Reprise Review: Home Owner with a Gun by Samuel Hawley

Genre: Thriller

Description:

Jeff is a quiet family man who works at the local grocery store. At home, in the middle of the night, he’s awoken by noises downstairs. Armed with a gun, he surprises two men in his kitchen and kills them both. The story follows Jeff as the ramifications of that night’s events change his life forever.

Author:

Samuel Hawley taught English in East Asia for many years before becoming a full-time writer. His books include the novel Bad Elephant Far Stream and the nonfiction works Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties; I Just Ran: Percy Williams, World’s Fastest Human; and The Imjin War: Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China. He lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Appraisal:

Jeff is an unlikely main character—just an everyman, really. His deadly shots on the night of the break in had no malice about them. He was as terrified as he crept downstairs to protect his family as I would have been.

Initially, I thought maybe Jeff would have problems with the police believing his story—I was worried for the man. The problems that did ensue, however, were of a quite different nature, and, for me, totally unexpected.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t go into detail, but a second thread that runs through the novel involves some local gangstas. The author drew these characters as vividly as he did Jeff and his family. And the juxtaposition between these two wildly different groups of people was what made the novel so compelling.

I read this in two sittings, staying up late. From an unlikely beginning, the novel grows and develops into an action-packed, well-written thriller.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Added for Reprise Review: Home Owner with a Gun by Samuel Hawley was a nominee in the Thriller category for B&P 2015 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran January 28, 2015.

Format/Typo Issues:

Well edited.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Review: Mom's House: A Memoir by Lynne Cantwell

Note: Yesterday we got BigAl's take on this book. In this second half of a "doubleshot" review, we're getting a second opinion.

Genre: Memoir

Description:

“If the Universe gave you the chance to deliver karmic justice, would you do it?

Lynne Cantwell was the late-in-life child of parents who had already lost a baby daughter. Her brother, ten years older, delivered emotional and verbal abuse for as long as she could remember. As a young adult, she moved halfway across the country to escape him.

Decades later, when their mother’s health began to fail, Lynne was forced to work with her brother – first to keep their mother in their childhood home, and then to prepare the house for a sale that never happened. Everything changed, but the family dynamics stayed the same.

This book – entertaining and heart-wrenching by turns – is a tale of the way abuse plays out across generations, and of what it takes to end it.”

Author:

“Lynne Cantwell has been writing fiction since the second grade, when the kid who sat in front of her showed her a book he had written, and she thought, ‘I could do that.’ The result was Susie and the Talking Doll, a picture book illustrated by the author about a girl who owned a doll that not only could talk, but could carry on conversations. The book had dialogue but no paragraph breaks.

Today, after a twenty-year career in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University (or perhaps despite the master's degree), Lynne is still writing fantasy. She is also a contributing author at Indies Unlimited. She lives near Washington, DC.”

You can connect with Ms. Cantwell at her website or on Facebook.

Appraisal:

I don’t normally read non-fiction, however this book drew my attention. I am interested in how people cope with abuse and the extenuating circumstances that keep them in abusive relationships. Lynne’s abuser was her older brother (by ten years) with a somewhat complacent mother who either looked the other way or wrote it off as sibling rivalry. The whole family dynamic was dysfunctional. Lynne recognized this and did what she could to survive until she was old enough to move far away. Little did she realize at the time how emotional abuse infects other relationships that develop in the future.  

I’m sure I grew up in a somewhat dysfunctional family, as many of us did. I am the oldest of my four siblings, however, I don’t recall any abuse. At least nothing besides what was considered normal parental punishment at the time, and we managed to grow up to be successful adults. To be truthful, I am the most dysfunctional in my family. I claim it is genetics, LOL. That’s my way of diverting the truth.

Following Lynne’s journey was enlightening, but also baffling, and heart-breaking at times. Hopefully, we all try to do the best we can with what we are given. Life is a struggle to keep our heads above the water and it’s doubly hard when we have those who keep pulling us down, taking advantage of our basically good hearts. I found Mom’s House a valiant effort to exorcise demons. Highly recommended. 

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

  

FYI:

Mom’s House contains emotional and verbal abuse, no sexual abuse. I mention that because the book is tagged with sexual abuse on Amazon US, however not on Amazon UK site.

Format/Typo Issues:

Nothing to speak of.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Review: Mom's House by Lynne Cantwell

Note: It has been a while since we've had a "double shot" (a review of the same book by two different Books and Pals reviewers. Today, we're getting BigAl's take on this book. Tomorrow morning we'll see what ?wazithinkin thinks of the same book.

Genre: Memoir

Description:

“If the Universe gave you the chance to deliver karmic justice, would you do it?

Lynne Cantwell was the late-in-life child of parents who had already lost a baby daughter. Her brother, ten years older, delivered emotional and verbal abuse for as long as she could remember. As a young adult, she moved halfway across the country to escape him.

Decades later, when their mother’s health began to fail, Lynne was forced to work with her brother – first to keep their mother in their childhood home, and then to prepare the house for a sale that never happened. Everything changed, but the family dynamics stayed the same.

This book – entertaining and heart-wrenching by turns – is a tale of the way abuse plays out across generations, and of what it takes to end it.”

Author:

“Lynne Cantwell has been writing fiction since the second grade, when the kid who sat in front of her showed her a book he had written, and she thought, "I could do that." The result was Susie and the Talking Doll, a picture book illustrated by the author about a girl who owned a doll that not only could talk, but could carry on conversations. The book had dialogue but no paragraph breaks.

Today, after a twenty-year career in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University (or perhaps despite the master's degree), Lynne is still writing fantasy. She is also a contributing author at Indies Unlimited. She lives near Washington, DC.”

Appraisal:

Memoir is an interesting genre in that I suspect the reason someone might choose to read a book in the genre is going to vary more from person to person and from book to book than with other genres. You might choose to read a memoir to better understand someone different from you or the exact opposite, as a way to remind yourself that there are people with the same difficulties or struggles as you have. It might be to learn more about someone you’d like to emulate, or to get an idea of how to deal with a person or situation. Or maybe the memoir is just something a particular reader thinks sounds like an interesting or entertaining story.

All of that is a long prelude to saying that the appeal of Mom’s Home for you could be vastly different from what I liked about it, depending on the reader. Or it may have no appeal at all. For some readers who have dealt with abusive family, need ideas in doing so, or just want to know that others have found a way out, that’s here for you. For me it made me thankful that I don’t have those issues, glad that, as different as I and my siblings are, we have a relationship many, maybe most, families don’t. It was an adventure and a story with an ending that, while not exactly what I’d describe as completely happy, was a satisfying conclusion. As a reader, pulling for the author, just like I would be for a protagonist in a fictional tale, it was a good story. The funny thing about real stories, something the author even mentioned at one point, is that in fiction the story has to be credible. Sometimes in real life things happen that are so out there that an author wouldn’t dare put them in fiction because the reader would find them unrealistic. At times this sure pushed those limits as only a true story can. And while I wasn’t thinking about it when I was reading the story, I suspect I’ve learned a few new ways of dealing with difficult people that could prove valuable in the future.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Review: Tizita by Sharon Heath

Genre: Literary Fiction

Description:

Amazon’s blurb says “Physics wunderkind Fleur Robins, just a little odd and more familiar with multiple universes than complicated affairs of the heart, is cast adrift when her project to address the climate crisis is stalled. Worse, her Ethiopian-born fiancé Assefa takes off right after her 21st birthday party to track down his father, who’s gone missing investigating Ethiopian claims to the Ark of the Covenant. … Assefa’s reconnection with a childhood sweetheart leads Fleur to … a bumbling encounter with her rival. The experience of tizita – the interplay of memory, loss, and longing – [flings] Fleur into conflicts between science and religion, race and privilege, climate danger and denial, sex and love ... with humor, whimsy, and the clumsiness and grace of innocence.”

Author:

Amazon vouchsafes “Sharon Heath writes fiction and non-fiction exploring the interplay of science and spirit, politics and pop culture, contemplation and community. A certified Jungian Analyst … and faculty member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, she … has [inter alia] given talks … on topics ranging from the place of soul in social media to gossip, envy, secrecy, and belonging. She blogs at http://www.sharonheath.com/. Which is all to say that she knows whereof she writes. Her breadth of knowledge about all manner of things is astonishing. She has the magpie eye of the true writer.”

Appraisal:

This is an extraordinary book. It is so stuffed with ideas that they overflow. There is a curiosity about the world in all the vibrant characters who inhabit the book. I learned much (as you know, I do like to finish a book feeling that I have done so) about physics, philosophy, religions (various), Ethiopia, Jane Goodall’s Gombe chimp sanctuary, the odd way humans behave toward each other and (not the least just because I’ve put it last) climate change. Read it to be amazed and informed as well as royally entertained. (Some of the word choices are exquisite.) Along the way Heath discusses racism, rape, female circumcision and abortion in the present day through her characters’ experience of these. There is plenty of sex. There is also plenty of mild self-harm (if self-harm can ever be mild).

Do not be put off (but be prepared for) descriptions of everything a character’s eye lights upon (the descriptions are always vivid). There is also rather too much harking back to the first book about Fleur Robins (The History of my Body). There is both not enough to make what happened in the first book meaningful for someone who has not read it, and too much of it for Tizita to carry without it becoming burdensome. These interpolations interfered with pace from time to time. This strategy also threw up that Fleur’s life (physics project apart) seemed to have been marking time for the five years between The History of my Body and Tizita.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:  

A few f-bombs, plenty of sex, description of rape, female circumcision, and self-harm; discussion of abortion and racism.

Format/Typo Issues:

Very few.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 115-120,000 words

Review: The Field Where I Died by Melissa Bowersock

Genre: Historical

Description:

“Devon Muir has always been fascinated with the Civil War. When he discovers that his fourth great-grandfather fought at pivotal battles like Antietam and Gettysburg, he is compelled to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps and experience the battlefields on his own. What he doesn’t count on is dreaming about a battle every night—and being killed every time. Now his exploration of battlefields becomes a different kind of quest as he struggles to understand who is the soldier he becomes in his dream, and who is the woman whose face he sees as he lays dying.”

Author:

“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: biography, contemporary, western, action, romance, fantasy, paranormal and spiritual. She has been both traditionally and independently published and is a regular contributor to the superblog Indies Unlimited. She lives in a small community in northern Arizona with her husband and an Airedale terrier. She also writes under the pen name Amber Flame.”

Appraisal:

A story with an interesting and unique mix of contemporary, historical, and supernatural genres. (It might feel a bit like time-travel figures in this as well.) This was a quick, fast moving, and entertaining read. I liked the characters, both the protagonist Devin, and the other supporting cast. Where the story was going was never clear as the mystery of why Devin was dreaming what he did every night slowly unfolded. If the story appeals at all, this is well worth your time.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

My review is based on a pre-release copy and I’m unable to judge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words

Reprise Review: The See-Through Leopard by Sibel Hodge

Genre: Contemporary/YA/Coming of Age

Description:

“Most sixteen-year-old girls are obsessed with their looks, but Jazz Hooper's obsessed for a different reason. After a car accident that kills her mum, Jazz is left with severe facial scars and retreats into a dark depression.

Fearing what will happen if Jazz doesn't recover, her dad makes a drastic decision to move them from England to a game reserve in Kenya for a new start. And when Jazz finds an orphaned leopard cub, it sets off a chain of events that lead her on a two year journey of discovery, healing, and love.”

Author:

“Sibel Hodge is an International Bestselling and Award Winning Author. She has 8 cats and 1 husband. In her spare time, she's Wonder Woman! When she's not out saving the world from dastardly demons she writes an eclectic mix of genres.”

Learn more about Ms. Hodge and her many other books at her website or like her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

This is an extremely captivating novel on many levels. Jazz was a typical self-absorbed teenager before the auto accident that killed her mother and left her with devastating facial scars. Now, a year later, she is still drowning in self-pity and guilt because she feels like she was solely responsible for causing the accident. Her father, being a large animal vet, and her mother lived and worked in Kenya at Kilingi Game Reserve before Jazz was born, so it was not unusual when he decided to try for a new start there when an opening for a new large animal vet became available at the same game reserve. Nathan, Jazz’s father, is hoping against all odds to draw Jazz out of her isolation and depression by changing the scenery.

The story is told through Jazz’s eyes so the reactions of school friends and strangers to Jazz’s scarred face was colored by her own insecurities, in some cases, but taunts continued in Kenya as well. When Jazz comes across a baby leopard cub, whose mother had been killed by poachers, she vows to raise the cub that she names Asha, with plans to release the leopard back into the wild when the time is right. With the help of Zach, who educates Jazz in all things leopard, she learns this is no small undertaking. Zach is a few years older than Jazz and is the son of the owners who run the Kilingi Game Reserve. He was born and raised in Kenya and plans to follow in his parent’s footsteps.

It is clear that Ms. Hodge did a lot of research to write this story as realistically possible. The prose used to paint the picture of Kenya made it easy to see and step into the African landscape. The education Jazz received about large predators was enlightening. One of the toughest lessons Jazz had to learn and accept was the whole circle of life theme. She had to be able to teach Asha how to hunt live game or she wouldn’t be able to be re-released into the wild. The information about poachers, poaching, and its consequences’ is heart-breaking and needs to be heard far and wide.

As Jazz immerses herself in rearing Asha and becomes an advocate for endangered species she gains a confidence in herself that helps her see past her own scars. This is a beautiful, educational, and inspirational story to be enjoyed by all ages. I would encourage everyone to pick up this book, read it, and then share it with a friend.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

"A percentage of the royalties from the sale of this book will be contributed to Panthera, a leading international conservation organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the world's big cats, plus other wildlife conservation groups."

Added for Reprise Review: The See-Through Leopard by Sibel Hodge was a nominee in the Young Adult category for B&P 2015 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran September 18, 2014

Format/Typo Issues:

No issues with formatting or editing.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Review: River Spell by D.B. Sieders

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Multicultural

Description:

“She’s out for vengeance. He’s seeking justice.

Exiled and alone in a strange land, Rhinemaiden Gwen is still traumatized from her capture and torture by mortal monster hunters. To exorcise her demons, she doles out vigilante justice on mortal criminals—until former cop turned private investigator, Kwame Johnson, stops her in her tracks.

Captivating and enigmatic, Kwame is more than another mere mortal, and he's just beginning to understand the nature of the special sense that helps him track down missing persons. Gwen can help him reach his full potential, but can she trust a man who was hired by the monster hunters to track her down?”

Author:

“Award-winning author D.B. Sieders was born and raised in East Tennessee and spent her childhood hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains, wading barefoot in creeks, and chasing salamanders, fish, and frogs. She and her family loved to tell stories while sitting around the campfire.

Those days of frog chasing sparked an interest in biology. She is a working scientist by day, but never lost her love of telling stories. Now, she’s a purveyor of unconventional fantasy romance featuring strong heroines and the heroes who strive to match them. Her heroes and heroines face a healthy dose of angst as they strive for redemption and a happily ever after, which everyone deserves.

D.B. Sieders lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, two children, three cats, and her very active imagination.”

Learn more about Ms. Seiders on her website, or stalk her on Facebook.

Appraisal:

River Spell is the fourth book in the Southern Elemental Guardians series. It looks like each book is about different related guardians, so I had no problem jumping into the middle of the series. The world is Earth which is divided and ruled accordingly in different realms. Gwen is one of the Rhinemaiden sisters, a mermaid with shapeshifting abilities and other magic. She has exiled herself to the New World, which is what they call the mortal realm, because she doesn’t feel like she fits in her own domain. However, she still protects her river. It’s during one of those acts that Gwen meets Kwame, an ex-police officer turned PI. Kwame recognizes energy levels, which he doesn’t fully understand, but has never led him wrong. So he is aware that Gwen is something other than how she appears.

The plot is original and flows at a good pace. The characters are well developed. Gwen and Kwame are both flawed, and seeking their own purposes in life. The storyline follows their budding interracial romance and turmoils. The dialogue is realistic and engaging, with the exception of the coupling scene. Kwame annoyed the hell out of me, and if I had been Gwen, I would have disappeared for good. At any rate the twists in the plot are extreme and lead Gwen to face her own demons. The fight scene was pretty awesome and revealed a lot more than I was expecting. The result took a surprisingly logical turn that I found satisfying. I would be interested in reading other books in this series.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

River Spell is book 4 in Ms. Sieders Southern Elemental Guardians series, but it can be read as a standalone. There are several F-bombs dropped, so if that word offends you, this book may not be a good fit for you.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found a small number proofing errors. They consisted of missing, extra, or wrong words

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words

Reprise Review: Raising Chaos by Elizabeth Corrigan

Genre: Fantasy

Description:

“When good fails, chaos rises to the challenge... when Bedlam learns that the archdemon Azrael has escaped from the Abyss in order to wreak vengeance against the person who sent her there—Bedlam’s best friend, Khet—he can’t sit idly by.

Only one relic possesses the power to kill Khet, who suffers immortality at Lucifer’s request: the mythical Spear of Destiny, which pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. Neither angel nor demon has seen the Spear in two thousand years, but Azrael claims to know its location. Bedlam has no choice but to interpret woefully outdated clues and race her to its ancient resting place.

His quest is made nearly impossible by ... a dedicated cult intent on keeping the Spear out of the wrong hands. But to Bedlam, “wrong” is just an arbitrary word, and there’s no way he’s letting Khet die without a fight.”

Author:

“Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart Car.”

Ms. Corrigan owns over 150 seasons of television on DVD, loves zombie jokes, and her only culinary skill is the ability to make chocolate chip cookies.

Her first novel, Oracle of Philadelphia, was a nominee in Books and Pals 2014 Readers' Choice Awards.

To learn more visit Ms. Corrigan’s Amazon Author page or Facebookpage.

Appraisal:

“The daily life of a chaos demon is delightfully sinful—overindulging in Sri Lankan delicacies, trespassing on private beaches in Hawaii, and getting soused at the best angel bar on the planet.”  Bedlam was by far my favorite character in Oracle of Philadelphia and I was excited to learn that he would have his own book. This story has several plots that weave back and forth in time with some interesting history, new characters, and adds more depth to characters we have met before.

Ms. Corrigan uses differing points of view, which are divided into chapters, to shift from one scene to another keeping the suspense heightened between story threads. One new character was Siren, the Angel of Truth, who ends up being quite entertaining. Not only does she have to speak the truth, others around her must speak the truth as well. They cannot lie when in her presence. Siren could end up being another favorite character of mine, solely because of her inner dialogue. Bedlam's inner dialogue is totally unique as we get to listen to his good side argue with his demon self throughout his tests of worthiness by the Keepers of the Spear of Destiny, it was pure gold.

This is a complex tale that requires a lot of attention to details. If you read through quickly you will find yourself wanting to go back and reread sections. I wouldn't consider this a light beach read. But if you want to be pulled into a unique story with depth this is a good one for that. The pace is fast, but readers are given time to take a few breaths when the story switches to Carrie, who is vacationing on an east coast beach. She also has her own story within this book. So there is a lot going on throughout.

The ending was amazing, after I got past the gut wrenching scene where I thought I might have to throw my Kindle against the wall. By the way, I have never thrown a book but I could feel the need rising. I could not have been more satisfied and I didn't see it coming! Heaven is going to be turned on its ear and I can't wait to see who the next book is about or where the story may lead.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

This is the second book in the Earthbound Angels series. Ms. Corrigan did an excellent job filling us in on the facts we needed to know for this story, it could be read as a stand-alone, although, I highly recommend reading Oracle of Philadelphia.

Added for Reprise Review: Raising Chaos by Elizabeth Corrigan was a nominee in the Fantasy category for B&P 2015 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran April 11, 2014

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant issues with editing or formatting.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Review: Climb Beyond the Crest by Don Defreeze

Genre: Personal Growth/Travel Memoir

Description:

“Separate yourself from the world’s hectic whirlwind and become part of an Appalachian Trail hike into enchanting wilderness. Buy into Don Defreeze’s personal narrative and be ticketed on a journey to supreme acuity. The thread is the hike while various trail segments jog thoughts ranging from philosophical to the practical, almost a discussion of reality’s nature. These ideas collectively create a frame of reference which walks the reader into symbiotic solitude and a personal challenge.”

Author:

Don Defreeze is a wilderness guide and owner of a guide service called Exchiking in Roanoke, Virginia.

Appraisal:

It’s tough to figure out how many of my complaints and issues with this book are valid complaints by any reasonable criteria and how much is “just me” based on taste, misplaced expectations, or something else. I’ll talk about them all and you can decide which might matter to you.

The first issue is the less than adequate copyediting and proofing job this book received. It was clearly lacking in this regard with missing or wrong words, homonym errors, and misspelled names, among other issues.

I also found the author’s writing style to be pretentious. It felt like rather than attempting to communicate his thoughts as clearly as possible that he instead wanted to impress someone by stringing together several obscure, seldom used words in a row. To be clear, there was nothing wrong with any of the words, but rather than using the perfect word to illuminate a thought more clearly the overuse of these words obfuscated the message instead. Here’s an example:

I can’t help or hold back a teary-eyed reaction to the emotional euphoria the John Denver song generates. While viewing the amazing scenery, my uplifted spirits share a remorse for the irreparable failure of mine to journey out into this realm during the lost, destitute years I spent filling the days subsisting within the Human Tree. Even the thrust of late to catch up with the wilderness experience has been besieged by economic objectives perceived to be more important, and I hang the loss of adventure on being hood-winked into chasing unessential goods.

Nothing wrong with any of those words, nor are any of them out of most of our vocabulary, yet the way they’re strung together feels like a whole lot of work to extract the meaning, at least to me. As a side-note, the long chapters (at least they felt long) with very few breaks within the chapters to create natural stopping points, gave me what I’ll call reader fatigue, trying to get to a good stopping point.

Last, after reading the book, I’m still left uncertain what the author’s message was intended to be. I’ve read literally hundreds of books based on a travel experience, probably forty or fifty of them based on a hike of some kind. These usually have two levels, the adventure of the experience and the lessons the author learned from the experience. It was apparent from the way this book is presented in its description that the author intended to focus more on the latter than is typical for these books, and that’s okay. At times I felt like I was being told what the lesson I should take away from the story was, rather than the story leading me to figure it out on my own. At other times I felt like I was completely missing the point. On this point, possibly other readers would react much differently. I just know it didn’t work for me.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Lots of copyediting and proofing issues that snuck through to the published version. These include missing or wrong words, homonym errors, misspelling of names (both people and song titles), and other sundry problems.

Rating: ** Two Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words