The River of Forgetting by Jane Rowan REVIEW

People don’t make up things like that for fun. That’s what Jane’s therapist tells her when Jane reports fragmentary memories from her childhood that hints at sexual abuse. A busy, successful scientist, Jane at first fights the implications, but as flashbacks assail her, she must tackle the tough questions of her childhood, with no easy answers. With help from a gifted, unconventional therapist as well as writing, movement, and drawing, Jane taps into her own aliveness and comes to terms with both her parents’ love and their betrayal. This powerful, deeply personal memoir invites the reader behind the closed doors of the therapist’s office and into the author’s journal and her very body. Jane’s voice is honest, at time is breaktakingly so. Her uncanny ability to describe emotions from the inside will give charity and courage to others on the journey from trauma and healing.

When I first started reading this book I didn’t know if I wanted or could continue with it because it hits a bit close to home. But thankfully it wasn’t the father it was another family member. But against my own judgment I continued and finished reading it. And I must say; I am glad I did. This true story is obviously full of heartbreaking memories and stories and encounters with her father and mother as well as her memories of her sister Suzie she never gets to see because she was sent away because she had Down syndrome. I couldn’t imagine not ever seeing one of my sisters. We are all very close and very close with our parents. That’s another thing; I couldn’t fathom my mother ever covering for my dad. On one hand I understand if a mother is behaving a certain way because the father is the source of income, keeping food on the table and bills paid, roof over your kids head and clothes on their back. So it is a tough spot to be in. But even then, there are organizations that help. It’s a parents/guardians job to keep that child(s) safe from everything.  So even though the mother or father thinks he or she is doing their job as the parent by keeping a home for the kids by allowing their child(s) to stay in that environment, maybe that parent should sit the child(s) down and talk with them and see where their minds are at.

What Jane Rowan and other people like her have gone through is horrific and I feel for them. Man or woman, whoever has gone through sexual abuse need not feel bad, ashamed, embarrassed, at fault in anyway, or anything else for that matter. This book is not a “how to heal from sexual abuse” but it may give you the insight and strength you need to move on and get help and get the person(s) who did it to you or to that person you know that it happened to. You won’t feel so alone after reading this.

                                                                         I highly recommend this book, I couldn’t put it down.

                                                                     I received this book from Pump Up Your Book for review.

Author Biography: Jane Rowan is a New England poet and writer. After teaching science and three decades in a private college, she retired for pursue the creative life. She is the author of numerous articles and the self-help booklet Caring for the Child Within- A Manual for Grownups, available throughout her website www.janerowan.com

Borneo Tom Guest Post

Journal of a Teacher in up to His Ears by Steven Verrier

Class Struggle takes you deep into the heart of San Antonio's "Webster High School," an institution that seems to revel in dysfunction. Told from the point of view of a bemused teacher, Class Struggle is a guided tour through the landscapes and minefields of modern urban education. Come along and meet intriguing characters - the brilliant student "on a quest to kill," the barking boy, the substitute teacher who won't shut up, and many others - who'll make you laugh, cry, and scream! This is a book you won't want to put down ... whether you're a student, a parent, a teacher - or just someone who loves roller coaster rides.
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Strangely enough, this book reminded me why I wanted to be a teacher. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. This book was insightful and shines a light on one of the most important jobs that is so underpaid. A person that become a teacher is obviously not doing it for the money lol.

There were parts in this book that were just plain funny...like Stevens' journal entry about a male student who had a piece of cardboard; the student was pretending it was a cell phone and walk 'using his cellphone' during class.

Then there were the moments when Steven is talking about all he feels he does is grades papers and other fun teacher jobs...lol....something for me to look forward to lol.
All in all, this was a quick, fun and easy read. I would recommend it. Especially to parents who have kids in school, and to kids so they can get a different perspective on their teachers and teachers in general. Teachers deserve more respect, they are educating our future.  


I think the cover for this book is very fitting but the camera angle is a bit odd and looks a bit posed. 


                    

                                                                     I received this book for review from Pump Up Your Book

Gues Post with Steven Verrier

 It’s a different world in the classroom than when I was a high school student a generation ago. It used to seem there were a few students in an entire school back in the 1960s or 1970s you could depend on to behave a certain way. Now it seems there are a handful or more in nearly every class.

     By a certain way, I mean disruptively, confrontationally, or – by every observable measure in the classroom – with an almost total indifference to learning. Some show up halfway through a class and the first thing they do is put their heads down and try to take a nap. Others arrive with food from the cafeteria and proceed to have a picnic. Remind them why they’re supposed to be in class, and their response goes something like “#&*@%&^#*!!!”

     Many of these students, of course, are facing challenges of their own, such as economic hardship. Every so often it comes to a teacher’s attention that a student is homeless or lacking some of the basic building blocks of a healthy, happy young life.

     That, of course, helps explain why some students have difficulty getting to school on time, or why they don’t want to miss out on any free meal offered to them, even if it means devouring it while they’re supposed to be studying.

     Many students nowadays have suffered abuse or neglect. An alarming number have close relatives in jail – and many students already have plenty of firsthand experience in the criminal justice system.

     Many students come from backgrounds where education just isn’t a priority. “Homework” is a concept they’re not quick to grasp. Some, despite having plenty of money for cell phones and iPods, come to school day after day without notebooks or writing utensils – and the majority of students in many classes have never set foot in a public library.

     Too many students are unable to say no to gangs, drugs, or sex. Tagging, police operations, and bloated bellies on many campuses attest to this. Some students live in fear of aggressive classmates, decide they’d better not stand out in class, and play the role of underachievers so other kids won’t laugh and point at them. Even so, these students can’t help showing a flicker of their true ability at times, especially when it comes time for standardized testing.

     Standardized tests usually show another picture, though. One such test taken by my high school seniors in 2009 indicated fewer than a quarter were reading at grade level. The same test given to my freshmen a year earlier yielded a similar result. That explains why curricula, despite plenty of fancy claims to the contrary, are being “dumbed down.”

     Class Struggle: Journal of a Teacher In Up to His Ears is an account of my experiences and observations as a teacher at a particularly challenging high school in San Antonio, Texas, during the 2009-2010 school year – and a heck of a ride. Be sure to check it out at my website.

    

Steven Verrier, born in the United States and raised in Canada, has spent much of his adult life living and traveling abroad. He is the author of Raising a Child to be Bilingual and Bicultural, a prizewinning book published bilingually in Japan, and several short plays for the student market. His novels, Tough Love, Tender Heart and Plan B, were published in 2008 and 2010, and his recently-published nonfiction book, Class Struggle: Journal of a Teacher In Up to His Ears, is sure to raise eyebrows over the coming months. Currently Steven Verrier lives with his wife, Motoko, and their five children in San Antonio, Texas, and New Brunswick, Canada. You can visit his website at www.stevenverrier.com.

Echoes of Savana by Lucina Moebuis REVIEW

A deadly virus...Is any place safe?

Every generation has their defining moments, events that change history and turn the course of lives. Forever will the children of that generation be defined  by those moments.

Savanna Taylor is a medical doctor in 2036, the same year terrorists release a series of plagues and viruses into the world. She is a nineteen year old Brain Trust whose tasks it is to find a cure for the disease and develop vaccines to prevent their further spread. The world is thrown in turmoil and Savanna needs to find a way to survive  with her sanity and family intact.  She needs to find a safe Haven for herself and for those she loves.

Can Savanna cope in a world in constant flux brought on by war and disease? Can she save the world and protect her loved ones or will she make the ultimate sacrifice? How will she be defined?

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When I first started this book I really liked it. Then it got weird for me at times...Because of the Indian spirituality. Savanna has the brains and the willpower to figure this disease out, and while at the building helping all the sick she gets attached to this one girl who is progressed in the disease. She than got attached to the young girls Aunt and Uncle. The Uncle begins to become like a second father to her; the reason why I say it got weird for me at times is because Savanna is with the young girl and the Aunt when the young dies. She races outside and the Uncle has her close her eyes to have each of the four winds help her emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. That got a bit weird for me. But other than that I enjoyed the book and it makes for good discussion. I loved that Savanna's character was so committed to her work and helping people. She put her heart and soul into her work. She put her patients and her work before herself. I also loved the fact that she didn't refer to her patients as patients. She actually got to know them and their names. Which is why she took it so much harder when a patient of hers died. She became emotionally involved with her patients in the sense that she built a friend to friend relationship with them. I loved that about her. It didn't give her that coldness that some doctors have because they won't become emotionally involved. 

It also was refreshing to read a book that was based in the future and didn't have to do with aliens or vampires or people that turn into some kind of vampire or something of that nature like so many books and movies out there. 

All in all, Echoes of Savanna is a good read. I would gladly recommend this book. I plan on reading this book again. It didn't make my top favorite reads of the year because it did get a little weird/odd for me at times. I would go into more about the book....but I would spoil that and what fun is that...?

                                                               I received this book for review from Media Guests

                                                         Thank you Cheryl for allowing me to partake in the blog tour:)

The Trigger by Hon Hoh REVIEW

Three individual from three different continents find their lives merged in a single divine purpose: to win the last unreached people group on earth and usher in the Second Coming of Christ. They must succeed in order to fulfill the trigger for the return of the Lamb as declared in Matthew 24:14.
In their way stands the legion of demonic principalities intent on destroying the plan. Against the backdrop of unprecedented persecution and the onslaught of cataclysmic events, Pastor Josh must remain steadfast to carry out the priority revealed to him by God. He now realizes that no believer will escape the greatest tribulation in human history and that only the matchless return of the King can deliver mankind from evil's reign.
The climatic battle between God and Evil unfolds as Lucifer executes his definitive act of defiance: the global genocide of all Christians.With the sound of the trumpets reverberating throughout the heavens, what has been set in motion must now complete its course. Eternity and the fate of the earth are at stake.
There is no plan B.



From the very beginning this book was very captivating. Even the prologue. I love prologues in books. It's like an appetizer to the meal. I am very happy and blessed that the last few books I have read have been really good reads that I would gladly recommend. This was another one; but in a different sense. It was a joy read, but it also made me think but not in a boring way where it made my brain hurt. I could still enjoy the storyline and get very into the book.
I love that the author was able to write a book on a subject many people find heavy, difficult, and at time controversial and scary but kept it interesting, captivating, thrilling and suspenseful. I enjoyed the fact that he has people think of the rapture and second coming in a different light, a different view point.
Hon Hoh writes this storyline with the viewpoint that the rapture doesn't happen and that everyone goes through the tribulation. That all the Christians are fighting through the Tribulation until the Second Coming actually comes. I know quite a few Christians who do believe this. I personally do believe in the rapture. I do believe that Christians are going to get a taste of the tribulation. Perhaps a very good taste of the tribulation. A lot of Christians believe we are going through the beginnings of the Tribulation right now. And that is a big part why I enjoyed this book. Because reading this book really does make you think of all of this in a different light. It really does make you wonder, what if the Rapture doesn't happen? What if we do go through until the very end until the Second Coming happens?
For me, The Trigger reminds me in a way of This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. Awesome man. Awesome author/pastor. Great book. The Trigger by Hon Hoh-Great book. It is on my list of favorite reads for this year. I can't wait for his next book. I have already recommended this book to my mother.

                           
                                                                 I received this book for review from The B&B Media Group
                                                                 Thank you Audra for allowing me to be part of this blog tour