Hi, I have drawn from my years working in the casino industry to create a critically acclaimed fascinating thriller. The Desert Sun raves, "Cara Bertoia stacks the creative cards in our favor in Casino Queen a compelling mystery set in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. Crime-solving tales that revolve around strong female protagonists aren’t just a luck of a draw. They’re downright successful." Click on follow button to receive new updates to my blog. On mobile phone follow button on web version.
APOCALYPTO XMAS
This year we are happy to premiere our latest release, Apocalypto Xmas.
Click here to view a sneak preview of Apocalypto Xmas
THE NEXT BIG THING WRITERS TELL ABOUT THEMSELVES AND PASS IT ALONG
I am working currently on a blog about everything that has to do with travel I have been focusing lately on travel destinations around Southern California. One posting I especially liked writing focused on my hometown and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Next week I will be posting a blog about Slab City, a very interesting community just east of the Salton Sea.
To further the chain I will introduce you the Revita Horowitz the author of Daughter's of Iraq, a wonderful story about a family who immigrated to Israel from Iraq. Her new novel Hope to See You Soon, deals with the immigrant experience in the U.S. But just follow this link and she can tell you all about it.
Click here to visit Revita's blog about The Next Big Thing
And if you want to learn more about time travel -
Here is the link to Georgina's blog Nerd- Girls Romantics and Time Travelers
Cara Bertoia is the author of the critically acclaimed Casino Queen, a new suspense novel published by The Wild Rose Press. She has drawn from her years in the casino industry to create a fascinating thriller. It is all true although the names have been changed to protect the guilty. It had been featured at The Big Thrill and Women Writers Women's Books and at many other sites. Read the blurb here.
Caroline Popov, alone, heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California where Native casinos have just opened, offering employment to thousands. She lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino and is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar.
Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption.
In the process of rediscovering her inner strength, she learns, you have to gamble like your life depends on it. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?
Click the link below to order at Amazon, enjoy your stay at the Night Hawk!
Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
To check out my interview in The Big Thrill, click the link below.
Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia | THE BIG THRILL
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
TAKE A WALK THROUGH SPAIN - READ ABOUT THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO - GET IN THE KNOW - GET IN THE HOT SPOT
We have written a guest blog about our walk for Get in the Hot Spot, a very popular Australian travel blog. I love this blog because Australia is a place I visited many times over the years when I worked for Princess Cruises. The people are extremely open and very funny. It is great to read travel stories with a little different perspective than we get here in America.
So please visit our post and find out all about Get in the Hot Spot.
Click this link to read about the Camino at Get in the Hot Spot
Cara and Ray in Santiago The Camino changed our lives in so many ways that are hard to express in words. We have made a video of our journey and would be pleased to tell you about it. Please go to www.caminovideo.com to find our movie 'Camino de Santiago a walkers guide' or Click here to find our movie at Amazon Please check out our novel Cruise Quarters A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships about our decade working on luxury cruise ships:
About the author:
Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters A Novel
About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Her novel is really a travelogue, a narrative,
a romance, a self-help manual for gambling and cruising, and a real-life story
all rolled into one funny, obsessive, and entertaining story of two people
whose separate life journeys meet at a crossroads. Kindle
Fire Dept. says, "This novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation
in a book!"
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships |
I HAVE A GREAT IDEA - FROM IDEA TO INVENTION
As an inspiration today I am thrilled to present Anne Marie Daniels, inventor of wheel chair covers that are manufactured for Sure Fit. I met Anne Marie when she was leading tour groups on the cruise ships that I worked for. We reconnected after she read my novel 'Cruise Quarters'. She is a cheerful, resourceful person with a tremendous amount of patience. My mother-in- law was in a wheelchair when Anne Marie told me about her idea. I immediately saw the need for her product. Besides being an inventor, she is an independent contractor, working in corporate events: meetings, incentive programs and individual events out of Boston. Now I will let Anne Marie tell her story of taking her invention from an idea to a product.
THE LINK TO ANNE MARIE'S WHEEL CHAIR COVERS |
What were the obstacles that you faced. What is the patent process?
Did you get encouragement or did people think that you were crazy?
How did you find out about the contest.
What are your plans now.
Since your mother was your inspiration, and she is now deceased what do you think she would say to you.
I want this piece to inspire anyone that has a good idea but is scared to try it out.
Since This article was first posted Annemarie has some news to share with us.
Well, pigs have flown and SureFit's version of my slipcovers has finally hit the big time! It debuted around Father's Day, on QVC's "Sunday Mornings with Carolyn & Dan."
Also now available on Costco's website, among others -
Click the link below for the actual TV segment - A little iffy on the issue of sizing, but hey, I'm not complaining!
http://www.qvc.com/Sure-Fit-Quilted-Wheel-Chair-Cover-Slipcovers-Decorative-Accents-For-the-Home.product.H199429.html?sc=H199429-User&cm_sp=VIEWPOSITION-_-6-_-H199429&catentryImage=http://images-p.qvc.com/is/image/h/29/h199429.001?$uslarge$
About the author:
Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Her novel is really a travelogue, a narrative, a romance, a self-help manual for gambling and cruising, and a real-life story all rolled into one funny, obsessive, and entertaining story of two people whose separate life journeys meet at a crossroads. Kindle Fire Dept. says, "This novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation in a book!"
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
THE TOP TEN ROMANTIC MOVIES - FROM THE HOPEFUL ROMANTIC
If any one in Hollywood is listening I have a great story about two ordinary people who meet in a very big world. It would fit in quite nicely at number eleven.
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
CAROLINA BEACHES ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
VINYL IS BACK -THE RETURN OF THE RECORD ALBUM
Ray proudly displays his collection in the cabinets he built! |
Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Kindle Fire Dept says - If this one doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will. Cruise Quarters is a romantic comedy about a woman whose unlucky-in-love past is about to meet its match on board a luxury cruise ship departing for exotic ports around the globe. Managing to be informative about cruises and richly detailed with the locales while offering a compelling romance and plenty of laughs, this novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation in a book!
Click the link to find at Amazon.com
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find Cruise Quarters at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
CASINO MOVIES THAT GET IT RIGHT
Don't even start me on 'The Cooler' there is no 'Cooler' it was just something made up to sell a movie. Walk up to any dealer and call them 'The Cooler' and watch them cringe, anyway 'The Cooler' wasn't a dealer but a player who stood behind the table. Casinos don't cheat, they may lure you in with bells and neon but the donations you make are purely voluntary.
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
HORRORS! SWIMSUIT SEASON IS UPON US AGAIN!
What is normal these days? They sell a mixture that contains 15% pink slime and they call it lean ground beef, they put high fructose corn syrup in canned tomato soup, and when you fly on a plane you have to pay to check your baggage. These things happen and gradually we just accept them. And now in clothing sizes who the hell knows what the new Normal is?
I was dragging my husband with me shopping the other day. If he doesn’t like something I wear he lets me know it, so I decided he should go with me while I picked an outfit out, to bypass the insult. We were wandering around the department store where I was trying to find some new t-shirts. Well that might seem easy enough but I wanted a shirt that you couldn’t see through, that you could wash and that came past my belly button so that the top of my ass wouldn’t show every time I bent down.
My sweet husband picked up a t-shirt and held it up for me, “I like this it must be about your size.”
Bless his heart he had picked up a small. “A small are you kidding, have you looked at that shirt.” He held it up and I would have sworn it wouldn’t fit a young child but I looked around and we were in the women’s department.
“Well how about this one,” he reached for a medium.
“A medium, who do you think I am, Paris Hilton?’
“What do you mean - you aren’t a medium?”
“A medium, I hate to break it to you but for the last five years I have been an extra large, not a large but an extra large, and god forbid I ever throw it in the dryer.” I grabbed an extra large shirt and held it up to me.
I could see his confusion. I am 5”5’ and weigh 135 pounds on a good day, 137 on a bad one. A weight that shouldn’t be considered extra large. A weight that wasn’t considered extra large ten years ago. A weight that is a little below normal on the height and weight charts. A weight that I worked damn hard to get to in the last two years. I have lost weight but the funny thing is the more weight I lose the bigger my clothing size. I know there is something funny going on.
I am convinced that all the clothing manufacturers got together and said. Hey, how can we make the American woman feel even worse about herself? We can resize all her clothes. We will base all our measurements on a thirteen year old girl. And since everything is manufactured abroad the manufacturers can send anything over here slap any old size on it and save on materials! It doesn’t mean that the clothes will be cheaper. I keep hoping that since everything is made in China this is only a translation problem and XL really means Extra Lucky.
The perfect fit, a Grecian Slender Suit! |
But if you won't tell anyone I will let you in on a little secret. I don't dread buying a bathing suit. Would you like to know how you will never again have to stand under those unforgiving fluorescent lights in a retail store fitting room? One of the happiest days of my year is when The Lands' End swimsuit catalog arrives. For the last ten years I have ordered all my bathing suits through the internet. I choose a size larger than my own a 12 instead of a 10, and god bless, besides a great selection they even have long waisted swimsuits.
No, I don't have any affiliation with the company, and I am not getting a free swimsuit. But if they happen upon this blog and they are feeling generous I would love a Slender Suit, holds you in at all the right places, in the Sweetheart or Grecian style in that pretty rose color I saw in the catalog.
In the meantime, we the American consumer will grit our teeth and swallow a Zanax every time we have to go to the mall. It just means that if we find anything that fits we will wear it until the seams dissolve. I don't think it is as bad in Britain when my husband and I go to Scotland to visit his family I always go to Frazer's to buy clothes because I seem to wear an average size there. As for gifts I never give anyone clothes anymore, I don’t want my friends to unwrap something labeled XL and get insulted.
Yes, our destruction is complete; the sexy, curvy American woman has been replaced by a botoxed, bleached, anorexic model. So I give up and surrender and wait for the day when I become an extra, extra large or extra, extra lucky.
Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Her novel is really a travelogue, a narrative, a romance, a self-help manual for gambling and cruising, and a real-life story all rolled into one funny, obsessive, and entertaining story of two people whose separate life journeys meet at a crossroads. Kindle Fire Dept. says, "This novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation in a book!"
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
.
A SHOUT OUT TO THE AMAZON REVIEWER
Cara Bertoia is the author of the critically acclaimed Casino Queen, a new suspense novel published by The Wild Rose Press. She has drawn from her years in the casino industry to create a fascinating thriller. It is all true although the names have been changed to protect the guilty. It had been featured at The Big Thrill and Women Writers Women's Books and at many other sites. Read the blurb here.
Caroline Popov, alone, heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California where Native casinos have just opened, offering employment to thousands. She lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino and is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar.
Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption.
In the process of rediscovering her inner strength, she learns, you have to gamble like your life depends on it. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?
Click the link below to order at Amazon, enjoy your stay at the Night Hawk!
Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
To check out my interview in The Big Thrill, click the link below.
Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia | THE BIG THRILL
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon
'GIRLS' NEED A BASIC STRATEGY OF LOVE
HBO GIRLS |
Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring.
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon