How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days by Kathleen Allen: A Book Review

[Purchase at Amazon]

17-year-old Cassie wants to be “seen,” so when she finds a book of rules on how to be famous in ten days, she devises a plan---with the help of her BFF---to do just that. Cyrano de Bergerac meets Comedy of Errors with a teen girl.

Watch the trailer for How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days!

CLG Review of How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days

4.5 (out of 5) lattes

Kathleen Allen's How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days is a fast-paced, funny, and endearing story about a young girl who wants more than anything to be seen and realizes that to be seen by others she needs to first truly see herself. From the first page, Allen gives us readers a main character we can sympathize and empathize with in 17-year-old Cassie, interesting and engaging characters that help to develop Cassie's story and set their own subplots, and conflict that escalates with each new chapter. I told myself I was going to open Allen's novel and read the first chapter before getting back to work. A little over two hours later, I was sad to have finished the book. Teens (and adults) looking for a quick, entertaining read with a message should give How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days a try.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How to be Almost Famous in Ten Days Excerpt

My fingertips drifted across the dusty books stacked haphazardly on the shelf. I wasn’t looking for any particular book title—just wasting time while Rachel searched for a book in the romance section. I walked around the second hand books piled in haphazard stacks on the faded brown carpet in search of a science fiction. Closing my eyes as my fingers flitted over the books, I played a game I used to play when I was younger. If some book wanted me to read it, I’d know by the feeling the book gave me. Forgetting about the piles everywhere I ran into one—or two, I’m not sure—I opened my eyes just as I fell, sending the piles sprawling across the floor.

Which, by the way, smelled and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in centuries.

Rachel called out, “You okay, Cassie?”

“Yes,” I mumbled, sitting up.

No clerk came to my rescue, so I began to restack the books. My elbow was a bit scraped a bit, but otherwise no damage. Sighing, I continued piling up the books until a small yellow book caught my eye.

“How to Be Famous in Ten Days,” I read aloud.

“What?” Rachel asked from the other side of the aisle.

“I found a book,” I yelled back.

Touring with Christians with Pervasive Issues Author Annie Brown

About Annie Brown

Annie Brown is the mother of four adult children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. She is a licensed minister and social worker. As a social worker, Annie works the terminally ill, providing emotional support at the most critical time in an individual's life. It is Annie's desire that Christians work through their pervasive issues before the end of life, so that the transition between death and eternity can be smooth, and not cluttered with unresolved conflicts.

You can learning more about Annie through Outskirts Press Website, Twitter page, and Facebook page; you can also e-mail her if you'd like to share your thoughts on her book!

About Christians with Pervasive Issues

[Purchase Christians with Pervasive Issues at Amazon and Outskirts Press]

Even as a faithful Christian, there may be times when you feel that there is no hope of escaping issues and themes in your life that ensnare and trip you up time and time again. When a certain pattern of behavior or type of suffering has been following you all your life, it’s hard to believe that you can ever escape from it. Christians with Pervasive Issues shows us that every child of God can be delivered from issues that cause them to be a victim, rather than walking in victory. In compassionate, no-nonsense language, Annie Brown demonstrates that with genuine repentance, using God’s principles, and the right counseling/support, you can overcome anything. Christians with Pervasive Issues gives you the ray of hope you need in order to heal your life, and get closer to God.

The Meaning of Pervasive Issues

I WAS GETTING ready for work and suddenly the words “Pervasive Issues” were dropped into my spirit. Can you imagine someone who is not normally a morning person having something so important to deal with? I could not even think of the meaning of “pervasive,” so I could not comprehend what was being said to me. I went on to work, but it did not leave me. I shared what had been dropped into my spirit with my co-worker who is an encourager. He gave me a push to pursue the message the Spirit was conveying, and to understand what God wanted me to write. I could not begin until I did some preliminary homework. I had to figure out what part of speech that “pervasive” was. “Pervasive” is an adjective, which served as a modifier to the noun (issue). Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined it as “spreading through every part.” If an issue is pervasive, it permeates the whole of something. Pervasive issues need to be dealt with within the Body of Christ.

An Excerpt from Christians with Pervasive Issues

A Remedy to Get to the Root of the Problem
WHAT IS NEEDED is that the people of God “must” clean out their secret compartments and confess that they need the Lord to deliver them. Confession is made unto salvation (deliverance). If we confess our faults, the Lord is faithful in forgiving us. You may ask, “Why do I have to confess if I was not responsible for what happened to me?”

The issue then becomes whether you have forgiven the person that caused me this harm. If there is no forgiveness, then you become a victim twice: a victim of circumstance, and a victim of bondage. This can be in some ways more dangerous than cancer. This will always be eating away at you. With cancer, at least you know what is going on in your body. Being a victim of circumstance and having an unforgiving heart bring torment. This torment becomes a part of you in such a way that it eats through your mind, destroys your inner peace, and puts your soul in jeopardy because it becomes a heart matter of sin.

Recognizing There Is a Need
EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN the Body of Christ has strengths and needs. Most times the two words strength and weakness are used to describe parts of your abilities to cope. I like the word needs instead of weakness, because weakness denotes that I just cannot help it.

However, the word need helps me to understand that I am insufficient within myself to furnish the supply. In other words, I don’t have what it takes to get this matter taken care of and I “need” help. Help, Lord! The Word of God has declared that God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. Denying our helplessness and unwillingness to take the need to God only prolongs getting deliverance and healing. The Lord revealed that the Body of Christ was compared to harvest time when it is gone and the people are left in dire need.

Let us look at Jeremiah 8:20, which stated, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved [delivered].”

The Passion for Writing Series: Author Dee Dee Scott

Dee Dee M. Scott is an author, screenwriter, playwright, director, and producer. Scott also wrote, produced, and directed, My Husband's Woman-The Stage Play, which played for two shows at The Town Theater on November 27, 2011, and toured South Carolina. Currently, Scott is producing and directing her first film: Lake House, which she also wrote. It will be released to select theaters in the summer of 2013. Her magazine entitled Optimistic launched in December of 2012. The magazine focuses on celebrating life, and self-improvement.


You can learn more about Dee Dee at/on: [My Husband's Woman Stage Play on Facebook] [Dee Dee Scott on Facebook] [Twitter]


The Passion for Writing - From Dee Dee's Pen
Where does your passion for writing come from?
I am in love with writing. I am in love with the unique stories that come to me, and I’m compelled to tell them.

If your passion for writing was a color, what color would it be and why?
I would say the rainbow because I am able to write in many different genres. I will also say red and orange. Red is an emotional and intense color and my stories usually are. I named Orange because it represents creativity. I like my stories to be creative, innovative and fresh so I write them in a way that they have never been told before.

How do you keep the passion burning in your relationship with storytelling?
I have fun while I’m writing and I never force a story. I let my characters tell the story naturally.

[Buy your copy of My Husband's Woman today from Amazon: Paperback and Kindle]
Young and beautiful twenty-year-old Meshia can have any man she wants, but who she can’t get enough of is her thirty-eight-year-old, married lover, Byron. Successful attorney Byron enjoys being the world of two women; a wife he loves and a mistress he lust for. Wife Alexandra has based her sanity on the faithfulness of her husband, Byron. When she discovers their hidden affair, she takes Byron and Meshia into a bizarre world, one of which they could never have dreamed of, even in their worst of nightmares.

Excerpt from My Husband's Woman

Chapter One
Brownsville, S.C, 2008

“Only two types of women sleep with married men: their wives and whores. At least that’s what my boyfriend’s wife told me before she shot me in my back,” Meshia said, using the Kleenex to wipe the tears from her brown sugar face.

Meshia focused her intense gaze on the young women who lived at the Brownsville Girls’ Home. They sat in rapt attention, clinging to her every word.

“I didn’t consider myself a whore,” Meshia continued. “In fact, I was just like most of you. I was young, beautiful, and naïve. I used to love to have fun and hang out with my older sister Tammy. But the moment I met my married lover Byron, my life changed forever. Byron was an attractive, successful attorney. He was eighteen years older than me and he blew my mind. I was so into him, that even after I found out he had a wife, I continued to sneak around with him.”

“Are you coming to a point?” an obstinate-faced young woman from the audience interrupted. “I mean, how is this speech about you creeping with some married man supposed to help me?”

“Maybe it will keep you from making the same mistakes I did,” Meshia said, stepping from behind the podium so she could get a better view of the young woman who’d just spoken.

"Look lady, I ain't ever messed ‘round with no married man," the woman said, rolling her eyes and neck now. "So I'm asking you again, how is this speech supposed to help me?"

“If you were so perfect, you wouldn’t be in the Girls’ Home right now, would you?” Meshia asked.

Many of the young women began laughing; their rambunctious chattering over took the cavernous auditorium.

“It’s obvious you’ve made a few mistakes,” Meshia replied over the sudden din. “Maybe your mistakes had nothing to do with cheating with a married man, but you made a bad choice that landed you in here. So sit back and listen to my story, and maybe you’ll see that I can help. I’m here today to talk about choices. The choices you make can ruin or even take your life. I want to share with you a choice I made, and the steep price I paid for it. I promise you, by the time I’m finished, you will think more carefully about the things you do and the choices you make.”

Meshia sat on the edge of the stage, her eyes blurry with tears. She peered out into the crowd. “Now let me tell you about Byron…”


Three years earlier…

Byron patted his pockets. His wife Alexandra was calling his cell phone: his girlfriend Meshia was paging him.

Byron answered his cell phone: his wife always came first. “Hi honey,” Byron spoke into his cell phone as he rushed through the halls of the crowded courthouse. He had a case going to trial in ten minutes. “Yes, I do remember we are having dinner at the Sanders tonight,” he told his wife Alexandra. “I love you.”

After turning his cell phone off and then on again, Byron dialed his girlfriend Meshia’s number. Meshia picked up on the first ring.

“You stopping by my place in a few, baby?” Meshia asked in a light, innocent tone.

Byron felt his heart pumping faster from the sound of her voice. “No, but I’ll come over in an hour or two. We can spend the entire afternoon together.”

“Okay, baby,” Meshia said before ending the call.

Byron flipped his cell phone closed and wrapped his hand tighter around his briefcase, his mind on the personal injury case he had this morning. The insurance company had not wanted to settle, but Byron was positive the jury would side with his client and award a generous compensation for the motorcycle accident.

“It must be nice having a wife and a girlfriend,” a sarcastic voice announced beside him.

Annoyed, Byron glanced into the tan face of his legal assistant. He had been so consumed in his thoughts that he completely forgot about William. “It is nice having two women,” Byron admitted with a devilish grin on his handsome, dark brown face. He pushed the button to call the elevator and leaned his slender, athletic frame against the sidewall. He towered over William who stood docilely beside him.

“Aren’t you the least bit afraid that your wife will find out about your girlfriend?” William asked, his ocean blue eyes sparkling with intrigue.

“She won’t find out.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“My girlfriend knows I’m married: she doesn’t have a problem with it. She actually believes that someday I’m going to leave my wife for her.”

Byron ran his hand over his neatly trimmed sideburns. He looked distractedly at the elevator’s numbers that were slowly moving down. “But I’ll never leave my wife,” Byron confided, looking at William again. “My wife is the entire package. She’s beautiful, classy, and politically astute. My girlfriend is totally opposite. I mean we have absolutely nothing in common. She’s young and naive. She loves to listen to old school rap music and watch comedy movies. But man, you should see her body!” Byron shook his head and smiled. “The only thing she’s good at is sexing me. She has this perfect little frame, and she knows how to drive me crazy in the bedroom-”

“Spare me the details.” William cut him off. He glided his manicured hand through his blond hair. “What would you say if your girlfriend told you she wanted another man for all those lonely nights when you’re with your wife?”

William’s words made Byron’s heart skip a beat.

“I’d say no way.” He declared sharply.

William laughed. The elevator finally arrived, unloading a dozen people in a flood.

William, Byron, and a few other bystanders stepped in.

Try REASONS FOR HATRED by Hadassah Thomas Martin Today

Hadassah Thomas Martin is a high-spirited woman of faith who was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She trained with Precept Ministries and became a certified trainer in “How to study the Bible”. She is also an active member of the Fellowship of International Christian Word Of Faith Ministries (FICWFM). She is the founder of “Keep It Real Ministries” which is a non-profit organization whose mission is to conduct local bible studies which teach people how to continuously live in the reality of God’s Word; regardless of their experience.

Being an “at risk youth” herself, Hadassah has overcome insurmountable obstacles. She is a bright light to women who have suffered abuse and a vital assistant in producing overcomers.

She has a passion for people and teaches youth, men and woman how to fight to win!
As a true worshipper and Intercessor, she boldly believes that NOTHING is too hard for God!

In spite of the multiple challenges we face, she believes the greatness which is inside us all, can be extracted, developed and targeted to reach its designed purpose.
Her Focus: to express qualities that bring inspiration to others. Her motto is “We Always Triumph!”

Her inspiring influence, and her down to earth, “Keep It Real” style are certain to leave an indelible impression.


You can learn more about Hadassah at her Website! You can also e-mail her at hadassah@hadassahinspires.com if you wish to talk to her!

[Buy your copy of Reasons for Hatred today! Paperback | E-Book | B&N Link | From Author's Site]
This a story based on true events. It’s about two best friends who were separated during their childhood. The spotlight then zooms in on Hadassah; during their adult reunion, she divulges the painful moments of the sexual abuse, murder and death that occurred in her life during her adolescence. It is a story about an ordinary person faced with extraordinary trauma and how she came to forgive and learned to embrace wholeness

Excerpt from Reasons for Hatred

While visiting with my grandmother, I had some sort of a breakdown. It happened without any warning. My grandmother and I were sitting in the living room visiting and having a casual conversation, when all of a sudden and out of nowhere I began to cry uncontrollably. The crying escalated into an explosive display of hysteria. I was consciously aware of my behavior, but I couldn’t control or stop it.

“My grandmother walked over to where I was sitting. With deep concern in her voice, she called my name. ‘Hadassah, Hadassah, honey, what’s wrong?’

“I could hear her, but I couldn’t respond. I kept shaking and crying hysterically. It seemed like it went on for a while. My grandmother continued to call my name as she gently rubbed my face and hands. She urgently kept asking, ‘What is it, baby? What’s wrong?’

“I don’t know how long it was, but at some point the rivers of tears eventually slowed down to a trickle and then to whimpers, and my sanity resurfaced.

“My grandmother asked again, ‘Hadassah, what’s wrong? What’s wrong, baby?’

“I was then able to respond to her, but this time, rather than exclaiming the usual lie that I had previously told so many others, I ended up spilling my guts and telling her the truth. I wasn’t okay. I told her every detail of every rape and beating that I had encountered.

“My grandmother peered into my eyes in shock and disbelief at what I had been going through. With tears in her eyes, she said, ‘Oh, no, baby, I didn’t know you’d been going through all of that.’ My grandmother lifted me from out of the chair, grabbed me, and held me tight. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know all that was going on over there,’ she empathetically said as she cried.

“That’s when I knew that my grandmother really loved me. I told her that K. C. threatened to kill me, my mother, and her, if I told anyone. I begged her to promise me that she would not say anything. I guess she agreed and promised, because I was so frantic and disturbed. She held me until I calmed down. Around this time, the phone rang. It was my mother calling to tell my grandmother that she and K. C. would be on their way as soon as K. C. finished his crap game. My grandmother told me to go and sit back down in the living room chair that was close to the front door. She said, ‘Sit right here, baby. You’re going to watch him die like a dog today.’ My grandmother went into her bedroom and got her gun. She unlocked both the front wooden and screen doors and then sat down in her seat at the head of the dining room table, which faced the front door. With tears in her eyes, she patiently sat waiting. I had never seen her look that way. I sat quietly in the chair feeling strangely relieved that I had told her, but I was also afraid, because I wasn’t sure what was going to take place next.

Support Plant the Seed and Children's Literacy

I have known J.T. Barber for a while now, and first and foremost, I can say that she is one helluva writer. With her new endeavor as creator of Plant the Seed, she is sure to become one helluva philanthropist, too. Any initiative that supports literacy, especially children's literacy, deserves to be heard about . . . and deserves some support. When J.T. told me about PTS, I knew I wanted to share information about the movement with all of you with the hope that you all will learn about the movement and support it in whatever way you can!

What is the mission of Plant the Seed?
Plant The Seed is a grassroots movement advocating children’s literacy, education, and involvement in the arts.


How did this initiative come to be?
During the summer of 2012, J.T. Barber (Author of Reflections of a Whisper), had the opportunity to chair a Book Drive campaign to benefit Philadelphia Public School children. After delivering over 2000 books to the children of Philadelphia, she decided that it should not be a one-time affair. J.T. believes that more can be done in the effort of supporting school age children in failing school districts, so she created Plant The Seed.


When does Plant the Seed begin? Is it an ongoing initiative?
We started planning for Plant The Seed in September 2012. Our Winter Fundraiser is set for December 15, 2012 until March 31, 2013.

Plant The Seed is intended to be an ongoing movement. We are starting with a fundraiser each winter, supporting under-funded children non-profits. And a book drive each summer, benefiting our under-funded public schools and their students.

Our intent is to build this initiative and officially form it as a 501 (c) 4 organization in the future.

Where can people learn more about Plant the Seed?
Currently, Plant The Seed information can be found on J.T. Barber's Website. Additional information blasts can be found on Facebook and Twitter.


What can people do to participate and support Plant the Seed?
This winter, people can participate/support by either purchasing books from the book sale, making a monetary donation, or going with us as we visit a Murals of the Mind workshop (future date to be scheduled after the holiday break).

Our 2013 Donation Recipient is Murals of the Mind [Website]. They intend to use the funds donated for their yearly anthology project, publishing the work of the students in the program.

This summer, people can participate by donating children's reading books for our book drive, making a financial donation, or volunteering to help count, catalog, and deliver books to local schools.

We are still planning for other opportunities throughout the year.


Are you still looking for sponsors? If so, how can people contact you for additional information?
Plant The Seed will always be open to sponsors. We believe that this is how we will continue to propel this movement forward. We currently have a humble group of individuals and small businesses that have vowed their support. But there is always room at the table for more.

Anyone interested in sponsorship, can contact us at jtbarberonline@gmail.com.