elizabeth, Solomon, Ruby, and Che, my characters in Mama’s Child, I mourn that quiet period when they were my creatures alone. Like a parent whose child is growing up, leaving home, I have to say Good-bye, knowing that I have done my absolute best to prepare her for the world, and let her go.

ABOUT THE BOOK

BOOK DETAILS:

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Atria Books; Original edition (May 7, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451693184
ISBN-13: 978-1451693188

PURCHASE LINKS:

THANKS TO SAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS

FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW

GIVEAWAY ENDS MAY 24th AT 6PM EST

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When Marissa, from JKS Communications emailed me and I read the synopsis of our  guest’s book, I wanted to know more.  And I think you will too.  I have the honor and pleasure to introduce you to Ms. Linda Stasi!!  Welcome to the group!!

LINDA STASI

The popular and well-read columnist/critic for The New York Post, Linda Stasi, has also been an on-camera co-host with Mark Simone on NY 1 TV’s “What a Week!” for the past eight years.

Stasi has appeared on TV talk shows and news channels such as “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “The View” as well as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC,  and many others.

She has served as guest radio talk show host on WOR radio and co-host on “The Radio Factor” with Bill O’Reilly and is a regular guest on Boston’s “Matty In The Morning.”

Brash, funny and opinionated, the acerbic Stasi has authored five non-fiction books – “Looking Good Is the Best Revenge,” “A Field Guide to Impossible Men,” “Simply Beautiful,” “Boomer Babes” and “Scotto Sunday Suppers” – and debuts her first novel on January 22, 2013 from Forge Books titled “The Sixth Station.” Not afraid to say what’s on her mind in her popular column such as one entitled “Shed No Tears for This Twisted Sicko,” on the death of Michael Jackson received over 18,000,000 hits in the first few hours and was reprinted around the world.

She has won numerous awards including “Best Columnist” by the Newswomen’s Club of NY, “Best Humor Columnist,” and “Woman of the Year: 2006” by the Boys Town of Italy for her charitable work such as driving a tractor-trailer in an 18-truck convoy from NYC to the gulf states with relief supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Some say Demiel ben Yusef is the world’s most dangerous terrorist, personally responsible for bombings and riots that have claimed the lives of thousands. Others insist he is a man of peace, a miracle worker, and possibly even the Son of God. His trial in New York City for crimes against humanity attracts scores of protestors, as well as media and religious leaders from around the world.

Cynical reporter Alessandra Russo heads to the UN hoping for a piece of the action, but soon becomes entangled in controversy and suspicion when ben Yusef singles her out for attention among all other reporters. As Alessandra begins digging into ben Yusef’s past, she is already in more danger than she knows—and when she is falsely accused of murder during her investigation, she is forced to flee New York.

On the run from unknown enemies, Alessandra finds herself on the trail of a global conspiracy and a story that could shake the world to its foundations. Is Demiel ben Yusef the Second Coming or the Antichrist? The truth may lie in the secret history of the Holy Family, a group of Templars who defied the church, and a mysterious relic stained with the sacred blood of Christ Himself.

BOOK DETAILS:
Hardcover, $24.99
ISBN: 978-0765334275
Fiction, 368 pages
Forge Books, Jan. 22, 2013

THANKS TO MARISSA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS, I
HAVE TWO (2) COPIES TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS

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GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 11th AT 6PM EST

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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
in exchange for my honest review.
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or
Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

So glad you stopped back.  Yesterday you saw the book and entered the giveaway, and today, you will meet the author.  Just in case you missed yesterday, check it out here.  And now, without further ado, Ms. Lee Mims!!!!

LEE MIMS

Lee Mims is and always has been a North Carolina farm girl. She played outdoors from dawn to dusk, built forts, drank water from garden hoses and ran with sticks. And for 25 years, she raised and trained Quarter Horses.

She was often sick as a child, and it was while staying home with her mother that Mims learned the beauty of words. Together they read endlessly: short stories, fairy tales and adventure novels.

Because of her love of the great outdoors, she later earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and worked as a field geologist. And as a popular wildlife artist, Mims owns her self-named studio where she does both portrait and fine art oil paintings. She has two pieces on tour with Paint America and recently sold a painting to Ms. Andy Griffith for his museum.

Books never escaped her, and her geology background inspired Hiding Gladys, the first of the debut author’s Midnight Ink-published Cleo Cooper Mystery Series. Busy writing the next installment, Trusting Viktor, Mims is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

She lives on a family farm in Clayton, NC with her husband.

Visit Lee at her website here, on Twitter @LeeMims1,  on Facebook Lee Mims or GoodReads  Lee Mims

GUEST POST

SYNOPSIS:

What’s a live rattlesnake doing sunning itself in the back seat of field geologist Cleo Cooper’s Jeep? Nothing good, you can be sure — but the dilemma of how it might have gotten there isn’t as crucial to her as making certain it doesn’t stay. Yet, alarming as such an uninvited passenger might be, more disturbing to the plucky, single-minded Cleo is the need to nail down her deal for mining rights to a rare, vastly valuable North Carolina granite deposit.

The problem is that the property owner, Gladys Walton, has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, while neglecting to sign the final documents.

First, a murder interferes with locating her: is the woman’s body found dumped in a well that of the missing Gladys? Amid the wooded, rocky countryside, suspicious misdeeds multiply and Gladys’s conniving relations all behave extremely badly.

The increasingly provoked Cleo sees her dog shot, the progress at her job site dangerously disrupted and, finally, is made witness to another death. Whom can she trust? And what kind of distractions should she allow herself when so much is at stake? Both her charming but exasperating ex-husband and an even more seductive former lover are both on hand competing to rescue her; it’s clear to Cleo, though, that she must go it alone and risk the consequences.

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.

I am switching things up a bit for today and tomorrow.  Samantha, from JKS Communications asked if I could do a 2 day showcase and when I read the synopsis, well, how could I say no.  Today I will be featuring the book, along with a giveaway.  And mark your calendars, you have to stop by again tomorrow, so that you can meet the author, Ms. Lee Mims.

LEE MIMS

AND THE BOOK:

SYNOPSIS:

What’s a live rattlesnake doing sunning itself in the back seat of field geologist Cleo Cooper’s Jeep? Nothing good, you can be sure — but the dilemma of how it might have gotten there isn’t as crucial to her as making certain it doesn’t stay. Yet, alarming as such an uninvited passenger might be, more disturbing to the plucky, single-minded Cleo is the need to nail down her deal for mining rights to a rare, vastly valuable North Carolina granite deposit.

The problem is that the property owner, Gladys Walton, has suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, while neglecting to sign the final documents.

First, a murder interferes with locating her: is the woman’s body found dumped in a well that of the missing Gladys? Amid the wooded, rocky countryside, suspicious misdeeds multiply and Gladys’s conniving relations all behave extremely badly.

The increasingly provoked Cleo sees her dog shot, the progress at her job site dangerously disrupted and, finally, is made witness to another death. Whom can she trust? And what kind of distractions should she allow herself when so much is at stake? Both her charming but exasperating ex-husband and an even more seductive former lover are both on hand competing to rescue her; it’s clear to Cleo, though, that she must go it alone and risk the consequences.

BOOK DETAILS
Paperback
$14.99
ISBN: 978-0738734231
Fiction/Mystery
264 pages
Llewellyn Worldwide, MIDNIGHT INK
Jan. 8, 2013

Don’t forget, stop by tomorrow and meet author, Lee Mims

THANKS TO SAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATONS, I
HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS

FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW

GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 4th AT 6PM EST

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YOUR JAVA SCRIPT MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED
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USING THE RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM

DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive
are ever sold…they are kept by me,
or given to family and/or friends.