HUGE REQUEST BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS

Many of my friends and family have read FIFTH CHILD and sent me glorious comments via e-mail and/or on Facebook. In order to take my book further, I need to have as many reviews as possible on AMAZON.COM and GOODREADS.COM. It's required by other online and walk-in bookstores. If you would be so kind to go to Amazon, type in Fifth Child, click the parenthesis around the number near the stars and click Create Your Own Review...even two words is sufficient, along with a star rating. I would truly appreciate this.

Letting Go

Since my book was published, I've received notes and comments from so many parents, especially moms of addicts, along with grandparents raising their grandchildren because of their child's addiction. It's such a painful place to be; wanting to help your addict child yet not enable. Letting go was the most difficult but most essential lesson I learned. It's not just for people dealing with addicted family members and friends but for dealing with people and challenges in every day life. This piece says it all. The author is unknown.

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring; it means I can't do it for someone else...To let go is not to cut myself off...It's the realization that I can't control another...To let go is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences. To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands. To let go is not to try and change or blame another. I can only change myself. To let go is not to care for, but to care about. To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being. To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their own outcomes. To let go is not to be protective; it is to permit another to face reality. To let go is not to deny, but to accept. To let go is not to nag, scold, or argue, but to search out my own shortcomings and correct them. To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish the moment. To let go is not to criticize and regulate anyone, but to try to become what I dream I can be. To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future. To let go is to fear less and love more.

After re-typing these words into my blog, I realize I still have a long way to go to master letting go. With my husband retiring on Friday and entering my daily space; I'd better master it quickly!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANOTHER 5-STAR AMAZON REVIEW!

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down, November 13, 2013

By 

K. Philip "Mad Mimi" (OH, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Fifth Child: The Turbulent Path That Led to Parenting Our Child's Child (Kindle Edition)

This was a very well written book of a families journey through addiction and how it impacts all of the family members. I started reading it and couldn't put it down until I finished it at 3:00AM It was worth being tired all of the next day.I thought about it a lot over the past few days and that is always a sign of a good book to me. It made me incredibly sad and I really wished for a different ending, but this is the reality of addiction.It was a very honest book, and worth the time to read it.I love the way the human spirit lives on and can thrive again through the many different problems that have to be endured by a family in crisis.

AMAZON.COM PROMO until SAT., NOV. 16

FIFTH CHILD on Kindle/E-Book is now $6.99 on Amazon.com. Goes back to $9.99 on Nov. 17. Soft Cover is $15.15. GO FOR IT!

FINAL DAY -$4.99 PROMO FOR KINDLE/E-BOOK VERSION!

If you want to read FIFTH CHILD on your Kindle or E-Book for a LOW price, get it by midnight tonight on AMAZON.COM. After tonight, it goes to $6.99 and back to $9.99 on Nov. 16. Of course, you can always get the soft cover now $15.15 on Amazon. Where do they come up with these prices?!?

I AM TOUCHED BY THIS BOOK REVIEW!

https://www.twitter.com/lynnegassel5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Moving, November 10, 2013

By 

Richard B. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Fifth Child: The Turbulent Path That Led to Parenting Our Child's Child (Kindle Edition)

The author's honesty and clarity about her family's true life events, the deep love, sorrow, constant hope and equal disappointment are captured so well in this highly readable tragedy of one child's drug addiction. Fortunately, it is also a story of triumph over tragedy because of Lynne’s and Stu’s commitment to protect and love Brady without fail.

The author's prose and conversational style – her thoughtful way of telling her family’s story – really draws the reader in. With Lynne’s telling, I felt very involved in so much of the family dynamics, experiencing Lynne’s conflicted life, wanting Jaime to succeed, knowing the likely outcome, and worrying for young Brady’s future.

This tension between knowing that tragedy was ahead and wanting to know how Jaime and Brady will fare in succeeding days, kept me hooked. I found that once I started reading I was drawn in and quickly finished. Although, I never faced the challenges of addiction with my own kids, I found the book to be much broader in its appeal, especially in how parents try their best to make the right decisions for their children when, as most of us know, there is never a perfect answer.

Because the book so immerses the reader in the author’s deeply personal recollections, if you are a parent, the story is deeply “relatable” as it makes a very personal connection, and, while reading, brings to mind one’s own life raising kids, the mistakes, joys and tragedies. The book also reinforced my belief that most parents do their best for their children. Indeed, after raising two kids myself and recalling the many, many challenges, I honestly don't see how, in the context of the real-time events of daily life, Lynne and Stu could have loved Jaime more or done better as parents. And Brady, his gems of wisdom nicely placed to introduce each chapter, is indeed a lucky child to have such great parents.

I highly recommend this book and I am sure many parents will thank Lynne for writing such a touching and totally honest account of her family struggles.

7-DAY AMAZON.COM PROMO -2 more days @ $4.99

Kindle/E-Book Version of FIFTH CHILD is $4.99 for 2 more days. Nov. 13, it will be $6.99 and back to the regular $9.99 price on Nov. 16. Soft cover on Amazon is down to $15!
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DO IT!!!! Readers are saying they can't put it down!