Penny Piva Reviews Foodie Cozy Mystery

Murder Takes the Cake
Author: Gayle Trent
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Murder Takes the Cake Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGnKwHYlPCQ
Blog: Fatal Foodies (http://fatalfoodies.blogspot.com)


Penny Piva, blogger at Sweet Brown Poison http://sweetbrownpoison.blogspot.com/, says, "Through the magic of the Mighty Mighty Internets, I found Gayle Trent. Not that she was lost, but she was out there, floating around. The Google and I caught her. I can't remember how. My powers are strong, but my mind isn't.

"But I found her and that's all that matters. Her cozy mystery, Murder Takes the Cake is all the deliciousness I could possibly want in a book. Cake. Good plot. Wacky family. Did I mention cake?

"And! Gayle is a kindred spirit. Come on...loves cake decorating...and who do we know who went to pastry school? Gets her magical powers from DC...like someone else you know...

You're going to love her as much as you love me--and I KNOW that's a LOT!!!"

Here's what she has to say about the book:

Yodel Watson was dead. And some people blamed my spice cake.

When the meanest gossip in Brea Ridge dies mysteriously, suspicions turn to cake decorator Daphne Martin. But all Daphne did was deliver a spice cake with cream cheese frosting--and find Yodel's body. Now Daphne's got to help solve the murder and clear her good name. Problem is, her Virginia hometown is brimming with people who had good reason to kill Yodel, and Daphne's whole family is among them."

Murder Takes the Cake will soon be released by Thorndike in a large-print library edition, and an English large-print publisher--BBC Audiobooks--has also secured rights to the book. The second book in the Daphne Martin Series--Dead Pan--will be released in November of 2009.

Always Keepers Press, a new Knoxville-based audio book publisher, will be releasing Between A Clutch and A Hard Place, a now out-of-print book written in 2005, in February of 2010.

The first book in her latest mystery series, a cozy embroidery mystery tentatively titled The Quick and The Thread, will be released by NAL/Penguin under the pen name Amanda Lee in August of 2010.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Barbara Becker Holstein Offers Fictional Diary for Girls and Young Women

This isn't really a review but it struck a chord with me. Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein has written a charming little book for young women. Written as a 10-year old girl’s diary, it is a treasure for kids and adults alike because it reminds us of what it’s like to be ten. I thought this might be the perfect book for my grandaughters and that I should pass the information to you.


The book is The Truth (I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything!) .

The author has many years of practicing as a positive psychologist. She believes women can draw tremendous energy and vitality from their deepest and most precious well - themselves. Yes, inside of ourselves are the positive memories from late childhood into teens, the talents, the strengths, and the untapped potential to give us all the resources we need.

She says, "Girls between 8 and 12 can and do everything. However, adolescence can be very hard on girls and years later many a woman has lost touch with her earlier talents, strengths, potential or what makes her happy. I worked to develop a companionship with the 10-year old inside myself. Suddenly, getting to know myself as a child again was serious psychological business.

"That’s when I wrote a journal-style book, The Truth (I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything!) . If you are a woman, it will make you want to dance with your inner 10-year old and make her energies a part of yourself again. If you are an adult, you will see the child in your life in a much more profound light. You will want to help her hold on to her wisdom, wit, sense of competency and self-esteem. If you are a kid or a ‘tween, you will feel understood and connected to this fictional girl. After all, she is like you. The girl sees so much and knows so much as we all did at 10 or 11. And wouldn't it be great to hold on to the energy and confidence that can go with that stage of life?"

Truth is available on Amazon and those who buy it will also receive nearly $6,500 in free downloadable gifts! Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/m8ooto

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Pistonhead More Than Hot Rock 'n' Roll

Pistonheadby Thomas A. Hauck
Fiction
Published by something.hot communications
Publication date: February 1, 2009
Paperback: $12.95, 174 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60145-744-8


Sometimes you cannot judge a book by its cover. At first glance, Pistonhead appears to be yet another entry into the tedious and predictable genre of rock ‘n roll debauchery tell-all category, where the protagonist struggles to become a star, takes too many drugs, divorces his wife, and ends up older and wiser and very rich.

This concise novel, which you can read in one afternoon, chronicles two weeks in the life of Charlie Sinclair, an aspiring Boston rock musician who would not know a limousine if it ran him down in the street. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of struggling artists in America, the ones who still work day jobs and live in mice-infested apartments and eat cold cereal for breakfast before going off to a factory job at eight in the morning.

Pistonhead covers a lot of ground in its refreshingly slender format. The characters are front and center. We meet Charlie’s drug-addled lead singer, Rip; the band’s hapless manager Louie; the cynical concert promoter; the lusty ex-girlfriend; the lustier art student who is making an artsy sex video; the nun who tries to recruit Charlie to sing for her Sunday school class; and Lisa, his enigmatic love interest. The scenes with the Mass Rehab clients in the factory are poignant and occasionally horrifying, as when Roger confides to Charlie that Satan has taken over the body of one of his co-workers.

What ties the novel together is theme of success, and how we define it. When the book opens we assume that Charlie defines success by the usual criteria of the number of patrons crammed into the Big Ditch Club or the number of radio stations playing Pistonhead songs. But a tragedy forces Charlie to take stock of his life and he comes to understand what is most important to him—and it’s not necessarily how many CDs the band can sell.

Pistonhead is an American journey that encompasses, in a concise package, themes that resonate with the flow of our culture as we enter the twenty-first century. Because in the end Charlie makes do with much less, but in many ways his life has become richer, with greater possibilities than before.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Linda Ballou Researches Hawai'i and Pens Book about W ai-nani

W ai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i:Her Epic Journey
Author, Linda Ballou
Publisher: StarPublishLLC
ISBN: 10:1-932993-88-6
ISBN: 13:978-1-932993-88-2

Reviewed by Sofia Steryo-Bartmus for Amazon


Wai-nani tells the story between the first High Chiefess of Hawaii ,and the fierce, great warrior and magnificent ruler, Makaha, who unified the Hawaiian islands in the late 18th Century. Wai-nani emerges as a young, beautiful, strong, powerful and "Free-Spirited" modern woman in an ancient society. She is a woman before her time, who rose to a position (Kuhina-Nui) no other had risen before her, and one who helped bring about changes that elevated the status of women. She loves the sea and her dolphin friends, where she finds peace, solitude and comfort from the harsh traditions imposed on her and her people. She defies the 'kapu' (taboos) of the time and wishes and vows one day to see the savage ways of the long ago lifted, where men and women can sit together and share their joys and troubles without the fear of the death dealing Kahuna.

Linda Ballou has done extensive research on the history of the characters and Hawaii, and gives the reader blow by blow details in a flowery, poetic and interesting language. She manages to intertwine a love story with historical fact and has done a superb job. She narrates the story through Wai-nani's eyes and experiences, and she makes it all come alive for the reader. I found myself transported into an ancient world where human sacrifices were common and where people were put to death for disobeying the laws. I felt as if I was present in the lives of the common people, the warriors and the royal families of the time, as well as in the midst of the lush valleys and beautiful sand beaches and mountains of the Islands.

Although this is a story of the past, Linda manages to bring out the human emotions, feelings and struggles of the present in all of us, which transcend times and cultures. I found the book educational and very entertaining. Make sure you look up the glossary at the end of the book before you get started, it will make it easier to follow the unfamiliar words, names and places of the Hawaiian culture.
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Reviewer Sofia Steryo-Bartmus is author of: Paws of Wisdom , valuable lessons we can learn from our pet

W ai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i:Her Epic Journey
is available on www.Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle edition and for a signed copy and free shipping go to www.LindaBallouAuthor.com


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Carolyn Myss Reviews Book That Will Liberate You from Negative Emotions

Title – Emotional Freedom
Author – Dr Judith Orloff
Genre or category – Self help, personal transformation
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Harmony; First Edition edition (March 3, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0307338181


Book Review by Caroline Myss


EMOTIONAL FREEDOM: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Harmony, $24) written by Judith Orloff MD is the perfect book to come along at the perfect time. I couldn’t put it down!

We live in a tumultuous, fear-dominated period in history and must become masters at overcoming fear and other negative emotions so they don’t sabotage our power. With skill and compassion, Dr. Judith Orloff shows us how to become heroes in our own lives by transforming anger, loneliness, and envy and more rather than simply “reacting” when our buttons get pushed.

An Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and intuition expert, Dr. Orloff shares her wealth of personal and professional knowledge to illuminate the field of emotions. She draws on wisdom from traditional medicine but goes light years beyond it by presenting emotions as a path to spiritual, energetic, and intuitive awakening. Why is this leap so important? The intellect has restricted vision about emotions, but bringing intuition into the feeling realm lets us go deeper within. Dr. Orloff asks us to see every success, every heartbreak, every loss, every gain as vehicles for transformation. She teaches readers to view emotions in a non-ordinary way, rather than simply making you happy or miserable. Everyone will benefit from the insightful instructions that continually guide us and also from the author’s intimate personal journey and well-earned life wisdom. Judith is the kind of doctor we wish we all had.

Part One of the book introduces you to the four components of emotions: their biology, spirituality, energetic power, and psychology. Understanding each component in yourself will lead to inner breakthroughs that aren’t possible without seeing the whole picture. It offers a self-assessment test to evaluate your current level of emotional freedom so you can increase it practicing this book’s principles. Dr. Orloff invites you into her romance with sleep and dreams as revolutionary states of consciousness. She also helps readers determine their “emotional type” including “the intellectual,” and “the empath. “so they can make the most of their own finest qualities. As an empath, Dr. Orloff knows the gigantic challenges of being an “emotional sponge” and teaches other empaths who’ve been labeled “overly sensitive” how to stay grounded in an often-overwhelming world.

You’ll enjoy the “emotional vampire survival guide”--specific advice for dealing with emotional drainers. We’ve all met them. You’re talking to someone, when suddenly you feel anxious, depressed, or tired. She describes the narcissist, the victim, the controller, and other types of vampires. Plus, there are quizzes to help you determine “Are you in a relationship with an emotional vampire?” or if you might be one yourself. Sometimes, we all have the capacity to be draining, but with mindful compassion we can catch ourselves early and make a shift.

Part Two of the book offers a hands-on approach for facing the most prevalent negative emotions and building positive ones Each chapter is called a “transformation” in which you learn how to transform a negative emotion into its counterpoint. For instance, fear is transformed with courage, frustration with patience, and jealousy with self-esteem.

You learn to do this in your life by taking a wealth of quizzes, from Dr. Orloff’s patient studies, and her own intimate journey with each emotion.

Emotional Freedom is the rare book that can open your mind and your heart to more empowerment. Give yourself a gift and read it.

SPECIAL OFFER! Purchase a copy of Emotional Freedom with 100 bonus gifts from Dr. Michael Beckwith, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Shirley MacLaine and more at Judith Orloff MD is at http://www.drjudithorloff.com/emotional-freedom-promotion/
or www.drjudithorloff.com


The reviewer, Caroline Myss, is a pioneer in the fields of intuition and mysticism and bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR: National bestselling author Judith Orloff MD presents new solutions for dealing with emotions in our hyper-tense world. She invites you to take a remarkable journey, one that leads to happiness, serenity, and a mastery over negativity that pervades daily life. You possess the ability to liberate yourself from worry, anger, and fear. True emotional freedom is closer than you think.
About Judith Orloff, MD

Transforming the face of psychiatry, Judith Orloff, MD is an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and author of the new international bestseller Emotional Freedom. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality to achieve physical and emotional healing. She passionately asserts that we have the power to transform negative emotions and achieve inner peace. She offers practical strategies to overcome frustration, stress, and worry and teaches people how to quiet overactive minds that won’t shut off.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

San Francisco Poet's New Work Published

A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities
By Joan Felfand
Published by San Francisco Bay Press
Publication Date: January 6, 2009
Paperback: $ 14.99, 74 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60461-009-3


From a review in Poetica



Expect the unexpected. In her latest collection of poetry, A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams, Joan Gelfand stuns the reader with her range of forms and styles. Whether Haiku, or Villanelle, lyric or rap, rhymed or narrative, the poems in this collection are suffused with her marvelous visual acuity, her ear for today’s language, her keen observations of the here and now.


A songwriter, producer, essayist and community organizer, Joan Gelfand is also the recipient of the Chaffin Fiction Award in 2005 for “Paris Blues Redux”. Joan’s story, “The Art Critic” was shortlisted for the Carver Prize. Her work has been published on the web and in numerous literary magazines around the world, including The New York Times Magazine, Poet’s & Writers and Vanity Fair and in a variety of anthologies. She currently serves as President of the Women’s National Book Association and also as judge of Poetica Magazine’s Annual Chapbook Competition.


A review of her 2006 collection entitled, “Seeking Center”, described her work thus: “That these edgy poems avoid sentimentality is a testimony not only to Ms. Gelfand’s metronomic irregularity - her insistence that meaning is primary - but to the sharp, jagged, always intelligent quality of her awareness.” This apt description holds true of her newest collection as well .Just when you think you have her pigeonholed, she confronts you with the unexpected: words laid bare as she drops the definite article, interrupts a line with slashes, or shifts moods from playful (another one of her talents) to profound.


Gelfand’s affinity with nature is matched by her anger and regret of how we treat our planet: In "Requiem for a Dying World," she writes:


“The taste for cash replaces
The taste for something gorgeous”


In Golden Gate, she begins with a lyric description of the landscape:


“Knife edged hills laid leisurely, deceiving”, surprises us with “But for me, the languorous red swipe taunts,” and leaves us with the haunting,
“Sometimes, distance is greater than the space
Between two points.”


A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams is an outstandingly rich, multilayered collection that rewards the reader with new meanings and nuances at every reading. And you will want to read these poems again and again.

To all of you book lovers, stop by Stories Books & Cafe, 1716 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles on Friday, September 11th, 8 PM, to hear poet Joan Gelfand. California Poet Laureate Al Young had these words to say about Joan's work. "...Joan Gelfand’s poems vibrate, shudder or take flight, roaring and purring to safe and not so safe landings in the heart, in the gut. Readers, beware. This is powerful stuff.”

September 11th, 8 PM
http://www.storiesla.com/
1716 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026 (213) 413 3733

Joan Gelfand’s work has been published in over fifty national and regional publications. Her first book of poetry, Seeking Center: A Collection of Poems has been described by author Jane Swigart as “exquisite and breathtaking…reaching those secret places where we all overlap and long for validation.” Joan works as an arts administrator, organizing panels and readings at colleges and writer’s conferences around the Bay Area. Since 2004, she has been involved with the Women’s National Book Association, an organization with nine chapters and over 800 members. She is currently serving as President. Joan serves on the Advisory boards of booksbywomenforwomen.com and Poetica Magazine. An alumna both of the creative writing programs at San Francisco State University and Mills College, Joan is married to Adam Hertz, a web 2.0 entrepreneur.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Turning a Tuscany Trip Into a Tome

Chianti From a Tuscan Villa
By the R. Thomas Berners
100pp
Publisher: Coal Cracker Press
ISBN: 978-0-578-03123-1
Available at www.lulu.com.




The authors, both retired from the Pennsylvania State University, spent seven days on a modest group tour of the Chianti region of Tuscany, staying in a Tuscan villa and going on day trips around the area, to Castellina, Florence, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, and Volterra.

On those day trips, they both photographed extensively with the idea of creating this book, a combination of Thomas’ photographs and Paulette’s paintings, to create our interpretation of the region that gave birth to the Renaissance and Chianti wine. On two spreads, the Berners play off each other, with a painting by Paulette of the same scene photographed by Thomas on facing pages. Otherwise, each photograph and painting is unique.

And although they visited places not on the tour, such as the Beaded Lily Glass Works in Florence, their plans for other sites did not always pan out. Thomas wanted to see the tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the English Cemetery in Florence, but the cemetery was closed for renovation work. He did manage to get some photos from a distance. (If you want to see Browning’s tomb, watch the movie Tea with Mussolini. The film opens at her tomb. The film also shows frescoes of Santa Fina in San Gimignano’s Collegiata. )

Alas, museums and churches, for the most part, did not allow photography, and if they did, it had to be without flash (no problem) and tripod (which made getting good photographs in low light a challenge). One church, Santa Lucia al Borghetto in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (the town where the authors stayed), allowed photography and the use of a tripod, one of the few times indoor photographs could be taken at a slow speed.

The Berners call this 8.5-square-inch book a Pixels and Bristles™ production.
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R Thomas Berner is professor emeritus of journalism and American studies at the The Pennsylvania State University. He blogs at http://rtberner.blogspot.com/
and is an editorial consultant, freelance writer and photographer

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.