The Program recommended at Goodreads.com
Charlie Lovett's suspense novel The Program (Pearlsong Press, May 2008) has garnered some glowing reader comments at Goodreads.com. Such as:
Read all the reviews/comments -- or post your own -- here.
Charlie Lovett's suspense novel The Program (Pearlsong Press, May 2008) has garnered some glowing reader comments at Goodreads.com. Such as:
Read all the reviews/comments -- or post your own -- here.
Reader K.C. Huff praises Charlie Lovett's novel The Program in a five-star review at Amazon.com:
Loved this book. Couldn't put it down once I started. I initially enjoyed it because of the premise -- the idea you could go someplace and get thin instantly. Upon further reading, the intricate story is revealed. I wasn't disappointed with the ending which I was worried would be weak. Highly recommend!
The July 2008 issue of Midwest Book Review's online book review magazine Small Press Bookwatch praises the new memoir by Linda C. Wisniewski, Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage.
Scoliosis was the least of her problems. "Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey" to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage" is the story of a woman's truly American life. She must deal with an abusive father, an apathetic mother, and the rigid stiffness of the Catholic Church. Only when she accepts her affliction, her family, and her heritage does she find a life she can live with it all in this compelling memoir. "Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage" is highly recommended for community library memoir collections.
Off Kilter is Wisniewski's first book. It was published by Pearlsong Press in April 2008.
Sandra Shwayder Sanchez praises The Singing of Swans by Mary Saracino in her review at Front Street Reviews.
The author's evocations of the natural world are exquisite, as are her descriptions of a history so ancient it blends into myth. The author has combined a great deal of historical research with a soaring imagination, a passion for nature and a gift for drawing believable characters to create a truly masterful work that includes and transcends actual history, myth and epic poetry.
....The Singing of Swans will appeal to serious readers interested in magical realist literature, feminist spirituality, religious history, mythology and herbal lore, as well as those who just love a good story brilliantly told. Highly recommended!
The Singing of Swans was published by Pearlsong Press in October 2006. It was a finalist in the spirituality category of the 2007 Lambda Literary Awards.
Duffie Bart of Story Circle Book Reviews has posted a glowing review of Linda C. Wisniewski's newly published memoir Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage.
Linda Wisniewski's Off Kilter is a gem of a memoir....she excavates her memories with courage and tenacity. Her words are sometimes painful to read. At the same time, I feel a kind of healing power emanating from her honest recollections, a healing power perhaps for both writer and reader.
Read the complete review here.
Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews has posted a glowing review of Linda C. Wisniewski's memoir Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace With Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage.
"Writing in a style reminiscent of Frank McCourt, Wisniewski conjures the ghosts of a troubled and emotionally fraught childhood throughout the majority of her memoir so that she can exorcise them in the final chapters....Expertly balancing pathos and triumph, Wisniewski never wallows in self-pity. Rather, she gathers strength from her setbacks and finds a renewed sense of purpose with each curve life sends her way. In this sense, Off Kilter is a fine testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the healing power of the written word."
Read the complete review here.
Off Kilter is being published by Pearlsong Press in April 2008.
Patricia Nordyke Pando recommends Linda C. Wisniewski's memoir Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage to all in her review posted at Story Circle Network.
Read it here.
Front Street Reviews calls Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage "a wonderful story of how we can change our own destinies."
Betty Gelean reviews the book and interviews author Linda C. Wisniewski on the Front Street Reviews website. Read the entire review here, and Wisniewski's interview here.
Off Kilter will be published by Pearlsong Press in April 2008. Take advantage of the special offer of free shipping within the U.S. for advance sales and order your copy now at the Pearlsong Press website. Or order from Amazon.com
The March 1, 2008 issue of Library Journal contains a brief review of Charlie Lovett's first novel, The Program, which will be published by Pearlsong Press in May 2008.
The Program, a New York City weight-loss clinic, guarantees an immediately svelte body for anyone with $5000 and a few hours of time. Karen Sumner, a young and overweight reporter, gets a chance to prove her journalistic worth by going undercover when it becomes apparent that there's something seriously wrong with The Program. A lively first novel. Highly recommended.
Read an excerpt from the first chapter here.
Take advantage of the special offer of free shipping within the U.S. on advance sales of The Program, and order your copy now!
"The size-positive characters are heartfelt and quirky, the suspense keeps building and the bombshell on page 25 is not to be missed. Enjoy!"
Lynne Murray
author of Larger Than Death
The Program, Charlie Lovett's first novel. will be published by Pearlsong Press in May 2008.
Pat Ballard: 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are)
The Queen of Rubenesque Romances shares the steps she created -- and used -- to heal the damage of years of dieting. Join her in celebrating size diversity, self esteem, positive body image, and health at every size.
Charlie Lovett: The Program
A new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- given them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000. When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, however, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women. Library Journal calls The Program "a lively first novel. Highly recommended."
Linda C Wisniewski: Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage
Even before she was diagnosed with scoliosis at 13, Linda Wisniewski felt off kilter. Born to a cruel father in the insulated Polish Catholic community of Amsterdam, New York, she learned martyrdom as a way of life. Off Kilter shows her learning to stretch her Self as well as her spine as she comes to terms with her mentally deteriorating, widowed mother and her culture. Only by accepting her physical deformity, her emotionally unavailable mother, and her Polish American heritage does she finally find balance and a life that fits. Maureen Murdock, author of Unreliable Truth: On Memoir & Memory, calls Off Kilter "a courageous, insightful book, particularly relevant for anyone who grew up feeling physically 'different.'"
Pat, Ballard: The Best Man
Sparks fly the night Lana Clarke meets to plan her sister's wedding -- and not just because curvaceous Lana announces she's stopped dieting and doesn't care if she's fat as maid of honor. The strong-willed sister of the bride attracts the attention of the groom's devastatingly handsome best man, Anthony Angelino. But when the sparks become flames, Lana's in trouble. Tony's first wife died mysteriously. Will Lana be next?
Judy Bagshaw: At Long Last, Love
Big beautiful --and in some cases slightly more mature -- heroines grace the pages of this collection of romantic short stories by Judy Bagshaw.
Jack Adler: Splendid Seniors
An inspiring ensemble of 52 people whose accomplishments after age 65 remind us that creativity, passion & influence can not only flower in later years, but bear delicious fruit.
Mary Saracino: The Singing of Swans
"The Singing of Swans is a remarkable narrative calling--even compelling--us to connect with our own ancestral roots, to seek our own inner wisdom, and to reclaim our own inner voices!" --Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman With the Alabaster Jar & Mary Magdalene: Bride in Exile
Ellen Frankel: Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth
"If you have ever measured your height or your weight and felt good or bad about yourself as a result, you need this book. In its pages, Ellen Frankel makes an important contribution to human liberation by telling the most fabulous story that can be told, the story of a person coming fully into her own. This book is thought-provoking, heart-rending, and a genuine solace for people of all sizes." --Marilyn Wann, author of FAT!SO?
Pat Ballard: Abigail's Revenge
Injustice, romance and suspense smolder in a small Southern town. Romantic suspense from the Queen of Rubenesque Romances, Pat Ballard.
Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.: Taking Up Space
"Thomas's incisive blend of sociological inquiry and personal narrative amounts to a provocative treatise on fat oppression in our culture. Taking Up Space is a kind of roadmap through the minefield of the 'war on obesity,' and it offers protection to the reader ready to fight for cultural change surrounding the meaning of fatness." --Kathleen LeBesco, Ph.D., author of Revotling Bodies: The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity.
Anne Richardson Williams: Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under
Shattered by family tragedy in the early 1960s, an upper-middle-class Southern teenager finds solace in art and literature. Decades later she is called to the continent whose literature once comforted her, and to a magical connection with an Aboriginal woman transcending race and half a world.
Pat Ballard: A Worthy Heir
When Pam Spencer sees the newspaper ad seeking "a worthy heir" to Fiona Bainbridge's millions, she jumps at the chance to get her brother the medical care he needs after a job-related accident. But Reese Bainbridge, Fiona's handsome grandson--and jilted heir--rushes home in anger when he hears his grandmother has moved Pam and her brother into the family mansion. Sparks fly--and Pam is up to the challenge.
Pat Ballard: His Brother's Child
One party, one silver-tongued, double-talking stranger intent on winning a bet, and Faith Carr ends up betrayed, alone, and pregnant. When Edward Brenner shows up on her doorstep intending to right his brother's wrongs, she's scared and vulnerable. But she agrees to marry this stranger to give the baby a father, although keeping him at a distance. She doesn't realize that Edward fell in love with her the moment he saw her. Will her battered self-esteem allow her to see the truth--and her own beauty?
Pat Ballard: Wanted: One Groom
Wealthy Hanna Rockwell will lose her home and her inheritance unless she marries by her 30th birthday. She's stunned when Matt Corbett, the faded rock start she worshipped in her teens, accepts her brother's offer to bail him out of financial trouble if he'll marry her. Her teenaged fantasies come to life--bringing a few surprises with them.
Pat Ballard: Nobody's Perfect
Nella Covington can't believe she's agreed to marry arrogant Samuel du Cannon, even if it IS only a marriage of convenience. He needs a mother for his young son, and she needs to keep her childhood home. If Sam's work keeps him on the road enough, she won't have to deal with him much. Sam's never been attracted to plus-size women, so they won't be tempted to have a real relationship. At least, that's what they keep telling themselves--
Pat Ballard: Dangerous Curves Ahead: Short Stories
Ten romantic tales pack suspense and sizzle into this collection of short stories featuring amply curved women.