All about the Rave Review Book Club Sponsors Blog Hop!

Today I have the privilege of showcasing Author Karen Ingalls!  

Welcome to the first ever ALL ABOUT THE SPONSORS BLOG HOP!  These kind members of the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB (RRBC) donated their support during the 2017 conference, in the way of gift card and Kindle e-book donations for our Gift Basket Raffle. They supported us and now we are showing our support of them by pushing their book(s).  

 

We ask that you pick up a copy of the title listed and after reading it, leave a review.  There are several books on tour today, so please visit the HOP’S main page to follow along. 

Also, for every comment that you leave along this tour, including on the HOP’S main page, your name will be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card to be awarded at the end of the tour!

 

 Davida by Karen Ingalls

Blurb: 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the premier American sculptor from 1880-1920. Though married he fell in love with his model, Davida Johnson Clark and their love affair lasted more than twenty-five years. This fictionalized account will introduce the reader to some of the great art, historical facts, and the moral values of that era.
The author is the great-granddaughter from this union and her purpose in writing the book is to bring recognition to Davida and remove any negative stigma to her. Her grandfather suffered his whole life from being labeled a bastard while growing up and this story is intended to remove that label.
How can a love affair last for such a long period of time? What affect did it have on his career? How did his wife and son cope with their being a second family?
This is a compelling and beautiful love story that has needed to be told.

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 This blog hop sponsored by:  4WillsPublishing

 

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Success is just failure. . . Recycled!

November 27, 2017

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Mark Bierman

“I recycle.”

“Good for you,” you might say. “It’s great to keep those water bottles and batteries out of the landfills. I recycle too.”

“Do you?”

“Umm, yes. Haven’t you seen that tiny garbage can in my office? The one that has ‘I made this much garbage’ stenciled on it? I really do that.”

 

If that’s you, keep up the great work! Saving the planet is a very noble cause, but it’s not physical waste that I’m talking about here.

What do you do with your disappointment?

Do you bury frustration deep inside when Jack, the office grandstander, steals your well-deserved promotion? What about when those nay-sayers mock your dream to build a waterpark in the backyard?

I’ve been there and done that. Not anymore. I’ve decided to follow the examples of the people mentioned below. I’m going to take all of that emotional garbage and recycle it into a can-do attitude.

What about you?

Oprah Winfrey

After being fired for failure to control her emotions, Oprah went on to create one of the most popular talk shows in history and her own production company.

Walt Disney

Today the name Walt Disney conjures up images of Mickey Mouse, amusement parks and family fun. This was not always so. Failure after failure drove this icon to an emotional breakdown in midlife. He developed the habit of quiet reflection which lead to new ideas and the result is what you see today.

JK Rowling

Despite the death of her mother, divorce, and raising her child in poverty, the creator of “Harry Potter” rose from the ashes and became a best-selling author. There was no magic to her success, just plain old resilience.

Thomas Edison

Have you ever tried to do something 10,000 times? That’s the number of tries it took for Edison to finally light up that bulb.  When asked by a newspaper reporter if he felt like a failure and if he should give up, after having gone through over 9,000 failed attempts, Edison simply stated “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” Teachers once labelled him as “too stupid to learn.”

Apparently, he “failed” to live up to their standards when he patented 1,093 inventions

in the U.S.

Replace all negativity with these attitudes:

Do you believe in your passion? Don’t give up.

Is your idea great? Keep going.

Can’t find the right market placement? Build it.

Can’t get to the right people? Think of something different to open doors.

Failed again? Revise it. Learn from feedback and make it better.

Our modern culture has an underlying belief that failure is the expectation and belief that failure should equate stopping.  Success is the exception.

The accumulation of failure equates growth. We become wiser, smarter and braver each time we fail.

Who are we kidding? Failure hurts. The victory lies in picking yourself up and

foraging ahead with a new perspective, some well-earned knowledge and a thicker skin. Embrace each failure. You may be closer to success than you realize.

Define your own meaning of success.

Then shoot for the stars, wiping the stardust off along the way.

Victorian Era … Prim or Grimm???

December 8, 2017

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Mark Bierman

Step off Chuck Norris . . . the Victorians held balloon duels!

A list of this and other crazy facts about those “stuffy prudes.”

 

1. The Texas Ranger may have had his eyes on the bad guys, but dishonouring a Victorian could spell death! Forfeit a bet? Call someone a coward? You may eat more than just a knuckle sandwich. The daisies in many cemeteries receive a helping hand from beneath, courtesy of those on the losing side of a duel. For some, the tried and true method, with all its rules and terrestrial limitations, had fallen out of fashion. Two rivals once devised a way to spice things up.

In early May of 1808, Monsieur Le Pique and Monsieur de Grandpre boarded two separate but identical balloons and armed themselves with blunderbusses. These were early versions of shot guns. To make things fair, neither was to shoot until an agreed-upon height of around 900 yards was reached and a signal given. Le Pique fired his weapon first but missed. Grandpre scored a direct hit on Le Pique’s flying contraption and sent his rival crashing to what must have been a terrifying death.

  

2. Forget the Tylenol. Arsenic was often used in medications. Despite the known dangers, it was used to treat asthma, cancer, reduced libido and skin problems. Regulations to protect patients was slow in coming because of capitalistic interests and government indifference.

 3. “Her corset is electrocuting her!” Scott shouted as he tried to throw the switch.

Well, not exactly. In reality, the “electrical” corset employed a magnetized-steel busk. The promised benefit was improved circulation. It was invented by Dr. Scott and sold by Cornelius Bennett Harness. The invention comes as little surprise. The Victorians were obsessed with all-things electric and eagerly purchased other quackeries, including electric hair and flesh brushes.

4. Do kittens have tea parties? Can rabbits learn to read and write in a formal school setting? Can a monkey saddle up and ride a goat? Yup. If they are subjected to Anthropomorphizing Taxidermy.

Walter Potter, apparently bored with the “Plain-Jane” version of stuffing dead animals and posing them into standard positions, decided to take things a little further. Indeed, it became all the rage.

5. The term, “if looks could kill” could have been taken quite literally in those “good old days.” Belladonna drops were used to dilate the pupils and give the eyes that special glow. There was only one catch . . . Belladonna was poisonous.

6. If you’ve seen the movie Weekend at Bernie’s then you know what can happen during an attempt to make a cadaver appear alive. One cannot helpbut contemplate the possibility that thefilm’s producer may have gleaned the

idea from the Victorians. Whether you label it sentimental or macabre, a simple google search will fill your screen with images of deceased Victorians posed to create that very effect. Often the dearly departed would be photographed with the living.

 

7. If you’re into ceramic garden gnomes, terracotta turtles, or any sort of outdoor knickknacks that add flavour to your yard, you have got to read this!

No wealthy landowner was complete without his/her very own living Garden Hermit. What, pray tell, was a Garden Hermit and what need was there for one? The second question is easy, they served no function. They were unwashed and unkempt people who were paid to live on the property and be, well, hermits.

8. Beer! For breakfast lunch and dinner!  While alcoholism was a problem back then, just as it is today, the men and women of that time can be somewhat forgiven for their generous consumption of the beverage. With water and food supplies often contaminated, it was a way to avoid becoming sick. Though one must consider what the rate of liver cirrhosis was.

This list is but a minuscule window into the bizarre practices and beliefs of

those supposedly prim and proper ancestors of ours. As with many areas in life, things are often not what they appear!