Wellness Wednesday - Garcinia Cambogia

Yes, I realize that today is Tuesday, not Wednesday. This was originally going to be last week's WW post. However, I ended up being asked to host two tours on Wednesday, so I decided not to post this then. I was going to push it back to this week, but when I looked back on past weeks, I realized just how bad I've been about posting for WW. So, I decided to do a double Wellness Wednesday post this week instead of postponing again. 

I decided to do a post on garcinia cambogia because I've been hearing a lot about it lately. Jonah Hill credited his drastic weight loss a few years ago to using garcinia cambogia, and he's not the only one. So many celebrities and health gurus have been talking about it. 

Now, I've struggled with my weight for most of my adult life. While I realize that I will never be skinny and am okay with that, I do want to be healthy. And part of being healthy is getting back in shape and losing some of my extra weight (no joke...doctor's orders). I've already started exercising more and eating healthier, but I wanted to see if using garcinia cambogia would help. I tried it in the past, but didn't really see drastic results. In fact, I couldn't even tell if the results I was getting was due to the garcinia or just due to the lifestyle changes I'd made.

Now that I had a pretty good weight loss baseline, I was ready to try again. I was given the opportunity to review Pinnacle Nutrition's 100% Pure Garcinia Cambogia. They claimed to be the most potent garcinia cambogia available, so I figured I'd give it a try. Here's their information and my review:




Take advantage of what experts call a revolutionary breakthrough in weight loss! Rather than risking your health with products that contain dangerous stimulants, our 100% natural Garcinia (with 75% more HCA than most competitors) is your answer! No jitters, no upset stomach, no side effects.

Heard about other Garcinia not working - They aren't formulated properly! We have the absolute HIGHEST, MOST POTENT, DOSAGE OF HCA AVAILABLE ANYWHERE, so you may notice a difference faster and see more weight lost. Get the MOST for your money! Plus, our Garcinia is 3rd party lab tested, so you know what you're really getting! If you tried other products but didn't see results...you NEED to try ours!

Lose Weight Or Your Money Back!
Pinnacle Nutrition's products are all covered by a LIFETIME Manufacturer's 100% money-back guarantee.

My Review:
2 stars

I really wanted this to work. I truly did. Unfortunately, I did not get the results I was expecting. I didn't really get any results at all actually. I took these for 2 weeks and in that time, I actually gained weight instead of losing it. I didn't notice any energy increase but I did notice that it would raise my blood pressure and heart rate, side effects I wasn't expecting. Which leads me to the fact that...

The company claims in their description that there are no side effects, but I had several that could potentially be linked to these. Along with the raised blood pressure and heart rate, I found myself feeling nauseous often while taking these. I started expecting to become nauseous while taking these, which is never a good sign. And once I stopped taking them, I noticed that I wasn't experiencing nausea anywhere near as often as I had been.

The only reason I gave this a two star instead of a one star is because I couldn't link the symptoms I was having to the garcinia. While I did notice an increase in symptoms, I continued having them after I stopped taking the garcinia. So, I don't know if the capsules were to blame or not, but I won't be using them again, and I wouldn't really recommend these. However, this is just my experience. If you look on Amazon, they've gotten lots of great reviews, so I could have just been one of the anomalies. Nevertheless, I won't be using these again nor would I recommend them.

*I received this in exchange for an honest review.*

Agnes Sorel: Mistress of Beauty Review

Yolande, the Queen of Four Kingdoms is dead. Agnès Sorel, beautiful, innocent, 20 years old, had arrived a year earlier with the court of Yolande's son, René D'Anjou, and remained with his mother at her request, knowing how much the King of France, her dissolute son-in-law Charles VII, would need wise guidance. As a trusted confidant of Yolande, Agnès captivates everyone she meets, and in her role as a demoiselle to René's wife, Isabelle of Lorraine, Agnès finds herself firmly ensconced in the royal court. Soon though, whispers at court regarding Charles's burgeoning feelings for her begin to grow, and despite her best efforts to resist, Agnès is alarmed to discover that she too is in love. Plagued by guilt but unable to deny her feelings for the King, Agnès is forced to choose between her love for Charles, and her duty to herself.

In this extraordinary historical novel, Princess Michael of Kent tells the little-known story of Agnès Sorel, the first official royal mistress at the court of France.

My Review:

4 stars

What can I say without ruining the wonderful surprise that is this book? Well for starters, I’m not a big historical fan, yet this book drew me in and enthralled me. The writing was good and I absolutely loved Agnes…she was very well-written and I found myself identifying with her. The plot was…engaging and interesting, even if there were parts I didn’t enjoy as much (can’t say anymore without ruining the story). All in all, if you’re a historical fan, I highly recommend reading this and even if you’re not normally a historical fan, give it a try. You might just be pleasantly surprised.

*I received this in exchange for an honest review.*

Lunation Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

In this exciting story that allows the reader the choice of following different characters, young, sheltered Branguin discovers that his ancestor, Marama, has been trapped in the moon, and sets out to free her. But he must first unravel the mystery of how she got there, confront and defeat the sorcerer Raul, and counter a menacing new force that's assembling an army to attack the capital. Branguin deciphers the clues with the help of his companions, several lost relatives along the way. The Lunation Series is a modern-day moon myth about ordinary people discovering their inner strength and overcoming extraordinary challenges, in order to solve a great mystery.

Excerpt:

If Braven had had a skill, the Boy was unaware of it. He had always been a little frightened of his grandfather, who had been mad almost as long as the Boy could remember, and querulous before that. He had kept well out of the old man’s way — which hadn’t been difficult as Braven spent most of his time in his tiny room, coming out only on those rare, wild turns when his madness bubbled over and he climbed tall trees in the forest, and howled at the moon. Times like this. Usually on these occasions the Boy stood guard with Anselt at the bottom of the tree, ready to protect Braven from the forest’s predatory wolves. Eventually he would exhaust himself and descend, and Anselt would lead him home, docile. Braven would return to the solitude of his bedroom, staring at his gnarled old hands. Until the next time.

But there would not be a next time. His grandfather’s sickening drop replayed in his mind again, only this time, the Boy remembered some words his grandfather had shouted. ‘Damn you, Mara, damn you Mara-ma! Where is she? Give her back, give her baaaaaack!’

The words meant little to the Boy — unless Maraluna, the disease Anselt said Braven had, was a person rather than a mental illness. And perhaps ‘she’ was his wife, Elodea, the Boy’s grandmother. She had been killed by wolves not long after her marriage, along with her parents, and their servants — Anselt’s parents. Anselt had become Braven’s servant then. It did not immediately occur to the Boy that Anselt was now his servant. Anselt had raised him, and the Boy saw the woodsman as his guardian.

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August 31: Long and Short Reviews
September 1: Kit 'N Kabookle
September 2: Queen of All She Reads
September 3: Sharing Links and Wisdom
September 4: Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews 
September 4: The Blog of C.R. Moss
September 7: Archaeolibrarian - I dig good books!
September 8: Lilac Reviews
September 9: BooksChatter
September 10: Writer Wonderland
September 11: Welcome to My World of Dreams

Author Bio and Links:

JJ Gadd is an Australian writer based in regional Victoria. She likes green and growing things, cooking, and history - particularly antiquities. The call to writing came young, and she worked as a journalist and editor for more than 15 years, garnering the life experience she thought she’d need in order to do justice to the story she’s wanted to write since she was a girl. Now that she’s a grown-up she’s realised that life experience is something that keeps happening - but she wrote the story anyway.

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Buy Links:
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Dark Betrayal Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

Nephilim Sydney London has embraced her angelic heritage, crossed the borders between life and death and traveled throughout the dimensions in order to save the people she loves. Exposed to a supernatural world, Sydney now must face the repercussions of healing her Darkness consumed mother Pandora. As a fugitive magical being Pandora's involvement with the Angel Vampires is uncertain. Instructed by the Archangel Michael, Sydney must track down her mother before she possibly leads the Angel Vampires to Pandora’s Box. Sydney continues to risk her life as she delves deeper into the elements of a world that hangs in limbo. Her Guardian Angel struggles to protect her as the threats of evil rise in an attempt to recruit Sydney and possess her powers for their own malicious agenda.

Excerpt:

While I ate with Angelo, I thought about how different my life had become since I discovered my history and my powers— the places I’ve traveled, and the creatures I’d met on my journey. There was Tristan, Angelo’s friend and a vampire, who had become my protector, and the elves Elwyn and Elin, brothers who had given one of their lives for me. Lothos was an angel who had sworn allegiance to my mother and now was helping me, not to mention my friend Amy, Luna’s sister. Although she was human, she was helping to manage my mother’s company since Luna died. All of these creatures had become an important part of my life. Despite how much they meant to me, I felt that everything had spiraled out of control. The only thing I was sure of was my love for my guardian angel, my watcher—Angelo.

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August 31: Welcome to My World of Dreams
September 1: Long and Short Reviews
September 2: Sharing Links and Wisdom
September 3: Unabridged Andra's
September 4: Claire Boston
September 7: The Reading Addict
September 8: Lady of Books
September 9: Blog of author Jacey Holbrand
September 9: The Visionary Mompreneur
September 10: Christine Young
September 11: BooksChatter
September 14: Kit 'N Kabookle
September 15: LibriAmoriMiei
September 15: Galleywampus
September 16: Two Ends of the Pen
September 17: Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews
September 18: CA Milson

Author Bio and Links:

Years of exposure within the writing and publishing world have made a lasting impact on Author LaTaeya Lane. Writing since she was seven years old, Lane began jotting down phrases and themes later turning them into poems and short stories. Writing became such a passion throughout her youth that she became the Junior and Senior editor of her High school newspaper. She wrote her first novel at age sixteen but was not seeking publication at that time in her life. Always captivated by the supernatural and elements of fantasy, Lane was inspired to write a series of books that focused on going beyond the boundaries of life and imagination. The angel vampire fantasy “Swept into the Darkness” is Lane's first published book in a series called “Chronicles of the Celestial.” “Dark Betrayal” is the second book in the series. Lane has a degree in Liberal Studies and currently works in Early Childhood education. Lane resides in New Jersey with her husband Leo and son Lucian and is working on writing and publishing the third book in the series called “Dark Revenge.” Lane also loves to draw and paint. Traveling and experiencing a variety of different foods is also a deep passion of hers. Lane loves watching horror and fantasy movies and is a believer in the Ancient Alien Theory. Some of her favorite authors include, Charline Harris, Stephen King and Erick Von Daniken.

Website     |     Authors Den     |     Twitter     |     Facebook 

Buy links:

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Better Than Chocolate Book Blast

Blurb:

Carmella Sannarelli just found out that her best friend, Sadie Miller, has broken her engagement and is eloping on St. Croix. Though Carmella agrees to act as the maid of honor, she’s determined to find out what went wrong between her friends.

But she’s not counting on coming face to face with Ryan Wutkowski (the jilted fiancé) on the plane, or with staying at his hotel during a two-day stopover in San Juan. They try to act like nothing’s changed. But Carmella’s totally flustered by the weird vibes Ryan sends her, as well as how tingly and off-kilter she feels every time he so much as looks at her.

Now Carmella can’t stop thinking about Ryan or his behavior, even though most of her time in St. Croix is taken up by pre-wedding activities and dodging advances from the womanizing best man. And she knows there’s more to the story behind Ryan and Sadie’s breakup than either of them will admit to her.

Especially after Ryan shows up at the rehearsal dinner and gets himself invited to the wedding...

Excerpt:

Ryan taps my arm. “Why are you on a flight to San Juan?”

I peer at him, my eyes narrow slits. “Why are you?”

A rhetorical question. Although his suit coat is probably in the overhead bin, safe inside a garment bag, his dress pants, crisp white button-down shirt, and Italian leather shoes tell me everything.

He answers anyway. “I have a conference over the next couple days. I have to go straight from the airport to my first meeting.”

The plane levels out, as does my head, and I wriggle to sit up straight. “They could at least let you check into your hotel first.”

“Well, fortunately the conference is at my hotel.”

“It’s a pretty fast trip.” I press my face to the window glass, squinting against the glare.

He shifts in his seat. “I had some vacation time coming, so I extended the trip through the middle of next week.”

So he’s not the only one who decided on a Caribbean adventure in the wake of his and Sadie’s breakup. I close my eyes, glad I didn’t say it out loud.

“Carmella, why are you going to Puerto Rico by yourself?”

The advantages of having Ryan for a flight companion have just turned moot. There’s no way to avoid this discussion. The flight’s too long. “I’m on my way to St. Croix.”

There. I said it. Sort of.

“What’s in St. Croix?”

His voice is low, and when I glance at him, he looks away. His jaw shifts, his profile a stern mask.

“I think you already know,” I answer slowly.

“Sadie.”

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1: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
2: Rogues Angels
3: 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!
4: Reviews by Crystal
5: CBY Book Club
6: The Snarkology
7: Mythical Books
8: StarAngels Reviews
9: Urban Girl Reader
10: Harps Romance Book Review
11: Buried Under Romance
12: Jersey Girl Book Reviews REVIEW
13: Independent Authors
14: Undercover Book Reviews
15: Writer Wonderland
16: Romance Novel Giveaways
17: Erin Cawood 
18: Teatime and Books
19: Long and Short Reviews
20: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
21: A Writer's Life
22: Full Moon Dreaming
23: BookSkater
24: The Visionary Mompreneur REVIEW
25: We Love Kink
26: Sharing Links and Wisdom

Author Bio and Links:

J. Lynn Rowan started writing stories as a small child, usually starring her favorite cartoon characters. Most of her work through middle and high school was filled with typical teenage angst and melodrama, and usually mirrored the books she loved to read. But eventually she found her own author’s voice and decided to seriously pursue a writing career.

Historical fiction remains J. Lynn’s “first love”, but she has enjoyed the journey to becoming an author of romance and chick lit. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Central New York Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. She is also a teacher who tries to instill a love of learning, reading, and writing in her students.

When she’s not writing, J. Lynn enjoys travelling, gardening poorly but enthusiastically, studying various topics in American history for her own expertise, and channeling Julia Child every time she steps into the kitchen.

A native of Oswego, NY, she now lives in Charlotte, NC, with her own Romantic Hero of a husband and the most adorable baby on the planet.

Website     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Pinterest     |     YouTube

Amazon Buy Link

Blogoversary Winners

So, I’ve been a very bad blogger. I completely forgot to actually change my day 7 post of my blogoversary from a draft into an actual post, and only just now realized it when someone asked me about the winners. *facepalm* I swear, I’m not normally this brain-dead. That being said, here are the winners (who have all been contacted, so check your emails)!

Day 1 – Ebook of The Brush Whistler’s Song – H.B.

Day 4 – Ebook from a blog hop – Jbst

$30 Amazon GC – Alexandra E.

So congratulations to all the winners and thank you so much to all of you who stopped by and joined me for my 3^rd blogoversary. And here’s to another awesome year!

MoodBliss Advanced Mood Support Formula Review

MoodBliss Advanced Formula is a supplement packed with vitamins, herbal extracts, minerals, and antioxidants.

Feel happier as your anxiety lessens, and your stress disappears. Your family and friends will notice the change in your disposition. You'll notice how well you sleep at night and how great you feel. MoodBliss promotes positive mood, relaxation and can also help at times of PMS.

Healthy living, a whole foods rich diet rich, exercise and a positive attitude all help to deal with whatever life throws at you. Sometimes though, living in this modern world with its multitude of distractions can still take a toll.

Packed with the maximum strength dosages of important stress reducing nutrients, MoodBliss brings you back to a feeling of calm for greater relaxation. You get all this in a simple, easy-to-swallow, vegetable capsule.

My Review:

4 stars

Again, I brought my roommate in to help with this review. She had tried Nuphorin before, and her thoughts on MoodBliss were very similar.

For one, the ingredients and amounts are virtually the same. MoodBliss had 25mg less of 5-HTP than Nuphorin which was the only noticeable difference between the two. The two vitamins even looked virtually the same.

Even though MoodBliss had less of the 5-HTP, it still worked well in helping her when she became overwhelmed with stress and anxiety. Not to mention, she did feel a bit of an energy boost sometimes when taking the vitamins, a definite plus.

Also, since MoodBliss came in a more relaxing and peaceful looking bottle, she actually preferred using it over Nuphorin, which she thought looked too intimidating and medical. Plus, the MoodBliss is cheaper, which would make her more likely to buy it over Nuphorin in the future.

*I received this in exchange for an honest review.*