Book Review: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

 

Gender Queer: A Memoir       

Author: Maia Kobabe

Publisher: Oni Press

American release date: July 5, 2022

Format/Genre/Length: Hardback/LGBTQ Memoir/256 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

 

This graphic novel is the memoir of Maia Kobabe. Ey wanted eir family and friends to understand eir being non-binary in a way they could comprehend and hopefully accept. Eir struggle to find an identity for emselves began early, at a time when there were few role models to look up to. Although everyone automatically identified em as female, ey did not feel that way, but it’s very hard to get other people to understand what you yourself don’t completely understand.

 Maia has a very engaging voice, and a great storytelling style. I liked er artwork as well and appreciated eir honesty as ey bared eir soul in the pages of this book. The people in the United States are going through a difficult time right now, with trans rights being not just pushed aside but discarded. No one seems to matter to the current administration, other than the wealthy. It’s important for everyone to gain a better understanding of transpeople, rather than fearing them and trampling on their rights. This is also an important book for young people who might be struggling with their own identity to know they are not alone.

Virtual Book Tour: My Gangster Father and Me by Marcia Rosen

 Good morning everyone! Please welcome author Marcia Rosen to Full Moon Dreaming today! She is here to talk about her new release, My Gangster Father and Me. Marcia will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

 

MY GANGSTER FATHER AND ME

Marcia Rosen

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:  Memoir

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

Happy Fathers Day.
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions and as writers impact our words and stories.  Mine most definitely has. My father was a gangster. Really!

This is my story about my relationship with my father and how his profession affected me and my life, “He called me Sugar Plum. Both a blessing and a burden, I learned interesting lessons from my father: about generosity and determination, taking risks, and certainly finding the willingness to live life as an adventure.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT:

 

 

You can command respect by your actions and deeds. You most certainly can’t demand love. I’m pretty sure my father never really felt loved by his family or by my mother, except perhaps briefly when they were dating and first married.

 

My father showed me by example the importance of helping someone who is homeless and hungry. He often bought a meal for those in need. I watched him do those things. One time, I was walking with him on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, past the five and dime store. A man, who looked like he was around fifty, asked for money. My father said, “Let’s go inside and I’ll buy you something to eat.” I can still picture us going inside to buy him a meal.

 

I grew up learning to be tolerant, yet at times he was intolerant. He taught me to believe in the necessity of fairness and justice, yet he himself did not always demonstrate those traits. He taught me to respect others, yet from my point of view he showed a lack of respect for some people. I believe he was a racist and told him so. His own history figured largely in his feelings and way of thinking.

 

My father’s attitude towards Black people had its source when he was in his early twenties. He and my grandfather had a small, thriving business providing farm-grown produce to some of the larger grocery chains in the city. Several times a week, leaving well before dawn, they would drive outside of the city to buy fruits and vegetables, often returning after dark.

 

Tired and in need of some rest, a young Black man who worked for them took over the driving. He too must have been tired and fell asleep at the wheel. There was a serious accident killing my grandfather and sending my father to the hospital for several months. He was lucky to have survived, as was the driver. My dad was not told about his father until the doctors were sure about his recovery. He spent the rest of his life taking a small white pill each day to stop him from shaking; he had nerve damage from the accident. He rarely spoke about it. Yet it affected his entire life.

 

We strongly disagreed about his being a racist. He would always say, “I’m not racist.” I think he was. When I became very friendly with the daughter of a Black family who moved in next door to us, we moved. As a teenager, when my African American boss drove me home from work one day, my father had a fit. “What if someone sees you? What will they think?” It was the 1950s and people thought all sorts of illogical and irrational things.

 

There was more of this type of attitude and comments from both my father and mother. I was not at all happy with them, and they were not too pleased with me. This was a frequent topic of controversy between us.

 

For me, like many others in this country, I cried tears of hope on November 4, 2008, when it was announced an African American was elected President of the United States of America. Tears were on my cheeks, as they were on thousands of others: leaders and everyday Americans, white and Black. We voted and sent an important message. Not everyone heard it, but on that day reasonable voices prevailed.  

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Marcia Rosen is an award-winning author of twelve books including nine mysteries, the most recent is An Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, and Me Mystery: Murder at the Zoo. She is also the author of The Senior Sleuths, the Dying to Be Beautiful Mystery Series, and The Gourmet Gangster: Mysteries and Menus (Menus by her son Jory Rosen). She wrote The Woman’s Business Therapist and My Memoir Workbook and has given Memoir Writing presentations and classes for close to twenty years. Her Memoir Blog can be found on her website. For twenty-five years she was owner of a successful national marketing and public relations agency.

 

Marcia has frequently been a featured speaker at organization meetings, bookstores, libraries, and Zoom Programs presenting talks on Encouraging the Writer Within You, Marketing for Authors, Writing Mysteries…Not A Mystery and A Memoir Detective…Writing Your Life Story. She has also helped numerous writers develop and market their books.

 

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Southwest Writers, New Mexico Book Association, Public Safety Writer’s Association, International Memoir Writer’s Association, Women’s National book Association and National Association of Independent Writers and Editors—for which she is also a board member.

 

www.MarciaRosen.com

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Virtual Book Blast: Tiger Stripes by Hannah Renae

 Good morning! Please welcome author Hannah Renae to Full Moon Dreaming! She is here to tell us about her new release, Tiger Stripes. Hannah will be awarding a $100 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

 

Tiger Stripes

by Hannah Renae

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE: Memoir

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

Four psychiatric wards

 

Three rehabs

 

Two jail cells

 

And a suicide attempt...

 

 

Hannah was told she would not make it to 25 with the way she was living. She had struggled with mental illness her entire life, but at 22 her demons came to a head at the grips of severe substance abuse, life-changing trauma, and two major deaths in her life.

 

Hannah's struggles land her places no one ever hopes to grace; jail and psych wards lead her to the brink of death. Running out of options she's left with two choices: live or die. This heart-wrenching memoir combines recovery with bittersweet romance told in a raw presentation that immerses the reader into the author's dark state-of-mind in every page.

 

Tiger Stripes is going to add a valuable voice to the conversation about women's mental health issues.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT:

 

THE LETTER H

 

October 7, 2019

           

 

“HENRY! HENRY! HENNN-RYYYY!!!!”

 

I am screaming at the top of my lungs and can feel my throat tearing, becoming raw. I don’t know how many times I have said his name now, but it is all I know how to do because nothing is making any sense.

 

I am in a locked room and flashes of images are going through my head, but there is only one thing, one thought that I can focus on, that is pounding through my brain throughout this confusion and that is pouring out of my lungs to the point that my chest feels like it is going to rip.

 

“HENRY!” I choke on his name and a sob.

 

He cannot hear me, and he is not coming. He doesn’t know where I am and I don’t know where I am, but I know I am not supposed to be here—and I have to get out.

 

I beat at the metal door that barricades me from something unknown and choke on words that begin with H.

 

“HENRY!” “

 

“HELP!”

 

“HENRY!”

 

“HELP!”

 

I repeat these words for what feels like a lifetime, until I forget how to speak and my begging turns to carnal screaming—shrieking.

 

No one comes. No one answers. I wait for footsteps, for the sound of the door unlocking, but all I can hear is the sound of my frantic breaths and the echoes of a lamentation that is anything but human.

 

I look down at my body. My feet are bare against the concrete floor; I cannot feel them. The jean shorts I am wearing show off my slender, scratched legs and remind me that I am small and feeble at this moment, but in an act of desperation, I put all of my faith in the power of momentum and I run. I fucking run as fast as I can from the three paces it takes to get from the wall to the ominous looming, locked door and attack it with my entire being, letting out my most vicious battle cry as I fumble towards it.

 

The door wins.

 

I try again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

And again.

 

I am degraded to a crumbling, bruised ball of flesh.

 

I can barely speak, my throat reduced to sandpaper.

 

Everything hurts and I can taste the bitterness of blood in my mouth. The floor is like ice against my bare legs. Through the tears in my eyes I see the moon shining through a window at the top of the room. It is full and brilliant and illuminates the white of the brick walls that surround me. I realize that there is writing on them. People have been here before me. People will be here after me. Why am I here though? I should not be.

 

I should be home, where I belong. In bed, with him. Safe. I feel anything but that word in this moment, as terror sweeps through every single one of my nerves. 

 

I whisper in one last futile attempt:

 

“Henry?”

 

But there is silence. Horrible, deafening, fatal silence.

 

And it seems to last forever, until I hear it, or think I do. A click, the door unlocking, and the small room is suddenly filled with light. Fluorescence suffocates me.

 

When I dare to open my eyes, they do not find Henry. Instead I find a police officer looking back at me. He wears broad, black framed glasses that are too big for his face and he looks eerily familiar. A sudden memory of lying in a hospital bed comes to me but does not fully resonate. His face is forlorn and almost disappointed, as if he expected more out of me.

 

“I thought you were going to hurt yourself,” he tells me. “Promise you’ll stay calm and you can come out for a bit. We’ve got to get you fingerprinted.”

 

It’s then that I have the shattering realization that I am drunk and in a holding cell at a police station. The reason why escapes me though, as I try to grab onto flashes of sober memories but drown in my current state-of-mind.

 

I try to breathe with intent as I remember every single arrest-cliché in the book, and I cling to the fact that I am going to get my phone call. They will probably let me go—they have to. If anything, they will make me stay the night at the most.

 

I remember the silent promise I had once made myself—that the moment I got a DUI that I would put down the bottle for good. Jail was the worst it could get. It had been my crowning achievement at my last three rehabs that I had never graced the inside of a jail cell and I never planned to.

 

“Continue down the path you have been,” one of the staff members at my second treatment center had told me after sharing her own story about prison, “and jail is a guarantee.”

 

And here I am. Her words have come to pass, as promised.

 

I then remember what else she told me as we talked over a pack of Marlboro Reds on a warm Orange County night.

 

“Finish the 90 days,” she had said, “Or you will not make it and there will come a day where you will no longer be able to cry out ‘I’m a good person!’. You will lie. You will steal. You will become someone and something else. You will hurt everyone you love. You will lose everything, and just when you think you have lost it all, you will lose something else.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

If there is anything Hannah believes in, it’s hope, but that wasn’t always the case. For a long time, chaos was comfortable for Hannah, but at just 22 she would have to make her hardest decision yet: was life really worth living? Since picking up a pen Hannah has had a love for writing, and as an adult it would become her greatest tool in healing from an almost decade-long battle with severe mental illness and substance abuse. Her first book, Tiger Stripes, is a harrowing, raw telling of her year in and out of hospitals, treatment centers, and jail that finally led her on the road to recovery and freedom.

 

Hannah was born in Orange County, CA but has lived in the Los Angeles area for several years. She now lives in West L.A. with her boyfriend. When she is not writing she can be found reading, running, cooking, or finding the best vegan eats in L.A.!

 

Author Links: Website -http://hannahrenaeauthor.com/

 

Twitter - |https://twitter.com/byhannahrenae

 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hannahrenae/

 

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/hurnpublications/tiger-stripes/

 

Book Landing Page - https://hurnpublications.com/tiger-stripes/

 

Buy Links:

 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WM2S9Y2/ref=as_li_tl

 

B&N - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tiger-stripes-hannah-renae/1138814034?ean=9781736450901

 

 Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tiger-stripes

 

Apple Books - https://books.apple.com/us/book/tiger-stripes/id1553383519?at=11lvdC&uo=4&mt=11&ls=1

 

TBD - https://www.bookdepository.com/Tiger-Stripes-Hannah-Renae/9781736450901

 

Indigo - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/tiger-stripes-a-memoir/9781736450918-item.html?ref=isbn-search

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Virtual Book Tour: Raven's Apprentice by D. Robert Hardy

 Good morning everyone! Please welcome author D. Robert Hardy to Full Moon Dreaming! He's here to tell us about his new release, Raven's Apprentice. He will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on his tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

 

Raven's Apprentice

by D. Robert Hardy

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE: Autobiography/Memoir

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

Raven's Apprentice is a compelling true story from the west coast of B.C. that launches you into the world of Raven and our interconnectedness with all living things.

 

"Suddenly, without warning, they spun on a fin and started charging the boat. My thrill turned to real panic. Killer whales attacking a boat. Had there ever been such a thing? A paralysis gripped me. Now, within striking distance, they slipped into an arrowhead formation just below the surface. If the leader of the pack didn't bring the boat down, his flanks would."

 

"At about 20 feet off the bow, the frontrunner broke the surface, peeling waves off his rostrum as he continued his commitment to engage. Bracing for impact, my hands squeezed into the railing..."

 

Travel with me aboard MV Lady Guinevere. Witness being charged by transient killer whales, stalked by wolves and walking creeks so pristine you feel as if you were the first human to experience the wonder of nature.

 

"You have succeeded in bringing the reader on the voyage with you and into the deeper experience of transcendence and heightened awareness. Some of your experiences are literally skin tingling, many will leave your reader thinking and remembering for a long time to come." - Sid Tafler – Writer, Editorbr.

 

 

"Don Hardy’s RAVEN’S APPRENTICE is a great and compelling story, both nuanced and vivid, that will leave readers wanting to head off on adventures of their own."

- Heather Stockard - IndieReader

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT:

 

As I lay there, content and contemplating the beauty of the bay, I felt that familiar feeling of dread and heaviness I experienced before an intense dream. I put my head down and …

 

… I could hear native ceremonial chanting. Cedar smoke filled the air. I slowly opened my eyes. It was dark and I was still on deck. I looked up to see the black sky filled with millions upon billions of tiny light holes. The ceremonial chanting drew my attention to the beach. And then I saw it.

 

On the edge of the forest, an aboriginal longhouse shimmered like a mirage. It must have been 150 feet long and 50 feet wide. The cracks in the walls were leaking light and shadowy figures danced inside. Smoke billowed from the flaws in the roof and beckoned me closer with its enchanting cedar and pine scent.

 

The whole spectre was a disconcerting sight from the bow of my boat. How could I have missed something that large? Was it always there and I didn’t notice it?

 

The chanting was hypnotic and charming. I slipped into the dinghy and slowly rowed ashore to explore the apparition. As I drifted closer, the chanting and drumming became louder and more defined. I scraped up on the sandy shore and slid to a halt. I stepped out without feeling the sandy bottom. The anchor was in my hand. I dropped it near the tidemark.

 

The word “nevermore” drifted into my thoughts. Just above me I saw movement on one of the splayed branches of a great cedar tree. It was Raven. He was sitting quietly alert. I carried on towards the longhouse. He watched me intently, turning his head with every step. I looked back and he dipped his beak as if to reassure me it would be OK.

 

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Born in Halifax Nova Scotia. Grew up in small-town Cumberland, BC. but could not wait to get out and make his mark. Toured throughout Canada and the US as a professional musician until he realized he hated touring. Settled in Victoria, BC. Wrote six unpublished screenplays until he had real success with a stageplay called "A Garland for Judy." It toured down the west coast from Bellingham to Los Angles but topped the bill in San Francisco for six months to sold-out shows. Eventually settling into technical writing and developing online courses for most of his working life. Raven's Apprentice is a memoir that captured the imagination of a retired CBC executive who said, "You must bottle up all of this adventure into a book! ...being rescued by transient killer whales encounters with wolves, spirits in the kelp ... it's all too exciting!" And so it is done.

 

Connect with D. Robert Hardy:

WEBSITE

https://www.droberthardy.com/

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/ravens_apprentice/?hl=en

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/drobert.hardy.1/

 

Purchase Links:         

AMAZON.COM

https://amazon.com/dp/0228822297

AMAZON.CA

https://amazon.ca/dp/0228822297

KINDLE

https://amazon.com/dp/B08CS193XX          

INDIGO CHAPTERS

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/ravens-apprentice/9780228822301-item.html 

BARNES & NOBLE

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ravens-apprentice-d-robert-hardy/1137324048

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Virtual Book Tour: Fragments of French, an Unexpected Journey of the heart by Wanda St. Hilaire

Good morning!  Please welcome author Wanda St. Hilaire to Full Moon Dreaming. She is here today to tell us about her new release, Fragments of French, an Unexpected Journey of the Heart. Wanda will be awarding a ribboned beret and Paris coin bag with a eBook of Fragments of French to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour via Rafflecopter. The more you comment, the greater your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

Fragments of French, an Unexpected

Journey of the Heart

by Wanda St. Hilaire

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE:  Memoir  (travel)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

After a harsh brush with her mortality, shadowed by a premature divorce, Wanda St. Hilaire pledges to be true to her primary passion—living ardently through travel. On the fateful day her life intersects with Jean-François, a charming Frenchman, on a bustling street in Lisbon, every fiber of her being feels as though she has finally entered the doorway to a magical world that she knew existed since she was a young girl.

St. Hilaire turns a complicated romantic ballet full of missteps into a collage of people, places, and cultures. Fragments of French is an exquisitely detailed travelogue of Portugal, Canada, France, and Mexico, filled with minor characters who delight with their humanity. However, what really makes this tale a standout is a gift for pacing and description to rival Tom Wolfe.

The hero’s journey is not only for the characters of our favorite stories or mythical legends. At some point, each of us receives the call to adventure. Fate summons the hero; we can refuse the call, or step into something that will turn our lives upside down, and potentially change everything we know to be true.

From feeling “completely disarmed, no fortress standing”, to embracing her untethered strength, the author turns this account of living life out loud into lessons for us all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

After his shower, Jean-François invites me to join him at a nearby café he visits each morning before work. He looks squeaky clean and refreshed. We pass a tiny desk in the dim hallway, and a smiling, motherly landlady pops out from a doorway, insistent on meeting me. Although this short conversation is in French and Portuguese, it is clear that she is pleased for Jean-François to have found a woman, and I can see that she has adopted him as one of her own.

The noisy pâtisserie has standing-room-only at the bar, typical for a busy European weekday. Jean-François orders a double espresso and two pains au chocolat, and I my daily cappuccino. The baker pulls a fragrant tray of freshly baked pastries from an oven directly in front of us. As I bite into my croissant, the chocolate still hot and velvety and running down my fingers, I cannot know that this is a moment I will never forget, and one I will seek to relive, to re-taste.

He draws me a map of the way back to Rossio on a small blue napkin, and I leave him only after he boards the bus. Passing businessmen in tailored suits and starched white shirts, I observe the workaday life of the Lisboans from my wistful world, a million miles away from my everyday life—energized by the tender night, twitterpated by the possibility of love, and high on travel. On the way, I plan for a daytrip to Sintra by train today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Her prime passion is the thrill of travel—of experiencing other cultures, traditions, lifestyles, and languages—thus expanding her perspective.

Wanda St. Hilaire has a predilection and passion for all things Latin, and she believes life is too short not to do what you love, where you love. She spends time writing in Mexico for inspiration, and to escape the frozen landscapes of Alberta.

Through writing, St. Hilaire shares what she’s learned from the high peaks of adventure and love, to the dark valleys of illness and heartbreak. Her mission is to help people overcome the self, and tap into their wise inner guidance system. Her wish is to inspire others to live true to their unique and beautiful nature.

www.fragmentsoffrench.com

Fragments of French on Amazon:   https://www.amazon.com/Fragments-French-Unexpected-Journey-Heart/dp/189433115X/ref=sr_1_1

Companion Poetry Book, Of Love, Life, and Journeys

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Life-Journeys-Companion-Fragments/dp/1894331176/ref=sr_1_3

(Inspired during the story of my travel memoir, this collection of poems and verse was first published in 2004 and became a Canadian bestseller for poetry. This second edition was created as a companion book to Fragments of French,)

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPp3vMOpFFw

The embed code for the book video.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OPp3vMOpFFw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Blog: www.lifebyheart.wandasthilaire.com

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

Twitter: @spicytraveler  (https://twitter.com/spicytraveler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Virtual Book Tour: The Last Ten Pounds

Please welcome author Lina Sage, here to tell us about her new release, The Last Ten Pounds. Lina will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

The Questions
1) You’re marooned on a small island with one person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you have?

This will probably upset my husband but I have to say I choose my dog, Bobo. He’s a 2-year-old Shih-Tzu and the love of my life. I can’t stand to be away from him for more than a week so if I was stuck on an island than I would most definitely have to have Bobo with me. As for an item, probably something practical like a lighter or matches so that I can start a fire to cook or to keep warm at night because I know that there is no way I can start a fire on my own by rubbing two sticks together.

2) Which musical would you say best exemplifies your life – and which character in that musical are you?

I’m not a big fan of musicals and have only seen a few. Based on the three that I’ve seen - The Lion King, The Producer and Phantom of the Opera, I would have to say that none of them exemplify my life. I wish I could give you a better answer but I can’t.

3) Take these three words and give me a 100 word or less scene using them: hammer, saucer, traffic lights

The man was speeding through most of the traffic lights to beat the storm that was coming. He had to get home and hammer all the windows shut before the heavy winds would rip them out. Just as he rounded the corner the blinding lights up ahead made him slam on his breaks. Hovering not too far from him was a flying saucer.

4) You’ve just been let loose in the world of fiction, with permission to do anyone you want. Who do you fuck first and why?

Wow! How does one even answer this question. There’s so many out there that I’ve fantasized about sleeping with. Since I’m Canadian, I would like to say The Ryan’s (to which I’m referring to Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds). Then there’s the Hemsworth brothers (Chris and Liam). But let’s not rule out the Brits with Charlie Hunnam and David Gandy. To pick one is impossible! Can I have a buffet of them all?

5) What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?

This one is simple. A nice dinner and afterwards I like to curl up on the couch and snuggle while watching a movie.

6) When you start a new story, do you begin with a character, or a plot?

For myself personally, I think it’s more important to start a story with the plot and you can weave the characters around the plot. You can have strong characters but without a strong plot than the book will fall flat.

7) If they were to make the story of your life into a movie, who should play you?

I have no idea who would play me. It’s always hardest to cast yourself. But I can easily cast the four men I had relationships with during my days working as an escort. I’d cast Jake Gyllenhaal to play Coin Boy, Bryan Cranston or Richard Jenkins to play Rock Boy, Mark Ruffalo to play Lover Boy and Daniel Craig to play GQ Boy.

8) Who’s your favorite horror villain and why?

I don’t have a favorite horror villain because I don’t like the horror genre. However, if you were to ask me who my favorite marvel comic character is I would have to say The Incredible Hulk. I love how Bruce Banner is constantly trying to suppress his anger to avoid The Hulk from surfacing. Bruce Banner is human like all of us in every way. How many times do we find ourselves suppressing our anger only to explode when we can’t stand it any longer? The only difference is we don’t turn enormous but some of us do certainly turn green.

9) Do you have an historical crush and if so, who is it?

I would have to say Tesla. No one can doubt that this man was a genius. His invention of electricity itself was enough to change human civilization. Where would we be today without electricity? This is not to mention the other hundreds of patents he had. The man is like a science God.

10) Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you think the world isn’t ready to receive it?

Yes. I have this great idea for a fiction trilogy that has been brewing in my mind for some time now. At some point I will write this trilogy but I feel like I’m not fully ready yet and I’m not sure how it will be received. I’m still panning out the details and hope to be able to write this trilogy soon. In the meantime, I’m focusing on writing non-fiction. I’m currently writing my second book which is an extension of the last quarter of my memoir. It is in the genre of self-help/spiritual.

The Last Ten Pounds: One Woman's Journey to Love (by shedding Fear, Anger, Hatred...and Everything In-Between)

by Lina Sage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Memoir

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Shortly after I was born, my family left Vietnam’s strict Communist regime by escaping on a tiny fishing boat in the middle of the night.

Luckily, Canada accepted us as refugees and we were excited for a new beginning. However, any hopes of a brighter future vanished before an abusive alcoholic father who’s repeated physical violence against my mom left me screaming for any stability. Sexual, physical and emotional abuse clouded my childhood years leaving me so damaged that it changed who I was meant to grow up to be.

In my early twenties, I bought a house and converted it into a full blown marijuana grow op.

Soon after, I entered into the world of elite call girls and became one of the most sought after girls in my agency. By my late twenties, I was on top of the world and the proud owner of a multi-million-dollar luxury day spa.

Just when I thought I had it all, I made the ultimate mistake that ended in me losing everything and hitting rock bottom.

I was spiritually broken and in desperate need of healing. I had no choice but to reconcile with my past. This decision brought me down a miraculous journey that opened me up to consciousness and enabled me to exist in the space I do today; that of uninhibited peace.

The Last 10 Pounds: One Woman’s Journey to Love (by shedding Fear, Anger, Hatred…and Everything In-Between) is my personal journey and a testament that it is possible to heal and transform. To be the person you were born to be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

“Uncle Quinn… please stop. Please stop Uncle Quinn! Stop it you’re hurting me!” I wailed loudly.

“Shhh… I’m just playing with you,” he replied with a sly look on his face, as he continued to grope me with both hands.

This had happened many times before, the constant touching and fondling of my private parts every time Uncle Quinn saw me. See the thing is, I didn’t make it easy for him because of my feisty nature. Usually I would be able to run away before he could really get a hold of me and on the times that I couldn’t get away, his inappropriateness would only last a few minutes until I would squirm so hard that he would finally release me from his grasp.

But today was different and I felt it immediately. His huge hand pinned down both my tiny wrists and with his other hand he proceeded to maliciously rip off my summer jumpsuit. His weight crushed my petite frame to the floor so much so that I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t create enough wiggle space to escape his 6’2 lanky stature. With his free hand he pushed his fingers inside me with such ferocity that a loud scream escaped my mouth before I could even discern what was happening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lina Sage is a writer, speaker, producer and entrepreneur. She is the creator and founder of Chic Spirituality; a movement whose philosophy is to live your life with heightened awareness by surrounding yourself with things you deem beautiful. Lina believes balance of mind, body and soul, is the key to unlocking all things beautiful. Therefore, she enjoys physical activity to maintain a strong body and meditation to calm the mind. But she especially cherishes time spent with her beloved husband and dog because they are what brings her soul the greatest joy. Lina also likes to surround herself with great food and exotic travels around the world.

Social Media Links:

website: www.linasage.com

facebook: www.facebook.com/chicsage

instagram: www.instagram.com/chicsage/?hl=en

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  a Rafflecopter giveaway