Legacy of a Dreamer :: Book Tour :: Review

Legacy of a Dreamer 

Series #1

by Allie Jean

Publisher::
Pages:: 170
Price:: $17.99
ISBN:: 978-1612130408
Type:: YA

About the Book::

Chantal Breelan is a ward of the state, living under the care of a woman who is cold and heartless. Her past is a mystery, and her future is even more uncertain. She can’t recall why she had been taken from her parents and so she’s left with nothing but an empty hole where her childhood should have been. When she awakens from her nightmares, she’s left with terrible, violent images, as well as a boy whose face is oddly familiar, yet can’t be placed.

Scared and alone, Chantal begins to confide in an imaginary friend – a shadow in the shape of a man who stands in the corner of her room. She is comforted when she believes he listens to her.

On her eighteenth birthday, Chantal is forced to leave her foster home. She moves to New York City, but the start of her new life doesn’t begin as smoothly as she’d hoped. In this environment, she faces a whole new set of challenges.

One night at a subway station, Chantal meets a young boy who runs away from her, and she’s compelled to follow him down into the tunnels. But this Rabbit Hole reveals a world where reality is a nightmare. Her dreams are clues to her future, and her life becomes twisted and dangerous when she learns that things that go bump in the night are not just in fairy tales and childhood stories.

Author Bio:

Allie Jean was born with an overactive imagination. She spent her childhood inventing stories and telling tales. Her mind never shut down, even while she slept. Vivid dreams containing extensive, elaborate plot lines of good overcoming evil villains captured her nightly visions, lingering into her waking hours and filling the pages of her well-loved bounded diaries. She was encouraged by her parents, even at a young age, to write down her tales, and it has remained a somewhat secret hobby. As a busy wife, mother and critical care nurse, Allie’s love of storytelling has been reborn through the adventures of her unforgettable characters.

Author Links:

Website: http://Alliejean.net

About.Me: http://about.me/allie.jean
TWCS: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/authors/detail/35
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoralliejean

G+ https://plus.google.com/101294245386992637315/posts

Twitter: @AllieJeanDS

My Thoughts::

The Legacy of a Dreamer is about a young girls journey of finding out about herself and what she does not know. Chantal has been a foster care child since a young age, having nightmares for as long as she can remember. Chantal finds comfort in her long time friend that stands in the shadows that is a imaginary friend she has with her always. This imaginary friend that she has never came out of the shadows until she moved all the way to New York right before her 18th birthday. Chantal found out what the darkness holds and who she really is. As well as what the shadows that are around her.

Chantal find that her guardian-angle-imaginary-friend also can come out of the shadows and come to her aid when she misses the train and is in the face of danger. With Chantal being a very strong woman she finds her counter part Mathias a warrior that comes to her aid with feeling pure and is real. This is not something that comes along very often for him and is unsure what to do about them.

FTC:: This post was written for CM Books, who provided the complimentary product in exchange for my honest review.

Chief Complaint Brain Tumor :: Book Tour :: Review

Chief Complaint Brain Tumor

By:: John Kerastas

Publisher:: Sunstone Press
Pages:: 136
Price:: $16.95
ISBN:: 978-0865349087
Type:: Non- Fiction

About the Book::

At 57 years old, I thought I was the poster child for fifty-year old healthiness: I competed in triathlons, rode in 100 mile biking events and ate a healthy diet chock full of organic vegetables. Then I discovered that I had a brain tumor the size of my wife’s fist.

My memoir chronicles the first year I spent addressing tumor-related health issues: preparing for my first operation, discovering a dangerous skull infection, having the infected portion of my skull surgically removed, learning about my substantial vision and cognitive losses, undergoing rehab and radiation treatments, and learning to live with my “new normal.” And, as best I can tell, the phrase “new normal” is the medical community’s code words for “You’re alive, so quit bitchin’.”

As my health changed, so did my sense of humor. My humor started out superficially light-hearted prior to the first operation; transmogrified into gallows humor after several subsequent operations; and leveled out as somewhat wry-ish after radiation and rehab.

Topics I write about in the book include:

How not to tell everybody you have a brain tumor

Why it’s a lot of work to die in this country

Why I had difficulties in naming my tumor

How I negotiated bathroom visits with “Nurse Don’t-Bother-Me”

Why I could prove that I was the “dumbest guy in the room”

Why someone compared the back of my head to a diseased goat

How I flunked a job interview with myself

This is a book for anybody interested in memoirs about people dealing with personal crises, for patients trudging through rehab, for caretakers helping victims of serious illnesses, or for anybody looking for an unexpected chuckle from an unlikely subject.

Author Bio:

I’ve worked at a global advertising agency, at several technology start-up companies and as a free-lance writer. Currently I spend most of my time blogging, speaking and writing about brain health, brain tumors and rehab. I speak to hospital rehab groups, stroke and aphasia groups, and last summer spoke at the American Brain Tumor Association’s annual “Patient and Caregiver” conference.

My charity and non-profit efforts includes work through the Taproot Foundation on behalf of Apna Ghar (a Chicago-based non-profit providing domestic violence services to immigrant communities). I also go on Appalachia Service project trips through my church, participate in Early Response Teams that follow first responders into disaster areas, and teach and certify Early Response Teams through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (e.g.UMCOR).

Authors Links:

Website: http://www.chief-complaint.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChiefComplaintBrainTumor

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16249650-chief-complaint

Review Thoughts::

How would it be if you found out that you had a Brain Tumor? I am sure for most that this would be  terrifying time in a persons life to find this out. This is a heart felt book and true account of a mans diagnosis, surgery and recovery from benign brain tumor that left him partially blind. 

Kerastas talks about the symptoms he had that led him to seek out a doctor for his care. As he is a talking to the doctors he still has his fun sassiness even as he describes his reaction to hearing about the fist-size brain tumor. To create a lighter side he names is tumor The Blob. Kerastas also talks about the hospital staff that he encounters.

With Kerastas dealing with his health issues he is also having to deal with his long time friend and dog is also affected with his own health issues. He is able to intertwin his story as well as the story of his dog to make you feel the struggle that his is dealing with all at once.

While the book ends Kerastas struggles will not be with the effects of the tumor. I leaves you with a sense of hope that we have of getting better and not be sick. Not everyone ones journey is the same if you have a tumor and this is just one mans account of what is happening to him.

FTC:: This post was written for CMBooks, who provided the complimentary product in exchange for my honest review.