Without Faith by Author Leslie J. Sherrod

About the Book

A diva and a gentleman have shown up for couples counseling, but now Sienna is the one in danger....

She’s a sleuth. She’s a scorned wife. She’s a sista on a mission. Sienna St. James is more than a sharp-witted social worker. She’s a problem solver who keeps getting pulled into life-and-death mysteries that only complicate her already complex life. With a head-strong teenage son and a missing, estranged husband - who could be anywhere on the globe - Sienna has to figure out what gets her focus first: the questions she has about her own love and loss or the dangerous quirks and dark confusion of her current clients... And then there are the current eligible men around her who are jockeying for position, waiting for her to make up her mind about it all.

 

 

 About the Author

Leslie J. Sherrod, the recipient of the SORMAG Readers Choice Award for Christian Author of the Year (2012), has a Masters in Social Work and has worked as a therapist, just like her current protagonist, Sienna St. James. Her novels, Losing Hope, Secret Place, and Like Sheep Gone Astray have been featured in Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library Writer’s LIVE! Series, as well as local CBS and NBC affiliates, and on AOL’s Black Voices. She has received a starred review from Booklist and is a contributor to the bestselling A Cup of Comfort devotional series. A graduate of the University of Maryland, she also took courses in writing at The Johns Hopkins University. Leslie lives in Baltimore, Maryland with her husband and three children.

 

 

 

 

Purchase the Book Online at:

Amazon

Barnesandnoble

 

Visit the author online at:

http://www.lesliejsherrod.com/

View the blog tour schedule at:
 

 Tywebbin

October Is National Bullying Prevention Month: Help Put a Stop to Bullying

October Is National Bullying Prevention Month: Help Put a Stop to Bullying

 

True story: My sister told me she was bullied daily at school. She was called ugly and believed it. I was shocked. Why didn’t you tell us? You have 7 brothers and sisters; we would have put a stop to it fast. But she felt hopeless.

A young girl I know was being bullied daily. She never told a soul. When she became older she did the same thing to others. She said, “I suffered from depression and low-self-esteem because of bullying.”

I heard a 3 year old bully a 9 year old. The 9 year old just cried.

I personally witness this conversation with a group of kids no older than 8.

Kid 1: You are fat and ugly. He said this to the 6 year-old.

Kid 2: No I’m not.

Kid 1: Yes you are, and you’re ugly too.

Kid 3: You are fat and eat too much.

I confronted them all. I told the 6 year old she was beautiful. Get this! She was very skinny and small. My nephew and I wrote these books to help young people. Stop Bullying Now!

Amazon

Amazon

Check out some new authors for .99 cents. If you're buying Kindles or Nooks you will be satisfied with many of these reads based on your favorite genre. Get to know some of my authors including me. Add A Hole in My Heart and Caught in the Net of Deception for teens from 13 and up! Limited Time only!

What to do to stop bullying! If a child’s has been told that he is valuable, beautiful and so wonderful by their parents, bullies will have a more difficult time getting the results they want out of name calling and pushing other kids around. My mother told me that I was the best; she praised me, and told me that I could do anything I want to be successful. She made sure I valued me. We talked a lot about appearances, clothes, life and she worked hard to teach all her children to have a positive self-esteem. In high school there was a lot of bullying going on. One young girl was teased relentlessly about her appearance, her hair, and her clothes. She was kicked and pushed around. I saw it. I stood up for her. I asked the kids who were doing this- why would you do this? What is it about yourself you hate so much you’re willing to hurt others? Then I would help pick the girl off the floor and invite her into my group of friends. One girl is a very successful lawyer but I will never forget the tears she shed being bullied. Mom told us to not pick on kids, and to befriend kids who were left out. Building a kid’s self-esteem is a way to help him or her deal with bullies. I’ve held rap sessions in schools and at church and we allowed kids from the community to attend. We discussed various issues like appearances, why kids bullied, how to stand up for others without becoming a victim. We brought in others to co-sign with us and they too gave strategies. My daughter is the same way I was. I taught her that she was beautiful and wonderful and told her never to let others tell her different. She never had fights in school; if she saw someone sad she engaged them. Bullying has increased because so many kids are unhappy at home. So they bully others to feel better. Schools need to have peer group sessions, to give kids a chance to talk in a safe place. They need to bring social workers back into the schools. You have to address why these kids are so depressed and troubled before you can really enact change. They also need to train staff to intervene, and to encourage kids not to participate in that kind of negative stuff. Counselors in schools should have some training sessions to increase children self-esteem, build their communication skills, and increase their feelings of self-worth. This should be for the child who is bullying and for those who are bullied. The school should have policies that specifically address the bullying problem - and if there is no effective institutional response – there is little incentive for stopping bullying behavior. They need to allow kids to role-play situations……let me get off my soap box.

Stick Me with a Fork, I’m Done

My niece was arrested this weekend for driving with her license or car insurance. My sister bought her a car contingent on her taking care of these two issues. Unfortunately against my advice she gave her the car first. I told her doing so was a mistake. She was so sure her daughter would handle her business. She has been driving about 2 months or a little more without so much of a thought of getting her license and insurance. I often reminded her that she needed to take care of these important issues. I further told her that if she was stopped and arrested don’t call my number.

This past Saturday she was stopped and arrested for not having insurance and a drivers’ license. She had to go to county jail until someone picked her up. I received a call from her mother and my own mom telling me about it. I immediately thank them for telling me and told them I would not help at all. I finally said bye to both of them. You cannot call me anymore for help when you knowingly break the law. I will not dish out money to irresponsible people who are too lazy to take care of their problems. This gravy train is over. Her siblings, mom and brother got her out. Never me again….

On Monday, February 28th, they went to pick up her car from the tow yard. Her mother had to pay 160 bucks to get the car released, another 168 dollars to get the car from the tow yard and she had to pay almost 200.00 dollars to get insurance as they would not allow it to be moved without it. First they paid 200 dollars to get her out of jail. Now an additional 528 bucks to get the car! Just wasting money! I told her mother to prepare herself to get her out next time because there will be one. You see today, she still did not go to get her license because she was riding around with her girlfriends.

When you keep bailing and rescuing teens, they will never step up. Why should they when they have you? All of my nieces and nephews are over the age of 19. This is old enough to listen and to know better. Forgive me when I say this, I am through bailing out teens who simply don’t care about taking care of their business. Stick me with a fork, cause truth be told, I am done.

If it was your relative what would you have done?

A Mother's Reflection: Handbook & Journal



What if your child ran away from home, what you do? What if they went to a family member or friend’s home and that person decided to turn your child against you because deep down they despised you? What would you do? Carletta Washington never dreamed that her worst nightmare could ever come true. Nor could anyone tell her that her family would betray her trust but they did. In her newest book, A Mother’s Perspective, she shares what happened to her child and what you can do to prevent the same village she hoped would protect her child from doing the most harm.




**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
April, 2010
For more information or interviews contact:
Contact: Kendra Koger
Phone: 314.306.2972

Who’s in Your Child’s Village?
Many people are familiar with the African proverb of: “It takes a village to raise a child.” Though some have relied on this method of child rearing, others might not have anticipated the importance of their children’s village. Carletta Washington is all too familiar with the concept and the dangers that lie in wait in the special village of our children’s lives.
In Carletta Washington’s book A Mother’s Reflection: Protecting Your Child from Harmful Influences, she allows complete transparency into her journey of becoming a mother, the feelings of loss and negativity when the child she loves rebels and flees, and the redemption she feels by the silver linings that came with this torrent of clouds.

Through sharing her own personal experiences, Washington shares a tempest of information that could not only help mothers that are dealing with similar experiences, but to help point the warning signs of potential behaviors and influences that could be detrimental to your child’s well-being.

By revealing the importance of a healthy and encouraging atmosphere for your child, Washington also encourages the need to examine what things are in our children’s villages that might cause them to become self-destructive. Within the confines of this powerful read, Carletta Washington encourages parents who are in the process of raising their children into responsible adults, and heeds: “Who is in your child’s village?”

A Mother’s Reflection: Protecting Your Child from Harmful Influences is published by Prioritybooks Publications of St. Louis. For more information about the book or its author, write to prioritypublicity@yahoo.com or to Carletta Washington, at www.education4all@hotmail.com. The author is available for interviews, book signings and on-line chats with book clubs. A Mother’s Reflection can be purchased wherever fine books are sold. If you don’t see it on the shelf, please ask for it.

Finally........................

Teen Book Available Now!

Caught in the Net of Deception!

Rose Jackson-Beavers and Edward Booker returns with their new teen book Caught in the Net of Deception!

Rose Jackson-Beavers and Edward Booker, authors of A Hole in My Heart, introduces us to Shawn, Mike, Alexis, Demetra, Kelly, and Karen in three powerful stories about teenagers facing danger from meeting strangers on the Internet. As these teens look for love, fun, and opportunities to make money, they will face danger. Most teens are familiar with FaceBook, MySpace, and spend time surfing the Internet, but if not careful they could be sucked into a world of danger.

Amazon.com
978-0-9816483-8-5
S12.00

The Stories I Could Tell

I dunno it seems that I fight losing battles daily with the teens. They ask for help and advice and when you give it to them they do opposite of what you advised. Now as a counselor you don't tell clients what to do but help them to come up with viable solutions and alternatives to their problems, but with family members, sometimes you just skip preliminaries and get right to the point.

In the case of one of my beautiful nieces, I feel that I can give her advice when she asked, okay. So why did she have me searching for a use car and I found several students leaving for college and leaving their cars to sale, did she just hand out a thousand dollars to her boyfriend with his promise that he was purchasing a nice used car from his mother? Okay, it's been seven weeks and no car, just excuses. She's still dating him. Sometimes I just want to knock sense into her since talking doesn't work. Will these young girls ever learn?

The stories I could tell with six young nieces, they are endless. BTW, they do read my blog. They do not mind when I share their stories as long as I don't put their name on the blog. Hope it reinforces our conversations. They know I love them.

Different and Wild
Teens are so different these days or maybe not and that because of the Internet so many are just getting caught. Thereby making their actions more noticeable. The Internet is a highway to nowhere for many teens because they are not caring what they put on the web. Things that will hunt them and their future can prevent them from getting jobs, etc. Yet they keep doing crazy things that can ultimately hurt themselves and even some of us.

Take these girls from Anderson, California taking a bath in Kentucky Fried Chicken in the sink. They could be exposing people who eat there to anything like diseases, etc. But they don't think. This is where dishes are washed that food is prepared in. Then they posted these pictures on the Internet. Yep! They lost their jobs and they should have. But it got me to thinking, maybe I need to stop eating at restaurants. We don't really know what folks are doing in the kitchen. Yuck!

Too Sexy for 14 years old?

This young girl is at a concert with singer Akon. He is grinding all over her and simulating having sex with her. Her dad who is a Minister blames Akon for using his daughter as a rag doll. Why was this 14 year old in a club for people 18 and older, dressed sexy and allowing this man to grind on her?

My major goal was to raise a daughter who had strong moral values and solid Christian principles. I know I spoiled her and gave her too much but the trade off for having a daughter who is respectful and career-oriented was something that her father and I are proud of. Once we get her spending under control she will be alright. This will happen when she comes home next week and starts working and saving her own money.

As a mother I have tried to be a good role model for my daughter and worked hard to make sure that she presented herself with respect. First I would have never purchased anything sexy for her and if I thought for one moment that she had bought something on her own and I found out I would take it back or dump it in the trash. I am happy that my daughter does not go for that trashy or too sexy look.

I bring this up because I had heard about Akon, an international singer and how he rolled and grinded on a 14-year old girl at one of his concerts. Her dad is very angry and speaking out about this horrible thing. I felt bad for him and his daughter until someone sent these pictures to me. If this was my daughter and she was 14 years old wearing this- yes my blogging friends I would have been on the news for child abuse and ya’ll know I am totally and absolutely against any abuse. See her pictures. What do you think? It is also on youtube.