Atlantis A New Beginning: A Royal Love Story

Lisa Kulow is promoting her recently released book, the sequel to Atlantis after Midnight.  This mythological romance is available for only $1.00 on Amazon.

Here is the blurb for your perusal:

Prince of Atlantis, Kyrian, has moved to his new kingdom in the Amazon with his soon to be queen, Yew’ll.
He wants to begin his new life with his lady love and live happily ever after, but evil forces have other
plans for Kyrian and Yew'll and their new friends, Shea and Leode.Their happily ever after is interrupted by
heart-wrenching threats to their love and their new home that will leave you shaken.

Many Atlanteans are gifted with impressive powers of the mind and the ability to create, conjure,
shape shift, and heal; yet some choose to serve the Darkness by using their gifts to increase their own power.
As a result, terror and sickness return to reign over the land.

Shea, Kyrian's servant and friend, uses his final gift to save the world as they know it. In that process,
the whereabouts of some of the Atlanteans is realized. Can they come together to keep their race alive,
or will the once great empire be doomed to fall yet again?

A word from the Author:

I have always loved to read! I hoped to one day become an Author.
That has finally happened. If you're here thank you for your support.
I love most genre's fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, historical, and
mythology is a passion of mine.
Romance of any kind including Dianna Love, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K Hamilton.
I love horror as well. Stephen King, and Dean Koontz , Kimberly Shursen among many others.
you can follow or contact me at.
https://www.facebook.com/lisakulowauthor/
https://twitter.com/nobody06
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100492900521013915385/posts
http://lisakulow2016.wixsite.com/lisakulow
authorlisakulow@gmail.com
I would love to hear from you and answer questions you have or requests.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please if you would leave a review that would be amazing!

Book Boost: Letting Go into Perfect Love by Gwen Plano

Stalwart Rave Reviews Book Club member Gwen Plano is the author of a powerful memoir about recovering from abuse.  Letting Go into Perfect Love is a profound piece of work, and even if you haven't been personally touched by domestic violence, this book could be a source of wisdom and insight.  Check out the blurb below.

Blurb:

Inspiring and unforgettable, Letting Go into Perfect Love is a riveting account of a journey through the terror of domestic violence to a faith that transforms all. As a college administrator, Gwendolyn M. Plano lived her professional life in a highly visible and accountable space--but as a wife and mother, behind closed doors, she and her family experienced unpredictable threat. The statistics are staggering--every 9 seconds in the United States, a woman is assaulted or beaten--but to Gwen, this was her secret; it was her shame. When her husband eventually turned his brutality on her son, she knew she could no longer remain silent.

Alternately heart-wrenching and joyful, this is a story of triumph over adversity--one woman's uplifting account of learning how to forgive the unforgiveable, recover her sense of self, bring healing into her family, and honor the journey home. Accompanied by glimpses of celestial beings, Gwen charts a path through sorrow to joy--and ultimately, writes of the one perfect love we all seek.

The story that unfolds is not a blow-by-blow account of savagery hidden within a twenty-five-year marriage; rather, it is a walk through innocent dreams betrayed--to courage found. "Tragedy spares no one;" Gwen points out, "it just courts each of us differently. One way or another, it finds a path into our hearts, and there we do battle with the intruder." As a survivor who came out of her unhealthy relationship determined to start over, Gwen artfully depicts the challenges of balancing the obligations of motherhood and career with her family's healing process, while offering hope to anyone facing monumental challenges.

Integral to Gwen's journey is her faith. Because of her Catholic upbringing, she struggles with the scandal of divorce, but finally makes her peace. When her daughter reveals her molestation by clergy, however, her fragile sense of serenity dissolves. We walk with Gwen as she tries to make sense of this horror. The agony experienced by the entire family is devastatingly palpable. Against all odds, Gwen emerges confident of her faith and begins to see the threads of meaning in even the darkest moments.

This is a book for all. But, for those who have been in a destructive relationship, Gwen's story will be heartbreakingly familiar. For those who have been spared such diminishment, it will provide insight into the often misunderstood phenomenon of domestic violence. Since one in every four women will experience such threat in her lifetime, understanding that murky world may provide the reader with the skills needed to help his or her sister or friend or neighbor. Whether victim or friend, though, readers will be inspired by the author's courage and ultimate resolution of her predicament. And, you may see your own challenges a little differently.

Find out more about Gwen, her journey, and her work by following her on twitter or Facebook.

Find out more about the advantages of joining the Rave Reviews Book Club, where I met Gwen, by clicking here.

Book review: With Angel's Wings by Stephanie Collins

Talk about keeping it real!  This novelized memoir tells the true story of the author's struggles as a young mother of a severely ill baby and an older child with special needs.  She pulls no punches about the resulting exhaustion, anxiety, guilt, and depression.  Laura’s family, and especially her husband, are unable or unwilling to give her the kind of support she could literally die without.  You want to just go back in time and give the author all the hugs and everyone else a kick in the pants.  Thankfully, in the midst of all the heartache and second guessing, Laura finds love, and it becomes her lifeline.  And don't worry, there are heartwarming moments amidst the struggles.  I couldn't stop turning the page to see what would happen next, and my next stop may need to be the author’s blog so I can see how they’ve done in the intervening years.

This book can speak to anyone, and I think it would really be of benefit to parents of children with severe medical problems and their friends and family.  I think every NICU in the country should have a copy.  It provides validation of the hurricane of emotions parents in that situation have to deal with.  Even if you don't have a personal connection to such a child, the book gives you a glimpse into the reality of being a caretaker for the severely ill.  It fosters empathy in people with more ordinary life experiences.  This is a story than can touch any heart.

My RRBC Spotlight Tour

I just completed a blog tour organized by the Rave Reviews Book Club.  This is a group of indie authors who have come together for community and mutual support.  Every month, active members have a chance to be chosen to be highlighted by the club in a number of ways (Spotlight Author, Members of the Month, Book of the Month, Member of the Week, etc.).  The choice is based largely on the quality of support you provide to your fellow members,  so the more you put into helping others, the more you get out of participating in the club.

The tour was a blast.  My hosts were lovely and generous.  They gave me a chance to share about my life, my process, and my work.  I got a nice uptick in sales as well as a chance to strengthen my online presence by being featured in so many different blogs.  Additionally, it was gratifying and heartwarming to get to know some of my fellow writers via our discussions of my posts.  I was also thrilled to be interviewed by the inimitable Bill Ward on the Rave Waves Internet radio channel.

I encourage you to check out my posts and interview, as well as the Rave Reviews Book Club itself.  I've had great fun since I joined at the beginning of 2016, and I've learned a great deal from my fellow members.

Book Review: The One Discovered by Yvette Calleiro

This YA fantasy novel follows the awakening of high school senior Sofia, who discovers that she is not the normal teenage human she always thought she was.  Half-brothers Angel and Ar’ch turn up in her small town, and all heck breaks loose.  They are on a mission to bring Sofia and her mother home, so that Sofia can save their people, the Diasodz. Naturally, some evil forces have a real problem with that plan.

I found Sofia to be a relatable, true-to-life, and interesting protagonist. I thought her relationship with her mother was touching and realistic. I appreciated the sensitivity that the issues of adoption, egg donation, and surrogacy were explored, specifically with how the author highlighted Angel's healthy, honest upbringing as compared to the unhealthy secret-keeping in Sofia's family.

Overall, the story is well-written and the characters sympathetic.  The pacing is good, and the ending sets you up to want to read the next installment.  The descriptions are effective, and the author reveals just enough information about the Diasodz to pique your curiosity, much like Ar’ch arouses Sofia’s own curiosity.  I will definitely be reading the sequels.

RRBC Recruitment: My Responsibility as a Writer

Today is Recruitment Day for one of the author groups to which I belong, the Rave Reviews Book Club.  It's a great group if you're looking for some marketing and learning opportunities and you're willing to help out your fellow authors.  The theme this time around is "My Responsibility as a Writer."

It should go without saying, but my first responsibility as a writer is to write good stuff; that means you need both good ideas and good execution.  One without the other is pretty pointless.

I also feel an obligation for my books to have some socially redeeming value.  I write supernatural fantasy at the moment.  I'm not ashamed to say that it is escapism at its finest.  Even so, I try to say a few things about life in the course of the adventure.  I include characters that are gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and I make them real people, not caricatures consigned to serving only as villains.  I include people of color as well as biracial individuals, and they aren't just there to be the first people to die.  Representation matters.  It matters to people of color to see themselves represented in stories.  It matters that most pop culture is often white people from cover to cover.  Diversity enriches the reading experience for everyone.  It teaches empathy and an appreciation for what makes America great.  It isn't tokenism to believe that the default race of every character needn't be white.

I feel that one more responsibility that I have as an author is to promote reading and literature in general.  One way I do this is by promoting my fellow writers.  RRBC is a great place to do that.

So, writers and readers, I recommend you give the Rave Reviews Book Club a glance.  You might like what you find.  Tell them I sent you.  ;-)

My Happy Hysterectomy

When you have gynecological problems severe enough that you start googling things like "hysterectomy," you quickly find that the internet is a wast expanse of horror stories.  There is an endless supply of women who feel like they have ruined their lives by removing their misbehaving uterus and/or ovaries.  You find yourself reading one tale of woe after another.  You find people who make surgical menopause sound like a curse from the devil himself: warping your personality, ruining your sleep, and killing your sex life.  You'll find whole groups devoted to keeping women "whole."

Well, I'm here to tell you that I am perfectly fine with my total hysterectomy and oophorectomy.  Thrilled, even.  Delighted.  Relieved.  Happy.  You get the picture.

I had the trifecta: uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and recurring complex ovarian cysts.  The fibroids made me severely anemic.  The cysts would twist and bleed, sending me to the emergency room in agony in the middle of the night.  All of them conspired together to make my periods a nightmare of pain punctuated by rivers of blood to rival the book of Exodus.

Now, I could have been more conservative in treating these problems once they were finally diagnosed.  I could have had the cysts surgically removed for biopsy, saved some ovary, kept the uterus.  I could have treated with hormones and prayed that would be enough, and if I had been interested in preserving fertility, that would have been the way to go.  But our family is complete, and I was weary of managing problems that could possibly be eliminated with surgery.  I didn't want this all to continue hanging over my head, leading to future suffering and future surgery down the line.

So, at 36 years old, I decided to get rid of the whole shebang.

And I am totally fine.  I'm better than fine.  I feel better than I've felt in ages.  I certainly feel more "whole" than I did with garbage organs junking up my abdominal cavity with blood and inflammation all the damn time.  And I've been lucky that my estrogen patch works like gangbusters: no mood swings, nor hot flashes, nor insomnia.  I haven't gained so much as a pound.  I don't feel like less of a woman.  None of the dire things I read about have some to pass.  I am perfectly happy with my decision.

Would your surgery go as well as mine did?  Who knows?  Only you can decide how to treat your own problems, in light of your own particular situation and desires.  Surgery always has risks and always causes pain, even if you're lucky enough to go the minimally invasive route, as I was.  There is a sense of loss in forever closing the door to childbirth.  That grief is real, and it's something you need to have a plan to process, preferably before you go through with the surgery.  If you lose your ovaries, it might take you time to balance out your hormone replacement with the help of a good doctor.  You may not luck out on the first patch you try like I did.  But please don't let the internet terrify you out of considering surgery if you and your doctor think it will help you.

There are good stories, too, among the Hystersisters.  It's just that most happy people don't bother talking about it on the internet.