Memoir – Page 5 – Book Reader Magazine

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The Grunts of Wrath

About The Grunts of Wrath:

Combat diaries from elite operators and commanding officers dominate the space. But what happens when regulars face the fire?

Ronny Bruce is a renaissance man: philosopher, drifter, Gen X rock ‘n’ roller, and gentleman. At thirty-two, divorced and burnt-out with the burbs, Ronny bails on his teaching career and seeks army infantry. It’s no joke when boot camp is mandatory since his marine corps’ service ended ten years beforehand. Assigned to Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Ronny’s platoon hunts an Afghan foe who’s never surrendered. Half collapse from wounds.

Ronny’s decade-long postwar journey examines victory and failure. Realities include grieving over friends’ deaths and processing crimes or addictions of old battle buddies. Six men expire before thirty-five as a result of four suicides, one unexplained death, and murder. Labels for the living include felon, vagrant, drunk, addict, depressed, and suicidal. Ronny checks some boxes. Graduate, businessman, engineer, teacher, accountant, and rich describes other paths. Ronny checks some of those too.

War through the eyes of this offbeat ATLien provides explosive payoffs that get smothered by each turning page – answering an age-old question: what drives warriors over the edge?

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Learning How to Fly by Britt Lind

Learning How to Fly by Britt Lind

From the time she was three years old living in Norway, Britt loved animals and surrounded herself with them. When she moved with her family to America, she discovered she also loved performing. But she had parents who considered all of that a sin. Even cheerleading was a big no-no, but somehow Britt managed to overcome their objections.

After Clint Eastwood cast her in Play Misty for Me while living in Carmel, she moved to L.A. and quickly was able to obtain work. Featured roles led to co-starring roles, which led to guest-starring roles. She married a producer, had a beautiful baby girl and was working as an actress. She had it all. Then tragedy struck and she lost everything. Acting work became hard to find, and life became a matter of survival.

After a daring move to New York, she found herself singing in Carnegie Hall with a gospel group and working in a musical. But still, she felt she had not lived up to her expectations, and she became overwhelmed with hopelessness. But a God-given epiphany set her back on track, and she realized she had a very good reason to go on.

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My Demon, My Jesus: An Extraordinary, True Story of Surviving Suicide, Defeating Depression and Demonic Oppression, and Discovering Real Joy by Blue Tapp

My Demon, My Jesus: An Extraordinary, True Story of Surviving Suicide, Defeating Depression and Demonic Oppression, and Discovering Real Joy by Blue Tapp

A near-death experience, a botched suicide that worked… then didn’t.

God had another plan.

“My Demon, My Jesus” is a Christian memoir about the author’s struggle with suicidal depression and how she conquered her demons.

At 30 years old, Blue Tapp attempted suicide by swallowing a handful of sleeping pills. Her spirit left her body before she was brought back to life in the hospital. Blue is alive today because God miraculously saved her life. Four angels appeared and helped her call for help before she died.

However Blue’s battle with depression was far from over. She spent the next three years addicted to prescription medication under the care of a psychiatrist. But pills cannot cure depression.

Today Blue is completely free of depression and medication. She has learned the keys to living an amazing life of joy and victory. ”My Demon, My Jesus” describes her healing process through meditative prayer. Others who suffer from depression can follow these same steps to reach true lasting healing.

Blue’s healing was miraculous. But it was not instantaneous. It was a process of learning how to think in a healthy way, how to shift thought patterns and spirit life from defeat to victory. Blue’s journey will help others climb their way out of the trap of poisonous thought patterns and prescribed drug addictions. There are so many people fighting this battle…

Blue’s story took another extraordinary twist in 2019. She began experiencing astonishing visions where her soul was taken to heaven to pray for the world with millions of other saints. Today the visions continue weekly with messages from heaven. God wants us to know that He loves and cares deeply about each one of us. He wants us to know Him intimately. All believers are being called to join with the saints in praying for our world, for a great awakening that will draw multitudes of people to the heart of God.

One of God’s charges was to write everything down, every vision in detail. As she did this, a connection became apparent between the visions and her own life journey, from her early experiences of demonic oppression and suicidal depression to eventual miraculous healing. The visions about God’s love were a message of hope to everyone battling depression.

So she’s told it all… from a demonically oppressed disturbed child who also fell in love with Jesus and prayed to become a Christian at six years old…to a suicidally depressed young adult who overdosed on sleeping pills and was brought back from death in the hospital…to years addicted to prescription drugs…to miraculous healing, victorious life, and divine visions. Don’t miss this incredible true story!

Only $0.99 December 1-7, 2022

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Secrets of a Nun: My Own Story by Elizabeth Upton

About Secrets of a Nun: My Own Story by Elizabeth Upton:

Awarded a 5-Star 2022 Editorial Book Review by Reader’s Favorite!

Secrets of a Nun is a revealing, uncompromisingly honest, and deeply moving look into one woman’s soul.

At fifteen, Elizabeth, a talented athlete, gives up her dreams of competing in the Olympics to become a nun. Separating from her mother and twin sister, she leaves her friends and familiar world behind to pursue a saintly life. But she finds herself unprepared for what lies ahead. While her cloistered life commences as a profound spiritual and emotional journey, personal disenchantment takes root and slowly grows over the next twenty years. Elizabeth recoils against the restrictive atmosphere of convent life. She struggles with conflicting emotions until a forbidden love affair forces her to come to grips with her needs as a woman.

Over the course of striving to find her authentic self, she ultimately feels compelled to leave the Order. A true story inspires this fascinating account of courage and passion. It will shock you and bring a smile to your face as you follow the course of a young woman’s obsession to become a spiritual seeker—an obsession that, over time, transforms into a deeply felt desire for personal liberation.

(E-book on sale $1.99 until Jan. 1st, 2023)

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Standing in a Field With Horses

About Standing in a Field With Horses:

If you’re not “boss mare” material, can you still work with horses? This was the question Maeve faced each time she interacted with a horse. If it wasn’t in her nature to dominate this animal, could she be around them and still stay true to herself? The equestrian world shouted in unison, “Get after him! Tell him who’s boss!” Yet Maeve couldn’t. When she did, it grated against her soul. Could she successfully navigate a life with equines if her leadership looked different?

In this moving memoir, Maeve Birch explores the dynamics between traditional horse handling and her communications with horses, which often didn’t align with what she was taught. In the stories shared, human issues such as codependency, lack of boundaries, impatience, violence, and fear crop up again and again, shaping numerous horse and human relationships. Standing in a Field With Horses traces the psychology, spirituality, and social dynamics of a woman trapped between obedience and self-expression along with the horses. As the practice of horse care and behavior study evolves, so too do the humans who cherish their hooved companions. They are inescapably linked together. The horses have a lot to say, if we are still enough to perceive their whispers through the demands of our human psyche. A new way of being with horses is on the horizon. Come, stand in a field and listen closely… You may hear more than you expect.

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couch

About couch:

“couch” is a travelogue of one hundred stories about people from Couchsurfing – a global community of travelers, facilitating stays with locals or opening your home to visitors.

The book captures the author’s backpacking trips from 2014 to 2022 in different countries, such as the U.S., India, Thailand, Gulf Countries, and various parts of Europe, from Lisbon to Saratov. About a third of the stories in the book recount how the author himself hosted travelers, both in Penza – his native Russian province – and in Berlin, a city in which the author found a sense of home.

The focus of the book is on people and their cultural diversity. Ultimately, the reader will learn from this book not only how travelers interact with their hosts and how both hosting and surfing work – but also the endless permutations, from camaraderie to conflict.

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Who Says You Can’t Go Home by B. Loren

Who Says You Can’t Go Home by B. Loren

Being an outsider is tough.
Being an outsider in your own home and not knowing why is soul-crushing.
It is isolating, painful, and confusing. Loneliness and longing are your reality. You’re consumed with guilt, self-deprecating inner dialogue, and the fear of doing even the most minor thing wrong. You spend a lot of time alone…even when you’re not. You watch a lot of TV. This is all your fault. Obviously, you are living this way because of something you did to warrant it. If they beat you, you deserved it. If they punish you, you asked for it. You never want to go home, but you don’t have a choice because you’ve never had a choice.
This is it.
This is what you have.
This is all you know.
And yet, you still smile when you sometimes catch a glimpse of the sweeter things and treasure the slightest kindness. You know life isn’t supposed to be like this, but it is. Your life is like a bubble of poison gas that could burst at any moment…you know that. You live that. But how are you supposed to make sense of any of this? How do you make it stop? You can’t. You are powerless. You haven’t even reached kindergarten yet.
From a severely abusive childhood in the inner city of Baltimore, a string of unsatisfying relationships, and several broken marriages, to a six-figure income from the multi-million-dollar business I built out of my home, this is my story in my own words. I was stolen as a baby when my mother died. I was lied to by my kidnapper and used as a Cinderella punching bag by his never-ending parade of “step-mothers” and girlfriends, and much worse when he didn’t have one.
This memoir covers the good, the bad, and the ugly. As this story unfolds, I hope the reader will discover a little girl who survived that abusive childhood, healed and empowered herself through discipline and hard work. I hope you see a girl who became a woman who learned from her mistakes and a whole human being who loves her newfound family with all her heart. I am no longer an outsider. I can go home now.

***The book was edited and reorganized because while it was being published, Jim and I were in the middle of moving to Surfside Beach, South Carolina, and he had COVID. I sent it to be published without the proper due diligence of proofreading it.
As time passed, I found that I was not happy with the work being out of order, so I invested my time into improving it. I truly hope it’s a better read now, and I honestly hope that the readers find something worthwhile in reading it.***

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Nothing Good Happens After Midnight by Phillip Tomasso

Nothing Good Happens After Midnight by Phillip Tomasso

After two decades in the corporate world, author Phillip Tomasso found himself tossed into the realm of public safety. He went from handling legal employment issues to working for a busy 911 Center.

In this collection, Tomasso shares impactful stories from thirteen years of dispatching on the overnight shift.

The work is salted and peppered with funny, heartbreaking, quirky and bizarre renditions of actual 911 calls, interactions of dispatchers between calls, as well as life and the attempt to find and sustain balance outside of a 911 Center.

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The Hero Within by Craig W. Huber

The Hero Within by Craig W. Huber

He hadn’t a worry in the world until he received a deadly diagnosis. Would one man’s faith get him through the fear?

Craig Huber was living the dream. Now a hard-working sales professional with an unswervingly supportive and caring wife by his side, after nearly two decades serving as a full-time minister in Central and South America he knew how blessed his life had been. But when odd physical symptoms sent him to the doctor, his heart sank at the crippling words of his physician: late-stage liver disease.

Told he didn’t stand a shot at survival without a transplant, Craig and his family struggled to keep their patience as they waited for test results. So when he got the coveted call announcing a donor match, the determined fighter rolled up his sleeves for the long and arduous road to recovery.

In this uplifting account of courage and strength, transplant survivor Craig Huber walks readers down the unpredictable path of a harrowing medical ordeal. And with an unwavering belief in God’s plan, this inspiring man’s story will remind you that every hurdle is only a step in becoming the strongest and most fulfilled version of yourself.

The Hero Within is a powerful memoir of rising above life’s toughest obstacles and finding determination. If you like open and honest experiences, organ donor insights, and heartwarming second chances, then you’ll love Craig W. Huber’s eye-opening journey of healing.

Buy The Hero Within to overcome the darkest of days today!
$0.99 from 10/25 – 10/31

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The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon by Sandy Hanna

About The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon by Sandy Hanna:

Sandy Hanna’s memoir of her childhood in Vietnam reveals the young naiveté and protected existence of American military privilege in a foreign country. In The Ignorance of Bliss, this precocious preteen, plopped down in the middle of 1960 Saigon, finds an adventurous life of freedom. But don’t believe for a minute that the young Sandy is a passive child awed by culture shock, gunfire, and timidity. No, here we have an astute survivor aware of the dangers around her who fiercely protects her siblings when she needs to, scrambles from nervous Vietnamese participants of a military coup, and barks orders at an ARVN soldier assigned as her family’s driver. Additionally, she wisely absorbs the mentoring of a servant’s college-age daughter and is deeply informed by an influential American sixth-grade teacher. What we find, further, is a crafty entrepreneur, at times conversing in French and Vietnamese, risking her safety as a child selling wares in a dark bazaar, and accumulating money with a singular, powerful goal in mind all while her distracted and overwhelmed parents remain clueless to her whereabouts. Sandy becomes an alert witness to history, both personal and global, greatly expanding an understanding of the US conflict that soon exploded into the Vietnam War. By watching and stealthily listening in to her beloved dad, the Colonel, and his Vietnamese military counterpart, she learns about the dirty politics of a corrupt leader, the brutal chaos to come, and an impending departure that borders on escape. Ms. Hanna grabs you by the arm and whisks you into the unrestrained and semi-lawless world of 1960 Saigon, where her family spent two intriguing years. Hanna dabs into a rich palette, creating varying perspectives and images of history, cultures, couture, cuisine, sibling adventures, memories and parent recollections, all of which add up to a compelling written documentary.

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ANGELBABY by Sue Quinones

ANGELBABY by Sue Quinones

Sue Quinones and her husband Jose
adopted two Hispanic children. They thought adoption was a reasonable option for completing their family.
Surprise! It was anything but ordinary. The second child, a baby girl, had several supernatural gifts from God. Read this unbelievable true story to find out!

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Everyone Needs a Larry by Jennifer Greenhut Tollin and Larry Tollin

Everyone Needs a Larry by Jennifer Greenhut Tollin and Larry Tollin

Meet Jenn and Larry, an ordinary couple who met on Match.com and dreamed of a life together with children, fun, and travel. Then Jenn noticed a lump under her arm. Within a week, she was diagnosed with stage IV triple-negative breast cancer.

Told from both the patient and caregiver perspectives, Everyone Needs a Larry is a he-said-she-said quirky, romantic, and humorous survival story that shares the lessons, mistakes, and joys of a couple fumbling their way through cancer, love, and marriage.

Jenn and Larry thoughtfully address those universal questions, does everything happen for a reason? Is love all that we need? Uplifting and inspiring, Everyone Needs a Larry provides helpful paths toward overcoming adversity, leaving us deeply grateful for the lives we do have, while honoring all of the “Larrys” out there in the world.

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Many Million Dreams Ago: A Recollection of Romances

About Many Million Dreams Ago: A Recollection of Romances:

From self-harm to casual sex—, join one’s journey toward trying to find his other half while experiencing some of love’s darker sides.

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Many Million Dreams Ago: A Recollection of Romances by Dre Carlan

About Featured Book: Many Million Dreams Ago: A Recollection of Romances by Dre Carlan

Free book from 7/9 – 7/10

From self-harm to casual sex—, join one’s journey toward trying to find his other half while experiencing some of love’s darker sides.

This Memoir book is available in these Formats: eBook, Print, Audiobook

This book is in Kindle Unlimited!

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First Survivor by Mark Unger

First Survivor by Mark Unger

The inspiring, true story of how one families tireless search for answers saved their son and countless others from a rare form of pediatric cancer. With the help of some of the best doctors in the word and the advocacy of his parents, Louis Unger beat a zero chance of survival diagnosis to become the first survivor. All profits are donated to charity. On sale for $1.99 from June 27-29.

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Conversations with Ayahuasca by Ol Serbon

About Featured Book: Conversations with Ayahuasca by Ol Serbon

Promotional sale: E-book for $0.99. Dates: June 21st – July 26th

Description:
I wasn’t planning on becoming an author, but a writing spell suddenly kicked in during an ayahuasca ceremony that took place at one of the spiritual retreat centers in the Sacred Valley, Peru, in 2019.
Voice: “Write this!”
Me (under the influence of ayahuasca): “Write what?”
Voice: “Start writing whatever you are experiencing now…”
Me (uncomfortable since I am taking to a voice in my own head): “But … it is impossible to describe in words what I am experiencing now!”
Voice: “Stop whining and start writing.”

What you just have read is an excerpt from one of a series of conversations I had with a guide named Aya that began during my last ayahuasca ceremony at the retreat center in the Sacred Valley and which continued for several months after I came back home from Peru.

Upon my return, a strange story started flowing through me that I recorded on paper. At first, it seemed almost like a dream. The writing turned into a mental and emotional purge, which continued until there was nothing else for me to say. Once it was over, I knew that it was the end of that story. As the result, I felt transformed. I had eliminated the need to blame others for my misfortunes or to see myself as a victim of circumstance. In the process, I learned that we are the masters of our own reality. We create it one thought at a time.

My book, Conversations with Ayahuasca, is a unique blend of a memoir and ayahuasca-induced visionary experiences that began with my rendezvous with la Madre Ayahuasca and resulted not only in a complete transformation of my everyday life, but also in developing an ability to tap into what seemed to me as a different reality system, one where I perceived myself as a Lemurian girl. If this perception of me being in a different body in a different time-space reality was indeed a window into a past incarnation in Lemuria or if it was just a figment of my imagination is for you to decide.

In brief, this book is about the transformation of my perception of reality, which took place over a four-year period as a result of partaking in ayahuasca ceremonies and subsequently integrating what I learned into the way I lead my daily life with greater ease, joy, and peace of mind.

This Memoir book is available in these Formats: eBook, Print

This book is in Kindle Unlimited and is a new release.

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American Familia by David A. Morales

About Featured Book: American Familia by David A. Morales

Dream Big. Become More.

Told as a conversation between David and his two sons, American Familia is David’s story of growing up in rural poverty in Puerto Rico and urban poverty in the United States, detailing hopeful and transformative life-lessons along the way.

This is also his family’s story: one of faith, grit, and empowerment. Part memoir and part rallying cry, this book encourages discounted youth with a vision of hope that they, too, can transcend their environment and situation—and achieve more, be more, and become more. David’s story provides guidance on how to overcome challenges in the face of great pressure and gives direction on how to develop purpose and embrace opportunities with courage and personal responsibility.

This Memoir book is available in these Formats: eBook, Print, Audiobook

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The Choirboy and the Bellydancer by Christine Potter

About The Choirboy and the Bellydancer by Christine Potter:

An entertaining love story of two English-born war babies who met at 16 when HE took her home because SHE had nowhere to live. Their stories flash back to postwar childhoods and to the young Christine’s wild experiences in West Africa and Spain. The young lovers were dragged apart after a year when she joined her parents in the Middle East, where she became a bellydancer. At 18, they met up again, under hilarious circumstances, and despite the odds against them, married at 21 and emigrated to Canada. People gave them six months at best. Today, 57 years later, they’re still in love, and still married. The Choirboy and the Bellydancer is the first of two volumes.
Says just one reviewer: “Frank, funny, and entertaining, (this is a) heartwarming coming of age memoir that carries you through two lives at a cracking pace. With her unique style, Potter describes the highs and lows of an adventurous and fascinating life well lived.” (Check out more reviews on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com)

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