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We have met some incredible female authors through WOW!. And Jodi is back today to introduce us to another awesome writer. Welcome Ms. Sharon Simons!!
Sharon had a dream to become a mother which she was determined to follow. Her path was difficult but ultimately successful. Born in New Jersey and living in Delaware, she is married to her soul mate Rick and the very proud Mom to her two sons Dylan and Hunter.
Sharon struggled to become a Mom, dealing with the uncertain world of infertility including three In Vitro Fertilizations, Tubal Pregnancy, and the Loss of a Pregnancy with twin boys at 19 weeks. That loss only made her more determined to become a Mom. Thankfully that dream became a reality through the use of International Adoption.
Sharon Simons took her experiences and created Mom at Last, a community of women who struggled through their journey towards becoming a Mom, at Last! She also also written Mom at Last: How I Never Gave Up On Becoming a Mother, to inspire other women who are having a difficult time becoming a Mother. In addition to creating the Mom at Last Community & writing her Memoir, Sharon Simons has created theAdoptionApp, a Domestic and International Adoption Process Mobile App for iPhone and Android, and TheAdoptionKit, an Adoption Survival Kit to help you through the Adoption Process.
Connect with Sharon at these sites:
My Proudest Moment
It took me quite a while to become one, through many trials, tribulations, and heartaches, but motherhood happened. My husband and I adopted two beautiful little boys. My proudest moment. I decided to share my story to give “mom’s to be” hope and strength to persevere.
The “Mom at Last” website is both a celebration of the various journeys leading to and through motherhood. I want to help other women with their struggles to understand that many women share the same struggles, emotion, pain and joy through the formation of a community and documentation of individual stories — as well as a resource for those starting on their path.
Through most of my life career came first, being a mom on the back burner, but eventually the urge grew to be irresistible. My husband and I met later in life when he was unable to conceive naturally. After agreeing to have children we went through the “in vitro” process several times, only to be met with tragedy. Our first attempt resulted in a twin pregnancy with two boys. The pregnancy went well for 19 weeks when I unexpectedly contracted amniocentesis. I became extremely ill with sepsis and lost both boys. After recovering as best I could both physically and emotionally, we decided to try again. Much to our surprise our next attempt also seemed successful, with a positive pregnancy test one week after embryo implantation. Unfortunately, to our chagrin the pregnancy was ectopic and had to be terminated. We again had to deal with pain and loss. After a short break, despite the cost and uncertainty we went ahead with our third try. Unfortunately, the third time was not a charm, no luck.
We then faced a major decision, a turning point in our journey. We decided to adopt. With time in short supply considering my husband’s age and the restrictions many country’s have regarding adoption, I plunged headfirst into the process. Fortunately my adoption process went quickly. I contacted the agency right before Memorial Day 2007 and was on my first trip to Russia July 4th, 2007 to meet the boys. I pushed full steam ahead with all the paperwork and was given a court date of Labor Day 2007. My husband and I made our second trip to Russia and thankfully the judge approved us and we were awarded our children. We are now the proud parents of the most beautiful and brightest boys in the world.
Along the journey I did not understand why we had so many disappointments. I do now…if I did not follow my exact path I would not have my wonderful boys.
Adoption was my destination. These boys were not born to me physically but they were born in my heart. They are my everything!!
From Amazon:
Her biological clock ticking louder each day, Sharon Simon felt her heart sink as yet another “Mr. Wonderful” turned out to be a frog—not the prince she was waiting for. But when the right man did come along, their journey toward parenthood seemed more like a machete trail through a jungle than the smooth path of her dreams. Enduring multiple failed IVFs and the loss of their unborn twins, Sharon and her husband decided to adopt—taking a whirlwind trip to Russia and navigating the rough waters of international adoption red tape. Their journey ended, or rather began, when two baby boys were placed in their arms for the long trip home.
Part love story, part adoption memoir, and all heart, Mom at Last is the story of one woman’s fierce determination to become a mother. Full of setbacks and emotionally devastating pitfalls, ultimately the journey leads her to true love and pure joy. Mom at Last will inspire women who find themselves on that sometimes difficult journey to motherhood, giving hope that motherhood is possible and encouraging women to never give up on their dreams. While every journey to motherhood is different, Mom at Last lets women know they are not alone in the struggle toward motherhood.
Paperback: 250 pages
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing (August 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1614484422
ISBN-13: 978-1614484424
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From Liz at Media Muscle: Summertime is right around the corner and we are so excited to soak up some sun, especially because Summer 2013 is the Bella Andre Summer of Love! Help us celebrate this spectacular summer of hot reads and the release of the first three books in Bella Andre’s sizzling Sullivans series with the Bella Andre Summer of Love Beach Bag Contest!
Bella Andre is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, and has sold more than 1.5 million books. Her books have appeared on Top 5 lists at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. After signing a groundbreaking seven-figure print only deal with Harlequin MIRA, Bella’s Sullivan series will be released in paperback in a major global English language launch in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia in continuous back-to-back releases from June 2013 through April 2014.
Known for “sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance” (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan Magazine “Red Hot Reads” twice and have been translated into nine languages, and her Sullivan books are already Top 20 sellers in Brazil. Winner of the Award of Excellence, The Washington Post has called her “One of the top digital writers in America” and she has been featured by NPR, USA Today, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and most recently in TIME Magazine. She has given keynote speeches at publishing conferences from Copenhagen to Berlin to San Francisco.
If not behind her computer, you can find her reading her favorite authors, hiking, swimming or laughing. Married with two children, Bella splits her time between the Northern California wine country and a 100-year-old log cabin in the Adirondacks.
Connect with Bella at these sites:
Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. When her car skids off the side of a wet country road and into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. Or is he?
A successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is—until the night he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has Chase never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, he realizes Chloe has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, Chase is willing to move mountains to love—and protect—her, but will she let him?
Chloe vows never to make the mistake of trusting a man again. Only she can’t help but wonder if she’s met the only exception with every loving look Chase gives her, the attraction between them sparks and sizzles.
Chase didn’t realize his life was going to change forever in an instant, and he isn’t the least bit interested in fighting that change. Instead, he’s gearing up for a different fight altogether—for Chloe’s heart.
THE LOOK OF LOVE
Bella Andre
Harlequin/MIRA
$5.99 U.S./$5.99 CAN.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-1556-8
Don’t miss THE LOOK OF LOVE (JUNE 2013), FROM THIS MOMENT ON (JULY 2013) and CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE (AUGUST 2013).
It’s the Bella Andre Summer of Love Mixtape Contest!
Visit Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks from May 22nd – May 31st and create your SUMMER OF LOVE Mixtape for a chance to win a trip for YOU and THREE friends to Las Vegas.
*No purchase necessary. Ends May 31, 2013.
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Our good friend, Rebecca from The Cadence Group, is here to introduce us to another amazing author, Linda Crill. Please help me in welcoming them to CMash Reads. Friends……..Ms. Linda Crill
Linda Crill is a sought-after executive, consultant, and speaker who has worked with Citigroup, Cadbury-Mott’s, Goldman Sachs, and Marriott International Inc., as well as many other Fortune 100 companies, universities, non-profits, and government departments and agencies. Crill lectures and writes on how to manage change and reinvent yourself, your life, and your business.
She is the mother of three grown women who whole-heartedly support her non-traditional path to rediscovering zest for life.
Crill lives in the Washington, DC, area, and travels regularly to Philadelphia, New York, Toronto, and San Diego.
Connect with Linda at these sites:
We all have times in our life when the unknown, unwanted and undeserved happens. Blind Curves is a travel memoir about such a time in my life.
As a 57-year-old new widow, I followed one-size-fits-all advice from experts as I began to reframe my life. I exercised, read, made endless to-do lists, put others’ needs first and pampered myself. Eighteen months later, I was miserable and asking: “What now?”
Fed up with conventional wisdom that didn’t work, I threatened to do the most opposite thing I could imagine. In a moment of rebellion, I traded my corporate suits for motorcycle leathers and signed up for a 2,500-mile road trip on a Harley. The problem? I didn’t know how to ride and had only thirty days to learn.
Four short weeks later, I flew from Washington, DC, to Vancouver, Canada to join three others for a 10-day, white-knuckled and exhilarating road trip along America’s Pacific Northwest Coast from Victoria Island, Canada, to the wine country of Mendocino, California.
Blind Curves tells the story of how we encountered washed-out mountain roads, small-town hospitality, humming redwoods, and acceptance from gentle souls who happened to have tattoos and piercings.
This radical departure showed me how opening doors labeled “not me” is better than doing more of the same and hoping for different results. By erasing old boundaries formerly used to define myself and heading into the unknown—the blind curve—I discovered not only a broader horizon of possibilities to use in building the next phase of my life, but also the fuel to make it happen.
Blind Curves is the perfect book for readers looking for ways to reinvent themselves any one asking: “What now?”
Blind Curves tells the story of how we encountered washed-out mountain roads, small-town hospitality, humming redwoods, and acceptance from gentle souls who happened to have tattoos and piercings.
This radical departure showed me how opening doors labeled “not me” is better than doing more of the same and hoping for different results. By erasing old boundaries formerly used to define myself and heading into the unknown—the blind curve—I discovered not only a broader horizon of possibilities to use in building the next phase of my life, but also the fuel to make it happen.
Blind Curves is the perfect book for readers looking for ways to reinvent themselves any one asking: “What now?”
Paperback: 266 pages
Publisher: Opus Intl. (March 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 098589850X
ISBN-13: 978-0985898502
AFTER TWO DIFFICULT YEARS I was tired of sympathetic voices, puppy-dog looks and an environment filled with reminders to walk gently and pamper myself. Instead, I craved thundering noise, the thrill of speed. I wanted icy air whipping against my face, making me know I was alive. I wanted crescendo, vibrato, to drown my screams and tears behind the roar of a large powerful engine.Opening the heavy glass door and stepping into the Harley dealership, I entered an unexplored world. Confronted by hundreds of shiny motorcycles laden with chrome and leather, covered with colorful graphics and logos, I felt my courage falter. My light-hearted fantasy evaporated as the realities of my impulsive decision started to settle in.
Until a month ago I had never dreamed of riding a motorcycle. I didn’t have a husband, family or even friends who rode. At 57 I was at the age when many of my friends were scaling down their physical activities as they edged toward retirement. There are many acceptable activities for a widow, but learning to ride a motorcycle wasn’t on anyone’s list—even at the very bottom, if such a list exists.
Motorcycles are designed to appear fast, flashy and intimidating—and it was working. My normally rapid gait slowed and then faltered as I surveyed row after row of gleaming bodies clustered around the showroom floor. Viewed from inside my Dodge Caravan, motorcycles had always seemed more like overgrown bicycles or toys. Now, up close, they looked huge, expensive and complicated. The one elevated in the center of the floor—painted neon yellow with orange flames flaring from front to back—was loaded with a multitude of switches, indicators, dials, gears, buttons, lights, pedals, knobs and levers.
My stomach muscles tightened as a panicked voice inside cried: How am I supposed to learn to ride this in just three days? Wanting to divert my attention away from this emotional outburst, I glanced at my watch, reminding myself, Class starts in three minutes, and I don’t want to be late.
I had barely convinced myself to continue walking forward when I passed the clothing section stacked with helmets, boots, shirts, gloves, metal chains and racks of black leather. Nothing here looked like the Fonz’s simple leather jacket from the 1960s TV show. Nothing here remotely resembled anything I had hanging in my closets. I stared at a black T-shirt with a metallic skull laughing down at me. Another displayed the profile of a busty woman that would have made a Barbie doll blush.
What was I thinking? I could never wear a shirt mocking death and certainly I wasn’t ready to be a sex object. And what about all of my 1960s feminist protesting? Am I supposed to violate all of my values for this?
My attempts to slow down my racing heart were futile as I processed the sounds of engines revving, tools clanking and men shouting that emanated from the service shop in the back. All mixed with frenetic hard-rock music blaring from the speakers overhead. My heart pounded even louder wanting to be heard.
In two minutes, my rebellious plan—a delicious fantasy that I could use to shock others—shattered. Now I was the person being shocked.
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