Executed in Paradise book review and #giveaway

If you've been reading here for a while, you know about the Paradise Series by Deborah Brown.  I love these books.  I've been hooked ever since the first one.  Number nine, Executed in Paradise, is out now, and it's just as hilariously fascinating as the rest of them.  

These books are set in Florida, land of perpetual summer.  Madison inherited property from her aunt several years ago, and has since expanded her "empire" to include additional holdings.  Which is great--until somebody starts dumping bodies on more than one of the places she owns.  

Her best friend, room mate, and partner in crime fighting, Fabiana, who goes by "Fab," is the more risk taking of the two, and often leaps before she looks, leading Madison into dangerous situations.  But it's Fab's investigator's license that Madison envies, just a little, as she strives to prove that she can handle a case on her own.  Maybe that license would make people take her a little more seriously.  Or at least get her a case she's not embarrassed to talk about.  

Executed in Paradise has so much action going on, it's hard to know what to share with you.  Should we talk about the girls rescuing Madison's mother from a bad guy after she accidentally brought home bundles of counterfeit cash from the flea market?  Or how Jazz ends up with a new friend who's pregnant?  How about when Fab and Madison narrowly escape being burned to death by a crazy person?  

I hope you enjoy Executed in Paradise as much as I did.  

When a body turns up at the Cottages, Madison and Fab are on the case. But when the killer makes a habit of discarding bodies on Madison’s property… it’s personal.

While on the hunt for the killer, the duo track down a double-crossing bail jumper, repossess a Lamborghini, and Madison lands her first case.

As more bodies pop up, the cops are eager to name a suspect. When a close friend is arrested as the prime suspect, Madison and Fab will stop at nothing to prove her innocence, but will they be too late?

Executed in Paradise, the ninth book in the scorching Paradise series about best friends who maintain the peace in the paradise of Tarpon Cove through unconventional ­– and highly entertaining – measures.

The Paradise series, are Florida Keys mysteries, “great as stand-alone reads, but they're like chips...you won't be able to devour just one!”

Available to buy from.....

Amazon Kindle    Amazon Paperback 

"The Paradise series has it all! There is action, mystery, murder, romance, humor, & the greatest friendship of all time." 

"Multiple story lines made it impossible for me to put it down. The suspense, humor, love, romance, and of course touches of sarcasm, make this book the best one yet."

"I absolutely love the stories of Fab and Madison. You never know what is going to happen next. Adventures, drama, love, and all the humorous situations they find themselves in make wonderful reads."

Above reviews from Goodreads/Amazon

About the Author

I've been writing, in one way or another for as long as I can remember; writing poetry, short stories, a romance novel secretly stashed under the bed and sappy love letters. Fiction should be fun. I wanted to create the perfect beach book, to make the reader laugh, cry and cheer... and then run out and tell their friends about it.

My love of reading began when I was seven, the day I opened the cover of my first Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book. Mrs. P gave lessons to other children in how to behave and to me I learned to love the written word. I live with my family and demon children aka rescue cats in South Florida.

Find the author on the following sites...

Website  Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Google+  Goodreads  Amazon Author page

Also available in the Paradise Series

Follow the Book Tour

I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY

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Forbrain - Sound For Life

I recently mentioned that Jack is going to be starting speech therapy in the fall.  He has some reading and articulation issues that made me excited to review this fascinating headset from Forbrain - Sound For Life Ltd.

As soon as it arrived, I was excited to dig right in and see how it worked.

Forbrain comes in a nice, soft, zippered case with a foam insert that holds the headset, the charging cable, and the instructions/user manual.

So what is it?  Forbrain is an aid to audio processing.  It works through bone conduction, enabling the wearer to hear themselves speak.  It's recommended for people (not just children!) who need to work on attention, speech, and memory issues.  All three of these areas are a challenge for Jack, although we I wasn't aware of the short term memory difficulty until recently, when he was tested for his IEP.

Jack began using Forbrain the day Katie was sick.  He offered to read to her, and this usage worked out well for us.  Both Katie and Jack enjoy their daily reading time together.  I hadn't realized it before, but it's like the "reading buddies" my other kids had when they were in classroom kindergarten and had kids from 5th or 6th grade come in and pair up for reading practice.

The headset is easy to wear, requiring no adjustment from person to person.  It turns on with a simple push of a button, and there's a little blue light to let you know that it's on.  The front piece is bendy like a pipe cleaner, so you can position it wherever you like.  Notice that there's nothing over or going into the ears?  That's because Forbrain works through bone conduction, not through the ears.  You're hearing from inside your head.

Jack wore it when we read our spelling passages aloud together.  The guideline is to wear Forbrain for about 20 minutes a day for best results.  The website also provides some exercises for teens and adults.  I looked them over, but since Jack just turned 12, I felt they were not a good fit for him.

He also wore it while reading lots and lots of books to Katie throughout the review period.  When I asked him to tell me what he thought of using the headset, he responded:

"It's interesting to know what my voice really sounds like," says Jack.  "I think this would be a good way for people to learn how to read.  And I like that I can speak whale when I wear it."  

Okay, the speaking whale thing I should probably clarify.  When Jack puts the headset on, he makes noises like Dory does when she's "speaking whale" in Finding Nemo.  He likes the way it sounds when he can hear it through the headset.

Overall, using Forbrain has been a positive experience for Jack, and we will continue using it.  When Jack starts speech therapy in the fall, I will talk to his speech/language pathologist about it, and see what her recommendations are.


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Medical Judgment book review and #giveaway

This was a real page turner!  I read Medical Judgment in 2 sittings, one of which happened late at night.  Sarah is grieving the loss of her family when strange things start happening to her.  As she navigates her way through what feels like constant danger, she questions the intent of everyone in her life.  This is not a book you want to start when you're home alone.  (Not that I would even remember what that's like.)

With themes of loss, addiction recovery, faith, and trust, Medical Judgment takes you on a roller coaster ride, but leaves you with things to think about, too.


Just what the doctor ordered: heart-thumping suspense and intrigue, courtesy of Richard Mabry’s new medical drama, Medical Judgment. Someone is after Dr. Sarah Gordon. They’ve stalked her and set a fire at her home. Trying to recover from the traumatic deaths of her husband and infant daughter is tough enough, but she has no idea what will come next. As the threats on her life continue to escalate, so do the questions: Who is doing this? Why are they after her? And with her only help being unreliable suitors in competition with each other, whom can she really trust?

Join Richard in celebrating the release of Medical Judgment by entering to win an e-reader!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A copy of Medical Judgment
• A Kindle Fire HD 6

Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on June 21st. The winner will be announced June 22nd on the Litfuse blog.

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Luke Has Moved, Again

Longtime readers know our story, but for those who may be new to the blog, I'll recap.

In 2013, we adopted Luke from China.  He was not quite 2 years old at the time.  He was very delayed, but we assumed with love, good nutrition, and early intervention, he would catch up.  "Worst case scenario" in my (rather clueless) mind was that he'd still need an IEP when he was school aged to help him get through school.  I felt we could handle that.

His first year home was a whirlwind of doctors appointments and therapy.  We took him everywhere we could think of to work toward getting a diagnosis so we'd know how best to help him get on track.  He had a multitude of tests run.

In early 2015, we finally got a firm diagnosis.  The genetic counselor sat there and told us he was not going to get better.  That in several years, he will begin to decline.  That he would eventually lose the ability to swallow, but would linger on, probably to middle age, and likely die of pneumonia.

It was very overwhelming.  In one sense, it was a relief to know that nothing we could do would help him.  It wasn't that we hadn't found the magic panacea.  There wasn't one.

Ultimately, we decided to place Luke with a family who was better equiped to handle his total lifetime care needs.  We said goodbye to him in April 2015 and started to find our "new normal" as a family.  After a couple of months, things were stable enough that we agreed to host 2 toddlers for a family in crisis.  Then in August 2015, I got an email from the attorney handling the adoption.  4 months into a 6 month finalization period, the other family wanted out.

Paul hopped on a plane the following week and went to pick him up.  It was good to see Lukey again.  He'd grown, noticably, and he had started scooting himself around in a seated position, instead of only on his back, like before.  We were encouraged to see this new skill.

We decided not to make any decisions about Luke until after the toddlers went home.  The toddlers left in October, and then I left for China on an advocacy trip (and the jet lag that followed).  Finally, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we realized that all the reasons we had chosen to place Luke with another family were still valid, and having him here was not a feasable long term solution.

We considered a group home.  But aside from the cost factor, it's not a family.  We felt he would do better in a family, if one could be found for him.  So we started the search again.

It's not easy to find a family willing to take on a child with diagnoses like Luke's.  At times, it was a very discouraging search.  But eventually, through dozens of emails, we connected with the right family.  We started talking in March, and in May, we met with a social worker to go over placement paperwork.

Luke has now moved to their house.  It will be 6 months before the adoption is finalized, if all goes well.  Luke's new family has extensive experience with special needs, both personally and professionally.  Please pray that he continues to transition well with them, and that this will be the last stop for him.  Although he's not cognitively capable of RAD, or physically capable of RAD behaviors, I know consistency is good for him.



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Our Quiet Week

It was so quiet around here with Brianna, Eli, Jack, and Hannah gone from Thursday before last to last Wednesday!  

Katie spent time hanging out near me.  Working on the iPad, painting, playing.  If you missed our review of MaxScholar, she's learning phonics on the iPad there.

We worked on math (telling time) and spelling and handwriting.  But mostly, we just hung out.

Josiah thought we should go someplace fun while the other kids were gone, so we spent a morning at Chuck E. Cheese.

Unfortunately, there was a school trip there, so it was super crowded.

I think Katie had fun, but she was happy to leave when it was time to go.

Josiah said it was way too people-y there.

Wednesday afternoon, my little people and all their laundry came home!  Sunburned and scratched up, they obviously had a marvelous time.

But hanging out with Katie was not all that happened this week!  Sam enlisted with the Marines.  That means we were in the recruiter's office signing papers Monday and Tuesday, and Sam was gone most of Wednesday and Thursday at MEPS.  He's very excited.  It will be a long wait, since he doesn't leave for boot camp until January, but at least he's got a plan in place.

Also while the kids were gone, I had an IEP meeting at the local school for Jack, who will be getting speech therapy at the middle school once a week next school year.  Middle school?  Goodness.  Hard for me to admit my baby is going into 7th grade.

We're definately not in a routine yet, with such a crazy start to summer.  Hopefully soon we'll be going to the pool and summer movies and the library (yikes!  I have overdue books to return!) and such.  Maybe I'm kidding myself about "routine" anyway, since there will be a VBS week and Katie will be attending 2 weeks of "safety camp" (mornings only) that Brianna will be volunteering at.

We still have a few review products to work on/finish up, so there will be some learning going on, but we won't be doing regular school until the big kids go back in August.

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The Glass Castle

Today's book review comes to you in the form of a guest post from my teen aged daughter, Brianna!  We received the book The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins from Shiloh Run Press last month.  Brianna is a voracious reader and finished it in just a couple of days.

Brianna writes:

The Glass Castle is about a young, 13 year old girl named Avery. Avery and her brother get kidnapped and taken to a strange castle. Avery is separated from her brother and soon learns that all the other children are 13 and up and are separated from their brothers or sisters, as well. 

The difference between Avery and the other kids is she still has a father. The other children are all orphans. Avery’s story becomes a quest to find answers, find her brother, and find a way out of the dangerous and chaotic castle. 

Her quest becomes more and more confusing and difficult as more events unfold, such as the king announcing his wife and queen to-be, kids disappearing, and the worst: boy drama. UGH! Avery wants to go back home and be with her family again but she also wants to help the other kids that are still trapped in the castle. Oddly enough, the only way, it seems, that she can do both is by remembering her mother's stories of a mysterious glass castle with secret passageways and underground corridors.

I liked the book because it has a lot of mysteriousness and suspense in it. Before reading each page you wonder if the page will have an answer to a previous question or raise another question and the story gets more interesting either way. I like the end because it ends on a good cliff hanger that makes me excited to read the next book.

This 256 page, 41 chapter, hardback book sells for $12.99 (the Kindle version is also $12.99).  The Glass Castle is a juvenile fiction story with a suggested age range of 10-14 year olds.  Brianna is 16, and she enjoyed it immensely.  The sequel, Ruby Moon, is scheduled to come out in October of 2016, and she has already asked me if I will buy it for her.  

The Glass Castle would make great summer reading for your children who enjoy fiction.  We will be passing it on to both Eli, age 14, and Jack, age 12, for them to read at their leisure.

You may recognize the name Jerry B. Jenkins as one of the authors of the Left Behind series that was popular about a decade ago.  I remember reading them when we lived in Santa Rosa.  Trisha White Priebe works for Jerry.  This is her second book.

Shiloh Run Press is a division of Barbour Publishing.  We reviewed Jonah and the Bear and Diary of a Real Payne (book 1) for them in the past.  You can connect with Barbour Publishing through Facebook and Twitter.  To read what other Crew families thought of The Glass Castle, please click the box below.

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Dawn at Emberwilde

If you're familiar with the works of Jane Austen, you know how much priority was placed on making a suitable match for the young ladies of that era.  In Dawn at Emberwilde, Isabel was not sure she would ever have the opportunity to marry, being an orphaned teacher at a small girls school and having a younger sister as her ward.

Her circumstances change unexpectedly as she is discovered by relatives of her deceased mother and whisked away to Emberwilde to live a very different life.  Isabel must get used to colorful dresses, refined manners, and the attentions of two young men.

Her aunt is a complex character, hard for Isabel to puzzle out.  Younger sister Lizzie takes to Emberwilde quickly, helped by the horseback riding lessons Aunt Margaret insists that a proper young lady must have.  Cousin Constance is a friend, but the two were raised so differently that Constance cannot understand Isabel's reluctance to accept the man that Aunt Margaret is pushing at her.  After all, Constance is about to marry a man her mother picked for her.

Isabel fills some of her time teaching at the local children's home, where things are not all as they seem.  And what of the tales of danger within Emberwilde Forest, referred to as the Black Woods by the locals who avoid it?

I enjoyed this tale of intrigue set in 1817 England.  Author Sarah E. Ladd has other fascinating tales, as well, including A Lady at Willowgrove Hall, which I reviewed.  You can read additional reviews of Dawn at Emberwilde at the Litfuse website.

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MaxScholar Reading Program

We received a one year subscription to MaxScholar Reading Intervention Programs for review purposes.  I chose Katie and Jack to be my reviewers for MaxScholar.  Both children are working in the MaxGuru program.  MaxScholar also offers a K-2 program, which might have been a better fit for Katie on her own.

There's a lot to unpack in this subscription!  There's MaxPhonics, MaxReading, MaxWords, MaxMusic, MaxVocab, MaxPlaces, and MaxBios.

Miss Katie, who is 5, pretty much keeps to MaxPhonics for now.  There's a lot of "Click the letter that makes the sound __ as in _______."  She's really learning her way around the keyboard as a result.

Katie's favorite part is the games area, which we were late to discover, as I hadn't scrolled down far enough to see that option on one of the screens.  She likes the memory game, and she gets really excited when she finds a pair.

I think the cat might be learning phonics, too.

The Word Builder game really pointed out that Katie is very much an English language learner still.  She could not name a straw, a clam, an ostrich, a scarf, a broom, or a fox from pictures.  She called a ship a boat, a moon the earth, and grass was "Bamboo?"  So this game was difficult for Katie because of her lack of vocabulary mastery, not because she couldn't assemble the words.  She totally got how to move the qua coconut up to -rter to make the word quarter.  She just called it a nickel, so none of the options made sense to her.

For many children, MaxScholar would be a program they could do independently, but for Katie, it was best if she worked near me, so I could answer questions like, "Is that a shirt?" with "No, honey, that's a dress."  Because of this, it's really nice that MaxScholar can be used on PC or iPad.  Our family has a lot of users sharing the school room computer, so having the program available on the iPad means she doesn't have to wait for someone else to get off the PC, and since the iPad is portable, she can hang out with me wherever I'm working.

Jack, who is 12, has explored much more of the site.  MaxReading, MaxPlaces, and MaxBios are all set up the same way, the difference is the subject matter.  MaxPlaces was most appealing to Jack.  You click on a dot on the world map, and then you read a passage about it.  You're supposed to highlight certain concepts in different colors and then answer questions about the passage.  Jack hasn't really worked with highlighters much, so this was a new concept for him.

I was given access to Jack and Katie's progress through a parent account, not a teacher account.  I think this is an important difference.  A teacher account can assign assessments, but a parent account can only see scores.  I can see at a glance when my kids last logged in, and where they're spending the bulk of their time.  For some reason, neither of my kids were assigned the pretest at the beginning of the program.  Jack was (randomly? by performance?) placed in the reading level 4, and Katie, who is sounding out CVC words, was placed in level 6.  This is obviously not an accurate reflection of their reading levels.

MaxScholar sends out helpful emails, with links to video tutorials on how to use the program.  You can email them back and get personal help, if you need it.

I feel like MaxScholar will be a good program for Jack and Katie to continue learning and keep their reading skills sharp over the summer in a non-threatening, less "school-y" way.  Unlike some programs we've used, this program grows with the kids, and they will be able to use it for the full year subscription, rather than being done when they master the subject matter or current grade level.  Also, I find that sometimes approaching a subject from a variety of angles help my kids have a breakthrough when we're struggling with something.  MaxScholar is one more tool in our reading arsenal.

You can connect with MaxScholar in all sorts of ways!  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, G+, Linked In, and YouTube.  To read what other Crew families have to say about their experience with MaxSchoolar, please click the box below.

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