Month: November 2016

#HolidayFundraiser: Espresso Yourself This Holiday Season

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

I’m sure you are like, ugh not another fundraiser.

I know, I know. It seems like everyone now a days has a cause.

Everyone seems like they are begging you to pay attention and donate to their cause.

So here I am. Just a 25 year old book and music blogger, asking if you would consider purchasing a shirt to benefit this site. I really hate begging people for money but I think these shirts make great Christmas gifts.

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Plus, ever since I published my first novel, I have loved giving to charity at the end of the year. At the end of every year, I donated a percentage of my royalties to a different charity or split them up between multiple charities. This year, this fundraiser goes to benefit the Progeria Research Foundation

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Book and music reviews are free services but the fact of the matter is, the giveaways used to promote them, aren’t.

And I include everyone in most of my giveaways since most of my readers are international, which I love, because it shows how universal the concepts of literature and music really are. And how under this umbrella, all people from any and all walks of life, can come and feel part of something bigger than themselves. They are free to express themselves and their love of books and music.

The Smart Cookie Philes was founded upon this inclusive nature. And upon the equally important belief that anything is possible if you have the faith to believe in your dreams no matter how big, how small, no matter what anyone believes you can and cannot do.

As a writer myself, I know what’s it like to feel like you don’t belong, that you feel you must remain silent, that you feel like you aren’t good enough as you are.

If you have ever felt this way, then I want you to feel like The Smart Cookie Philes is your place to feel safe, loved, and accepted.

So please share this post with any and all who will listen. And if you can, buy a shirt and wear it with pride knowing that it only looks as good as the person wearing it because the person wearing it is good enough.

 

Happy Holidays and God Bless,

The Smart Cookie

#BookReview: One Of The Few by @jasonbladd

Posted on by The Smart Cookie

Some might say that last night was a night when we saw “One of The Few” become an unprecedented majority. Donald J. Trump, a political outsider, became our 45th president.

It makes many Americans feel that we are finally FREE again as a country and as a nation. Though there are still some upset people who are both shocked and in fear over the election results that don’t take effect until January 20, 2017.

Our country is only free because men and women put their life on the line for our every day freedoms. 14705699_10207479601973694_6183286360889527329_n

And it’s also the heart of Jason B Ladd’s Christian memoir, One of The Few.

Yet, if the fact that it’s Christian in genre turns you off, don’t worry this book addresses it all.

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It starts out telling Jason’s backstory but the story comes to a suspenseful and heavy-breathing pace when you read of his experiences in boot camp for the Marines as well as fighter pilot.

Yet, it showcases many worldviews and strongly defends the Christian’s worldview by sharing each side of the argument on multiple issues:

  • salvation
  • Creation theories
  • heaven and hell
  • sexual sins
  • pornography

It shares strong views with clear evidence that they are backed by the writer but in a way that makes you see exactly where he is coming from on each topic and in the end, Ladd offers each reader the chance to really come face to face with Jesus, just like he did on the battlefield.

It’s extremely good and has given me hope that a self-published book, if published with professionalism and for the right purpose, can and will succeed in a world that is crying out for hope, someone to carry their burdens, and embrace them with pure unfiltered and unconditional love.

The book is currently on sale in a specific Veteran’s day special for 2.99 on Amazon Kindle.

Want to win a signed copy of One of The Few? (U.S. Entrants Only, please) Enter HERE NOW!

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