I Found My Heart in West Virginia

Introducing......

Title: I Found My Heart In West Virginia

Authors: Chelsea Falin & Cory Hammond

Genre: New Age Contemporary Romance

Release Date: Late Fall/Early Winter 2013

Blurb:

Cheyenne, or Shy as she is better known, makes the huge decision to move her and her four young children to the mountains of West Virginia. Despite coming from a small town in west-central Florida, she had been living in upstate New York with her ex-husband...had been, those were the key words. After finding out her ex-husband was having an affair with a childless eighteen year old girl, Shy calls it quits. West Virginia had long ago found a special place in her heart. The mountains are beautiful, the people are friendly, and you can find a piece of the old life hidden out in the hollers. It doesn't hurt that Cheyenne's favorite cousin, Jace, and his family abide there either. Nor does the cheap property prices. Shy hopes she will find a new life for her and her children. She wants freedom, and a simpler way of life. What she doesn't expect to find is a rough-around-the-edges backwoods boy with plenty of troubles of his own to entrap her heart so quickly after the end of her marriage...or ever, come to think of it.

Excerpt:

Cheyenne/Shy's Point of View

Shaking her head, the judge looked up from her papers. “Mr. Carter, is this all of the paperwork you have for me?”

“Yes ma'am.” He answered. I wonder where he dug out those manners from because I certainly had never seen them.

“Mrs. Akers, you also?”

“Yes ma'am.” I answered.

She nodded her head. “Okay, this case is simple. I'm throwing out both of your claims and starting from scratch. “ Both of us cringed. Neither of us knew whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing and for who. “Here's the deal: I am extremely surprised that you are paying only $600 a month for the care of four children, Mr. Carter. This is absolutely unacceptable.”

“But, your honor...” He began to protest.

“No, hush. This is  ridiculous. Do you really think $400 a month would cover the expenses? No. Now, Mrs. Akers. Here is what I am going to tell you. I can grant you the $800 a month today, or you can go back and refile your claim without a set amount. Simply refile with all of this information and say that you want the claim disputed. You can get much, much more than what you are currently receiving.” My heart was thumping at what she was saying, but I couldn't help but wonder how much longer that would leave me in the hole, without any form of support besides the money I currently made. I voiced my question. The judge took a deep breath. “Well, that depends. I see you live in West Virginia now.  Since you're here in New York now, I suggest you go to the department of children and families and refile. It takes four to six weeks to process, and then they will set you a court date within four weeks of the time they decide to allow your case to go through. You may be without child support for two months, but I think it would be well worth it to you.”

“Your honor, if you don't mind me askin', how much money do you believe I could receive?”

She snorted. “I wouldn't be surprised if you got at least $500-$600 every two weeks, plus,of course, you'll get a lump back payment.”

“That's ridiculous!” David cried out. “Her and her kids aren't worth $600 every paycheck!”

David was going to curse his outburst, and while I felt so bad for my poor children, I enjoyed hearing what the judge's next words were. “Mr. Carter, it is people like you that make me sick to my stomach. These are not her children. She did not immaculately conceive them all by herself. You provided the sperm and I'm assuming not much else. If you hadn't dragged her to this court today, demanding you pay even less than the ridiculously low amount you already pay, she probably wouldn't have ever filed for more. I know her type, and she is going to do just fine for her kids all by herself. I hope she wrings you're sorry ass dry in court, and I pray I get the case so I can have the pleasure of helping her do it.”

“You can't talk to me like that!” David sputtered, his face turning red and the veins in his neck bulging.

“I just did. Case dismissed.” The judge, who was now my hero, banged her mallet and whisked herself out of the court. I couldn't help but smile as I made my way out of the court room. It had been a private hearing, so Jace was waiting just outside of the doors for me. Although there were chairs available for him to sit in, he had chosen to lean up against the wall.

“How'd it go?” He asked me anxiously as soon as I came out of the court room holding my little folder tight against my chest.

“Good, with a tiny bit of bad news.” I looked up and saw David storming towards us. “But I'll tell you all about it later.”

“You had better not take this thing back to the courts, do you hear me?” David sputtered. His face was still bright red. He wasn't taking this very well.

“No, sorry, I didn't hear you. I was thinking about going down to the department of children and families.” I said, careful not to raise my voice. I was going to rise above him and his petty yelling. I no longer disliked him...I loathed the very thought of him.

“You do and you'll regret it! Trust me one this one!” He threatened.

I was about to reply with a smart remark when Jace stepped up. “Why don't you just back off before I put you in the ground?” His voice was soft, but it was lined with steel. He meant what he said.

“You can't threaten me! I'll have you thrown in jail you backwards hillbilly!” David never did know when to keep his mouth shut.

Jace only laughed. “That's hypocritical,  ain't it fella? I seem to remember you doin' some threatenin' yourself just a second ago.”

“I...you...ugh!” David stuttered. He had always let his anger get the best of him, and his tongue couldn't keep up with his foul mind. He stormed off without a backwards glance, leaving his threats behind him. Truth be told, he was probably scared of my cousin. I know I would have been if I were in his shoes.

Jace and I looked at one other and we burst out laughing. David looked so funny fuming and fussing like a toddler, and I was ecstatic about the way things had gone today. “C'mon, let's go Jace.” I said.

About The Authors

Chelsea Falin is the independent author of twelve current titles. This will be her thirteenth title. Her previous works include the 'Growing Roots Series' and the 'Benson Family Chronicles.' She has wanted to be an author since a very young girl, and finally made that dream come true about four years ago. In her personal life, Chelsea is a wife of almost five years, the mother of a four year old daughter, and a freelance blog/article writer. Her hobbies and interests include: fishing, writing, reading, football, hiking, traveling, cooking and history.

Cory Hammond is currently working on her first independent title, but has co-written one previous book with Chelsea (Southern Jokes: Funny But True). This will be her second co-authoring pursuit. Cory is a recent high school graduate and will be starting college in the fall where she will be pursing her AA Degree. Her hobbies and interests include: writing, fishing (particularly cast netting), football, reading, music, and World War II history.

Chelsea Falin and Cory Hammond are sister-in-laws who first met over five years ago when Chelsea began seeing Cory's brother. The two have since become best friends and their similar personalities paired with their unique writing styles make all of their joint writing endeavors appear seamless.

Chelsea's Links

Facebook 

Twitter @CFalinHammond

Goodreads 

Blog 

Cory's Links

Facebook 

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Natural Recipes That Will Change Your Life

This has been one of many recipe books I have gone through so far and I could rate it as average comparatively and my feedback is a mixture of pros and cons of the book.

Recipe books are mostly for fun and to try something new and different. But as per the title in this book “Natural recipes that will change your life”, it adds some kind of seriousness to the book making it unique and stands above the ordinary cook books. However I did not find the book as professional and inspiring as I expected it to be. For one thing, the font style and the size were lacking the professionalism. True that it was easy to read and soothing for the eyes, but it would have been better if the recipes were somehow managed within 1-2 pages and followed a standard font style, size and a format.

According to my view, table of contents plays a major role in attracting the readers to read the book. That is even more important with e-books as the reader usually don’t get a chance to flip through any random page before the purchase. Also if we go with the famous saying “first impression is the best impression” table of contents is quite powerful to intrigue the readers. Unfortunately I don’t find that technique has been used in this book. I feel it would have been a great catalyst if the recipe names were also penned down as sub topics so that readers will be both curious to learn the new recipes and also would know what to expect from the book.

The content was great. The author has nicely presented many important facts in a well organized way. Yet again I felt inconvenient with the amount of facts written per page and it often gave me the feeling as if the simple facts were unnecessarily extended over many pages. It’s my habit to sometimes go back and re-read something which I came across little while ago in order to memorize. In this book I had to go back through several pages to find out the stuff other than doing a quick scan through 1-2 pages like how it happens with other books.

The theme of the book “Natural foods” is quite appropriate to the modern society. But in the same time, in internet we all come across hundreds of blog articles related to this field. It’s a plus point that all the important facts were found in this book in concise manner. However, being an avid reader especially on healthy diet and related topics I hardly found anything new and unique in this book.

As for a recipe book, recipes were too less and not even half of the book was of recipes. I loved the way how the recipes were written with step wise direction and notes. Explanations were quite practical and guidance was proper. But the recipes lacked one good feature, which is the mentioning of the level of expertise needed. The recipes would have looked perfect with the expertise level given first and also it might have been a nice way to categorize and order the recipes in the book with ascending pattern of the level.

The book starts with lengthy explanations, not that I’m complaining. All the topics and the chapters prior to the recipes were well written and quite insightful but comparatively the ending of the book is quite abrupt and unexpected.

Considering all plus and minus points I have mentioned above, I would rate the book 3 stars but would recommend it to anyone who is ready to switch into a healthy diet and is eager to learn how and why.

Pharma Sutra - The Art of Yoga

I feel myself lucky to come across this book. It’s the first book I read about Yoga and I’m happy that Pharma Sutra was that first book, as it really helped me gain lot of knowledge about the subject.

Yoga is something in which many people believe in and you may hear the word each and every day when you are among the crowd. For an ancient practice which is a popular and vast subject the author has done a great job in compressing the most appropriate part of it to this book.

The writing style was lucid had a smooth flow that I didn’t have to force myself to turn the next page.  The examples to explain the history, importance and the methods were really good and remarkable. I felt that the book is written in such a way that anybody from any education standard could read and understand. The moment I saw the table of contents I was impressed about the book. The topics were well chosen and chapters well planned and aligned to discuss the subject thoroughly. Psychologically it ensured me that the book is worth reading.

The slow and steady approach of the book to the main fact which is “yoga as medication for various diseases” is appreciative. The author has given a very informative introduction other than rushing to the main topic like we find in many other books nowadays. The first part of the book gives too many details to make the reader believe in the reality of yoga and its effect.  If anyone starts practicing yoga after reading this book would actually have proper understanding about what he/she is doing. 

However, partially I feel that “How to use the book” section would have been better to be presented a little earlier than it is now, as no matter how good the book is people who are not looking for what it contains could be notified about the content quite early. Even the people who have knowledge about yoga prior to reading the book and has chosen this as a guide for the specific ailments could simply jump to the appropriate topics than fooling around with the already known details in the introduction.

The minus point which I see in the book is lack of proper images. Images with real people’s posture provide good insight, but few more sketches for the same asana would have been a better add-on. Though I loved the feature of specific benefits and contradictions for each asana and amused with the great deal of details author has given, I strongly believe that the simple sketches would have been a better and much more effective explanation. This way the book has lost the practical touch of the subject.

It’s nice to go through the list of reference which confirms the fact to the reader that the content is true and no bluff is mixed in order to fill the pages.  If there’s no restriction due to copyright laws, a collection of the images at the end would have been better than the list of the links as provided. Also, I didn’t like the main title “Pharma Sutra” as it doesn’t quite define yoga and if not for the tag line to the main title I actually wouldn’t have find any connection with the book with yoga and feel that it would be the same scenario with most of the people who come across the book. (just my opinion) 

Being very generous in rating the books as always I’m tempted to give this 5 stars. Though I feel that lack of proper images and guidance would be quite a disappointment to the readers, 3 stars would be great injustice and under estimating the good work. So I would settle with 4 stars. All in all, the book is really awesome. It developed an interest in me about yoga and I’m certainly excited to learn more about the subject.

Gut Check - Non Fiction

As people nowadays are quite health conscious, the book Gut Check discuss a relevant topic which focus upon our digestive system. I find myself lucky to come across this book; it gave me a thorough understanding about the digestive system and made me aware of all the necessary facts.

The table of contents was very descriptive and appealing.  I’m sure any sensible reader would grab the book the moment they set their eyes on the first few pages. The starting of the book and all the content arrangement was done in an excellent way. No beating about the bush or blabbering. No advanced and complex technical writing. I felt as if I’m reading a story book because the details were presented in such simple manner. The flow of the facts is nice and smooth so it doesn’t overload your brain and make you go crazy. I can call it a leisure reading which would also change your life for better.

After reading the book anyone would feel good about choosing such to spend your valuable time and read. The topic is quite essential to every human and the knowledge presented is worth hundred times the dollars and time you going to spend for the book.

The writing style is very simple. A serious topic is discussed in a very soothing manner and I’m sure any person who could read English could easily understand the content. The appearance of the book is excellent from the front cover to the back with an eye friendly font, easy to follow format with bold text and sentences at appropriate places. The partition of the book followed by a series of well arranged sub topics is very impressive. The sub topics are catchy and direct and the content is very rich with details. The diagrams and the pictures add more value to it.

I rate it 5 stars. Not because I’m generous with the rating but I believe that the book really deserves all the credits. It’s a must read so I recommend to you all that this is a book which you should definitely have in your bookshelf.