It all started when 14-year old Hannah Salwen, idealistic but troubled by a growing sense of injustice in the world, had a eureka moment when a homeless man in her neighborhood was juxtaposed against a glistening Mercedes coupe. “You know, Dad,” she said, pointing, “If that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal.”

This glaring disparity led the Salwen family of four, caught up like so many other Americans in this age of consumption and waste, to follow Hannah’s urge to do something, to finally just do something. And so they embarked on an incredible journey together from which there would be no turning back. They decided to sell their Atlanta mansion, downsize to a house half its size, and give half of their profits to a worthy charity. At first it was an outlandish scheme. “What, are you crazy? No way!” Then it was a challenge. “We are TOTALLY doing this.” Each week they met over dinner to discuss their plan. It would transport them across the globe and well out of their comfort zone. Along the way they would inspire so many others wrestling with the same questions: Do I give enough? How much is enough? How can I make an impact in the world? In the end the Salwens’ journey would bring them closer as a family, as they discovered, together, that half could be so much more.

Ξ      Ξ     Ξ     Ξ     Ξ     Ξ     Ξ     Ξ     Ξ

This is a story that makes you think of all the excess we have around us. The Salwen’s made a decision to work together to downsize their home and their lives and in doing so – they gave much to others.

You may read this book and about the Salwen’s life and think, “well, they had a lot to begin with.  A great home, vehicles, not really wanting for anything….”  I will admit as I started this story that is what I was thinking… yet as I read on I came to realize that what this book is really about is not so much about the Salwen family – as is it about the changes we can make in our own lives big or small that can help others.  The Salwens story is an example of what one family can do.

I love how this was not a one persons vision – but an effort that not only brought great joy to those with less, but also brought the Salwen’s closer as a family.  While there are some parts of this books that felt a little to “look what I did”, I felt overall the book gives a good message of how we can all make  changes.

This book was an inspiration and in light of reading this I plan to offer a challenge starting April 1 where I encourage each of us to think about something we can give up (or cut back on) for a month and instead put that money that we would be spending (on that cup of coffee, ice cream, movie nights, out to dinners…) and put it away to be given to a cause dear to your heart at the end of April.

More details to come.

For every book sold  $1 will be donated to Rebuilding Together, serving American’s low-income home-owners.  In addition, the Salwen family is investing in the Hunger Project.

I received my review copy from FSB Associates

This book reminded me a little of a book I read quite a while ago and RAVED about.  It was called the Kingdom Assignment and it will be part of what I am planning for April 1.

At the start of Doetsch’s tricky thriller, an innocent man, Nicholas Quinn, is in police custody, suspected of murdering his wife, Julia, at their house in upscale Byram Hills, N.Y. Then a stranger gives Nick a watchlike device that allows him to change the past by sending him back, one hour at a time, for half a day. When Nick goes back in time, he discovers single events are the result of a complex web of causes. Saving his wife means untangling a plot that includes a robbery committed by corrupt cops, a horrendous plane crash and a mysterious family secret. Julia’s fate seems to be inevitable, one way or another, and Nick’s tampering brings death to friends and allies along the way. At times Doetsch (The Thieves of Faith) oversells Nick’s anguish with breathless prose, and no character emerges as more than a cardboard cutout, but readers will enjoy the clever razzle-dazzle of a story whose parts fit together like clockwork.

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I wish I could remember the blog I first seen this book on.  I know I left a comment about how thrilling the book looked and I apologize for not remembering where I first picked up on this book.  When I first layed hands on my copy and opened it up to the authors note, I knew I was in for a treat:

YOU ARE NOT MISTAKEN as you turn the next page and find Chapter 12.

The chapters of this book are in reverse order and are to be read that way for reasons that will become evident upon your journey.

Pretty sweet right?  I love an unusual book and Richard Doetsch comes through in flying colors!

As the book opens we are brought into the wonderful relationship of Nick and his wife Julia.  Still madly in love after many years, even despite their morning quarrel it is clear they are very much still in love.  In a matter of pages…. their love is snubbed out by an unknown killer who takes Julia’s life and Nick is soon in custody for her murder.

As the above synopsis describes, Nick is offered a chance to go back in time to change the past and save Julia.  Who wouldn’t jump at a chance like this? What follows in a whirlwind read as Nick goes back only one hour at a time, the first leap to right before he is arrested (but still after the murder) and then with each leap back he goes to an hour previous to the one he just completed.

In a style of writing I found fascinating much to the likes of the popular shows LOST and Flash Forward, I found myself engrossed in a read that gave Nick only an hour at a time to make changes to the future that he soon discovers not only can alter the outcome of Julia’s brutal murder, but can also change how things go down affecting other lives as well – and not necessarily for the better.

With each backwards turn of the clock, Nick tries to improve what he is doing, leaving clues behind to help others help him and perfect the task at hand before he and Julia run out of time.

Towards the end of the read so many characters had been introduced I had a bit of a struggle keeping them all straight, and the flashbacks of going back and repeating mistakes he made the previous hour to change the outcome towards the end became a bit tedious….. as a reader, I became frustrated.  Yet as I thought about the book, I found the frustration brilliant as  if I was frustrated with the repeat of activities, and the tweaking of details, how must Nick feel having to do this time and again only to be snapped backward to do it again, but earlier and hopefully – better.

And what is in the box?  The box everyone is after – the secrets of a family handed down generation after generation…..  more valuable than the original paintings that line their walls or the diamonds in the safe…..

And because of this unusual style of book, I know it will be one that will stick with me for many years to come and not blend into my mind in a mix of copycat books that are all pretty much centered around the same theme, and the same outcome.

A+ for a brilliant read Mr. Doetsch.

My Amazon Rating

I received my copy from our local Library

Written by René Colato Laínez
Illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck
Boyds Mills Press

*ISBN-10: 1590783859

Mario is leaving his home in El Salvador. With his father by his side, he is going north to join his mother, who lives in the United States. She has sent Mario a new pair of shoes, and he is thrilled. He will need good shoes because the trip will be long and hard. He and his father will cross the borders of three countries. They will walk for miles, ride buses, climb mountains and wade a river.

 Mario has faith in his shoes. He believes they will take him anywhere. On this day, he wants to go to the United States, where his family will be reunited.

René Colato Laínez’s inspiring story, dramatically illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck, vividly portrays a boy who strives to reach a new land and a new life.

°         °          °          °          °         °          °          °          °          °

This was a wonderful read about a boy, his travels, and of course his shoes.  His shoes take him everywhere…  Throughout the book Mario goes through many travels and trials.  Each page shares Mario’s story along with beautifully illustrated pictures of course, including the shoes.

I feel that sharing this lovely book with a young child would be fun as we turn page after page.  I imagine the child would be excited to hear the story and follow the pictures.  I cant wait for the chance to so just that!

I had the opportunity to ask Author Rene Colato Lainez about his journey through publishing.  The topic always interests me and here is what Rene had to say:

Hello Sheila,

I am René Colato Laínez, the Salvadoran award winning author of I Am René, the Boy, Waiting for Papá, Playing Lotería, René Has Two Last Names and The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez. My picture books have been honored by the Latino Book Award, the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the California Collection for Elementary Readers, the Tejas Star Book Award Selection and the New Mexico Book Award. I was named “Top Ten New Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)” by latinostories.com. I am  a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for  Children & Young  Adults.

My goal as a writer is to produce good multicultural children’s literature; stories where minority children are portrayed in a positive way, where they can see themselves as heroes, and where they can dream and have hopes for the future. I want to write authentic stories of Latin American children living in the United States

In 1985, my father and I left El Salvador to come to the United States. This journey of crossing three countries has always been present in my writing. When I was in college, I started to write about my journey. I titled the story “Hacia el Norte” (Going North). It was written in a series of journal entries and I was practically retelling my journey step by step.

In 2004, I was doing my MFA in writing for children at Vermont College. I realized that “Hacia el Norte” could become a great young adult book. I reread my original story and it was all over the place. My new goal was to fictionalize the story and to concentrate on my main character. I was ready to start my manuscript when Phyllis Root became my new writing advisor.

I was born in a tropical country. In El Salvador it is summer almost all year long. I live in California and here I can only see some snow on the top of the mountains. I experienced my first snowy day in Montpellier, Vermont. Oh my! It was hard to walk in the snow. I was trying to walk to the cafeteria in my baby’s steps when I heard Phyllis Root’s voice, “Hello René, we are almost there.” During lunch, I told Phyllis that walking on snow was similar like crossing the mountains in Tijuana, Mexico. Soon, I was telling her about my journey and my special shoes that my mother sent me from the United States. Phyllis was fascinating listening to my story and she told me, “René this can be a powerful picture book.”

Later that week I found out that Phyllis was my new writing advisor for my second semester. I was so happy to write my stories and have feed back from this talented amazing author. When we met to discuss the plans for the semester, she told me that she want to read my manuscript about my shoes. But something in my mind, was telling me “No, I think this is my young adult novel and not a picture book.”

I sent my first packet of work and Phyllis told me, “Great work! Are you working on your shoes story?” It was time for the second packet and I wrote new stories. Phyllis reminded me, “How is your shoes story coming along.” For the third packet, I felt that I needed to write something about my shoes to Phyllis. So I wrote my first line, “I love my shoes. They can take me anywhere.” I really liked this line and kept writing for two hours.

Yeah! I had a story MY SHOES AND I. It came directly from my heart and it was an authentic story about immigration. At this point, I agreed with Phyllis, “This could be a powerful picture book”. I revised the story in the next months. Soon it was summer, time to come back to Vermont.

For the second semester reading night, I chose to read MY SHOES AND I. At the end of my reading, I had a standing ovation from everyone in the room. Author Jane Resh Tomas whispered in my ear, “Great Story, René!”

The following day, Author Carolyn Coman told me that she had heard great comments about my story and asked me if she can read it. But the end of the residence, Carolyn told me that she had an editor friend that might be interested in my manuscript. She acted like my agent and submitted the story for me.

Leave a comment here today and you will be entered into a giveaway for an opportunity to win a copy of this book from the author.  This is a one day giveaway so put your comment in today!

If you would like to see more reviews on this book:

Monday March 08-Mayra Calvani http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner

Tuesday March 09-Lori Calabrese http://www.examiner.com/x-7597-Childrens-Books-Examiner

Wednesday March 10-Christina Rodriguez http://www.christinarodriguez.com/

Thursday March 11-Silvia http://www.mamalatinatips.com/

Friday March 12-Monica Olivera Hazelton http://www.latinbabybookclub.com/

Monday March 15- Tina Nichols Coury http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/

Tuesday March 16-Michael Sedano http://www.labloga.blogspot.com/

Wednesday March 17-Caridad Pineiro http://www.caridad.com/blog/

Thursday March 18-Sandra Lopez http://sandrasbookclub.blogspot.com/

I received my review copy from Bronzeword Latino

Moonlight Falls is the Albany, New York-based paranoid tale (in the Hitchcock tradition) of former APD Detective turned Private Investigator/Massage Therapist, Richard “Dick” Moonlight, who believes he might be responsible for the brutal slaying by knife of his illicit lover, the beautiful Scarlet Montana. The situation is made all the worse since Scarlet is the wife of Moonlight’s boss, Chief of Detectives Jake Montana.

Why does Moonlight believe he might be responsible?

He’s got a small fragment of a .22 hollow point round buried inside his brain, lodge directly up against his cerebral cortex. The result of a botched suicide attempt four years prior to the novel’s start, an operation to remove the bullt frag would be too dangerous.

But the bullet causes Moonlight lots of problems, the least of which are the occasional memory loss and his rational ability to tell right from wrong. The bullet frag also might shift at any moment, making coma and/or sudden death, a very real possibility.

Still, Moonlight has been trying to get his life together as of late.

But when Scarlet begs him to make the trip over to her house late one rainy Sunday night to issue one of his “massages,” he makes a big mistake by sleeping with her. Later, having passed out in her bed, he will be rudely awakened by a garage door opening and Jake’s unexpected and very drunken homecoming. Making his impromptu escape out a top floor window, Moonlight will seek the safety of his home.

Two hours later however, he will receive another unexpected visit from Jake Montana. This time the big Captain has sobering news to report. He’s discovered his wife’s mutilated body in her own bed. She’s been murdered and now he needs the P.I. to investigate it in association with Albany ’s “overtaxed” Special Independent Unit before I.A. pokes their nose into the affair. Moonlight takes a big step back. Is it possible he made a second trip to the Montana home-sweet-home and just has no recollection of it? Once there, did he perform a heinous crime on his part-time lover? Or is this some kind of set up by his former boss? Is it really Jake who is responsible for Scarlet’s death? Does he wish for Moonlight to cover up his involvement, seal the case before Internal Affairs starts poking their nose into the situation?

There’s another problem too.

Covering Moonlight’s palms and the pads of his fingers are numerous scratches and cuts. Are these defensive wounds? Wounds he received when Scarlet put up a struggle? Or are they offensive wounds? Wounds he couldn’t avoid when making his attack on Scarlet with a blade? The answer is not so simple since Moonlight has no idea where he acquired the wounds.

Having no choice but to take on the mission, Moonlight can only hope the answers to his many questions point to his former boss and not himself.

I grew up with mysteries being my book flavor of choice.  Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys may as well have been by neighborhood playmates, after all I spent a lot of time with them and they usually caused me to be late to such things as dinner.

Even as my tastes in literature grew and I branched out into other genres and explored  the larger world of books, I still have always had a spot in my heart for a good “hunker-down- blanket and cocoa-curled in a big soft chair- mystery”.  Enter stage left….  Moonlight Falls.

Moonlight is an unlikely main character…. he has faults…. big ones.  Yet for some reason I really liked this guy. Through a storyline of not only trying to solve a crime, that he may or may not have been involved in…. but also clearing his name.  Moonlight truly has his work cut out for him.

I have always liked the feeling a good mystery gives me….. the type before there were vampires and werewolves, and the occasional zombie thrown in for good measure.  Moonlight Falls gave me that feeling.

I had picked this book up in the mood for a good thriller and Vincent Zandri did not disappoint.  My advice to anyone considering reading this book is to allow yourself plenty of time to read the book and surround yourself with the basic necessity’s (food and water) because once you hop on this thrill ride of a book you are not going to want to let go until it screeches to a halt at the satisfying end of the ride.

About Vince Zandri

Vincent Zandri is an award-winning novelist, essayist and freelance photojournalist. His novel As Catch CanGodchild (Bantam/Dell) and Permanence (NPI). Translated into several languages including Japanese and the Dutch, Zandri’s novels have also been sought out by numerous major movie producers, including Heyday Productions and DreamWorks. Moonlight Falls is his fourth novel. He is the author of the blogs, Dangerous Dispatches and Embedded in Africa for RT ( Russia Today TV) which have been syndicated and translated in several different languages throughout the world. He also writes for other global publications, including Culture 11, Globalia, Globalspec and more. Zandri’s nonfiction has appeared in New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, Game and Fish Magazine and others, while his essays and short fiction have been featured in many journals including Fugue, Maryland Review and Orange Coast Magazine. He holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College and is a 2010 International Thrillerl. Writer’s Awards panel judge. Zandri currently divides his time between New York and Europe. He is the drummer for the Albany-based punk band to Blisterz. You can visit his website at www.vincentzandri.com or his blog at www.vincentzandri.blogspot.com.

I received my copy of this book for review from Pump Up You Blog Tour