First Word

Lily Waters Author Interview   Q. What is the Magical Journey of Cinderella Sapphire about? A. The Magical Journey of Cinderella Sapphire takes readers on a personal voyage into the life of a young girl as she grows into womanhood under the specter of child physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, the loss of her entire family, and the unfathomable grief of it all. Cinderella Sapphire, a young girl who starts out in life with a happy, beautiful family soon experiences great loss when her beloved grandmother and mother die within three months of each other. Cinderella or “Ella” is left behind with her older brother and her loving father who soon falls under the “spell” of the beautiful but cruel Susanna. The abusive and wicked Susanna unleashes her jealousy, wrath, and twisted behavior on her stepchildren. She poisons or kills pets, sexually abuses both Ella and her brother, and makes life a living hell. Q. Why did you write the book? A. To ease the suffering of those in difficult cir...

Overall, I really liked this book. I am really glad I got the chance to read it. Not many books unnerve me with their words, but this one did. I look forward to reading more of Ferry-Perata’s books in the future. ~ Jessyca Garcia, Reader's Choice It will tug at your heart strings, and keep pulling you back in. A great read. Wonderfully, beautifully written story. ~ Amy's Bookshelf This is a beautifully written book about the bounds of friendship ... Great story, great characters and an unbelievable twist at the end. Read this book ! ~ Imaskeptic  Available on Amazon ( click here ). Grains of Truth takes readers into the lives of two best friends, Sarah and Zoe. Each woman has experienced heartbreak and betrayal in their quests for love. Their lives center on the happenings at the local feed store where each woman works. The store is managed by the affable and caring, Tom who is the only male heir to the chain owned by patriarch Otis. Otis, a larger-than-life ...

Book Launch: Sept. 17, 2016 Time: 1pm to 2pm Location: Avid Reader Address: 617 2nd St., Davis, CA    A new author has emerged in the literary world by the name of Stacey Cotter who has penned a captivating mystery titled Harris Estate: Some secrets can’t be buried.. . This well-written and fast-paced novel reveals the story of a young woman named Leah Murphy who sets out to sell the family’s estate in Texas only to uncover many dark secrets that completely unravel her identity. Harris Estate is loaded with tense intrigue as Leah Murphy learns more than she bargained for when she visits the decaying farmhouse estate. The novel is the frosh effort of Stacey Cotter who worked for many months to bring this story to print. Her writing style takes situations that on many levels might seem ordinary (exploring the estate or even sitting down for a meal) and flushes them out by creating layers of subtext and deeper meaning. The very nature of Leah ...

1. What is Harris Estate about?  Harris Estate is an alluring mystery that takes Leah Murphy from San Francisco, California to Oakdale, Texas when she inherits a long abandoned ranch estate. A grisly discovery on the property sparks an investigation with local authorities, which opens up Pandora's box and everything Leah knew about her life is changed forever. During the trials and tribulations, her marriage is tested, her desires are amplified and she has decisions to make that will affect everyone she loves. 2. What is the main take-away you want readers to have when they finish the book? I'm in hopes that the reader enjoys taking a wild ride that makes them question what they might do in the various scenarios that our characters are thrown into. I want them to experience the same range of emotions: shock, fear, humor, passion and vengeance. 3. Your story centers on a strong female protagonist. Why did you choose to tell the story from a woman's...

****1/2 Actually, I don't know why I gave it less half-a-point, but maybe it deserves five stars. Cake is yet another riveting, emotional and spiritual movie out in theaters. Chronic pain sufferer Clair is kicked out of a support group after she articulately, truthfully and in an unvarnished description goes through a "forgiveness" exercise and excoriates her friend's suicide. The group's stunned reaction leads to Clair being asked to leave. The heart of the story begins here with Clair's pain and addiction to pills spiraling out of control. She begins to hallucinate the woman who committed suicide and soon her obsession lands her on the woman's doorstep where she befriends her widower and son. While Clair is self-destructive and a self-proclaimed bitch, the audience slowly learns what happened that resulted in the physical and emotional scars. Outsiders are often unsympathetic to her situation, but Clair has bottled it all up and uses pills to numb...

You can count on my Monday morning reviews of True Blood to start. The 6th season got off to an interesting start in rapid-fire pacing and action. Sookie and Eric in the 5th season finale watched as vampire Bill melted and re-emerged as something else. Judging from the show's theme, we are going to find out this season what that something else is. Other story lines continuing included Alcide's initiation as pack master and Andy Balfour having to face the results of his unprotected sex with a fairy. Now we have Alan Ball out as head writer (I noticed he retained the title as executive producer) and Raelle Tucker in his place. I thought the storytelling was a little more focused. We stayed on the action longer with Sookie, Eric and the gang as they escaped a major explosion and headed for the ocean where some emotional confrontations went down. Now the big question in the air: What is Bill? Is he Bill Compton or Bill-ilth? Eric signed back Sookie's house, and a tenderness wa...

In one of the quietest, little movies of the year that stirs up big emotions, we find ourselves in the world of a Adam, a young man diagnosed with a rare back cancer. I knew I wanted to see this movie, and it came as no surprise it was a great movie since it had been nominated for numerous awards. I was surprised that it wasn't exactly your typical movie about life, death and the big C. It moved with a slow, visceral build with a very intimate look at Adam's reaction and slow meltdown and eruption as he realizes, yeah, hey he could die. The scene where this realization finally hits him is superb. Adam, who doesn't drive for fear he could die (yes, the irony is not lost), decides to grab the wheel when his best friend played by the low-key Seth Rogen gets too drunk to drive. Adam, who at this point has been pretty controlled about the whole thing, finally lets loose on the car and not only drives recklessly but pounds the steering wheel, letting go of loads of pent-up anger ...