I love books.  No big secret there if you have followed my blog or known me for any amount of time.  On my recent trip to Las Vegas and the Blogger At Midlife Conference (you can read my initial post here) I was thrilled to meet a lot of very talented women who were outstanding authors.  That is what I love.  When I can connect with an author who has done the hard yards and gotten the actual published work under her/his belt.  At BAM there were a lot of authors and I came home with a stack of hard copies as well as plenty of downloads on my Kindle.

Arriving in Vegas I had reached out to a couple of women who were coming in around the same time and begged asked to share a ride to the hotel from the airport with them. They graciously agreed and then I discovered that they were both authors which made me a bit giddy.  Of course there were selfies.  After all we are bloggers and social media addicts.  We shared a magical Uber ride with Aaron our driver and I felt like I had known them forever.

Barbara Hammond,myself, Doreen McGettigan

Barbara blogs at Zero To Sixty and Beyond and is simply a lovely woman.   I discovered that she has written a children’s book called The Duffy Chronicles which looks to be a fun book for all ages.  In addition she has also written a book, While You Were Sleeping, which was her journal during the time when her husband battled lymphoma.  Barbara graciously has a free download available to anyone who would like to read a copy of this journey through cancer.  If you would like to read a copy you can click on the download link by going here.  I have just started it and it is certainly a well written and helpful book.  

Doreen McGettigan blogs at DoreenMcGettigan.com and currently has two books available for purchase that she has authored. The first is Bristol Boyz Stomp which details the death of her brother.  Her own words give you an idea of why this book had to be written:

In April of 1999, my younger brother, David, passed away. Doesn’t passed away sound so gentle, even normal? David’s death was neither, it was brutal murder.

This book is the true story of the random murder of my brother. The youngest of five. I am the oldest. We were the book ends.

 I downloaded her second book, The Stranger in My Recliner, pre- flight to Vegas and finished it on the trip home.  I was so moved by this book that chronicles Doreen and her husband John’s story of inviting a homeless woman named Sophie to share their home and all that comes with such a bold move as that.  I was touched by her compassion and her true willingness to give her all to help a woman that was a total stranger to her.  Here is a snippet from my review:

The Stranger in My Recliner is one of those books that sticks with you for many reasons. Author Doreen M. McGettigan has a story to tell and it is one of compassion, courage, discomfort, uneasiness and a myriad of other emotions that all pop up while the book is read. To say that this is an easy memoir to read might not be fully true but to say that this is a book that needs to be read is spot on.

To read my complete review click here.   I am not alone in my glowing review of what is truly a book that needs to be shared.

Doreen graciously has agreed to send one of my readers a free copy of The Stranger in My Recliner  to one of my wonderful readers and I am thrilled to be a part of this giveaway.  There is nothing better than a book other than a free book.  To make it very easy for my readers all that is required to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on this post saying that you would like to win.  No Rafflecopter this time – just leave a comment and I will have a random number selector pick the winner on May 6th.  The great thing is that every comment will also mean a 50 cent donation to my Comments for a Cause recipient.  The cause for April is the Special Olympics of Transylvania County.

Thanks so much to Doreen for gifting one of my dedicated readers and for writing a story that had to be shared.