Several months ago I shared a touching book with you – a first novel by Teresa Mummert called White Trash Beautiful. It was stunning and suspenseful. The new Adult trilogy is about a down and out waitress who is swept off her feet by an aspiring rock star. Check out the past review to refresh your memory. Today I am pleased to review the second book in the trilogy and it is just as good as the first!

White Trash Damaged by Teresa Mummert
Publisher: Gallery Books;
Original edition (October 8, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-1476732084

Synopsis: This book is the second installment in the stunning New Adult trilogy about a down-and-out waitress that took the blogosphere by storm. The first book in the series, White Trash Beautiful, was an instant USA Today and New York Times bestseller upon release. In this book, Cass and Tucker’s love story continues!

Rocker Tucker White saved down-and-out waitress Cass Daniels from everyone in her life who was hurting her—except herself. Tucker and Cass are finally together, but does that mean they get their happy ending?

Living on a tour bus with your boyfriend’s rock band is nothing like living in a trailer with your drug-addicted mother—except for the drama. After all the pain and grief that marked the beginning of Cass and Tucker’s relationship, they’re finally building a life together—just the two of them, his three bandmates, some groupies, and thousands of screaming fans. And not everyone is as happy about the couple’s reunion as they are.

The last thing Cass wants to do is create friction within the band—especially when Damaged is on the brink of achieving the success Tucker has worked so hard for. She’s thrilled to finally be with a man who loves and protects her as much as he does. But how can she carve out a place for herself in this new rock star world . . . without being swallowed by the shadow of Tucker’s fame?

My Thoughts: This book picks right up where the first one left off with teaser memories to what happened in the past to remind you of where the other book ended. Cass and her man are back together and are getting ready to travel with the band. Happy together, it seems that Cass is accepting of her choices and is looking forward to her future.

I like that the author chose to write Cass in a positive uplifting manner where so much can be negative in her life. It is refreshing to not be overcome with the negative aspects in her life. The storyline is written in a way that lets you know that she is hurting – she has little self esteem – but she revels and grows in her love for Tucker.

Not all is perfect as there are always issues when people travel and live together in close quarters and traveling with the band takes patience, understanding and most of all trust. Cass and Tucker both had to learn these values if they were going to move forward.

The author did a fine job of telling a beautiful story that was interesting and full of drama. There is some room for character development but overall, this was a great follow up to the first book. Sometimes I worry when an author has to follow up with a second series book and then a third. But this one was inline with the first book and could easily stand alone as a novel. I personally like to read books in a series in order, but if someone purchased this alone, you could follow along the storyline well.

If you loved the Beautiful book then you have to grab this one! It is a wonderful story that reads quickly and once again you find yourself rooting for Cass as she learns to find herself and be happy.

Disclaimer: Chris has personally reviewed the product listed above. She has not received any monetary compensation for her review but did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ.

I have a guilty pleasure. I really enjoy reading business related books. Yes, I know it is somewhat a geeky secret but because I am a business owner of several businesses, I love learning tips of the trade from other professionals. It is not often that I share a business book with you but I know many of our readers are also internet business owners and this book is a fabulous one to share. I first heard of MaryEllen Tribby through another internet business leader that I follow so when I was asked to review her book, I did not hesitate! I was sent a copy of the hardcover for review and to share that with you.

Reinventing the Entrepreneur: Turning Your Dream Business into a Reality
by MaryEllen Tribby
WILEY; Hardcover & e-book
ISBN: 978-1-118-58445-3

Synopsis:

At the book’s heart is an extraordinarily successful business model called The Inbox Magazine (“iMag,” for short). An approach custom-tailored to the times, iMag lets entrepreneurs and small businesses create a huge impact with a minimal investment of time, energy, and money. It can be done from home, on the road, or anywhere in the world.

Writing in her trademark friendly, down-to-earth style, Tribby walks readers through all the steps of starting, running, and growing a successful iMag enterprise, including:

* Brainstorming million-dollar business ideas
* Researching the market and finding an ideal niche (or niches)
* Sizing up the competition—and knowing what you can offer that they can’t
* Finding the perfect name for a business and designing a killer website
* Marketing your iMag and building an online following on social media
* Creating content that sings—and keeps them coming back for more
* Selling advertising space and partnering with other entrepreneurs
* Measuring your success and growing your business

Whether a first-time entrepreneur looking to find everything needed to hone a Big Idea (or Ideas) and get a business off the ground and running or a current business owner, Reinventing the Entrepreneur explores proven techniques for boosting bottom line by an order of magnitude—in no time.

My Thoughts:

Internet business seems to be the way of the world these days. In my town, more and more brick and mortar businesses are closing down and that is a scary thing. This book is a map to a creating a successful internet businesses using a magazine format as your structure.

Now for many businesses, this is not the type of structure that would be a successful business model, but for many online businesses, I am seeing it more and more – especially those that teach or coach others in some type of business information systems. While my businesses are not necessarily set up in this fashion, the book does give a lot of great tips that I found very helpful. I call them the golden nuggets!

This book is very simple to read. In fact, I read it in about 3 hours. There is plenty of visual aids to support the information and it is set up so you can easily skim the content looking for your golden nuggets. That is how I tend to read a business book as much of the information does not pertain to me or it is something that I already knew.

What I did get out of this book is tons of references and tips for writing that I had not seen before. The author is a prior CEO at some powerhouse corporate businesses, has ran divisions at Forbes, Times Mirror Magazines, and Crain’s New York Business, where she learned from some of the best business mentors in the world. Her resume offers more powerful success so it would be difficult to not learn something from her!

This book is a great one to pick up if you are looking to start or expand a current internet business. There are plenty of tips and tricks and a lot of the author’s insight from her business expertise that she wiling shares. I have read so many books that refers to doing something to increase your business. Tribby shares with you the How! That alone is worth picking up this book. You will gain a few golden nuggets that could make the difference in your internet business.

Disclaimer: Chris has personally reviewed the product listed above. She has not received any monetary compensation for her review but did receive a free product to try out so she could evaluate and use it for her review. Her thoughts & opinions in this review are unbiased & honest and your opinions may differ.