Category: iRead Book Tours

October 3, 2016

Corporate Citizen Book Review

A desperate call for help, finds Bianca back in the US with her team of friends, in Corporate Citizen.

About Corporate Citizen

A call for help from an old friend lands Bianca and the crew back in Boston. On a timeout with Dante, due to revelations in the aftermath of the showdown in Naples, Bianca is drawn to a mysterious new ally who understands the traumas of her past, and has some very real trauma of his own. Murder, designer drugs, and a hacker named Magician challenge our team, and Bianca learns that leaving Rendition behind might be much harder than she thinks.

My Thoughts

I could not wait for Corporate Citizen to be released! I fell in love with the first four books in the Roma Series and this was on my MUST READ list. I always get nervous when I read the next book in a series, will it be as good as the previous one, will the characters change or will it be the same? Corporate Citizen was the PERFECT addition to the Roma Series – it was exciting, fresh, adventurous and I was unable to put it down!

Bianca is an incredible young woman and has to be one of my all time favourite characters of any book that I have ever read. She is independent, strong, intelligent and never apologizes for who she is (well not directly!). In this novel, while on a break from Dante (her boyfriend), she meets another young man who is directly tied into her new case in Boston. He is a troubled young man but one who understands her past, the trauma that it has caused her and it is amazing to see her open up to him. We see this whole new side of Bianca and you fall in love with her more.

The plot line itself was intense and amazing – something Gabriel is excellent at! He draws you right into the story and it is so intense you literally can not put the book down. The story opens up at the right spots, giving you just the right amount of information when you need it and leaves you guessing for the rest. The new hacker, Magician, adds a whole new level of excitement to this novel! He adds more mystery into an already adventure packed novel.

Corporate Citizen is another MUST read! You will not be disappointed with this story and while you are at it, check out the whole Roma series. This series based on Bianca and her “team” are incredible and you will not want to miss one moment of their exploits.

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

Rating:5/5

About the Author

Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Roma Series, available from Winter Goose Publishing. Gabriel has also written numerous short stories and essays found online and in print. You connect with him on his website, Twitter and Facebook.

Other Books in the Roma Series

The Giveaway!

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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 26, 2016

Journey Out of Fat, Dumb and Ugly Book Spotlight

Are you tired of living your life according to the labels that have been slapped onto you? Do you feel you are always pressured to conform to other people’s ideas of who they believe you are? Do you feel destined to live a life of mediocrity and unhappiness, despite the fact that you know you are meant for something bigger?

About Journey Out of Fat, Dumb and Ugly

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you will easily identify with journey. Journey is a lost and tortured soul on a personal quest to escape the physical, mental and emotional servitude of the unfair labels, invisible barriers, and dire consequences of a lifetime of decisions made out of fear and feelings of inferiority. Journey’s Path to freedom is a dramatic, tear-jerking, yet funny roller-coaster ride that beautifully demonstrates how to:

Change the directions of your thoughts and life.
Use the power of your pain to discover and serve your life purpose.
Eliminate toxic relationships and self-sabotaging behavioral patterns.

You have the power to remove whatever labels have been placed on you. If you know there’s more to you than meets the eye, and you’re determined to break free of a lifetime of painful stereotypes and a mediocre, dissatisfied existence, then this book is your key to opening the door to the exceptional life that you always imagined.

You can purchase a copy of the book on the Authors website.

About the Author

Cherie Esteves was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the city she so affectionately calls her first love. There she was deeply rooted and heavily influenced by the rich, diverse crosspollination of the European American culture that makes New Orleans one of the most unique and intriguing cities in the world. Cherie moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1989, where she raised her two beautiful children and has continued to live for over twenty years. Her production company’s name, Creole Peach Productions, was born out of her alliance to both cities. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

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Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

September 19, 2016

A Drop of Water Book Spotlight

In A Drop of Water, Yvonne reflects upon her past experiences, grief, and losses to find her way back to her spirituality and strength.

About A Drop of Water

In this extraordinary book, Yvonne reflects upon her past experiences, grief, and losses to find her way back to her spirituality and strength. She bares her soul, yet is able to use water as a lighthearted, uninhibited, and fun way to express how we are all connected. It is a spiritually inspired book about healing, grief, and personal growth.

It becomes a beautiful poetic journey as she discovers her love of water as part of what led her towards her spiritual path. Through her writing she expresses how she found her way through several tremendous losses, including the loss of her husband. In her ability to endure, she found a strength she never knew she had.

This book is for anyone that has ever struggled with depression, grief, or loss of any kind. It is for anyone interested in personal growth and healing. By sharing her personal story she is able to remind us that we are never truly alone. Water connects us all.

You can buy this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Yvonne Williams Casaus is a Mom, Wife, Author, Counselor, and Play Therapist. She is an independently licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LPCC), a Registered Play Therapist (RPT), and is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. She specializes in Depression, Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She has a private practice in New Mexico and has been helping adults, children, adolescents, and families for over eleven years.

Yvonne’s areas of expertise include Depression, Anxiety, Divorce, Panic Attacks,(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), Sexual Abuse, Rape, Physical Abuse, Grief, ADHD and other issues. She also specializes in treating traumatized children with issues such as PTSD, Sexual abuse, Physical Abuse, Neglect, Adoption, and Reactive Attachment Disorder.

You can connect with her on website, facebook, twitter.

The Giveaway

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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 12, 2016

Everlasting Lies Book Review

In Everlasting Lies, Edina Paxton is kissed at twelve, seduced at fourteen and married with child at fifteen. She immediately regrets her marriage to Charles Vernon and is relieved when he leaves to fight in the trenches during WW1. She soon finds love, comfort and sexual satisfaction with Bill, another soldier and the boy who first kissed her.

About Everlasting Lies

Charles is invalided out of the army and is sent to India on a hospital ship. There, he becomes a manager of a coalmine in Britain’s Indian Empire, with all the privileges that his position rewards, including sexual favours from female employees. At the end of his army service in 1920 he returns to England to collect his family and return to India, only to be greeted with the news that while he was away Edina was at play. She is pregnant.

Reluctantly, Edina and her three children sail for India with Charles and Edina gives birth to her fourth child while sailing south on the Red Sea. On reaching India Charles finds his Indian mistress is pregnant and Edina finds Charles’s Indian boss to be very attractive. It’s a mutual attraction. Neither Edina nor Charles is a saint.

Piecing together fragments of her grandmother’s remarkable and tragic story, Everlasting Lies is Barbara’s loving tale of the early life of Edina, her grandmother, and Charles, Edina’s husband. They both experience the horrors of WW1 and, in hopes of renewing their marriage, start new lives as members of the upper class in Imperial India.

My Thoughts

Just wow! Everlasting Lies is an incredible story that leaves you shocked, happy, angry at times and at other times emotionally involved. Edina had a horrible transition into adulthood after becoming pregnant. My heart ached for Edina throughout the novel, she is a tender soul who had her heart broken and tested far too many times. The way she was treated by Charles and her lack of rights in general is shocking and disturbing. Charles at many times at the book made me so angry and I wanted to lash out at him. He never treated Edina the way she truly deserved and took advantage of her age and naive nature. Edina tries to be kind and play the good wife but it does take quite a toll on her throughout the novel. I felt like she aged herself and separated herself from her family and friends, the true protectors that she needed.

When he drags his family to India, a trip that I was personally so angry at him for enforcing on Edina and her children, we see him almost redeem himself both in Edina’s eyes and our own (ALMOST!). Edina has a difficult choice to make – make the most of their marriage, forgive themselves for their mistake (which also includes her own affair) or for them to continue to stray. The move to India puts a lot at stake for both of them as well as opens their eyes to their own mistakes and how it has affected their children.

Everlasting Lies is an incredible tale that will leave you shocked, angry, full of emotion and raw. I never wanted to put this novel down. I had to continue to read Edina and Charles’ story, although many times I prayed Charles would just leave my prayers were never answered. The story ends at an almost crucial point in their marriage – where they decide to work on their marriage but there are hints of the start of more affairs. I wanted to know so much more! You will fall in love with this fantastic novel!

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

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Barbara Warren always has the pedal to the metal. Born in England and educated at a convent, she left school at sixteen and was selling encyclopedias in the roughest part of London at eighteen. She married and emigrated to Canada when she was twenty-three, had three charming daughters, went to university when she was thirty-six and retired from teaching in her mid fifties.

Then she pursued her passion for the arts and for travel. She and her husband rode camels in India, elephants in Nepal and horses in Montana. They hitchhiked in Norway, cycled across Denmark and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef. Barbara’s paintings grace homes in Canada, USA and Mexico and she designs her own clothes. She spends the winters in Mexico and the summers in the bible belt of southern Alberta.

Her first novel, Everlasting Lies, tells the story of her grandparents’ love affairs with each other and with others. They struggle to survive in the last years of Victorian England and the horrors of WW1 and then start a new life with four children in Imperial India. You can connect with her on her website and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

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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 6, 2016

Bossy Flossy

Had Bossy Flossy finally met her match?

About Bossy Flossy

Flossy is the bossiest girl around. She’s bossy at home and she’s bossy in school. She’s bossy to her friends and she’s bossy to her cat. Sometimes she’s even bossy to her teacher! Flossy doesn’t understand why no one will listen to her. One day, Flossy meets Edward, a boy who may be just as bossy as she is. Has Flossy finally met her match?

My Thoughts

It is hard not to be bossy as a child, sometimes they can’t control their own emotions or even making up with their own perceived disadvantages of being smaller by being bossy. I know my youngest can sometimes be quite bossy but he doesn’t always mean it. When children first meet someone with the same personality they can get quite a shock. Are they really that mean and pushy?? (I know adults can have quite a shock to when they meet their match!). But in some ways this is a good thing, they can learn from these encounters. Children can learn how not to behave and how words can hurt. This is the perfect book for toddlers and young children alike who are entering school or daycare. They can learn so much about behaviour, words and actions and how they can hurt others. It opens up so much discussion between parent and child.

Bossy Flossy is well written, age appropriate language and sentences. The illustrations are bright, bold and perfect for young children. We fell in love with the title of this book and made it into a catchy tune when someone in the house was being too bossy (‘who is a bossy flossy, bossy flossy!’!). A well written, fun book for children that will be perfect to add to your child’s library!

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

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Paulette Bogan admits she was bossy as a child. She is the author and illustrator ofVirgil & Owen, which was chosen as one of Bank Street Best Children’s books of the Year 2016, Virgil & Owen Stick Together, which won a Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal for Picture Books, and Lulu The Big Little Chick, which won a Children’s Choice Book Award. She lives in New York City with her husband, three daughters, and two dogs. They ALL think she is STILL bossy. But they’ve never told her to go to her room! You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

The Giveaway!

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