Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be taking a couple days off from the blog to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.  I thought I would research to find out the date of the very first Thanksgiving.  Here is what I found:  In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as the first Thanksgiving celebration.

I've often said, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It's all about the three F's; food, family and friends.  It is one of the few holidays that we have where no gift buying or gift giving is necessary. 

R. K. Avery would like to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Count your many blessings and enjoy the day.  Don't overdo it.  Rest, relax, and unwind.  Black Friday seems to be coming earlier and earlier every year.

May you get the big end of the wishbone!

R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
@RKAvery1

Pump Up Your Book Presents Not My Mother's Son

Pump Up Your Book Presents Not My Mother’s Son Book Blast & Win $25 Amazon Gift Card or an autographed copy of her book!

Pump Up Your Book is proud to announce R.K. Avery’s psychological thriller/mystery, Not My Mother’s Son Book Blast November 25 – December 20! R.K. will be giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card AND an autographed copy of her book. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below or on participating blogs throughout the blast and good luck! All participating bloggers willing to host are eligible to win.

ABOUT NOT MY MOTHER’S SON

 Title: Not My Mother’s Son
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery
Author: R.K. Avery
Publisher: Brighton Publishing
Pages: 215
Language: English
ISBN – 978-1-62183-009-2

Devious.  Conniving.  Deceitful.  Insidious.  David Miller thought he knew his mother.  He thought kidnapping three children was the most appalling and horrendous thing any human being could do and she couldn’t possibly do anything more monstrous.  He thought there was nothing else she could do or say that would astound him.  How wrong he was.

After Beatrice Miller, David’s serial kidnapping mother, is sentenced to thirty years, David moves to Phoenix, Arizona; and with the help of a trust fund and an old friend, he starts the Never Give Up foundation, an organization dedicated to finding and returning exploited and missing children safely to their families.  With all the wicked things his mother had done, David feels it is his unspoken duty to do something worthwhile.

Hesitant at first but after reading his mother’s journal, David is determined to mend their dysfunctional relationship.  Every time David visits Bea in prison, she seems deranged insisting that people are trying to kill her.  She ends each brief encounter with a chilling statement, “Remember David, things aren’t always what they seem.”

As word about the foundation spreads, the services of Never Give Up are requested time-and-time-again to help where other agencies have failed.  That is, until the police come knocking on David’s door and arrest him, taking him back to Bunting Valley, North Dakota, for the murder of a newborn baby boy.

Forced to shut down Never Give Up, David is amazed at how quickly the entire world turns their backs on him.  The trial begins and his mother’s testimony is the only thing that can save him.  Telling the truth is as foreign to Beatrice Miller as giving up drugs is to an addict.  As everyone in the courtroom holds their breath, you will too.  Remember, things aren’t always what they seem.

Purchase your copy by clicking on the tabs located at the top of this blog.

About R. K. Avery

As a recent graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature, R. K. Avery has written numerous, unpublished, children’s picture books, but her true passion is writing adult fiction.

“Having the ability to make people laugh or cry, just by using the written language, is a gift so powerful and I hope, one day, my name will be among those who possess it” ~ R.K. Avery

After Be Careful What You Wish For achieved near-instant eBook best-seller success even before its print release, Avery had re-signed with Brighton Publishing LLC for her second novel, Not My Mother’s Son. Sure to send chills down readers’ spines, Avery’s brilliant new thriller is now available for sale in both e-Book and paperback wherever fine books are sold.

R. K. Avery lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband, two kids, and four dogs.  She often jokes instead of sign that says, “Don’t let the dogs out” she has a sign that says “Don’t let any more dogs in”.

Visit her website at www.rkaverybooks.com.

Connect & Socialize!

TWITTER * FACEBOOK * YOUTUBE

ENTER TO WIN!

Monday, November 25

Miki’s Hope

Moonlight Lace & Mayhem

Tuesday, November 26

The Book Connection

SheWrites

Wednesday, November 27

I’m Shelf-ish

BlogHer

Friday, November 29

Confessions of a Reader

The Most Happy Reader

Monday, December 2

My Devotional Thoughts

Icefairy’s Treasure Chest

Tuesday, December 3

Not Everyone’s Mama

Review From Here

Wednesday, December 4

Maureen’s Musings

Krazy Book Lady

Thursday, December 5

The Dark Phantom

Between the Covers

Friday, December 6

Literarily Speaking

Literal Exposure

Monday, December 9

Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews

Tuesday, December 10

The Writer’s Life

Beyond the Books

Wednesday, December 11

I’d Rather Be at the Beach

As the Pages Turn

Thursday, December 12

Literary Winner

Friday, December 13

Jersey Girl Book Reviews

Monday, December 16

Minding Spot

Tuesday, December 17

Plug Your Book

Book Reviews by Dee

Wednesday, December 18

Deal Sharing Aunt

Thursday, December 19

Every Free Chance Book Reviews

Friday, December 20

Authors & Readers Book Corner

Lori’s Reading Corner

In the Pink!

I had purchased Gold Hot Seat tickets to see Pink back in May.  It was a gift for my husband for Sweetest Day and we also threw in our anniversary which is coming up on December 5^th – 26 years, can you believe it?   Both of us love Pink so it felt like the perfect gift.

Saturday in Cleveland was cold, windy and snow squalls came and went.  We got downtown a little after 4:00 as we were allowed to pick up our tickets between 6:00 and 6:30 PM at the will call window. 

To kill a little time we walked over to the Horseshoe Casino to get a bite to eat.  I went to Corky & Lenny’s and my husband went to B Spot.  Despite the fact that we paid an arm and leg, the food was awesome.  Or maybe it was just the anticipation of the Pink show; nothing could damper the mood.

My husband stated it was a shame to go to a casino and not at least pull one arm but we managed.  I told him we were not going to risk being late to the concert so he could play the slots.

We got to the arena a little after 6:00 and got our tickets and stood in line with the Gold Ticket patrons.  Along with the cost of the ticket we got a reception which included hors d'oeuvres and drinks.  I thought it would be a cheese tray and a carrot stick but no; there was shrimp cocktail, hamburger sliders, sushi and much, much more. 

Finally we got to our seats in the seventh row.  The energy in the crowd was electric.  The opening act was The Kin, a band from Australia.  They were really good but like everyone else, we came to see Pink. 

It’s difficult to describe because words cannot do it justice. It was the best concert I have ever been too.  I told my husband, it actually was not a concert – it was a show!  The music was fabulous, one hit after another.  She sounded wonderful as she has a beautiful voice but sometimes it sounds different live and I honestly think she sounded better live.  She did so many acrobatic things swinging high above the stage with no wires.  The woman is fearless!   The encore song, I can’t even begin to tell you, was phenomenal.  She was attached to a harness and actually flew around the entire arena!  Upside down, right side up, there was not a bad seat in the house.

I can tell you Pink puts on an incredible show.  She has been through the darkness and came out so much stronger.  Kudos in my book, girl.  You are awesome and happy and it shows.

R. K. Avery

www.rkaverybooks.com

@RKAvery1

Christmas 102.1!

The radio station I listen to has started playing Christmas music around the clock.  They play it continuously until around New Year’s Eve.  I think it’s wonderful.  It puts me in the holiday mood and makes me happy.

There are certain songs that I hear that can transport me back to another time and place.  When I was growing up, we lived in a modest three bedroom, one bathroom ranch that sat on a slab. We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination and my mom would make a lot of things for me and my sister.  She sewed and crocheted so we could always expect some new doll clothes or a blanket of some sort.   

Our Christmas decorations were stored up in the attic.  We had one of those staircases that folded and went into the ceiling.  When mom pulled on the string and the stairs came down, she always sent me up to get them because I was the smallest.  I had to be careful where I stepped because one wrong move and my leg would go through the floor and end up in a room down below.  There were always three boxes; two boxes of decorations and one box that stored the tree.

We had an artificial tree and the stems of each branch were painted a different color.  So we sorted them into piles.  As time wore on, the paint started to fade and chip away so it got pretty difficult to tell the difference between the colors but we managed.  The limbs were placed in the “trunk” of the tree in order.  The blue went on the bottom as those were the biggest branches followed by red, yellow and so on.  You get the picture.  When we finished we stood back in awe.  We created a tree!! 

The strands of lights were old and looking back on it, a definite fire hazard but we didn’t know any better.   We had a strand of bubble lights and back then, they were a novelty.  Our tree sat in front of the window and looked the same every year with lots of garland and icicles but to us, it was beautiful.      

When we decorated the tree, my mom always played Christmas music.  We had a record player and she played Gene Autry - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  I still remember what the cover of the album looked like.  It was white and Gene Autry was standing there in a cowboy outfit and Santa, sitting on his sleigh with all the reindeers, was flying around him.  I loved hearing the sound of that album come out of its sleeve because that meant Christmas was coming and I loved Christmas. 

I still love Christmas to this day.  It just seems like people are a little bit nicer and the generosity of total strangers is overwhelming.  It just makes you want to do something to help someone – usually someone you don’t even know.

Today my tastes have changed and my favorite Christmas song is Little Drummer Boy.  There is just something about that “rum pum pum pum” that gets my heart beating and helps me visualize the scene of the baby Jesus in the manager. 

But a really beautiful Christmas song is Silent Night sung by Sinead O’Connor.  I am not a huge Sinead O’Connor fan but the way she sings this song completely blows me away.  I heard it for the first time at the end of the movie Fred Clause.  Take a listen. 

So thanks Jen and Tim and the entire 102.1 team for helping bring back wonderful memories.  You rock!

Hope your day is cheery and bright!

R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
@RKAvery1

Happy Great American Smokeout Day!

The Great American Smokeout Day is today. I know when people decide to quit smoking it’s usually a New Year’s resolution so I was surprised to learn The American Cancer Society created the Great American Smokeout Day back in 1977 and it is always the third Thursday in November.

The goal of this extraordinary day is quite obvious: to get people to give up the “butt” and quit smoking which will result in fewer health problems and fewer cancer and emphysema related deaths from smoking and secondary smoke.

Since I am not, nor have ever been, a smoker, the only thing I can compare it to is a diet.  When you diet, your drug of choice is food.  Food is everywhere.  You can’t sit down and watch TV without seeing multiple commercials advertising the latest and greatest sandwich at the local fast food restaurant.  All holidays center around food.  All celebrations center around food.  You can’t go anywhere or do anything where food is not involved to a certain degree.  Going on a diet and giving up the foods I love is my “Great American Smokeout”.  It is something I struggle with every day and probably will for the rest of my life.

 

That being said, I am not trying to say I’ve suffered physically by giving up food because I know nicotine is a real drug and I’ve been told giving up smoking is not an easy task.  Often (usually), it takes repeated efforts. That's okay, as long as you keep trying until you finally succeed. The health benefits and the prospect of a longer life are crystal clear not to mention all the money you will save. 

R. K. Avery as well as The American Cancer Society encourages everyone who smokes to join millions of other Americans today and take the first step to a happier, healthier, longer life.  Just one day at a time....  

I salute you with my 90 calorie breakfast bar that tastes like cardboard drizzled in cough medicine.  J

R. K. Avery
www.rkaverybooks.com
@RKAvery1

Teen Getting Bad Grades?

If you have been reading my posts, several months back I wrote about my son and the trouble we were having with him getting horrible grades primarily due to not turning in school assignments.  Well this year he is a freshman in high school and the problems continue.  Of course, he’s 15 years old and thinks he knows everything.  He doesn’t understand why we make such a big deal out of his grades.  Basically, he is asking us to stop parenting him and let him do things his way.

The first semester passed and his grades were lackluster.  We tried taking everything away from him last year (phone, Xbox, PS3, Kindle Fire, lap top) but the more we took away, the more stubborn he became.  It was almost as if he was not going to let us win no matter what we did. 

My husband and I discussed what we could do to get him motivated.  He’s a great kid.  He’s very smart and funny. He stays out of trouble.  He typically gets good grades on tests and quizzes, but he will not do his homework (he claims homework is an exercise to help you learn the material and if he already knows the material, it's a waste of time) and when homework is 30 – 50 percent of your grade – well you get the picture.

Please let me state that we are not experts, we are not psychologists, we do not claim to have all the answers but this is what we decided to do.  We took everything away from him except his phone, which he is allowed to have during school hours only.  When he is at home, it is to be placed on the counter top in the kitchen (we didn’t want to leave him without a phone in case he needed to reach us during the day).  He is able to “earn” hours by doing his assignments, turning them in, and getting good grades. 

At the end of each week, I pull up his progress on-line.  Our school system has a thing called Progress Book where you are able to look at any point in time and see a snapshot of things.  It shows grades, missing assignments, and other comments the teacher may leave.  So, when I pull up his grades, he can “earn” 2 hours with each A and 1 hour with each B  (this is the overall grade in the class).  He has seven classes so he has the potential of earning 14 hours of playtime.  IF, and this is a big IF, he has any missing assignments for that week, he forfeits 1 hour of playtime.  So last week when I pulled up his progress on Friday afternoon, he had three A’s and one B, yet he had two missing assignments.  So he “earned” 5 hours of playtime on any one device of his choice for the weekend. 

It seems to be going well.  This is only the 3^rd week and he is getting the hang of it and knows what he needs to do.  The anger towards me and my husband seems to have abated because he knows if his grades are bad, he has no one to blame but himself. 

We even drew up a CONTRACT and had him sign it.  With his signature comes the understanding that he will abide by the contract and he has taken ownership of it.  I had to pull it out once when he was arguing something wasn’t fair.  It’s in writing.  You signed it.  End of discussion.

We still have a long way to go but things are looking up.  I get to see my son more often and he actually does things with us instead of being the bitter, technology driven person that he was.  I just want him to succeed in life.  I want him to be more than I could ever imagine.  And I want him to learn that in life, no matter how old or young you are, your actions have repercussions. 

May you earn an extra hour or two of fun today :)

R. K. Avery

www.rkaverybooks.com

@RKAvery1

Luke Murphy, Author - Part II

As promised, today is Part II of my interview and conversation with Luke Murphy, author of Dead Man's Hand.

Luke, why don't you give me a little synopsis of what the book is about?

What happens when the deck is stacked against you…

From NFL rising-star prospect to wanted fugitive, Calvin Watters is a sadistic African-American Las Vegas debt-collector framed by a murderer who, like the Vegas Police, finds him to be the perfect fall-guy.

…and the cards don't fall your way?

When the brutal slaying of a prominent casino owner is followed by the murder of a well-known bookie, Detective Dale Dayton is thrown into the middle of a highly political case and leads the largest homicide investigation in Vegas in the last twelve years.

What if you're dealt a Dead Man's Hand?

Against his superiors and better judgment, Dayton is willing to give Calvin one last chance. To redeem himself, Calvin must prove his innocence by finding the real killer, while avoiding the LVMPD, as well as protect the woman he loves from a professional assassin hired to silence them.

And exactly who is Luke Murphy, the guy behind the book?

I live in Shawville, Quebec with my wife, three daughters and pug.

I played six years of professional hockey before retiring in 2006. Since then, I've held a number of jobs, from sports columnist to radio journalist, before I earned a Bachelor of Education degree (Magna Cum Laude).

My debut novel, Dead Man`s Hand, was released by Imajin Books on October 20, 2012.

For more information on me and my books, visit: www.authorlukemurphy.com, ‘like’ my Facebook page www.facebook.com/#!/AuthorLukeMurphy and follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/#!/AuthorLMurphy

Here are some reviews of Luke's work:

Review Blurbs:

 "You may want to give it the whole night, just to see how it turns out."

—William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Lincoln Letter

 "Dead Man's Hand is a pleasure, a debut novel that doesn't read like one,

but still presents original characters and a fresh new voice."

—Thomas Perry, New York Times bestselling author of Poison Flower

"Part police procedural, part crime fiction, Dead Man's Hand is a fast, gritty ride."

—Anne Frasier, USA Today bestselling author of Hush

To purchase Luke's book, follow this link to Amazon.  The Kindle eBook version is currently only .99 cents and the print version is on sale for $13.49.  Books always make a great Christmas present!

Thanks, Luke, for spending some time with us.  Best of luck to you!

R. K. Avery

www.rkaverybooks.com

@RKAvery1