When Nicole from Tribute Books contacted me about today’s guest and his book, I was intrigued,especially since the statistics of divorce rates are so high and it seems that long term relationships are a thing of the past.   So without further ado, please welcome Mr. Charles Johnson!

CHARLES JOHNSON

Surrounded by three sisters and eight female cousins, Charles Johnson had a significant female influence growing up. With the knowledge he gleaned from that experience, he spent the last 25 years coaching and mentoring hundreds of single professionals and up-and-coming, career-minded men and women — including his own four daughters.

He found himself providing guidance to help these otherwise successful individuals improve their personal confidence by updating their image, polishing their social skills and providing insight into the art of establishing and maintaining relationships. Charles has connected and helped hundreds of couples find marriage or committed partners and coaches them on how to make relationships last.

He has been married for more than 32 years and three of his four daughters are now married. Charles has found happiness and balance in his own life as well, pursuing his passions as an avid traveler, photography enthusiast, art collector and a supporter of various charitable causes. He enjoys basketball, football and tennis. His greatest passion is writing about hope and how people can achieve their dreams and still have a balanced and complete life.
Connect with the author at his website, Facebook, Twitter and GoodReads.

GUEST Q&A

 Please tell us about your current release.
For the millions of singles around the world who have struggled to find the right one or to maintain a lasting relationship, my book, “How to Find the Right One & Make it Last,” provides a tutorial on the lost art of dating.  “How to Find the Right One and Make it Last: Bring Love and Romance Back to Dating” offers practical advice for both men and women about how to initiate interaction as well as how to respond in various dating situations.

In addition to the book, I created a website,  http://www.AskCharlesJohnson.com, where my readers can have easy access to relationship advice and personal coaching at any time.

I have been officially and unofficially helping clients and colleagues find personal success. Over the years, I have developed a proven set of principles and concepts that have helped singles looking for love not only find their ideal life partner, but also to keep the relationship fresh and thriving.

Over the years, I have watched my colleagues work incredibly hard to achieve professional success, but often struggle to find that same level of success in their personal lives. By applying the same discipline from their professional development to fine-tuning their dating skills, these colleagues transformed their lives and found the personal fulfillment that had previously been so elusive.

My book provides step-by-step guidance starting with how an individual can make small changes in their personal style and appearance or to their daily routine to improve the odds of finding their ideal partner. I walk readers through the first call, planning the perfect date, and what to say and do on the date.  Everything first starts with a clear idea of what each individual is looking for – as well as what they’re not – to provide a guide along the way.

The principles don’t stop once a match has been made.  The book provides advice for nurturing relationships for the long run.  By walking readers through the seven phases of relationships, I explain how and why they change over time and how to keep them growing strong.

I draw on personal experience, primary research, and the stories of more than 500 singles I’ve connected and 118 who I’ve helped marry and continue to help. I’ve have peppered their stories throughout the book to highlight the principles in action.

Also included is a chapter to help unravel the mystery of Internet dating sites. I outline practical guidance on how to get the most out of the Internet dating site as well as what to be weary of when using the various sites.

Can you tell us about the journey that led you to write your book?
As a corporate senior executive I had the responsibility of taking new young talent and developing them into executives. For 15 years, I groomed hundreds of men and women in the boardroom and thought them the principals that would help them achieve all their professional and financial goals. I was honored and enjoyed mentoring them and watched their careers grow. But, I discovered, as my successful executives matured they would turn to me for guidance in their personal lives. Most of them who were in their early 30’s had achieved all their financial goals but lacked a personal life and wanted someone special with whom they could share their life. Many of them had been so focused on building their professional skills that they lacked the social and personal skills required to connect with someone special. That was the beginning of my unofficial matchmaking business. Over the years, I mentored my up and coming executives and helped them first determine what to look for in a partner and then helped them execute a plan of action. I would run social scenarios and conduct role-play to help them become more confident in social environments. I’ve worked with over 500 people and been able to connect and help marry 118 couples. And, to this day I continue to help the couples to keep their relationship alive and fresh.

When I left the corporate world five years ago, many of the people I mentored and their friends still called for guidance. I decided to write a book that would help everyone in similar situations to give them a starting point to change their personal life and give them a road-map to “How to Find the Right One & Make it Last.”

Can you tell us about the story behind your book cover?
I wanted to have the book cover to convey an emotion in people. We wanted the book cover to convey passion and we chose the burnt orange as the color for the cover of the book because it’s the color of fire.

What book on the market does yours compare to? How is your book different?
I cannot think of a book that is anything like the book I’ve written. In my years of mentoring and matchmaking I found that there was nothing in the market that gave single people practical tools and a step-by-step guide in how to find the right person and make their relationships last. I found that many professional adults needed to learn the skills and gain the confidence that would improve their dating prospects and I don’t believe there is anything in the market to help them. That’s part of the reason I decided to write the book. Finding the right person that will be a life partner is a process and no author has ever written about that process.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I am a retired Air Force and senior vice president from the corporate world. My writing style and quirk is my ability to write in a very conversational and relatable manner.

Open your book to a random page and tell us what’s happening?
I’m on page 32 where I describe how one can meet quality people by taking a dance class. People always wonder where they can meet new people who can be potential partners. I always tell my clients to change their routine. One way to do that is to take a dance class in your local community college or dance studio.

Do you plan any subsequent books?
I am currently working on a workbook that will be an extension of “How to Find the Right One & Make it Last!”

I am also working on a teen book based on a similar topic.

Tell us what you’re reading at the moment and what you think of it?
I am re-reading “You Can Heal Your Life,” by Louise Hay. The book gives people great insight into how they can change their life and make it the life they always imagined. It helped me re-invent my life and myself after leaving corporate America. Using the principles in Hay’s book, I have been able to take my experience from my military and corporate life and show people how to be successful in their personal lives and relationships.

ABOUT THE BOOK

We all want that special someone in our lives. But isn’t it odd that one of life’s most important lessons tends to receive the least amount of focus. It’s no wonder why we have so little success attracting the love, passion, romance and fun that we all need and desire.

The problem for many busy and successful people is that they do not know where to find and meet the right partners, how to approach dating, or what it takes to build and sustain a healthy, loving relationship. To address these issues, I have taken a unique approach and have written this book about real people, like you, who struggle with finding love and the right companionship. Many who have used my techniques have been able to find happy rewarding relationships.

This book provides real world experiences and proven dating strategies and techniques. It’s a guide that can be used to change your life and bring you the romance and love you’ve always wanted.

READ AN EXCERPT:

Book Details:
Paperback
Price: $19.95
Publisher: Two Harbors Press
ISBN: 9781937928445
Pages: 272
Release: April 24, 2012
Purchase Links: Amazon   B&N   IndieBound

THANKS TO AUTHOR, CHARLES JOHNSON, I HAVE ONE (1) COPY
OF HIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

DISCLAIMER
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 affliate.
I am providing link(s) solely for visitors
that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

*USE THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM BELOW
IN ORDER TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY*
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ADDRESS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER FORM
SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN
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IN YOUR PRESENT RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR

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 **HONOR SYSTEM**
ONE WINNING BOOK PER HOUSEHOLD
PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
WON THIS BOOK FROM ANOTHER
SITE, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE MAY
HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN
AND READ THIS BOOK.
THANK YOU.

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Today’s question:
Do you bring the book(s) you’re reading with you when you go out? How?
Physically, or in an e-reader of some kind? Have your habits in this
regard changed?

My answer:
For as long as I can remember, a book is in hand whenever I leave the house, except for one time when I didn’t and I learned a lesson.  It’s automatic, grab my pocketbook, keys and my current read be it either a print or EBook.  No matter where I am going, my book comes with me.  Even if it is a short errand.  All I can think about is “what if” situations and have no book with me!!  Example…I get a flat tire and have to wait for AAA, I need my book to read while I wait.  However, there was one time, earlier this year, when I wasn’t feeling well, called the doctor and was told to come right in. Rushing to get ready, I forgot to grab my book.  No problem, I would see the doc and then come straight home.  WRONG!!!  From the doctor’s office, I was rushed to the hospital.  I was more upset that I didn’t have my book, as I sat in the ER for hours, than for why I was there.   I learned my lesson.

What about you?  Is your book always with you?

….of Death on a Longship by Marsali Taylor

11 Sandy Vandenberg Leave a Blog Post Comment

An email has been sent to the winner and will need to respond with a mailing address or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

……..of  Fall In Love With Forever Prize Package

117 Lisa Pecora Be a Public Follower of ‘CMASH Loves to Read’

An email has been sent to the winner and she has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

Today’s question:
Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?
Or do you collect anything?

My answer:
I do have other hobbies, but reading has always been my number 1 hobby for as long as I can remember.  I used to do needlepoint but stopped due to eyesight changes.  Hard to see those little x’s.  I also like to crochet, having made many afghans, ponchos and a few sweaters.  And since finding the book blogging community, I have to say I really enjoy blogging.

And to the second question, I collect Hallmark dated Christmas ornaments.  This started in 1981 when friends of our’s, bought us one for our 1st Christmas.  They went on to tell us how they collect them for every year married and we then started that tradition.  Steve and I now have 31 collectible ornaments with 1983 and 1986 being my favorites.  The one for ’83 is of a cradle for the year our oldest son was born and the ’86 is of a mobile for our second son’s birth.  I love unwrapping them every year, hanging them according to the year, and remembering that year of our life.

What are your hobbies?  Do you collect anything?

September is being hosted by BookNAround

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.
According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”
Click on title for synopsis via IndieBound and Amazon

Monday:  The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner–won from Booking With Bingo
Saturday:  The Disappearance of Grace by Vincent Zandri–from author (Partners In Crime Tours)

Hosted by Acting Balanced

1. What room in the house do you try your hardest to keep clean?
There are 2, the bathrooms and my office/reading room, since that is where I spend the majority of my time working, blogging and reading.
2. How do you describe your blog to someone you just met?
I say it is a book blog that has my thoughts about books I read, hosting Guest Authors and book giveaways with a little of real life thrown in.
3. What was your lie from last week? (If you didn’t play last week, What was your favorite cartoon you watched as a kid?)
Had a few but my favorite would be Bugs Bunny.
4. What is your favorite kind of salad? (post a recipe if you got one)
Chicken Milanese from Uno’s.
5. And my bonus question. Did you watch the Emmy’s last night?

…..of  American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

Audio Edition

38 Daniel M Leave a Blog Post Comment

TPB Editions

Bonnie Yee Leave a Blog Post Comment 

42 Erica Haspiel Szlosek Tweet About the Giveaway

16 Caitlin McClure Leave a Blog Post Comment

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

You know if you visit, that I like my mysteries!!  So when Carissa from Attica Books contacted me about today’s  guest, and I read the synopsis, I had to invite the author to stop by, visit and tell us more.  Please help me in welcoming Marsali Taylor to CMash Reads!

MARSALI TAYLOR

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland’s scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland’s distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women’s suffrage in Shetland. She’s also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.
You can visit the author at Marsali’s Website, Facebook, Goodreads and Pinterest.

GUEST POST

Death on a Longship by Marsali Taylor

She was my longship.  She floated beside the boating club pontoon like a ghost from Shetland’s past, her red and ochre striped sail furled on her heavy yard half-way up the wooden mast, her painted shields mirrored on the early-morning calm water.

Okay, she belonged to Berg Productions Ltd, but I was her skipper.  Stormfugl, Stormbird.  She was 75 feet long, with a carved head snarling in a circle of teeth, a writhed tail, and a triangular log cabin on a half-deck in the stern.  Gulls were wheeling around her, bickering among themselves, as if one of them had dropped a fish.

I started Khalida’s engine and put-putted across the bay torwards the marina.  I wasn’t keen on gulls dismembering fish all over my clean decks.  I’d hosed them yesterday, after filming.  The cameramen, lighting operators, make-up, costume, best boys, grips and all the hundred people that seemed to be needed for even a simple shot had squelched the path from road to shore into dusty gravel, which had clung to the sheepskin boots of  my Viking oarsmen.  The shore had added a generous helping of sand-laden algae.  I didn’t intend to start the day re-scrubbing them.  I’d fire the gulls’ fish overboard, and let them squabble about it on the water.

It was amazing, too, that Anders hadn’t heard them.  Even someone who slept like the dead, as he did, must surely be woken by them perching on the cabin ridgepole to stretch their necks at each other.  I’d have thought he’d have been out to clear them by now.

As we entered the marina I realised that there was a white bundle lying on Stormfugl’s deck under the circle of snatching gulls.  I turned Khalida in a sharp curve and brought her up on the other side of the pontoon.  Damn the way Norwegians went for cheap British drink.  He’d obviously gone out and got blootered, staggered home and fallen, injured himself –

It wasn’t Anders.

I looked at the body lying on the half-deck, one hand stretched towards the prow and felt my newly-won promotion to skipper slipping away.  It was Maree Baker, one of the film lot, the stand-in for the star.

I was ashamed of myself for thinking first of me, but I couldn’t help Maree now.  She lay sprawled on the larch planks like a marionette washed up by the tide, the manicured nails still gleaming like shells in the bloody mess the gulls had made of the exposed hands.  There was mottled dirt on her cream silk trouser suit.  The red-gold hair falling across her face was stirring just a little in the breeze, as if at any moment she’d shake it out of her eyes and leap up.  I looked again at the back of her head, tilted up towards me, and saw the pool of blood spreading out from below her stand-in wig.  The gulls had left footprints in it, and across the deck.  I’m not squeamish about blood, but I felt sick then.  I yelled at the three that had only gone as far as the pier, orange eyes watching me, then looked back at Maree.  I didn’t want to touch her, but I had to.  I was the ship’s Master under God; captain, minister, doctor.  I curved my hand around the chilling neck and laid two fingers over the vein.  There was no flutter of pulse.

I withdrew my hand and reached into my back pocket for my mobile. 999.  No, here in Shetland, 999 would probably get me some Inverness call centre three hundred miles away, where I’d have to spell out every name twice.  I wanted Lerwick. I dived into the boating club for a phone book, and found the number.  There were two rings, then a voice.

‘Northern Constabulary, Sergeant Peterson here, can I help you?’

I took a deep breath and wished I was at sea, where the procedure was laid down.  Mayday three times, this is yacht name three times – ‘I’d like to report what looks like a fatal accident,’ I said.  ‘On board the longship Stormfugl, moored at Delting Boating Club.’

‘The film boat,’ she replied, briskly confident even at this hour of the morning. ‘Your name, madam?’

‘I’m Cass Lynch, the skipper of the boat.’

‘Remain with the body, please, Ms Lynch.  We’ll get a doctor to you as soon as possible.  Have you any idea of the casualty’s identity?’

ID was Ted’s problem.  ‘She’s lying face down.  I didn’t want to turn her over.’

‘We’ll be with you in about half an hour.  Until then, please ensure that nobody goes near the body.  And don’t call anyone.  We’ll do that.’

‘I’ll stay with the body,’ I said, but made no other promises.

I picked up a stone, and scattered the gulls with one vicious throw.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When she talks her way into a job skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived – even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, a place she hasn’t set foot on since she ran away as a teenager to pursue her dreams of sailing. When a dead woman turns up on the boat’s deck, Cass, her past and her family come under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae.

Cass must call on all her local knowledge of Shetland, the wisdom gained from years of sailing, and her glamorous, French opera singer mother to clear herself and her family of suspicion – and to catch the killer before Cass becomes the next victim.

GIVE AWAY GALORE, THANKS TO AUTHOR, MARSALI TAYLOR,
GIVEAWAY CRITERIA:

Giveaway Info
Marsali is giving away THREE prizes; a copy of Death on a Longship at each blog stop on her tour, a 1st place grand prize giveaway at the end of the tour of some silver Viking-inspired jewelry from the Shetland Islands, and a 2nd place $15 Amazon gift card.

1) To win a book:  (open internationally for ebook or the US, UK, and Canada for a print book). Be sure to leave your email address in the comments so we can contact you if you’re the lucky winner. This giveaway ends five days after the post goes live.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO THE
CMASH READS GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE

2) To win Viking-inspired Jewelry OR a $15 Amazon gift card: Click the link to go to the contest’s website and enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the post. A first and second place lucky winner will be selected on October 1st. First place person gets to choose which grand prize he/she wants. The second place person gets the remaining grand prize. Open to every country.
Here’s the contest’s website >

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