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Do you have Klout?
Note: This article originally appeared at Beyond the Buzz Marketing. You may have heard a lot of buzz lately about a new site that supposedly measures your influence and reach on the internet. It’s called Klout. I first heard about it from a client and dissuaded them from signing up since they needed to do it via Facebook or Twitter. (I have issues with giving all of these applications all of my friends information, my pictures…all that stuff. You may have heard me mention this a few times via Christian Work At Home Mom Radio with Jill Hart.) Shortly thereafter though, I started seeing a lot of people on my…
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Why I’m Not a Fan of Twilight Anymore – Part Two
(See Part One here.) Vampires have no choice: The Twilight books started a trend that I find utterly disturbing. You see, the vampires in this series had no choice about whether they should live or die. Many of them don’t want to really be vampires and they live this horrible tortured existence, but they are unable to do anything about it. The choice is out of their hands. They must live this way and for the most part, they’re emo and tortured about it. But Bella makes their lives better. She’s everything that they needed. She rescued them from a difficult and miserable existence. She gave them a baby and peace and hope…
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Why I’m Not a Fan of Twilight Anymore – Part One
Recently, in one of our articles about 50 Shades of Grey, I mentioned in passing that I’m no longer a fan of Twilight. This one sentence got an interesting response with several emails and comments asking me if I’d go into why I made that decision. Before I start, let me say that this was something sent to my heart. I’m not out here beating a drum and telling everyone that they need to heed these words. I’m only sharing what I know and what I’ve learned and asking that people make their own choices once they’ve read what I have to say. A little over a year ago, I was very…
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Review: The Mother Road by Jennifer AlLee
The Mother Road by Jennifer AlLee Reviewed by: Lori Twichell Genre: Fiction/Drama/Humor Publisher: Abingdon Press Publication Date: March 6, 2012 Natalie is a professional on marriage. She’s written several books on how to keep your marriage alive and she has speaking engagements all over her calendar to prove her worth in that arena. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop her from having marital difficulties. When her husband leaves her for another woman, Natalie is devastated. And not only does it destroy her marriage, it takes her career down with it. It’s not exactly what Natalie was planning, but when her father calls to tell her that her mother is slipping further and…
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Review: Tributary by Lisa T. Bergren
Tributary, by Lisa T. Bergren Reviewed by: Lori Twichell Genre: YA Novella Publisher: Ebook Publication Date: June 2012 The world is at peace, for the most part, for Gabi and Marcello. After struggling through crisis after crisis, there’s been a time of rest for the two of them, giving everyone a chance to breathe a little and settle down into their lot in life. Gabi and Marcello are finally given some time together. Lia, who is still struggling with PTSD after all of the battles she fought and is trying to find her place in the past. Rodolfo Greco is trying to piece together the bits of his life after…
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The Revelation Generation
I’ve already discussed the growing trends you can see in Young Adult Fiction these days, but what do these trends really mean? What’s the big picture if a couple of teenagers are reading books about vampires or werewolves or, in the case of Fifty Shades, explicit sex? Well here are a few things that we should consider regarding the current trends in YA. As I already mentioned in a previous article, the popular topics in YA reading revolve greatly around supernatural aspects. Usually it’s vampires, werewolves, demons, fallen angels (different than demons in most YA novels), or some other such supernatural creature. Much like Frank Peretti’s Darkness series did so many years ago, these books are opening our children’s…