Book Four in this series, Blue Ribbon Trail Ride, find them raising funds to help support her autistic brother.
About Blue Ribbon Trail Ride
Thirteen-year old Kate and her friends came up with the perfect way to raise money for her autistic younger brother and others to attend summer camp, a horse scavenger hunt! As local businesses donate money and prizes, Kate keeps the entry fees in her mom’s antique jewelry box.
But when the box and the money disappear, Kate and her friends must unravel the clues, hold on to hope, and solve the mystery along the Blue Ribbon Trail Ride.
My Thoughts
An amazing series of novels for young adults. The novel is well written and thought out with characters that young adults (and even adults!) can relate to.
Kate is like many thirteen year old girls, who struggles with independence, her own wants and needs. She struggles at time with being patient especially with a younger brother who requires a high amount of care due to his autism. A lot of her parent’s time and money goes in to his care, and while she understands this as any normal child would she also struggles with sometimes having her needs put second. I love that Miralee shows this vulnerability and how Kate works through it and shows her understanding and love for her brother.
She comes up with creative solutions to solve her problems and uses her religious teachings to help guide her. In this particular story – first raising money through a scavenger hunt and then solving the mystery of the stolen box and money. I love how her faith is lightly woven into the novel to help guide and how easily young adults can relate this to their own lives.
This novel (and the whole series) will be a great addition to the young adults in your life personal library. They are well written and funny while teaching valuable moral and faith-based lessons.
You can find more reviews on the Blue Ribbon Trail Ride on the Litfuse Blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Miralee Ferrell is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels. She and her husband live along the Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, where she enjoys riding the wooded trails and spending time with her grown children. In addition to horses and dogs, Miralee once owned two cougars
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book and the series in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Life can be unpredictable at best. We have moments of routine, of everything going right and sometimes out of nowhere we are hit with a monumental diagnosis that changes the course of our lives. This is what happened to Heather Von St. James when at the age of 36 she was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma.
Heather’s Story
In 2005, at the age of 36, and only a mere three months after giving birth to her daughter Lily Rose, Heather was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. People who have been exposed to high levels of asbestos are more likely to be diagnosed with this kind of cancer. Pleural mesothelioma develops in the lining of the lungs and the chest wall. Upon learning this life-altering diagnosis, Heather and her husband embarked upon a search to find the best mesothelioma treatment care available. Their search eventually led them to Dr. David Sugarbaker, a renowned mesothelioma surgeon at the Boston-based Brigham and Women’s hospital.
Today, Heather is a remarkable ten-year mesothelioma cancer survivor and has made it her mission to help other mesothelioma victims around the globe. She works to share her personal story to help spread hope and awareness for others going through this, in hopes that one day no one else will have to.
What is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a serious cancer and is mainly caused if you’ve been exposed to asbestos fibers. There is no safe amount of exposure. The smallest amount of asbestos can cause sever issues later on down the road as it did with Heather.
Causes of Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is mostly attributed to exposure to asbestos, which can happen in the workplace, home or by chance. People can also become exposed through second hand exposure, like Heather, completely unknowingly.
Symptoms (from Mesothelioma)
coughing up blood
anemia
trouble swallowing
pleural effusion
trouble breathing
vomiting and nausea
bowel obstruction
blood clotting disorder
chest pain
weight loss
Treatment
Due to the rarity of the disease, finding treatment and research in this area is difficult, only 3,000 people a year are diagnosed in the US (Mesothelioma). Treatment does include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Heather Von St. James has just celebrated being 10 years cancer free! An amazing moment for her and her family – one I am sure they were never too sure would happen. If you are or know someone who is suffering with Mesothelioma, head over and connect with Heather. Do not feel like you are alone, Heather is here to help share her journey and be a part of yours.
In Debt, it is expected you pay your debts that you owe.
About Debt
The Debt Collector:
I pay my debts and I expect others to as well.
I was raised in the slums of London, I knew nothing of privilege. My father was murdered when I was seventeen. Morty figured my father’s passing meant I would automatically take on dad’s debts. I refused.
And I paid for that refusal.
So did my sister.
So now I fight. All I know how to do is fight. The best cash is in the states, so that’s where I am now. A big fish called Vito came along offering me a “favor” when I arrived.
Another debt.
I paid for that one too.
I knew Kyla Hensley would be trouble when I met her. But I wanted her. I could see through the falsehood of her wannabe-slutty clothes and her sexy legs. So I chased her.
Besides, trouble is my middle name.
Kyla Hensley
I was brought up in privilege, but I lacked everything else. My father is a business tycoon who buys and sells and doesn’t care who gets rolled over in the process.
I never knew my mother, and all I have of her is a photo with a note scrawled on the back in French saying “I’m sorry.” The only Female Figure I had growing up is my dad’s wife who is a bleach blond with seven boob jobs. We never bonded.
I drink. I party. I meet guys.
But I wasn’t always like that.
I’ve had a string of lovers in the last few years, the worst and most recent of which was Vince Somerset. My best friend Vera was dating a guy called Rory Cansoom who is the opposite of Vince in so many ways, and yet so the same.
She and I hit the road for the summer, getting away from the two college psychos and just trying to have some fun.
But there’s a funny thing about trouble, the more you run from it, the more it finds you.
Which is when I met the Debt Collector.
It was only supposed to be sex. He made that clear. I made that clear.
That’s all it was supposed to be.
I never expected to fall in love. I never expected to fall so deeply, madly, uncomfortably in love with a man who is wrong, so wrong for me.
A prolific writer, she sticks to stories where Alpha Males aren’t pricks and where women have guts.
She’s lived on two different continents, speaks three different languages, and met the love of her life on the internet. In other words, romance is in her blood.
Being an independent woman in 1913 London is certainly empowering, but Emmy Nation is tired of the damp seeping through her worn shoes and the hopeless grumblings of her stomach. Will she give in and betray her sisterhood for warmth and food in her stomach?
About Emmy Nation, Undercover Suffragette
When she receives an offer from Scotland Yard to boost her typist income by spying on the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), Emmy jumps at the chance. But as she grows closer to the WSPU women the lines begin to blur, and when a painful part of her past resurfaces Emmy begins to question her choices.
How far are you willing to go to secure your equality?
My Thoughts
A stellar novel from start to finish, that should be a required reading for all young boy and girls in high school. Emmy Nation is an accurate presentation of life for women during this time period and how they struggled for freedom, struggled to have their voice heard and the challenges they faced.
My heart broke for Emmy when she had to choose between warm feet and collecting information on the Suffragette movement. No person should ever have to make a choice like this. Emmy grows in knowledge and strength throughout this novel. She starts off like many of the women in this time period, unsure of themselves, their independence and their rights. Many hold this inner desire for independence but are terrified of the repercussions. Women are physically hurt, emotionally and financially betrayed. My heart broke multiple times throughout this novel. All of the rights that I take for granted were fought for so hard by women and even though I know this, it sometimes takes a book like this to drive this imagery home.
Emmy Nation is an important, historical novel that portrays the Suffragette movement in an accurate and detailed manner that is appropriate for all age groups. It is an important novel for so many reasons but I feel that this should be a mandatory reading for high school students. It is written in a manner that they can understand, appreciate and assist them with relating to their own lives. Our rights and freedoms were fought for with the tears, physical pain and blood of women. This novel opened my eyes all over again, gave me a stronger respect and left me craving for more. I want to know what happens Emmy and the sisterhood. What does she do next?
L. Davis Munro holds a master’s degree with a focus on women’s suffrage theatre and works in theatre and dance. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and her dog. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
Author Interview
1. How did you do research for your book?
The research for this book actually started long before I began writing. I did a two-year Master’s degree in Theatre where I focused on the theatre of the women’s suffrage movement particularly in England. I really did the research for this book during that time. I studied a lot about the movement, the politics and the era in order to support the work I was doing in the theatre of the campaign, so that moved over to the book when I started writing. The second Emmy Nation book will feature much more of the theatre scene from London at the time.
2. What made you write a book about the suffragettes?
In many ways, Emmy Nation was created because of the research I was doing for my degree. I choose that period of history to study because I was fascinated by my own lack of knowledge on the suffrage movement. I had considered myself well versed in women’s history before my Master’s degree and was shocked by all that I didn’t know from the time. That is what started my academic research and Emmy Nation emerged from that.
3. Where do you write?
I have a hard time writing in public, so I generally write at home. I need silence and solitude for my most productive writing times. However, sometimes I need to shake that up so I will visit a cafe nearby to give myself the pressure to get something done instead of just awkwardly staring at the other patrons.
4. In today’s tech savvy world, most writers use a computer or laptop. Have you ever written parts of your book on paper?
Yes, absolutely! I actually find moving to paper and pen often helps me through writer’s block. It feels less permanent than writing in the word processed manuscript document, so I feel less pressure when writing on paper.
5. If you were stuck on a deserted island, which 3 books would you want with you?
Definitely a how to survive on a deserted island book. What plants are edible, how to build a shelter and start a fire, those types of things. I would also want some sort of choose your own adventure book, something that I can read over and over again and not get bored with. Lastly, I would want a notebook (is that cheating?) so I could record everything and create my own stories to entertain myself.
6. What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?
This! Publishing this book took all the courage I had. For so long it was just me and Emmy doing our thing and no one else could look in and judge us. Letting go of that safe place and releasing Emmy Nation into the world for anyone to pick up, critique and question, is the scariest and hardest thing I have ever done.
The Giveaway!
Win 1 of 2 prizes! A copy of Emmy Nation + $15 Amazon gift card
It is amazing how everything that was enjoyed when I was a kid, is now slowly coming back. Especially with television shows and movies! Power Rangers is one of those shows, not only did our eldest son love it when he was younger, our youngest can now spend hours watching the fearless group of Power Rangers morph and battle.
About Power Rangers: Time Force
On February 9, 2016, join the Power Rangers as they battle the evil Ransik when Shout! Factory releases Power Rangers Time Force: The Complete Series,a 5-DVD box set that contains all 40 episodes of the iconic show’s ninth season (woot woot!).
In the distant future, a team of Power Rangers known as the Power Rangers Time Force act as a time-traveling police force capturing and freezing criminal mutants. When the notorious criminal mastermind Ransik stages a daring escape, he fells the Red Time Force Ranger Alex and takes the entire cryogenic prison full of dangerous, incarcerated mutants back in time with him to the year 2001! There he seeks to unleash a new wave of crime against our modern world, who are helpless against his vastly superior technology. In pursuit of Ransik, Pink Ranger Jen (my personal fave) and grieving fiancée of Alex – leads a team of Time Force officers back in time to apprehend the escaped criminals. In modern times they ally themselves with Alex’s distant ancestor, Wes, whose shared DNA with his future descendant allows him to take up the powers of the Red Time Force Ranger.
Following its debut in 1993, Saban’s iconic live-action pop culture series, Power Rangers quickly became the most watched children’s television program in North America and still is. Emphasizing the importance of teamwork, responsibility and helping others by following the adventures of a group of ordinary young people who “morphed” into superheroes, this long-running series has been seen in more than 60 countries, translated into numerous languages, and remains a mainstay in children’s programming blocks. For over 20 years, the highly entertaining saga and fan favorite characters from Power Rangers have captivated children and adults alike and are beloved by legions of fans worldwide.
My Thoughts
With over fourteen hours (yes you heard that right!) of episodes, this five disc DVD collection will have your child thrilled and ready to join in the Power Rangers action. Our youngest could not wait to open the DVD set and hit play. He was definitely not disappointed! A great plot line, fantastic team work lessons and a story true to the Power Ranger style. We all loved every moment of the episodes. It was perfect to watch a couple of episodes and then come back later to when we were ready to pick up. It is clear why the Power Rangers have been such a popular show for the last twenty years!
Trailer
The Giveaway!
My US and Canadian readers can now enter to win their own copy of Power Rangers Time Force via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
