Dani: Throwaway Child

Dani: Throwaway Child:

The True Story of Dani's Journey from Abuse to Freedom

Warning: This book is intended for an Adult Audience

Powerful book ~ Review by Artist

This was a very serious topic for me. I cried my way through a lot of it. Feeling so helpless and being a child and Dani being such a brave strong little girl. This book was very emotional for me, if you are a sensitive person be forewarned. Once you start reading you have to finish the story to find out what happens to Dani. I am very glad that Dani is doing well now but this saga of her life is heart wrenching. I like how this book gives you perspective on how to discuss and talk to people who might have been in similar situations from a religious perspective.

The information in this book is powerful and can be very helpful to someone who has been in an abusive situation. This is the kind of book you have trouble putting down and going to bed because you want to know what happens and you have to keep reading to find out. After reading some before bed I would be thinking about what I read and half the time not get enough sleep because I would be pondering possible outcomes.

The face that there are such evil people around us that could be like this evolved in our every day lives scares me. This book brings awareness to the situation and I'm thankful for that and I am more likely to notice any signs of possible abuse now.

She found someone who could help her unlock the mystery behind the nightmares #abuse  #awareness

Book Description:

Dani was experiencing horrible nightmares and didn't know what they meant. Almost at the point of giving up she turned to her minister and found someone who could help her unlock the mystery behind the nightmares. Together they piece together Dani's hidden past until they come to one horrible realization . . . she was still in danger.

Dani: Throwaway Child:

The True Story of Dani's Journey from Abuse to Freedom

Could you be a mad traveller?

"My husband recommended THE RED QUEST because he knows that I am fascinated with Soviet history. Great Job Jason! This is a very smart book. I love the way his record blends in interesting historical facts, pictures, and unique first hand accounts of the marvelous places he visited. Many times I found myself laughing: especially about the story where the builders of the church spire smashed a glass so that each shard would represent how many years the building would last, but they weren't happy when it only broke into two! Of course this part of the world is also peppered with oppression and violence which date back hundreds of years. Jason Smart's THE RED QUEST does a 10/10 job at capturing his travels with wit, humor, intelligence and facts! Please travel more so we can read another one! MUST READ!" ~ Review by Marlene - Highly Recommended

Blurb about book! (by Jason Smart)

The Red Quest is the true story of one man's mission to visit every country of the former Soviet Union.

Along the way the author:

· samples fermented mare's milk in Kazakhstan
· gets chased by hounds in Kiev
· is detained by the police in Kyrgyzstan
· travels through a snow blizzard between Armenia and Georgia
· and gets mugged by a pensioner in Tajikistan

Oh, and he also takes a side trip to a genuine breakaway state where he is almost beaten up in a border hut. All in the name of The Red Quest!

Join Jason Smart as he travels along the Red Quest through Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Moldova. Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Poland, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and East Germany!

The Red Quest:Travels through 22 Former Soviet Republics

is available on Amazon!

US     UK     Canada

Meet The Author!

In real life I'm a 41-year-old teacher. But in my spare time I am a mad traveller. I've always been intrigued by the countries of the former Soviet Union and starting with a wintry trip to Riga, Latvia, I decided to visit as many as I could. Little did I realise that this quest would see my traversing half the planet and spending nearly all my cash reserves.

…read more on Jason Smart’s website

 

 

Excerpt – Prologue - . (Kindle Locations 59-74)

“Zis your first time in Russia?” asked the woman behind border control at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. She seemed grimly official and looked like she had not smiled since 1989. I nodded and passed my passport through the narrow gap. The thin-lipped security officer took it without comment, scrutinising my visa and immigration card as if expecting to find microfilm. Eventually she looked up and studied my face. I kept it as neutral as possible. Looking cheerful was not the correct protocol at passport control in Russia - it was a sign of something to hide.

“I vill ask again. Is zis first time in Russia?”

Under the woman's steely gaze I cracked. My mouth formed into a nervous smile. “Yes… and it's hot.”

I was referring to the heat wave. It was thirty-nine degrees Celsius in the shade. Reports of drunken vagabonds cooling themselves in the city’s fountains were beginning to hit the British press because some had drowned.

The customs official didn't understand. Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “Hot? What you mean... hot…?”

Around me, my fellow passengers averted their eyes. Swallowing hard, I gripped the metal bar in front of me to steady myself. “The weather is hot...” I stammered. “Moscow is hot.”

Time stood still. The woman stared without blinking. Finally she spoke. “Yes, I think I see... Moscow is hot.” She stamped my passport and ushered me through. I had infiltrated Russia, but it had been a close shave.

The Red Quest:Travels through 22 Former Soviet Republics

is available on Amazon!

US     UK     Canada

28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Injustice, and Tragedy

When I came across 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy and Hope  , I also discovered this TedX Talk (July 20th, 2013) with the author, Michael Bryant.

The theme was Redefining Success and Failure. Bryant states, "I thought I could run the world. I thought I could control everything that happens to me and I learned, of course, that it's not that way."

“A moving description of a painful yet wholesome path from hubris to humility.” says Toronto Star. 

                                   AND... Globe & Mail below: (Review page here)

“The story that fate handed [the author, Michael Bryant] on an unsavoury platter is not merely the stuff of fiction, it is the stuff of the greatest moral dramas in the literary canon. … By chastening him so thoroughly, by forcing him to bare his soul so openly, his angels have transformed him from a callow opportunist into one of Canada’s most compelling political figures. And a pretty good writer to boot.”

I love excerpts and I thought the Prologue was a great introduction to this true story....

PROLOGUE - Top Down

At dusk on the night that everything changed, my life was almost embarrassingly triumphant. I had an impressive new job. I had two glorious children. I was celebrating the 12th anniversary of the marriage that produced them. My parents and siblings were alive and well. At age 43, my future was featured favourably and often in glossy media.

Any day now , Hello! magazine was due to run its series on the perfect couple with the perfect kids, the perfect home, the perfect careers: he a political force shrewdly biding time, building connections and influence away from elected office; she an entertainment lawyer to the stars; the children enrolled and thriving in French immersion at Toronto’s toniest public school.

Fast forward, however, and you might think I’d become Job’s apprentice.

On August 31, 2009, on a strip of Toronto known as the Mink Mile— the ritziest stretch of high-end retail shops in Canada— I was involved in the death of a man. Later, I was charged with killing him.

In 2010, those charges were dropped and the legal ordeal ended. But so did my marriage. In 2011, my younger brother died suddenly in his thirties of a rare heart condition. We were holding hands when he passed away.

Until the night that everything changed, I was one of fortune’s favoured sons, and the inside of a jail cell seemed as unlikely a destination for me as the far side of the moon. Until then, by almost any measure, I was on a roll. Everything I’d ever sought out, ever dreamed of, ever imagined had become true in my life.

Bryant, Michael. 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy and Hope (Kindle Locations 86-99). Penguin Group (Canada). Kindle Edition.

*****

"I have read a lot of memoirs, from a lot of clean and sober addicts. This shows a perspective and insight that is uncommon. A gripping, gripping read. Anyone can identify with being "falsely accused" of something, legally or otherwise. Michael Bryant doesn't tell his story alone, he tells the story of his families hardship from being part of a front-page-story, the tragic life and loss of Darcy Sheppard and the dysfunction of a legal, mental health and criminal justice system from a rare birds-eye-view." ~ Review by Joe on goodreads.com

See purchase links for 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy and Hope

How much can a woman ever really know her husband?

I shall not tell you anything about Sarah Becks because this book is based on a true story. I shall warn you about one thing though. You will be sucked in when you read the prologue. 

Review by R. Brown - What a Read! 

This was a moving story, which surprised me, shocked me and then warmed me. Despite being based on a true story, it was a novel that fully absorbed my curiosity, I had to read more. It did not disappoint. I wanted it to continue.

***** 

Sexy excerpt from Chapter One -  (Kindle Locations 215-225)

Real life, I had unfortunately discovered, was not like the movies. There had been no gorgeous hunk to fall in love with at first sight, nor had there been any heart pounding yearning and no stomach wrenching love sickness. A Brad Pitt hunk had not come knocking on my door and swept me off my feet. I was still waiting for my knight in shining armour and living a happy ever after ending. But in reality I knew he did not exist; he was an effigy that we women had been fooled into believing in and in my experience he was nothing but a myth.

I had recently met someone slightly different; we'd bumped into each other a couple of months ago. We'd talked, danced and even kissed but he was always cool, almost stand-offish. I knew he fancied me; he told me so and it was a mutual thing. So why was he playing hard to get? Maybe it was the divorced with two kids thing with this man? Or was he a stereotypical Mr. Gorgeous and characteristically arrogant? I didn't know and after meeting up on several occasions, I was past caring. I hadn't had sex for over a year and I wanted him. So rather than play games and waste time deciding if he was right or wrong for me, I was just going to have him. A one night stand, its 1993 and nearly everyone I knew had them. Me? Never, but tonight I was going to. Tonight I would settle for just sex.

*****

Excellent description of A Naive Heart ~ 

How much can a woman ever really know her husband? Can a man really hide his true-self from the woman who loves him?

'One woman's story proves that a man can.'

Sarah’s husband John, a seemingly caring, loving and considerate partner, was such a man. Sarah was to discover their relationship was a façade as slowly over the years John began to reveal his true identity. He was a man unable to control his dark secret desires. Desires which he kept hidden so well at first but which ultimately consumed him leading to a marriage rocked by betrayal and deception. But what were the secret desires that drove him to lie and to conceal the real him from Sarah? 

‘Based on a True Story, ' A Naive Heart portrays a love sadly gone wrong and a marriage full of pretense, secrecy and shocking revelations. It will strike a chord with any woman who has wondered if they 'ever truly know their partner.’

Review by Ron - I loved it

I couldn't put this book down! I had to keep reading to discover what would happen next. Shocking and moving, it made me laugh and cry. I loved it. Well worth reading I would recommend it to all women.

 A Naive Heart is available on Amazon!