Here it is #ShareAReviewDay again, and I’m welcoming . . . er . . . MYSELF to The Write Stuff this afternoon. Had an opening, figured I’d use it. Hope you’ll enjoy this lovely review of The Emissary 2: To Love Somebody, and will pass it along on your favorite social media sites. Thanks!
REVIEW:
October 27, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Hi, Folks! It’s #ShareAReviewDay Tuesday again, and our guest this morning is Frank Prem. Frank is sharing a review from his poetic anthology, Devil in the Wind. After reading this, I’m sold. I’ve pre-ordered this one to add to my collection of poetry anthologies, and I suspect many of you will as well. Thanks for checking it out today, and for sharing far and wide, as well.
REVIEW:
Mick rated Devil In The Wind 5.0 out of 5 stars on Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44440062-devil-in-the-wind
Like Frank’s previous book, Small Town Kid, this collection of poems tells a story of rural and small town Australia. But the similarities between the two books end there.
Whereas the previous collection was a celebration of boyhood in Frank’s hometown, this is an account of the dreadful bushfires of February 2009 that swept through parts of Southern Australia, the area that is home to the author, killing 173 people and leaving a huge area a fire-blackened moonscape.
Please help me welcome our second guest of the day, Donna W. Hill, who will be sharing a lovely review from her book The Heart of Applebutter Hill. I’m sure this one will speak to many of you, and you’ll be happy to share it on your favorite social media. Thanks!
REVIEW:
The Heart of Applebutter Hill
by Donna W. Hill
Reviewed by Jacqueline Williams
From the Editor: Jacqueline Williams has taught in New York, in Uganda, and on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona. After she earned a master’s degree in special education from Northern Arizona University, she served as a special education teacher and administrator in Mesa, Arizona. Now retired, she writes poetry and serves as dance coordinator in the Mesa public schools.
The Heart of Applebutter Hill
by Donna W. Hill
Smashwords Press, 2013, 346 pages
Available in print and as a Kindle ebook, and from Bookshare and Learning Ally.
The Heart of Applebutter Hill is a story of suspense and a passage through adolescent growth. Coping with vision loss and bullying are combined with adventure and fantasy, demonstrating Donna Hill’s vivid imagination. This novel will inspire teachers and readers who want to be part of the solution to bullying and other actions that harm the disadvantaged.
This morning, our #ShareAReviewDay guest is Deborah Jay, and the review she is featuring is from her novel The Prince’s Man. I know you’ll enjoy learning about this one, and I can attest to how good it is! Let’s help get the word out to those who haven’t discovered it yet. Thanks!
~~~
REVIEW:
April 9, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I started reading ‘The Prince’s Man’, but the reality blew me away.
The story is a grown up fantasy reminiscent of Robin Hobb’s Farseer series [which I also happen to love]. You’ll find Machiavellian politics, intrigue, loyalty, a hint of love, and a cast of characters you can relate to. Yes, they have their flaws, but don’t we all?
To my mind, watching the characters change and grow is at least half the fun. The other half is getting to know the world in which those characters live. In all types of speculative fiction, the world is as much of a ‘character’ as the characters themselves. Think how important the planet Arrakis is to the story of Dune.
As readers we want to step out of our everyday lives and get lost in another world. And the author does not disappoint. The otherness of The Prince’s Man is evident right from the start, but there are no boring info. dumps. We learn about the world in the same way we learn about the human characters, by watching the story unfold, a bit at a time.
And finally, I’d like to say something about the plot. It. Is. Not. Predictable. To me, that’s one of the book’s greatest strengths. I like to be surprised, and nothing puts me off more than ‘the same old same old’. In The Prince’s Man, the author kept me guessing right to the end.
I’m looking forward to reading the next book of the series, and I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes a story with real meat on its bones.
This afternoon, please help me welcome Darlene Foster to The Write Stuff. Darlene is sharing a review of Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind, and I know you’ll enjoy reading this one. Don’t forget to pass it along to all and sundry to help more people learn about this wonderful series. Thanks!
January 15, 2019
Amanda and her sixth-grade class are on an educational field trip from their hometown of Calgary, Canada to visit, explore and document their experiences in New Mexico, USA. As the class tours Taos, New Mexico and the surrounding area, their trip is interrupted by ghosts present and past. In “Amanda in New Mexico—Ghosts in the Wind,” Foster has written a contemporary fiction story through which middle-grade students will not only learn about the region’s geography, architecture, and artifacts—they’ll learn invaluable life lessons along the way. Students and teachers are sure to want to follow Amanda through further adventures in this well-written series.
~Bette A. Stevens, author of award-winning children’s picture book” AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale” and other books for children and adults. Continue reading
This morning, we are very happy to welcome Mae Clair to our first returning #ShareAReviewDay post. I know you are going to enjoy reading about her deliciously shivery book, A Thousand Yesteryears, which is currently on sale for a super bargain price. Check it out, and share the news! Thanks.
REVIEW:
A Thousand Yesteryears by Mae Clair
Book 1 of the Point Pleasant series (can be read as a standalone)
Press review provided by NY Times bestselling author, Kevin O’Brien
“A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS is masterful, bone-chilling fiction that begins with a real-life tragedy on December 15, 1967: the Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. 46 people died. Author Mae Clair has seamlessly woven fact, fiction and creepy urban folklore into one intense thriller. The gripping story focuses on two witnesses to the disaster—fifteen years later. Both Eve Parrish and Caden Flynn lost loved ones in the catastrophe and still carry the emotional scars. After a long absence, Eve returns to Point Pleasant to bury her recently-deceased aunt, face some old ghosts, and reunite with her one-time “impossible-crush,” Caden. But when Eve begins to investigate her aunt’s death, she’s plunged into danger and a nightmare world where scary urban legends are very real. Full of suspense, A THOUSAND YESTERYEARS will keep you guessing, gasping and turning the pages for more.” Continue reading
In an ongoing effort to bring back some of this blog’s most popular features, I hereby announce the resumption of #ShareAReviewDay Tuesday. For full instructions on how you can share your favorite or latest reviews, please click on the link entitled “General Blog Rules & Share A Review Day Instructions” in the black header bar above. I will schedule the reviews 2 per Tuesday in the order in which I receive them. (NOTE: I will need to set these posts up myself, even for those of you who are contributors to the blog. Thanks.)
And now, to start things off, I’m sharing one of my reviews from That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 3. This is basically the way I will set up your reviews each Tuesday. Hope you’ll enjoy taking part!
REVIEW:
MacTrish
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book has it all – Suspense, Romance, Tragedy and Humour
24 September 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
That Darkest Place is the third book in Marcia Meara’s Riverbend series. It begins where the second one finishes and tells the stories of the older two Painter brothers, Jackson and Forrest.
Marcia has an insight into the workings of the human spirit that makes for compelling reading. There’s the sense of struggle, of families disagreeing but solidly behind each other, of menace from the unknown antagonist and the tender, sparky love scenes which are always wonderfully done – there’s joy and mischief and twinkling there that makes those scenes for me! She handles these scenes with a light touch that avoids graphic description yet captures the essence of the delight, the amazement, the miracle of love.
There’s also the subtly interwoven information about strokes, counselling and recovering from physical and emotional trauma that grounds the progress in a way that feels real and ‘right’. As with Hunter, the subject of the second book, the real hook as far as I’m concerned lies in the interaction between the characters and how readily we can identify with them. These fears, confusion and delight are common to us all and her ability to express them so realistically means that we share in them and become part of them, too.
I’d read these in chronological order to avoid spoilers even though they can all be read as standalones. Settle down somewhere cosy and prepare yourself for a most satisfying experience! Continue reading
Maks and Potter
I had planned to post this earlier, but ran into so much trouble trying to access this blog, I had to give up. Decided I’d try one more time before calling this day done. I mentioned I hadn’t been feeling well, and that’s true, but it’s not serious, thankfully. Just a bad cold and totally blocked sinuses, which makes sleeping difficult for all of us, but can be really tricky if you use a CPAP machine, as I do. The good news is, it seems to be easing up, and hopefully tomorrow will bring siginifcant improvement.
The other sad news I have is that our piebald dachshund, Potter, the older of our two ancient dogs, developed congestive heart failure last week and we had to say goodbye to him Monday morning. It was a pretty sad day around here, with his “brother”hunting for him everywhere, and me already feeling ill. Got even gloomier yesterday, as it rained all day long, too. But we are adjusting.
We adopted a 10-month-old Potter from an abusive situation more than 14 years ago, so it is very disconcerting not to have him here. I’m sure many (if not most) of you have been through similar things and know how sad it is when it comes time to say goodbye. He was good dog, though it was more than a year before he’d let Mark touch him. (Men were the enemy for a long time.) He grew into a sweet, friendly boy, and he will be sorely missed, for sure.
Tomorrow, I will try to post a sample of #ShareAReviewDay, one of the features I’m bringing back, so that new folks will see what they need to do if they’d like to take part. Will explain in much more detail then. (Assuming WordPress lets me post! ) 😀 And that’s all for now, but stay tuned! Tomorrow will be a better day!
Wanted to start the week off with an update for you guys, especially for new followers who don’t know that I used to run regular weekly or monthly features here on The Write Stuff. Most of you do know that I’ve been generally whining, and grumbling, and otherwise making a nuisance of myself about being so far behind on everything I’m trying to do. Well, it’s time for that to STOP!
No, I haven’t magically caught up with everything overnight, but the good news is, I’m making slow, steady progress, knock wood! And I am ready to start reintroducing the features we used to enjoy around here. It might take me a few weeks to get all of them “up and running,” but you can expect to see the following things coming back on board–and some of them will probably start this week, alongside a few that never totally went away.
Some of these are meant to be weekly features, though it might take me a couple weeks to get them up and running. Some are posted randomly as the mood or subject matter strikes my fancy. But ALL are coming back over the next couple of months. And many of them involve you wonderful bloggers and authors “out there.” You’ll be invited when these come up, and I’ll explain how to participate in them at that time.
Hope you’ll enjoy having these features back again, and will want to take part in some of them. I know many of you would probably love to share your reviews and excerpts with us, and your latest promo news, releases, cover reveals, etc, as well. And I’m really looking forward to helping you do just that.
To begin, I’ll be posting some archived samples of these features over the next week or two, so you see what they’re all about, and will feel comfortable joining in.
Stay tuned, my wonderful friends! I can hardly wait to get the ball rolling!
This morning, please help me welcome Hywela Lyn with a lovely review for Book 3 of her Destiny Trilogy, Beloved Enemy. I think you’ll enjoy this review, and I know you’ll be happy to share it all over social media. Thanks! 🙂
REVIEW:
The huge ass water and sand creature. They are the things of nightmares and deserve a spot on any otherworldly show! PS. I am rethinking ever washing off in a lake again.
bio-regenerator: This device enhances the body’s natural healing process. Imagine how many lives would be saved, children or an adult’s pain eased in minutes instead of days, and the profound effort it would have in combat missions. Medical marvel!
After dealing with inhospitable creatures, more than one crash, physical altercations with humans, and other WTF moments, I am not surprised Cat and Kerry relationship went from allies for a common cause, to becoming friends, and then progressed to full on love. When you been to hell and back, your troublesome times either break you or make you stronger. Their bond definitely became stronger. It’s what actually saved them. And that’s all you’ll get from me. To find out more…. read the damn book. No seriously, read it. It’s a page-turner, for sure!
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