
Happy Easter from our house to your’s.
I hope you all have a very Blessed Easter!!
Today’s Sunday Salon will be taking a hiatus due to the holiday.
Reading, Reviewing, Guest Authors, Giveaways and more.

I hope you all have a very Blessed Easter!!
Today’s Sunday Salon will be taking a hiatus due to the holiday.
The ladies at WOW have done it again!! They are touring with another remarkable woman, and today we have the pleasure of her company, as she visits and tells us about her book. So lets give a warm welcome to Ms. Lois Hoitenga Roelofs.


ABOUT LOIS HOITENGA ROELOFS
Changing Minds about Mental Illness
When I was a young mom, forty-two years ago, I left my husband and two young kids for an overnight to find myself, only to find myself hospitalized two days later on a psychiatric unit diagnosed with anxiety.
After realizing I was missing the adult stimulation of my prior nursing career, I went back to school for advanced degrees in nursing. Later, for nearly fifteen years, I taught mental health nursing to senior nursing students. I spent hundreds of hours on inpatient psychiatric units mingling with the patients.
When I’d meet patients that knew me, they would, without fail, say, “You won’t tell anyone you saw me here, will you?” Of course not. I understood. I had told only a few people myself of my hospitalization.
So I know about the mind-set surrounding mental illness. The hush-hush. The stigma. And it’s always been a mission of mine to help reduce that stigma.
What about you? Have you or a loved one ever been diagnosed with a mental illness? How did you feel? What did you do? Whom did you turn to? How did or does the stigma of mental illness affect your life?
When we do not know that mental illnesses are brain disorders similar to physical illnesses being disorders, for example, of the heart, liver, or pancreas, it’s what we don’t know that leads to our “fear of the unknown.” And it’s that “fear of the unknown” that leads to the hush-hush, the stigma surrounding mental illness.
So how can we begin to take steps to change minds in our society about mental illness? Let’s take an example: your friend tells you her college-age daughter, Mackenzie, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. What can you do?
1. Listen. Do not judge. Your friend needs support.
2. Offer to walk along with your friend into this new world. Maintain her confidentiality. Do not gossip about her or her daughter with others. Attend “open” support groups with her.
3. Adopt the same attitude that you have toward physical illness. If the clinic physician at Mackenzie’s college diagnosed her with strep throat, would you advise against antibiotics?
4. Make it your mission to learn about schizophrenia. An easy place to start is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (www.nami.org). NAMI’s site presents information covering all mental illnesses, explaining their physical (structural and functional brain changes) as well as other causes.
5. Educate yourself on public policy issues. Observe what’s lacking for your friend. Is it access to care, availability of care, insurance coverage? Write your congressman. Make a difference.
Is there something you already do to educate others about mental illness? If so, thank you! And know that people living with mental illness and their families and friends, will appreciate that you are educating yourself, being their support, and advocating on their behalf.

THANKS TO THE AUTHOR, LOIS HOITENGA ROELOFS
I HAVE ONE (1) COPY OF HER MEMOIR TO GIVE AWAY.
CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.
APRIL 7th to APRIL 21st, 2012
CARING LESSONS
by LOIS HOITENGA ROELOFS



**HONOR SYSTEM**
*GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 21st AT 6PM EST*

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APRIL 6th to APRIL 20th, 2012
THE HUNT FOR KSM
by JOSH MEYER and TERRY McDERMOTT





*GIVEAWAY ENDS APRIL 20th AT 6PM EST*
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Hosted by An Island Life
From An Island Life:
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, visit An Island Life answer the question and then post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!
It has been in the news for weeks now. What are your thoughts on the Trevon Martin/Zimmerman incident? Should Zimmerman have been arrested for murder? etc.
……of Forever’s Western Double Giveaway
Quinn by R.C. Ryan and Catch Me A Cowboy by Katie Lane

22 Jody Sisson Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’
17 Maureen Carol Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’
30 Valerie Taylor Mabrey Follow @CherylMash on Twitter
An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen. Thank you all for entering.

Today I have a very special guest stopping by. I have met the nicest people since I started reviewing, blogging and now with Partners In Crime Tours and Alan is one of them. Today I hope is the beginning of this author’s dreams. You will learn more about him in the remainder of this post and my review. So let’s get started and please help me welcome Mr. Alan Williams to the CMash blog!!


ABOUT ALAN WILLIAMS
Alan Williams is a UK based writer, environmentalist, naturalist, allotment holder, dog owner and blogger. He is also a reviewer for Partners In Crime Tours!
You can visit Alan at his website, Facebook and Twitter.

ABOUT THE BOOK
A killer is stalking London; a banker is already dead, killed in an explosion, and there are more victims in the killer’s sights.
Techno geek and Internet journalist, Wil Jackson becomes inadvertently embroiled in the investigation when he interviews one of the murder victims, and the killer starts communicating with Wil via the Internet.
Can Wil help the police stop the killer before the body count increases further?
Read an excerpt:
Read my review here.
Amazon link for Killer Bytes: A Novella of Intrigue by Alan Williams
KILLER BYTES: A Novella of Intrigue by Alan Williams
Self Published
ASIN: B00723U2QU
At the request of the author, an ARC electronic edition was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
Synopsis (from the author): A killer is stalking London; a banker is already dead, killed in an explosion, and there are more victims in the killer’s sights. Techno geek and Internet journalist, Wil Jackson becomes inadvertently embroiled in the investigation when he interviews one of the murder victims, and the killer starts communicating with Wil via the Internet.
Can Wil help the police stop the killer before the body count increases further?
My Thoughts and Opinion: This is the second time this has happened to me and I feel that it is the greatest honor and most humbling experience to be bestowed with and that is to be entrusted with an author’s manuscript for review.
Through blogging and the PR company, Partners In Crime Tours, I met someone who is an outstanding blogger and reviewer. After working with him on several projects, I had a feeling that he might also be a writer. I asked and he said that he had been working on a novella and asked if I would read it and give him my honest opinion. For me, that’s like being asked to be the Godmother of someone’s baby. Such an honor yet also a huge responsibility.
He sent me only the first half, as the 2nd half was with his editor. I started reading with great skepticism because now it was going to be the moment of truth. And within a couple of weeks I had the entire book so that this review now reflects my impression on the entire read.
The novella starts off with a prologue and within the first couple of pages, the book grabbed me. The suspense and action was fast paced. The writing style flowed and it was easy to create my own imagery from the detailed prose. The characters were well developed and became life like due to his descriptive writing. There were only two (2) items that I felt that could be improved upon, which with time, mentoring and professional advice, would help make this blogger’s work into an author’s success. Those 2 items were, and only during a couple of places in the story, a bit of simplistic dialogue and the other being of tweaking to make the story in certain places tighter and more mature. My rating is based upon his writing, story line, the development of characters, and the fact that this is his debut as a novella. I am not rating it as compared to seasoned authors.













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