Month: June 2016

Medical Judgment Book Review

Litfuse Book Tour

In Medical Judgment, Dr. Sarah Gordon lost her husband and daughter. Now she’s about to lose her life.

Medical Jugment Book Review

About Medical Judgment

After losing the two people she loved the most, Sarah Gordon doesn’t think life could get worse. But, after a fire in her garage is ruled an arson, she begins to realize someone is after her—and that person wants to see her dead. But first, they want to see her suffer.

Her late husband’s best friend, Kyle Andrews, and a recovering alcoholic detective, Bill Larson, are trying to solve the mystery before it’s too late, and they’re both trying to win her heart, too. Not only does Sarah feel torn between two men, she also feels as though she cannot trust anyone.

With creepy threats that become more and more sinister, Sarah finds herself in constant fear, but even the best home alarm technology won’t protect her. Who is doing this, and why are they after her?

My Thoughts

Fast paced, full of suspense and action that will keep you turning each page long into the night. I love how Richard builds up the story, Sarah has lost more things than any normal person could handle to lose when she lost her husband and daughter. Now someone is targeting her! You would think this would force her to break but instead she shocks us by fighting back. Fighting for her home, her life and the family she lost. But she always seem to be one step behind.

Tied into this are two men, one her late husband’s best friend and the other a recovering alcoholic, who want to protect and love her. It is perhaps their over protectiveness that forces Sarah to fight back for herself. She learns that she has to be able to protect herself and understandably she feels like she can not trust anyone.

An excellent, fast paced and exciting novel from start to finish. This is one book that does not disappoint!

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase your own copy here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Dr. Richard Mabry is a retired physician who writes “medical suspense with heart.” His novels have won multiple awards: a semifinalist for International Thriller Writers’ debut novel; finalists for the Carol Award, Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, and Romantic Times’ Reader’s Choice Award; and both finalist and winner of the Selah Award. He and his wife live in Frisco, Texas.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Join Denise Hunter for ‘The Convenient Groom’ Pre-Premiere Facebook Party

Litfuse Book Tour
convenient groom - fb event

Exciting news for fans of Denise Hunter’s stories: Her book The Convenient Groom is making its silver screen premiere as a Hallmark Channel Original Movie! Join Denise and other readers on Facebook on June 16th for a fun author chat party at 8:00 PM EDT (that’s 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain, & 5:00 Pacific)! Denise will be chatting about the book, answering your questions about the book-to-movie process, and of course, there will be plenty of fun giveaways too: a $100 Amazon gift card and 25 signed copies of Denise’s newest book, The Goodbye Bride!

The movie releases two days after the author chat party on Saturday, June 18th, 9 EDT/8 CDT. Click here for details and to find out more about the movie.

Get your copy of The Convenient Groom so you’re ready for a fun book discussion. You can order your copy and find out more about the book here.

Hope to see you on June 16 for Denise’s The Convenient Groom Pre-Premiere Facebook Party!

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Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

Isdin

Dry, cracked and itchy skin. Maybe feet that sound like sand paper rubbing against the floor when you rub your foot against a surface.  Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Our entire family suffers with dry and itchy skin, myself being the worst. Over the years we have dealt with eczema, psoriasis on the arms and general dry, scaly skin on our legs from swimming. For myself, if it is not dry, red and blistering skin on my arms then it is cracked, rough feet (my family teases me saying that my feet literally sound like sand paper polishing the floor – brutal right?). I am extremely hard on my feet, I am on them all day at work and I love walking around barefoot especially during the summer months and this really shows in my feet. The dryness can quickly get out of hand as you can see below:

Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

Disgusting right? A part of me cringes when looking at this picture and an even greater part of me can’t believe I showed this to you! Honestly the dry, scaly and flakes happen so quickly it is unbelievable. I have to keep a strict foot care routine in place in order to stop and prevent this from happening.

So how do I reverse my feet (and stop this from happening) from looking like this and prevent the all over dry skin in the summer?

Read on to get summer ready, fresh skin and feet. You can follow these simple steps to get ready for summer:

Skip the hot showers! Instead shower every other day in a cool to warm shower as the hot water will actually strip your skin of oils and make it drier. Baths tend to have the same effect as hot showers, so try to avoid them when your skin is very dry. Before I hop in the shower, I also like to gently dry brush my skin with a loofah, it helps to wake up my skin and remove any dry, loose skin before I hop in. I like to work in circular motions from distal regions to closer to the centre of my body (so hands to shoulders, feet to tops of thighs).

Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

After you hop out of the shower, pat dry your skin (never scrub dry) and while it is still moist you should use your moisturizer to help lock in the moisture. You need to be careful when choosing a moisturizer because not all are made the same and some can actually make your skin drier. For us, using the Ureadin Lotion 10 was an obvious choice. The lotion contains Urea Isdin and Dexpanthenol, both of which work together to retain moisture in your skin. Even my husband noticed the huge difference in his own skin. He loved how soft his feet were feeling from using the lotion. You can definitely use this lotion all over you body where your skin is dry, tight and itchy without irritation.

Soak those tender feet! If you have extremely dry feet like me, take some time daily to soak them in the tub in warm water. Not only will this give them some relief to sore achy feet, it also helps to exfoliate the dry skin away. It is important to follow this up with a quick exfoliation with a pumice stone and a moisturizer designed for dry feet, like Ureadin Podos. This specially designed formula uses lactic acid to exfoliate and then emollients like Shea butter to re-hydrate the skin. You can actually expect to begin to see results in three days!

Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

I have been using Ureadin Podos on my feet for the last three weeks and I love the difference it has made in my heels, toes and the balls of my feet. It instantly soothes the dry, sore skin on my feet while improving the look and feel of my feet. This is the difference in my feet over the last three weeks:

Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

My skin is brighter, the cracks have healed and they are definitely not as rough. They are much smoother to the touch and I am not embarrassed to wear sandals.

Get Summer Ready Skin with Ureadin

If you are heading out swimming, pack the moisturizer. Swimming can really dry out your skin with all of the chemicals, so make sure you are applying both sunscreen and moisturizer. The Ureadin spray on moisturizer was a blessing for us. It was easy to pack and even easier to apply. You literally spray on and it dries on its own within seconds (which when you are struggling to get moisturizer on a child this is definitely a win-win for any parent). It has a light scent (almost reminded me of baby powder) and is suitable for all skin types. So no more worrying about carrying different creams for different skin types.

Keep hydrated! This is so important – you really need to ensure you are in taking an adequate amount of water throughout the day especially if you are sweating.

Preventive care is so important to prevent painful, dry and cracked skin – especially now that we have almost reached summer. How do you help prevent and soothe dry and cracked skin?

If you would like more information or would like to purchase the Ureadin Hydration line of products, head over to their website now to get more information and purchasing details.

Disclosure: I am part of the Intega Influencer Campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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Richard Mabry’s ‘Medical Judgment’ e-Reader Giveaway

Litfuse Book Tour

Just what the doctor ordered: heart-thumping suspense and intrigue, courtesy of Richard Mabry’s new medical drama, Medical Judgment. Someone is after Dr. Sarah Gordon. They’ve stalked her and set a fire at her home. Trying to recover from the traumatic deaths of her husband and infant daughter is tough enough, but she has no idea what will come next. As the threats on her life continue to escalate, so do the questions: Who is doing this? Why are they after her? And with her only help being unreliable suitors in competition with each other, whom can she really trust?

Join Richard in celebrating the release of Medical Judgment by entering to win an e-reader!

medical judgment - 400

One grand prize winner will receive:

  • A copy of Medical Judgment
  • A Kindle Fire HD 6

Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on June 21st. The winner will be announced June 22nd on the Litfuse blog.

medical judgment - enterbanner
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The Better Sleep Month Project

The Better Sleep Month Project

I think we can all agree that sleep deprivation is felt by so many of us, whether it be in the early parenting stages when you are living on two to four hours of sleep or later on when you have multiple commitments to work, family, extra curricular activities and more. We live in a society where we are constantly on the go, our minds never stop and this has in turn harmed our sleep patterns and in turn our overall health. How many of you are miserable after not getting a good sleep at night? I know I am! I can’t concentrate, I am sarcastic and snappier – all of which I don’t want to be.

I know for myself that there are many nights I can not turn my mind off. I am constantly going through lists to see whether I have done everything that I needed to do and the worst is just as you are about to fall asleep you remember that one thing you forgot and bam! I am now officially up and worrying about something I can not even control. Learning how to put this thoughts and troubles on the back burner is key to a good night sleep.

Casper (the makers of the innovative sleep set including mattress, sheets and pillow) are invested in insuring you sleep soundly every night. Casper created the perfect mattress combination after hours of testing (and by real people!) and developed a mattress that combines latex, memory and support foam. This combination provides just enough give but still leaves you feeling supported. Top this off with their sheets and pillows with breathability, softness and strength and you have a win – win situation! Casper gets it – in order to have a healthy, productive day we need a sound sleep. So how do we achieve this? Here are some key problems that have been identified and solutions to them:

The Better Sleep Month ProjectThis is me in a nut shell. My mind never stops, I am constantly worrying about something, going over lists, etc. So now I have started a physical to do list where I can scratch off items as I complete them and I check it around 7:30pm for the last time of the day, then I take a bath listening to nature sounds and then it is cuddle time with the kids. This has really helped me with calming my mind down during my busy days. I allow myself the reassurance that I have completed everything I needed to do, I give myself some much needed me time and then I spend quiet moments with my kids.

The Better Sleep Month Project

I have suffered with anxiety for years and this kind of ties into my problem of the busy mind at night! Yoga has definitely helped me with my anxiety in the last six months forcing me to focus on my breathing and the movements. Even moving through simple sun salutations while listening to calming music makes a world of a difference to me at night. I forget about the stress of the day as I concentrate on deep breathing and stretching fully through the movements. Or if you are really into it, try a Pranayama app to help with deep breathing and meditation exercises. My kids laugh when I put my app on but I love it as I have to really focus on breathing fully in and exhaling completely.

The Better Sleep Month Project

How many of us have laid there at night, praying for sleep to come as we scroll one more time through Facebook or Pinterest hoping this will help us fall asleep. The key here is to put the distraction away aka your phone, your iPad or any other hand held device (hard for so many of us – especially those who work from home). But it is key to getting a better sleep, our phones distract us and keep us up longer at night.

The Better Sleep Month Project

Invest in your sleep – this means purchasing a comfortable mattress. It seems simple but so many times we put other things in front of our own personal comfort. There is nothing better than laying down in a comfortable, welcoming, soft mattress. Your body and mind will thank you!

These are just a few tips to get you started on your Better Sleep Month Project, what tools do you utilize for ensuring a good night sleep?

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