Travels With Maurice by Gary Orleck + Giveaway

 

Join Us For This Tour From April 12 to May 2

 
Book Details:

Book Title:  TRAVELS WITH MAURICE AN OUTRAGEOUS ADVENTURE IN EUROPE IN 1968 by Gary Orleck
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 250 pages
Genre: Travel Memoir
Publisher: TOUCHPOINT PRESS
​Publication Date: April 5, 2022.
Tour dates: April 12 to May 2
Content Rating: G

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"Travels with Maurice is a gem of a book that just sneaks up on you with its greatness. While the title makes you think it’s a travelogue or road trip book (and we’ve all read enough of these), Travels is so much more." - Michael Berman

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Book Description:

“Every Woman Wanted to Be with Him, Every Man Wanted to Be Him.”― Gary Orleck

 
A simple “thank you” led to the trip of a lifetime, along with an unbreakable friendship of two opposites. See them come of age while rubbing elbows with the rich and famous like the Shah and Queen of Iran, The Who, Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot, and even Shirley Temple Black. An unbelievable story, yet it’s true because nobody could make this story up. Find out things the rich and famous do not want you to know.

 

BUY THE BOOK
Amazon.com ~ Amazon UK
add to goodreads

 

Meet the Author: 
​ 

I grew up in Lincoln, R.I. which is a blue-collar town, went To Babson University School of Business, and graduated with a BSBA in 1966. I worked my way around the USA for six months.

Two years later, I traveled with the son of the richest man in the world - covering 19,988 miles, twelve countries, and ten weeks.

Then, I went to work at Broadway Tire Inc. Twenty years later, I bought the business. I then owned and operated it for thirty more years before retiring in 2016!

In Between, I met and married my wife Ronna and had two beautiful children, and now I have five grandchildren!

The love of travel remained with me, and I've been fortunate enough to have visited 75 countries - each in a unique style - all my own way, using much of which I learned in my travels with Maurice in 1968. 

connect with the author:  website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ pinterest ~ goodreads

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Tour Schedule:

​April 12 – Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
April 12 - Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / giveaway
April 12 - The Official Blog of Amy Shannon - book spotlight
April 13 - Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 13 – Novels Alive – book spotlight / giveaway
April 14 – Splashes of Joy – book spotlight / giveaway
April 14 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 15 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / giveaway
April 18 - Kam's Place – book spotlight
April 19 – Westveil Publishing – book spotlight / giveaway
April 20 – Books are a Blessing – book spotlight / giveaway
April 20 - Sadie’s Spotlights - book spotlight / giveaway
April 21 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 22 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
April 25 – Mostly Mystery Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 26 – Captive Dreams Window – book spotlight / giveaway
April 27 – Stephanie Jane – book spotlight / giveaway
April 28 – Books for Books – book spotlight
April 29 – 30-something Travel Blog – book spotlight / giveaway
May 2 - Pick A Good Book – book spotlight / giveaway

 

Enter the Giveaway: 

Win an ebook copy of Travels With Maurice. Open internationally until the 9th May.

TRAVELS WITH MAURICE Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

Click here to see all my current 

Giveaways & Free Books!

Etsy Find!
	Vegan Leather  Travel Journal by Life Less Ordinary Co Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Gary Orleck / Biography and memoir / Books from America

The Girl from Lamaha Street by Sharon Maas

The Girl from Lamaha Street by Sharon Maas
Published by Thread on the 7th April 2022.

How I got this book:

Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon UK / Amazon.com
The Book Depository / Waterstones

Perhaps it’s true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Perhaps it’s true that you only know what you truly love when you no longer have it. But I wouldn’t have known any of this if I hadn’t left it all behind to discover where my home truly was…

Growing up in British Guiana in the 1950s, Sharon Maas has everything a shy child with a vivid imagination could wish for. She spends her days studying bugs in the backyard, eating fresh mangos straight from the tree and tucked up on her granny’s lap losing herself in books.

But with her father campaigning for the country’s independence and her mother away for work, there’s a void in Sharon’s heart, and she craves rules and structure. The books she devours give her a glimpse of life in a faraway country: England. And although none of the characters in these books look like her, her insatiable curiosity leads Sharon to beg to be sent to boarding school.

Life at a conservative, Christian school is quite different from Sharon’s liberal, atheist upbringing. Girls march silently and single file along corridors and earn badges for deportment. There are twice-daily hymns, grace before and after meals and mandatory bedside prayers. And, all the girls are posh and white, while Sharon is the only one with dark skin. Will she ever fulfil her dream of horseback riding over green hills and going on adventures like her literary heroes? And has she truly found what she was looking for in this chilly corner of the world, thousands of miles away from home?

You will be swept off your feet by the unputdownable story of Sharon Maas’s extraordinary childhood in British Guiana and England, a beautiful and inspiring coming-of-age tale of self-discovery, determination and chasing your dreams.

The Girl From Lamaha Street is a lovely memoir which manages to capture a time and a place which no longer exists. 1950s British Guiana, if one's background ticked enough socially acceptable boxes, seems to have been a kind of paradise, especially for such a self-sufficient child as Sharon Maas could be. I was surprised at the striking similarities between aspects of her childhood and my own English one some two decades later. We read the same books, particularly all those pony stories - I too have fond memories of the My Friend Flicka series - our parents recited the same maxims, and our schools served pretty much exactly the same lunch menus!

Maas is painfully honest throughout this memoir about how much she yearned for her mother's presence, even while that maternal role was fulfilled by her grandmother and aunt. For a long time, the only child in an adult household or significantly younger than her cousins, her need to entertain herself and her keen sense of observation led her into the storytelling that would result in a successful career as a journalist and then a novelist. I hadn't actually read any of her novels prior to picking up the memoir, however I am now keen to do so as I appreciated the strengths of her prose and narrative. I loved how deftly she captured scenes and emotions. Perhaps there was a little to much repetition of themes for my taste, but overall The Girl From Lamaha Street gave me fascinating insights into both 1950s British Guiana and its contrasts with 1960s northern England. For readers such as myself who enjoy personal memoirs, this one is a unique gem.

Bookishly Inspired Find!
	Cumbrian Fell Ponies  greetings card by Shaun Barr Photography Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Books by Sharon Maas / Biography and memoir / Books from Guyana

Still Standing by Mwangala Lethbridge

Still Standing: The Flip Side of Denial, Depression and Forgiveness by Mwangala Lethbridge
Published by Matador on the 8th March 2022.

How I got this book:

Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon UK / Amazon.com

This is a story that starts with tragedy, but which is filled with incredible resilience.

It is not just a memoir, or a self-help book, it is a generous gift to the reader.

Mwangala’s vulnerability in sharing what she has learned makes this a book we can all relate to. If you want to increase your resilience, adopt a growth mindset, or just be inspired by the miracles humans can achieve when we challenge ourselves against the odds, this memoir is for you. There are many lessons shared in Still Standing, but if you learn just one, let that be that God’s silence through trauma is sometimes necessary.

Zambian politician, Mwangala Lethbridge, was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident, the victim of a drunken driver, shortly after losing in a significant election. These two disasters following shortly after each other shook her previously deep-rooted faith in both herself and her God, leaving her questioning what her future on earth could possibly be.

Still Standing is an incredibly honest and painful memoir of the months in which she began to recover, physically and, eventually, mentally, with the psychological scars proving to be more difficult to circumvent. I appreciated Mwangala' candidness throughout Still Standing. She is all too aware of how her struggles to understand her predicament are reflecting upon her family and I found this aspect of the memoir one of the most powerful to consider. Mwangala's recovery isn't just her own rebuilding, but also a need to shore up and renegotiate family relationships which were also drastically changed forever when her strong maternal role was no longer possible.

Also of great interest to me were Mwangala's thoughts around the multicultural makeup of her marriage, particularly the question of where home might be when each partner - and their children - has a very different emotional response to that question - separated by thousands of miles. Mwangala's abrupt awakening to how her home town now saw  and openly treated her very differently, purely due to her disability, was an eye-opening chapter.

Still Standing is an inspirational and, hopefully, influential memoir which I am glad to have been given this opportunity to read. I did not find it a religious book per se, although Mwangala's faith is obviously a vital part of her life, but I was more in awe of her personal strength and the dedication of her husband, Adam, as this family adjusted to such an altered reality.

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	Disability Art Print by Kitty Strand Click pic to visit NOTHS Shop

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Books by Mwangala Lethbridge / Biography and memoir / Books from Zambia

Out of the Ashes by Cara Dee + Giveaway + Excerpt

Out of the Ashes
Cara Dee
(The Game Series, #5)
Publication date: April 19th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

Join Master Kingsley and his pet Tate at rock bottom, where their true love story can finally begin. The beautiful and the ugly, the tears and the laughter…and the introduction of a man’s first foray into kink as a submissive Daddy.

We screwed up, Master.

It wasn’t until I stood there alone in the ashes, raw, naked, enraged, and in more pain than I could handle that I realized we’d been wrong from the beginning. I saw our history in the rubble—all our memories, the pictures filled with devotion and laughter, my wholehearted submission to him. And we had to rewrite the ending. We had to. Kingsley and I couldn’t be over. I missed him so much that it hurt to breathe. But we had burned out.

We will burn again, baby.

Our biggest mistake had been to put an expiration date on a love destined for eternity. We’d been blinded by our kinks not lining up perfectly. We’d let fears and insecurities rule in silence, and it was time to confront them head on. We were going to expose ourselves, push every limit, and reignite. Because Tate and I belonged in the fire. We played hard and loved even harder. I wouldn’t allow the unknown to terrify us, to restrict us, even if our new path was…unconventional. Even if we brought in someone else to light the match for us.

We’ll burn together.

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The Game Series is a BDSM series where romance meets the reality of kink. Sometimes we fall for someone we don’t match with, sometimes vanilla business gets in the way of kinky pleasure, and sometimes we have to compromise and push ourselves to overcome trauma and insecurities. No matter what, one thing is certain. This is not a perfect world—and maybe that’s why the happily ever after feels so good.

Goodreads / Amazon.com / Amazon UK

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EXCERPT:

By the time pizza got here, I was painfully aware of Lee’s presence. I’d heard his low chuckle a couple times from where he sat on Lucian and KC’s porch. The cabins were maybe twenty or thirty feet away from the edge of the patio, yet it felt like Lee was standing right behind me.

It was a good thing I had my back to them. Otherwise, I would’ve glued my stare to him.

The one glimpse I’d gotten wasn’t nearly enough. Shay had been right. Lee did look as bad as me, which gave me conflicting emotions. It hurt me to see him hurt, at the same time as I found comfort in that he was struggling too. Did that make me a bad person?

I wanted to see him again. Unlike me, he’d never given much thought to what he wore; he was a jeans and T-shirt guy. Or a hoodie now that the weather was turning for the colder. And I kinda loved that about him. His style, or lack of it, represented comfort and familiarity to me. I didn’t know how many times I’d put on one of his hoodies when I had to spend an evening without him, if he was on call or something. He was wearing one of his old Navy hoodies right now, one of my favorites.

I could just picture him sitting over there, casually, one foot resting on his knee, the foot always bouncing a little, probably a smoke between his fingers… And he often ran a hand through his hair. Hair that tended to fall into his eyes. Hair that I’d always liked to tuck behind his ear. Which sometimes annoyed him in a cute way. Like, “Get your paws outta my face, pet.” And he’d narrow his eyes at me before he nipped at my cheek and—

Oh my God. I couldn’t go on like this. I couldn’t keep playing these scenarios in my head; I got so swept away by them, to the point where I could almost smell his hoodie, feel his lips on my neck, hear his warm voice…

A rushing sound invaded my ears. My heart started pounding, and my vision blurred and became unfocused. The grief gripped me so tightly that I didn’t know what to do with myself, but a second later, my flight instincts kicked in. I shot up from my seat and sent the chair flying backward, and then I was running inside. Jesus fuck, my chest hurt. It felt like it was about to cave in.

I heard both Ivy and Shay call my name, but I kept running. Through the club area, out into the lobby, where I took the stairs. I was just fucking done. Done with the depression, done with the pain, done with feeling like my future had just been stolen from me.

I made it to the third floor, and I was a goddamn mess. Fingers trembling, breathing erratic, I unlocked the door to my guest room and all but stumbled inside. A beat later, panic swallowed me whole.

Shit. I couldn’t breathe. I bent over and planted my hands on my knees, and I choked for air. My skin prickled and went numb in waves, my heart wouldn’t stop slamming against my ribcage, and then dizziness washed over me.

I can’t deal anymore. I give up. Send me to the fucking psych ward.

I heard a strangled groan, or maybe a gasp, and knew it came from within. Black spots filled my vision.

“Tate.”

Author Bio:

I’m often awkwardly silent or, if the topic interests me, a chronic rambler. In other words, I can discuss writing forever and ever. Fiction, in particular. The love story—while a huge draw and constantly present—is secondary for me, because there’s so much more to writing romance fiction than just making two (or more) people fall in love and have hot sex.

There’s a world to build, characters to develop, interests to create, and a topic or two to research thoroughly.

Every book is a challenge for me, an opportunity to learn something new, and a puzzle to piece together. I want my characters to come to life, and the only way I know to do that is to give them substance—passions, history, goals, quirks, and strong opinions—and to let them evolve.

I want my men and women to be relatable. That means allowing room for everyday problems and, for lack of a better word, flaws. My characters will never be perfect.

Wait…this was supposed to be about me, not my writing.

I'm a writey person who loves to write. Always wanderlusting, twitterpating, kinking, cooking, baking, and geeking. There’s time for hockey and family, too. But mostly, I just love to write.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Newsletter

GIVEAWAY!

Win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Open internationally until the 28th April.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

Click here to see all my current 

Giveaways & Free Books!

Etsy Find!
	Love Is Love  tote bag by Victoria Eggs Click pic to visit NOTHS Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Cara Dee / LGBT fiction / Books from Sweden

The Secrets We Conceal by S.R. Fabrico + Giveaway

Join us for this tour from Apr 11 to Apr 29, 2022!

Book Details: 

Book Title:  The Secrets We Conceal by S.R. Fabrico
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+),  300 pages
Genre: Coming of Age, Women's, Psychological and Family, Relationships Abuse/Child Abuse
Publisher:  S.R. Fabrico
Release date:  March 15, 2022
Content Rating:  R. Maybe more PG-13 +M. There are 3 chapters of sexual abuse and approximately 5 total curse words.

Book Description:

A riveting coming of age story, that will make you laugh, cry and root for Laura to find happiness.

Laura Shirk is a normal, happy, go-lucky, little girl playing with Cabbage Patch dolls and Legos. Until she isn’t. Set in the late 1980s-early 90s, a visit to her aunt and uncle’s house changes everything.

What follows is a nerve-racking story shedding light on child sexual abuse. As the tragedy unfolds, Laura mutters through life concealing her secret from everyone. Feeling alone and isolated, she struggles to navigate her younger years wondering if she can or will ever find happiness.

Then, Laura meets ‘the perfect man’ for her. Can he heal her heart and break down her steel walls?

The Secrets We Conceal, S.R. Fabrico’s debut novel is a riveting coming of age story that beautifully conveys how love and strength can heal all wounds. 
 

Buy the Book:
Amazon.com ~ Amazon UK
B&N ~ iBooks ~ BookBub
The Book Depository
add to goodreads

 

Meet the Author:

Born and raised a Yankee who loves NY style pizza and Philly cheesesteaks. I was introduced to the amazing world of Southern BBQ after moving to Tennessee where I live with my husband and two children. My family is my main priority, everything I do is for them. I attended college in the 90’s and received a degree in mathematics with a minor in secondary education, I went on to coach cheerleading and dance for 20 years and won a Hip Hop Dance World Championship. Anything and everything creative are my absolute favorite, so writing has always been a hobby. When I’m writing, I like to wife hard, mom hard, paint, read good books and watch good movies.

connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram 

 

Tour Schedule:

April 11 – Rockin' Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
April 12 – Pick a Good Book – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
April 13 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book review / giveaway
April 14 – Lynchburg Reads – book review / giveaway
April 15 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
April 18 –Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
April 18 - fundinmental - book spotlight / giveaway
April 19 – Splashes of Joy – book review / giveaway
April 19 - My Fictional Oasis - book review 
April 20 – StoreyBook Reviews – book review / giveaway
April 21 – @twilight_reader – book review / giveaway
April 22 – Cover Lover Book Review – book review / giveaway
April 22 - Book Corner News and Reviews - book review / giveaway
April 25 – Books for Books – book spotlight
April 26 –Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
April 27 – The Page Ladies – book review / giveaway
April 27 - My Reading Getaway  - book review / author interview / giveaway
April 27 - Gina Rae Mitchell - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
April 28 – Ravenz Reviewz - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
April 29 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
April 29 - Novels Alive - book spotlight / giveaway
April 29 - Novels Alive - book review 

Enter the Giveaway:

Win a signed copy of THE SECRETS WE CONCEAL and $25 Visa Gift Card (one winner / USA only) (ends May 6)

THE SECRETS WE CONCEAL Book Tour Giveaway

 

Click here to see all my current 

Giveaways & Free Books!

Bookishly Inspired Find!
	Vintage Cabbage  Patch Doll by CPK adoptions Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by S R Fabrico / Women's fiction / Books from America

Nourishing the Soul by Bradley Jarryd + Free Book

Nourishing the Soul: A Meat Lover's Journey to Eating in Spiritual Alignment by Bradley Jarryd
Self published on the 6th June 2018.

How I got this book:

Downloaded the ebook via Smashwords

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Smashwords (free) / Amazon UK / Amazon.com

If you are looking to reach a new level of mental and physical health, you are in the right place! In just 30 minutes, you will learn:

-My year-long journey from eating 10lbs+ of animal products per week to a 100% plant-based diet.

-The physical, mental, and emotional responses I honestly found...and here’s a spoiler, I DIDN’T FEEL ANY DIFFERENT PHYSICALLY!

-How this new lifestyle has boosted my confidence and can further your career.

-Why veganism is NOT for everyone!

-How to start living in alignment with your true self and overcoming the numerous challenges that will arise.

-Tips and advice going forward, including dealing with judgmental people, spreading the truth, and using this information to enhance other areas of your life, plus much more!

I discovered Nourishing the Soul by Bradley Jarryd whilst browsing Smashwords during the last sitewide sale and the good news is that this neat little book looks to be a permanently free download - it's certainly still free at the time I wrote this post.

Jarryd has condensed his thoughts and experiences of his first year heading towards plantbased living into a hour's read which also includes a couple of short but thought-provoking questionnaires for readers. He writes engagingly and mostly from the perspective of a fitness fanatic so there is lots of discussion around choosing food for health. Jarryd does share the American obsession with protein! However, I recognised similar markers from my own initial foray into vegetarianism and then veganism, and it was interesting to read such a different perspective on this journey. I particularly found myself nodding along with the chapter about how finally aligning our actions with our beliefs was massively beneficial for our confidence.

I think Nourishing the Soul would make a good introductory read for someone curious about veganism, especially if personal fitness is particularly important to their lifestyle.

Bookishly Inspired Find!
	Nutrient Pure  Protein Powder by Marvellous Click pic to visit NOTHS Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Bradley Jarryd / Food books / Books from South Africa

Ethosism: Self-Enslavement Abolitionist Manifesto by Jo M. Sekimonyo

Ethosism: Self-Enslavement Abolitionist Manifesto by Jo M. Sekimonyo
Published by Resource Publications on the 20th November 2020.

How I got this book:

Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amazon UK / Amazon.com

In the global environment of trade and commerce, humankind appears to have given up its natural journey of progression to improve the social order and universally accepted capitalism. But, whilst the richest continue to accumulate vast amounts of wealth, inequality grows and the poorest still live in extreme poverty. This passionate, academic study will go on to present that socialism is just another means of enslaving society under the capitalist model. So, is there a new social, political, and economic arrangement that fits the twenty-first century reality? Ethosism looks at the fact that in the twenty-first century more people than ever before have the means to acquire and own their means of engagement, participation, or involvement in an enterprise. As the result, capitalism, socialism, and communism have lost their raison d'etres.

By examining the foremost upheavals of the twenty-first century, wealth inequality and climate change, plus social class conflicts resulting from the paradigm shift, my conviction is that we are in dire need of a morales nuvem consensus which will herald new social, commerce, intermerce, and political covenants that will enable us to successfully traverse the twenty-first century and beyond.

Ethosism is an extremely passionate philosophy book which explores how the main political-economic systems across the globe - capitalism, fascism, communism and socialism - have brought us to our current state of a world nearing resource exhaustion and collapse. I appreciated Sekimonyo's explanations of how these economic theories were first encapsulated during the industrial revolution and Victorian eras and how they are, therefore, no longer useful for the twenty-first century. Communism and socialism seem to have had their times, with capitalism being the favoured system now, but Sekimonyo ably shows how its inherent inequalities render capitalism unfit for purpose for the vast majority of people. Only those few able to expend vast amounts of money and energy shoring up the system will benefit. The historical and global survey was interesting as I was shown capitalism from a very different perspective.

I agreed strongly with a lot of what Sekimonyo has to say, once I had managed to understand his thoughts. I liked the inclusion of so many apt quotes from a wide variety of great thinkers, several of who were new names to me. Unfortunately however, Ethosism is written mostly in quite intense and scholarly language (albeit with a smattering of crassness) which had me reaching for my dictionary several times on each page. This made the book hard going for me, but I persevered because I was particularly interested in discovering what Sekimonyo's alternative would be. I was disappointed therefore that Ethosism itself didn't seem to be explained in anywhere near the same depth of detail. I think I understood that it entailed people being able to run their own affairs without recourse to any political system enforced by a government, but I couldn't understand how this would be achieved in actuality so I felt somewhat let down at the end of it all. 

Etsy Find!
	Anti Capitalism patch by Patch World 101 Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by Jo M Sekimonyo / Philosophy books / Books from Democratic Republic of the Congo