Book Review & Giveaway: Lifting the Wheel of Karma

Katie January 13, 2012 8 Comments

Lifting the Wheel of Karma is a book about Joseph Connell, a high school student living in Montana.  He is quite an athlete – so tough in fact that he has to compete against men in his karate competitions rather than other karate students his own age.  Haunted by nightmares, he believes that one of the ways to make them go away is to focus his energy on his karate. He goes in to one of his matches undefeated, but ends up being beaten by a guy named Tom.

On the way home from the match he ends up injured in an alternation with a deer and becomes wheelchair bound having control of only one of his arms.  Joseph decides that he needs to go to the Himalayas in India in order to learn “mind over matter” and teach himself to walk again.  His brother brings him to India and leaves him there to get back to his own family.

Joseph stays there for 3 years, meets a girl that he really likes, but is forced to come back home to Montana when tragedy strikes his family.

This book was a quick and easy read but interesting enough to keep me wanting to read on and with enough plot twists that I never did figure out just what was coming next!   I have *3* paperback copies of this book to give away.  To enter, check out the details at the bottom of this post.

Lifting the Wheel of Karma Book Summary

Paul H. Magid’s Bio:

Price: $9.99Kindle buy link
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005TJ3I4C?tag=tributebooks-20

Contest Ends January 28, 2012 at 12:01am EST. There will be 3 winners.

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Win It! SEO Basics for Bloggers

Katie December 27, 2011 4 Comments

Sponsored by Tomoson.comEarlier today I posted my review of SEO Basics for Bloggers. Now you have the chance to win your own copy!  Contest ends at 12:01 AM on January 7th.

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Ultimate Recipes Review & Giveaway

Katie November 30, 2011 13 Comments

Sponsored by Tomoson.comIf you are in the market for a recipe e-book, look no further than the Ultimate Recipes e-book from http://www.cookingconnect.com/!  The book contains 5,000 recipes including 1000 Atkins Diet Recipes, 101 Camping & Outdoor Recipes, 101 Recipes for the Deep Fryer, 111 Egg Recipes, 120 Lip-Smacking Good Jam Recipes, 300 Chicken Recipes, 470 Crock Pot Recipes, 65 Tried and True Traditional Amish Recipes, Cat Heat Biscuits and Garlic Fried Chicken, Cheesecake Recipes, Chocolate Recipes for Chocolate Lovers and Many More.

When I first downloaded this e-book I was incredibly overwhelmed! There were 4 zip files to download and each one was FULL of recipes and photos and information.  I had no idea where to begin and I put off writing this review for a very, very long time because of this.  Eventually I said to myself “One Step at a Time” and sang some Jordin Sparks. (Whenever I am overwhelmed that song calms me down and tells me what to do to get through things – just take it one step at a time!)  I went through the PDFs one by one, zip by zip.

I’m not sure if the actual e-book comes as just one document, but what I was sent was a bunch of separate documents so it made things a bit harder for me to shuffle through – but I did it! 😉 There are a few recipes that I have no use for – specifically the crock pot recipes (I don’t have a crock pot) and camping.  But if you do have a crock pot and/or camp – there are 101 Camping & Outdoor recipes ranging from Hamburger Stew, to chicken, to fish, and lots more.  There are 470 crock pot recipes – lots of soups and puddings, some breads, dips, etc.  Coming in at 480 pages if you have a crock pot I think it would be difficult to NOT find something you’d like to make in here.

The first area I checked out for myself was the salads.  I’m trying to eat healthier – especially at work.  I am always looking for something that I can easily make in advance and bring to work for lunch so I don’t end up at Wendy’s or some other fast foot joint every afternoon.  I think I could try each and every salad included in this book and not have to worry about trying to same thing twice for many, many months.  The salads were broken down to Vegetables, Fruit, Fish, Meats, High Protein and Other.  Also included are recipes for several different kinds of dressings (my favorite!).  This ebook has definitely given me some ideas and I really need to start making an ingredient list…

Another area of the book that caught my eye was “gift jar” recipes.  These are always on lists for stocking stuffers, inexpensive gifts, what to get for people you don’t know well, etc.  All of these recipes sound delicious – lots of great cakes and cookies.  Some of which can even be cooked in their jars which is extra awesome. I’m not sure I have it together enough to makes some of these for this Christmas, but definitely next year I can see this happening!  Or maybe just during the year as well – as I’m always down for some cookies or cake. (Which is probably why I need to start eating healthier at lunch…)

The final section of the book I am going to focus on (If I kept going about all the sections of this book I would probably end up being here for a year – there is a TON of content) is PUDDINGS!  The fact that there is an entire PAGE for the table of contents – with 3 columns full of puddings is what intrigued me the most.  Potato pudding, Carrot pudding, Indian pudding, Honey Pudding… the list goes on and on (and on and on!)

One lucky ConcertKatie reader is going to receive the Ultimate Recipes Cookbook for themselves!

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment with a recipe you’d like to try (It doesn’t have to be something that I mentioned as being in the book – just something in general)

Optional Entries

Follow Concert Katie on Facebook
Follow Concert_Katie on Twitter 
Connect to Concert Katie with Google Friend Connect
Subscribe via Email to Concert Katie (3 entries)
Add our button to you blog and leave a link (4 entries)
Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with the link (5 entries)
Tweet once a day about the giveaway
(Include a link to the post and @Concert_Katie so I can see the tweets)

Contest ends December 14 at 11:59PM EST.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review & Giveaway: Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Katie November 25, 2011 28 Comments

I had mentioned this book on my blog before as one that I really wanted to read.  When I saw that Booksneeze was going to have it available, I waited up until 1am to make sure that I got it!  When the wrong book came in its place, I was pretty much devastated.  However, Booksneeze made it right and after a few extra days of waiting Heaven is Real arrived.

Heaven is Real tells “A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back”.  The book is about Colton Burpo, but is written by his father, Todd.  When Colton was 4, he was having bad stomach pains.  It was written off as the flu and a few days later he was feeling better and the family went on a trip.  While on the trip Colton got very, very ill and ended up spending some time in the hospital while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him.  He ended up going under surgery and while there – went to Heaven.

While driving past the hospital at a later date, his parents commented about his time there and Colton randomly mentions that the angels sang to him while he was there. (And that he asked them to sing We Will, We Will Rock You but they said no! haha)  Colton’s stories continue and he tells of his trip to Heaven.  Todd is a pastor, so he is rather well versed with the bible, but Colton, at only 5 years old at this point, isn’t.  He knows the basics that he was taught in Sunday School but his father says there is no way he could have previously known about what he is telling them he saw. (And most of what he says he saw his father can relate to bible passages telling the same)

The book was incredibly moving and while I read it all in essentially one sitting, I did have to put it down a few times because it was making me cry.  I’m not sure why, it isn’t exactly a sad story, but it was quite overwhelming at times.  This is a book I definitely recommend!

About the Book

Deluxe, keepsake edition of the best-selling book and true story of a young boy’s visit to heaven after life-saving surgery.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us.

Told by the father but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready there is a coming last battle.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

WIN IT!

One lucky Concert Katie reader will receive a copy of this book for their own collection!  Contest ends December 9 at 11:59PM EST.

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment with a reason why you’d like to read this book

Optional Entries

Follow @Concert_Katie on Twitter
‘Like’ Concert Katie on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/concertkatie)
Connect to Concert Katie on Google Friend Connect
Subscribe to Concert Katie via email (3 entries)
Add our button to your blog and leave a link (4 entries)
Blog about this giveaway linking back to this post and leave a link (5 entries)
Tweet once a day (you must be following @Concert_Katie for your tweet entries to count!)

Win It! 1 lucky winner will receive Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo from @Concert_Katie! Ends 12/9/11  http://tinyurl.com/7xaahaa

Book Review & Giveaway: Forever Taken

Katie November 5, 2011 10 Comments

Sponsored by Tomoson.com

The book Forever Taken by Danyale Nees is about a girl named Veronica, though she goes by the nickname “Roni”.  The book starts out with her and her friend Missy who live in North Carolina, but Roni ends up heading out to California to meet up with a guy she had met and follow her dreams.  While there she meets another guy and then has to decide which guy she wants to be with!

The story is very uniquely written, in that the dialogue does not have the typical quotes and items like Roni said to Mark, etc.  When there is dialogue between the characters, it is written out almost like a chat room transcript with the characters name and then the colon with what they said following.  I am not used to this in the books I usually read.  Other parts of the dialogue are written more typically, however there are no quotation marks used.

To be honest, it was a bit distracting to have the dialogue written in such a way.  The book reads more like an early draft than a finished product, but if you ignore these things the story itself is decent.

The book is 190 pages and 29 chapters and should be able to easily be read in a day over a lazy weekend.

About the Book

Embark on an adventure with Veronica. She is raised in a small town in North Carolina. Explore with her to California, to follow her dreams in acting and romance.

She will embark on a journey into learning love, passion, heartbreak, and how life really works. She will have to choose between a guy who she thinks is her prince charming and one who is not.

Who will Veronica choose? What’s her destined path? Will she have realized the right guy for her before its too late, or will his heart be closed forever.

About the Author: Danyale Nees

I have been a writer as far back as in elementary school. I always knew it was something I wanted to do.  I’m from a small town of Clinton, North Carolina.  My biggest inspiration has always been my mother. Family means the world to me and a big part of my life. I have been blessed with a great husband of 11 years now, and a wonderful mother who always taught me to never give up on my dreams.  I’m a major animal lover and always trying to help any way I can to raise awareness in animal rights.  I feel I’m in a great place in my life to share my thoughts and feelings through my books.

WIN IT!

One lucky Concert Katie reader will win an ebook copy of Forever Taken! Contest ends 11:59 pm 11/19/11.  Please be sure to leave your email address when commenting so that I can contact the winner!  The winner will have 48 hours to reply to the winning email or they will forfeit their prize.  Good luck!

Mandatory Entry

Visit Danyale’s blogspot and leave a comment with one thing that you learned

Optional Entries
(1 entry each unless otherwise noted)

Like Danyale on Facebook

Like Concert Katie on Facebook

Follow Danyale on Twitter

Follow Concert Katie on Twitter

Tweet about the Giveaway:

Win It! A copy of Forever Taken by @DanyaleNees from @Concert_Katie! Ends 11/19/11 http://tinyurl.com/3opey48

(This can be tweeted once per day but you MUST be following Concert_Katie and DanyaleNees for it to count!)

Follow Concert Katie on Google Friend Connect

Follow Danyale on Google Friend Connect

Subscribe to Concert Katie’s email list (3 entries)

Add our button to your blog (4 entries, leave a link)

Blog about this giveaway (5 entries, leave a link)

If you’re not feeling lucky, you can purchase the book on Amazon.com

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review & Giveaway: Best Left Buried

Katie October 30, 2011 2 Comments

Sponsored by Tomoson.com

Arliss Pardot was born in a small town in North Carolina. When she was 10, social services took her away when they found her living in a house with a corpse (believed to be her mother’s lover), caged birds and her mother who has gone crazy and was taken away to a mental institution.   Arliss was adopted and doesn’t remember anything from her early life – except that she is afraid of birds.

Now it is 20 years later and Arliss finds out about the death of her birth mother.  She goes back to her birthplace to find out what happened to her mother and to make proper arrangements for her burial.  While there she realizes that she and her mother are a bit of a legend in her small time and Arliss is treated almost like a celebrity. She meets up with Merle who tells her about what happened to her and her family and the legend surrounding them.  Legend has it that a demon will be coming back and needs a host and that it will most likely be looking for Arliss’ love, Nick.

Arliss had told Nick to stay in New York City and Nick did not listen.  But what will happen with the demon? Find out in Best Left Buried!

About the Book

Arliss Pardot was found as a child in a house with a corpse and hundreds of caged birds. She was adopted and forgot everything. Now, the death of her birth mother in a mental institution in North Carolina brings her back to a town full of dark, forgotten secrets – secrets which are Best left Buried.

About the Author

Cindy Hutchins was raised in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina in the town of Morganton.  She grew up surrounded by the oral tradition of the South and the supernatural. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her son, Gabriel and three very spoiled animals.

If you are looking to purchase this book, the ISBN is 9781618423634 and it will be sold on online retailers such as Amazon.com soon! If you can’t wait for its official release, we here at Concert Katie will be giving away a copy to one lucky reader!

Visit the Best Left Buried official site: http://triangeluspress.tripod.com/index.html

Check out Cindy on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ebookhorrorwriter

Buy the Amazon Kindle Version of Best Left Buried

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.