Category: giveaway

In Maternally Challenged, you’ll discover:  That you aren’t alone, all moms worry they don’t know what they’re doing!

About Maternally Challenged: How My Special Needs Son Taught Me to Sack Up and Laugh

Are you parenting by the seat of your pants? Discover a new mindset to embrace the joy and madness of motherhood. Are your kids driving you crazy? Do you worry that despite your best efforts you still aren’t doing enough?

As a mother of two with a special-needs son, author Kathy Chlan knows what you’re going through. With her popular blog, Unfiltered Mom, Chlan has helped countless parents navigate the chaos of raising kids. And now she’s here to help you!

Maternally Challenged: How My Special Needs Son Taught Me To Sack Up & Laugh! explores the day-to-day challenges of raising a special-needs child. Through heartwarming and hilarious personal accounts, you’ll find that you aren’t alone in dealing with family dysfunction. With Chlan’s guidance, you’ll learn methods to re-contextualize your troubles for a new outlook on parenthood and life. You may even start to laugh through the adversity. In Maternally Challenged, you’ll discover: – That you aren’t alone: all moms worry they don’t know what they’re doing – What steps you can take when life throws you a series of curveballs – How to stop dwelling on your mistakes and find time to appreciate the little victories – How to teach your special-needs child that using disability as a crutch is never an option – How to put terrible days and tantrums into greater perspective, and much, much more!

This book is your laugh-out-loud guide to making sense of motherhood. If you like practical advice, using laughter as medicine, and personal stories from one mom’s journey, then you’ll love Kathy Chlan’s motivational resource. Buy Maternally Challenged today to start worrying less and laughing more!

My Thoughts

I started reading Maternally Challenged last night and could not put the book down. I laughed, I cried and my heart was full of joy. Kathy gets parents and gives a voice to everyone who is too scared to admit that yes we screw up, we yell, we make mistakes, we miss things and we are so far from perfect but our kids are happy and loved. I actually found myself laughing out loud at times when I was reading her book and my kids thought I was losing it, so I tried to explain to them what was so funny. It went over their heads but my husband even cracked a smile.

Maternally Challenged is the story of Kathy’s journey through motherhood from just before she was married. We follow her pregnancy that was plagued with extreme morning sickness to a C-section at birth. It wasn’t until they brought their son home that they realized something was wrong, from crying and curling up in pain all through the night to vomiting formula. This was just the start of what was to come – from a massive list of food allergies to alopecia and more. Their life became a whirl of doctors appointments, around the clock care and school for her son at an early age. Through it all, was the constant worry that all parents have – what can I be doing better, am I doing enough, should I try something different?

Their journey was emotionally exhausting (not to mention physically with all the driving from hospital to hospital). This could have worn them out and broken them. Instead they found the key to parenthood and to life in general. Admitting that yes this is going to be hard but laugh. Laugh when you feel like crying. Laugh when you feel like you can’t give one more ounce. Laugh when things don’t turn out like they planned. The road may not be perfect like we see on television but it is our road and we need to make the best out of it.

Maternally Challenged is a beautiful book full of humour, inspiration and guidance. You laugh out loud and you can completely relate to Kathy and her family (I loved how members of her family wrote a letter and it is included throughout the book – especially her brother’s thoughts on Kathy as a child and her clothes!). While we all face different challenges, the lessons that Kathy teaches us can be used in any situation. This is a definite must read book for new parents and seasoned parents!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5+/5

About the Author

“After years of being in the trenches of motherhood, I know how easy it is for your identity to get wrapped up in your kids. Now that mine are all out of the house, I’m a mom with new priorities: I’m trying to find me.

This is a place for moms to embrace the mistakes we’ve made (and continue to make) with no judgments while we navigate a new phase of life. It’s dysfunction at its best. As a mother of two with a special needs son, I know what it’s like to have a family that doesn’t fit the mould—and I love it. My kids are the gifts that keep on giving.

I’m tipping a hat to my journalism past and sharing my perspective on the modern frontier for moms: treating yourself, finding your passions, saying no, and—of course—my family’s crazy stories to help other moms realize that life isn’t so bad. If you had a terrible day and screamed at your kid over Skype or in person, big deal. Here you’ll find inspiration for moms who aren’t sure about what they’re doing. (And don’t worry, there are a lot of us.)

We’ve all got adversities in life. My response? Laugh through it.”

You can connect with Kathy on her blog Unfiltered Mom.

The Giveaway!

My Canadian and American readers can now enter to win their own copy of Maternally Challenged via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Can Cassia and Theo end the mortal war and return balance to the earth and heavens? Or, will their game of fate lead down a path of destruction, betrayal, and romance neither of them saw coming?

About Fragile Chaos

Every fiber of my being is woven from the rage of mortals.

Theodric, the young God of War, has a talent for inciting conflict and bloodshed. After being stripped of his powers by his older brother, King of Gods, he sets out to instigate a mortal war to prove himself worthy of being restored to power.

I loved Kisk once; it was my home… But that was before. This is now.

Sixteen-year-old Cassia, like many in the modern era, believes gods and goddesses to be just a myth. Enemy to her country and an orphan of the war, she has no time for fairy tales. That’s until religious zealots from Theo’s sect offer her up as a sacrifice.

Can Cassia and Theo end the mortal war and return balance to the earth and heavens? Or, will their game of fate lead down a path of destruction, betrayal, and romance neither of them saw coming?

My Thoughts

This was an AMAZING audiobook from the start, I was hooked and could not stop listening. It was full of power, strength, romance and myth – everything I love and more.

The setting takes place in a mythical world with people praying and sacrificing to the Gods but so many of them have actually forgotten the Gods themselves or have dreamed up a different version of the Gods in their own minds. Cassia is a young woman who is betrayed by her country who view her as an enemy. Her parents are gone and she has lost everything she held dear.

Near the beginning of the book, Cassia is sacrificed to the God of War by her fellow citizens. You can just imagine her shock, pain and the sting of betrayal. Theo, the God of War, accepts her as a sacrifice and brings her to his home. While he does this he doesn’t initially full accept her as his “bride”.

Theo is full of raw power, strength and an almost anger. War and fighting is in his blood and he is plagued with sibling rivalry and his own betrayals. Cassia, with her innocence and proud nature, brings out a new side of him. One of hope and trusting. We watch as his character evolves and he slowly begins to fall in love with her.

The pair are thrown together not by choice but soon discover they have a strong attraction towards each other. They have to learn to trust but with their past history and the current political and war going on this makes it very difficult. They would tend to take one step forward and two steps back.

The plot in this story is amazing and I loved every moment of it. What I really enjoyed was having the two narrators, male and female. This made a huge difference in the telling of this story and really helped to bring the story to life. They also included background noise (chatter/rocks crumbling, etc..) which made the novel that much more real. I have never listened to that type of book before and it was fantastic.

This is a definite must listen to audiobook, you will not be disappointed.

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

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Amber R. Duell was born and raised in a small town in Central New York. While it will always be home, she’s spent the last six years living in Germany and Maine as a military wife where the next step is always an adventure.

When Amber isn’t writing, she’s wrangling her two young sons. She is a lover of history, a fan of snowboarding, and a travel enthusiast. In her downtime, she can be found curling up with a good book and a cat or two.

About the Narrators

Bradley Pittman is a producer and freelance musician living and working in Atlanta. He received a bachelor’s degree in audio production from Georgia State University in 2016. Though he most commonly works on musical projects, he began self-producing audiobook chapters in 2015 as a way to unite his love of studio production with his love of literature.

Jamie-Lee Lewis, aka Jaylew, hails from the island of Jamaica. Since a small child, she’s always had a hyper imagination. She enjoys writing and telling stories, singing and composing songs, entertaining and edifying, playing different characters as well as creating them through drawings, and finding the beauty and fun in everything she does. She is currently a professional and passionate Youtuber.

Audio Excerpt

The Giveaway

Fragile Chaos Giveaway: $5 Amazon Gift Card/eBook OR Headphones/Mug/Tea

Disclosure: I received an audiobook in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.