Book Spotlight & Giveaway – Standing Strong by Tina Brandau.

17th Feb 2023 / dianasbookjournal / 2 Comments

Book Details:
Book Title: Standing Strong: The Real Life Story of Overcoming Adversity and Becoming Unstoppable in Life and Business by Tina Brandau
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 154 pages
Genre: Memoir / Self-Help / Inspirational
Publisher: Red Sky Publishing
Publication Date: May 3, 2022
Content Rating: G: no bad language no sex etc

Book Description:

Is it possible to stand strong regardless of what life throws at you?

Standing Strong is a vulnerable, candid, and dramatic look into a forty-year-old woman’s journey when she found herself in the midst of a long healing process after a sudden and unimaginable accident. The doctors said she would never again function beyond that of a young child. Tina shares the story, the steps she took, and the life lessons she learned, including the unique view of the world she experienced along the way. No one gets out of this life unscathed, everyone faces stresses, challenges, setbacks, and adversity. Can you stand strong regardless of what life throws at you? Yes! Let Tina Brandau share with you the system, principles, and practices she used to help you see that anything is possible.

Become unstoppable . . . and stand strong!

BUY THE BOOK:
Amazon
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Meet the Author:

Tina Brandau is the premier life, leadership, and business “Success Coach.” She is an author, international speaker, coach, and founder of Success Coaching Solutions as well as a business executive of thirty years, wife, mom, lifelong learner, and serial entrepreneur. She believes the biggest challenge in life is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming.

For Free Tools visit www.livestandingstrong.com

connect with the author: website ~ goodreads

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Book Tour & Giveaway – Two Floors Above Grief by Kevin O’Connor.

15th Feb 2023 / dianasbookjournal / 3 Comments

Book Details:

Book Title:  Two Floors Above Grief: A Memoir of Two Families in the Unique Place We Called Home by Kevin M. O’Connor
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 318 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Publisher:  18th Floor Publishing
Release date: November 2022
Content Rating:  PG for two languages use and use of F-word.

Book Description:

As a child in the 1950s, Kevin O’Connor knew his house was different than those of his friends. A stately, three-story, nineteenth century Victorian. His bed tucked next to a stage in a former ballroom. His uncle and aunt lived with their three daughters on the floor below. A large electric organ stood stately in a corner of the first-floor mortuary business. Stacked caskets and an embalming room filled the basement.

Nobody had a house like his.

Set from the 1920s to ‘80s, Two Floors Above Grief is full of fascinating details and anecdotes about his upbringing as a funeral home child, brought to vivid life through a compelling collection of letters written by various family members who lived and worked together at the O’Connor Funeral Home in Elgin, Illinois. Blending the twenty-four-hour business of death and its constantly ringing phone with joy experienced through music, radios, pets, backyard basketball games, co-parenting, faith, and celebrations, O’Connor offers a reflective tale affirming the love of family and embracing life.

BUY THE BOOK:
Amazon ~ BAM
Indiebound ~ Bookshop.org
add to goodreads

Meet the Author:

Kevin O’Connor enjoys chronicling the stories of families and friends through tracing genealogical histories and writing. His prior writing includes a dissertation, personal letters, articles, anthologies, and presentations delivered at conferences, seminars, and webinars. He brings people together personally and professionally. Collaborating with friends and relatives, he plans family and class reunions.

He sings and performs in theaters and is active with SMART Ride, a bicycling group that rides annually from Miami to Key West, raising funds for HIV awareness, treatment, and education. Kevin was an elementary teacher, principal, professor, and curriculum coordinator in California, Illinois, and Florida from 1973 to 2020. He authored content and provided training in areas including support for substitute teachers, LGBTQ advocacy, and Sexual Health/Family Life.

Kevin resides in Ft. Lauderdale with his husband, Leon. Their family includes five sons and seven granddaughters.

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ linkedin ~ goodreads

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Book Tour and Giveaway – Skinny Dipping in a Dirty Pond by Lis Anna-Langston.

16th Jan 2023 / dianasbookjournal / Leave a comment

Literary Fiction / Memoir

Release Date: October 1, 2022

Publisher: Mapleton Press

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A young girl in a small southern town in the 80’s enlists the help of an unlikely group of friends and family to help her survive an unconventional, sometimes abusive childhood. Often left in the care of a paranoid schizophrenic uncle who lives downstairs and a psychotic uncle upstairs, the narrator stacks up a few heartbreaking observations. When her mother abandons her in favor of her addictions, the girl goes to live with her grandmother but finds happiness cut short when her grandmother dies. Her uncle believes the voices in his head have trapped his mother in a basement across town and as he slowly looses grip on reality, he also looses his ability to take care of her. Taken to a Group Home to live until a case worker can find her a place to go, her mom’s ex shows up and is forced to make a choice.

Praise for Skinny Dipping in a Dirty Pond:

One child’s vulnerability and resilience to forces beyond her control make a raw and colorful splash in this tenderhearted memoir.

-RECOMMENDED by the US Review

“Skinny Dipping in a Dirty Pond is highly recommended for fiction readers looking for coming-of-age and family narratives that are anything but ordinary and predictable. Its lively tone packs a punch.”

– D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review

… I have to tell you that as I enjoyed this great book, I realized no 9 year old could have the thoughts or quick comebacks that Cotton does. Any kid that had to go through what Cotton did would become old way before their time. But in truth, this is mostly a story of Cotton telling about her life but living in the moment. Does that sound nuts? Well, whatever the technique, it worked. It made a story so very poignant that it touched my heart. Lis-Anna Langston created a character you will fall in love with and a book you’ll be sad is over when you turn the last page.

– Our Town Book Reviews

About the Author

Lis Anna-Langston was raised along the winding current of the Mississippi River on a steady diet of dog-eared books. She attended a Creative and Performing Arts School from middle school until graduation and went on to study Literature at Webster University. Her two novels, Gobbledy and Tupelo Honey have won the Parents’ Choice Gold, Moonbeam Book Award, Independent Press Award, Benjamin Franklin Book Award and NYC Big Book Awards. Twice nominated for the Pushcart award and Finalist in the Brighthorse Book Prize, William Faulkner Fiction Contest and Thomas Wolfe Fiction Award, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Emerson Review, The Merrimack Review, Emrys Journal, The MacGuffin, Sand Hill Review and dozens of other literary journals. She draws badly, sings loudly, loves ketchup, starry skies & stories with happy aliens.

You can find her in the wilds of South Carolina plucking stories out of thin air.

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Book Tour – Midpoint: A Memoir by Patricia Angeles.

13th Jan 202313th Jan 2023 / dianasbookjournal / Leave a comment

Nonfiction/Memoir

Date Published: 10-22-2022

Midpoint: A Memoir is an immigrant woman’s story of perseverance and building a legacy future generations can be proud of.

Patricia Angeles is at the midpoint of the average human lifespan. Decades of experience, mistakes, love, and loss have led her to contemplate what anyone might when they’ve lived half their life. “What kind of legacy am I leaving behind? What do I want my friends and family to remember after I’m gone? What are the biggest life lessons I can impart while I’m still here?”

Through this collection of personal stories, Patricia attempts to assess her answers to these questions, and perhaps encourage others to do the same. Spanning from her childhood in Manila to her immigration and life in Los Angeles, these stories touch on her youth, her acclimation to American culture, her remarkable career in the world of banking, her thoughts on motherhood, the important people who made her who she is today, and major events that forever changed the trajectory of her life.

A raw, honest, poignant, and at times funny read, Patricia aims to inspire her readers to pursue happiness against all odds and to not settle for a life of mediocrity. Through the power of story, this book ultimately asks: What are we but the accumulation of our experiences?

Excerpt: Part 1: Manila 1984 –2005 As the last of the American Independence Day fireworks fizzled out during the summer of ‘84, a different type of celebration was happening at the maternity ward of Torrance Memorial Hospital: my birth as a tiny five-pound baby. Remarkably small, I was told that my dad was initially terrified to pick me up and carry me in his arms. I was their first child after all, and having me on the cusp of their teenage years meant that as new and inexperienced parents, there was a huge learning curve to traverse. Shortly after my birth, my parents decided to move back home to Manila. There were some business dealings to tend to and they agreed it would be best to raise me there. I was the first grandchild, and everyone in the family took turns caring for me as my parents mapped out their future. My mom would eventually decide to go back to school to finish her last year of college, but my dad headed straight for the workforce, relinquish-ing his remaining years in optometry school. When I was a few weeks old, my mom noticed that I was crying excessively despite being fed and lulled to sleep. I would wake up in the middle of the night, wailing nonstop for no reason. Helpless, my parents took me to my pediatrician, who performed extensive tests until I was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. There was a small yet dangerously positioned hole in my heart. They were advised that the only treatment was by way of surgery. My paternal grandmother, or Lollie, as I would later call her, was a devout Christian. Instinctively, she turned to her faith, the one thing she knew she could count on. She mercilessly stormed the heavens with prayers, believing in her heart that it would make a difference. During a checkup leading to the already scheduled surgery, the doctors, in sheer disbelief, confirmed that the hole had closed by itself. Without any material medical explanation, it was nothing short of a miracle. This became my favorite bedtime story as I was growing up, trumping every fable and fairy tale my parents ever read to me.

About the Author

Patricia Angeles is a tenured and award-winning banking professional with an MBA degree in international studies from the University of La Verne. She grew up in Manila, Philippines and moved to sunny Southern California in 2005. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, and three daughters. When not writing or reading, she enjoys spending time with her family and traveling with them to new places.

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Book Blitz – A Flicker in the Water by Bob Gonzalez.

21st Dec 2022 / dianasbookjournal / Leave a comment

Nonfiction / Memoir / Fishing

Date Published: ‎June 26, 2022

Publisher: ‎Mindstir Media

If you’re yearning for tales about adventure and fun on the open sea, look no further!

The crew welcomes you aboard the Twister, one of the finest fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, as the search is on for the big ones that legends are made of. Blue marlin, yellowfin tuna, swordfish, and more are waiting to be caught, just so long as Bob and his friends have the strength to reel them in.

Told in a fun, engaging style, this book combines elements of drama, heroism, and skill with humor and some educational points about the sea and its inhabitants, with plenty of surprises along the way.

The stories will make you feel like you are out on the water yourself getting ready to land that next great catch you’ll be talking about for the rest of your life. Experienced seamen and land lubbers alike will enjoy this peek into one of the good parts of life with all of its promises and perils.

The use of the word Tales in the subtitle is a play on the word “Tails” that matches the Goliath Grouper on the front cover. When you look into the mouth of the Grouper, we hope you’ll want to look inside this exciting collection of tales.

About the Author

A FLICKER IN THE WATER (Inside The Tales) is my second published work. The first one being a book of poems called “Eagle Claws For Freedom’s Cause”. The latter being so well received it provided the impetus to write this second book. I have always enjoyed the outdoors especially deep sea fishing and wanted this book to focus on those stories. I was born in New York City and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania where the most popular outdoor sport was Whitetail Deer Hunting. Maybe I will write about those stories in a future book. I now live in Florida, where I still enjoy sports of all kinds. Hopefully one day soon I will get to see the Tampa Bay Rays win the World Series. But for now, I will keep myself busy pursuing then writing about landing the “Big Ones”.

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