Book Review: Wrong Number by Rachelle Christensen

Today, I am reviewing Wrong Number by Rachelle Christensen. From the back of the book:

“I think you have the wrong number.”

When Aubree Stewart answers her cell phone on the way to work one day, she isn’t prepared for her life to change. Someone dialed a wrong number, a simple mistake. But the call changes everything when Aubree overhears information about the murder of a government official. Now she must run for her life as the caller tries to eliminate her.

Aubree is placed in the witness protection program, but when the FBI’s protection fails, she heads out on her own. She soon realizes she’ll never stop running until she can solve the mystery behind the wrong number. Unable to trust anyone but herself, she’s cautious about accepting the help of a Park Ranger named Wyatt Erickson. As she struggles to keep herself hidden from the enemy, she finds it harder to protect her heart.
Teeming with government plots, a dash of romance, and plenty of intrigue, Rachelle J. Christensen’s Wrong Number will have your heart pounding the next time the phone rings!

For a sneak peek of the first chapter of Wrong Number, click here.

My review:

When Wrong Number arrived in my mailbox, I was curious and decided to open it up to read just the first chapter. That first chapter grabbed me and pulled me right into Aubree's life. I don't find a lot of books I literally jump into and don't put down, but this was one of them. Thank goodness my hubby agreed to cook dinner for our family, or it would have been a "Make-Your-Own-PB&J Night."

This is Rachelle's first book. I'm very impressed with her pacing and suspense. It was an easy read, one that any teenager or adult would enjoy. I sincerely hope Rachelle has another fiction book out soon! She does have a non-fiction book coming out in May called, Lost Children: Coping with Miscarriage for Latter-day Saints.



Author Interview:

I thought you'd enjoy learning more about Rachelle. She's a very fun and talented woman I met at the LDS Storymakers Writers Conference.

What inspired you to write Wrong Number?
 I wanted to enter a chapter into the first chapter contest at LDStorymakers in 2007. I came up with the first chapter of Wrong Number, it won second place, and then I went on to write the rest of the novel.
 
What’s coming up?
I’ve got a few things I’m working on. I’ve finished an inspirational romance that I love, called Wind Song and I’m enjoying writing my WIP-working title Caller ID, so I guess we’ll see what comes up first on the docket.
 
Do you have any advice for other authors?
If you’re serious about writing, attend writers conferences and classes, join a great critique group, read novels in your genre of interest, and write, write, write! Also, learn how to take criticism and know when to apply it to your writing and when to chuck it out the window.

Where can we find your books?
Anywhere books are sold. If you don’t see it, ask for it and they can order it in. Available wherever books are sold, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon, or by clicking on the link here:

Toni Braxton & Autism Speaks

I was so excited to see this new commercial featuring Toni Braxton and autism statistics. It's truly fantastic!

The Original Scrapbox & Rachelle Christensen Blog Tour Contest

The Original Scrapbox has a brand new piece of organizing furniture and you have a chance to win it! Introducing the Office Box...

And we're celebrating the launch of Rachelle J. Christensen's suspense novel, Wrong Number, with a chance to win an autographed copy!





The Office Box was created as an addition to the line of incredible scrapbooking furniture The Original Scrapbox has to offer, such as The Workbox and The EZ View Craft Desk.

I'm hosting a preliminary giveaway. Thinking ahead to Spring Break and Summer Vacations, I thought this fun themed scrapbook pack by Life Moments would be perfect! 

You can enter to win my prize and on March 16th, I'll announce the winner who will then go on for the grand prize drawing of The Office Box and a copy of Wrong Number.The Grand Prize Winner will be drawn on March 19, 2010 at RachelleWrites. She will select a winner from the 25 finalists to receive one Office Box (Value $895.00) in their choice of color and an autographed copy of Wrong Number by Rachelle J. Christensen.

Giveaway open from March 5, 2010- March 15, 2010 at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time.
Open to addresses in the contiguous United States only.
Giveaway Rules:
*You can only enter under one name

* It is possible to win more than one preliminary prize, which means it’s possible to be entered into the grand prize drawing more than once.

*All winner’s addresses must be stateside US addresses

*You must complete the required entry to be eligible to win

Here's how to enter:Please leave details in your comment of how you entered with required links. I'll put all entries into a spreadsheet and use Random.org to select the winner.

*Required entry: You must visit The Original Scrapbox website and leave a comment telling me your favorite item

Extra Entries:

• Become a Facebook Fan of The Original Scrapbox

• Tweet the contest with linkback in your comment and use the hashtag #officebox or #scrapbox in your tweet.
  

• Facebook the contest with linkback in your comment

• Add the contest button(pictured above) to your sidebar with a link to this contest
  

• Follow RachelleWrites
• Follow me on Twitter @TaDaFerguson 
• Become a Queen of the Clan follower on Facebook.
• Sign up for my newsletter-- email: QueenOfTheClan@gmail.com
• Follow my blog & leave me a comment.

To receive 15 extra entries, you must do the following 5 things together on your blog post and please leave a link back to your blog post with your comment (only one comment required, but you must leave a link so I can check your post.)

1. Blog about the contest WITH a picture of The Office Box and Wrong Number in your post.
2. In your blog post link the phrase "The Office Box " to http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/catalog/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=138
3. Link the phrase "The Original Scrapbox" to http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/catalog/
4. Link the phrase "Wrong Number" to http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Number-Rachelle-J-Christensen/dp/1599553643/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
   
5. Post the Wrong Number book trailer from You Tube on your blog
   

There are 25 different blogs participating in this giveaway. Each blog is giving away a preliminary prize and a chance to win an entry into the Grand Prize Drawing. Stay tuned for reviews on Wrong Number and author interviews as well!

Here's the list of blogs where you can enter:

The Mommy Files
Cricut Christmas
Little Birdie Secrets
Priscilla Styles
Mommy Mandy
RockinMama
RachelleWrites
Alvor-Dare To Dream
Diony George
Heather Justesen
Queen of the Clan
Scribbled Scraps
Anne Bradshaw
Rachel Rager
Tristi Pinkston
Cami Checketts
Nichole Giles
Wendy Paul
Marilyn Bunderson
Ronda Hinrichson
C.L. Beck: Write Up My Alley
Christine Bryant
Ali Cross
Jenni James
Annette Lyon

Breathe In, Breathe Out

It's been a whole week since the last time I posted. It's also been a very stressful week.

Editing on (dis)Abilities and the Gospel has been great! (BTW - did I tell you we tweaked the book to to be "and the Gospel" rather than "in the Gospel"? Well, we did!) In fact, the editing has been so smooth, we should finish up the last of it this week. Then the manuscript will go to our line editor for one last round of edits. Once those final edits are approved, the manuscript will be typeset. It's so exciting to see everything progressing so well - at least in the editing area.

The part that has me super stressed out is our copyrights. We sent our application in for copyrights in October. The website said it takes about 4-6 weeks to look everything over and get permissions. We've followed up a few times, told there were some delays. Then in February we found out they hadn't even started looking over our application yet. YIKES! We're still working through getting copyright permissions and just praying they'll all come through in time. (Cross your fingers and say lots of prayers for us, please!) 

Remember that editing I talked about? Normally, once you go through editing, your manuscript is complete. Nothing else needs changed. But with our manuscript, we aren't sure if everything IS complete. What if a quote isn't approved? Then we need to go back and do a re-write. Which means that chapter needs to be re-edited and approved by our fabulous editor, Tristi, again.

Valor was hoping to have our manuscript over to typesetting a little after mid-March - but they're giving us a bit of extra time in hopes we'll get all of our permissions. Because once it's typeset, it's set in stone. The only changes that are generally made after typesetting is during the galley reviews (the proofs of the typesetting). In this stage, the author and editors review the manuscript one more time looking for any misspellings or punctuation mistakes that could have occurred while the manuscript was typeset. But the only changes that are made are little ones to make the corrections I mentioned. No big re-writes.

So, the stress will continue until March 20th. At that point, we (Lynn & I) need to gather all of the permissions we've received, and re-write the sections with quotes that have not been cleared yet. Some days I get so stressed out and overwhelmed, I can't do anything more than just remind myself to breathe in and breathe out. It will all get figured out and worked through. And it's not all stress. I've seen some pretty miraculous things happen to help prod things along. Some amazing people who've stepped up to help because they know this book is so needed right now. It's those moments during this stress that make my heart full and tears well up.

Really, I know everything will work out. And I know that when this book is released, it's going to be it's very best version and ready to help all the families and church leaders teach individuals with mental disabilities the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's going to touch so many lives in such wonderful ways.

Until then, I'll try to keep looking forward - and continue practicing my breathing techniques!

Book Review: Love Your Body: A Diet-Free Approach to Balanced Eating by Brooke Parker

Today, I'm reviewing Love Your Body: A Diet-Free Approach to Balanced Eating by Brooke Parker.

From the back cover:

Are you tired of dieting and feeling unsatisfied with your appearance? In
this book, registered dietitian Brooke Parker shares secrets for developing
a positive body image and creating your own customized eating plan. You'll
also learn how to replace negative thoughts about yourself with positive,
motivating thoughts.


With the tools you master in Love Your Body, the scale, the media, and your
"skinny jeans" will no longer have the power to determine your mood or your
life!


Topics include:
€ Finding a New Relationship with Food
€ Honoring Your Hunger and Fullness
€ Finding Your Own Healthy Balance
€ Creating Healthy Expectations
€ The Inner Dialogue
€ Put an End to Worry
€ Your Body Is a Gift
€ Eliminating the Physical Triggers
€ Destructive Thinking Styles
€ Pampering Activities
. . . and many more.


I have personally been struggling this past fall and winter - trying to balance stress, family, and life. During that time, I felt so overwhelmed I decided to simplify my schedule. One of the things that ended up on the "temporary hiatus" list was exercise. And oh how I regret it now.

Spending hours and hours each day, sitting in front of my computer editing, writing, and working on various other projects for my kids' school, I ended up growing out of not just one, but a few pant sizes. As a result, I've felt absolutely horrible about myself. The tighter my jeans felt, the more I hated how I looked.

I was asked to review Love Your Body the same week I decided to get back to a serious exercise routine. I was excited to read a book that doesn't say, "Follow this diet & lose twenty pounds in one week!" or some other such nonsense.

As I read, I was impressed with the logical and sound advice Brooke Parker gives. Right from the beginning, I found techniques that were helpful. My favorite of which is the hunger scale. There's a scale you can use to gauge how hungry or full you are. You use your best judgment to determine where you are.

After reading and understanding the concepts of using the scale, I found myself stopping to ask myself how I was feeling about every hour or so during the day. If I was starting to have hunger pangs, but it wasn't close to a major meal, I first drank some water. Another thing I've discovered is I'm horrible about drinking enough water and in general drink very little. So sometimes when I feel hungry, really my body is just thirsty. After having a glass of water, I wait about five or ten minutes to see if I'm still hungry or if my body is happy again.  If I'm still hungry, then I'll have a snack - like a granola bar or apple. As I've exercised and started gauging my appetite, I've been reaching for more healthy snacks rather than tempting sweet snacks.

I think Love Your Body is a great book for anyone - from teens and adults. I highly recommend it. You can purchase Love Your Body through most bookstores or order it on Amazon.com




Or you can enter to win a copy! The publisher of Love Your Body is doing a blog tour giveaway. For more information, keep reading!


We will be giving away 5 copies of
Love Your Body: A
Diet-Free Approach to Balanced Eating as part of the online book book
tour. The contest starts February 17th and will close on March 5th at
midnight, MST.

Entering the contest is easy--all you have to do is blog, tweet, follow, or
comment and then fill out this little form here.

So exactly how do you blog, tweet, follow, etc. Here's how.

1. Become a follower of our reviewers
blogs. You can follow one of our reviewers or you can follow all of
them. Remember that each blog you follow gives you another chance to win, so
why wouldn't you choose to follow them all? But what if we are already
following a them ask? Well lucky you because you get an entry for that too.

Walnut Springs Press
Brooke Parker RD
Of Writerly Things
Random-ish by Nichole
Queen of the Clan
Rachelle Writes
The Write Blocks Ronda
Gibb Hinrichsen
Tangled Words and Dreams
*Tristi Pinkston, LDS
Author
Why Not? Because I Said
So!
LDS Women's Book Review

Cami's Book

2. Post a comment on the reviews. .

3. Blog about the contest or one of the
reviews. Spread the word. Just remember that the blog post either
needs to link to the contest or to one of the reviews.

4. Follow us on twitter. Maybe you
use twitter, maybe you don't. But if you do, you should follow us.

http://twitter.com/walnutspringspr

http://twitter.com/brookeparkerrd
http://twitter.com/camichecketts
http://twitter.com/valerieipson
http://twitter.com/Rachellewrites
http://twitter.com/LDSWBR
http://twitter.com/nicholegiles
http://twitter.com/TaDaFerguson

5. Tweet about the contest or one
(or all) of the reviews. Yep, 144 characters or less is all it takes
to enter.

6. Become a fan of Love Your Body on facebook. Brooke is constantly
updating her fanpage with articles, recipes, and helpful hints.

7. Post about the contest on
Facebook.

8. Anything else you can think of that will
spread the word. If you mention it on goodreads, shelfari, google
buzz, or any other social media site, or make it your status on gmail chat,
MSN or yahoo messenger let us know. We want to reward your creativity with
an entry.


Also, here is the blog tour schedule, so you can find the reviews on the correct days.





February 22 Valerie Ipson
Of Writerly Things


February 23 Nichole Giles
Random-ish by Nichole

February 24 Danyelle Ferguson
Queen of the Clan

February 25 Rachelle Christensen
Rachelle Writes

March 1 Ronda Hinrichsen
The Write Blocks

March 2
Tangled Words and Dreams
Alison Palmer

March 3
*Tristi Pinkston, LDS
Author Tristi Pinkston

March 4
Why Not? Because I Said
So! Sheila Stayley
LDS Women's Book Review

March 5
Cami's Book Cami
Checketts

Mormon Mishaps & Mischief Blog Tour Winners Announced!

Nichole Giles and Cindy Beck, authors of Mormon Mishaps & Mischief, announced the winner of the grand prize this morning. Anne, who commented on my blog, won a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble! Congrats, Anne! Be sure to contact Nichole and Cindy with your information so they can send you the prize. You can email them at ldshumor@yahoo.com

Michele Ashman Bell won an autographed copy of Mormon Mishaps & Mischief from moi. Michele, please email me with your mailing address & I'll get it shipped out to you.  queenoftheclan@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who entered. And remember, if you entered contests on the other blogs during the tour, you need to go check them out to see if you won. Good luck!

I *Heart* Cheese!

Many of you know our oldest son, Isaac, has autism. Along with his autism, came an allergy to milk. In fact, he didn't look at us or even speak until after we took him off milk. Then within 2 weeks, he had over 150 words in his vocabulary and was speaking in short sentences. He calmed down and started initiating eye contact. All within an amazing two weeks & due to taking out one small item of food from his diet.

The last five years, there's been a lot of research about autism and the milk issue. Just in the past year or two, studies have shown that using the digestive enzyme DPP-IV (pronounced DPP-4) helps individuals with autism digest the milk protein much faster so it doesn't leak out of their gut and enter their bloodstream.

My hubby and I have debated for the last year about whether or not to try this enzyme or not. I've been really afraid to try it, let him eat the foods he misses, and then if it didn't work, go through heck and back to transition him back to a milk-free diet. But Isaac is 10 years old now. Next year, he's going to Jr. high (or middle school if they rename it to that). What an incredible thing for him if he could eat lunch at school, just like all his peers - and to go hang out with his friends without Mom needing to send substitute food for him.

So I finally broke down and decided to go for it. I had to search for several days to find a brand that had the right amount of DPP-IV. I finally found Enzymedica's GluetenEase at Whole Foods. A boy, that stuff's not cheap! We purchased one bottle for $40, which is enough to split between home & school for a two week trial.

My hubby and I had several conversations with Isaac about trying the new diet and enzymes. He showed a good understanding and has really taken a lot of the responsibility seriously. We started the new diet on Monday. Isaac asks for his enzyme before every meal or anything he eats a snack that has milk in it. His teacher & aide at school are keeping careful data on his behaviors to see how the new diet plan effects him. And so far . . .

It's going great!

Isaac hasn't had any of the normal behavior issues we usually see when he gets even just one cupcake made with milk. He's stayed steady and is his normal self. He's enjoyed trying a bunch of new foods - and even asked if I'd make him Kraft Mac & Cheese this weekend because he really wants to try it.

This week, we've had pizza & birthday cake, 3 Cheese Chicken & Noodle, and White Lasagna. Today after school, we are planning to take the kids out for ice cream as a family. We've never, ever been able to do this before. And I'm so totally excited!!!

So I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes and praying, praying, praying that everything continues going well!

It's been so much fun to introduce our family to meals my hubby and I loved before we started the milk-free diet. It's also been interesting to discover I can't remember half of the meals we used to cook! We've been doing the milk-free diet for at least eight years. I've had to search for recipes online because I don't have some of my old favorites anymore. So here's where you can help me. If you have a favorite recipe, please send it to me! I'd love to try it out. You can email it to QueenOfTheClan@gmail.com A huge thank you to everyone who sends me recipes!