From the AlzAuthors Blog: Visit our National Caregiver Appreciation Month Book Sale & Giveaway Now Through November 13th!

AlzAuthors is built by caregivers for caregivers, with a mission to provide carefully vetted books and blogs to help you find the answers and guidance you need. The majority of our authors have "walked the walk" with a parent, spouse, or other loved one, and have chosen to write their stories as balm for the soul and to share with others the information they wished they'd had on their dementia journeys.

November is National Caregiver Appreciation Month. What a wonderful time to recognize the long hours, sacrifice, and love all caregivers bring to the task of caring for a loved one with dementia or any long-term illness. In honor of their efforts, AlzAuthors is hosting a book sale and giveaway. This is a terrific way for caregivers who are looking for knowledge, guidance, and support to build a library of carefully vetted books to help guide and inspire them every day.

Starting today through November 13th, you can take advantage of this excellent opportunity to check out some of our books at reduced prices. We offer books in a variety of genres, including fiction, memoir, non-fiction, and children’s literature. All are available in Kindle, and many are available in other digital formats, paperback, and audio.

Our books are written from a deep place of understanding, experience, knowledge, and love. May you find one – or two, or more! – to help guide you on your own dementia journey.

Click on the book covers to visit each book’s Amazon.com page. Please check all prices before purchasing. AlzAuthors is not responsible for ensuring price reductions. Please contact the individual authors with questions (contact information is provided in each author's AlzAuthors blog post). All prices are in U.S. dollars.

Find the books. The sale has ended.

Happy 1st Book Birthday Swim Season!

 

It's the first book birthday for my young adult novel Swim Season, which was born October 24th, 2016, and all of my readers get a present: a free download on Amazon October 24-26.

Have you ever celebrated a book's birthday? It's pretty cool! After working on this for FIVE years (that's right!) it was close to a miracle that I saw it in print. And Kindle. And not long after audiobook. Each part of this process took much longer than it should have because of my repetitive strain injuries. I literally wrecked my shoulder putting the final touches on it just days before it came out. But the pain was worth it because I wanted to finish it during my daughter's very last varsity swim season. Her 10-year career inspired the story, so it's very special to me. In spite of my RSI's I managed to pull it off, and I'm proud of that. Here's the blurb:

Swim Season is the fast-paced, drama driven story of Olympic hopeful Aerin Keane, starting senior year in her third high school and trying NOT to win. But can she hide her natural talent and competitive streak? Especially with a 50,000-dollar scholarship on the line?

 

There's drama in AND out of the pool!

Here's the book trailer:


And my readers seem to like it:

"This is a great story of growing up and overcoming obstacles. The characters are delightful and the swim meets engaging. You'll rally behind Aerin as she tackles her senior year and all that comes with it." - Jessica Elliott

"Excellent characters and story. Brings back lots of memories of swim teams, competition, friendships and rivalries." - Amazon customer

"This entire story was epic: competition, friendship, hiding your talents, finding yourself, facing bullies...it has it all." - ReaderGirl16

"I loved your book and I will definitely read it again, and, after that, again." Ava, age 10

So Happy 1st Book Birthday Swim Season! Don't delay! Claim your gift now!

Can we have cake?

 

9 Reasons Why YA Fiction Still Gets Me

photo by BillionPhotos.com via AdobeStock

There's something about YA fiction. Although I've been an adult for decades, I love it. I love to read it and I love to write it. 

Maybe it's because it pulls me back to my teenage years, when everything was all wrong, and gives me a chance to view life from a different lens, to a life where I wasn't gawky, awkward, and insecure, where money wasn't an issue and I had the right jeans and the right sneakers, where my father didn't pass away and leave me rudderless. 

Or maybe it's because I have my own young adult (now a perfect 22) and lived through her much happier teen years, seeing that she had everything I lacked. 

My love of books and reading solidified when I was a teen, providing a much needed escape. YA spans a variety of genres - historical, fantasy, paranormal, romance, social - and brought me places I could only dream of seeing or didn't know existed. 

It introduced me to cultures and worlds beyond my own. 

I met important and famous people, and time traveled throughout the ages.

I learned about dark things in life while never leaving my comfort zone. 

I fell in love with heroes and heroines. 

I read and reread many books that touched my soul.

I still need to escape sometimes and a YA novel is often the best transporter. Some favorites: John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Game series, the Harry Potters, Cynthia Toney's Bird Face series, Ruta Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray, and Alyssa Sheinmel's R.I.P. Eliza Hart. 

How about you? Are you a YA fan? What's moved you lately?

***

Here's a collection of 14 YA books currently free to download in the Discoveries promo sponsored by My Book Cave.  Multi authors, multi genres, rated all ages to moderate+ for language, sexuality, and violence. A sample of my novel Swim Season is included. Download now! Offer ends October 31st. 

Fantastic Young Adult Fiction Giveaway! Build that Summer TBR List

5 Lucky Winners Will Each Receive a $10 Gift Card!

For me, summer is all about reading: at the beach, in the pool, laid out in a hammock in my backyard. Of course, this requires lots of books. YA is one of my favorite genres, so I'm happy to offer you 30+ FREE titles for your e-reader along with a cool raffle to get your summer reading started.

You're going to love these FREE ebooks, so please enter our raffle so you get even more books from these great authors. 5 winners will each receive a $10 gift card from Amazon, iTunes, or Barnes & Noble.

Enter now!

 Good luck. I hope you win! 

What about you? Where do you like to read?