"23:27" by H. L. Roberts

REVIEW and EXCERPT

23:27

by H. L. Roberts

This review opportunity for 23:27 by H. L. Roberts is brought to you by YA Bound Book Tours.

Description

Fame.

Money.

Glory.

These were all the things that you would expect from being famous. The bait that the producers of the industry would tempt you with to get you on their side.

What they don't tell you though are all the inner tragedies that come along just as quickly. They don't tell you about the heartache that occurs when you realize that this wasn't what you wanted at all.

They don't tell you about the pressure that's always on the verge of crushing you when you're forced to do everything that the public demands for and not what you truly desire.

They don't tell you about the self hatred that would soon take over your entire being at the thought that you will never be good enough.

No - they don't tell you these things at all.

But, Lilith Rose will.

When Lilith Rose, lead singer to one of the most famous rock bands around gets tired of all the lies and secrets that comes with being famous.

She decides that it's time for all of it to stop and ends up revealing everything on a Facebook live stream.

The result ...

"Part of me wants to die tonight, part of me wants it to be an accident, and part of me wants someone to notice and save me." - Lilith Rose.

Excerpt

Time.

In the beginning, that was all there was. Seconds, minutes, hours pressed together, forming a mask of illusion that could never be dropped. A wall of steel grew around their hearts, one that couldn’t be broken. The United Misfits image could never be distorted.

It was wrong. It wasn’t right. No matter what her heart told her, it was wrong. Every flutter that skated through her stomach. His every skipped heartbeat, meant nothing. She was nothing. He was nothing. They were nothing.

It had been said many times, by many different people, the most broken person in the world could hide behind a perfected smile and a fake laugh. This could carry out a person’s persona, something that never even existed to begin with. That would never exist. Laughter and smiles filled with fake truths and real lies could hide what that person wanted to show, to tell, the truth.

In the end, she wanted to break free, but chains restrained her, blocking each and every move before she could make a single one, turning her into a prisoner. A captive in her own life.

Those chains squeezed tighter and tighter, never loosening their grip. They choked her from the inside, wrapping her tighter with every deceitful accusation and fake persona they put in her life. Deadly thoughts clouded her vision and stomped through her mind. Both of their minds.

Their hearts were noosed, yanked in every which direction. Like a snake. Until it all stopped. Until they both stopped fighting.

And when the fight dissipated, she could no longer turn away from the deceitful ways that they had so graciously bestowed on her.

Praise for the Book

"There are ups in 23:27 and there are downs. There were moments I wanted to launch the book at the wall because I was so frustrated with the characters. But there were moments I could have cried because I felt so incredibly sad for them and I just wanted things to work out. The emotions this book brought out in me is the whole reason I read. I want to feel something. And Roberts made me feel so much so fast I could hardly put the book down." ~ Cassandra Fear

"A really captivating read. Couldn't put the book away! A must read for young Adult readers!" ~ Marie Julien

The writing style is superb. The author took two of my favorite things, reading and music and put it into one beautiful story. If you guys are thinking of reading this book, take a chance on it, and let yourself be surprised." ~ Tracy Thomas

"I fell in love with the characters and just wanted them to be happy. There were moments I just want to cry or yell at a characters. This book is just too good! This is Ms. Roberts debut and let's just say she has hit it out of the ball park!" ~ Korina

"H. L. Roberts’s writing style is breathtakingly beautiful. She brings her characters to life in a way that you can’t help, but be drawn into the story. Roberts is one talented lady! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her. [...] My advice is take a chance on this book you won’t regret!" ~ Kayla

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

Lilith has been the lead singer of The United Misfits since high school. As their success grew, so did her feelings for fellow band member Alec. But their relationship threatened the band's future. Lilith had to make a hard decision, one she now regrets and is about to make public via a Livestream broadcast. The lives of Lilith and the rest of the band members are about to change forever.

The story is told from both Lilith's and Alec's points-of-view, recounting events in the present and the past. The first 40% of the book deals with the lead-up to Lilith's suicide attempt, while the rest of the book focuses on the aftermath of her actions. The Livestream is compelling, if predictable, but what follows is not compelling and is, in fact, boring. *Spoiler alert* Lilith's time in the treatment center is glossed over. Three months pass, and then we get her a fleeting account of her stay. She is writing to Alec but he's not replying although, according to his story, she's not writing to him! More miscommunication and people interfering in their relationship. Just leave them alone, already! So frustrating! Why don't the other band members ask her why she isn't communicating with Alec or tell her that he is writing to her every day? Then six more months pass with no further details. Meanwhile, the whole band is in limbo while they are waiting for Lilith to get out. When she finally does get out, she's with Markus. What the ...? Then another six months fly by until there is only a week left to the wedding. Then, the night before the wedding, Alec finally makes his move. Aargh!

Believe it or not, it was 23:27 when I started reading this book, that means 11:27pm. This time is never actually spelled out in the book but occurs about 40% in, when a crucial event occurs. Why is the title relevant? Perhaps it has nothing to do with time but is a reference to the Bible: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." Matthew 23:27. That certainly seems to fit with how Lilith sees herself.

I had a number of issues with this book: *spoiler alert*

·       We have no idea what the characters' ages are.

·       Alec drinks and sleeps around in order to forget Lilith. He keeps wishing he could go back in time and change things, yet he continues to act badly.

·       Lilith reveals that management forced her to break up with Alec for the band's image because of their color: he's black and she's white. This is the only time that we learn that Alec and Jase are black, although it appears to be crucial to the story.

·       We hear too much from Alec and not enough from Lilith.

·       Why does the character of Chloe-Grace have such a beautiful name only to have it shortened to CG?

·       Why do two band members have names starting with J (Jaxson and Jace) when they're not even the twins?

·       What is the relevance of Alec and Jace being twins? They could simply have been brothers.

·       In addition, there is the annoying stammering by a number of characters, unrealistically polite swearing by rock stars, unbelievable behavior from everyone, and some confusion of timelines.

There are also numerous editing errors, including:

·       misplaced commas,

·       incorrect use of apostrophes,

·       missing words,

·       incorrect words,

·       awkwardly phrased sentences (e.g., "I shot up from my chair so fast it fell back, slamming into the ground and ran to the hallway tugging on my shoes."),

·       short choppy sentences,

·       overuse of sentence fragments,

·       incorrect prepositions,

·       formatting errors (the last paragraph of each chapter is cantered),

·       lame similes (e.g., "My head shook and tears fell like apples from trees onto my cheeks."),

·       repetition of a whole chapter (Chapter 4 is a duplicate of Chapter 3 minus the incorrect heading),

·       inconsistencies in tense (written in the past tense with occasional lapses into the present tense),

·       too much smirking and crying,

·       constant descriptions of looks, smiles, facial expressions, touches.

This book has potential if it receives a complete re-edit.

While the characters' current ages are never actually mentioned, I place this book in the New Adult category, as they are no longer in school.

Warnings: suicide references, alcohol consumption, self-harm, coarse language, casual sex, mental illness.

Some of My Favorite Lines

"So much love I could barely let my mind wander there without my heart threatening to melt from my chest into a puddle at my feet."

"It tore my heart out knowing the people would never know who I was because Star Records and Management turned me into a stranger even I didn’t know."

"He was kissing me. My best friend; the guy I had fallen in love with ages ago was kissing me. That was the best moment of my life."

"I had to break my boyfriend's heart and in turn, break my own."

"I stopped living as much as I could without actually ending my life."

"She’d become my purpose in life, my only purpose."

"Part of me didn’t care. The other part always would."

"I used to think happiness was just an illusion. Something people made up to tell an engaging story or to sell a good book."

"Happiness would never exist for me."

About the Author

H. L. Roberts is a short story writer and a contemporary novelist from a small town in Kentucky. She is currently in her third year of college where she is majoring in English Literature and minoring in Psychology. When she isn't reading a book you can find her raising awareness about mental illness, suicide prevention, and epilepsy.

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"Overcoming Anxiety" by David Berndt

GUEST POST and REVIEW

Overcoming Anxiety:
Self-Help Anxiety Relief

by David Berndt, Ph.D.

Author and psychologist David Berndt, Ph.D., is celebrating the release of Overcoming Anxiety, the first of in his new Psychology Knowledge Mental Health Series.

The author joins me today to share a special guest post and an excerpt from the book. You can also read my review. Make sure you follow the author's blog tour, featuring many more reviews, guest posts, and interviews.

Description

Psychologist David Berndt, Ph.D., in Overcoming Anxiety, outlines several self-help methods for relief from anxiety and worry. In clear language and a conversational style, Dr. Berndt talks intimately with the reader like he would in a therapy session, and he shares what he learned from his peers and clients about how to make techniques for anxiety management more effective and helpful.

You will learn:

·       A Self-hypnosis grounding technique in the Ericksonian tradition.

·   Box Breathing, Seven Eleven and similar breathing techniques for anxiety relief.

·       How to stop or interrupt toxic thoughts that keep you locked in anxiety.

·       How to harness and utilize your worries, so they work for you.

·       Relief from anxiety through desensitization and exposure therapy.

Designed to be used alone as self-help or in conjunction with professional treatment Dr. Berndt draws upon his experience as a clinician and academic researcher to give accessible help to the reader who wants to understand and manage their anxiety.

Excerpt

I wanted to start off by teaching you a technique, sometimes known as the 54321 Technique, you can begin to use right way. I learned a version of this initially from another psychologist, Yvonne Dolan, who is one of the bright stars of the Solution Focused brief therapy approach. Perhaps because of her training under master therapist Milton Erickson, she learned the value of being especially creative and innovative. When I noticed early in my career that my skill set needed some bolstering, I sought training from Ms. Dolan, among others. She taught an earlier version of this technique in a seminar that I attended on treatment approaches to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The information she shared is presented in her 2000 book, One Small Step, Moving Beyond Trauma and Therapy to a Life of Joy and she indicated that the technique in its original version should be credited to Betty Erickson, the wife of hypnotherapist Milton Erickson. This particular method, as it has evolved in the way I use it, is now one of my "go to" tools whenever I want to help my clients to feel more grounded. Yvonne Dolan originally taught me the approach as a tool for dealing with flashbacks, so it is a fairly strong remedy, but my patients and I have discovered that it can be useful with many types of emotional storms.

Ms. Dolan encouraged those of us who were in that PTSD training seminar to continue to develop what I will call the "54321 Technique," and to modify it. I have, over the years, had the privilege - with significant input from many of my clients - to change, improve upon, and modify some components of this procedure. I now use the tool clinically as I present it here, to teach my clients how to manage anxiety and other strong feelings.

Custom Designed

The way I am presenting this technique is easy to teach, and in order to present it to the reader I have similarly made it as accessible as possible, and in so doing, by necessity I am making it rather generic. I leave it up to you the reader to shape it, change it, and enrich it in ways that are tailored to your own unique needs and style. As you become more skilled at the basic procedure (and others presented in later chapters), you will find ways to improve the technique by making it more interesting to you, more simpatico, and thereby more powerful.

In its simplest form this 54321 skill can be quite helpful, without any changes. However, by changing the technique and making it yours, you will more confidently rely on it for managing severe anxiety and for relief during other peak moments of stress. Combined with other strategies in the later chapters, you will get more adept at developing an emotionally intelligent skillset, from which you can pick and choose your best option for handling an emotional problem.

Praise for the Dr. David J. Berndt's Work

About the Multiscore Depression Inventory:

"A textbook example of how to create a psychological test." ~ Oscar Burrows, Mental Measurement Yearbook

About Overcoming Anxiety:

"Dr. Berndt is a creative and forward-thinking psychologist who has contributed to advancing psychology both with his research and clinical practice. He has helped countless patients with their depression and anxiety, and his conversational and accessible style of writing makes Overcoming Anxiety a book you would want for your top shelf." ~ Charles Kaiser, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the College of Charleston

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

The author shares numerous techniques for overcoming anxiety and related disorders: the 54321 technique, breathing exercises, scheduling worry time, desensitization to overcome fears and phobias, cognitive behavior therapy to tackle negative thoughts, dealing with thoughts that can lead to depression. These are all described in a simple, step-by-step manner, making it easy for readers to employ them on their own or with the assistance of a trained psychologist. The author also describes the physiological reasons for panic attacks. Includes a full reference list at the end.

It's hard to believe so much information can be packed into such a small volume (188 pages). Full of handy self-help tips from a trained psychologist, this book is the cheapest form of therapy you are likely to get.

Guest Post by the Author

Anxiety Relief: Box Breathing and 7/11

by David Berndt, PhD clinical psychologist

The way I am going to introduce breathing techniques for the management of anxiety is very much the same way I introduce it to my clients. Breathing is a skill that most people never bother to learn, or, at least, they never learn well. Professional singers pay for voice lessons, in order to learn how to breathe deeply, using the diaphragm muscle at the bottom of the lungs to make their lungs into a bellows. They learn how to pump oxygen like a bagpipe over their reed-like vocal cords, so singers can hold and trill a note for a long time. Swimmers and gymnasts are trained at how to breathe deeply, and so are actors, who need to project to the back rows of a theater.

But, of all the groups who need to learn how to breathe deeply, there are few with more at stake than the person who is prone to anxiety. If you can learn to breathe deeply, and you can use that skill both tactically and strategically, then you will have a good chance at winning battles in your war with anxiety. 

Deep breathing techniques are helpful with management of the physical symptoms of anxiety, and they can also help to calm or still the mind, when your thoughts starts swirling. The reason deep breathing exercises play such an important role in anxiety management has to do with the impact of two different sets of physical equilibriums.  One of these is the role of the parasympathetic nervous system, and the other is the very specific role that breathing can play in warding off or reversing a panic attack.

Most anxious patients have learned at one time or another that breathing can help with anxiety, because taking several deep breaths can switch on the Parasympathetic nervous system. This finely tuned system’s cluster of physical functions (also known as the relaxation response) serves to counterbalance your survival reflex. Your Sympathetic nervous system, when your body senses threat - from a tiger, your boss, or the IRS, kicks into high survival gear. It pumps adrenaline, speeds up your heart rate and among other things, elicits a panting-like rapid shallow breathing, in order to rapidly take in as much oxygen as possible. Much of what we know as anxiety are the physical reactions that automatically switch on when the body needs to avoid harm. The parallel system (Parasympathetic) works in just the opposite manner, and it helps you unwind when the threat has ceased. Deep breathing is just one of many grounding techniques that can switch this relaxation system on; many of these grounding techniques typically operate by activating this Parasympathetic nervous system.

In order to breathe in a manner that switches on the Parasympathetic nervous system, you need to inhale deeply, like a deep sigh, expanding the lungs fully, assisted by your diaphragm muscle. You can practice this by putting one hand on the stomach and another on the chest. When breathing deeply the area near the stomach should expand more than the chest; that’s why deep breathing is often referred to as "belly breathing."

There are many different yardsticks to help you breathe deeply enough, and most of them involve counting. Think of the counting as scaffolding, it’s just a guideline and the actual numbers do not matter much. In fact, if there is a number that matters it is four. When you breathe in (to a count of four while doing so), you can begin to get the effect you are seeking. Three is not enough, and four is just barely enough – more than that is even better. Breathing in by a count of four and out by a count of four works, but it’s the smallest depth of breathing that actually helps with anxiety. Five is better, six is better still, etc.

However, when I teach breathing techniques, I want to make sure we are killing two birds with one stone. Breathing deeply (such as: in by four and out by four) will help switch the relaxation response on, but, as I said above, there is another system at play, and this one has to do with panic and severe anxiety attacks. Panic attacks can be warded off and/or reversed by adding a new wrinkle to your breathing strategy. There is not time to go into it in depth here, but I cover the physiology of this second component in my final chapter of Overcoming Anxiety (this mechanism has to do with a sensor in your body that maintains a balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide).

If you can take my word for it, all you really know is that you need to breathe not just deeply, but, in the process, also breath more out (or hold your breath) for an interval longer than the amount that you breathe in. 

Two widely used techniques illustrate simple ways to implement this, and both of them make use of both of these physiological systems. In Four Squared, you breathe in for a count of four, hold your breath for a second count of four, breathe out for four, and finally hold for another four, before starting around the rectangle a second time.  This method is also called "Box" breathing. Repeat it as long as needed but ideally at least four times. The other useful technique is called 7/11. You simply breathe in for a count of seven and out for a count of 11, and keep repeating this for several minutes.  Both of these techniques are constructed so that when you learn them, you are addressing both sets of problems.

These techniques can both seem to "take forever" to take effect, when you are very anxious, but often succeed after only a few minutes if you can hang in there. They can typically kick in a few minutes quicker than the benzodiazepines, and of course you do not develop a tolerance to it or an addiction like you likely would if you use the benzos in that manner. 

If you already have a breathing technique that you use, juts modify it to include the factors I mentioned above (more out than in, a count of four or greater). From a health perspective it does not matter whether you use your mouth or nostrils (whatever is easiest) or what other things you can combine with it such as visual imagery or muscle relaxation. While many of these other techniques can also be helpful, breathing alone is often enough to help bring your anxiety under control.

You probably want to develop a strategy about when and how to use breathing and how you practice to learn the habit of taking deep breaths. A therapist can be especially helpful in developing strategic and tactical applications. Whether or not you make use of a therapist, you will do best if you come up with a customized intervention that takes into account your strengths, interests, preferences, and past successes. Whatever method you use to practice breathing can also be an opportunity to combine breathing with a laser-like focus, or with one or more of the things you use already (listening to music?), so that the two can evoke each other.

Thanks for the opportunity to share this information with your readers. I hope that this can begin to give you a taste for all the techniques that are at your disposal when you decide to take the reins of your anxiety and learn to harness it.

About the Author

David J. Berndt, Ph.D. was a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago, where he published or presented over 80 papers and articles, before establishing a private practice. Dr. Berndt currently lives in Charleston, S.C., where he also teaches in an adjunct capacity at the College of Charleston. He is best known for his psychological tests The Multiscore Depression Inventory, and the Multiscore Depression Inventory for Children, both from Western Psychological Services. He also contributes to several psychology websites including Psychology Knowledge. Overcoming Anxiety is the first in a series of books on dealing with psychological problems that Dr. Berndt plans to release in 2015-2017.

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