Blog Tour Book Review: Hug Everyone You Know by Antoinette Truglio Martin

Hug Everyone You Know

by

Antoinette Truglio Martin

Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 3rd October 2017
Genre: Memior
Pages: 325
Format read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of Women on Writing blog tours

 

Antoinette Martin believed herself to be a healthy and sturdy woman—that is, until she received a Stage 1 breast cancer diagnosis. Cancer is scary enough for the brave, but for a wimp like Martin, it was downright terrifying. Martin had to swallow waves of nausea at the thought of her body being poisoned, and frequently fainted during blood draws and infusions. To add to her terror, cancer suddenly seemed to be all around her. In the months following her diagnosis, a colleague succumbed to cancer, and five of her friends were also diagnosed.

Though tempted, Martin knew she could not hide in bed for ten months. She had a devoted husband, daughters, and a tribe of friends and relations. Along with work responsibilities, there were graduations, anniversaries, and roller derby bouts to attend, not to mention a house to sell and a summer of beach-bumming to enjoy. In order to harness support without scaring herself or anyone else, she journaled her experiences and began to e-mail the people who loved her: the people she called My Everyone. She kept them informed and reminded all to 'hug everyone you know' at every opportunity. Reading the responses became her calming strategy. Ultimately, with the help of her community, Martin found the courage within herself to face cancer with perseverance and humor. 

I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t been touched by cancer in some way.

Antoinette Truglio Martin has written a heartfelt memoir of her journey through breast cancer treatment.

Right when life was at its busiest; the Martins were selling their home, their youngest was going off to college and Antoinette was contemplating changing jobs, she gets a call that her recent mammogram showed something suspicious and she needed to have it checked. And so starts Antoinette’s journey!

Antoinette decides to journal her treatment as a way of getting all her pent up feelings and emotions out. These journal entries along with emails to and from family and friends form part of this memoir.

Antoinette explains the different levels of cancer in an easy to understand language but it’s not all medical procedures and jargon. Antoinette lightens the book with family memories, weekends with friends and antics of her dog Petie.

Antoinette has some sound advice for others undergoing treatment; keeping your close group of friends to lean on if needed, sending updates by email so you are not continually explaining your treatment, don’t let the cancer define you, speak up if you are not happy with something.

It feels strange to say ‘I couldn’t put this book down’ for a memoir (they are not usually my preferred reading) but that is how I felt. I kept saying ‘I will just read for a bit longer.’ Antoinette’s voice is inviting and friendly. It’s as though she is there with you having a conversation.

Hug Everyone You Know is a story of friendship, hope and love. A story of survival and strength in the face of adversity.

If you know someone who is or has undergone cancer treatment I urge you to read Hug Everyone You Know.

                          🌟🌟🌟🌟

My rating  4/5

 

Photo credit: Goodreads

Antoinette Truglio Martin is a life-long Long Islander, teacher, wife, mother, daughter, and friend. She is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer—a memoir chronicling her first year battling breast cancer as a wimpy patient. Personal experience essays and excerpts of her memoir were published in Bridges, Visible Ink, and The Southampton Review. 

Martin proudly received her MFA in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook/Southampton University in 2016. Antoinette had also written the children's picture book, Famous Seaweed Soup (Albert Whitman and Company), and was a regular columnist for local periodicals Parent Connections (In a Family Way) and Fire Island Tide (Beach Bumming). 

Her blog, Stories Served Around The Table, tells family tales and life's musings. She lives in her hometown of Sayville, New York with her husband, Matt, and is never far from her “Everyone” and the beaches she loves. Since being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2012, she strives to not let cancer dictate her life. 

Please stop by the other posts on the Hug Everyone You Know Blog Tour 

 

 

Book Bingo - Round 21 #BookBingo

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

This week I have chosen the category 'Themes of Science Fiction'

Themes of Science Fiction:

For this category I have chosen 'Rogue by A.J. Betts.

Rogue is set in 2119 a dystopian world that was only 2 Billion people. I enjoyed Betts first novel 'Hive' which ended on a cliff-hanger so I was eager to read the sequel 'Rogue' to see how the story would pan out. I was not disappointed 'Rogue' was action packed, fast paced and easy to follow.

You can read my review of Rogue HERE

#BookBingo2019
 
   

Book Review: Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams #BRPreview

Our Stop

by

Laura Jane Williams

What if you almost missed the love of your life?

Publisher: Harper Collins

Imprint: Avon

Publication date: 16th December 2019 ANZ

Genre: Romance/ Contemporary (RomCom)

Pages: 368

Format read: B-Format uncorrected paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading

Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.
 

Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his dad died.
 

One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:

To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?

So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.

I really enjoyed this light and witty RomCom.

Twenty-nine year old Nadia has had a few hard relationships and is disillusioned with love. Will she ever find her perfect guy? Her life was a bit of a muddle but she had a new plan and she will become a beacon of organisation and the rest will fall in place.

On the first day of her new plan she sees an advert in the ‘Love Connections’ column in the paper talking about “the cute blonde girl on the 7:30 train.” Could this be her?

Daniel is a romantic at heart but he lacks confidence. Vowing not to remain the underdog he places an advert on the ‘Love Connections’ column hoping to get the attention of the cute blonde girl on his morning train.

It was fun to read their ads back and forward and see them have a few near misses as their paths crossed and almost crossed several times.

An important part of the story is friendship and looking out for each other. Nadia has her best friends Emma and Gaby who give support and encouragement but even best friends sometimes have minor fall-outs.

Williams covers issues like gaslighting, consent and toxic relationships without sounding too preachy. Lots of laugh out loud moments, as both Nadia and Daniel traverse the minefield that is dating, kept me invested and lightened the tone of the sometimes heavy topics.

If you enjoyed The Book Ninja by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus you will love Our Stop.

                          🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

My rating   4.5/5

Laura Jane Williams is a writer from Derbyshire, England. Her work has been translated into ten languages in over 15 countries - and counting. She is 33.

Laura’s first book, memoir BECOMING, was an instant cult hit exploring her twenty-something heartbreak and finding peace with imperfection. This was followed by ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST, based on her thirty-something experience of overcoming millennial burnout through embracing her playful inner child. Her third book is OUR STOP, a novel about almost missing the love of your life, that Laura claims made her see love through a new, more hopeful paradigm.

She has just finished writing book four, non-fiction audiobook The Life Diet, and is about to start in on number five – a romp of a story that she lovingly thinks of as ‘Mamma Mia meets Kitchen Confidential’.

  

Book Review: Rogue by A.J. Betts

Rogue

by

A.J. Betts

The thrilling sequel to HIVE

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Aus

Publication date: 25th June 2019

Series: The Vault #2

Genre: Science Fiction/Young Adult

Pages: 368

RRP: $16.99 AUD

Format read: B-Format uncorrected proof Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

Hayley has gone rogue.

She's left everything she's ever known - her friends, her bees, her whole world - all because her curiosity was too big to fit within the walls of the underwater home she was forced to flee.

But what is this new world she's come to? Has Hayley finally found somewhere she can belong?

Or will she have to keep running?

 

“I’d chosen out and this was it: hot-cold, dry-wet, bright-dark and lonely.”

Book 1 Hive ends with Hayley escaping her underwater world built with hexagonal rooms connecting like a bee hive.

In Rogue Hayley emerges into a new dystopian world. It is 2119, the ocean has risen cutting off small land masses turning them into islands. She comes ashore on a small island situated east of Tasmania, now called Terrafirma. Hayley is taken in by the caretakers of the island but a tragic accident forces them to leave the island placing them all in grave danger.

I loved this book even more than book1, Hive. Hayley’s wonder at the world around her is lusciously described and I could feel her awe at seeing a world that was bigger than the walls that had surrounded her all her life.

In a world with blood codes that can be traced Hayley’s unmarked blood becomes a precious commodity that is hunted down. Hayley wanders the land, sometimes finding the help of strangers, as she searches for a place where she can belong. Although she never forgets Will, the boy she left behind.

I rated Hive 15+ because of one graphic scene of a body being dismembered. However the writing in Rogue is simple and the storyline, although action packed, is not complex. Suited to age 10+ or younger mature readers.

“This world above the ocean isn’t perfect. What world is? It can be moody, savage and fearsome. It can be unsafe.

But it can be magnificent too. Surprising and wondrous.”

I’m looking forward to seeing what Betts comes up with next!

Read my review of Hive HERE

                        🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

My rating   5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

book #33 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

A. J. Betts is an Australian author, speaker, teacher and cyclist, and has a PhD on the topic of wonder, in life and in reading. She has written four novels for young adults. Her third novel, Zac & Mia, won the 2012 Text Prize, the 2014 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, and the 2014 Ethel Turner prize for young adults at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, was shortlisted for the 2014 Queensland Literary Award, and is available in 14 countries. It was adapted for American television by AwesomenessTV, and will soon be available globally. 

Her fourth novel, Hive, was shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Awards and 2019 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, and is a notable book in the Children's Book Council of Australia awards. A. J. is originally from Queensland but has lived in Fremantle since 2004.