Wednesday, September 20, 2023

My Book Launch: Hatch: A Change Your Life Guide by Jamie Saloff #Hatch

 

 


Title: Hatch: A Change Your Life Guide
Author: Jamie Saloff
Publisher: Sent Books
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Pages: 384
Genre: Self-Help/Motivational, Religion/Spirituality, Personal Growth/Personal Transformation 

If you could, how would you change your life?

While bravely facing the motherlode of difficult life challenges, you never dreamt the result would be a soul-sucking, heart-crushing existence.    

Although you try to ignore the emptiness, detachment, and feeling that you don’t belong, you rarely make changes. It just seems too impossible for so many reasons. Instead, you silenced your heart’s nagging with self-sacrifice, food stuffing, or by becoming a workaholic.  

Contemplating ending her life, Jamie Saloff chose instead to hatch a new one. She knows how self-doubt and unworthiness can cloud our ability to move forward after the darkness of illness, grief, trauma, or tragedy – because she’s faced it too.    

In Hatch – A Change Your Life Guide, Saloff walks readers through her step-by-step method to:  

• Awaken your soul’s purpose by listening to your heart’s voice   

• Find confidence in your next forward step by hearing your body speak

•See messages of guidance everywhere by learning where to look    

• Uncover your future in your past by examining your ancestral heritage      

• And much, much more…  

“It’s a simple question “Do you wish you could change your life for the better” while the answer is an easy one – do you have any idea of how to accomplish the task? “Hatch – A Change Your Life Guide” gives you a systematic process that will take you on a journey of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing…I highly recommend this wonderful and enlightening book” – Yolanda Renee

Buy Links:

 
Book Excerpt:
As long as I can, remember—though I’m not sure why—I’ve been labeled a misfit—a square peg, a Goonie, an outcast (every generation seems to have its own word for this). 

In kindergarten kids laughed at me saying I had a boy’s name. In elementary school, they said I hadn’t grown up with them, I wasn’t from there. Or maybe it was because even though I have never been outspoken, I decided I wouldn’t tolerate the bigoted French teacher and refused to go back to her class. The principle reprimanded me, called me “a quitter,” but I wasn’t swayed. I don’t think the kids (or the teacher) could quite understand that kind of rebellion from a ten-year-old. 

Another time, the teacher ordered me into the hallway where she told me to repeat to the principal what I’d just told her. I explained my drawing of an aneurysm to him. (Due to cholesterol or other blockage in a vein, a balloon-like area forms expanding the side of the vein. If it would burst, my father would have 45 minutes to live.) My teacher didn’t approve of my mother sharing the details of my father’s illness with a child. The principal only shrugged.

In middle school, I argued with the principal that, due to a highly publicized paper shortage, it was stupid to waste it by writing punishment sentences hundreds of times. I ended up having to run around the gym in front of my class, which did very little for my already degraded social status, but it was a win for my cause.

If you’ve been in this position, you know there is no going back. Once you’re tagged as an outlier, that’s where you stay. As I entered high school, I wasn’t “the right fit” to be one of  the majorettes. They can give whatever reasons they liked, but I’m pretty sure none of them had 60 trophies attesting to their ability and, while they were marching up and down the muddy hometown football field, I performed all over the world, including for servicemen at Pearl Harbor, in the shadow of Scotland’s Edinburgh castle, and other cities across the US and Europe. As they continued buddying up with football players in their cliques, I was privileged to experience foreign cultures and see historic sites firsthand instead of reading about them in a text book.

When we are mistreated or outcast by someone, we may blame ourselves. We falsely wonder, “Am I ugly?” “Fat?” “Horrible?” and all sorts of self-degrading ideas. This self-blame can cause us to slip into isolation because we feel unliked or unloved. 

Eventually, if you give yourself space, you learn that being a misfit is a good thing. It allows you to do things your way without others caring. You may discover you are a bit of a loner, and that’s okay. This is particularly true for creatives and those who have suffered for their uniqueness. Yet it is your uniqueness that can make you great.

It doesn’t matter what labels they put on you. You can’t change their actions. Instead, you must realize that deep down they know you’re somehow different in ways they can’t understand. Whether that means you become a target or are simply ignored, they know there is something special about you, more specifically, you’re not like them—you’re not like “everyone else.” And maybe that scares them a little because they’re afraid to step out of the crowd—and you’re not.

What they sense is that you carry traits offering you the potential to do great things, even if you don’t realize it or feel like it could ever be possible. As it turns out, some of the worst things that have happened in your past, particularly in your youth, formed the exact survival traits you need to succeed as you trod forward.1

Despite the obvious definitions of hatch, i.e., “hatching new life from an egg,” “an escape hatch,” or “hatching a plan,” for readers of this book “hatch” means all that and more. It means realizing that no matter what brought you to this point, you have options and choices available to you right now to help you to Hatch a new and better life, one worth loving. And it doesn’t matter if they mark  you as “an outcast,” “a misfit,” or whatever else they want to label you because once you “hatch” it will no longer matter. 

Some of you are what I call the “Endurers.” You are still on the inside of the “egg” feeling trapped and not realizing there is a whole other, much better life waiting for you “out there.” (It’s hard to see through those thick-shelled walls.)

Others of you have potentially “hatched” but are now looking at all the broken pieces of your life. You may be feeling all “Humpty Dumpty” (who couldn’t put it all back together again) and are wondering, “what do I do now?” 

This book is about how I found myself in those positions and hacked my way out with very little guidance or direction. With much angst, I began seeking my way as a young adolescent and continue to machete my way forward as a senior. 

As you read on, in Phase One, you’ll learn how to listen to and follow the longings of your heart. 

Scratch that. If you knew what your heart wanted and how to follow it, you wouldn’t be reading this book. You’d be doing it. Instead, in Phase One you’ll learn how to listen to your body groan and soul weep. I’ll show you how those nagging little aches and pains, illnesses, and even accidental injuries can be translated into Marvelous Messages™ that can help you plan your Hatch. (This is where I had my first real breakthrough in my life.)

In Phase Two, we will circle back to your heart and all it desires. I’ll teach you ways to identify what your heart’s aching for you to do and how it ties into your soul’s purpose. Now, having a clearer idea on what you really desire—(you have known it all along, you’ve simply silenced it)—you can now set goals and a plan to obtain it. We’ll take a “look back to leap forward” to understand how some of the challenges you face today are the result of inherited trials that were never properly resolved in the generations that came before you. Lucky you, it’s now your turn to see if you can make it right. But, you’ll also learn about the gifts implanted within your spiritual DNA to help you along in your soul’s journey. 

In Phase Three, we will dig a little deeper. Having opened up the lines of inner communication, I’ll show you many ways to recognize and follow your intuition. 

In Phase Four, we will talk about the hard stuff—those barriers holding you to where you are now and how to overcome them—fear, mistaken perceptions, and other beliefs that cloud your mind and prevent you from being the “you” you came here to be. 

Lastly, in Phase Five, you’ll see how, once you open these doors to your body and soul, you not only are creating a new and better path for your life, you can create a better world. And that is a true transformation. Let’s begin…

_______________________

 


Jamie Linn Saloff is passionate about aiding fiercely independent, misfit, square pegs trapped in an unfulfilling life. Author, teacher, story weaver, spiritual counselor, seer of visions, pathfinder, for over thirty years Jamie’s taught how to reignite your heart by listening to your body groan and your soul weep. She is the author of twelve books including Hatch: A Change Your Life Guide and her Marvelous Messages™ series.

Author Links  

Website | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Amazon Profile

Monday, July 17, 2023

My Book Launch: Becoming Flawesome by Kristina Mand-Lakhiani #BecomingFlawesome

 


BECOMING FLAWESOME
Kristina Mand-Lakhiani
Ottawa Press and Publishing
280 pp.
Nonfiction

 

Perfection. We all dream of living by it, feeling it, being it…


And it is in the name of perfection that we demonise our flaws, make ourselves ‘less-than,’ and render ourselves vulnerable to the shame of not being good enough.

We live in a society that subliminally encourages us to wear metaphorical masks, slay our inner sadness, and ignore our imperfections, or as Kristina refers to them, her ‘dragons.’ Even within the world of personal development and spirituality, toxic perfectionism lurks in the shadows.

In Kristina’s upcoming book Becoming Flawesome #BecomingFlawesome, she reflects on her own story, her battle against perfectionism, and what it took for her to return to what she now deems to be her most authentic self. Being described as “10 years worth of therapy in one book,Becoming Flawsome is a celebration of our whole selves, warts and all, and the glory that is to be found in living in our truth.

Every chapter is closed with reflection points and exercises to encourage the readers to dive deep into the essence of who they truly are, what their values are, and how to navigate an oftentimes overwhelming world.

In this book, Kristina breaks the mould as she takes the reader on a journey through:

  • The dark, controversial side of ‘personal growth,’ and the insecurities that thrive on it

  • Self-care vs self-love, and why you need both

  • What authenticity actually is, beyond the buzz

  • The ‘Hermione Syndrome,’ and how to diagnose if you’re secretly suffering from it

  • How to create aligned lifestyle habits that stick

  • Why the more you judge others, the more you judge yourself

  • Societal masks, and how to remove them from your psyche 

  • Imposter syndrome in the world of high-flyers 

  • Emotional literacy: how to cope with strong, painful emotions healthily 


Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/mwtzj3jx 


Mind Valley Books: https://www.mindvalley.com/books/flawesome 

 
Book Excerpt:
The Key to Living an Imperfectly Authentic Life

Introduction

Let’s Begin

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a good book has to start with a proper introduction.

And by “proper” I mean that it has to prime the reader for the journey, raise excitement and set expectations, explain the process, and make reading the book an experience both profitable and smooth. After all, we are about to spend some time together on this journey.

Therefore, I was not surprised when on the first meeting with my publisher I was asked if I would consider writing a proper introduction to my book. You see—the original manuscript started with a story of me pondering my future book while standing in the shower, warm water running down my back, and my finger absentmindedly drawing random patterns on the fogged-up glass.

I started this book during the long years of successive COVID confinements, and I was planning to self-publish it because I wanted the freedom to make decisions about the book—how to write, what to write, what stories to include, what kind of experience to offer to my reader. So, naturally, it wasn’t following any universally acknowledged truths or conventions.

Yet, by the time I had to present my book-baby to the world, I felt that I wanted to give it the best possible future, and I had to face the big decision between my heart and my brain: Will it be self-published (heart), or will I work with a traditional publisher (brain)? Going the traditional way meant facing more choices between my quirky and obstinate self-expression and conventional ways of doing things.

This book is about finding your way back to yourself, about understanding who you really are, accepting your dents and scratches, your quirky uniqueness and even your flaws. It is about thriving in being unapologetically you, most flawesomely.

This book has been through the hands of several editors ever since I put the last stop on its original manuscript. This journey has been both emotional and transformative for me. I had to face my biggest dragon by far—my obstinate need for pure self-expression—over and over again.

When do you follow convention, and when do you stick to your own principles and values?

There is no simple answer to this question, except: you have to learn to balance.

If you follow all the rules that your peers expect you to follow, you bet all there is on a slim chance of the grand prize, but you do it at the price of your own unique self-expression. At times, I felt like I had to “sell my soul to the devil” for a chance at success.

But if you obstinately stick to your own unique quirks and principles, you might end up being unheard and misunderstood so universally that there is no point in writing a book. For it is the readers who make a writer. Without the readers, a book is just a private diary.

Reader, will you judge me if I tell you that this book is a delicate balance between convention and my own uniqueness? Of course, I want you to succeed. But I cannot give you the proper introduction to my book because every book is a journey. This book has been my journey, and

now it is yours. I walked my path to my true self, to understanding what makes me truly me . . .

and what of that unique quirkiness is simply noise. You see, your flaws and your dragons are there for a reason—they make you who you are, but they also hold the key to your biggest value, to your mightiest strengths, if you choose to look your dragons in the eye.

Now I am hoping that you will take this journey with me to your unique destination—to finding the path back to you. I will be your companion on this journey, but it is yours to take.

So why wouldn’t I tell you what’s ahead? Imagine if Gandalf told Bilbo Baggins that on his journey, he would encounter trolls, go through a perilous enchanted forest, and face a dragon in a far-away mountain. Wouldn’t that be a bit of a spoiler?

I want you to take this journey back to you without any spoilers, with an open heart, and trust that the destination is going to be worth your effort. Because becoming flawesome is the best gift you can give to yourself.

So, if you are ready, let’s begin!

_______________________

 

Kristina Mand-Lakhiani is an international speaker, entrepreneur, artist, philanthropist, and mother of 2 kids. As a co-founder of Mindvalley, a leading publisher in the personal growth industry, Kristina dedicated the last 20 years of her career from teachers like Michael Beckwith, Bob Proctor, Lisa Nichols, and many more. 

She started her career in a government office in her native Estonia and, by her mid-20s, achieved a level of success mostly known to male politicians at the end of their careers. It was shortly after that Kristina and her then-husband Vishen founded Mindvalley. From a small meditation business operating out of the couple’s apartment in New York, the company quickly grew into a global educational organization offering top training for peak human performance to hundreds of thousands of students all around the world. 

Kristina believes life is too important to be taken seriously and makes sure to bring fun into every one of her roles: as a teacher, mother, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and world traveller. Kristina helps her students to virtually hack happiness by taking them through her unique framework - “Hacking happiness” - a unique framework of balancing your life, taking in every moment, and paying close attention to the small daily choices.  

Kristina is also the author of three transformational quests - "7 Days To Happiness", "Live By Your Own Rules.” and "The Art of Being Flawesome". Kristina talks about personal transformation, authenticity, understanding and accepting oneself, and a path to happiness.

In July 2023, with the help of Hay House Publishing, Kristina releases her very first book - "Becoming Flawesome" #BecomingFlawesome. In her book, Kristina shares her own journey from being on top of a personal growth empire like Mindvalley to stepping aside, conscious uncoupling from her husband, and walking her path towards being more honest with herself. 

Website: https://kristinamand.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristinamand

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-mand-lakhiani-73168414/


Tuesday, July 4, 2023

My Book Launch: Happy Book Birthday to Smooth: Life Hacks To Get You Smoothly Through Chemo

 


We're thrilled to announce the release of Celia Bonaduce's new book, SMOOTH: LIFE HACKS TO GET YOU SMOOTHLY THROUGH CHEMO today! To help celebrate, we are asking our readers if you can please pretty please pick up a copy at Amazon and come back and tell us how you liked it? Or, leave a review while you're there! 
 

Congratulations, Celia, on your new release, Smooth: Life Hacks to Get You Smoothly Through Chemo!






Is Now Available in Paperback!
 




Title: Smooth: Life Hacks To Get You Smoothly Through Chemo
Author: Celia Bonaduce
Publisher: BookBaby
Pages: 100
Genre: Nonfiction

When cancer got in the way of Celia traveling for her day job as a field producer on the hit HGTV show, House Hunters, she did not let it stop her creativity. While the road to her first nonfiction book was anything but SMOOTH, it was a path that Celia felt compelled to explore. This collection of life hacks comes from Celia’s own experiences living through chemo.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3pmQoFa

 


One test had led to the next and then the next. I’d had two mammograms, an ultrasound, and a biopsy. So when the call came, I was ready.

“Hi, Celia…” my doctor said, her voice trailing off. “It’s cancer.”

“Yeah,” I said, picturing my life as a novelist and a TV producer grinding to an immediate halt. “My village would have to be missing its idiot for me to not have suspected this.”

So then I did the breast cancer thing—lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation. I learned a lot about breast cancer (for example, that mine was Stage 1-B triple-negative breast cancer). But here’s a secret: while there are lots of books out there about women’s personal stories during their breast cancer journeys, when you’re going through it, you don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else’s story. You just want to know how to get through it yourself.

This isn’t a personal retrospective, nor is it a medical journal. But I do have some recommendations I’d like to pass along—just some ideas that might make your life easier during this most stressful of times. All the products mentioned are my personal favorites from my own chemo adventure. No company has endorsed, sponsored, or bribed me. The photographs of the products are beautiful and professional looking because my beautiful and professional friend Justine shot them.

As you start your journey, you will wonder where you will get the mental as well as physical strength to voluntarily show up for chemo month after month. But you will find that strength or that strength will find you. I hope these tips will make your trip easier.

Because it’s all about you.

As it should be.

 




Celia Bonaduce is an award-winning novelist, podcast writer, and television producer. Celia spent fifteen years as a producer-director in lifestyle programming on shows that include ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and HGTV’s House Hunters and Tiny House Hunters. As a novelist with Kensington Publishing, Celia has written three trilogies: the Venice Beach Romances, the Fat Chance, Texas series, and the Tiny House Novels. The Tiny House Novel series won top honors with a Grand Finalist nod from the New Apple Official Selection, first place in the Book Excellence Awards and Gold from both the National Federation of Press Women and the Elite Choice Awards. Celia is also a co-author of A Texas Kind of Christmas, an Amazon #1 Best Seller in Historical Romance that took Gold from the National Federation of Press Women.

Website: https://www.celiabonaduce.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CeliaBonaduce

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CeliaBonaduceAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celiabonaduce

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/celia-bonaduce
 
 
 

Celia Bonaduce is giving away one $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms & Conditions:

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.

  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Card.

  • This giveaway ends midnight July 5.

  • Winner will be contacted via email on July 6.

  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 



 




Tuesday, June 20, 2023

My Book Launch: All That Glitters by Mike Martin

 



ALL THAT GLITTERS
Mike Martin
Ottawa Press and Publishing
282 pp.
Mystery

Sergeant Winston Windflower is moving on to a new chapter of his life, no longer an RCMP officer but now a Community Safety Officer in his home of Grand Bank, Newfoundland.

But when a body is found in the bed and breakfast he co-owns, diamonds are found in the body’s digestive system, and then Windflower’s friend Dr. Sanjay, who was given the diamonds for safekeeping, is kidnapped, it’s clear that crime has returned once more to Grand Bank.

Windflower finds himself back in the thick of it, helping his newly promoted friend, RCMP Corporal Eddie Tizzard, track down a ruthless diamond smuggler who will stop at nothing — kidnapping, even murder — to pull off his dirty business.

This is another finely spun Windflower mystery that contrasts suspense and tension with the joys of friendship, family, and gratitude.

Amazon (US): https://tinyurl.com/4ucyjwzv

Amazon (Canada): https://tinyurl.com/z9b2n5br

Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/2nzf687b

Book Excerpt:
After hugs and kisses and pats on the head all around, Windflower managed to get out of the house and walked to the B&B. He had just opened the front door of the beautifully restored inn when Levi Parsons, the manager, came running towards him.

“We think he’s dead,” said Levi.

“Who’s dead?” asked Windflower. 

“The man in Room 12,” said Levi. “Beulah tried to get in to make up his room, but the door is locked and bolted from the inside. And there’s not a sound.”

Beulah, the cleaner and part-time server, came around the corner from the kitchen when she heard Windflower arrive. 

“I don’t know for sure, but there’s something funny going on,” she said. “We haven’t really seen him all week, and now there’s no answer when I knocks on his door.”

“Maybe he’s sleeping,” said Windflower.

“His breakfast tray is still outside his door. I knows we don’t see much of him, but he always takes his meals in and leaves the empty one outside. Then he often goes out in the morning, and that’s when I cleans up,” said Beulah.

“Sneaks out,” said Levi. “I only seen him once. When he checked in. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Windflower. “What’s his name?”

“Robert Smart,” said Levi. “From Burlington, Ontario. That’s his Cadillac parked on the side. He wanted a safe and secure place for his car.”

Windflower climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked down the corridor to Room 12. He knocked on the door and called out the man’s name. No answer. He took the keys from Levi and tried the lock. But they were right. The deadbolt was locked from the inside.

He looked at Levi and then at Beulah. “Do you have a couple of hair pins I can borrow?” he asked Beulah.

The woman looked at him funny but reached into her hair and pulled out one bobby pin and then another. She handed them to him.

“Don’t look,” he said to Levi as he inserted the closed side of one bobby pin into the bottom portion of the lock. Then he broke the other pin in half and pushed it into the top of the lock and jiggled it back and forth. After a little while he could feel the deadbolt moving and finally unlocking. He swung the door open.

_______________________

 

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning and best-selling author of the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 13 books in this light mystery series with the publication of All That Glitters

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. 

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest A Tangled Web was released as an audiobook in 2023. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Website: https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

My Book Launch: Happy Book Birthday to Babe in the Woods


 


We're thrilled to announce the release of Jude Hopkins' Babe in the Woods today! To help celebrate, we are asking our readers if you can please pretty please pick up a copy at Amazon and come back and tell us how you liked it? Or, leave a review! 
 

Congratulations, Jude, on your women's fiction new release, Babe in the Woods!





Is Now Available in Paperback!
 

It's September 1995, the first year of the rest of HADLEY TODD'S life. After a decade in Los Angeles, trying and failing to launch her career as a playwright, Hadley has returned to her hometown in rural New York to write and to be closer to her lonely, ailing father - not that he always welcomes the help. Between looking after him and teaching Shakespeare to teenage malcontents at the local high school, Hadley is determined to produce a masterpiece before 36. She even joins a writing group, thinking the structure will keep her focused. Hadley hopes to channel her recent heartbreak from being dumped in L.A. into writing a play about the last moment of a woman's innocence, a play that an agent friend in Hollywood has promised to produce. But she struggles with writer's block and seeks inspiration.

Enter TREY HARDING, a young, handsome sports reporter for a local radio station who covers sports at the high school where Hadley teaches. Trey reminds Hadley of her L.A. ex and is the perfect spark to touch off her imagination. Trey has two girlfriends who work at the school, giving Hadley a great perch from which to watch and write down their interactions. The fact that Trey is an aspiring rock star and she has L.A. record biz connections makes the alliance perfect. She dangles promises of music biz glory while watching his moves. But after they both go to Hollywood, Hadley learns that believing in herself is all the inspiration she needs.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/41FoWQa 

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/451nn20


About Jude Hopkins


Jude Hopkins has published essays in The Los Angeles Times, Medium, and elsewhere, as well as poetry in numerous journals and magazines. Her work can be found on her website at judehopkinswriting.net.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/HeyJudeNotJudy

Medium: https://medium.com/@heyjudehopkins