VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

About the Book: Torch in the Dark tells the moving story of how Hadiyah Joan Carlyle, a single mother haunted by memories of her own traumatic childhood, pioneered as one of the first women since World War II to enter the trades as a union welder. Beginning in a Jewish immigrant neighborhood in New Jersey, the story moves through San Francisco’s colorful Haight-Ashbury in the sixties to arrive at Fairhaven Shipyard in Bellingham, Washington. For Hadiyah, welding becomes a metaphor for healing from the dark past as well as a path to self-reliance and economic survival. While providing insightful perspective on the culture of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Torch in the Dark offers profound inspiration for anyone struggling with issues of abuse and oppression. Overall Thoughts: I had a bit of a hard time getting into this memoir as the writing is more blunt and pointed into the facts at the beginning. As you get past the first few chapters, you start to understand and see thr

  Join the hosts of The Writing Mama show on March 18, 2013 at 2pm EDT - 1pm CDT - Noon MDT - 11am PDT Virginia S Grenier will be chatting with debut author Susanne Jacoby Hale, a former drop-out prevention teacher from New York and author of Shades of Gray.  Jacoby Hale earned a master's degree from New York University in education and creative writing. Although, when she began teaching in the real ACE program, depicted in Shades of Gray, she had no idea that it would change her life forever. Having been out of the classroom for a few years, Jacoby Hale still felt the need to make a difference in the lives of students. Susanne Jacoby Hale felt the need to tell the story of a dedicated teacher. She believes  good teachers are often unappreciated, while students’ needs are frequently misconstrued. Sometimes the only thing missing in today’s classrooms is compassion. Her book is the fictional account of a new teacher's experience with one of NYC's most notoriously tu

Riptide Author: Amber Lea Easton Publisher: Siren-Bookstrand Length: 98,000 words Genres: Contemporary Romantic Suspense (Adventure) Heat Level: Steamy BLURB: One violent night shatters Lauren Biltmore’s life. As an anchorwoman, she's accustomed to reporting the news rather than being the lead story.  She escapes the spotlight by fleeing to her brother's home in the Cayman Islands. Haunted by nightmares, all she wants is a distraction from reality. Distraction arrives via sexy screenwriter, Noah Reynolds. His take-me-to-bed looks mask a past ripe with scandal. He knows he should stay away from Lauren, especially when the worst night of her life unlocks his writer's block and while he's dealing with a stalker of his own, but ethics are his weakness. Attraction sizzles beneath Caribbean sunshine. As their relationship grows, Noah's stalker intensifies her torment. Lauren wonders if her paranoia is justified or a carryover from her