Social Icons

twitterfacebookgoogle plusemail

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Virtual Book Tour: Blood Phoenix: Imprinted by @AlishaCostanzo #review #giveaway #fantasy


Urban Fantasy with satirical, horror, and romantic elements
Date Published: May 9, 2017

With an old war raging between vampires and shifters, Ria must learn to refocus her life if she's going to survive.

Her renegade fight was just the beginning. The queen is recruiting new soldiers. Ria's going on vicious missions with her battle buddy. And her explosive abilities are malfunctioning at inopportune moments.

So now, Ria must forgo her selfish desires to compartmentalize her life, but what's she to do when she can't save everyone she wants to? One girl may not be capable of taking down an empire. Good thing Ria's got help.


Book Review

As always when diving back into a world, there are many questions and catching up to do. I think Alisha Costanzo did a good job of explaining her world and characters and what they have been through thus far.

The pacing and plot of the novel was very well done. There was plenty of action and it really kept my attention throughout! 

I very much enjoyed the characters and their interactions with one another. 

I like the way that it sets the stage and leaves room for advancement of characters and plot in the future novels.

About the Author


Alisha Costanzo is from a Syracuse suburb. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, where she currently teaches English. She's the author of BLOOD PHOENIX: REBIRTH, BLOOD PHOENIX: CLAIMED, BLOOD PHOENIX: IMPRINTED, and LOVING RED, and co-editor of DISTORTED. UNDERWATER, and AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. She’s currently editing her new 2017 fire-themed anthology, writing about Ria’s father, and crafting her new YA novel for its 2018 release. In the meantime, she will continue to corrupt young minds, rant about the government, and daydream about her all around nasty creatures.

Contact Links



Purchase Links


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Book Tour and #review of Highland Faith from @AuthorMaddyHill #historicalromance


Book 2 of the Wild Thistle Trilogy
Historical Romance
Date Published: May 17th, 2017

Lady Faith MacAlister lives to provide for her clan with a skill she honed while hunting with her father. Since his death and final pledge, “Through Hope, Faith, and Honor, ye can rule” she proclaims herself as clan huntress. She loves the quiet of the woods, the thrill of the hunt and the exhilaration of a perfectly placed arrow. If only she could travel further than MacAlister lands to experience adventure. When an intruder interrupts her hunt and steals her away from MacAlister land and out to the sea—she may just experience the adventure she craves.
Graeme Ross must save the family home his father gambled away and regain the respect of his father and clan. When he stumbles upon a lovely lass in the forest, he secures her for ransom. He knows she was one of the MacAlister sisters, those who pledged to rule the clan. What Graeme didn’t expect was how this beautiful woman would entice him with her strength and determination. Graeme’s attraction to Faith cannot interfere with his quest to save his home, redeem his image in his father’s eyes. Graeme lets her go—worse he betrays their growing affection by feigning she means nothing to him.
Devastated, Faith goes back to her clan with a secret she must keep until Graeme comes back to her. Graeme travels to his father with the ransom money weighting his pocket and heart. Faith is better off without him, his vagabond ways and the loathing of his father and clan.
Can Graeme reconcile with his clan and have Faith as his?
Can Faith keep her secret until Graeme comes to his senses and realizes he loves her?
Separately, they yearn for one another, together their love will take them on an adventure of a lifetime.


Review

I think the thing I love the most about Historical Novels is how naive and impressionable the women are, but the fact that they are also strong in their own right which defy their generation. I think this is a great description of Monique.

I think I may have been missing a little more of the history lesson (I need a bit since I'm not very good in History) to help me understand everything that went into this period. I was able to understand most of it, but a little more would have made it perfect.

The main characters were of opposite upbringings and temperaments, but they really complemented each other well. I liked how their romance unfolded. It didn't feel rushed at all. 


Author Bio:

Madelyn Hill has always loved the written word. From the time she could read and all through her school years, she'd sneak books into her textbooks during school. At the age of 10 she proclaimed she wanted to be a writer. After being a "closet" writer for several years, she sent her manuscripts out and is now published with Soul Mate Publishing. 

A resident of Western New York, she moved from one Rochester to another Rochester to be with the love of her life. They have 3 children and keep busy cooking, movies, and of course reading!


Contact Information


Purchase Links


Release Blitz: Lightstruck

Title: Lightstruck Author: Liz Crowe Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance Release Date: May 30, 2017 Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.
Ross Hoffman held the potential for a perfect life in his hands—a life with Evelyn, the only woman he’d ever allowed himself to love, their baby, and…her husband, Austin Fitzgerald, who also happened to be his best friend. But the challenge of trying to make a threesome into something acceptable—much less the thought of actually sharing Evelyn with anyone—forces him to bolt. Determined to put all thoughts of their relationship behind him, Ross jumps headfirst into a new brewery job in Colorado, and back into the sort of sexual decadence that he hopes will distract him from his misery.
When he agrees to assist Austin through a spate of brewery mishaps, he lays eyes on his true fate—in the form of the petite, mysterious, and exotic Elisa Nagel. Hired as assistant brewer, Elisa is absolutely everything he believes he doesn’t want in a woman. But he’s drawn to her in ways he can’t explain, and can’t help but fall hard, fast, and deep, which places him square the middle of her horrific, until-now secret backstory.
Ross is determined that his love will conquer and overcome the horrors of Elisa’s past, allowing her to trust him with the only thing he desires—her heart.
“You really know how to make yourself scarce, don’t you?” Austin said by way of greeting.
Ross grunted a reply as he sat gingerly down into a chair at the kitchen table. The sunlight blaring through the window pierced him right in the eyeballs. It shoved the spike of pain nice and deep into his brainpan, blinding and deafening him for a few seconds. “What? Sorry. I’m a little fragile this morning.”
“Whatever, dude. So, can you come?”
“I already told Evelyn I would.” He couldn’t keep the snippy tone out of his voice. It was all he could do at that moment not to puke all over the expensive hardwood floor.
“What? When did you talk to her?” Austin sounded frazzled. But he’d sounded that way ever since Rose’s birth.
“Shit man, I don’t remember. What the hell day is it anyway?”
“What happened to Mr. Pure Living?”
“He got gang banged by a pack of succubus, all right? Cut him a break.”
“Nice,” Austin said. Ross couldn’t tell if he were amused or honestly pissed off.
“Whatever. So yeah, I told her at some point I’d help you guys. I’m somewhat persona non grata around here all of a sudden, anyway.” He rubbed his eyes. “Seriously, what day is it?”
Austin’s heavy sigh set Ross’ sensitive on edge. But he sat still, willing the clanging agony in his head to stop, knowing getting angry would only exacerbate it. “It’s Wednesday morning, eleven a.m. where I am, which makes it nine where you are.”
Shocked at the lost twenty-four hours, he lurched forward, which sent a jolt of nausea up his throat. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. So, I guess you heard it all, then. If you talked to Evelyn?”
“I, uh, don’t know,” he hedged as he stumbled to the kitchen sink just in case. The silence on the other end of the line made his pulse race. His good buddy was getting a tad bit bossy and Ross was in zero mood for it. “Guess you should tell me whatever the fuck it all is. Since the last I spoke to Evelyn it was Monday night. Tuesday seems to have been sucked away, along with every ounce of my—”
“Spare me.”
“Dude, just fill me in. Holly showed up here that same night and I’m pretty sure she drugged me or something.”
“Poor little snowflake,” Austin said, amusement clear in his voice this time.
“Yeah. I sure as hell wish I could remember any of it.” He touched his sore dick before pressing fingertips against the many, tiny burned spots and gouges on his chest. “So, anyway, what’s going on now, drama king?”
“Oh, not much I guess. Other than my wife was nearly raped and killed by a psycho almost-ex-employee before he got popped between the eyes by my strange new German lady brewer.”
“You really shouldn’t mess with me right now.” Ross kept his head lowered, waiting for the inevitable over the sink.
“I’m not.”
“Evelyn was…is she all right?” He poured another glass of water and forced it past the rising gorge in his throat.
“Yes. Thanks to Elisa Nagel, she is. Although that woman is now in custody and I gotta go post a two hundred fifty thou bail and get her scary ass in front of my lawyer.”
“Elisa…who?” The room had commenced spinning so he squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh, right. The Berliner brewer chick.” But he knew damn well who she was. Fronting with confusion was his reflex to counter the surge of emotion that had muscled past his pain at the sound of her name.
 
Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.
Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”).
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
Don’t ever ask her for anything “like a Budweiser” or risk bodily injury.
 
Liz Crowe writes intense true-to-life stories that make you feel. Whether it's anxiety, love, fear, hate, bliss, or loss woven into her plot lines, you will feel it deep down to your very soul.
--Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Liz Crowe is one of those rare authors who knows how to take the emotions of her characters and make them real for her readers, binding you to the story.”
---USA Today and Internationally Bestselling Author Desiree Holt
"Liz Crowe is my drug of choice for unconventional romance that pushes the envelope of my comfort zone."
--Bestselling Author of the Enigma Series, Ditter Kellan
“I’ve learned to expect the unexpected with any Liz Crowe novel—along with 3-dimensional characters and well-written, realistic plots.”
--USA Today bestselling author AM Hargrove

Book Blitz: The Windless Echo #shortstories by @Oliver_Kaufman


Short Stories, Fiction
Date Published: January 20, 2017

 photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png


The Windless Echo is a collection of stories that delve into the minds and feelings of characters as they struggle to resolve, understand, and uncover the realities of their experiences.

Joy and emptiness, rest and effort, meaning and madness - these and other themes weave their way into the tales and the problems these characters seek to unravel.

Contents: 18 Short stories, 178 6''x9'' pages, ~62k words.

Preview on Amazon contains the first story, "The Ashen Heart", and 3/4 of the second, "The Woodchopper's Son".

Two of the stories, "The Woodchopper's Son" and "The Prisoner of the Ashen Lake", have been put into audio form, read by the author, and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw9MjSFObAc2D1Jwi-JOIZ7ZiJtzZ6iUl



About the Author


Oliver Kaufman is an author and the founder of theworldwithin.org, a website dedicated to self-awareness, self-healing, growth, and the exploration of one’s own inner, conscious world. He currently lives in Redmond, Washington, in the US.


Contact Links



Purchase Links


Reading Addiction Blog Tours

New Release: Desire Me


Title: Desire Me
Author: Skye Malone
Series: Book #2 of the
Demon Guardians Series
Genre: New Adult
Paranormal Romance
Publication: May 30th, 2017



Demons have changed my life forever, though mostly they’ve just torn it apart. In the space of a week, I’ve become the target of the most powerful forces in the demon world and nearly lost my best friend to a madness that would have consumed her mind and soul. Even my own magical abilities are barely in my control.

But when a strange man from a secret society of demons finds me, everything becomes even more complicated. He claims my life is in danger. He says he can help. His group holds the key to my identity, my history, and my place in the supernatural world. But he also brings me a warning: for my own safety, trust no one.

Especially not Amar, the sexy and mysterious guy I’ve fallen for.

Purchase


__________________________________________________________


I tumble onto grass. A weight slams into my back, smashing the air from my chest. 
And then the world explodes. 
Frantically, I cover my head. Debris scatters over me and I cringe under the assault. I can’t hear. My ears ring from the blast of whatever the hell was just destroyed. 
The bombardment ends almost as quickly as it began. The weight on me disappears. My lungs labor hard to draw in air while sound comes to me thick and muffled like my head is wrapped in cotton. It seems as if someone is shouting. I can’t make sense of the words. 
Choking with my effort to breathe, I roll over, searching for Amar. 
And I find him. He’s surrounded. Six guys with knives circle him. We’re in the middle of a park not far from my apartment and up ahead, a tree looks like it’s been hit with a grenade. Orange flames climb from the shattered trunk. Smoke blurs the streetlights casting cold light on the grass. 
I rush to my feet, woodchips falling from my clothes and skin. “Amar!” 
Two of the guys feint toward him. They slash at him with their knives like they want to tear him apart. I can’t see any magic on Amar yet, no blue glow or faint crackle of electricity, but when he twitches back, the ones who are now nearest to him pull away, as if even with their knives, they’re scared of getting too close. 
Cait, run!” 
I don’t move. I’m not leaving him here. “Get the hell away from him!” 
No one listens. The ones around Amar don’t even blink. 
But two of them break off from the group and charge toward me. 
I backpedal on the slick grass. A strange sensation pulses through me, like all the air around me rushes toward my body and then bursts away. 
I remember the feeling. It’s what happened in the alley outside Goa Cafe. 
The men stagger. One of them falls. 
And the second lunges at me. His hands grab my arms. His weight tears me down. I tumble to the ground and he comes with me. 
My fingers claw at the grass while I struggle to drag myself away. He reaches out quickly, snagging my shirt. His other hand grabs my shoulder and hauls me back to the dirt and grass. 
“Stay still, bitch.” He places his knife to my neck. “You’re no good to the Guardians in pieces.” 

__________________________________________________________

About Book #1


Title: Touch Me
Publication: September 16th, 2016
Purchase for just 99¢!

__________________________________________________________





Monday, May 29, 2017

Virtual Book Tour: Radio Programming and Branding #marketing #nonfiction


Public Relations & Marketing
Date Published: 03/10/2015
Publisher: Library Tales Publishing

 photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

Radio Programming and Branding: The Ultimate Podcasting and Radio Branding Guide is designed to offer techniques for broadcasters, radio bloggers, radio entrepreneurs and students who wish to start and run their own radio show or station. This book will help you improve your craft and effectively develop a winning brand that attracts attention, followership, and, ultimately, advertisers.




About the Author

Gary Begin, the founder and president of Sound Advantage Media, a radio programming consulting firm, possesses over thirty years of radio programming experience. Begin's programming and on-air experiences have included diverse markets such as Tampa and Sarasota, FL, Providence, RI, Saginaw, MI, Hagerstown, MD, Columbus, GA, Portland and Waterville, ME.  Begin attended Dean College in Franklin, MA and has continued to enhance his skills with regular attendance at many programming seminars. In addition to Sound Advantage Media, Begin also owns Gary Begin Voice Talent, providing voice talent services for clients all across the United States. 

Contact Link


Purchase Link

            
Reading Addiction Blog Tours

Release Day & Blitz with an #excerpt Starshine by @MelodyWinter


Contemporary Romance
Date Published: 29th May 2017

 photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

Film student Ella Summers can’t believe her luck when she is selected to work on the set of the most anticipated film release of the year—STARSHINE. For the next four weeks, she’ll be in the studio with heart-throb and leading man Alex Denton, and his co-star—and recent ex—the stunning Amy Strickland.

But her first day on set has her questioning the true character of the enigmatic and sexy Alex. The charming celebrity she’s adored on screen disappears before her very eyes—if indeed he ever really existed.

Off-camera arguments between Alex and Amy become difficult to ignore, and when Ella uncovers layers of deceit and closely guarded secrets between them, she becomes involved in a battle that has far-reaching implications.

With the paparazzi hounding her every move for the most sensational story they can get, Ella becomes deeply embroiled in Alex’s life. Can she break down his seemingly impenetrable walls, or will he remain the arrogant ass she first met?

STARSHINE is set in London, England. Beware though—Alex Denton has a crude mouth, and an equally wicked smile.

  

Excerpt

The silence was suddenly broken by the thud of distant music and the roar of a car engine. I glared at the car as it sped along the road toward the bus-stop, and inwardly cursed the idiot behind the wheel.
My glare turned into a worried frown when the silver car slowed down and stopped at the bus-stop. The dark tinted passenger window slowly hummed down, and the thud of music turned into a deafening roar.
The driver of the car was revealed—Alex Denton.
He raised his eyebrows, before lowering his gaze and taking in the sight of my dress clinging to my legs. I was glad I had a cardigan on, no matter that it looked like a wet sack now. At least he couldn’t see my bright pink bra, one that would be very visible underneath a practically transparent wet dress.
Alex licked his bottom lip as he stared at my legs, and I realised that the relief I had felt that he couldn’t see my bra due to my cardigan, had been misplaced. The modest woollen covering wasn’t long enough to cover my lower half. My matching pink pants would be very visible and I suspected that they were what Alex Denton was looking at.
“You’re wet!” he shouted above the relentless thudding of the music.
“You noticed!” I yelled back, wondering why he hadn’t turned the music down if he wanted to talk. I toyed with the idea of whether to accept a lift or not if he offered me one. The thought of being trapped with him in a car had always been a dream of mine, but after everything else that had happened today, I didn’t know whether I had the strength to spend even one more second in his scintillating company. But I was tired and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible. The thought of racing through London in his very expensive sports car, or trudging through traffic on a crammed public bus for a good thirty minutes made my mind up. I’d accept the lift if he offered. If he was sarcastic with me, I could just ignore him. Maybe he’d even mellow a little and I’d get to see what he was really like when he wasn’t in the same room as Amy.
He slowly lifted his hand, curling his finger to beckon me toward the car.
I took one step forward, stopping abruptly as he held his hand up in a halt position. Now what was he doing?
“You really are very wet!” he said before reaching forward and flicking a small silver switch on the central console. The music died, leaving the sound of the engine idling.
“No shit, Einstein. It has just poured down,” I said, my voice edged with sarcasm.
His jaw tightened at my response, and his eyes drifted down my body again.
“Hot pink?” he said, although it sounded more like a question.
I knew exactly what he was referring to. My cheeks heated as I pulled at the front of my cardigan, but it was no use. It wouldn’t stretch to cover my lower body. Knowing there was nothing I could do about my see-through dress, I gritted my teeth and offered Alex a stony stare. One that dared him to continue with his next response.
“I like it,” he said.  “Not as slutty at red.”
My body tensed. My nostrils flared as more heat flushed my face. Did he just refer to me as being slutty?
He smiled before pulling a sudden poker face. I was so wrapped up in thinking of a response to his somewhat undisguised insult that I didn’t see the bus approach.
“Shit,” I murmured, as it rumbled past Alex’s car. The next bus wasn’t due for another hour.
Alex watched the bus as it disappeared down the road and then turned to face me.
“See you tomorrow, Work Experience Girl.”
He grinned and winked at me as the car window hummed shut. The loud music started again and the engine revved several times before he sped off in the same direction as the bus.


About the Author

Growing up, Melody Winter showed a natural ability in art, a head for maths, and a tendency to write far too long English essays. Difficult to place in the world when she graduated, she pursued a career in teaching, but eventually ended up working in finance. Melody is convinced that the methodical time she spends working with numbers fuels her desire to drift into dream worlds and write about the illusory characters in her head.

Melody lives in North Yorkshire, England, with her husband and two teenage sons. When not dealing with football, rugby, and a whole plethora of ‘boy’ activities, she will be found scribbling notes for her stories, or listening to 80’s music on her IPod.

Melody has a tendency to fall head-over-heels in love with her main characters, even when they frustrate her and refuse to act the way she wants them to. She is a romance writer at heart and loves reading and writing about anything mythological or magical, as well as exploring the gritty side of love affairs and the complexities of being in love.

SACHAEL DREAMS was her debut novel, (REUTS Publications, USA) and the first in the New Adult Romantic Fantasy series—the ‘Mine Series’. The second book in the series, SACHAEL DESIRES’, was released in November 2015, and the remaining books in the series, SACHAEL DELUSIONS, and, SACHAEL DESTINY, are due to be released in the near future.

Melody has also self-published two books, INIQUITY, the first book in a Dark New Adult Romantic Fantasy series— ‘The Ascent’ (The second book in the series, ADVERSITY, is due for release later this year.) and STARSHINE, Melody’s first contemporary romance,  released 29th May 2017.

Contact Links


Purchase Links

Starshine is exclusive to Amazon and part of KU 

Reading Addiction Blog Tours

PROMO Blitz: The Buddha Made Me Do It by @marlamartenson #excerpt


Spiritual Memoir
Date Published: 5-25-16
Publisher: Cupid’s Press

 photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

What starts as a search for a decorative Buddha statuette leads one woman on a spiritual journey that will change everything.

Marla lives the good life in Los Angeles—house, pool, her own business helping Cupid find love for LA’s most discriminating singles. Her handsome and ardent hubby Adolfo performs at an exclusive steak house in Beverly Hills. He tends to scoff at Marla’s green juice, vegan diet, yoga, and daily affirmations and can be a teensy bit of a control freak.

A discarded Buddha statuette that Adolfo suddenly can’t live without sends Marla searching through New Age boutiques along with her skeptical friend Julie. They are soon schooled by a charismatic “Goddess,” delving ever deeper into self-realization, conversations with angels, pendulums, candle “Magick,” Reiki, crystal healing, and more. Attend a Hindu Bajan? Sure. Orgasmic Meditation? (Wait, what…?) Maybe not that one. 

Growing in her spirituality, yet exceedingly frustrated with some of her persnickety clientele—aging men who see themselves as Dorian Grays, worthy of exquisite young women—Marla’s world is shifting. She achieves certifications as an energy healer and encourages Julie to sample the concoction Julie calls “green gunk” and other healthy practices to help her conquer an addiction to unavailable men. Marla deepens her communication with the Beyond while Adolfo, always so practical, asks, “Have you lost your mind? Are you hearing voices? Angels aren’t real, come on!” Matters grow worse when certain psychics warn of “dangerous low-vibrational entities” and rabidly disagree with each other. 

Her alternating universes give Marla spiritual whiplash, yet she discovers the LITE way to balance the human carnival with a transformational spiritual journey.


Excerpt

Glad that I wore a cozy sweater on that cold November evening, I walked with Julie down the long driveway. The temple was set up in a garage, carpeted and adorned with altars, statues, paintings of various saints, and candles, transforming it into a Hindu shrine.
We stopped at a sign posted on the wall outside. Women were informed that if they happened to be on their period, they should please sit outside in the driveway whilst partaking in the bhajan.
SERIOUSLY?
Julie and I gave each other a look that conveyed our mutual assessment: this is fucked up.
We seemed to be the first ones to arrive, and a wholesome-looking guy of about forty introduced himself as Ken and invited us to enter the garage/temple.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the floor. He and his wife would be leading the bhajan, he explained, adding that they had lived in India for many years, becoming enamored with the Hindu faith. Julie and I selected a spot near the giant statue of Shirdi Sai Baba and sat cross-legged on the floor. “We also lead fire pujas once a week. You must come.”
Julie and I were definitely interested in attending a fire puja, a ritualistic form of worship that has been used throughout the temples of India for thousands of years. The word puja comes from two Sanskrit words which together mean an act of purification of the mind, drawing in virtuous qualities while removing bad qualities or karma, essentially attracting positive energies and dissolving negativity.
Ken told us that Shirdi Sai Baba was one of the foremost sadgurus (a true guru) in India and lived in Shirdi, located in the state of Maharashtra, India for sixty years. It is said that though Shirdi Sai Baba is not alive in flesh and blood, he still lives and blesses his devotees wherever they may be. A large black and white framed photograph of the guru, sitting on the ground barefoot intrigued me. His hands, feet, and simple clothing looked filthy, a piece of cloth covered his head and tied in the back. His expression was serious and his eyes penetrating. The photo evoked someone who needed nothing, but had everything. I made a mental note to find out more about this guru.
A few other people finally arrived and took their places on the floor next to us. We chatted with a cute guy who was originally from Bulgaria and was a regular there.
“It’s very powerful to chant and sing with other beautiful souls,” he said. “I come every week.”
Ken and his wife, Lida took their seats in front of us, and passed out some instruments along with sheet music with lyrics so that we could sing along. I chose a tambourine, and Julie selected maraca made out of a gourd. Ken and Lida started the bhajan, Ken on the guitar and Lida on the harmonium, a reed instrument with a sound similar to the accordion. I was surprised at how small the group was, only half a dozen of us. We all chanted and sang in Hindi.
Om Guru Om Guru
Paragpara guru omkara guru tavasharanam
Sukhakarshubakar hey parameshwara
Brahma paraparta vasharanam
Om Guru Om Guru
After an hour, Julie gave me the look. It clearly said, okay, how much longer is this going to go on for?
I glanced at my watch and whispered, “Should be only another half an hour.”
We struggled on for another forty-five minutes as an Indian couple arrived, baby in tow, plates of food in hand. They placed the food at the feet of Shirdi Sai Baba and joined us in the chanting. Ten minutes later, three more Indian people arrived, bearing plates of food and placing them at the altar. Fifteen minutes later, four more with more food. Julie’s stomach growled. We squirmed. My butt was sore, and I longed to stretch. I was not feeling the uplifting love I’d come for. Seated right smack in front of Ken and Lida, Julie and I had to communicate with our eyes, strained looks, and subtle nods. The place was lovely, as well as the people, but this was definitely not our thing.
I finally mouthed to Julie, “I can’t take it anymore.”
Julie stifled a laugh, and rolled her eyes.
Ken shot Julie a look of disapproval.
I felt like I was fourteen again and back in Miss Judy’s dance class. My BFFs, Joni and Tracy, and I had smoked a joint in the parking lot before tap class and couldn’t stop giggling as we shuffled off to Buffalo. All the while a frustrated Miss Judy shot scowls of disapproval.
The memory triggered a giggle, which also set Julie off. Uncontrollable laughter welled up, and we buried our faces in our hands, attempting to stifle the guffaws and giggles. Ken was glaring at us. Some people just don’t get the Laughing Buddha.
I poked Julie in the side, “Come on, let’s go!”
We jumped up and flew out the garage door like Aladdin on his magic carpet.
Still giggling as we sped away towards Ventura Blvd., Julie turned to me, her face flushed. “Okay, Marla, that was painful.”
One more round of laughter burst forth, completely uncensored this time.
“It was truly not our thing, but I really want to go to the fire puja.”
“Are you kidding? We can never show our faces over there again.”
“I suppose not.”
And yet it had proven an excellent modality—the laughter, actually; the meeting, not so much. I felt spiritually juiced, happy, and terrific. I like to think our angels and guides were enjoying themselves with us as well. That bhajan was the epitome of the confusion of spirituality with serious disciplined self-control—even though we were sitting on the floor shaking gourds and singing what to us were mostly nonsense syllables. There should have been all kinds of laughter and light-heartedness at that session. The Buddha loves to laugh.

About the Author


Born in Tacoma, Washington, “The City of Destiny,” Marla was destined to move to Los Angeles where she shoots her arrow of love on a daily basis as a professional matchmaker, helping countless couples connect with their soul mates.

She is the author of three memoirs, Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker, Hearts on the Line and The Buddha Made Me Do It.

Marla has been interviewed on the Today Show, WGN Chicago Morning News, San Diego Living, Urban Rush, CTV Calgary, Better TV, KUSI San Diego Morning Show, and over 100 radio shows including Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.

Her husband Adolfo has asked her, “Marlita, do you want to go to the moon too?” referring to her many interests—a true Gemini. Yet nothing has fascinated her like her profound adventure far beyond the moon and into the vastness of cosmic spirituality.

Contact Links


Purchase Links


Reading Addiction Blog Tours