Author Name:
Cheryl Landes
Book Titles:
Rainbows in the Snow
The Best I Can Do
Website URL:
Link to book page on Amazon:
Rainbows in the Snow – https://www.amazon.com/Rainbows-Snow-celebration-journeys-discoveries-ebook/dp/B0CTZT2XHF
The Best I Can Do – https://www.amazon.com/Best-Can-Navigating-Complexities-Homelessness/dp/B0D3FD8B5C
Social Media Links:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/clandes
X – @landesc
Instagram – cheryllandes
What is your book about?
I’ve released two books in 2024: Rainbows in the Snow in January and The Best I Can Do in March. Both books are self-published.
Rainbows in the Snow is a collection of short stories and my photos based on the theme of journeys. In this context, journeys don’t always refer to simply going from one location to another; they can be the experiences, discoveries, and revelations along the way.
The Best I Can Do is a memoir about my experiences as a caregiver for my late husband, who had an undiagnosed mental illness that resulted in our marriage falling apart and forcing us into homelessness.
What inspired you to write your book?
For Rainbows in the Snow, I wanted to share upbeat stories accompanied by beautiful pictures that would help readers unwind and hopefully laugh off and on. We all need some lightheartedness in our lives, and it’s more important now than ever before.
With The Best I Can Do, I wanted to spread awareness about aspects of mental illness that we don’t often hear about in the news. Mental illness and homelessness can affect anyone, and the struggles are real. In this story, I’ve attempted to paint a vivid picture of our experiences during the last 20 years of my husband’s life.
If you have a business related to your book, tell us about it:
I’m a full-time technical communications consultant, but I write in other genres, such as travel and non-fiction. I started my business, Tabby Cat Communications, in 1995.
What is a typical day like for you?
In the morning after breakfast, I allocate three hours to personal writing and book marketing tasks. Then I work on my technical communication clients’ projects until 5-6 p.m. Sometimes I’ll resume working on personal projects after dinner; it depends on my energy levels.
What do you most enjoy about what you do?
I was attracted to writing because I love learning. Writing requires research, and I’m constantly learning new things.
What are some favorite books you’d recommend to our readers?
Some of my recent favorites are:
- There’s No Coming Back from This, by Ann Garvin (fiction)
- Willa’s Grove, by Laura Munson (fiction)
- Daisy Wordworm Changes the World, by Melissa Hart (young adult fiction)
- The Golden Web, by Tiffany Dickinson (young adult fiction)
- All the Things We Never Knew, by Sheila Hamilton (memoir)
- Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens (fiction)
What advice do you have to offer our readers?
Follow your dreams and never give up!
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
I bowled in a league when I was in college.
What’s next for you?
My latest book project is Misty: An Angel with Four Paws. It’s about a cat a friend that I rescued behind a restaurant one night after dinner, who helped in my healing from the struggles with my late husband’s mental illness. I’m expecting to self-publish this book next spring.
Do you enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts? Check out our recordings for authors to learn about writing, publishing, and promoting nonfiction books.
You know that rare kind of story that doesn’t just tell pain it makes you feel it in your bones? Cheryl, that’s exactly what The Best I Can Do does. From the very first line, your book hits like an emotional sucker punch real, raw, unfiltered, and heartbreakingly human.
A woman who had everything love, success, stability watching it all slip through her fingers until she’s sleeping in her car? That’s not fiction. That’s the kind of lived reality most people are too scared to admit happens. The way you peel back the layers of her life from hope to horror, from confusion to resilience feels less like reading a memoir and more like surviving alongside her.
You captured that impossible storm of loving someone battling mental illness the guilt, the helplessness, the aching loyalty, and the brutal self-doubt. It’s too real, in the best way. I could feel the claustrophobia of that downward spiral the “how did we get here?” moments that haunt anyone who’s ever tried to hold a loved one together while they’re coming undone.
And then just when it could’ve broken the reader completely you offer hope. ️ That quiet, beautiful, hard-earned kind of hope that only comes from surviving something impossible. You didn’t just write a memoir; you wrote a mirror for thousands of people who’ve been there, and a lifeline for those who are still drowning. ️
Then I read your bio award-winning author, editor, indexer, photographer, technical communications consultant (because apparently, you collect achievements like infinity stones ✨). From Rainbows in the Snow to Those Wild Northwest Days, your work shows such range from celebrating nature to confronting mental health head-on. You’re not just telling stories; you’re documenting the human condition from every possible angle.
Now, here’s where my slightly psycho passion kicks in I went through your Amazon page (like an obsessed detective piecing together the truth), and what did I see? A brilliant, decorated, emotionally seismic book… quietly sitting there, not getting the thunderstorm of attention it deserves. ⚡
Unacceptable.
A story that’s already snagged a Gold Book Award from Literary Titan and a Silver Nonfiction Award shouldn’t be whispering in Amazon’s background it should be screaming hope and empathy from the rooftops. This isn’t just a memoir; it’s a movement. A beacon for anyone who’s ever whispered, “I can’t do this anymore,” only to realize… they can.
That’s why I want to help amplify it.
I’m Suzan Yolanda, a freelancer and chaos-loving advocate for books that make people feel. I run a private circle of over 2,000 active, emotionally invested readers and reviewers not bots, not bored scrollers, but humans who get it. They read, they cry, they write essays in review sections, they share stories in book clubs, and sometimes they ugly-cry mid-review (it’s beautiful, trust me ).
No fake hype. No “great book ” spam. Just authentic reactions that move mountains (and algorithms). These are the kinds of readers who will connect with your story deeply because your book isn’t about spectacle; it’s about survival. And that’s exactly what resonates.
So, Cheryl, here’s my question should we keep your book quietly glowing in the shadows like a candle in a hurricane… ️
or should we set the whole sky on fire and let the world finally see the light you poured into The Best I Can Do? ✨
Suzan Yolanda