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New World Rising: Book #1 in a YA Dystopian Series by Jennifer Wilson 

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As a 30-year entrepreneurial veteran herself, she has advised clients in theareas of motivation, life transformation, relationships, sales training, personal goal setting, and empowerment. Carol is an inspirational and motivational speaker, conducts workshops, creates conferences on a variety of topics, including building a community, personal and business networking, personal relationships and sex, dating after divorce, how to manifest change, self-esteem, self-worth, self-love, weight-loss, how to create your diamond life, dare to dream big, and more.

Note: I have not read this book and therefore cannot make a comment on its content.

Author: Kristen Beddard

Category: Adult Non-fiction; 352 pages

Genre: Memoir, Recipes

Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release date: May 6, 2016 

Content Rating: G

Book Description:

A memoir of love, life, and recipes from the woman who brought kale to the City of Light. The story of how one expat woman left her beloved behind when she moved to France - her beloved kale, that is. Unable to find le chou kale anywhere upon moving to the City of Light with her new husband, and despite not really speaking French, Kristen Beddard launched a crusade to single-handedly bring kale to the country of croissants and cheese. Infused with Kristen’s recipes and some from French chefs, big and small (including Michelin star chef Alain Passard) Bonjour Kale is more than just a leafy-green. It is a humorous, heartfelt memoir of how Kristen finds herself in a new home and how she, kale, and France collide. 

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My Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Kristen Beddard's memoir and for several reasons too. I'm choosy about the memoirs I read, and was immediately attracted to this one. It's about a young woman and her adventures with food, love and Paris. It's about the expat life, and how she had to adapt to being a newlywed in a foreign country. It reminded me of my parents's immigrant situation when they were young and moved to Canada from Italy. It's also about Kristen's love of the leafy green vegetable kale and how she pursued a passionate project to make kale available in France.

Kristen is a great writer, capturing my interest with her humor and descriptions of her life in New York, the Parisian streets, markets and way of life, interspersed with French words and expressions which I understood. I loved how she included the history of kale, how it became popular and how she reintroduced it in France. Here in Quebec, kale is called chou frisé and is easily found everywhere.

I also enjoyed the recipes and was happy that Kristen included tips on how to use kale. I have made kale chips several times, but they never came out as good as when I tried Kristen's recipe. And the key to a good kale salad? You have to massage the dressing into the kale so it marinates the leaves. It's true that this makes the salad tastier. Ever since reading this book, I've made more use of kale instead of just using it daily in my smoothies.  And oh, Kristen's descriptions of food and meals at the restaurants interspersed throughout the book made my mouth water.

Best of all, I enjoyed Kristen's journey in pursuing something she was passionate about. She left her home and job in America to follow her husband to a country where she did not speak the language. She reinvented herself after going through times of doubt, vulnerability, and self-reflection. She was courageous and accomplished something worthwhile, something that had great meaning in her life and that taught her important things about herself and those around her, including the people and culture of France.

Her passion and enthusiasm for kale helped her make friends with others who came to understand her quest -- farmers and chefs. My dad, a gentleman farmer and lover of verdura who owns a large garden plot, started growing kale a few years ago after he learned the nutritious value of kale. Farmers are great people to know. They love the land and growing food is their life in more ways than one. I enjoyed reading about Kristen's interaction with them.

If you love memoirs set in France, like stories about the expat life, are a foodie or love to cook, then you will love Bonjour Kale. It's heartwarming, inspiring, fun to read and it's a clean read. It's one of the best books I've read this year.

To read more reviews, please visit Kristen Beddard's page on France Book Tours.

The Kale Project:

Book Details:

Book Title: The Unexpected Gift of Joseph Bridgeman: A Time Travel Adventure (The Downstream Diaries Book 1)
If you love time travel or just a very good story that propels you all the way to a great finish, pick this one up. It's one of the best books I've read this year.

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This one has such an original premise. And I'm itching to read a good historical fiction novel.

Nomad's Premonition and Nomad on the Run by Georges Benay

Both these books are on tour with iRead Book Tours. I love that they are thrillers set in Canada, Europe and the Middle East.

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Amazon ~ Alibris

This is an excellent middle-grade fiction featuring time travel and historical fiction, my two personal favourites.

A girl "10 years and 4 months old" is narrating. Sometimes she's known as Rebecca, sometimes Peggy, or Eleanor, depending on her whimsy of the week. She's feisty, forthright, a leader of her group of friends and apparently, a person who finds things. The author writes as a 10-year-old very successfully!

On a beautiful English summer day in 1962, our heroine finds a wooden shield in a "beck" or creek. (I didn’t know what a beck is so checked it in Webster's. It's a British word first used in the 14th century – how appropriate.) The shield is old and Rebecca/Peggy/Eleanor wants to examine it more closely at home in the family garage. While doing so, a knight in armour, speaking old English, suddenly appears. This knight, Sir Kay, is aware that he is in a different time – "I know we are in the wrong time for me, but the right time for you…..I was waiting for you…..My Lady!" The knight and our heroine seamlessly travel from the 1960's back to 1340 and so the exciting adventure escalates. The shield (Sir Kay's) and what it contains are important to the security of the realm. She becomes friends with 10-year-old Edward, the future Black Prince.

The author evokes 14th century England by the use of language, clothes, tapestries, the rushes on the floors and the ancient weaponry. Rebecca/Peggy/Eleanor finds herself dressed in the style of medieval times in "a long, pale blue wool dress....with gold buttons and braiding."

The scenario is creative, the action fast paced and well written. This is Book 1 so more time travel and historical fiction is in store for readers - something to anticipate!

I highly recommend this MG book for young teens and adults alike. You won't be disappointed.

Disclosure: Thanks to Rachel Gilbey from Authoright Marketing & Publicity for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.


Originally heralding from the North of England, C.J Bentley has travelled extensively and enjoyed living in a variety of countries across the world from Dubai to Doha, Qatar and now the countryside in the South of France. A background in teaching and childcare she has always enjoyed creating adventure short stories. However, it was when she became a grandma and with her grandchildren growing up that she discovered that books seemed to contain only stories of vampires, zombies and farts that she decided seriously to take matters into her own hands and put pen to paper which today she calls The Finder Series.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter  




Self-Publishing 101: The Hard Lessons to Know Before You Publish

Self-publishing has given people the ability to publish their own work. These people might have been rejected by traditional publishing houses for any number of reasons. The work did not fit what the company published, the company had already published too many that were similar that year, or they might not have liked it. Self-publishing gives people the opportunity to have their work out there, to legitimize their hard work, and to even have full rights to their own novel.

Publishing through a publishing house has many benefits, from professional and financial support from your submission to the final print. Publishing houses edit, format, design a cover, and print your novel. They will then put your novel into bookstores; they put money into advertising. They do the heavy-lifting of post-writing for you. They can also take away a lot of your power. When you are self-publishing, you need to do this work for yourself.

Start with a Great Book Cover

The old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” is both sound and also unrealistic. There are so many books to choose from – Google estimates there are more than 129 million books, and more are being published each year. If you want readers, you will have to stand out. Use a book cover maker to create a beautiful cover for your novel. The more eye-catching the cover is, the more likely someone will choose to read your novel’s blurb.

Have a Captivating Description

The next thing you need to do is make sure your novel’s description is captivating. You must hook your reader in again and again to convince them to stay and read all the way through. Make them pick up your novel with a beautiful book cover, and convince them to read your novel with a compelling description. Several drafts will be needed.

Online Marketing

The secret to anyone’s success is marketing. As a self-publisher, you will need to take the reins and create a unified marketing campaign that will not only attract new readers to your novel; it will also grow and nurture a community. You want fans. You want people who love your writing and who love you as an author. You want to have a growing group of readers who will be there for your next book. You need to promote yourself, and your book, without sounding like spam.

Having a website is a wonderful way to bring everything about you (or your book) into one place. You can include Q&As, excerpts, news, and more. Have your website be your home base where you draw readers in and direct them to your novel.

There are billions of users of social media out there. Build a following on social media to direct potential readers to your site, and to grow your fan base.

This one is the most crucial – you will want to interact with people you meet, both online and offline. Build a community of fellow writers, nurture your relationship with your readers, and you will have a support system that helps you and follows you for years to come.

The last thing to know is that self-publishing is hard work. You need to take on the jobs of several people, and you need to do them well. Once your book makes it, however, you’ll be so much happier with having full control, rather than relinquishing creative power to a publishing house.