Category: book review

August 6, 2018

Miracle Man Book Review

Miracle Man is the winner of a Best Thriller national award, and was named by Amazon as one of the top 100 novels of 2015, a top 10 best selling thriller and a top 10 New York Times/Amazon best seller.

About Miracle Man

The victim of an unspeakable crime, an infant rises to become a new type of superhero. Unlike any that have come before him, he is not a fanciful creation of animators, he is real.

So begins the saga of Robert James Austin, the greatest genius in human history. But where did his extraordinary intelligence come from?

As agents of corporate greed vie with rabid anti-Western radicals to destroy him, an obsessive government leader launches a bizarre covert mission to exploit his intellect. Yet Austin’s greatest fear is not of this world.

Aided by two exceptional women, one of whom will become his unlikely lover, Austin struggles against abandonment and betrayal. But the forces that oppose him are more powerful than even he can understand.

My Thoughts

This was an extremely powerful and though provoking novel that I could not put down. I had to keep following the incredible life of Robert James Austin as he fights the corrupt and greed of corporate America.

Robert had a very unique, sad and almost short start to life. He was left for dead as an infant and was rescued by a surprising saviour. This began his journey into foster care – he was one of the lucky ones and was welcomed into a beautiful, loving family. It became clear quite quickly how unique Robert truly was. While his foster parents knew he was special, they were more concerned about the dark side effects of this genius. Throughout the novel, we experience glimpses into this dark side and your heart aches for him. He puts far too much pressure on himself and his intelligence all in the aim to not waste the gift that he was given (it must have been a greater purpose that he was saved and received this gift?).

The government on the other hand sensed his raw potential and wanted to foster it. Trying to protect him but also balance the needs of his genius, Robert is sent to a special school for intelligent children. He not only shines, he excels in every subject. He pushes the brink of knowledge and what people held to be true. He comes up with new formulas, new discoveries and so much more. This all takes a toll on his mental health and physical well-being but the government did not care.

It is actually during a trip to volunteer at a children’s cancer ward and through many conversations with the man who becomes like a father figure to him, that Robert realizes his true calling – discovery cures to diseases that kill and destroy the body.

He quickly becomes the greatest enemy of the government and the pharmacy industry, who have grown rich on disease. They would do anything to stop him (more so the pharmacy) but the government, while not happy with his choice, understand they need to protect their greatest asset. The pharmacy greed knows no boundaries as it becomes evident throughout the novel – including murder and bribery!

This was mind-blowing, get you thinking type of novel. You are in awe of his genius, his resilience but also worry for his well-being. You keep waiting for that one moment that it will all come crashing down, as one person can not carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. He is kindness and humbleness and this is shown through his acts of selflessness – instead of trying to profit off of his cures, he makes them available to all regardless of wealth. This is what we need more of in the world – protecting all members of our society. This is an amazing novel that I could not put down – I can not wait to start the second part, Austin Paradox – review coming soon!

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

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

William R. Leibowitz practices law internationally and prefers not spending too much time in any one place. He is a graduate of New York University and Columbia University Law School.

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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.

August 6, 2018

The Love Fool Spotlight Tour

Italy’s modern culture and enchanting sights set the backdrop to this Rome-antic comedy, The Love Fool.

About The Love Fool

Set in Rome. Follow the whirlwind antics of a publicist as he struggles to manage his first TV chef client, his new life, and an unexpected visit from his ex-girlfriend.

Alex recently moved to Italy for an opportunity at a PR firm in Rome. His first client is the beautiful Danish chef Pernille Bjørn, a popular model, TV personality, and cookbook author just entering the booming televised cooking show market in Italy.

Alex’s single-minded career focus is soon thwarted by Emily, an ex-girlfriend he hasn’t heard from in almost a decade.

Italy’s modern culture and enchanting sights set the backdrop to this Rome-antic comedy.

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

Book Trailer

About the Author

Lorenzo Petruzziello holds an MBA in global marketing from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. His background includes publicity and marketing for many of public television’s popular cooking and travel shows. He lives in Massachusetts focusing on his writing. THE LOVE FOOL is his first novel.

Connect with him on his website, Twitter, Facebook and blog.

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Disclosure: This is a spotlight tour, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 1, 2018

Refresh Your Summer Goals with Low Carb on the Go #DKCanada

Low Carb on the Go, contains more than eighty fast, healthy low carb recipes for busy lifestyles.

About Low Carb on the Go

Low-carb eating is a sustainable lifestyle choice for people who want to lose weight, stabilize blood sugar, or simply avoid the afternoon carb coma. Fitting a low-carbohydrate diet into your busy day is easy with more than 80 meal and snack recipes bursting with modern, vegetable and protein packed ideas such as Chia Seed and Turmeric Pudding, Coconut and Vanilla Energy Balls, and Chicken Teriyaki with Cauliflower Rice. Discover tips and tricks for healthy meal prep, and the best way to store and transport your low-carb lunch to keep it looking and tasting fresh. Each recipe contains nutritional information, including the all-important carb count, as well as a handy guide to prep time and equipment you’ll need. With Low Carb on the Go, you can plan your low-carb diet and stick to it with more than 80 delicious, healthy meals and snacks for anytime, anywhere.

My Thoughts

I have been on a low carb, high protein and vegetable diet for the last three years. It has successfully helped me to lose and maintain a loss of just over one hundred pounds. When I first started the diet, I was afraid of all carbs – growing up in an Italian home carbs were essential right? But they also led me to a weight gain and being obese. What I didn’t truly understand was that carbs were not my enemy – it was the choice of carbs in combination with portion sizes (to this day I have a hard time with portion sizes and my kids constantly tease me about how much food I dish them when they say just a little please!).

Low Carb on the Go starts off with a great section on how low carbs is not no carbs and the difference between good and bad carbs. This is so important for all individuals to understand, whether you are following a low carb diet or not. It helps to understand the effects of bad carbs on our blood sugar and the way we feel overall after eating bad carbs (I am sure you can all relate to the crash and burn after a sugar rush?).

Variety is key to this diet – it can be so easy to get into a rut and then give up on following the diet. Trust me – I have done it myself so many times! Recipes can become boring, you want to stick with what works or you may not have enough ingredients to complete a recipe so you may just give up.

Planning ahead and keeping variety in your diet is so important – your body needs it! I liked how this book gives you recipe ideas for every type of meal – from breakfast to snacks to breads (yes breads!) to vegetarian and meat dishes. The recipes were easy to follow and are spread out over two pages. One page being an enticing photo of the completed recipe and the second an ingredient list and directions. Each recipe also contains a breakdown of the caloric content including carbohydrate count, protein, calories as well as many recipes have tips included to ensure the recipe comes out as planned. This is a great recipe book which will be extremely helpful in planning out and building on your low carb diet with its easy to follow instructions and simple recipes. It is a great starting point for those starting out on a low carb lifestyle.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Chapters and DK Canada.

About the Author

Sandra and Mirko Stupning run the Low Carb Rezepte (Recipes) website, dedicated to everyday delicious low-carb recipes, which attracts more than two million unique visitors a year. The success of the website led Sandra and Mirko to publish their first e-book, The Low Carb Cookbook, to enthusiastic feedback. With a large social media presence (more than 130,000 likes on the Low Carb Rezepte Facebook page), Sandra and Mirko have successfully turned their collection of low-carb recipes into a high-profile brand. Sandra Stupning is a qualified nutritionist; both authors are passionate about cooking and healthy eating.

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

August 1, 2018

Renew Energy, Decrease Stress and Improve Your Life with Practical Ayurveda

Are you looking for renewed energy, relief from stress, improved sleep, and much more? Then Practical Ayurveda is for you!

About Practical Ayurveda

Practised in India for millennia, Ayurveda means life-knowledge – it reveals the path to ultimate wellbeing by identifying your individual characteristics and patterns of health, and showing you how to bring balance to your life.

Find out Ayurvedic body type (prakriti) through a simple self-assessment questionnaire, and learn how to adjust your diet to suit your body type using recipes and ingredient lists, stretch and energize your body through yoga, and focus and relax your mind with meditation and positive thinking exercises. You can also look up home therapies and remedies for a variety of common ailments.

Whether you’re adopting this ancient lifestyle practice yourself, through your yoga practice, or as an alternative therapy, use Practical Ayurveda to apply its wisdom to your modern lifestyle.

My Thoughts

Roughly about three years ago, I introduced yoga into my weekly routine. What started off as just a trial became something I fell in love. I love my daily sessions both in class and at home. It helps me to shut down the negativity and everything that is bothering me, embrace quiet and thoughtfulness. It helped that I had an amazing teacher who embraced the lifestyle.

My only fall back? I didn’t know how to incorporate the whole body practice into my day-to-day. I knew I loved yoga but that is just one small piece of a bigger picture.

This book helped me to fully immerse, understand and appreciate the Ayurveda lifestyle from diet to sleep to exercise. It gives a great history and explanation of all the terms that you may have heard but didn’t quite understand. I loved the questionnaire that was included in this book to help determine which of three Ayurvedic body types you were because without determining this you would still be at square one. After completing this, you can either head straight to the sections that pertain to you (which are easily identifiable) or you can read through each body type to get a better understanding and appreciation of the complete lifestyle.

One of the best parts of this book is how they help you to introduce and adopt this lifestyle into your own daily routine. It isn’t a list of twenty things to do right now (but hey if you can do that all the power to you!) but instead introduce these items first and get into that routine, the following week add this and so on. It isn’t meant to be an instant, incorporate every aspect of the book into your lifestyle. I think we have all tried to do this before with any lifestyle change and from experience know that this doesn’t always work. This book will help you succeed in adopting these changes and arm you with the knowledge of why you are making these changes.

This book is an incredible resource and starting point for anyone that is interested in learning more or adopting the Ayurveda lifestyle. It includes step by step instructions, history and meaning of terms, recipes, stretches and yoga poses and much more to aid you on your journey. It is written in clear, precise and easy to follow manner which is perfect for beginners to more advanced individuals on their wellness journey.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and DK Canada.

Rating: 5/5

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

July 31, 2018

Set the Night on Fire

In Set the Night on Fire, Cottonbloom is the perfect place for starting over, finding your way back home and falling head over heels.

About Set the Night on Fire

Ella Boudreaux has a lot to prove to her family, friends, and foes―and to herself. So when her marriage ends she decides to invest her energy and money into a place that brings back some of Ella’s happiest memories: the Abbott brothers’ garage. Maybe, if she puts her mind to it, she can teach skeptical, stubborn Mack Abbott how to make the business a true success. Which would be a lot easier if the hunky mechanic didn’t make her motor run quite so fast and hot.

Mack was furious when his brother, Ford, sold his share of the business. He’s in no rush to team up with a wealthy divorcée who shows up to the garage in stilettos―and the longest, sexiest legs he’s seen in forever. But Ella’s grit and determination won’t quit…and soon Mack can see that she’s been down a few rough roads herself. Neither Mack nor Ella can deny the fierce attraction that’s revving up between them. Could it be that true love has been in the backseat all along…and they’ve finally found the key?

My Thoughts

This is a fantastic series set in Cottonbloom – a rough group of mechanics who have met their match in their female counterparts.

In this novel, Mack is the tough one – the one who feels like he has to carry the weight of his Father’s business, carry the greatest burden and has to hold the family together. He has given this burden to himself, no matter how much his brothers try to help him carry this load. His greatest fault? Holding a grudge and not being able to let it go despite knowing he is wrong. He is carrying a grudge against his Mother and it has prevented him from reuniting with her despite his brothers building bridges with her. It has prevented him from forgiving his brother Ford who sold his share of the business and no longer making the shop family owned.

It was this sale that brings Ella into his life. She has gone through a lot in her life (and to get the details you have to read the story!) but she has grown from her ordeals. She is tough as nails, stubborn but full of understanding, forgiveness and understanding (more so when it comes to others!).

These two are so much a like on the inside but complete opposites on the outside. They clash at first but as the story continues, you can see how well they complement each other. But they have a lot of their own personal history to overcome in order to move into the future, IF that is even what they want to do. They struggle with the idea of a relationship building between them especially with their turbulent histories and lack of trust.

This is a beautiful story of forgiveness, healing and moving forward. Both Ella and Mack need to heal their past in order to have any hope of a future. We watch patiently as they struggle to come to terms with their past, forgive those that they need to and build important relationships with key family members. We struggle along and pray with them that they will be able to move forward because deep down inside you can see how perfect they will be for each other. I loved every moment of this story!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Laura Trentham is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance, including Then He Kissed Me and Set the Night on Fire. She is a member of RWA, and has finaled multiple times in the Golden Heart competition. A chemical engineer by training and a lover of books by nature, she lives in South Carolina.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book, all opinions expressed are my own.