Month: September 2017

September 12, 2017

Ultimate in Comfort Anywhere, Anytime: CozyPhones

What is your number one pet peeve when it comes to headphones?

For me, it is the discomfort as they don’t ever seem to quite fit as well as they should and not being able to lay down comfortably with them in my ears. No matter how much money I spend, the ear buds never fit in my ear lobe properly, come loose or they hurt. The same is true for my children, if not a bit worse as the ear pieces never seem to fit in their ears properly and are always popping out.

Frustrating right?

CozyPhones were designed to fit around your head with a stretchy, soft band to hold the ear pieces in place. Customers can choose from a soft fleecy material (for kids and sleep time) and a lycra material for when you want to get out and about with your headphones. Both materials are lightweight, flexible, washable as well as excellent in standing up to the day-to-day demands and abuse of children and adults a like.

Our youngest tried out the Kids Headphones in the What If Monster style.

He was so excited to try them on the same day they were delivered. He loved the soft fleecy material and the snug fit on his head that was neither too tight nor too loose. The stereo pieces need to be adjusted to your child’s head but that was quite simple to do and required minimal moving of the speakers once they were around his ears. He loved that nothing went into his ears and I loved that I didn’t have to listen to the same YouTube videos over and over again. He used his CozyPhone with our iPad but the CozyPhones can be used with Android, Samsung, Blackberry, Google, Apple and so many more electronic devices. The braided cord was just long enough to not get in his way as well as not tangle up on him.

For myself, I fell in love with the Lycra active headphones. The material was lightweight and cool which is perfect for workouts but also great for when I like to listen to my audiobooks in bed or my mediation music as I fall asleep at night. I found before when I fell asleep with the ear buds in my ears were sore and I could never lay on my side (I just can’t sleep on my back!). I fell asleep several times wearing the CozyPhones to bed. I would even wear these when I was at my son’s soccer games to listen to my audiobooks.

Both the children’s and adult CozyPhones are well priced at $19.97 and you can purchase them both on their website as well as on Amazon.

Make sure to follow CozyPhones on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with the newest products and more!

What is the biggest pet peeve you have about headphones?

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 12, 2017

Blackout Spotlight Tour

In Blackout, Steele inches closer hoping to reveal and thwart the plot to bring down the U S government. How will the dramatic face-off end?

About Blackout

Alexander Steele is a private detective turned night club owner in the city of Philadelphia. Steele and his longtime girlfriend Shakia’s plans for him to retire are derailed when his cousin brings him an encrypted travel drive. The drive is opened by Steele’s hacker friend Stan. A few days earlier every transformer in Canada had been shut down by the terrorist. The drive in Steele’s possession gave details as to how the event would happen. What made it even more frightening was that the documents on the drive were created 3 months before the actual event; Steele finds himself drawn into the well-crafted mind games of a madman known as Chameleon an American terrorist.

His goal is to shut down the country by collapsing the economy of the United States. From the snow cover streets of Montreal to the tropical beaches of Nassau Steele follows a trail of clues and dead bodies. As he gathers more puzzle pieces Steele inches closer hoping to reveal and thwart the plot to bring down the U S government. He finds himself narrowly surviving constant attempts on his life. The dramatic face-off between Steele and Chameleon takes place in downtown Philadelphia. How will it end? Find out in Blackout, now on Audible.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Smashwords and Audible.

About the Author

Born and raised in the city of Brotherly Love I have been writing for nearly 10 years. I am the author of the 2012 scifi novel Escape 2 Earth. In early 2009 I completed the second installment in the the Escape 2 Earth trilogy called Return 2 Earth also several short stories including a fantasy story titled Dimensions in Time and a sci fi story titled Planet of Doom.

In 2011 I completed my first detective novel called Blackout. Before writing Escape 2 Earth I began putting together a collection of inspirational and motivational quotes titled Observations from the Edge of Society. I am currently working on the final book in the Escape 2 Earth series called Earth 2, Redemption which will be completed in 2017.

You can connect with the author on his website, Twitter and Facebook.

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Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour. I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 11, 2017

Magnolia Nights Book Review

From the author of the bestselling Sweeney Sister Series and Sweet Tea Tuesdays comes a new novel of passion, intrigue and redemption, Magnolia Nights.

About Magnolia Nights

Ellie Pringle has spent endless hours and countless dollars working with a therapist to remember the lost years of her childhood. She’s baffled and more than a little intrigued when the grandmother she hasn’t seen in thirty-four years dies and leaves her a fortune. The time has come to face her past in person. Still reeling from a recent breakup of a long-term relationship, and with nothing to keep her in San Francisco, Ellie packs her meager belongings and boards a plane for the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Standing in the entryway of her grandmother’s antebellum home on South Battery Street in Charleston, Ellie faces the first of many ghosts who will soon haunt her. On her first night in the creepy, creaking mansion, as she’s perusing the titles in a dusty bookcase, she comes across her deceased mother’s leather-bound journal. Her mother’s words create more unanswered questions and send her on a quest to find more journals. As Hurricane Lorene bears down on the South Carolina coast, Ellie encounters Juan Hagood, a handsome architect who has the talent to restore her dilapidated mansion and the charm to mend her broken heart. But as Ellie reads her mother’s diaries, they dislodge a stone in the wall that safeguards her memories, causing her world to come crumbling down. Revelations about her childhood lead Ellie on a harrowing journey of discovery that will hold spellbound until the dramatic conclusion.

My Thoughts

Magnolia Nights is another AMAZING novel by Ashley Farley. This book branches out to new characters, that I personally hope have their own series just like the Sweeney Sisters.

This novel has a bit of a dark and deep history. Ellie, our main character, has trouble remembering her past but it has so greatly affected her present. She has little glimpses of her past but can’t quite figure out if she is remembering something that happened or if it is her mind making up something. When she inherits her Grandmother (whom she hasn’t seen in years) home and fortune, she travels to where she spend the first years of her life with the hopes that this will help her gain back her memory. Her Father is dead set against this as he remembers just how bad she was when he had rescued her in the first place from her Grandmother’s home.

Against her Father’s wishes, she travels to the South to the home and begins to fill in pieces. As she finds her Mother’s journal, the world she thought she knew begins to tumble down. She uncovers a hurtful past with lies, emotional and even physical torture. Once these doors were opened, she can never turn back especially when she uncovers the greatest secret of all (which of course I can’t tell you BUT trust me it is a shocker!). It turns the book upside down and leaves our characters scrambling to understand, accept and try to learn how to move forward.

Magnolia Nights is a well written, planned out novel with excellent character development. Our ending leaves us hoping for another novel in this series – I just can’t wait to see what lays in store for Ellie and Juan (not to mention all of the family secrets they uncovered!). This was another excellent book by Ashley Farley that you will not want to put down – it was too full of excitement and surprises! It is a definite must read novel.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Ashley Farley is the author of the bestselling series, the Sweeney Sisters Series. Ashley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her goal is to keep you turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning. If her story stays with you long after you’ve read the last word, then she’s done her job.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, part of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry where she grew up. Through the eyes of her characters, she’s able to experience the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kind-hearted folks with lazy drawls that make the area so unique.

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

September 11, 2017

A Year in the Company of Freaks

A Year in the Company of Freaks is a”disarmingly appealing” tale of discrimination, transformation and restoration, Freaks is bursting with intrigue, drama, comic relief and romance.

About A Year in the Company of Freaks

It’s 1972 and a seismic clash-of-cultures is rattling northern California. In the redneck town of Trinity Springs, rumors of hippies migrating up from San Francisco have residents bracing for an invasion. When Italian-American hometown boy and Berkeley graduate Sid Jackson is busted for growing pot on his deceased parents’ farm, locals suspect the assault has begun. Will a crazy deferral program devised by the sheriff keep Sid out of prison? Or will a house full of eccentric strangers, a passionate love interest, and demons from his past be his undoing?

A “disarmingly appealing” tale of discrimination, transformation and restoration, Freaks is bursting with intrigue, drama, comic relief and romance. Reviewers agree this five-star, coming-of-age classic “very much reflects the attitude and mood of the times.”

My Thoughts

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this book when I read the plot summary but I fell in love with the story from page one. You learn to understand, respect and appreciate so many different aspects of life and beliefs.

We start off learning about our main character Sid, who turned bad boy after his parents died. He went away to school and learned about a lifestyle so different from the one his small town parents raised him in. He challenged all of his teachings, faith and even relationships with family and friends. All he wanted out of life was to have a good time and travel. When he is busted for growing pot in his small town, he faces a cross-road. Either face jail time or serve one year at home in his parents house. But for him, coming face to face with his past and his parents death could be his undoing.

I loved watching Sid grow mentally and emotionally throughout this book. He went from believing he knew everything and that the new hippie lifestyle was the way to be, to understanding and valuing the differences in lifestyles and appreciating the beliefs of others. He learns that you can be happy and not be high. What spoke to me the most was the healing that he went through over his parents death and living in their home. He goes through so much emotionally and spiritually and to be able to experience this is special. He grows as a person and has to learn to move forward with acceptance and love. But it’s not just him that goes through an understanding, his Godparents do as well. They learn to understand and accept the lifestyle and beliefs of their godson – to love him for all that he is.

A Year in the Company of Freaks is an amazing story of healing, understanding, the pitfalls of discrimination and hope. It is a definite must read novel that you will not want to put down.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Author of highly-acclaimed “A Year in the Company of Freaks,” Teresa was raised in a large Midwest family and now lives in Oregon. She is also the author of “Bianca’s Vineyard,” and its sequel, “Domenico’s Table.” Both books are based on the true stories of her husband’s Italian family in Tuscany. In addition to enjoying family, writing, reading, meeting her readers, wine tasting, traveling, and all things Italian, Teresa loves playing the fiddle with other musicians.

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

September 8, 2017

iGen Book Review

A highly readable and entertaining first look at how today’s members of iGen—the children, teens, and young adults born in the mid-1990s and later—are vastly different from their Millennial predecessors, and from any other generation, from the renowned psychologist and author of Generation Me.

About iGen

With generational divides wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults. Born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and later, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smart phone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person—perhaps why they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

But technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward religion, sexuality, and politics. They socialize in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. More than previous generations, they are obsessed with safety, focused on tolerance, and have no patience for inequality. iGen is also growing up more slowly than previous generations: eighteen-year-olds look and act like fifteen-year-olds used to.

My Thoughts

Our children are growing up in a difficult time period. Everything is so different from when I was in my teens! They are growing up with technology I would never have even dreamed of. This technology has to have had an impact on their childhood and the way they connect with family, friends and others.

This book examines just how drastically this generation has changed (and looks at statistics from a broad range of cultures, ages and numbers). It looks at several areas where this generation has differed from their predecessors, such as religion, politics, family, work, sex and attitudes. It is amazing to see how the iGen generation has shifted with their thinking and mind-set.

As a parent with children growing up in this iGen generation, I think this book is a must read. It points out so many important facts that really make you think about your own parenting. Do I focus too much on safety at the risk of not allowing my child to learn and grow? Am I preventing independence and necessary life skills by doing things for them? Is my child spending so much time socializing online that they are lacking the necessary communication and verbal skills required for later on in life? What are the implications of all of this?

This book was a definite eye opener for me as parent. I can see my children in this book and it really made me focus on what I can do now as a parent to help my child prepare for their future. There are so many skills that I learned in my teen years that are not being passed down to my children. I loved that this book offered hope and suggestions on how to change behaviour now before children spiral out of control. The most shocking (although we see it in the news all the time) is the mental health aspect. This culture is hurting them with depression, anxiety and loneliness and this book tackles the whys of this.

iGen is well written and expressed in a manner that parents can understand and apply in their own homes. It is a definite must read parenting book especially for parents raising young children, teens or even planning families.

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Jean M. Twenge credentials: Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 90 scientific publications and three books based on her research, Generation Me, The Narcissism Epidemic, and The Impatient Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, NBC Nightly News, Fox and Friends, Dateline, and NPR. She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and daughters.

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