Mom's Tree House

I just finished reading Splattered Blood written by a new, upcoming author Michael A. Draper and found this book to be totally entertaining, gripping and jaw-dropping good!

Johnny Kelly is a retired officer starting a new job as head of security for a professional basketball team. As he starts his new job, he is found dead with a suicide not. His wife Roseanne, succumbed with grief calls family friend and insurance agent Randy Larkin to investigate his death. Along with Roseanne’s brother Graham, they begin to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding Johnny’s death and soon, you are hooked and locked for a whirl-wind of a ride.  

First, I have to say that I am not a big fan of mystery novels  but, this book kept me intrigued and captivated till the end. The characters are well developed and you will get to hate some and love others.  Draper did an exceptional job creating scenes not to be expected, taking you to the ugly side of professional sports. You get to experience gang violence, drugs and murder but at the same token, you also get to see  the ties of loyalty and friendship as Randy, Roseanne and Graham,  undaunted by this dark world, bound togther to clear Johnny’s name.

The read itself is addictive. The plot is thick with twist and turns, you never know what is going to happen next and just when you think you  know, guess what? You don’t!  There are some descriptive violent scenes enhancing the story with adrenaline and some story lines of hope and redemption but in all, you will understand the characters. This is Michael A. Draper’s first book, and I have to say, it is truly outstanding and superbly written. I want more and  you will too. Yes! Is that good! Draper is truly destined to make his mark among the world of great novelists and I can’t wait to see what he has stored for us next.   

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a new, exciting and fresh novel. This book will feed the appetite of those hungry for a good mystery, thriller or  suspense. This book has it all and sure not to disappoint.

About the Author

Michael A. Draper holds a master’s degree in teaching from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. He spent four years in the Air Force, achieving the rank of captain. He is currently in the field of life insurance and retirement planning, Mr. Draper found a great deal of inspiration for this novel while working with law enforcement personnel. Draper also enjoys reading, jogging, dancing and book collecting. Splattered Blood is Draper’s first published novel. 

To know more, visit Splattered Blood on Facebook or to purchase your copy, click on Amazon. 

Disclosure:I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.

Right around Thanksgiving, my childhood friend called me upset and distraught, she just found her husband with another woman. Clearly, I heard her pain and felt her confusion through the phone. I wish I could have been there, but my friend lives miles away at a different state. Yet, I realized that my friend found herself in a situation she was unprepared for and found that in times of betrayal, women really do stick together.

It has been a little over two  months now and my friend is slowly getting her life back. Yet,one thing is clear, she is going through this hardship with the help of her friends and women she does not even know. In order to respect my girlfriend’s privacy, I will say that she leaves in a small town in where everyone knows your business but, my girlfriend informed me that neighbors she never spoke to, would go up to her to let her know that “she was not alone”.  According to my girlfriend, she found this comforting and even surprising. She now has a network of friends, family, neighbors and even strangers being sympathetic to her situation.  

We all go through pain, betrayal and so forth…but is nice to know that in a time of need, women do stick together. Girl Power!

There is nothing more I enjoy in a book full of mystery, intrigue and history. Susan Meissner’s book, A Sound Among Trees gives is book capable of giving all these things and more, making this book such a great read.  

The book starts out with Marielle Bishop moving into Holly Oaks, the home of her new husband’s dead wife, Sarah.  Adelaide, Sarah’s grandmother still lives in the house and right there, as the reader, you begin to wonder why this newly married woman, move into the home of her husband’s dead wife and into her shadow. 

Another part of the book lies with Susannah Page, the ghost to be haunting Holly Oaks. Yet, not all appears what it seems and this book will bring back in time to the Civil War and into the lives of the women who lived in the home across time.

This book does not involve a haunted house but rather, how people that lived in the home are haunted by events in their lives.  You will get to meet the women of Holly Oaks as characters are developed and their stories are told, to see in the end how all these women relate to each other.

The book develops slowly but keeps you interest peaked. It held my attention and I kept wondering what was going to happen next. You can’t help but relate to these women.   Susan Meissner’s does an excellent job in tying in the past with the present while including historical background.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys historical fiction. This is my first book from Susan Meissner and will definately read some more. I understand she has another book, The Shape of Mercy, which is now on my “To-Read” list. Can’t wait to get my hand on it!

Disclosure:I received a copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.

As we get older, many of us look toward ways of feeling and looking young so, today I am posting a sneak peek on a new book, Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging, written by one of the world’s leading anti-aging experts. Dr. James W. Forsythe. Dr. Forsythe is also the most respected physicians in the United States, known particularly for his treatment of cancer and the legal use of human growth hormone used to fight aging. I am interested in knowing on how we can reverse aging and hope you are too. So take a peek and make sure to come back soon for my full review. Enjoy! 

Want to Know a Dirty Little Secret?
By Dr. James Forsythe,
Author of Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging

Most of the health industry keeps a dirty little secret from you — the vast majority of vitamins and supplement products sold in the world today fail to work effectively.

Our bodies simply can’t break down and assimilate many supplement products because they are synthetics created in pharmaceutical industry laboratories. More than 90 percent of all the supplements sold in the United States are synthetics, as opposed to natural, plant-based, according to nutrition expert Dr. Brian Clement, director of the Hippocrates Health Institute and author of the book Supplements Exposed.

As a result of this synthetic overload, our digestive system ends up passing most vitamin supplements through our system virtually unabsorbed!

Food provides the best, most direct way to get healthy nutrition that the body can readily absorb. That means plants, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. But most of us fail to get enough of these in our daily food intake.

Worsening matters, many industrial food farms add harmful chemicals to our fruits and vegetables in an effort to preserve crops through the long transportation process, from farms to the supermarket, and eventually to your table. Those pesticides, preservatives, and other synthetic chemical residues pose health risks.

When you purchase supplements, always try to find natural, organic products that come directly from plant-based sources. Look for labels that say “Naturally Occurring Standard” to indicate the ingredients come straight from plants rather than chemical laboratories. This helps to ensure that you absorb only the highest quality and densest nutrient supplements.

The above is an excerpt from the book Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging by Dr. James Forsythe. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Copyright © 2011 Dr. James Forsythe, author of Anti-Aging Cures: Life Changing Secrets to Reverse the Effects of Aging

Okay, I am really not a Grinch but, am I the only one thankful that Christmas is over? I love Christmas but, this year it just got away from me and all the picture taking for all the card sending, with all the shopping and hopping to every office Christmas party, just got to be a bit too much. Thus, weeks of preparations come to an end on just one day. Then “BOOM” is all over.

The baby wakes up with so much excitement and you can’t help but feel excited too. Is so wonderful right? Waking up to see your child wake up with smiles on their faces and then comes the building of toys. Why is there always one toy that comes with instructions that you simply do not understand?   Also, why does hubby always forget to buy batteries?

So, after the toys are ready comes the playing. Yeah, we love it! We are so happy that our kids are finally enjoying what we bought them but lets be honest, How many times am I going to look for missing pieces to a game,pick up toys or cover my ears to the noise. As parents, we sacrifice and spend money to get our babies what they want and then they torture us. Is what we are made for…

This Chritmas was a little too crazy and I so glad is over. Now, another year before we do it all over again.

I just read the book, The Mothers of Reinvention; Reclaim Your Identity, Unleash Your Potential, Love Your Life, that ultimately needs be read by every woman. The book is written by the creators and host of the award-winning web series Jennifer Pate and Barbara Machen. These two women demonstrates how a mothers and wives could fulfill their dreams  by reinventing themselves  to reach their potential by simply keeping true  to who they were before becoming mothers.  This book serves as a testament that in order for a woman to take care of her family, she must also take care of herself.

The book starts off on how getting married and having  children impacts the lives of women, who become mothers and wives. The experience of loosing friends, not going out, spending time on a hobby, or developing a career may impact the happiness of a woman, as she is later only identified as wife and mother. The read includes narratives from many different women but, all that we could relate to. We all want to keep a piece of who we are once we get married and have kids and the Mothers of Reinvention teaches you how to do that.

Pate and Machen provides the reader with innovative ideas which allows freedom and alone-time for every mother and lifestyle.  The book includes ways of balancing your children’s schedules as to include time for yourself. It shows you how to manage conflict such as divorce and financial burdens but most of all, this book shows how to take control back of your  own life.

This book is a must-read for all as it touches the dynamics of every home.  The stories are heartfelt,  making the read one to motivate and inspire. Yes, we are mothers and we are wives but foremost, we are women. Becoming one or the other does not mean, letting go of one or the other. We could do it all because truly, that is how we are made.

About the Authors

Jennifer Pate, co-author of The Mothers of Reinvention: Reclaim Your Identity, Unleash Your Potential, Love Your Life,is the mother of two, Cooper and Lilah, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Jonas. After retiring from a professional dance career that spanned ten years, Jennifer became a casting director for TV and film, and co-founded Colloff, Fishman, and Britt Casting. She then went on to her most interesting and challenging career of all: becoming a stay-at­-home mom. Currently, Jen is the co-creator and co-host of the award winning web series “Jen and Barb, Mom Life.”

Barbara Machen, co-author of The Mothers of Reinvention: Reclaim Your Identity, Unleash Your Potential, Love Your Life, is the mother of twins, India and Soraya, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband of twelve years, Shahrad. Raised by a single mother on government assistance, Barb received a full scholarship to the University of Southern California, graduating with a BA in Communications. By age twenty-five, Barb owned her own marketing company, but after becoming a mother, she quickly learned how it felt to go from a confident woman to a scared and insecure mother. This led her to co-create and co­host the award-winning web series “Jen and Barb, Mom Life.”

Disclosure: I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from FSB Media in exchange for my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.

Okay, so people this is the happiest time of the year but, can I say is also the most chaotic? I thought by now I would be finished with my shopping but of course I’m not so, I have been running around all week trying to get those special gift for all the special people in my life. I am faced with no parking in over-crowded malls, long line and people rushing and pushing in the stores. Yes, I know is my fault but why do people stop being polite during Christmas?

I then decide to shop online, no waiting lines and easy perusing through all the popular stores. I order the Kindle Fire on Wednesday for my husband and scheduled to arrive on Monday…prefect! I just tell my neighbor to grab the box and hide it.   Well, the box arrives on Friday directly to my husband’s hand. So much for a surprise! 

Then comes the office Christmas party which is not just one but, four due to the four departments I oversee.   I enjoyed going to parties but with a two year old and studying for finals, who has the time? And speaking of my two year-old, we then have his party in where mommies have to bring baked goods. Could I just buy a cake and place in my baking pan and say I baked it? Would that be just wrong? Oh well.

Time to visit Santa! We get to the mall by 9:30am to find the line to Santa crowded with crying kids and stressed out moms jittery and shaking to deprivation of their morning coffee. I stand on line to peek at Santa who looked like a gnome instead of Santa. What is going on here and why is Santa so short? I jumped out the line knowing I would not like the picture as my two year old might have appeared bigger than Santa. As I walk back to the parking lot, I see a car ram into another one.   Two women come out the cars and start fighting over the parking spot. I don’t believe it. I decide to run back home.

I know this is the happiest time of the year, but from what I see is also the most chaotic. It’s not safe out there and this year, I can’t wait for Christmas to be over.

Every once in awhile, I come across a book in where I fall in love, head over heels for and  Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs made me fall  hard and fast. This book is timeless and bound to become a classic. There is nothing better than to read a book from beginning to end that keeps you captivated and absorbed to another place and time but furthermore, there is nothing better than to have a book stay with you long after reading it. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children has become  my ultimate favorite book this year and so far, no other book has come close  to taking that spot.

So, why is this book so special? Here is the official synopsis provided by the publisher; 

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather— were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

I picked up Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Childrenat a bookstore simply because the cover looked interesting. At home, I thumbed through a couple of pages and started reading and before I knew it, I was addicted to the book. I carried this book every where I went, including work. I snuck some reading time anywhere I could get it simply because I needed to know what happned next. Full of adventure, young love and time travel, this book will keep you engaged till the very last page and even when you finish, you’ll want more.  

Needless to say, this book has become a big deal as movie studios have been frighting for it’s right and just recentley, it was announced on Ransom Riggs’s blog,  that 20th Century Fox has indeed snatch up the rights. According to Cinemablend, Tim Burton may direct the movie and X-men screen writer, Jane Goldman has just signed on to write the script.

I don’t know if the movie will do the book any justice so, I do recommend reading it. You will not be disappointed. Ransom Riggs is already working on a sequel and I can’t wait. So check  out the book trailer below, just to get a peek.

So, the season is here for dry skin! Winter is right around the corner and my skin is already acting up, the dryness, itching and cracking. I hate it! I literally try every brand but always get that same greasy, oily feeling that makes me even more uncomfortable. So, as a Carmex Squad member, I was given the  chance to try this new cream and lotion and once again, Carmex come through. I don’t know why I would expect any less? Not only is this lotion non-greasy, it actually works! I mean it really works!!

The Carmex Healing Lotion and Cream healed not only my skin but my two -year old son’s as well. We both have Eczema and the cold weather makes it flare up but, after applying the lotion and cream our skin was soft and silky. I love Carmex! I used the lotion on my legs and arms and the cream for my hands, leaving my skin feeling and smelling soft. My favorite thing about this lotion and cream is that it was non-greasy. After I realized that it did not leave your skin feeling oily or greasy, I was sold! No turning back, I found my lotion!

Now, here is your chance to try it yourself!

The Giveaway

One (1) lucky Mom’s Tree House winner will win 1 Carmex Healing Lotion, 1 Carmex Healing Cream, 1 Travel size Carmex Healing Lotion and 1 Travel size Carmex Healing Cream all in a clear drawstring bag.

1. Follow me on Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)
2. Subscribe to Mom’s Tree House, here. (2 entries)
3. Follow me on Twitter, @johannaloporto (1 entry)
4. Like my Facebook @ Mom’s Tree House. (1 entry)

 Contest is open to US residents only. Contest closes on December 10, 2011 at 12 midnight (EST)

 Disclosure:I received the Carmex Healing Lotion and Cream for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others. Any factual information was obtained from the company website.

This book is a sweet  story of a young boy who loves playing soccer, living  with his family in the mountains of Israel. Upon visiting his cousins in the city,  Itamar realizes he left hs soccer ball behind when leaving to go back home. When he went back to get the ball he met three city kids playing with his ball. When he asked for it back, they started teasing him and wouldn’t let him have it. They said he didn’t belong there. Itamar was hurt by this and as he tried to get his ball he fell and hurt himself. The boys feeling bad about the hurt they caused Itamar, they decided to help him. Later, the boys took a bus to visit Itamar at his small village in the mountains.

  Itamar Makes Friends, A Children’s Story of Jewish Brotherhood, is a wonderful book that teaches the young reader about cultural differences but that as people, they are all the same. The message is simple but powerful-accept people for who they are. It teaches the reader, that you cannot treat people badly because they are different.

I loved this book especially in the today’s time. My son listened as I read him the story and carefully, pointed to the beautiful pictures illustrated by S. Kim Glassman. I recommend this book to any young reader, the lessons learned will last a lifetime.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Librarything.com in exchange for my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.