Book Review of When Someone You Love Has a Chronic Illness

Book Review of When Someone You Love Has a Chronic Illness

 Sponsored by Nurture Your Books

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

When Someone You Love Has a Chronic Illness: 

Hope and Help for Those Providing Support

• Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc. (February 14, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599559390

Blurb : 

Dr. Tamara Greenberg offers hope and practical advice to those impacted by a loved one’s chronic illness. Providing easy-to-understand explanations for complicated feelings and behaviors, this book will help you not just cope, but thrive in your day-to-day life. Learn the important tools you need to help lighten the burden we all feel when someone we love is ill.

About the Author:

Tamara McClintock Greenberg, PsyD, MS is a licensed clinical psychologist (PSY16206) in San Francisco.
As an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, Tamara's writing has focused on health psychology, psychoanalytic psychology, and coping with illness. She supervises and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area on topics such as the culture of Western Medicine, psychotherapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and medical consultation. She is the author of The Psychological Impact of Acute and Chronic Illness: A Practical Guide for Primary Care Physicians (Springer 2007) and was a contributor to the Praeger Publication, Whole Person Healthcare (2007). More recent books include Psychodynamic Perspectives on Aging and Illness (Springer 2009) and When Someone You Love Has a Chronic Illness (Cedar Fort, 2012). Her website is tamara-greenberg.com

Author Guest Post:

Are there any books that have played a major role in influencing your life and/or writing?

I wish I could say that there was one book that has shaped my life and writing.  Rather, I feel like I am a product of everything that I have read.  I am definitely moved by novels and so the authors who have influenced me most are those who write outside of my field. Don’t get me wrong; there are many psychologists and psychoanalysts who have influenced my thinking.  It is just that novelists have always captured my attention more than anyone in my field. As clinicians, we are limited in what we can actually say about our work.  Our need to protect patients is the number one priority.  As such, what is presented in professional articles has to be disguised.  Novelists do not need to have the same boundaries, as characters are made up.  Therefore, I think fiction offers some of the best and most accurate portraits of character and dysfunction.  Because of this safety, fictional novels are something we can all identify with, and in a way that is not too threatening. 

I am in love with literary fiction and the protection it offers from the reality of patient lives. Yet, good fiction captures realities that can never be produced in nonfiction writing. For me, the best fiction writers capture psychological concepts in a way that most psychological texts fail to do.  Carol Shields in The Stone Diaries describes repression in a way that is both chilling and poignant.  I find Zadie Smith to be brilliant in everything she writes, but in On Beauty she captures some painful realities about middle age, but also so much more about race and class.  And then there is Jonathan Frazen, who really understands family dysfunction in all of its strange complexities.  Freedom really captured for me important realities about those growing up in the Midwest, and reminded me of some of my best friends from high school. Finally, I don’t know much about Kevin Wilson, but The Family Fang is one of the best books I have read all year.  It is a great study in the narcissism of parents, and it helped me to understand the perverse relationship some people have with their children—some parents really expect kids to perform for them all of the time. 

Although I have learned a lot from psychological books and articles, it really is literary fiction that keeps me inspired.  Good novelists can do things that we psychologists cannot do in terms of describing human characters. 

Book Review:

            This book contains a lot of great information that anyone can use to help them find ways to cope with the stress of having a loved one who is suffering from a chronic or terminal disease.  It is filled with tips on everything  from how to handle talking to friend or taking care of yourself if you are a care-giver for someone who has a chronic illness.

            As someone who has a chronic illness, I found the information to be accurate and helpful in knowing what my friends and family are going through.  As a caregiver, it is a good reminder that I have to take care of myself to be any good for my family members.

            I was very impressed with the knowledge and accuracy of the information.  The book was straight forward and had a clean approach.  However, as with all self-help type books it could be dry and very clinical in approach.  Even so I will be recommending to all my friends and family.  I give this book a solid 5 out of 5 clouds.

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

Giveaway and Book Review of Whispers in the Woods

Giveaway and Book Review of Whispers in the Woods

Sponsored by Virtual Book Tours

Welcome to Books, Books, and More Books.  I am pleased to share my review of this book with you.  Thank you for visiting and please come again.

T.J. Will be giving away 2 signed paperbacks of Whispers in the Woods, along with three $5 Amazon Gift Cards during her tour.

Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher:  Independently published
Release Date:  May 21, 2012

Blurb : 

Vol. I
When Evie Parker meets Lucas Spencer she begins to feel hope again. Lately she's been going through life in a fog and Lucas is all about teaching her how to have fun again. For the first time since the accident she knows what it means to be happy.

So who cares if Lucas is a little odd. It isn't that strange that she's never met his parents, or that teachers never seem to notice when he's late for class. Evie tries not to care, but on top of all his peculiar behavior she's been feeling kind of sick lately-- ever since she met Lucas actually.

When Lucas decides it is time to come clean with all his secrets Evie has to make some hard decisions.

Vol. II
All Evie wants is a little bit of normal in her life-- is that really too much to ask?
Lucas isn't normal, but he makes her happy. That should count for something. Evie thinks she can find a balance that will let her be normal and also be with him.

Of course she hadn't counted on adding his family into the mix, or his ex-girlfriend.

Life with an elf is never boring.

Vol III
Lucas and Evie were finally at a place where Evie was comfortable with her mix of normal human teenager and fantastical elf boyfriend. Then she went and got herself crushed by a tree.

Evie wakes up with a whole lot of extra issues to deal with. Not the least of which is a trip inside the Veil to see Lucas's home. She never would have agreed to go if she'd known she was going to have her own secret to hide.

About the Author:

When TJ isn't reading or writing (which is almost never), she is enjoying a blissfully boring life with her family in Maryland.  Her two greatest wishes are to serve on a Starfleet Starship or to be invited to join the Justice League.  Sure her chances are slim, but she's a big believer in dreaming big. 

A hopeless romantic to her very core, TJ's books explore every corner of the wobbly-kneed-world of romance novels.  She has a particular penchant for Young Adult themes.  Dell's debut novel 'Her Best Friend's Brother' is enjoying its tenth month as an Amazon best seller, and her popular Elfkin Series is hot on its heels.

For more information follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/dell.tj

Contacts:

Email: tjdellbooks@gmail.com

 

Additional Tour Dates and Sites:

September 13 - Book Feature & Excerpt at YA Reads
September 15 - Book Feature & Excerpt at Cafe' Creations
September 17 - Interviewed at Reviews & Interviews
September 19 - Review & Guest Blogging at A Book Lover's Library
September 21 - Interviewed at MK McClintock's Blog
September 24 - Guest Blogging at Margaret West's Blog
September 26 - Interviewed at The Bunny's Review
September 28 - Interview at A Word Fitly Spoken
October 1 - Guest Blogging at My World
October 3 - Reviewed at Whoopeeyoo
October 5 - Review & Interview at My Reading Addiction
October 9 - Review & Interview at Reading, Writing, and More
October 11 - Review & Guest Blogging at Indie Writer's Review
October 16 - Review & Character Interview at Black Hippie Chick's Take On Books & The World
October 18 - Reviewed at Words I Write Crazy

Excerpt:

*****

“Is something wrong with your pizza?”  Lucas paused between giant bites of his dinner.  Two huge slices piled high with every topping on the menu were still waiting on his plate.  He’d already polished off one.

“No.  I’m just letting it cool off.  I prefer to be able to taste my food.”   My own single slice of pepperoni pizza was still piping hot and therefore untouched in front of me.

Lucas held one of his hands over my food, gauging the temperature.  “It should be cool enough.”

As always, he was right.  A moment before steam had been drifting off my plate, and now it was perfectly cooled:  still warm enough to taste good, but nowhere near hot enough to burn my taste buds off.  All thoughts of how wrong that was got pushed to the back of my mind—along with all other similar thoughts I’d been ignoring for the past forty-eight hours.  That area of my mind was getting mighty crowded lately.

“Eat, Evie.  You’re making me self-conscious.”  Lucas’s voice pulled me back to the conversation.  He was grinning around a big mouthful of his third slice.

“I really don’t think that’s possible.  Besides, food clearly doesn’t affect your body the way it does a normal person.”

His jaw hung open.  The way he was staring at me—well, I may as well have smacked him.  “What do you mean?”

I blushed.  Probably I should have kept that to myself.  “Nothing.  I just… well, look at you. I’ve watched you consume a gazillion calories over the last two days and you still look… well, the way you look.”

“I think there is a compliment in there somewhere.”  A grin broke out on his face.

“Umm… yeah.  I guess.”  Man, that was embarrassing! 

Lucas got up from his chair and settled himself next to me in the booth.  “You don’t think I’m normal?”  His whisper was low and husky, and his breath tickled against my ear.

“Are you?”  Could he hear my heart?  Could everyone in the building hear it?  It was certainly beating loud enough.

“If I’m not normal, does that bother you?  Would it matter?  Would you still have agreed to come here with me?”

“Probably.”  My voice was squeaking.

“Which one, Evie?”  He lifted his hands to frame my face.  His beautiful soft eyes bore into mine as though this was the most important conversation he’d ever had.

“Probably I would still have come to dinner with you.” 

Relief flashed in his eyes—and something else, too.  At the time I couldn’t recognize it for what it was: guilt.  “I’m not sure you know what you’re saying, but I’ll take it anyway.” 

He tasted like pizza.  That was the first thought to register in my brain after his lips touched mine.  It was also the last thought.    The entire restaurant melted away.  In a corner to our left a kid was screaming for more French fries.  Two tables to our right a group of kids argued as they counted their pocket change on the tabletop.  All around us arcade games buzzed and beeped while children cheered.  I heard none of it.

I know what you’re thinking.  And yes, we were in a family restaurant surrounded by children.  But I swear it wasn’t like that; not on the outside anyway.  His kiss was soft and sweet.  His hands never left my face.  The amazing, earth-shattering, life-defining moment was happening on the inside.  Something deep inside me snapped.  Not snapped apart.  God knows I’d been broken into enough pieces recently.  It was more like snapping together.  It felt like finding last piece of sky in a big jigsaw puzzle.  I could feel him.  Just like the day before, only times a thousand.

“Oh wow.”  I grinned when we pulled away.

“Uh-oh,” he said at the very same moment.

*****

*****

“I didn’t go anywhere, Evie.  Even if I had—you told me to go.  Did you think I was kicking back and relaxing?  I couldn’t breathe without you.  Every day I had to talk myself out of going to your Gram’s house and dragging you home with me.  Every day I waited for you to forgive me—and you never did.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You are and you aren’t, Evie.  You aren’t really here with me.  It’s like…”  His sentence fell off and he flung his arms into the air, cursing a blue streak.  “It’s like you are waiting until you are strong enough to go, and I am stuck waiting for a world of pain to come crashing down around me.”

“Are we still talking about Jason?  I told you, nothing happened.  I don’t want anyone else.”

“But you don’t want me?”  Lucas pulled nervously on his hair pulled back at the nape of his neck.  “I have apologized and I think you know I wouldn’t have hurt you on purpose.  I never would have forced the bonding on you even if I’d known it was possible, but I am not really sorry that it’s there.  You’re it for me, Evie.  Even if I have to live with that world of pain I think I would prefer the pain to any situation where you weren’t a part of me.  I know I said I wouldn’t push and I meant it, but I’m struggling here, Evie.”

“Did you really say you couldn’t breathe?”  I took a few steps towards him.  He made it sound so much simpler than the stupid voices in my head ever did.

“It was a metaphor, but yeah, that’s what I said.  I used to sit around planning out long elaborate speeches that would convince you to forgive me.  I was so afraid that you’d never speak to me again.”

“I should have told you.”

“What?  You should have told me what?”  He winced and flattened himself against the wall, gaining an extra inch and half between our bodies. 

I could see the worry in his face.  Guilt stampeded through me.  I hated that he was standing there worrying, that he’d probably been doing a lot of worrying while I was stalling.  He was right.  I was with him without actually being with him.  I should have told him.

“I forgave you.”

*****

Book Review:

 

            Poor Evie has had a rough year.  First her parents die in a car crash that leaves her with a jagged scar across her neck, then she has to move in with her grandmother who isn’t exactly nice… in fact she’s downright surly.  She moves from Chicago to this small town and then she finally has a bit of good luck when she makes a friend and meets this boy.

            Now things start to get a little strange… and that’s all you are getting from me.  You will have to get the rest from the book.  The books weave a wonderful tale of  romance, fantasy, and Para norms.  Definitely worth reading.

            I give this tale a 4 out of 5 clouds.   

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

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