BigAl's Books and Pals

The Disrespectful Interviewer / Lauren Baratz-Logsted

2013-05-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

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Author:

Novelist Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s family is full of authors. She has written numerous books (I don’t have enough fingers to count them) aimed at adults, young adults, and children. Her husband, Greg Logsted, writes young adult novels. With daughter Jackie, the entire family collaborates writing the Sisters Eight series, for kids.

For more, visit Baratz-Logsted’s website.

Description:

“Just what the title promises! Thirteen disrespectful interviews with authors, including: Chris Cleave, Jon Clinch, Tish Cohen, Joseph Finder, Kristy Kiernan, A.S. King, J.A. Konrath, Greg Logsted, Lisa McMann, Lynn Price, Lev Raphael, Adriana Trigiana...and Lauren Baratz-Logsted - discover new favorites and see some of your favorite authors, like you've never seen them before!”

Appraisal:

What is the point of author interviews? I have a website where the majority of the new content consists of author interviews from a standard list of questions, so I better come up with a good answer, right? As a reader, knowing more about your favorite authors could make you a bigger fan. (Isn’t this the same as all the TV shows and magazines devoted to actors and entertainers? Aren’t authors like rock stars to readers?) For authors we aren’t familiar with an interview can be like an audition. While they’re trying to sell you on reading their book (the author’s reason for doing the interview), you’re looking at how he or she words their answers. How they express themselves in interview answers could reasonably be expected to be the same as in their books. Do you like their sense of humor or find them to be insightful? Or is their verbiage convoluted? Other authors may enjoy author interviews for the opportunity to compare experiences. However, coming up with unique questions if you’re conducting the interview or, for the author, answering the same old questions without using the same old answers is tough. Which is where this book comes in.

Baratz-Logsted originally did these interviews for the defunct literary e-zine BiblioBuffet. The premise was that she’d ask questions that are different and at times disrespectful. By shaking things up with the questions, maybe it would get some different and more entertaining answers as well. To give you an idea of what this means, here are a couple example questions:

There have been several authors who’ve turned out to be one-hit wonders. Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee are the two that spring most readily to mind. How about you – planning to be a one-hit wonder, or do you have something else up your sleeve?

I see here that “The Dust of 100 Dogs” is classified as a Young Adult novel. Care to comment on why you didn’t write it as a real book – you know, one for adults?

The answers were (as they should be) more entertaining than the questions. One of my favorite answers was J.A. Konrath talking about the worst review he’d ever received. He ended with this comment:

Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, critique. Those who can’t critique well, work for “Kirkus.”

I enjoy humor with a touch of irreverence, so this was a fun read for me. Prior to reading these thirteen interviews, I’d read a book from only one of them (Konrath) and heard of two others, Joseph Finder and, having this book in hand, I’d also heard of Lauren Baratz-Logsted. (Yes, she interviews herself, and the disrespect between interviewer and interviewee is shocking.) The acid test is whether, after reading these interviews, I am interested in reading books from some of those who were interviewed. The answer to that is a resounding yes.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four stars

Reclaim My Heart - Giveaway

2013-05-17T15:00:00.000-06:00

To celebrate the release of her latest book, Reclaim My Heart, romance author Donna Fasano is sponsoring a giveaway exclusive to readers of BigAl's Books and Pals.

Donna Fasano was the winner in Books and Pals first ever Readers’ Choice awards in the romance category. She is also a three time winner of the HOLT Medallion, a CataRomance Reviewers Choice Award winner for Best Single Title, a Desert Rose Golden Quill Award finalist, and a Golden Heart finalist. Her books have sold just shy of 4 million copies worldwide and been published in nearly two dozen languages.

Sixteen years ago, Tyne Whitlock cut all ties to her past and left town under the shameful shadow of a teenage pregnancy. Now her fifteen-year-old son is in trouble with the law and she is desperate for help. But reaching out to high-powered attorney Lucas Silver Hawk will tear open the heart-wrenching past in ways Tyne never imagined.

Forced to return to the Delaware Indian community where Lucas was raised, Tyne and Lucas are tempted by the heated passion that consumed them as teens. Tyne rediscovers all the reasons she found this man irresistible, but there are scandalous secrets waiting to be revealed, disgraceful choices made in the past that cannot be denied. Love is a powerful force that could heal them both—if the truth doesn't rip them apart.

Amazon US Amazon UK Barnes & Nobel

And watch for a our review of Reclaim My Heart at Books and Pals next week.

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Dearest Irish / Lyn Horner

2013-05-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Western Romance/Historical Romance/Supernatural

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Lyn Horner resides in Texas with her husband and several beloved cats. Trained in the visual arts, Horner worked as a fashion illustrator and later as an art instructor for Art Instruction Schools (famous for their "Draw Me" heads.) After quitting work to raise her children, she took up writing as a creative outlet. This hobby grew into a love of historical research and the crafting of passionate romances based upon that research. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Yellow Rose Romance Writers, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. Ms. Horner was also nominated for Books and Pals first ever Readers’ Choice Award for her novel Dashing Irish. To learn more about Lyn Horner visit her website, blog, or facebook page.

Description:

“Dearest Irish (Texas Devlins, Rose’s Story) is the third book in a western romance trilogy set in the 1870s. This unique series features three siblings who descend from a hidden line of Irish Celtic Druids. Each possesses a rare psychic talent they hide for fear of persecution. Dearest Druid stars Rose Devlin, youngest of the three. Rose has an extraordinary ability to heal with her mind, a secret gift that has caused her great pain in the past. She also harbors another secret, one she can’t share even with her brother and sister, one that threatens her chances of ever finding love.”

“Choctaw Jack, a half-breed cowboy introduced in Dashing Irish (Texas Devlins, Tye’s story), straddles two worlds, dividing his loyalties between his mother’s people and the family of a friend who died in the Civil War. Like Rose, he keeps shocking secrets. If they ever come to light, he stands to lose his job, possibly his life. Yet, he must risk everything to save someone he loves, even if it means kidnapping Rose.”

Appraisal:

Rose has lived a sheltered life having spent the last seven years in self imposed exile in a convent in Chicago. She is naïve and trying to find her place in the world while keeping her healing touch a secret. Choctaw Jack witnesses Rose healing a mean spirited stallion’s leg injury under the cover of darkness. To save this unbreakable horse she must learn to ride him or watch him be destroyed. Her sensibilities won’t allow that to happen. Tye employs Jack to teach her how to ride a horse. The plot takes a mean twist when Jack receives word that his mother is dying back on the reservation. After having witnessed Rose heal the stallion he kidnaps Rose to take her to heal his mother. It is a long hard journey, physically and emotionally as neither is willing to share their past.

This story is engaging as two battered and wounded souls find each other and begin to heal one another. I sympathized with Choctaw Jack trying to live in both the Indian world and the white man’s world, but he has managed it well. Jack is a complicated man with a sordid past that he is not sure he deserves forgiveness for. He recognizes Rose’s wounded spirit and does his best to contain his desire while he tries to figure her out. Each feel they are not worthy enough to ever be loved.

Lyn Horner has done an outstanding job exposing what life was like in this time period between Native Americans, the Calvary, and other settlers in the Oklahoma and Texas areas whether on the trail, the reservation, or a homestead. This story has it all. The fact that she has brought Irish immigrants, with a Druid history into the melting pot just makes it that much more interesting. The plot is realistic and the characters were wonderfully portrayed. This is an entertaining and educational story that took me on a wonderful journey into the past.

FYI:

This book contains adult situations that may be offensive to some.

Format/Typo Issues:

No Significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Look for me / Traci Hohenstein

2013-05-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Mystery

Approximate word count: 20,000-25,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

The author lives in Florida. In addition to the Rachael Scott series, she has a series of romance novels. You can find her on Facebook page.

Description:

Rachael and Rick Scott’s three-year-old daughter, Mallory, is snatched from their front yard. Rachael tries for months to find her child and to cope with the trauma. The story follows her path.

Appraisal:

Rachael’s life seems empty and lacking in meaning without her daughter. Her husband throws himself into his work, but she finds no solace in hers (she’s a successful commercial realtor). When a boy, similar in age to her daughter, is also taken, Rachael contacts the mother and helps her find her son. Mostly the story revolves around this event rather than the loss of her daughter.

This story is a prequel to a series starring Rachael Scott. As such, it delivers some background—she sells her business and puts herself on a firm financial footing and then starts a business service that will focus on finding missing persons.

I enjoyed the opening of the story a lot. Rachael is well drawn, and I was pulled into her dilemma, but most of the story was spent on the missing boy, and seemed a bit flat and predictable to me. The writing style is easy on the eye, but at novella length, there wasn’t enough meat here to either define Rachael, or to leave me panting to follow her further exploits.

Format/Typo Issues:

Too few to mention.

Rating: **** Four stars

#Free for your #Kindle, 5/16/2013

2013-05-16T04:30:00.000-06:00

The author of each of these books has indicated their intent to schedule these books for a free day for the Kindle versions today on Amazon. Sometimes plans change or mistakes happen, so be sure to verify the price before hitting that "buy me" button.

Stranger at the Hell Gate by Ash Krafton

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Delayed Death (Temptation in Florence) by Beate Boeker

Amazon US

Amazon UK

At the Brink of Neverendings by Leonard Little

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Author's interested in having their free book featured either here on a Thursday or a sister site on a Monday, visit this page for details.

Card Declined, How Britain Said No to ID Cards Three Times Over / SA Mathieson

2013-05-15T15:00:00.000-06:00

This is the second half of a double shot. If you missed it, look for Keith Nixon's take on the same book this morning.

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Politics

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

SA Mathieson is a journalist and author. He specializes in healthcare IT and management and contributes regularly to blogs and publications such as the Guardian newspaper on these subjects.

You can learn more about the author on his website.

Description:

In Card Declined… the author traces the historical facts regarding Britain’s use, abolition and attempts to reintroduce an identity card scheme over the period 1945 – 2011.

Appraisal:

This book discusses the history of a movement to institute a program requiring a national ID card in Britain. A political battle that raged on and off for several years, a law was ultimately passed and then repealed before it could be fully implemented. I thought it would be interesting to read this from the viewpoint of an American, not just to see the differences in the political systems of Britain and the US, but also what we might learn from Britain’s experience in a few related political battles going on here. I’ll start with a quote from the book

Americans have a written constitution that states that “we the people” are sovereign. Britain doesn’t, and many people (including Tony Benn) talk about a ‘they’ who are responsible for all manner of things – which means they can take the blame, too.

At least in theory that quote should get to the heart of the differences between the two systems. But at least from what I read here, although the political process of passing a law may not be the same, in how it functioned (or didn’t) I couldn’t see much difference. There was partisan bickering between the majority and minority parties, with gamesmanship seeming to matter more than doing what was right. In the next election the majority and minority might change, but the game didn’t. There was plenty of money wasted and in the end, nothing of worth (from any perspective on the political spectrum) was accomplished.

However, I did notice some similarities and two significant differences between this political battle in Britain and two current issues in the US, specifically voter ID laws and some laws that have been passed in some states allowing law enforcement to demand proof of citizenship. One difference I saw was that the changes are generally being proposed by parties on different ends of the political spectrum, with those from the liberal end championing the ID laws in Britain and those from the conservative side proposing these laws in the US. The other difference is the proposed changes in the US aren’t as sweeping, in that they wouldn’t require everyone to have a specific form of ID, but would potentially require people who currently have no need for accepted forms of ID to obtain one of them. Rather than argue either for or against, I’ll point out a few of the ideas raised in Card Denied that seem pertinent to the US and the laws under consideration here.

The first is this quote from an opponent which sounds familiar to those who have paid attention to discussions of voter ID laws in the US. “This is a rare victory for civil liberties. ID cards were a solution looking for a problem.”

The main objection to the ID cards in Britain is that it would provide the government a means of tracking too much about a person, in essence making it easy to invade privacy. The law that eventually passed gained favor with politicians in the wake of 9/11, not unlike the passing of The Patriot Act in the US. In the wake of recent terrorist acts in the US, we should be on guard for attempts from either party to shove through laws using this as an excuse.

Last is this quote, which is applicable in many ways to the issues being discussed in the US:

“My biggest objection, of many to this scheme, is the impact I know it will have on racial minorities,” she added. “It won’t be the home secretary, or his family, or people that look like him, that get hassled for their ID card in a doctor’s surgery, on the street, at every port and call. It will be people who look like me. That is the experience of every European country that has compulsory identity cards.”

Card Denied raised the specter of 1984 and how ID cards allowed Big Brother to track every citizen. Although the US is nowhere near that, we need to scrutinize proposals taking us more in that direction and decide whether they are solving a problem or only helping put us in Big Brother’s sights.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four stars

Card Declined, How Britain Said No to ID Cards Three Times Over / SA Mathieson

2013-05-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is the first half of a double shot. Look for BigAl's take on this book this afternoon.

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Politics

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

SA Mathieson is a journalist and author. He specializes in healthcare IT and management and contributes regularly to blogs and publications such as the Guardian newspaper on these subjects.

You can learn more about the author on his website.

Description:

In Card Declined… the author traces the historical facts regarding Britain’s use, abolition and attempts to reintroduce an identity card scheme over the period 1945 – 2011.

Appraisal:

This is a difficult book to review simply because it is so niche – the focus, as previously outlined, is on the identity card scheme in the UK, which has, over time, caused significant controversy. As this has been, and continues to be, a political process the narrative is intertwined with politics, politicians and therefore farce.

From a technical perspective the book is extremely well written, the author is clearly a very experienced writer. I could not find fault with the grammar, prose, punctuation etc. For such a potentially dry subject the author manages to generate interest and the events flow with surprising speed. It is clearly extremely well researched too. 31% of the book is given over to references, some 269 separate items.

However, unless the reader has a specific interest in identity cards and politics the subject matter may be a turn off. I’m not an incredibly political person myself and I drifted every now and again. Although I recognize and stress that this is entirely a personal view.

Overall Card Declined… was engaging, very well written and meticulously researched.

FYI:

No issues.

Format/Typo Issues:

None. Very well edited.

Rating: **** Four Stars

The Spirit Child (The Seven Realms of Ar'rothi) / Alison Naomi Holt

2013-05-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Epic Fantasy/ YA

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES

: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Alison Naomi Holt grew up on a working cattle ranch in Arizona where she inherited her greatest passion, the love of animals, from her grandmother. After earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in writing at the University of Arizona she joined the police force where she worked every possible job that became available, changing assignments every few years just because she could. She has been a patrol officer, a detective, a hostage negotiator, commanded Undercover Units and Riot Control Squads, and became the Sergeant/Supervisor for the 11 man K9 squad. Ms. Holt hopes to share her passions and experiences through her writing. Learn more about her other stories at her website.

Description:

“You are invited to enter Ar’rothi, a world as vividly realized as Narnia or Middle Earth, a world where animal spirits guide humans towards enlightenment, and in which an orphaned girl and a warrior duchess must join forces against an evil that threatens everything they have learned to love.”

Appraisal:

Alison Naomi Holt has done an outstanding job creating her own elaborate world of Ar’rothi and its spiritual realms. Basic elements and environments are earthlike and there is a strong influence from Native American culture and spiritualism throughout, which made it easy for me to slip into her world. Aurelia “Bree” Makena, Duchess of Danforth, has secluded herself away from society while she mourns the loss of her husband in the small township of Ashton Fork. When a trapper hauls a wild, mute, orphaned eight-year-old girl into town and offers her for sale, Bree could not let this child be bought by the likes of the men offering up bids. She also cannot see herself raising a child; regardless she now has possession of a severely abused, hard-headed child who is used to fending for herself. The battles of wills between these two are realistic, daunting, and at times comical.

It is heartwarming to watch Bree come to terms with herself in taking responsibility for this little girl, having to push aside her depression and reach out to try to communicate with, what we soon find out is, the Spirit Child. When Bree’s friend Becca, a healer who studied at the King’s Collegiums and the Outer Territories to learn native healing techniques, shows up we learn this child’s history. The abuse she survived while being raised by one of the Shona tribes was severe and heartbreaking. When Bree learns the child was never even given a name she names her Kaiti, after her dead husband’s mother, therefore claiming the child as her own. The emotional journey these two characters take us on is worth the cost of the book.

One of my favorite aspects of this story are the spirit guides, they are quite entertaining. Bree is considered a deaf one because she cannot (or refuses to) hear or see her spirit guide, much to her badger’s dismay. Becca can see and hear all spirit guides and hers is an awesome white wolf whose personality I loved. The Spirit Child sees and hears all spirit guides but her own, one of the most powerful Guides, Denabi the black panther, however, she refuses to acknowledge any of them believing she would be killed because she was not worthy. Ms. Holt has gone into a lot of detail building her spiritual world naming all the different levels and which spirit guides belong to which level. I found it all a bit overwhelming trying to remember them all, especially when two different tribes of Shona warriors started chasing the Spirit Child.

There has been a breach between the Realms. Evil is spilling into the physical realm from the Underworld and Black Guides, known as Teivaledin, are aligning themselves with those who have an inherently evil nature. In all Realms only Kaiti, who has the Gifts of Aevala, can see the Teivaiedin, She is their only hope in defeating Morgrad, God of the Underworld. This book is full of adventure, danger, drama, humor, healing, treachery, and the strength of the human spirit itself.

FYI:

There is a Glossary included for all the terms and names, which really comes in handy.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant editing or formatting issues in this story.

Rating: ***** Five stars

D-O-G / Carrie Eko-Burgess

2013-05-13T15:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl with input from The Princess

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Approximate word count: Under 1,000 (18 Illustrated pages)

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Carrie Eko-Burgess is an illustrator who previously worked in graphic design. Her first children’s book, The Construction Crew, was published by Henry Holt and Company.

For more, visit Eko-Burgess’ website.

Description:

“Nothing spells FUN like D-O-G! Dog lovers of all ages will enjoy this children's picture book filled with simple, rhyming text comparing different dogs. The fun, colorful drawings illustrate the words and phrases, utilizing many of today's most popular dog breeds.”

Appraisal:

My children’s book consultant (my nine year-old granddaughter, “The Princess”) and I sat her younger siblings down on the couch and read alternating pages of D-O-G to them aloud. The Princess gave the book a letter grade of A- and thought it was a good book for reading to younger children, especially “someone who likes animals,” and thought it would be easily read by a typical second grader.

I also thought it was a fun read. Rhyming words are fun for everyone, both the readers and those who are listening. The illustrations of all kinds of dogs are well done and fit the text. But the biggest kudo I can give D-O-G is that The Princess’ younger siblings (a seven and a four year-old) both sat still and were clearly engrossed in the story for the approximately five minutes it took to read. That may not seem like that big of a deal, however, from past experience, getting these two to not only sit still, but remain quiet and focused on the book being read for any length of time is an accomplishment.

The illustrations are in color and this book should be read on a color capable reader.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

You Don't Bring Me Flowers, a guest post from Erica Lucke Dean

2013-05-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Where are my flowers? I was told there would practically be a flower shop waiting for me when I got here. Everyone knows fluffy romance and chick lit author Erica Lucke Dean (that’s me, in case you were wondering) is partial to the frilly and floral. Even my website is awash with orchids. Then again, I should have known better. A guy known to the world as Big Al isn’t likely to be overflowing with orchids or frilly things, now is he? But no matter, I’ve heard good things about Big Al, so I’m going to cut him a little slack this time. Besides, I’m fairly certain I can still create under these very manly conditions.

After all, I have a man on staff right here at home (even if I’ve been forbidden to mention him by name). You know how those pesky significant others can be, right? Apparently, he missed the memo on “How to cope with being married to a writer.” Although I don’t know how… I put a copy of it right beside the TV remote, one in the freezer (conveniently wrapped around the half-eaten tub of Chubby Hubby) and one on the lid of the toilet. All places a man frequents with regularity, right?

Well, memo or not, he’s not buying it. He threw down the gauntlet and insisted I refrain from referring to him in all blog posts, Tweets, and on my Facebook timeline. And damn it if he doesn’t follow me in all three places just to make sure I’m not breaking the rules. I suppose I should have tweeted the location of that memo a few times… but I digress.

So what’s a girl to do when she can’t even allude to her main squeeze in a public forum? Well, this chick decided to make one up instead. If I can’t talk about the real guy in my life, I’ll just pretend to spend time with the imaginary one. Of course, (and don’t tell him I said so) this is just an elaborate ruse to talk about him behind his back. He can’t complain if I say, “Mr. Lincoln did this,” or “Mr. Lincoln did that.” Even if it was while singing Joe Cocker at karaoke, wearing nothing but his sexy stove pipe hat. I’m beginning to see the genius in Prince’s one- time foray into unpronounceable symbolism. Everyone knows my Imaginary Dead President (IDP for short) is really Mr. Leave My Name Out Of It. But because I’m following the rules (to the letter) I’m getting away scot-free, and having a blast, I might add.

As for the moral of this sordid little story? Never mess with someone who makes stuff up for a living. You can’t win. We’ll just kill you off in the next chapter—and bring you back as something highly inappropriate. Like a karaoke singing, thong wearing, stove pipe hat flaunting, imaginary dead president. And trust me…people love that crap. Especially if you toss a few orchids around the room. Next time… right, Big Al?

For more from Erica, visit her website.

You can get your copy of Erica's new release, To Katie With Love, from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), or Barnes & Noble. Be sure to enter the Rafflecoptor giveaway below for a chance at winning some great prizes from Red Adept Publishing.

And don't let it be said that BigAl isn't capable of learning. (I hope IDP isn't a jealous man.) A gift, from BigAl to Erica ...

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How to Write Good / John Vorhaus

2013-05-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction / Writing

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

John Vorhaus is the author of numerous novels and screenplays. In the non-fiction arena, he’s written several books on poker as well as a guide on writing comedy for television and film, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even If You’re Not, which is now in its fifth printing.

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“Starting with a wink at his own dumb title and a case for whimsy as a writer’s best friend, veteran writer and writing instructor John Vorhaus offers us this latest glimpse inside his writing mind. Drawing on a quarter-century of experience in writing scripts and novels, and teaching and training writers worldwide.”

Appraisal:

The dedication of How to Write Good is “to everyone who has the itch,” and its aim seems as much motivational as instructional, to get those who are writing wannabes to start, and encourage those who have tried and struggled, to try, try again. If there is an overriding theme, it is that the key to figuring out what works, not for other writers, but what works for you, is not being afraid to give an idea a try. Be whimsical. Heck, you can even try a grammatically questionable title.

Vorhaus says “in writing, there are no wrong choices,” and he’s not afraid to make what seems like a wrong choice. For example, this snippet from early in the book:

(Boy, here comes a convoluted sentence – get ready for it.) I figure you figure what I figure you figure because if I were you I would be figuring the exact same thing. (Told ya. Convoluted as hell.)

Confused? I can’t blame you, yet, this sentence worked for me. Vorhaus’ books are always spiked with humor, and as the above shows, he’s not afraid of poking fun at himself. In this section he’s talking about reading the mind of the reader, specifically how they’ll react, by evaluating how you react (this is also one of the keys to success in poker, one of Vorhaus’ other areas of expertise).

After reading How to Write Well, even the worst writer in the world should be encouraged to keep plugging away. As Vorhaus says, even that worst writer who is “spewing drivel onto the page every day,” will eventually reach the point where it “will cease being drivel, or at least evolve into drivel of a finer sort.” For some of us, drivel of a finer sort is a worthy goal, at least for now.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

Advancement of the Species / Ian Quin

2013-05-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Science Fiction

Approximate word count: 20,000-25,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Born in 1983, Ian Quin is a disabled American who lives in the Louisville metropolitan area. He is a graduate of Indiana University and is currently self-employed.

As a long-time fan of science fiction and horror stories, Ian tries to create the types of stories that he, himself, would like to read. The end result is always something very personal and meaningful to him, but hopefully also something that others can appreciate as well. Advancement of the Species is his debut novella. For more information, go to his website.

Description:

Earth’s inhabitants are being monitored by the Overseers. One of these all-powerful beings identifies Rodney as a person who may finally break the human race from its cycle of fighting and destruction.

Appraisal:

Rodney is certainly an unlikely candidate to pick as the savior of Earth. He’s thirty-something, overweight, unemployed, and mentally challenged with ADD and Tourette syndrome. His father died a few months after Rodney’s eighteenth birthday, leaving Rodney in the care of his alcoholic mother.

Rodney’s dead-end life changes when he happens on a book of philosophy mysteriously placed on the shelf of the local grocery store.

The author of the book, Doctor Krokulf, telephones Rodney and invites him to meet at a designated place six hours drive from Rodney’s home. Rodney has never heard of the doctor, nor has he ever travelled that far from home, but he feels driven to follow through.

When he arrives at Vennskap Valley, he finds a secret society whose citizens live a seemingly Utopian lifestyle with advanced technology and a focus on human betterment through education. All of the citizens of the Valley are outcasts from society due to physical or mental handicaps. The story tells how Rodney copes with, and finally understands his role in this new society.

This is a fun, fast read. The writing style is simplistic and direct, which fits well with Rodney’s character. There’s no time to fill in details about how things can exist as they are portrayed, and really, there’s no need.

The Overseers pop in and out of the story with anecdotal references relating Rodney’s actions to other members of the animal kingdom.

And the story does have a twist in the tail.

Format/Typo Issues:

Too few to mention.

Rating: **** Four stars

The Last Days of Disco / David Ross

2013-05-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Ryan Bracha

Genre: General Fiction

Approximate word count: 70,000 – 75,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: No Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

David Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964. He is married with two children and has lived in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire for over 30 years. His most prized possession is a signed Joe Strummer LP. The Last Days of Disco is his first novel.

Description:

It's early 1982 and young Bobby Cassidy has a dream, to be a part of the premiere mobile disco in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He and his ragtag gang of Joey, Hamish and Jimmy embark upon a trip to the very top, the pinnacle of which is to be a residency at big time gangster 'Doc' Martin's forthcoming nightclub. However, what stands in their way is 'Fat' Franny Duncan, another local gangster with a monopolized stranglehold on the party entertainments scene, and his own ragtag gang of inept performers. Elsewhere his brother Gary has joined the army, just at a time where the threat of war with Argentina looms, and his family struggles to keep it together as secrets from the past bubble beneath the surface.

Appraisal:

I have a strange affinity with Scottish authors, especially Christopher Brookmyre and Irvine Welsh. I find that they write with an honesty that just seems to shine through, and I love the challenge of deciphering the way they write the dialect and colloquialisms, which they achieve like no other nationality of author. My experience with this debut by David Ross was no different.

The Last Days Of Disco is a curious little beast. It starts out as an affectionate glimpse at life in a working class Scottish town where our protagonists have little to worry about except the possibilty of being a victim of random violence from local hard-men, and flatulent friends, then turns into an emotional and thought provoking commentary on the effects of a pointless war, and families yearning for the respect of each other. The effectiveness of which took me a little by surprise.

The opening scene where Bobby is literally dreaming of car racing glory but ends in him inadvertently fondling his brother as they share a bed had me chuckling out loud, and throughout the whole of the book these little nuggets of comedy gold resurface time and again. In The Last Days of Disco, David Ross displays a knack of reminding us of the minor pleasures we took as people growing up in Britain in the eighties, Subbuteo being the most prominent for this reader, then gleans a great deal of humour in the context that he remembers it in. The dialogue and thought processes of the younger characters are both believable, and accurate, displaying a great insight into the naive and curious minds of teenagers making their own entertainment in a time long before these days of iPads, mobile telephones, and wireless broadband connections.

So then, in the midst of all of this affection, the threat of overseas combat looms large, as Ross brings in extracts from our Parliament of the time, the larger than life character of Margaret Thatcher (which seems extremely topical, given her recent passing) attempting to justify her cabinet's actions. In Gary Cassidy, Bobby's elder brother, we are given an insight into the hearts, minds and fears of inexperienced young men thrown into the midst of war, and the lack of discernible communications. The family starts to show cracks, Bobby's mother is increasingly absent minded, his father battles demons which go back longer than he cares to remember, and the youngest of the family, Hettie, struggles to hold it together as Bobby's coping mechanism is to disappear and try to take his mind from the events which unfold.

I really enjoyed this book, and the effective manner in which David Ross controls the humour, emotion, and tragedy in equal measures. His characters are likeable, the comedy moments are genuinely funny, and the emotion isn't over the top or exaggerated. This is a high quality, extremely well drawn, and assured debut from this new author. Highly recommended.

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

The Burning of Cherry Hill / A.K. Butler

2013-05-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Dystopian Sci-fi

Approximate word count: 85,000- 90,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Amber Butler was born and raised in Texas. She graduated with a degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University in College Station. After her second child was born, she returned to college, this time to the University of Texas at Dallas, to fulfill science requirements for medical school. The Burning of Cherry Hill is her first novel.

Description:

When their parents are captured in a raid by establishment militia who burn their island home killing all 1372 inhabitants, teenager, Zay, and his younger sister, Lina are taken away on a helicopter and integrated within society as orphans. The story follows their journey to find and rescue their parents

Appraisal:

This story was tough sledding for me. Not for the first time, I was misled by a strong Amazon Sample, which dealt with Block Island. The idea of a secret island which operated as a self-sufficient commune outside of a tightly controlled mainland society was attractive. When the government forces arrived, their brutality contrasted well with the peaceful life on the island. Certain secrets were left with the children. The parents didn’t die, they ‘vanished’, which was another interesting hook.

But once the novel moved to the dystopian world, I couldn’t achieve the necessary suspension of disbelief. For one thing, the island was only eighteen miles from the mainland. With such superior technology, how could it have been a secret hideaway?

The technology and the way of life within the dystopian society, simply didn’t work. For example, each individual had every meal delivered in a separate paper bag with their name on it, which dropped through a chute in the ceiling onto a kitchen table. Really? When a pregnant mother requested extra food (through her embedded chip), it was approved and deliver in fifteen seconds. Every aspect of societal life was controlled, yet video trials were held wherein citizens voted guilty or not. The fact that the authorities fixed the result seemed to be a shocking revelation. My thought was, why bother if they controlled everyone so completely. I never did find out what the ‘free citizens’ in the cities did, or why.

Outside of the city, millions of citizens were kept in slave camps at Cherry Hill (hence the title). The camps purportedly encompassed the whole of the American Mid-west. This was a wholly unbelievable place also. Over four hours away from the city, and yet, apparently, producing all the food and materials needed for instantaneous delivery. People were crammed into large, black multi-story buildings. Surely maintaining this infrastructure would be a nightmare. I doubt if the slaves (who were kept in a permanently starved conditions and often beaten) could deliver enough food to warrant the structure.

No one could escape Cherry Hill because they had a chip implanted which would Taser them if they passed a boundary point. Yet, when our heroes cracked the computer code and turned off the chips, they announced to the millions (somehow) that they could escape, but they only had fifteen minutes in which to do so before the chips were turned back on—huh?

Within this unbelievable society, the two children stumbled from one danger to the next. Each time they found themselves faced with imminent danger, along came a new minor character with some flimsy excuse and a way out. As I never connected with Zay or Lina, it was difficult for me to care whether they succeeded in their plan to save their parents, although with such a ready supply of invented escape routes, I had little doubt they would.

To cap it all, the citizens and slaves were subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, which I found distasteful. In particular, the authority’s militia, who seemed to be all male, defaulted to using rape to subjugate captive women or to leverage their male partners. Slave females were raped by the militia to produce more slaves. Zay’s mother was raped. Lina was threatened with rape. I think you get the picture. Frankly, I didn’t find any of the characters or scenarios sufficiently developed to make this seem anything but gratuitous.

The genesis of the dystopia is explained through narrative (a long letter) and a large slab of dialogue near the end of the story. By which time, I could have cared less.

Format/Typo Issues:

Paragraphing seemed to be oddly random. I read the Kindle version, so it may have been a formatting issue for that device.

Rating: ** Two stars

Buried A Man I Hated There / Adam Pepper

2013-05-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Adam Pepper produces both fiction and non-fiction works. His novels are typically a blend of horror and suspense.

More can be found about Adam Pepper on his website.

Description:

Jack Maddox is a man who’s tipped over the edge. His wife and child died in mysterious circumstances. Since then he’s a man in decline. He has headaches and memory loss, but no idea why. Puzzlingly, on Valentine’s day each year Jack meets Heidi, his wife’s twin, for a picnic at a remote location. Somehow, Jack needs to move on with his life, he just can’t see how.

Appraisal:

Buried A Man I Hated There is an interesting, complex, slow burn story that grew on me as I progressed. I’ve previously reviewed the author’s novel Skin Games. Both are similar in that they steadily reveal more detail with each page. The picture is at first sketchy, but with sufficient intrigue to keep the pages turning. Over time the image is completed, with the last chapters a final flourish.

Initially I confess I struggled a bit with Buried A Man I Hated There but I will be totally honest and state this this is down to me, not the author or the tale. I prefer pacey reads, but that’s just me. The protagonist, Jack, lives a pretty dull, repetitive life and the reader shares it with him. He’s tedious and you know it. But, we learn more about him page by page and there’s significantly more to him and therefore his situation than first meets the eye. We also come to understand why he’s as he is.

And that’s what’s so good about this book. Once I’d put it down and had the dots joined together by the author it all made sense, in particular the narrative style – the end justified the means. The psychological element that Pepper incorporates in his writing shines through again. Even the title suddenly becomes clear and obvious.

Yes, it’s not my normal pick-up, but so what? The style is refreshing, it was a good read and I’m happy I did so.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Online Dating Inspired Click: An Online Love Story and Double Click, a Guest Post by Lisa Becker

2013-05-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

I first met my husband while wearing my pajamas. Really! No, we weren't at some kinky singles party. I was sitting comfortably in my apartment and he was hanging out in his. But, I will never forget his email introduction via an online dating service, which invited me to check out his profile. It was sweet, endearing and intriguing enough for me to log on to learn more about him. After a week of emails, followed by a week of phone calls, we met for our first date - a traditional dinner and movie outing. Even before I opened the door to greet him, I knew he was "the one." Considering he lived 30 miles away, I'm not certain our paths would have typically crossed. But after nearly 13 years together - including 10 years of marriage (which in Los Angeles is apparently no small feat!) and two beautiful daughters, I have no doubt he is my soul mate.

After my now-husband and I met online, I was recalling some of the hilarious experiences that I had during the whole online dating experience. How could I forget the guy who started every story (no joke!) with “My buddies and I were out drinking one night.” I decided to capture some of them in writing and, from there and based loosely on my own experiences, my novel Click: An Online Love Story emerged. The entire story is told in emails between our heroine, Renee Greene, her three best friends and the gentlemen suitors she meets online. The format felt like a modern way to tell the story that fit the topic, and allowed readers to develop an intimate relationship with the characters.

Clearly, I’m a big fan of online dating and find it to be a useful tool for young professionals who are busy working and finding it difficult to make the right connection at the gym, bar, coffee shop or grocery aisle. I say, people today are “married” to their cell phones and laptops, so why not use that technology to really get married, right?

While Click doesn’t end with a wedding (sorry for the spoiler!), during Renee’s road to happiness, we find many advantages to online dating. My five favorite are:

On Your Own Terms – Online dating provides a relaxed, anytime and on your own terms experience. Share as little or as much information as you want. Avoid people you are not interested in. Communicate at your convenience. But, don’t send a message at 2:30 am. Nothing smacks more of desperation than an email from someone trolling the Internet for a date in the wee hours of the morning.
Multi-Tasking Enabled – Flirt while filing your taxes. Chat and trim your nails. Meet a mate while making breakfast. It’s a well-known fact that women are great multi-taskers. Take full advantage of that skill. As Shelley, the over-sexed character in Click says to the about-to-try-online-dating Renee, “A whole host of hot and horny single men that I can review, chat with, judge and mock – all while sitting in my office looking very busy. Maybe I should give it a try myself.”

Trade the “Meat Market” for the “Meet Market” – Now you can avoid the “meat market” scene of bars and clubs and instead enjoy a “meet market” – an international bazaar (but let’s hope not too bizarre) of prospective mates. The Internet allows you to make an online introduction to thousands if not millions of people around the world. So, if you want to meet someone in Katmandu, well then, can do!

Save Time, Money and Energy – Let’s face it. Dating isn’t cheap. It takes time, money and, likely your most valuable and scarce resource, energy. With the “try before you buy” environment of online dating, you don’t have to meet for a drink, grab a coffee or sit through a long dinner only to discover there’s no physical attraction, you have nothing in common, conversation is lacking, etc.

Rejection Made Easy – In Click, Renee gets an email from someone halfway across the world looking to meet someone willing to move for him. After sending a polite and diplomatic “thanks but no thanks” email message, she proclaims to her friend, “It’s so much easier to reject someone over that Internet than in real life. Score one for online dating!” While rejection is easier for both parties when done online, it’s important to remember that people still have feelings.

As I've said many times before, if it happened for me, there's hope for you. So log on and take a chance. To follow updates on the Click saga and share your stories about online dating, visit the Click Facebook fan page.

Get a copy of Click: An Online Love Story from Amazon US (ebook or paper), Amazon UK (ebook or paper), or Barnes & Noble.

Get a copy of Double Click from Amazon US (ebook or paper), Amazon UK (ebook or paper), or Barnes & Noble.

She’s the Boss / Lisa Lim

2013-05-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Chick Lit

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Lisa Lim’s debut novel, Confessions of a Call Center Gal, was shortlisted for “Goodreads No Young Adult Best Chick Lit Reads” and featured on the Wall Street Journal online.

For more, visit Lim’s blog.

Description:

“The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office. Twenty-something Karsynn is now a boss, but she's not so much The Devil Wears Prada as she is The Angel Wears Payless. With a brighter career, things should be going better for her, right? Wrong. There's now a new director at the office, Carter Lockwood, and he's brought his reputation for wreaking havoc amongst the ladies. Karsynn prides herself on being the only one impervious to Carter's good looks. In fact, she takes great pleasure in blowing on the embers of Carter's hostility.

Karsynn thinks Carter is arrogant and obnoxious. Carter believes Karsynn is an ignorant, sassy spitfire. Once they start working closely together, they discover first impressions can be deceptive. Karsynn may be winning the battle against Carter, but will she lose the war? And more importantly, will she lose her heart?”

Appraisal:

She’s the Boss largely takes place in the same call center as Lim’s Confessions of a Call Center Gal, but with a focus on different characters and no need to have read the prior book to easily follow what’s happening in this one. Humor abounds, with idiot customers (the characters may have to pretend that the customer is always right, but I don’t have to), and the normal hijinks you’ll find in any office full of young, energetic people.

The main character, Karsynn, is, as the book description says, a “sassy spitfire.” As a relatively new supervisor, she’s finding her way, learning how to balance the demands made on her from above with supervising those people who were recently her peers and are still her friends. Anyone who has gone through this balancing act will empathize with her experiences.

It would be fair to describe She’s the Boss as Chick Lit, as it has all the elements of that genre, primarily the humor in the situations the protagonist faces as she grows as a person. But the book is also being described as a “Romantic Comedy,” and has all of those elements too, with a potential love interest who is unappealing in many ways, yet Karsynn is unaccountably drawn to him. Categorize it however you want. What’s important is it’s a read that won’t leave your funny bone alone.

FYI:

Some adult language and situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Fusion / Imogen Rose

2013-05-05T04:00:00.000-06:00

Part two of a Double Shot. Don't miss BigAl's take on the same book and an unrelated guest post proceeding this post today. Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the page.

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES

: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Imogen Rose is a Swedish born Hermes addict who freely admits to being obsessed with Kurt Cobain. She is an Immunologist by profession who now writes full time in New Jersey. Her books are being translated into German, French, Spanish, and Japanese. Her latest book of the Bonfire Academy series, Integration, was nominated and won in the YA category in Books and Pals first ever Readers’ Choice Award.

Description:

This is the final book of the Portal Chronicles series. That, apparently, brings a conclusion to the time-and-dimension-hopping adventures of the two Arizonas, Arizona Stevens and her alter ego in another dimension, Arizona Darley.

Appraisal:

From the very beginning of this series, I had a lot of questions as to how this was going to all work out. I didn’t really care for Olivia, I felt like she was controlling and manipulative. As the story progressed we learn more about her past and present, and through her daughter Arizona Darley, I learned to understand the choices she made. She is the perfect flawed character. I liked this story the best, I think, because it made me realize how invested I had become in each of these characters’ future. Any author who can do that to a reader has surely succeeded in what they have set out to do.

Arizona Darley is definitely her mothers’ daughter in this installment. She has her strengths, convictions, and stubbornness to do what is right for everyone involved; however for herself first and foremost. She is a rebellious and willful teenager who thinks she can handle any given situation. I appreciated the way the author proved her wrong time and again. (Sorry, that was the mother in me enjoying a little Karma vicariously.)

I am sure we have not seen the last of these characters, there is a war raging that needs to be handled. I look forward to seeing many of the Wanderers again in the Bonfire Academy series and perhaps even Arizona Darley. I am crossing my fingers and toes anyway.

This series explores a truly unique concept with strongly developed characters and I would highly recommend it to young adults and older adults who want to be swept away on a fascinating journey.

FYI:

I would recommend reading the entire series from the beginning. Each successive story builds from the story before; reading out of order would leave a reader confused and lacking necessary back story. This is especially important between Momentum and Fusion.

There is a small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no editing or formatting issues whatsoever.

Rating: ***** Five-stars

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fusion / Imogen Rose

2013-05-05T03:45:00.000-06:00

This is a reprise of BigAl's review from 3/13.

It is the front end of a Double Shot with ?wazithinkin's thoughts immediately following.

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Globetrotter Imogen Rose is Swedish by birth, went to college in London (where she received a PhD in immunology), and is now a Jersey girl. After her eight-year-old daughter insisted she write down her stories, Rose wrote the first of her Portal Chronicles series and decided to let it out into the world. The response was so positive that she’s continued with the series, and started two other series.

For more, visit Rose’s website.

Description:

The final book of the Portal Chronicles series, which brings to conclusion the time-and-dimension-hopping adventures of the two Arizonas, Arizona Stevens and her alter ego in another dimension, Arizona Darley.

Appraisal:

The covers of past Portal Chronicles books each depicted a new moon phase. Imogen Rose set herself up to have to wind up the series with this book, with a full moon on the cover. I’ve read several times in several different venues that Rose is a “pantser” rather than an outliner and didn’t know where the story was going; I was interested in seeing how she’d wrap up the overall story line. I saw two logical conclusions, which I won’t detail to avoid spoilers, but will say that one of my ideas left room for some of the characters from this series to find their way into Rose’s Bonfire Chronicles or Bonfire Academy series (a very real possibility since the world’s occupied by all of her books have some overlap and we’ve seen some characters appear in both). This still seems possible, while also bringing Arizona’s tale to a logical end, not unlike what I’d pictured, but ultimately a bit different and even better than what I was thinking. Actually, it was the perfect ending. One that should leave most Portal Chronicles fans satisfied.

Reaching the end of a favorite series, which this has become, is bittersweet. The cliché says that all good things must come to an end, and I suppose that’s right. A book series that goes on too long often falls into the trap of too much repetitiveness and formula, and I appreciate that the Portal Chronicles are concluding before that had a chance to happen. I’ve enjoyed watching Rose grow as a storyteller and author, and look forward to continuing to do so as her other series progress.

FYI:

I would recommend reading the entire series. Reading the books piecemeal or out of order would leave a reader confused and lacking necessary back story.

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

My review is based on a beta version of this book, so I’m unable to judge this area.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Capturing Ideas, Guest Post from Jasmine Giacomo, author of Rebel Elements

2013-05-05T02:00:00.000-06:00

My five-year-old son has this peculiar new habit. He sees something through the window, outside the car, or on TV, and he’ll swipe his hand toward it, then make a little fist. Then he’ll bring that fist to me, open it up and offer whatever he “caught” to me as a gift. He gives me all sorts of interesting things, like kitties, birds, wolves, fairies, dragons, and cartoon characters. But there’s something they all share that draws him to them. Something that makes him “grab” them at one moment versus any other moment. For the longest time, I didn’t really understand what he was doing.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve seen this as just another cute little boy habit of his. You know how kids get. Who knows why they do the silly little things they do? But then, do you really know them, if you can’t delve into the fascinating worldview they possess? When I finally latched onto the reasoning behind my son’s collection of things he can’t really collect, I was moved and proud all at once. You know how moms get.

My son is collecting inspirations. Just like his writer mom. He collects jumping kitties or zooming spaceships. I collect motives and plot twists. But deep down at the heart of who we are, we’re doing the same thing. And I’m never going to let him stop.

Jasmine's new novel, Rebel Elements, is available for your Kindle from:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

The Heist / Shaun Jeffrey

2013-05-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: Keith Nixon

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Shaun Jeffrey grew up in a house located in a cemetery so he believes it’s only natural that he writes books with a darker side. Besides the novella Day by Day the author has also published five novels, a collection of short stories and is published in a large variety of magazines and anthologies.

Description:

An armed gang robs a theme park of its takings - £4m. To cover their escape the gang leader and mastermind, Greg Armstrong, blows up a rollercoaster killing and maiming many innocent bystanders.

Months later the gang are still at large. The police office leading the investigation, Kurt Vaughan, is out on a geocaching treasure hunt with his family. Suddenly the fun turns to terror as the crooks and Kurt are thrown into a deadly game.

Appraisal:

I recently reviewed Day by Day by the same author. This is a very different story, a true thriller. It was enjoyable and, at times, adrenaline pumping. However, for me it suffered from the same issue – it’s slightly too short to properly develop the underlying premise. I’ll come back to that.

The novella opens with the heist itself. It’s well done. The protagonist Armstrong is a brutal and believable character. The gang agrees that they’ll get back together to divide up the loot at a time in the future.

Jump forward a few months and we meet Kurt Vaughan who’s in the woods with his family undertaking a leisure pastime with his family called geocaching. It’s a total change in pace and setting. Unfortunately I’d never heard of geocaching previously so didn’t know what it was – basically clues are hidden in capsules leading to an ultimate prize.

The author didn’t explain who Kurt was until the gang members turn up in the same location. It’s an interesting premise, throwing two opposing teams against each other for the ultimate benefit of the puppet master, but I struggled with an issue of show versus tell here and Kurt’s character didn’t quite mesh with him being a policeman in ‘real’ life. However once the new premise settled down it was well written with a good element of tension.

This show versus tell also occurs at the conclusion when there’s some explanation as to a character’s motivation – I’d have liked to have seen this drawn out in the narrative instead, but it works reasonably well. However this is a personal view and may not bother the vast majority of readers.

To follow the geocaching theme there’s a puzzle at the end of the novella for the reader to solve which apparently takes you to a website. A nice bit of fun.

All in all an enjoyable, well written read but would have benefited from another few thousand words.

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: **** Four Stars

The Cobra Exploit / Bruce T. Prendergast

2013-05-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Thriller

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Prendergast has decades of experience in the computer field and appears to have written or contributed to a few instructional manuals on related subjects. He has one other novel available, When Evil Governs.

Description:

“The Department of Defense builds a new malware-immune computer operating system, code-named Cobra. A no-holds-barred battle for it erupts between arch enemies, the Mossad and the KGB.”

Appraisal:

Cyber terrorism, foreign governments hacking into government and private computer systems to steal and sometimes wreak havoc, is something that has received a fair amount of attention lately from politicians and others. It is a good subject to base a novel on. Not only could the right story make an entertaining read, it could also educate the populace on the basics of the problem. Unfortunately, this isn’t that novel.

It’s hard to know where to begin with the issues I had with this book and, although long, this review will only touch on some of them. The first big problem happened early: the scene is a naval inquiry board, which goes on and on and on and on and … just imagine someone droning forever with a long speech on computer malware, cyber terrorism, and related subjects. I’m a long-time computer geek and my eyes were glazing over. In fiction writing, what happened here is called a data dump, and usually is done to quickly establish needed back story. There is almost always a better, albeit harder, way of communicating that back story, if it is really needed. Much of this probably wasn’t, at least not for the story.

Another issue was repetitiveness. Normally, when I have this complaint about a book it is due to word choice, using the same word too often in close proximity, like when I saw the word ‘change’ used four times in two sentences in this story. A twist on this was one character who keeps thinking that another character he is spying on is going to recognize him. I got it the first time. By the third time he had this same thought I was just getting irritated.

However, this problem went well beyond the normal issues in The Cobra Exploit. A representative example is one character who breaks into a cabin another character is living in. He needs to get in, see what is there, and get out without leaving any sign that he’s been there. While the first character is doing this, we’re treated to his internal dialogue considering all the steps he needs to take and the logic behind them. This goes into much more detail than a reader needs to convince us that he knows what he’s doing. That’s bad enough, but later the same character repeats the break in to plant a hidden camera in the cabin. Rather than saying the equivalent of “he repeated the same steps as last time,” we’re once again treated to the same internal thought process with all the detailed steps and logic. A good editor would find numerous opportunities for cutting and tightening prose in this book. I suspect by the time he or she cut the parts that were repetitive or did nothing to move the story forward that it would transform the book into a novella.

Another serious problem was verb tense. I think, although I’m far from certain, that the intent was to write this story largely in present tense. This can potentially give the story more immediacy to the reader, but it is hard to pull off. Here, verb tenses kept slipping back and forth from past to present with no rhyme or reason, sometimes mixing past and present tenses in the same sentence. This, along with a tendency to mix short scenes with no transitional clues to realize the story had switched points of view or place, made for choppy reading and a constantly disoriented reader.

While I think the issue of cyber terrorism is one that those who like to stay informed should learn more about and it would be a good subject to build a novel around, it seemed that the author had a goal of informing, and neglected to consider that the priority needed to be a well written story first. In the end, it failed on both counts.

FYI

Some relatively tame adult situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

A large number of proofing and copy editing issues. The most frequent problem is verb tense confusion, slipping back and forth between present and past tense, sometimes with both in the same sentence.

Rating: * One star

To Katie With Love / Erica Lucke Dean

2013-05-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

After walking away from her career as a business banker to pursue writing full-time, Erica Lucke Dean moved from the hustle and bustle of the big city to a small tourist town in the North Georgia Mountains where she lives in a 90-year-old haunted farmhouse with her workaholic husband, her 180 lb lap dog, and at least one ghost.

For more, visit the author's website.

Description:

“Banker Katie James has a serious thing for romance novels. She’d almost rather settle for a fictional boyfriend than risk her heart on a flesh-and-blood man. Besides, the only real guy she’s remotely interested in is her rich, unattainable client, the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.

Looking less like the ultra-conservative man she knows and more like a drop-dead sexy character from one of her books, Cooper crashes Katie’s 29th birthday party. But one too many drinks lands Katie in uncharted territory… Cooper’s bedroom!

Drunk on love, Katie dives headfirst into the relationship only to discover that Cooper is keeping secrets… dangerous ones. As if things couldn’t get worse, her meddling mother makes a surprise visit, digging up a whole new set of problems.

Who would have guessed having an assassin for a boyfriend would be the least of her worries?”

Appraisal:

Romance novels have a basic formu … no, let’s call it something else. Time tested patterns. The basic blueprint is boy meets girls. Sparks fly (or sometimes just the opposite at first, but the sparks come before long). Then, we have the big misunderstanding (probably due to poor communication) and the couple seems headed their separate ways. Last, something causes them to realize they misunderstood each other, get back together and, go riding into the sunset. (Actually that last part is a Western. I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Replace with “live happily ever after”)

But really, all novels fit a pattern. We’re so aware of it with Romance because of the relatively small number of templates for a novel; this is by far the most popular one. However, this means that for the story to feel fresh, an author has to come up with great characters and situations. They need to feel like real people. The situations have to be realistic. In To Katie With Love, Erica Lucke Dean came up with some great characters.

Katie is a character who should feel familiar to a big part of the target audience. In fact, many will see something of themselves in Katie. Other than the obvious gender difference, I did. She’s an avid reader, introverted, and will often choose a vicarious adventure in a romance novel over the alternatives on her social calendar. The people she works with are quirky, yet real enough to remind me of past co-workers. And her bank job gives her plenty of chances to meet men with both money and looks, especially the mysterious Cooper Maxwell.

The situations Katie gets herself into seem almost larger than life, yet not so much as to have me disbelieving. I was surprised multiple times as the story was working its way to a conclusion, never guessing the answer to the big question every reader is going to have by that point, nor guessing how (or even whether) Katie was going to get that ride into the sunset.

FYI:

A small amount of adult language and some mild adult situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

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2013-05-02T04:30:00.000-06:00

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Keep Me Ghosted (Sophie Rhodes Ghostly Romance #1) / Karen Cantwell

2013-05-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Humor / Paranormal Romance / Ghosts

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

In another life, before Karen Cantwell started writing full time, she had a different, very rewarding job – a vision therapist. She decided to give her male romantic hero a profession that was more specific than just, a lawyer, or a doctor, or a coffee shop barista. They say write what you know, and one thing she knew very well, was vision therapy. Her own husband is an optometrist in this specialized field, and the reason why she became a vision therapist, herself. Hence, the decision was made, Cal Callahan would be a developmental optometrist – an eye doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating patients (by and large, children) with Learning-related Vision Disorders.

To learn more about Ms. Cantwell and her successful Barbara Marr Murder Mystery series, the check out her website and blog.

Description:

“Desperate to pay the bills, 29-year-old Sophie ignores the advice of her stuffy spirit-friend, Marmaduke Dodsworth, and takes a job with the handsome Dr. Callahan, an optometrist with a desperate situation of his own. The good doctor's problem? He has a spirit-friend as well: one with a fiery crush and a vicious jealous streak. When chemistry starts to brew between Sophie and Dr. Callahan, his green-eyed ghost wreaks some bad-tempered havoc, scaring away his patients and putting Sophie on edge. Will Sophie give up the ghost and quit the new job, or buck up and find a way to rid Dr. Callahan of his pesky specter, freeing their romance to find a life of its own?”

Appraisal:

I have read several of Ms. Cantwell’s books, the Barbara Marr Murder Mystery series is one of my favorites. When I heard she was writing a ghost story I was pleased to see her branching out into the paranormal; one of my favorite genres. She has an easy-going style to her writing that makes it a pleasure to read.

I dearly loved Marmaduke. He is such an English gentleman, and I think the author pulled off his verbose English dialect quite well. I found Sophie and Marmaduke’s dialogue thoroughly entertaining and I loved their relationship. I was glad to learn he is sticking around for a few more books. The chemistry between the reserved Dr. Callahan and Sophie was charming and natural. The story setting and characters are unique which set up the book to be an interesting and educational read. As with all of Ms. Cantwell’s writing there is a mystery to unravel with unexpected twists in the plot. The humor flows well and is not over-the-top or slapstick. I was also pleased that Sophie is a fully-fledged character in her own right; she is not a rewritten Barbara Marr, but I like her just as well. This is a light, fun, quick read that leaves you feeling satisfied in the end.

FYI:

I think this book will teach us all to stay away from internet magic spells.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant issues with editing or formatting.

Rating: ***** Five stars