Welcome to November’s best curated Writer’s Tips. In this edition, the Kindlepreneur shares info about an AI lawsuit case and the importance of copyright, Hugh Roberts shares some free image sourcing sites, Deborah Jay shares… More
Sunday Book Review – Social Climbing: and Other Poems by Laura Lyndhurst
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Laura Lyndhurst’s book – Social Climbing: and Other Poems. This book was done in collaboration with Clive Thompson, photographer. Lyndhurst created short poetic stories to accommodate images captured by Thompson.
Blurb:
I had no plans, after publishing Poet-Pourri, to write any more poems; at least not in the near future. But while I was in the prepare-to-publish stage of that book, I made the acquaintance of photographer Clive Thompson and his large archive of photographs, put together over quite a lot of years. Scanning through these on the internet I found the picture of a discarded Father Christmas chocolate-bearing Advent calendar, which immediately said ‘poem material’ to me. I wrote the poem and presented it to Clive, who loved it; and there was born the idea of a collaboration, my poetry written to the prompts of some of his photographs.
The photographs I have used for the pandemic-themed poems were taken quite some time before that ominous word had become a part of all our daily lives, but they seemed to fit the subject and I therefore took the liberty of utilizing them in that way.
The results of my poems joined to Clive’s photographs I present here, as Social Climbing and other poems. It may not be the catchiest of titles but it works for me, and for Clive, and for you also, I hope. Enjoy.
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My 5 Star Review:
I enjoyed this shorter read of narrative poetry, a clever method of putting the book together. It was unique the way the book flowed with longer free verse poems and short stories interpreted from the author’s perspective of each image. The book is broken down into three parts – Life’s a Beach, Poems of the Pandemic, and Every Walk of Life.
In the first part of the book, Life’s a Beach, I enjoyed the stories, and my favs were – The Naked Truth, a wonderfully inventive story the author created pertaining to two individuals sitting back to back on a beach. I also enjoyed the story created about a girl about to go on a date, and the importance of having a suntan, in – Go For the Burn.
The next part of the book shared stories pertaining to the pandemic. From stories about shortages of bread and toilet paper to vaccines. A Call To Arms – A plausible little story about letting the people know vaccines are available!
The third part – Every Walk of Life, contains stories the author created to accompany photos that spurred stories about people. A rather cynical story resonated with me about Christmas – So This Is Christmas, accompanied by a picture of Santa and the story of Santa’s lament about how Christmas has become over-commercialized. Another story that struck at truth – Due Process – Having your day in court, when it’s all been pre-arranged.
A nice variety of tone and mood in these stories – some humorous, some not so much, but a good mix of evoked sentiments. Like some other reviewers mentioned, this would make a beautiful coffee table book, especially with the striking cover.
©DGKaye2025
The Day I Took Down My Mezuzah
A Mezuzah is an ornament that is placed on the right side, outside facing the front door to your Jewish home. Inside the ornament encasing is a miniature version of commandments and biblical passages from the Torah scrolls. Religious or not, it’s a symbol that practically every Jew has alongside their front doorframe. It is a covenant with God and the Jewish people to protect the sanctity of the home, a reminder of God’s presence.
You can see how the Mezuzah should be hung, bottom of top third of right doorframe, slanted inwards. And in this one you can almost see the scrolls inside.
What the Mezuzah represents in Judaism:
The protocol upon entering or leaving the home, which many non religious Jews don’t often do, is to touch the mezuzah with two fingers, then to kiss the fingers after touching. This represents acknowledging and connecting with God who keeps our home blessed. This all goes back to Deuteronomy 6.9: “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
“Hear, O Israel! The Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. You shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.“
This practice of kissing the fingers that touched the Torah is done in synagogue services too when the Rabbi takes out the Torah from the Ark of the Covenant and as he ushers prayers, he walks up and down the aisles of the congregration so the worshippers can touch it with two fingers, acknowledging God’s laws. The actual translation from Hebrew of the mezuzah is – doorpost.
I’ve had this same mezuzah I took off the front door of the last family home I lived in when I was eighteen. I was the last to leave that house on moving day, and I took that mezuzah with me to my first own apartment, hung it proudly, and it has hung on every door of all the homes I’ve lived in ever since. My husband was a Catholic who was only too happy to have God watch over our homes.
Never, ever, did I ever give my mezuzah any worrying thoughts. After all, WWII was so long ago and governments had control over not allowing propaganda and hate crimes. I felt safe.
But I don’t anymore. Certainly not in the city I live in – the one I was born and raised freely in, which doesn’t resemble itself anymore in the slightest to me. There is much anti-semitism going on around the world, and plenty enough in my own city. The complex I live in was once upon a time, the place where middle-class mid-lifers and seniors moved to after becoming empty nesters and selling their homes – many snowbirds, and, predominantly Jewish. A very quiet complex to live in. Until it no longer was.
This is my Mezuzah that has traveled everywhere I lived. You can see the wear and tear from the removal many times, and because of the elements, withered and yellowed.
Money talks and in hard real estate times people seeking rentals will go wherever they can, thus changing demographics everywhere. Even if the rents are ginormous. That’s when you find families of five or more moving in, complete with screaming children, seemingly undisciplined, screaming in the hallways. That’s also when you find people breaking rules – like smoking in hallways or stairways, finding cig butts all over the sundeck, ad nauseum.
Deliveries in this building should have a revolving door for the amount of packages coming weekly (mine included). My apartment (not by choice) is located right beside, and facing the elevators. I don’t wear any religious jewelry because of the amount of hate crimes that go on in my city – particularly in the region of the city that I live in. The thought of every person who gets off the elevator and sees my mezuzah clearly as they walk past- or deliver packages, began to make me uncomfortable, especially with the desecration of many public Jewish stores, restaurants, and synagogues, representing Judaism. And with the amount of crime that has skyrocketed in my city – from a city that once would have been shocked to hear about any gun story on the news, at a better time of the world – and of my city, I began to feel uncomfortable within my own home when I thought about my mezuzah representing my door and some of the people that congregrate at the elevator.
I lost my protector and now have to fend for myself in this ever-changing world (and not for the best) against the anti-semitism that surrounds. I felt it is just safer in the long run if I took it off my door. I unscrewed it myself from the doorframe then had maintenance come and paint over the shadow mark it left on the doorframe. It truly hurt my heart to do this. Now, my mezuzah welcomes me upon opening the door, resting comfortably on the first doorframe in my home leading into the living room. Many religious Jews have mezuzahs on every interior door in the home, as well as outside the front door (except bathrooms).
The scroll must be inserted to a casing of choice – could be plain or artistically inspired, made of wood, metal, or plastic; the tiny scroll of parchment can be purchased at any Judaica or religious stores and inserted into the casing. Or you can just buy a brand new one with the scroll already in, but beware, if you purchase online, you must make sure the description says, ‘kosher only’, meaning that it’s an original handwritten in caligraphy scroll done by a Rabbi. It is an art to write the scrolls in tiny Hebrew letters. On front casing of most mezuzahs there is the Hebrew letter ‘shin’, שׁ that represent one of the many names for God. Other mezuzahs (like the new one below) will have something inscribed that contain God’s name(s).
This is the new casing I purchased to hang in my home. After almost fifty years, I’m retiring the old one.
There is a prayer (blessing) that is to be recited upon placing a mezuzah on the doorframe:
Do this brucha (prayer) before re-hanging or placing a new mezuzah – Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu likboa m’zuzah. – Translation:
“Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us through Your mitzvot and commanded us to affix a mezuzah.”
Mitzvot – good deeds
Have any of you faced politically induced challenges that affected the choices you’ve made pertaining to your own home?
©DGKaye2025
Sunday Book Review – Beyond the Fetters by Balroop Singh #newrelease
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m happy to share my review for Balroop Singh’s new release, her debut novel – Beyond the Fetters.
Blurb:
Some babies are born with invisible fetters. They may strut about in their homes with wishes of flying high, but their wings never grow, and if they do, they are clipped by the diktats of traditions. Such stories remain within the hearts of girls, as their lips are sealed by cultural compulsions.
Earthy is one such girl, but her determination to break free could never be vanquished. She yearns to grow up again, to feel the sunshine that filters through the arms of her parents, to soak in the showers of harmony, to giggle with abandon and swirl with her dreams, but the sudden, untimely demise of her father rips her whole world apart, and the little joys of childhood vanish. From emotional deluge to resilience and detachment, she treads the paths of her life, struggling to rise above the average.Dolly’s freedom takes her away from her family, and her choices boomerang. Imperceptible fetters follow her in the garb of love that she chooses. Should we pay attention to Grandma’s wise words – “we are tied to our destiny?” ‘Beyond the Fetters’ explores the possibilities of girls looking beyond their so-called destiny.
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My 5 Star Review:
This was a heartfelt story about a young girl Earthy, living in India with her family, while all attention and concern is for her brother Trod, as the male child is more precious than any girl. Sadly, in India, some women are still treated subserviently and like a chattel-with a dowry. Earthy’s mother Shanti seems emotionally void of showing any compassion for this girl who has big dreams and aspirations and doesn’t ask much of anyone. My heart couldn’t help but go out to the lovely girl. I like a good character-driven story that I can empathize with and root for along the way, and one can’t help but feel compassion for Earthy, a bright and hopeful star among rules and domination, yet, despite her painful childhood, she manages to get an education.
Nobody gave Earthy any worthy attention except her best friend Dolly, who lived next door during childhood. Earthy was a precocious and intelligent child whose potential, sadly wasn’t recognized in her childhood. She reminded me in some ways of myself as a child being misunderstood, yet unafraid to ask questions. Earthy spoke her mind, sometimes even knowing there’d be consequences. It hurt me that this beautiful and very observant young girl, grew up ignored and chastized, had to tend to her younger sister, not to mention, another unwanted tenant living in her home, losing her father (the one she held affection for), and had to put up with an arrogant self-entitled older brother, and ultimately, an arranged marriage, which ironically, turned into a happy union.
This story intersects from Earthy’s childhood and forward, interpersed with some notes from her journal where Earthy shares her deepest thoughts and feelings about what goes on in her life and her aspirations. After she graduated, Earthy began teaching.
As Earthy’s stories continue, the years are passing and we’ll learn how Earthy develops as a young woman, and later, her best friend Dolly returns for a visit, and Dolly eventually relays her life to Earthy after being away for twenty years from where she grew up. Dolly’s high hopes evaporated with time after fleeing her familial home to run away with someone she thought she was in love with, only to find her dreams dashed. The two women invite us in to their lives through their conversations.
Later in life when Earthy’s daughters are being educated in America, Earthy in the teaching profession, feels the need to do more and give back to the community her mother came from where illliteracy ran rampant for females. Her husband Vijay is supportive as always, and as they say – it takes a village, but Earthy got that school up and running. And her friend Dolly’s return to Earthy’s life is a great boon to the foundation Earthy has built.
Earthy breaks free as she grows and continues to battle societal and family norms, and stops allowing others to clip her wings, finally becoming fetter-free, free of restraint. And her determination to give that freedom to her daughters is empowering, allowing them to live without shackles. The author’s poetic flair flows through the prose beautifully in this story of one woman’s determination.
©DGKaye2025
Book Reviews: New Early Reviews in – About the Real Stages of Grief #Memoir #Selfhelp
As I am totally – promotion adverse, I am ever grateful for the early reviews coming in for my new release – About the Real Stages of Grief. Some I’d been alerted to and others I discovered in my own blog reading travels. So today I’m thrilled to be sharing a dozen reviews that have already rolled in. Thank you to those who’ve read and reviewed.
My book is barely two weeks old and I’m absolutely thrilled about how it is being received, judging by the reviews that have come in early, which gave me quite a few heart-warming surprises. I’m sharing my Review Page I’ve set up here on my blog for About the Real Stages of Grief, where I list all recent reviews. I’ve listed the first few below, and If you’d like to read how this book has resonated so far with other readers, please do click on the link below the first reviews that will take you to my review page where I scan the Amazons (and blogs) and collect them for my review page. Sadly, Amazon shows me reviews separately at dot ca, dot com, and dot UK. It would be a real treat if Amazon would amalgamate them all.
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About the book:
The truth about grief: it has filled countless pages in clinical studies and personal stories, but no words can prepare us for its reality. When I lost my beloved husband, I searched for solace in grief groups and forums, longing to make sense of my experience. There I discovered something rarely spoken aloud—that many of us carry the same hidden aches and side effects of loss, the ones that seldom find their way into books.
Love does not die, and so grief never truly leaves us. It lingers, reshaping itself, teaching us to live with its many faces. This book is the story of my own passage through loss—an endurance of sorrow, and a testament to the strength of those left behind.
Grief is a heart-wrenching journey each of us will one day face. I write not only for those who are grieving, but also for the ones who walk beside them—for the friends, family, and witnesses to heartbreak—so they might understand, even a little, what it means to live with loss.
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Buy the book : Amazon US And: Amazon UK Amazon CA
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REVIEWS:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very valuable read
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2025
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Nothing prepares you for a life-altering traumatic loss. Author D.J. Kaye brings that home in this powerfully poignant book. A book that tackles the experience of grieving the loss of a beloved spouse, an experience that can’t be written about with formulaic stages. Many in the past have tried to do that, but it is in reading Kaye’s words, moving along the pages of her journey through tragedy and pain, I see the difference between the more academic tomes and her writing lies in its authenticity. Her heartfelt words brought me to tears and back again to an open loving grateful heart that for a brief moment in time I knew what a complete love was. The remembering is painful but it is also loving. This book reignited my gratitude for having lived and loved and lost, for it is in the loving that life is so worthwhile. And in the grieving that new ways to love enter my existence. A most valuable book. Highly recommend.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Find Comfort Here
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 October 2025
“We are different people now. We have to find a new way of living.”
Books on grief written by professionals in the field can sometimes come across as ‘technical’ and rather cold and analytical – after all, not all psychologists and analysts will have been through a serious grieving process, and hence their experiences are at one remove (or, worse, maybe even just academically-based). On the other hand, books written by those of a non-professional calling can be too deeply personal and specific to have a more general application. It’s a tightrope in other words, but one which the author navigates adroitly.
Ms Kaye here reveals her experiences of coping with the loss of her life partner and her search for her ‘tribe’ – those who have suffered similarly and who ‘understand’. She doesn’t hold back, but neither does she deluge you with misery. The narrative style is accessible, the journey engaging and full of pointers as to what she found most useful in dealing with the aftermath. Structured, yet both human and humane. As the author says:
“I have discovered that grief is just something we can’t explain to anyone who has never endured it. My own search for like-minded people living this same journey, those of us who have worn the shoes, has revealed to me that we have much to share and learn from one another.”
If you find yourself in the author’s situation, this is a book that will offer both comfort and the knowledge that you are not alone.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2025
D G Kaye lost her beloved husband to cancer in spring 2021, and she has written here about much that she has been through during his illness and since.
The blurb says ‘I write not only for those who are grieving, but also for the ones who walk beside them—for the friends, family, and witnesses to heartbreak—so they might understand, even a little, what it means to live with loss’, and she’s achieved that in spades – DG is so open about her emotions that it made me want to go round and hold her hand. Could be that I found it so because it’s something anyone who has a long and happy marriage dreads, especially as we get older; I could feel her pain all the way through it – and I felt angry on her behalf, too, about how the situation was exacerbated by the ‘Covid’ fiasco.
The book is divided into many short chapters, delving into so many aspects of loss – emotional, practical, health, social, keeping yourself safe, the zigzagging between coping and not coping, distraction mechanisms, dangers and acceptance of sorts. Her writing is so honest and I can see how much thought has gone into the structure. It’s not a long book, and is very easy to read.
I hope it helped DG to write this, in some way – if nothing else, she should be assured that this is bound to help others, if it hasn’t already. Buy it for anyone who is going through this, read it yourself if someone close to you is suffering.
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I’d be remiss if I didn’t share spiritual life coach, Brenda Fluharty’s comprehensive and in-depth analysis she wrote about my book on her blog, Writing Through the Soul, different to the review she left on Amazon (listed on my review page) – https://writingthroughthesoul.org/2025/10/24/reding-through-the-soul-about-the-real-stages-of-grief-a-journey-through-loss-by-d-g-kaye/
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Based on what I took from the reviews received thus far, I’m elated to find the commonalities readers took from my book. Some have loved and lost, where others realize the value of my book to be helpful for others to gain insight as to what the grief process entails. If you are curious to learn more about how others felt about this book, please visit my review page below:
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Thank you to all for your interest – to those who read and have read and reviewed, and for those who helped make this book possible. 💙
©DGKaye2025
Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Health and Safety – Safety & Awareness – Do You Understand How a VPN Works? What’s a VPN? by D. G. Kaye | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine
Today I’m sharing my article I shared last week at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine, where I have my monthly Safety and Awareness column. In this post I’m talking about the importance of using a VPN.
Do You Understand How a VPN Works? What’s a VPN?
Let’s begin with, do you know what a VPN is? It stands for – Virtual Private Network. I’ve had one for the last seven or eights years and wouldn’t be without it. Why?
Having a VPN offers quite a few benefits. It connects to your computer and all your other devices by installing the download from wherever you purchased it from. There is different pricing depending on how many devices you wish to connect. This now becomes a digital connection between the device and a random server owned by the VPN company, which encrypts our data and masks our real IP address, so we are surfing freely without anyone able to track us.
Not only that, but if you purchase an annual VPN, it offers numerous choices of countries we can click on to, to change location to where we want to be seen as located from. You simply turn it on in your device and it’s on until you turn it off or switch countries and turn on again.
Just note, there are certain websites that won’t allow me in when I’m connected to the VPN. Most of those circumstances happen when I’m on one of our government websites that I must sign into to access financials. Having to sign in and show you are who you are without hiding behind VPNs.
Another handy use for example, when I’m in Mexico, I click on Mexico and I’m on a Mexican server when I want to read the local news, find stores and make restaurant reservations from their websites, and for Google maps. The VPN allows us to get access to websites around the world for regional content we couldn’t otherwise do.
Another bonus of having it when I travel is the fact that I can switch it back to Canada when I want to watch Canadian news, and especially for gaining access to my recorded TV shows at home that I wouldn’t be able to do without a VPN because our media company only allows access throughout Canada. If you are a person who travels away from home a few times a year, it’s definitely convenient to have.
Now let’s talk about the protection part of having a VPN. I would never use airport internets, even hotel room wifi without having my VPN turned on. Using public wifi without a VPN leave us open targets for hackers – especially in airports and internet cafes. Since we all seem to live in a rising in crime world, we are all vulnerable to hackers and cyber crime, which are getting more and more sophisticated. It allows us to bypass censorship and being surveyed, and therefore, halts being followed around by ads. Thus, providing no third party tracking.
My VPN is always on, especially when I’m doing online banking or any online purchases. It’s a great layer of protection. And it’s also a great deterrent for annoying popup ads. Nobody can see our browsing data, and that’s worth something, especially in this era of privacy invasion.
Keep in mind, there are free VPNs available, but the drawbacks are kind of an oxymoron because the free ones can still sell your data to third parties for income compensation. Also, when you use a free VPN you are limited to the only available country, which is the one you are in. You also won’t get the same speeds on the internet and timed usage, and I can’t guarantee any public privacy either.
VPNs don’t cost all that much, especially when you consider the privacy and other perks of using it. I use Bitdefender because I also use their antivirus – for years, after changing antivirus companies several times before finding a fair and reliable service. They also have great support, and no, I’m not plugging them, merely mentioning. They typically range around 50-60 dollars annually. But they are always offering promos, so when I renew, I call them, tell them I’ve seen ads out for promos, and they give me a promo code. I don’t think I’ve paid more than $39.99 at most with codes in the past few years. . . Please continue the conclusion at Sally’s blog where I share best ten VPNs and a short video that describes how easily it is to use a VPN.
©DGKaye2025
Sunday Book Review – Fragments of Isabella: A Memoir of Auschwitz by Isabella Leitner
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a book I grabbed while it was on FREE, and glad I did because unlike many books on this topic, the subject matter wasn’t detailed with stories of the inhumanity the nazis exerted over the Jews, as much as it is Isabella’s own survival story, and how she managed to stay alive through three death camps that gripped me. Isabella Leitner wrote this book in the late 70s.
Blurb:
The deeply moving, Pulitzer Prize–nominated memoir of a young Jewish woman’s imprisonment at the Auschwitz death camp.
In 1944, on the morning of May 29th, her twenty-third birthday, Isabella Leitner and her family were deported to Auschwitz, the Nazi extermination camp. There, she and her siblings relied on one another’s love and support to remain hopeful in the midst of the great evil surrounding them.
In Fragments of Isabella, Leitner reveals a glimpse of humanity in a world of darkness. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a celebration of the strength of the human spirit as it passes through fire,” this powerful and luminous Pulitzer Prize–nominated memoir, written thirty years after the author’s escape from the Nazis, has become a classic of holocaust literature and human survival.
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My 5 Star Review:
Isabella Leitner born in 1921 Hungary, survived the genocide of World War II, and lived to tell, until 2009. A remarkable long life after all she endured and suffered.
In this book, Isabella tells her story from the time the Germans deported Jews from Hungary, through all of the inhumane conditions she managed to remain alive, and her resilience to defy death at any cost, to the liberations of the holocaust victims by the Red Army, to her eventual migration to America.
On her 23rd birthday, May 29, 1944, Isabella was deported to Auschwitz from the Hungarian ghetto she was already forced to live in with her mother, four sisters, and a brother. Her father had already sensed the winds of war coming for him and his family and managed to get to America before the war began, in efforts to seek passage to bring his family to America. But sadly, before anything could be arranged for his family, the Germans got to them first. The story is written as an accounting of what happened to one family during the occupation, almost non chalant does the author reveal her stories. Not looking for pitty, but brazenly just telling it how it was, leaving us, the readers to form our own empathy.
The title for this book is definitely apropos. And the author’s writing style was one that just kept me captivated throughout until the last page. The book isn’t written as a novel. It’s a memoir written as fragmented bits of important moments and remembrances of the time her family suffered to live, relayed throughout the book, and the taste left behind after the war had left its psychological damage on survivors, some who couldn’t even bear hearing German words again. This book is one woman’s testament to the horrors of the holocaust, and the undeniable will to survive.
©DGKaye2025
October’s Best Curated Writer’s Tips – #Blogging, Email #Scams, #Punctuation, Perils of A.I.
Welcome to October’s picks for Writing Tips. In this edition, blogging guru, Hugh Roberts shares a tutorial on creating a Contact Page on our blogs and how to build the page, Hugh Roberts on Blog Recommendations, Anne R. Allen talks about the ‘flattering’ email scams authors receive, Diana Peach in her Punctuation Refresher Series talks about Comma uses, and Nathan Bransford on Trusting A.I.
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Hugh Roberts on How to Build a Contact page in our Blogs
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Hugh Roberts explain the new Blog Recommendation tool
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Anne R. Allen talks about A.I. Scams and the current Flattering Emails landing in Author’s Email
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Diana Peach at the Story Empire in her Punctuation Series – Commas
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Nathan Bransford warns about the Perils of A.I. for Writers
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©DGKaye 2025
Sunday Book Review – Smorgasbord New Book Spotlight #Grief #Relationships #Strength – About the Real Stages of Grief: A Journey Through Loss by D.G. Kaye | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine and a First Review!
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Yes, it’s a bit different today since I’ve just released my own book, today I wanted to share both, the introductory post Sally Cronin has put up to promote my book – About the Real Stages of Grief, and a first review that just came in mere days after the release.
Delighted to share the news of the latest release from my friend and collaborator D.G. Kaye, Debby Gies… About the Real Stages of Grief: A Journey Through Loss
About the book
The truth about grief: it has filled countless pages in clinical studies and personal stories, but no words can prepare us for its reality. When I lost my beloved husband, I searched for solace in grief groups and forums, longing to make sense of my experience. There I discovered something rarely spoken aloud—that many of us carry the same hidden aches and side effects of loss, the ones that seldom find their way into books.
Love does not die, and so grief never truly leaves us. It lingers, reshaping itself, teaching us to live with its many faces. This book is the story of my own passage through loss—an endurance of sorrow, and a testament to the strength of those left behind.
Grief is a heart-wrenching journey each of us will one day face. I write not only for those who are grieving, but also for the ones who walk beside them—for the friends, family, and witnesses to heartbreak—so they might understand, even a little, what it means to live with loss.
Sally chose to share this extracted section:
We all look for ways to feel comfort and a sense of knowing we are not alone in what we experience in the aftermath. One of the many side effects of becoming a widow is the realization that some people disappear from our lives, which I’ll talk about later.
In this book, you will find real talk on the subject of grief. It is us, the grievers, who are living in a new role, walking a road we never envisioned ourselves walking. Feeling as though our hearts have been chopped into pieces, we carry the weight of the discovery that life has taken a 180-degree turn on us all.
I don’t profess to be a grief counselor, although I’m pretty sure I’m well qualified. I don’t need a master’s degree or fancy letters beside my name to ace the topic of death and dying and the aftermath. I’m just someone who is living it daily and trying to get through the pain like so many others. Since I’m a writer who has found herself in the new role of bereaved widow, I thought that if others were also seeking some understanding on this journey of grief and its randomness, I’d share my own discoveries. I have earned the badge of knowing what this journey is about.
Head over to buy the book in ebook and soon in Print: Amazon US And: Amazon UK AmazonCA
Originally posted at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Invitation
Early First Review:
Oh my goodness Martha. First, thank you for reading, but so quickly and such a beautiful and comprehensive review. I am honored. I loved where you said, “I could relate to the grieving process; it’s different for individuals, but yet the same.” It’s so true. Every grief is different, yet, those in grief unite. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and sharing. I’m very appreciative of your kind review:
Martha Perez – https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RDC1OLRID8T94
My Review for author D. G. Kaye
An Emotional Book.
The author writes about her journey of grieving, sharing how profoundly challenging the loss of her beloved husband was. She felt anger, confusion, guilt, and fear, and so many other things. He was her best friend, a loving partner, the love of her life. Grief is an emotional rollercoaster. You could feel her heartache and loneliness, feeling an emptiness that gave her sleepless nights, all these changes from grief.
The author’s thoughts on mental fog and the void that comes with losing a loved one are hard to grasp. Sharing her experience will heal her broken heart. She feels incomplete, disconnected, bound in her home, sobbing, and can’t be with people for the moment. I could relate to the grieving process; it’s different for individuals, but yet the same.
I know her pain and anguish, losing my own son; everything she wrote was familiar, and the sorrow of her words made me feel I wasn’t alone.
No one can truly understand until you’ve gone through this journey. The heatbreak never disappears; it’s as if your shadow becomes your darkness, the author writes in the book. I believe the memories will continue to make her strong and healthy. Life is harsh in many aspects. The experience and her words will help others, and discussing self-care is crucial; it’s a vital part of the healing process.
The wisdom of her words matters; it strengthens and transforms into thoughtfulness, kindness, and helpful support to others. I’m glad to read this extraordinary book. I wholeheartedly advise buying a copy.
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