April is SAAM: Talk to Me! by Donna M. Zadunajsky

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we welcome the new month (April already?!) with a bit of a somber, more serious post, at the end of which I hope you are a bit more informed, and a WHOLE LOT MORE EMPOWERED.  

You see, April isn't merely the month of showers ushering in flowers like the old calendar song, but SAAM...Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  Didn't know?  Don't worry, you're among the masses (as was I) and hopefully you've had no reason to know anything more than the surface information that the words imply...odds are though, at least some of you know more than you want to whether from personal experience or friends/family.  *BIG HUG*  

That tendency to be secretive and hide that part of ourselves is exactly why the month was declared.  It's something we wish we didn't have to deal with because IT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN but just because it shouldn't doesn't mean it doesn't and when it does, those directly involved can feel isolated and alone; that's where the awareness part comes in.  The National Sexual Violence Resource Center was created to "raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities on how to prevent it."  While having a national center on our side is grand, sometimes having something a little easier to relate to, something to give a nudge in the right direction, something that puts us in the shoes of another "just like us" is easier to connect with...and that's where today's post comes in.

The spotlight today is shining on an ebook title I received for review a few weeks back.  It's actually the second in the Help Me! series, the first dealing with self-injury, and while the topics are certainly not light and fluffy, they are necessary and may help provide that level of comfort and connection along with education that the target audience needs.  Ladies and gents, please join me for today's ebook in the spotlight...

Talk to Me!

Help Me! series, Book 2

by

Donna M. Zadunajsky

About the book...

Crowded halls filled with noisy teenagers. Teachers, homework, and never-ending tests. Hanging with friends, dating boys, gossip, and preparing for the future. Isn’t that what high school is supposed to be all about? Carly Boyles was once popular and dated the Captain of the football team. She wanted to be like any other fifteen-year-old teenage girl at Lakeport Central High School, but Taylor Ryans changed everything. Two weeks after their break-up, Carly can’t find a reason to live after she finds her best friend Staci Garrison; hanging all over her ex-boyfriend Taylor Ryans. Carly decides to take matters into her own hands, but is it more than just the break-up that has her world falling apart? The rules no longer apply between two best friends when a boy comes between their once forever-friendship since elementary school. One phone message changes everything and Carly’s world is shattered to pieces. Will she find a reason to live? Will she tell the one secret that is killing her from the inside out?

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  GOOGLE PLAY  |  IBOOKS  |  KOBO

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It's a harrowing tale of a wrong that can't be undone, but with the right support, it can be overcome.  There's no easy way to tackle a story like this because while THIS one is a work of Fiction, there are sadly those out there they have endured this and worse.  Carly is your typical high school girl...popular cheerleader, friend, peer, and studious enough...at least, she was.  One day, that was all taken from her in a moment masquerading as passion but that doesn't happen to girls like her...right?  WRONG...and unfortunately that line of thinking is what sets her into a downward spiral that could make a tragedy TEN TIMES worse.  Lucky for her, her plan wasn't fool proof...

The biggest takeaway would be to KEEP TALKING.  Stay connected to your friends and family.  Don't just fall into the "just me" trap, let others in!  If the first person you tell doesn't believe you, KEEP TALKING.  There are national networks to assist and connect you with those locally that can help, if you're not getting it from your friends, family, and the adults in your life.  If doing it for yourself isn't enough to motivate you, do it for the others past and future...because if they did it to you, they may have done it before and can certainly do it again.  Don't be a victim, be a survivor...the voice that won't stay quiet and let evil win.  Stand for yourself because YOU ARE WORTH IT and please, oh, please, don't hide in shame because it certainly wasn't you, but them....and they aren't worth the time you gave them then, nor your spotlight now.

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About the author...

Donna M. Zadunajsky started out writing children’s books before she accomplished and published her first novel, Broken Promises, in June 2012. She then has written several more novels and her first novella, HELP ME!, which is a subject about suicide and bullying. 

Her third novel Family Secrets, “Secrets and Second Chances”, which is first in a series she is writing, was given a publishing contract through California Times Publishing.

SITE  |  TWITTER

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Special thanks to author Donna M. Zadunajsky for the ebook for review.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, the series, or the author, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title is available now, so click over to your favorite ebook retailer to grab or share a copy today.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!