D.G. Kaye is a nonfiction/memoir writer, writing from her life experiences and self-medicating with a daily dose of humor. Live Laugh Love and Don't Forget to Breathe!
Welcome back to my Writer’s Tips series – This month: How to Spruce up our Author Bios, Social Media for Authors, and Hitting the Red Carpet by Sally Cronin, How to better protect ourselves from Scammers on Social Media by Beem Weeks, Nerdy Book Girl offers a nifty generator to check up on our author books – which categories Amazon has under our books. Hugh Roberts in his Blogging Tips – the importance of having a subscriber widget on your blog and how to add it.
Sally Cronin in her Public Relations for Authors Smorgasbord series, with Part 2 for Authors on the importance of bios and other tips.
Nerdy Book Girl shares a FREE Tool – The Book Category Hunter to find your author books and see what categories Amazon has for our books – that are no longer displayed on Amazon
Adding my own two cents here: Does any other author here like the new bare bones layout of our books now on Amazon? I don’t. Doesn’t show much except our books and one must click on anything to find information, where before, everything showed on one page. Just another way Amazon makes it harder for author’s books to sell.
I’m back! I’m going to be sharing some info, pictures, highlights and observances from my winter escape away to Puerto Vallarta. As per my usual, I’ll begin with ‘travel day’ – never one of my favorites.
What a trip! I left home in a blizzard and minus 30F with zero sleep because my plane was to leave at 6:30 am, which meant I had to leave home at 3am to allow for airport madness. It turns out that I was lucky to have that early flight because it was the early flights that were getting out of Dodge that day as I noticed most other flights on the board all listed as cancelled. It took us 45 minutes to de-ice the plane, and gratefully, I was off to the sunshine and warmth, leaving behind what has been consequently named ‘the worst winter in eighty years’.
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I took this photo from inside the plane as they were de-icing the plane.
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I’d learned from my previous year’s flight, to never fly in to Puerto Vallarta on a Saturday – the airport is just too busy in high season. I left on a Thursday, and after once again having to disembark on the tarmac to pick up bags and proceed through the antiquated customs system, I was asked to open a suitcase there for the first time ever. Most likely that was because the universe must have heard me bragging to a fellow passenger how I’d never caught ‘the red light’. Yes, Mexican customs agents have booths set up before where we exit to the outside. There is what looks like a stoplight at each booth that we must press the button – if the light is green, keeping walking, if it’s red, you must open up whatever bags they want to search. My bags were HEAVY, and one was soaking wet when it came off the carousel, undoubtedly, left out on the tarmac at Toronto airport during the blizzard until it was loaded on. With no sleep for almost 36 hours and the mile walk at Toronto airport to the gate, and no strength left to carry another bag, the agent asked me to lift my suitcase onto the three foot high table. I told him that if he wanted to see what’s in there, he’d have to lift it himself. And he did. The usual time suck and I was out in a cab to my rented condo.
Ten minutes later I arrived at security gates of the condo in the blazing hot sun and the cab driver proceeded up the quarter mile drive up to my tower and helped me put my bags on the luggage cart I’d borrowed from the lobby. I was to meet my condo manager upstairs, but when I finally finagled that heavy luggage cart in and out of the elevator and down the winding hall to the condo, nobody was there. The door was locked and my manager was a no-show. As I sweated in my travel clothes from the sun’s rays beaming directly on me from an open hallway window, my mind was rolling with how I was to get in, and how was I to try and phone him while my mobile was turned onto airplane mode and I hadn’t yet got my Mexican Sim card, not wanting to turn on my phone to track a missing manager and cost me $20 just to make that call from my Canadian Sim card. Then an idea sparked.
I remembered that the previous year, the manager had Whatsapped me the wifi password for the condo unit. I inched right up to the door, scrolled through his old messages, and found the password. I hitched onto the condo’s wifi from outside the door and messaged him. His reply told me that he was sorry he couldn’t be there but he left the key at the quarter mile away security gate and advised me to go get it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? I told him I was not leaving my luggage, nor was I walking that far pushing a luggage cart, and asked him to give me the digital combination to open the door. He told me the owner had changed the code, and I told him he’d better call the owner and GET IT! And so he did, and ten minutes later texted it to me. I was finally in.
Not ten more minutes had passed when my friend Shelley, who was already there for two weeks with hubby John, texted me to tell me she’s on her way over so she can walk with me to the grocery store and get me a Sim card. I opened my luggage, changed into shorts and a Tshirt, left it all and headed out for a hot walk to the supermarket. By the time I got back, finished unpacking, and had something to eat, it was evening and I still hadn’t slept. All I wanted was a hot shower and bed. I got in the shower and turned the dial to hot water, only to discover – there wasn’t any. I knew it! Once again my manager was ill-prepared and didn’t instruct maintenance to turn on the hot water tank. I literally thought I was going to freeze to death, but I needed a shower and bed, the hot water tank turn on was going to wait till the morning.
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This is a picture of me and Shelley, a.k.a. Shelster, on one of our later shopping expeditions with a Margarita pitstop.
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The next morning, I had hot water. Although I noticed the condo was missing face towels, face cloths and kitchen towels. The safe had the same corroded batteries that were there last year, so I once again replaced them with my own I’d brought from home, knowing what to expect. The wicker chairs on the balcony were in bad shape. some broken right through the seats, and the living room furniture looked like it was long overdue for a cleaning, so as I did last year, I covered one of the couches with a clean sheet so I had a place to park myself and my laptop without sitting on the unknown. I made a note to buy some towels on a Walmart walk with my friends Brenda and Saul, and remember to take the towels back home with me when it was time to leave.
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My friends, wild woman Brenda And her husband Saul
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I noticed how much the prices had gone up in the stores and restaurants. Quaint little PV is fast becoming a big Americanized tourist town. Condos are going up quick, and I know Covid has put a hit on costs globally, but I also know that Mexican local cost of living could never afford such prices. The tourist areas were catching up with prices back home. Alcoholic beverages used to cost $3-$4 Canadian pre-Covid that are now $10. A restaurant meal for $15 now with a tip was costing $30. Grocery prices have doubled too, and not to mention, our already crappy Canadian dollar was down from 16 to 13 Pesos to the Canadian dollar – costing more, and getting less at the bank machine. But still, it was cheaper for me to live there for two months than what I spend at home to live.
Most days were spent at the pool, except for a few shopping and Margarita trips downtown a few times for the day with my galpals, and another group trip north to La Cruz Sunday market and Punta Mita beach for lunch (which I’ll share later). My good friends, Shelley and John were staying next complex over, and Brenda and Saul were staying in my building. I’d get my exercise many days walking to groceries, Walmart, Costco, and/or the fish market where I got some delicious Sea Bass for about $3 a fillet, now that was a good deal. I don’t eat shrimp, but you could get a kilo, fresh, and hand cleaned while you wait for $14 Canadian dollars! There seemed to be a mysterious week or two where no store had any gluten-free bread – or coffee creamer.
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I took this short video clip of the Fish Market
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Fresh Catch of the Day – Mahi Mahi
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I saw a lot of familiar faces at the pool and spent the afternoons in the water gabbing to them all, as well as made a few new friends. My friends Patty and Jamie were there too, although Pat came a few weeks late because of a host of health issues. It didn’t help that a week after finally arriving, she got Shingles. Oye! Poor Pat. She had to stay in, out of the sun for two weeks, and even when the blisters healed, she was, and still is suffering lingering nerve damage on her back. I also made some new good friends to add to my roster, Lucie, Liz and Grant, and the last week, I met Liz’s sister, Chris. And my girlfriend from home here, Alyson, also came down and stayed with me for ten days – more girl time!
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Me and Alyson, Al, as I always call her, out on the town
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Pat a.k.a Patty Girl, and Jamie out at a fancy restaurant up in the hills
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Me and Lucie at Margarita Grill Bar (More about that to come)
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Me and Liz and my water float
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Grant and Liz – my new friends and chair savers
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Liz’s sister Chris took this selfie of us three. Clearly, she has been fired from selfie photography. LOL.
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Now that I have introduced you to some of my friends, you’ll be able to put the names to faces in my stories.
I also had good intentions to read a lot of books while away, but February was a write-off for that activity because the socializing took precedence. But I managed to get through ten books in March, despite my busy schedule, and a few of which were added into my reading roster when a friend offered me two books she finished at the beach, which sparked my fancy. I’ll be posting my reviews for those books on Goodreads and Amazon as I finish editing my reviews from rough written notes, and I’ll be sharing each book on my Sunday Book Reviews here, each week. A few great reads to mention were books by: Lauren Scott – More Than Coffee, The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival by Miriam Hurdle, and Frank Prem’s latest book (not sure if it’s out yet), a powerful interpretation of the war in Ukraine, From Volyn To Kherson.
For now, I’ll share a few more pictures below of some of my favorite scenic captures – from my balcony. I’ll be sharing more pictures, outings, happenings and mishaps here, weekly. Stay tuned!
Welcome to my Bon Voyage post, I’m still here but frantically getting things ready for my winter break. My Canadian friends are all already there in Puerto Vallarta, and I’m looking forward to kicking up my social life notches, and drinking Margaritas.
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I’ve had a few people ask if I’m concerned about some of the recent goings on in Mexico. No. The friction going on there is not in the State of Jalisco where PV is in. It’s funny how some people get a picture in their heads when they hear things on the news before doing their geographical homework. That doesn’t mean that anywhere I travel to, that I’m not being diligent. Yes, Mexico has Cartel, but typically, the big honcho Cartel aren’t looking to disrupt tourism, and their headquarters are in known States that are mostly rated dangerous and at your risk places to visit. It’s the newer, ‘wannabe’ gangs that infiltrate certain places and instigate turf wars that are causing these crime incidences, particularly on the Caribbean side, ie: Cancun and Playa. These gangs emmigrated from further south in Central America. And this isn’t to say I’m okay with Cartel, but some of these Cartel want to keep tourist areas safe because they build and invest there for money laundering purposes. As bizarro as it sounds, it makes me feel safe too, in a strange kind of way.
Mexico is a huge country with over 126 million people. That’s three times the population of Canada, and just over one third the population of the U.S. It’s always important to do our homework on where we are traveling, to keep abreast of travel warnings etc., because people ‘hear’ things, but don’t always put them in perspective. And with this said, we still have to remember we’re tourists and must always keep aware of our surroundings.
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Where I’ve been and Why Mexico?
I’ve been to Mexico many times since I was in my early twenties. Back in the 80s, Acapulco was the hot tourist spot of Mexico. And it was great fun and safe. I went there many times in that decade with girlfriends, once with a boyfriend, and later, with my husband. By the early 2000s, we noticed things weren’t feeling the same there and began hearing whispers of a few killings and kidnappings on the news, and we began exploring other parts of Mexico.
We went to Ixtapa, which we loved, Manzanillo, and finally found our new happy spot in Puerto Vallarta. We had our winter vacations there for about five years in a row before we got antsy and wanted to try new places. We started vacationing in various islands in the Caribbean – my favorites being, St. Martin, St. Thomas, and Curacao. And then we became cruisers, which we loved taking every February. We’d spend a week in Fort Lauderdale and go on a two-week Caribbean cruise, and meet up with same friends every year. When my husband’s health issues became apparent, we stopped cruising after 2014. I worried about something happening to him while on ship, and couldn’t live with that. So we talked about where we should start going on land instead. We loved Las Vegas and had gone there many times, as our autumn getaway. But we needed a new winter getaway spot. We loved the desert climate. And we had once taken a helicopter tour from Vegas, over the Grand Canyon, and we decided on that day, that we were going to start spending a chunk of winter in Arizona. We did that for three years and as US politics were heating up, and our Canadian dollar getting crappier, we decided to go back to Puerto Vallarta, because we always enjoyed it there, and it’s guaranteed sunshine. And we rightly assumed after not being there for some fifteen years, how much it was growing. And when I went to book at our favorite hotel for two weeks, air/hotel, all inclusive, the price was almost $9000.00 CAD for two weeks!
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That was the beginning of learning about renting a condo instead. My brother had been renting a condo in a beautiful complex right on the beach for less than $3000 US, for a month in PV. I got the details, and we went there and stayed in a different complex, just down the beach from him and had wonderful trips. So economically speaking, I can vacay for two months for what it cost me two weeks in the hotel package deal. Flight is covered with my points card and cost of living there is way cheaper than here in Toronto, so I spend less there than I do staying at home. That is the story of how I ended up in Puerto Vallarta. Right now I have wonderful friends who are already there, and I can’t wait to see what sunshine looks and feels like again. And it’s still a place I can feel my husband there with me. We loved it there.
There are crime hotspots everywhere in the world. Heck there are parts of my own city I wouldn’t venture through to alone. Yes, there are plenty of dangerous places in Mexico. The trick is to learn the safest places and States. Cartel central is in the State of Sinaloa. You may have recently heard of the capture of El Chapo’s son in Mazatlan. Mazatlan is in Sinaloa. There’s one State I have no interest in visiting. If you ever watch Cartel movies/series, you will hear of some of the Cartel infamous places – in the State of Sinaloa, Juarez, in the State of Chihuahua, and some other border towns.
Puerto Vallarta is still touted as one of the safest places to visit in Mexico and to my investigative knowledge, no tourists have been harmed or mamed there. And I much prefer Pacific Mexico to Caribbean Mexico. On the west coast I am 99.9 % guaranteed hot beautiful weather with almost a zero chance of rain. Plus, I find, even though the city has grown so much, adding Costco, Walmart and some fantastic shops, some North American things that North Americans love, that PV still has that Mexican charm and hasn’t gone as Americanized as some other Mexican destinations on the eastern, Caribbean/Yucatan Penninsula side. The added bonus is that I do not need US dollars to stay there. Only the rentals charge in US funds. But our Canadian dollar goes a good way there.
No matter where we travel, we must always be diligent. Saying one wouldn’t go to Mexico because of crime in one State is like saying there’s a shootout in Quebec so don’t go anywhere in Canada, or a shooting in Chicago, so you wouldn’t go to California. Oranges and apples comparison. Also, we have to pay attention to our surroundings wherever we go. Most tourist populated places are known for pickpockets. Awareness of our surroundings is always a good thing. I’m like that in my own city. And petty crime is everywhere now.
So, with that all said, my bags are almost packed, health insurance – check, fifth Covid bivalent booster shot – check, travel anxiety riding high – check, and soon I’ll be walking in flip flops for the bulk of this Canadian winter.
Although I won’t be reading blogs regularly as I normally do, don’t be surprised to find me landing on some of your posts as I randomly get a chance to pop by. I do follow Sally Cronin’s posts while away as I drink my morning coffee, because even though I can’t spend valuable vacation time on all the blogs I follow, I at least feel like I’m staying up-to-date through reading her posts, as Sally is a great sharer to and of our writing community, and it’s my second ‘blog home’. I will also post intermittently on Facebook.
So, happy winter blogging to you all, and I will no doubt, have much to share with you all upon my return.
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m sharing my review for a beautiful book with a very apt title – Death and its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Beautiful Lessons, written by Becky Aud-Jennison. She is a therapist and clinician and also runs a podcast – Field Notes from The Death Dialogues Project.
Blurb:
It’s Time to Invite Death Out of the Closet!
The impending or actual death of someone close to you can be devastating. It doesn’t matter if you knew it was coming, or if it was a total shock-you’ll never be the same. There is no right way to grieve, and no appropriate time frame. It’s different for everyone.
Author and therapist gone rogue, Becky Aud-Jennison, the creator of The Death Dialogues Project and podcast, has sewn together threads from people’s shared personal stories and her own experiences, using them to offer insight and comfort to those who are experiencing the loss of a loved one or want to become more death-literate.
She beautifully discusses individual factors of grief including:
Traumatic Grief
Relieved Grief
Who Am I Now Grief
Break-Ups: Death can be the great divide
Love Never Dies: Do not ignore signs
Transformation: Death becomes you
Calling on her years as a clinician, you will also find soothing, research-based techniques to help ease the ache of trauma and loss.
Many do not realize we now have choice surrounding our deaths and how our bodies are treated. Similar to birth being brought back into the home, there has been a wave of people doing the same with death, creating moving and personal experiences at the dying time and in the aftermath. Like homebirth, it may not be for everyone, but aren’t we better humans for understanding the terrain?
With this project’s aim of promoting death literacy, you will find story and commentary surrounding death and end-of-life choices (such as having a loved one’s body at home).
It’s time to take these historically “hush-hush” conversations out into the open. We all experience death and loss in our lives, and we should be talking about it.
Embrace the beautiful-horrible full spectrum of your life. Here you will also find resources and a community where you can further explore or seek support as you continue your journey.
This book will gently hold you as you increase your awareness and comfort surrounding death and is a perfect offering to others at those times when there are no words.
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My 5 Star Review:
I’ve read several books on grief and loss and death, and I’m putting this one right up there with my recommends for anyone interested in death literacy. Like the author states, “We all experience death and loss in our lives, and we should be talking about it.”
This book gives us good insights with stories and conversations with the author and some of her clients who share their experiences on the subject of dealing with death, and things we don’t really want to know, but should. As the author states, “Death experiences can never be fully explained or compared…” adding, “We need to get death out of the closet too.” She refers to it as ‘talking about death’ because all people really want in their great times of trauma is someone to understand what they are going through. We want to hear people’s experiences on their grief journey, not from academic texts. This book is a definite balm to soothe the soul. Grief begins at the moment of diagnosis for both the patient and the loved ones. Aud-Jennison also warns that by stifling grief, it will certainly have its day. She also talks about the PTSD affect grief leaves on those left behind.
What I loved most about what this author said to those seeking grief therapy – a warning to seek out a therapist who has indeed experienced their own loss, because getting help from one who has never suffered great loss cannot possibly know the depths of grief. We will also learn how grief can wreak havoc on our bodies, “a mysterious thing that can never be taught”. So many great discussions on all aspects of grief, including how some people who are part of our lives disappear on us in our dire time of need to be surrounded by familiar people in our lives. Because many cannot handle the world which we the griever now lives in, warning: “Those are not your people.” “The absence of your loved one will forever be part of who you are now.”
The author reminds that Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief were initially written for the the patient diagnosed with the death sentence, compared to a griever’s life where we will live in and out and with grief for the rest of our days – in no particular order in a forever flux of triggers.
This book is all about the truth about death, dying, aftermath, and everything in between. I would certainly recommend this book as a guided tonic for the grieving soul.
Two podcasts 6 and 7 are live now. Grief the Real Talk – Abandonment and Relationship Changes After Loss, and Condolences – What to Say and What Not to Say to Grievers. I also want to share the most amazing and concise speech about grief as explained by Dr. Natasha Josefowitz, PhD. And I’d also like to thank Judith Barrow, Diana Peach, Stevie Turner, Smitha Vishwanath and Lisa Thomson for their most lovely and recent reviews for my new book – Fifteen First Times.
I will commence podcasting again, end of March.
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Thanks to Marian Beaman emailing the link to this video of Dr. Natasha Josefowitz, PhD, bestselling author, talking the bare bones on grief at different ages.
Dr. Josefowitz talks about there being no right way to grieve, and about how Dr. Kubler-Ross’ 5 stages of grief were originally written for the dying one, not the grievers. There is no law and order for a griever. Dr. J will tell us her own list of 7 emotional stages of grief, which is more like a griever’s life, no set pattern, many times revisiting, triggers, etc. This was like listening to me telling my life. Unreal. I am not alone. Everything she lived is me. So the good parts that she states, about when grief moves from her head into her heart, and suddenly the pain doesn’t feel as heavy, is the part I look forward to.
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Also, I wanted to thank a few people here who have kindly posted new reviews for my recent book release – Fifteen First Times:
Review by Judith Barrow:
Fifteen First Times is a collection of short but evocative memoirs by D G Kaye. I actually wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started to read. All I knew was that, having read various other books by this author, and having always admired her intimate writing style, I was in for a treat. I wasn’t disappointed…
In this short but candid book the author D.G Kaye shares fifteen of her first times with us; from her first diet to her first menstrual period, her first high heels, her first love, and her first cigarette to name but a few. We also find out what happened when she decided to dye her hair red for the first time…
‘Fifteen first times’ by author D.G. Kaye is a light, heartwarming read that will leave you reminiscing your own fifteen first times, sweet events you may have forgotten along the way as life took over and bitter ones that hurt you so much, that you buried deep inside of you- basically, all the experiences that made you into the person you currently are…
Kaye’s memoir Fifteen First Times reads like a conversation over a glass of wine with a bunch of besties. As I was reading, I could imagine the groans, laughter, and tender moments many women share in common as they navigate their teens and young adulthood—first kiss, first love, first car, a broken heart, the angst of menstruation, the first hair coloring disaster, and the first death that woke us up to the impermanence of life. Fifteen firsts…
A lovely essay style memoir, by D.G. Kaye. She shares fifteen of her poignant first experiences. Each one as touching as the next. Kaye makes herself vulnerable in sharing these very personal stories, including losing loved ones. My favorite were her stories of her trip to Europe as a teen. If you grew up in the 70’s you will doubly enjoy this book. Highly recommend!
Welcome again to my most recent article I shared at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog Magazine in my Spiritual Awareness series – Learning to Trust Your #Intuition. Do you often find when it comes to making decisions that you are conflicted by what your head (ego) is telling you, as opposed to what your gut (heart) is telling you? In this article, I go through how our intuition works, and how we can better develop our own intuitive inner alert systems.
Explore the spiritual side of our natures as D.G. Kaye shares her experiences and research into this element of our lives.
Welcome back to my spiritual awareness series. Today I’m talking about our intuition, and how to connect with it, learning how to pay attention to it.
Do you struggle with trusting your intuition? Do you feel pangs of anxiety when having to face a big decision in your life, fighting the inner conflict of the two sides of the coin when you know something is off, yet, you don’t know whether you should trust your inside warning system or if you should just simply wave off your concerns as your imagination?
What is intuition? There are a plethora of descriptions and explanations for intuition. But the basic mechanics of how it works is with our natural instinctual reaction – memories usually trigger something from a past lesson, which the mind often overlooks. In the same way we know when there’s danger around, intuition our 6th sense, is automatically activated within us.
All of us have been in these predicaments at various times in our lives. And I’m sure many of us tend to wave off our worries, sometimes allowing the chips to fall where they may because we’re just too afraid to make an executive decision. But often, letting the chips fall where they may because of self-doubt will lead to a negative outcome. So how can we help ourselves become more assertive when it comes to making a decision about things we don’t really want to think about but aren’t going away? We must take a step outside of our worries and delve into the elements of our dilemmas looking at them from a different perspective.
Sometimes removing ourselves from the equation helps us take a better look at facts objectively, and this will help immensely. Nobody ever made great decisions while under duress, and by distancing ourselves from our own inner turmoil will aid in giving us a little breathing room, which in turn helps us to use better logic rather than feeling pressured by staying stagnant in the worry vacuum or making grievous decisions based on fear. When we aren’t consumed with constant worry and we take a breather, we allow our minds to calm and can feel and receive our intuitive messages better while not remaining situated in the immediate inner conflict.
Another way to help us assess our inner feelings is by journaling. Yes, it works! By allowing all our thoughts and concerns to pour out on paper not only relieves the pressure out of our heads, but when reading it back to ourselves we can systemically point out to ourselves precisely what is eating us, and sometimes even find our answers through our own words for resolution.
Did you know that the gut and the brain have a direct relation to stress and worry? It’s not a myth that emotions we experience are linked to the stomach – hence, that butterfly feeling we get in our stomachs when we feel scared, worried, or excited. These are good indicators of the ‘gut instincts’ we receive when something is off or in contrast, when something feels great. When things are feeling off it’s a warning sign to investigate our feelings to help us decide whether they are temporary moments or warning signals. If you are interested in reading up on the true explanation about how and why our gut signals us when something is off, please read this informative article about the brain-gut connection – the enteric nervous system, also known as ENS, which explains the scientific link to the brain/gut connection.
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We’ve all had that ‘familiar’ feeling, often labeled as a déjà vu moment when our instincts pick up on a remembered moment from the past – which doesn’t necessarily mean the triggered sense of familiarity occurred in our present life, but perhaps from a past life? Déjà vu translates to ‘already seen’ from French. It’s a common term we all use when we come upon a moment that feels so familiar, having us feeling as though we’ve already been in or experienced that precise moment, quite possibly from another place and time, as it’s an inexplicable feeling without an exact recollection of where the experience was first felt. . . Please continue reading at Sally’s blog
My Sunday Book Review is for Judith Barrow’s brand new release – Sisters. Judith’s books never disappoint, and this new book kept me glued. This is the story of two sisters, and a huge lie that destroyed a family. The author has a talent for drawing out great characters that leave us thinking about them even after closing the book. The book is on pre-order now, release date, January 26th.
A moving study of the deep feelings – jealousy, love, anger, and revenge – that can break a family apart. … Sisters is another absorbing, emotional and thought-provoking creation from the wonderful Judith Barrow. – Janet Laugharne
Two sisters torn apart by a terrible lie.In shock after an unbearable accident. Angie lets her sister Mandy take the blame, thinking she’s too young to get into trouble. But she’s wrong. Mandy is hounded, bullied and finally sent to live with their aunt, where she changes her name to Lisa and builds a new life, never wanting to see her sister again. Angie’s guilt sends her spiralling into danger. Thirteen years later, they meet again at their mother’s funeral. Lisa starts to suspect something is wrong. Angie seems terrified of her husband, and their father is hiding something too. What does Lisa owe to the family that betrayed her?
I knew I was in for a treat. I wasn’t disappointed… I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Lisa and Angie… A tale with characters that linger in your mind after you close the book. Jacqueline Harrett
My 5 Star Review:
Judith Barrow strikes again with this new release, Sisters. Barrow has a talent for creating rich characters who linger with us long after we’ve finished reading the book. She is recognized for her fantastic family saga stories, and this one had me going through varied emotions as one huge lie orchestrated by elder sister Angie, for a very evil deed she committed, is pinned on her younger sister Amanda, and changes both their lives and the family dynamic forever.
I found it a gripping read as I shook my head and wanted to shake Angie even more for destroying her family over her selfish whims and passing the blame on poor Amanda. It irked me that Amanda didn’t stand up to her evil sister and tell the truth, but as Barrow so cleverly weaves this tale, she makes us understand how big sister Angie holds a grip on Amanda and talks her into good reason why Amanda shouldn’t tell on her.
The horrendous event that took place that Amanda was being blamed for, eventually has her parents sending her to Wales to live with her aunt to avoid the bullying and terrorizing Amanda endured for the awful event that took place. And wanting a fresh start, Amanda even changed her name to Lisa.
The story kept me turning the pages, hoping that Angie would speak up and tell truth, while having me shake my head thinking about how one sister can even live with herself as she watches her little sister’s life spiral and turn upside down because of her horrible actions and her coverup lies that went unchallenged. But it does seem Karma always find her way back to those as a reminder.
Some thirteen years would pass before the sisters are forced to meet up at their mother’s funeral. In between those passing years we learn about both Angie’s and Amanda’s lives. Amanda/Lisa is happy in her life living with Aunt Barb and Uncle Chris, while Angie, who ran away from home shortly after Amanda was sent to Wales, lived a tawdry life, until she meets up with her childhood crush and cohort in ‘the big lie’, Stephen Birch, now a wealthy businessman and predator in more ways than one. Once Lisa returns home from her mum’s funeral, she learns about Angie’s unhappy past and present life, with her now, abusive and dominating husband Stephen Birch. And as Lisa works on sewing up her mother’s estate, she discovers more dark secrets about Angie’s insidious husband. The story grows darker as we learn exactly what is going on in Angie’s marriage and what exactly it is Stephen wants from her – from her family.
As Stephen continues to emotionally abuse and torment Angie, Lisa’s empathy has her worrying for her sister. And by the time the next tragedy strikes in their family, Lisa begins investigating and working with an old friend, Ben, now a journalist, she teams up with to investigate just what the evil Stephen Birch is really up to.
Why is Stephen so evil? What is it he wants? What is it he has hanging over Angie’s head? Will Stephen be caught and punished for the physical abuse he caused to Angie? Will he be found discovered responsible for causing harm to the girls’ parents? How far will this deranged man go to get what he wants from these two sisters? You will find no spoilers here, and will want to keep reading to the end, anxiously waiting to see if Angie escapes Birch’s stranglehold on her and if just desserts are served.
Welcome to my new year of Writer’s Tips. In this edition, Ruth Harris talks about 13 Ways to Drive a Writer Crazy; Anne R. Allen’s blog, guest writer, Jessica Bell, talks about Choosing Proper Fonts for Book Covers; Sally Cronin is rewinding her Public Relations for Authors series, – the importance of an Author picture. Hugh Roberts with a great list of 7 Ways to Clean up our Blogs for the New Year; Diana Peach, writing for the Story Empire has a helpful post for writers – Writing the End; Ruth Harris shares 6 Writing Tips from Famous Authors; Diana Urban at Bookbub shares various examples of Writing Your Author Bio.
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Entertaining post from Ruth Harris at the blog of Anne R. Allen about the concept of writing, and how many outsiders have no clue what goes into writing – including friends and family.
DGKayewriter.com 