Guest Review: Keeping My Balance by Stephanie Torreno

Today's review is written by author Lilia Fabry.

Description:

In 1973, complications during Stephanie Torreno’s birth resulted in the diagnosis of cerebral palsy at the age of one. Educating themselves about the condition, Stephanie’s parents sought intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapy for their daughter. These therapies in early childhood and throughout school assisted Stephanie in learning to walk and speak while having limited mobility, significant challenges with fine motor skills, and articulation difficulties. 

Stephanie’s narrative chronicles her experiences growing up with a physical disability and her parents’ advocacy for her, an above-average student, in receiving a mainstreamed education. She describes learning alongside typical classmates without handwriting ability and her parents’ continuous fight for academic modifications and individualized services. 

In a deeply personal memoir, Stephanie writes about traumatic family events, including her father’s suicide. She illustrates her pursuits to become more independent while coping with additional loss. Stephanie takes readers through her quest to obtain a college education, her attempts to gain meaningful employment, and her emotional journey to live independently.

My Thoughts:

Whenever I hear the term “memoir” used in non-fiction, I immediately think “whine-a-thon” even if the subject matter is whine-worthy. While I don’t mind getting bummed from reading, I also require a balance of joy and laugher keeping in some sort of step with sorrow and tears.

Stephanie does not fail to deliver to a reader like me. Her narrative reads more like something that happened to you rather than a story being told by a stranger. You step as she does, laugh as she does, feel devastation as she does, and above all, persevere with her. Stephanie’s trials are those we all experience: school, growing pains, family issues, aging parents, and the changes we do and don’t see coming. She takes them on with a contagious humility. 

Additionally, cerebral palsy forces Stephanie to type with a single finger, yet she uses her whole heart for the rest.

My Rating: ****

Where to get it: 

About the author:

Stephanie Torreno graduated from Houston Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and technical writing. Her work included numerous online articles exploring education, special education, and mental health topics. She also wrote an online newsletter for supported employment professionals focused on obtaining work for individuals with disabilities.

Where to find the author:

Website

Twitter

Goodreads 

Lilia’s Bio:

L. Fabry attended the University of Houston where she was overwhelmed by the talent of her faculty and peers. She now writes about everything from reaction injection molding to sex robots in between indulging her need for creative outlets including novels and screenplays.

In her new novel, “Ordinance 93 ,” a law prevents births without government permission, and four people are about to break it. Find out more about it and L. Fabry on www.lfabry.com.

Review: Public Relations for Authors by Babs Hightower

Description:
Getting help to promote your book just got easier. Public Relations for Authors Take Hold of Your Own Promotions will help you locate that special publicist who will help you promote your book the right way. As a Publicity Director for two publishers Babs brings knowledge to the book.

Public Relations teaches you why you need a publicist and how to find the right one for you. To understand what you need she covers:

How publicity can help sell books
What you need to know about publicity
Writing Pitches
Media Kits
Press Releases
Where to find a PR agent
What to send to your PR agent


My Thoughts:
These days, authors do it all. This is a quick, easy read with practical tips for getting the word out about your book. It has tips that are useful for authors at any stage of the game. If you have written or are writing a book, unsure what to do next, definitely check it out. Even if you think you have it covered, you may pick up something new.

My Rating:  *****

My Source: author

Book Info:

File Size: 1965 KB
Print Length: 29 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Babs Hightower (October 22, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English

Where to get it:


About the author:
Babs Hightower has been helping authors since 2000. She owns a book review blog Babs Book Bistro which got her started in PR and helping authors promote themselves. In 2012 she started working for Entangled Publishing and worked her way up to Publicity Director of the Scandalous Imprint. She is also the publicist for World Castle Publishing. She is also known as Morgan Kincaid writer of Historical Romance.

Where to find the author:
Website
Twitter
LinkedIn
Goodreads
Facebook
Google +

Review: One Year Lived by Adam Shepard

One Year Lived by Adam Shepard

Description (From the back of the book):

"I'm not angry. I don't hate my job. I'm not annoyed with capitalism, and I'm indifferent to materialism. I'm not escaping emptiness, nor am I searching for meaning. I have great friends, a wonderful family, and fun roommates. The dude two doors down invited me over for steak or pork chops--my choice--on Sunday, and I couldn't even tell you the first letter of his name. Sure, the producers of The Amazing Race have rejected all five of my applications to hotfoot around the world--all five!--and my girlfriend and I just parted ways, but I've whined all I can about the race, and the girl wasn't The Girl anyway.

All in all, my life is pretty fantastic.

But I feel boxed in. Look at a map, and there we are, a pin stuck in the wall. There's the United States, about twenty-four square inches worth, and there's the rest of the world, seventeen hundred square inches begging to be explored. Career, wife, babies--of course I want these things; they're on the horizon. Meanwhile, I'm a few memories short.

Maybe I need a year to live a little."

My Thoughts:
This is a series of essays that give us the story of his trip, musings from his life that relate to his travels, lessons he learned, and some history of the places he visited. He is quick to point out his own shortcomings and poke fun at himself. It is all done with humor, in a style that is very readable. I very much enjoyed this. Had me contemplating my own travels and making me want to plan more. Made me think. I highly recommend this book, even if you're normally a fiction reader.

My Rating: *****
Steam Factor: !!
*Notes: Some swear words and some rather vivid descriptions.

My Source: author

Where to get it:

Where to find the author:
Website

**Adam on Travel. Guest post at WiLoveBooks. Find out how to get the book FREE through Sat. April 27.