Oh No, What have I done? 😳

I may, may have overcommitted myself for the month of April!

How have I done this? Let me count the ways!

First off, I want to participate in Jay’s Agatha Christie Readathon. I have the books on order and am ready to jump on board! We will be reading one novel each week and then posting a review. I think there is still time to join us 😃📚!.

Secondly, I will be continuing with Sally’s Baking Addiction Challenge, as I have been for the last 13 months. Our April challenge is croissants! 🥐 I have discussed the intense process for making laminated dough in the past, so you know this is a tough undertaking for me. This will be posted near the end of the month, as I am not going to be working with pounds of cold butter in my hot, Tucson kitchen!

And finally, I signed up to participate in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. If you are not familiar this is a challenge to post, each day, excluding Sundays, for the month of April. I don’t know if I can pull this off as I have never blogged that much😬. Additionally, I have to spend three days driving my car from Tucson to Redmond. Those are some long days and I hope I can accommodate the blog schedule. If you have already participated in this before, please feel free to give me any tips or advice! Please, Please😊💕

My theme will be Health and Fitness, but you probably saw that one coming! 🏋🏻‍♀️💪🏻🥊🧘🏻‍♀️🧗‍♀️

There are a couple reasons why I wanted to do this challenge. I have never really pushed myself to blog on a daily schedule. So, I want to try that out. Also, one of my favorite authors, Sue Grafton, passed this year. She is famous for her Alphabet mystery series, A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar….It just felt right this year.

So, come April 1st (the only Sunday blog post) I will be launching head first into the abyss, God help us all and wish me luck 🍀😫

I am so touched and humbled by this!

“The Growing Self Blogger Award has been created to acknowledge and celebrate amazing individuals, in the blogging community, who are persevering through life’s challenges not only to GROW as individuals,  but to reach out and help others GROW as well.” ~Roda

I feel truly blessed to have met so many wonderful individuals through this process called blogging! I had no idea this world even existed a year ago. I started blogging to deal with my personal pain and isolation and found a network of strong, funny, talented, artistic and kind human beings! Many of whom were dealing with life’s struggles just like me.

I never would have dreamed that the friends I have made in the blogosphere would help me in my “real world” relationships as well. I have been more open, more willing to try new things and, dare I say it, more trusting. Actually, I am still working on that last one 🙂

Many bloggers have been generous to me and nominated my blog for awards, and all of those are important to me. I admit, I am way behind! Embarrassingly so! I hope to start catching up soon. But one lovely human, one that I will never be able to put on the back burner, has nominated me for the award that she herself has crafted. Which makes it extra special! If you know Roda, then you understand what I am talking about! Her nomination brought tears to my eyes, so I will begin digging out of the backlog with “The Growing Self Blogger Award”

 

How it works:

• Put the award logo/image on your blog
• List the rules
• Thank the individual that nominated you and provide a link to their blog
• Describe the award and mention the creator: Roda  – Growingself.blog
• Nominate up to 5 blogs.  Remember, the purpose of this award is to specifically celebrate those individuals that have made a difference in your life or the lives of others.
• Give at least 1 reason why you nominated each individual.
• Notify your nominees of the award

Today I would like to nominate:

Sophie from Foodzesty

Monika from Everyday Healthy Recipes

Jay from My Truth is Now

Linda from Mainepaperpusher

Sophie- You are my long lost sister from Greece! No, we don’t look alike, I’m sure, as I have red hair, freckles and burn instantly so no one would ever confuse me for a Greek beauty! But, we connected so quickly and strongly from the instant we started messaging. You are so kind and considerate and inspire me to get into the kitchen and try new recipes. We have our mutual love of Rafa to bind us across time zones and you are the first person I think of when a tennis match pops up on my TV. Thank you my dear friend for all the emails and the beautiful post card from Greece!

Monka- I have learned so much from you! Your healthy recipes help me stay on track and fuel my, sometimes, insane workout schedule. I have found new ingredients and tried new techniques which have helped me grow my culinary repertoire. Thank you for putting up with all my questions! One day I will figure out how to get to your cooking site to share those recipes. You are so sweet to take the time to research my queries and help me navigate the blogosphere!

Jay- You are such a sweet man! You inspire me to read more than my usual “goto genres”. I am a creature of habit and will easily fall back on my usual authors. You have made me a better analyst, helping me look beyond the obvious and uncover the many underlying possibilities. I am honored to be a witness to your literary ascent! Please know that I am truly privileged to be a small part of helping you on your way 🙂

Linda-I know, I know, you don’t do awards. I also know that you break the rules when you feel strongly about something. Guess what? Your friendship is so important to me that I am breaking your rule! I am not nominating you to be irritating, but because I feel so strongly about the impact you have made on my life that I am going to talk about you whether you like it or not! So there! We have much in common, and I know if we lived on the same coast we would be fast friends. You inspire me to keep putting myself out there, we both know how easy it is it become isolated. Those of us who are a little too comfortable with alone time can become overlooked, as it were. And, we have the same sense of humor! Your Guest in Jest series is one of my favorite weekly posts! I would give just about anything to spend an afternoon with you drinking coffee, eating cookies and laughing our asses off. Thank you, my friend 🙂

And Roda….The only reason you are not nominated is because you nominated me! I will find you in Colorado, or Seattle, one day. And, hug the stuffing out you 🙂

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Watching Glass Shatter: A Book Review, A Conversation and Breaking News!

Welcome, to the Watching Glass Shatter Blog Tour!!

Today we celebrate the debut novel by James J. Cudney

 

 

Book Review

Watching Glass Shatter

James J. Cudney

4.5/5 stars

Most first time novelists will keep their story simple and the number of characters to a minimum, in order to manage the task of development and continuity within the narrative. This strategy makes perfect sense and has been successfully employed, many times, by young writers looking to produce a strong, first effort.  Numerous moving parts can be difficult to pull off even for seasoned writers, so many debut novels will be lacking a particular depth, or breadth, within the story itself.  James J. Cudney boldly ignored that safe path and crafted a story full of colorful, flawed and relatable people who have, not only their own demons to wrestle, but issues to resolve that affect the future of their entire family.

Watching Glass Shatter revolves around Olivia, the proper and controlling matriarch of the Glass family who, until the death of her husband, has been under the assumption that all was well with her five sons and their respective families. The sudden and unexpected death of the beloved Ben, husband and father of the Glass clan, throws the presumed perfect family into an uncertain future, one that neither the sons nor Olivia are prepared to handle. What will become of the family business and legacy? How will Olivia move on without her husband of 40 years? The reading of Ben’s will only presents more problems as two mysterious letters are bequeathed to Olivia, and she alone controls the power held within those pages, knowledge that will forever change the dynamics of the Glass family. She has some tough choices to make regarding the son Ben speaks of in those letters. Which of her 5 sons will have his world come crashing down?

Cudney weaves the story lines of these many characters together brilliantly. The first few chapters are a lot for the reader to absorb as each new family member is introduced, but soon you will find yourself wondering what will happen next to Olivia and her sons Caleb, Teddy, Ethan, Matthew and Zachary, as Cudney draws you further into the Glass family dynamics. The cliffhangers are well timed, as is the overall pace of the story. There is no dull moment, there are twists and turns and unexpected, even tragic, revelations.

Watching Glass Shatter is the first effort for James J. Cudney and his writing will only elevate as he evolves into a more seasoned story teller, and I can’t wait for his next  publication. I highly recommend Watching Glass Shatter.

Book Purchase

• Available in both electronic form (PDF, MOBI or ePub) and physical form
• Buy @ Amazon

 

A Conversation with the Author

James was gracious enough to answer some questions that I had after finishing the book. I wanted more time with the Glass family, so much had happened and a few of the unresolved issues were niggling at my brain!

Q: Where did the inspiration come from for the characters in the Glass family?

A: “Completely made up as I am an only child…I am detail oriented, so I just kept pushing myself to think of relatable people we all knew on some level.”

I then began asking very specific questions to which James answered quite honestly.

I wanted to know more about the contents of the second letter and its impact on the other family members.

Will the Glass men resolve their problems or will they go off course again?

Has Olivia really changed her controlling ways or does she fall back into her old habits?

And, so many more! I can’t include them here as they are huge spoiler alerts and I am not going to ruin the story for anyone! However, I did mange to get some news out of him that he will allow me to share now, with you!

BREAKING NEWS:

James will be publishing a sequel to Watching Glass Shatter!!! The timeline will be announce in early 2018!

 

 

Now we will all get to see what happens to the Glass family, thank you James!!

 

 

 

Be sure to follow James on the rest of his blog tour by clicking here for daily post updates.

 

More fun ways to support James!

Giveaways

• Jina @ Author Inspiration is hosting a GIVEAWAY for a free e-copy of the book. Feel free to share her post; you can see the guidelines and enter here.
• I will announce a Goodreads Giveaway free signed physical copy available for entry from 11/10 thru 11/30.

Goodreads Debut Author Award Nominations (By 11/5)

• If you want to vote for Watching Glass Shatter in the Goodreads Choice 2017 Book Awards, the book is eligible for many categories, including as a write-in vote for ‘Debut Goodreads Author.’ You can vote here for Round 1 by 11/5 by scrolling to the bottom and entering in Watching Glass Shatter, then clicking Submit.

Favorite Character Poll

• Enter the poll to choose your favorite character thru 11/20. You can choose from all the major family members or submit your own write-in vote.

Subscribe to Newsletter

• Subscribe to my newsletter to receive special content and plans for 2018.

 

I am sure you will all join me in congratulating James on this tremendous accomplishment! 

Have You Read Jay’s Novel Yet?

Our very own James J. Cudney has written his debut novel, “Watching Glass Shatter”. The moment I read the synopsis, I knew I had to get involved!

From Jay’s website: This is my truth now

Book Summary

A contemporary fiction novel focusing on a New England family’s drama set in current times. The wealthy Glass family has lost its patriarch, Benjamin Glass, sooner than expected. Benjamin’s widow, Olivia, and her 5 sons each react to his death in their own way while preparing for the reading of his will. But it is Olivia who receives a very unexpected confession from her late husband about one of their sons that could shatter the whole family.

Prior to revealing the secret to her children, Olivia needs to figure out which boy Ben is referring to in the confession he left her in his will. While the family attorney is searching for the mysterious Rowena Hector whom Ben says holds the answers, Olivia asks her sons to each spend a week with her as she isn’t ready to let go of the past. But when Olivia visits her sons, she quickly learns that each one has been keeping his own secret from her.

Olivia never expected her remaining years would be so complex and life altering, but she will not rest until she is able to bring her family back together after Ben’s untimely death. Will she be able to fix them or will the whole family implode? We all need family. We all want to fit in. We’re a mix of quirky fun!

I knew this was going to be good, but I didn’t realize how much I would be drawn into the story from the first chapter! Jay is clearly a talented story teller and, while my version was purchased before further editing, I am confident that any literary alterations will only enhance an already superior body of work.

Jay will be starting a blog tour to promote his novel and I am honored to say the Invisible No More will his first stop! I want to encourage you all to read “Watching Glass Shatter” before he kicks off  the tour so we can all talk about the story, appreciate his interviews and we can all say “we knew him when”!

I purchased his ebook from Amazon, it is currently only available in this format. I don’t own a Kindle but Amazon has a free Kindle reader app which can be downloaded so you can start enjoying the story right away! It was easy to install and worked great, I am now reading his novel on my iPad.

Here is the link to purchase the book: Watching Glass Shatter

I will be posting a full review prior to the blog tour kick off, the schedule is below.

You are going to be hearing a lot about this next month, so why not get a head start and see what all the (much deserved) hype is all about!