Guest Post by Gail Pallotta and #giveaway!!!

Today we welcome Gail Pallotta to my blog. Gail is very graciously offering one ebook copy of either Barely Above Water or Hair Calamities and Hot Cash. Barely Above Water is a Reader’s Favorite 2017 Award Winner, and Hair Calamities and Hot Cash is a recent release, a romantic comedy. Please  include contact information.  In addition, Gail would   like to know:  what are you reading this summer?

As a young adult I knew of a student who tried to commit suicide because she didn’t make all A’s. As a young Mom I witnessed tears, anger and frustration among some grammar school children who didn’t win in sports or make the grades they wanted. Later two young adults I knew who’d always been driven to be the best ended up in less than ideal situations and committed suicide. I’m not sure if these types of things crossed my path more than that of others or not, but in recent years, I’ve seen articles about the pressure on teens.

“Hospital Offers Hope for Teens” by Eric Adler in “The Kansas City Star” several years ago states, “…After a minor injury, or even a sudden perceived failure, they develop symptoms that doctors think have as much to do with psychology as physiology. The condition appears to exist at the nexus of illness and culture, suggesting that today's stressful, high-expectation teen environment plays a noxious role.”

“I'll tell you about the pain I see and the kids I see,” says Barbara Bruce, director of the Mayo Clinic’s pediatric chronic pain program, which opened in 2010. “There's a lot of pressures on the kids we see. They're driven.”

“Even before they get ill, these kids tend to worry,” Bruce said, “about school and the future. Pressure can arise from themselves, parents, peers, culture…”

There’s a huge difference in telling a child to do his or her best and telling him or her to be the best. Healthy competition, which pushes us to do our best, is a good thing. Games, contests and winning are fun, especially winning! But when the competition’s over, we’re still God’s children, and we don’t have to be number one for God to love us. Finishing first should be kept in perspective and not equate to a person’s worth as a human being.

In Stopped Cold things aren't what they seem in peaceful Mistville, North Carolina.

Margaret McWhorter enjoys a laid-back Freshman year in high school swimming and hanging out with friends—until the day her brother, Sean, suffers a stroke from taking steroids. Now he's lying unconscious in a hospital.

Anger sets a fire for retribution inside her, and Margaret vows to make the criminals pay. Even the cop on the case can't stop her from investigating. Looking for justice, she convinces two friends, Jimmy and Emily to join her in a quest that takes them through a twisted, drug-filled sub-culture they discover deep in the woods behind the school. Time and again they walk a treacherous path, and come face-to-face with danger.

All the while Margaret really wants to cure Sean, heal the hate inside, and open her heart to love.

Buy Stopped Cold

Amazon.com/dp/B07R7RHF5K

Amazon long link - https://www.amazon.com/Stopped-Cold-Gail-Pallotta-ebook/dp/B07R7RHF5K/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_8?keywords=Barely+Above+Water+by+Gail+Pallotta&qid=1558049626&s=books&sr=1-8-fkmrnull

Barnes and Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stopped-cold-gail-pallotta/1117352035?ean=9781522398578

Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=Stopped+Cold+by+Gail+Pallotta

Pelican Book Group - http://prismbookgroup.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_73&products_id=985

Meriwether, the high school in Stopped Cold, has its own twitter page. The heroine, Margaret, would love it if you followed it. It’s Meriwether Christian @MeriwetherCS (https://twitter.com/MeriwetherCS)

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s a former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, a 2013 Grace Awards finalist for an earlier edition of Stopped Cold and a 2017 Reader’s Favorite Book Award winner. She’s published six books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums. To learn more about Gail and her books visit her website at http//gailpallotta.com. Sign up for Gail’s newsletter at http://www.gailpallotta.com/mainphp.html

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsandMore

Amazon Author Page - amazon.com/author/gailpallotta