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Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
"Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate" by Faisal Alshawa
EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate
by Faisal Alshawa
Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate by Faisal Alshawa is currently on tour with Reading Addiction Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate offers practical advice so you can create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, amidst the fast-paced and stressful world we live in. If you are confused about where to start in your health journey or looking for ways to live a healthy lifestyle consistently, then this book is for you!
Excerpt
At a Glance
Faisal Alshawa is a nutritional expert consulting to athletes and busy working professionals worldwide. His clients are typically successful people who recognise the need to make their health and living a healthier lifestyle a priority.
His first book, Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate is both a primer and impeccable gear change as well as a practical reference guide to creating and managing a healthy lifestyle … starting with mindset.
Faisal Alshawa transformed his own health using the exact Five Pillars For Living A Healthier Lifestyle method outlined in this book, starting with a detailed exploration of the mindset required to making living a healthier lifestyle a life-long habit.
What makes this a highly readable reference is Alshawa candidly shares his own journey including the setbacks and struggles.
The Five Pillars For Living A Healthier Lifestyle are:
• Mindset
• Belief
• Mindfulness
• Sacrifice
• Habits
What makes Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate such an accessible read for anyone contemplating transforming their health, or for those looking for a mental edge to maintain a healthy lifestyle, is certainly the qualified insights, but also the open and conversational narrative.
Alshawa carefully describes his first exposure to a fitness culture as a Kuwaiti exchange student studying in the US. He then explains how he created a mental regime to stay on track.
That said, Alshawa is candid about the roadblocks, obstacles and setbacks he encountered and the ones you will encounter … and should expect.
The chapters are clear and concise and this will drive your understanding, insights, application and momentum towards a healthier lifestyle.
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
Praise for the Book
“I honestly found this book very helpful in framing my mindset. Faisal's insights presented in this book showed me the guidelines on how to effectively lead a healthy and mindful way of life. To me, his philosophy on ‘The Healthy Life’ starts and ends with the mind.” ~ Aziz
“Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate is a book you will read again and again. An informative and insightful read that is full of useful information, tips, and tricks.” ~ Truly
“A very easy read with lots of great tips and advice shared. Highly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling to hack those bad eating habits and is eager to find a way to live in a healthier way!” ~ Ghazal
“I like how the books uses a storytelling approach with life changing events to embrace the five pillars for a healthy lifestyle. Really good read.” ~ Adel Alansari
“Real Talk!! Straight to the point!! Real encouraging talk from the author. Recommended read.” ~ Amazon Customer
About the Author
Faisal Alshawa has always been passionate about health and fitness. As a child, he stayed active and played various sports. In 2008, Faisal moved to the US to study Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park. After completing his undergraduate degree, he went on to attain a Masters’ degree in Sports and Exercise Science at Loughborough University in the UK. Faisal moved to Doha, Qatar after graduation and was designated as a sports nutritionist for the U23 Qatar National Olympic Football team. During this time, he was also assigned to administer sports nutrition services to athletes in track and field, squash, and table tennis. His experience working in various sports, as well as competitive and recreational athletes, led Faisal to start Believe Nutrition consultancy in June of 2017.
His intention behind Believe Nutrition is to help individuals and all levels of athletes, from beginner to pro, to believe in the power of nutrition. As the founder of Believe Nutrition, Faisal wants to instill a positive change in peoples’ lives through a holistic approach, which focuses on the mind, body and soul. Faisal does not want to help people for the short-term; rather, he strives to impart a passion for health on anyone he works with to ensure they become the best and healthiest version of themselves, for the long-term.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card (or $5 PayPal cash) or an ebook copy of Fill Your Mind Before You Fill Your Plate by Faisal Alshawa.
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019
"All the Stars on Fire" by Beck Medina
NEW RELEASE and EXCERPT
All the Stars on Fire
by Beck Medina
All the Stars on Fire by Beck Medina is currently on tour with YA Bound Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
For another book by this author, please check out my blog post on A Fantastic Mess of Everything.
Description
Alyse Morales knows her sister's secret and wants Natalia to give up on her dangerous dream. When Alyse gets hurt one night while Natalia is crime fighting, Natalia promises to end her run as a hero. But when the Sorceress appears in Angel City, and Captain Force, the leader of the Action Team, enlists in Natalia's help, she may have to break her promise in order to protect her family and friends.
Will Alyse ever forgive her? Is Natalia actually capable of saving the day? All the Stars on Fire is the story of following your dreams, what it truly takes to be a hero, and leaping into the unknown.
Excerpt
Damnit, I overslept. I wake up to the sun hitting my face and a text from my best friend Boston asking where I’m at. Boston’s going out of town for two weeks to celebrate his birthday with his dad and sister, and I was supposed to meet him in his treehouse to give him his present and say goodbye.
“Be there in ten,” I write back.
“Knock, knock,” my brother Max says, opening my bedroom door gradually until half his body is in my bedroom. “You got a minute?”
Still half asleep, I close my eyes and let my head fall back on my pillow. “I’ve got ten.”
Max takes a seat on the corner of my bed. I can feel him watching me, and my suspicions are confirmed when I pop one eye open. He laughs.
“Man, you’re a wreck,” he tells me. “What’s keeping you up at night lately?”
I don’t know why, but I’m always so certain that he must know about my moonlighting as Empathy. He has a good intuition about these things. But if he did know, it would be met with so much opposition. Max is too logical. Becoming a hero is considered reckless to him. He didn’t shut up for months about how foolish the Action Team was for working without the city’s consent. He finally came around to liking them as soon as they teamed up with the Angel City Police Department.
So yeah, he’d be pissed that I’m doing this without anybody’s consent.
“What do you want to talk about?” I yawn.
“It’s about the Academy,” Max starts. He adjusts himself so he’s facing me. “Natalia, something really important is about to happen. And I need you to know what it is so that you’re prepared.”
Okay, now I’m awake. I know Max has kept in touch with some of the researchers on Project 451, I think out of hope that the government would give them more funding so they could continue the project. I’ve been dreading the day that Max informs me that we’re going back to basecamp. Please tell me today isn’t the day.
“I’ve been in touch with a few of the scientists, and it looks like--”
“There you two are.”
Max and I turn to Alyse, who’s standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. She hates it when we “twin up without her,” as she refers to it. She already feels like the outcast since she’s the only Morales sibling that didn’t get accepted into Project 451. She was too young to apply, though. If I could go back in time, I’d gladly switch places with her. While I’m grateful for my abilities, I hated Academy. It was too competitive and strict. Eventually, I got the sense that we weren’t being trained to protect our country, but rather, to control it.
Max sighs, probably upset that our conversation has been interrupted. Despite his disappointment, he gives Alyse a cordial smile. “What’s up, Alyse?”
“Aunt Rosa’s wrangling us for breakfast,” she says, stepping further into my bedroom and plopping herself down on my bed beside Max. “She’s polling everyone on where we want to go. Prima already said, ‘wherever you wanna go is fine, Mom.’”
I laugh as I get out of bed. Alyse is really good at impersonations, I feel like I should be paying her to hear them. She used to do a flawless Mom and Dad, but we don’t do those impressions anymore.
Playlist
About the Author
Beck Medina is a California born and raised author and podcast host. Beck's work includes 2016's A Fantastic Mess of Everything, 2017's Or Best Offer, and her highly anticipated fantasy novel All the Stars on Fire (December 2019).When Beck isn't writing, she's the host of the My Best Life Podcast, a health, wellness, and business podcast for creative entrepreneurs. A few of Beck's favorite things include pop music, iced coffee, teen dramas, and her two cats, Olivia and Dupree.
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Monday, December 16, 2019
"Betrayal in Black" by Mark M. Bello
NEW RELEASE and EXCERPT
Betrayal in Black
(Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Book 4)
(Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Book 4)
by Mark M. Bello
Mark M. Bello stops by today to share an excerpt from Betrayal in Black, the fourth book in the Zachary Blake Legal Thriller series. Also available: Betrayal of Faith (read my blog post), Betrayal of Justice (read my blog post), and Betrayal in Blue (read my blog post).
Description
In a fictional Michigan town, a man is pulled over by the local police. The driver wonders: “What did I do wrong?” The officer asks for I.D.; the driver casually mentions he legally carries a gun. The officer panics - confusion reigns - shots ring out - an innocent man lays bleeding to death and the incident is captured on video.
The shooting becomes the national headline - the dead man is black - the shooter is white. A community is thrown into chaos. Protestors on both sides of the racial divide take to the streets.
A widow struggles to make sense of senseless tragedy. She turns to high-profile trial lawyer, Zachary Blake. Together, they dare to fight city hall. Will police lie to protect the status quo?
Small Great Things meets The Hate U Give in Mark M. Bello's explosive new social justice legal thriller, Betrayal in Black.
Excerpt
Chapter One
“What do you think?”
Cedar Ridge chief of police Warren Brooks has convened a task force to conduct a special inquiry into this officer-involved shooting. The most experienced law enforcement officials from city and county are named to the task force.
The press will have a field day with this!
The chief and the task force listen to the transcript of the audio and review dash cam video. They review copies of a disturbing iPhone video the victim’s wife captured.
Officer Randy Jones is suspended pending completion of the investigation. He faces state charges and a possible federal civil rights investigation and prosecution. The victim was African-American. His name is Marcus Hayes; he resided in Detroit. Officer Jones is a veteran Cedar Ridge resident and cop.
“This is off the record, correct?” A task force veteran wonders.
“Absolutely,” assures Chief Brooks.
“Doesn’t look very good to me. I didn’t hear or see anything to suggest that the officer was in danger at any time.”
“Any time a citizen utters ‘I have a gun’ to an officer, that officer is in danger,” counters Brooks.
“True enough, I suppose, but why would the victim tell the officer he had a gun if he planned to use it? The victim did exactly what he should have done under the circumstances. We can’t go shooting every citizen who is carrying and has a legal right to carry.”
“Hayes should have complied with Jones’ orders to the letter, don’t you think?” Chief Brooks is naturally inclined to defend his officer.
“We can’t tell whether he complied or not from the audio or the angle that the video provides. Furthermore, Jones requested, at least twice, to see the guy’s license and registration. How was Hayes supposed to do that without reaching for something? At best, he was given inconsistent commands. Which ones should he have complied with? Close call.”
“You think Jones will face charges?”
“From the city or county, maybe. From the feds? Absolutely.”
“For now, any investigation of Officer Jones will be handled in house,” Brooks orders. “Internal Affairs needs to get Officer Jones in here for a confidential interview. We need to get his statement on the record. The audio and video tell us some, but not all of what was going on out there.
“Monday morning quarterbacking is easy. We all have opinions about what we see in the video, but what was Jones seeing? What was going through his mind? What was the guy doing inside the car that caused Jones to react the way he did? We’ve got our work cut out for us. We may need to get another police department involved so that the investigation is completely independent. I don’t want any civil rights marches in our city—they are not good for our image.”
“Neither is an officer-involved shooting of an innocent black man who was pulled over for no apparent reason.”
“There was a reason, dammit. The officer thought that driver and occupant looked like the Burger King suspects.”
“Because the driver was a black man? Any other reasons come to mind?”
“Jones claimed there was a resemblance.”
“That’s absurd, Chief. The Burger King guys were much younger, and, by the way, both male. This was a male and female with young children in car seats. There was no traffic violation. Jones admits on tape that he could not see the suspects well enough to tell that one was female. This so-called robbery suspicion was hardly probable cause for the stop.
“But, let’s assume for a second that there was probable cause. These people did nothing wrong. He pulls them over, approaches the window, and sees a man, a woman, and two children. They are some twenty years older than the Burger King suspects. Officer Jones knows, then and there, he’s made a mistake. Why not simply apologize for pulling them over, tell them it was a case of mistaken identity, and to have a nice day?”
“Because he might have smelled marijuana?”
“That’s weak, Chief. He pumps four bullets into a guy over a possible joint? This smells like a case of driving while black through a predominately white community.”
“I know; I get it. For now, we defer to Internal Affairs. Let’s reconvene once they’ve completed their investigation. Anything else?”
“Yeah, Chief. I don’t know Jones well, but this case is a powder keg. What if we have to sacrifice him, right or wrong, for the greater good of the community?”
“Not close to considering anything like that yet. We’ll cross that bridge if or when we come to it. For now, we let Internal Affairs do their thing. Anyone else? No? Okay, meeting adjourned.”
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
About the Author
Mark M. Bello is an attorney and award-winning author of realistic fiction and political legal thrillers.
Retired from handling high profile legal cases, Mark now gives the public a front-row seat watching victims fight for justice in our civil and criminal justice systems. Mark's award-winning Zachary Blake Legal Thrillers mirror our times and the events that shape our country.
In addition to writing captivating legal thriller novels, Mark writes a civil justice blog and co-hosts a weekly podcast, Journey into Justice. He has written articles for numerous publications and made guest appearances on radio and talk shows.
In his spare time, Mark enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. He and his wife Tobye have four children and eight grandchildren.
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