tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73606850347408784982024-03-19T02:09:37.362-06:00BigAl's Books and PalsReviews and more from the world of the KindleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-82566580499678070852024-03-18T08:00:00.000-06:002024-03-18T08:00:00.137-06:00Review: Early Adopter by Drew Harrison<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Early-Adopter-Drew-Harrison-ebook/dp/B0CP1W4JVB/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr16VyEVvuCgskb1lU6ZHrYSW297vpyhKM8hKXplZHedfDRtaETRBuR3K8AexLqZkvhS9RGr6QqLJ_dy4Aeb4JpcFVhkTA4636jzU88Ju4A-VqXPU1cfG2wutfZZInaWynH3UXiiP94scsYxdRC2ZahmU3yLs48N_GSqoU_fZlF9xgseVEBFFYQG_vV-Q/s320/Early%20adopter.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Short
Story Collection/Science Fiction<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">"<i>Early Adopter</i> is a collection
of short stories from the edge of human progress. Eight stories hold dark
mirrors to our own world… experience thought-provoking sci-fi, technologic
tragedy, and pulse-pounding thrillers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To Run Again</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: Dr. Laura Brandie is ready to change the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">She's the lead researcher behind the KSE, a
revolutionary cure for paralysis and neurodegenerative conditions. And now, by
good fortune, she's found the perfect candidate for her first human trial: a
man who suffers from locked-in syndrome.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Brett Harmon's paralysis is total: he can't
move his arms, legs, torso, neck, or face. To the outside world, he's little
more than a statue that breathes... but Dr. Brandie's KSE might be the miracle
that allows Brett to run again.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Homonoia</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">:
The world faces an unprecedented alignment of catastrophes and failing systems,
far too intricate and interconnected for any human to solve. Frank Burman joins
with seven other volunteers for Project Homonoia--a radical, last-ditch effort
to postpone the apocalypse. Separate minds link to form one multidisciplinary
consciousness, the world's first human superorganism... a hive mind. But with
the world's health rapidly failing, can Project Homonoia work out its kinks in
time to make a difference?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Early Adopter</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">: A loner enters into a relationship with a new type
of partner: an AI agent, programmed to be the "perfect companion."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sure, it's all self-deception and a game of
pretend, as she's not actually real... but where simulated consciousness is
concerned, maybe the lines between real and real enough can get blurry.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And many more!”</span></p><div><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">By day, Drew Harrison is a teacher who “writes on the side.” He had
previously published two novels, one science fiction and the other a thriller.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This collection has eight short stories, the three outlined in the
description plus five more. As indicated, they are from “the edge of human
progress.” I’ll define that as things that aren’t real today, but based on the
rate of progress the last several decades and the things that are known to be
possible today, all of the things explored in these stories seem like possibilities
to come to fruition sometime between tomorrow and a few decades from now. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">While the stories explore multiple technological advances, from the
current hot topic of artificial intelligence to the creation of a virtual world
to technological ideas that you’ve probably never considered (I sure hadn’t),
the stories all get you thinking, which is obviously the point of these
stories. It sure worked for me.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Early-Adopter-Drew-Harrison-ebook/dp/B0CP1W4JVB/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Adopter-Drew-Harrison-ebook/dp/B0CP1W4JVB/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">A small amount of adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I believe this was a pre-release advance reviewer copy, so I can’t
gauge the final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 85-90,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-50167658374358713822024-03-13T08:00:00.010-06:002024-03-13T08:00:00.138-06:00Reprise Review: Isolation by M.P. McDonald<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Isolation-Pandemic-Survival-Sympatico-Syndrome-ebook/dp/B07258M3T7/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGbO81B0cIFLEeit8o0mLKUPdMqNaoQ6PzkUTYOQSs9tnlbYK19RlqxYkTmhlDnhir2xFvEoxmnd4JjWnk7jvf2x5pEIE-ywivvoEVKgeIP-6ac8Gqits6MNb1-QvDS3AA0vi7HhfFxPk61uje_qROMjB6wjEgo7Y1vB7n-gVowoOEsvcK-FYwS_Jc9k/s320/Isolation.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Thriller/Post-Apocalyptic<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Cole Evans thought he'd found a safe haven for his family and a
growing band of survivors of the most lethal virus the world has ever known.
But he finds continued survival is far from guaranteed as they battle hostile
encounters with other survivors, nature, and devastating accidents. Are they
prepared to survive their first brutal Wisconsin winter after the rest of the
world has perished?”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“M.P. McDonald makes a living from taking your breath away... then
giving it back via a tube or two. She lives in a frozen land full of ice, snow,
and abominable snowmen. On the days that she's not taking her car ice-skating,
she sits huddled over a chilly computer, tapping out the story of a camera that
can see the future. She hopes it can see summer approaching, too.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The premise of this series is a virus that wiped out many, maybe most,
of the world’s population. This band of survivors believe they’ve outlasted the
virus although they still take precautions in many situations. In this second
volume of the series they’ve survived the initial problems and are trying to
figure out the long term.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I found the world they’re living in, the premise, and the things they
have to work out an interesting mind exercise to go through with them. Of
course, there is much more than planning involved as accidents happen, plus
other survivors pop up from time to time and it isn’t clear who is friend and
who foe. Not to mention the issues involved in a Wisconsin winter. I’m looking
forward to the next in the series to see where things go from here.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Isolation-Pandemic-Survival-Sympatico-Syndrome-ebook/dp/B07258M3T7/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Isolation-Pandemic-Survival-Sympatico-Syndrome-ebook/dp/B07258M3T7/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">While the second book in the series, this can be read as a standalone
and still understood. (I haven’t read the first in the series and it was not a
problem.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Original review published June 5, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The review is based on a pre-release beta copy of the book, so I can’t
judge the final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 90-95,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-22128205101903695362024-03-09T08:00:00.006-07:002024-03-09T08:00:00.145-07:00Review: All the Rage in Texas by Russ Hall<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rage-Texas-Quinn-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B0CST7PXPL/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="292" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQM27eppJdgGGlAIckyEd68-njTlz3dIctqKgolh5tH-vYxEoeghixAIitfiN-Lt06mA5DwU28WmXnCUqIw_QeigcQg8KwcxS0Jq5XgKUqMeyb3STkbx5scV5qZrvkNHSGaECG9GQ4JVvwfMTSCXo_w-gDZDdWlFzXTLxR91jRuONyYIffQAScOz1g89Y/s320/All%20the%20Rage%20in%20Texas.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Thriller/Suspense<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>Rage paves the roads of Texas.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Al Quinn’s quiet life as a retired sheriff’s department detective is
disturbed by a case of road rage. An angry driver shoots at Al’s sister-in-law,
Bonnie, and her baby. Bonnie returns fire and wounds her assailant, Ketchum,
who leaves the scene. But that’s not the end of the altercation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Ketchum gathers some friends to help him get revenge. Al and his
entire family are now in the path of enraged, payback-minded armed thugs who
have little to lose.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Sheriff Clayton makes matters worse by asking Bonnie and the rest of
Al’s group not to kill the men so they can stand trial. Law enforcement wants
to make a point about road rage. But Al would rather teach them not to mess
with the ones he loves.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“A writer of mysteries, thrillers, westerns, poetry, and nonfiction
books, Russ Hall has had more than thirty-five books published. He lives and
writes on the north shore of Lake Travis near Austin, Texas, where he hikes,
fishes, and lives with far more books than the anti-hoarder groups would
approve.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If I had to describe this story in a single
word it would be intense. I’ve read and enjoyed other books featuring Al Quinn,
but this jacks things up to a more intense level because Al and those most
important to him are the people most likely to suffer if things go sideways. We
know who the culprits are and for most of the book so do Al, his cohorts, as
well as law enforcement. The problem is finding them and bringing them in
before they can get their revenge on Al’s sister-in-law, Bonnie, and anyone
else who upsets them along the way. It all adds up to a book that draws you in
and keeps you turning the page, wondering how it is all going to work out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rage-Texas-Quinn-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B0CST7PXPL/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rage-Texas-Quinn-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B0CST7PXPL/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Review is based on an advance reader copy and might not reflect the
final product, so I can’t gauge this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 55-60,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-742606224426608442024-03-05T08:00:00.011-07:002024-03-05T08:00:00.156-07:00Review: We All Live in a Fascist Police State Now, Thanks to This One Fucking Guy by Stephen Kozeniewski<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fascist-Police-State-Thanks-Fucking-ebook/dp/B0CLGNVFNL/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwBdecmDFYDYZP7oRzmEeqBZ7CSy6LGKkQOzH_pvgtAwAQQaudjX7uoiQ-6cXlTiJVIg5TAHx0H-uaoDwFDkvQBOnGdoJEI76xwwsYmoFXoGuZBxeQO6wjO-C6AVM4HDb5BxcbS1EhVaNmZBZ2tmYY7YSLe6S7_ebS1T-pTy2uQLoyRv1sPjieR8vnL4/s320/We%20All%20Live%20in%20a%20Fascist%20Police%20State%20Now.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Dystopian/Thriller<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“It happened here. Fascism came, wrapped in the flag and carrying a
Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Nobody much noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Sure, a few traitors like to whine about their missing ‘rights,’ but
it's up to the heroes of the Federal Bureau of Patriotism to silence them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When someone starts spilling FBP secrets, Captain Leo Nergali is
assigned to track him down. But wait, Leo himself *is* the mole? Record
scratch!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy this fucking book to see how Leo censors the arts, disappears his
enemies, and perhaps even finds jackbooted love.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Stephen Kozeniewski is the author of numerous
books, in multiple genres. His books have been nominated and won awards,
especially in the horror genre where he even won the World Horror Grossout
Contest two times. He, his girlfriend, and their two cats live in Pennsylvania.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The dystopian genre takes a political direction, typically something
that someone has tried recently, and imagines a long slide down that slippery
slope, taking the idea to an extreme point and imagining what it might be like.
Sure, the idea of the slippery slope as a sure thing is a fallacy, but one of
the things that makes it a fallacy is imagining what would happen if an idea is
taken too far. That’s what this story does as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In this story way too many things are policed way too strictly,
forcing people to believe (or at least pretend to believe) things that they
really don’t, having to conform to what the government leaders prefer. I found
this interesting as I imagined this story world and what it would be like. How
would I react? Would I conform? (If I didn’t, I’d probably be dead, so wouldn’t
be around for long.) If I did conform, would it seem normal or okay? What would
I do if I started having second thoughts? What are the odds of the US or some
other country in the world evolving to something resembling what is depicted in
this story? This book obviously got me thinking about what might happen if some
changes go too far and how I and others might react. That’s the point of the
genre and this story did it well.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fascist-Police-State-Thanks-Fucking-ebook/dp/B0CLGNVFNL/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fascist-Police-State-Thanks-Fucking-ebook/dp/B0CLGNVFNL/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Obviously this has some adult language. Just looking at the title
should tell you that.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">My copy appears to be an advance reviewer copy, so I can’t gauge the
final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 80-85,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-36989485565655394712024-03-01T08:00:00.008-07:002024-03-03T10:00:54.923-07:00Review: The Other Murder by Kevin G. Chapman<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Other-Murder-sizzling-mystery-murder-ebook/dp/B0CJN6W5NJ/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl6BvWOP-rpS4KmRyw2VFvIa2S1ZGsgiAlmKq905oH1IX8cB08S-DDgLjbLh9xpRaIfK9EG1qfBqsSTfbuQ3PmD1xzeHsCRHp23lfFJE0swn8Ax9lZsOKAidURhd5Bo2os-kiwtUbRlrRAlovr9QmTNc8erOgz7MxiXEtL34WhX2XSEv54BB6gAnD9u4/s320/The%20Other%20Murder.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Murder
Mystery/Police Procedural<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“<i>Sometimes, the most dangerous thing . . . is the truth.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">For disgraced cable news producer Hannah Hawthorne, covering the
shooting of a pretty NYU sophomore is a chance for redemption. When the story
snowballs into a media circus, Hannah’s reporting fans the sensationalistic
flames and earns her acclaim. The tragic murder, seemingly the result of random
urban gun violence, prompts protests and vigils that further magnify the story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Meanwhile, Paulo, a reporter for a small online neighborhood
newspaper, is following the other murder in Washington Square Park that same
night – a Hispanic teen. He discovers an unexpected connection that is
political dynamite. When Hannah and Paulo team up, they uncover disturbing
facts, leading them to question everything they thought they knew. Their
reporting also leads them to the man who might be the killer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When the story is ready to explode, the truth may be hotter than anyone
can handle. Breaking the next scoop could ruin Paulo’s paper and wreck Hannah’s
career – and it could get them both killed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">If you like David Baldacci's page-turners, Michael Connelly’s cops,
and Sara Paretsky’s quirky characters, you will love <i>The Other Murder</i>.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A lawyer specializing in labor and
employment law by day, Kevin Chapman describes his real passions as playing
tournament poker, rooting for the New York Mets, and writing fiction. For more,
visit <a href="https://kevingchapman.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mr Chapman’s website</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">For those who have read and liked Kevin G. Chapman’s Mike Stoneman
Thriller series, this book is different than those, but I think you’ll still
like it. Both take place in New York, and some characters you might recognize
from those books pop up or get mentioned in some way including Stoneman
himself, but the focus of the story is much different from what it would be in
those books. Just before the start of chapter one (I guess I could call it the
preface although it isn’t labeled that way) are two quotes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“An error does not become truth by reason of
multiplied propaganda, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.” –
Mahatma Gandhi<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“In seeking truth, you have to get both
sides of a story.” – Walter Cronkite<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">These two quotes set up the heart of this
story. There are two murders that happen in New York’s Washington Square Park
the same day. The two main characters in this tale, Hannah, the producer for a cable TV news program, and Paulo, a reporter who writes for a small
neighborhood newspaper, get involved, both reporting what is known, but doing
what they can to dig out more details about both murders, determine if they
have any relationship to each other, and then struggle with how and what to
report about their findings and how to find out more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The resulting story is one with a mystery,
that as a reader kept me involved as the different pieces of the whole story
came to light. But there is also a side story that sent my thoughts off on
tangents, pondering the press, what we can and should expect from them, and
wondering if there is a way to help better align their priorities to what would
bring about the best result for everyone. I think both Gandhi and Cronkite were
onto something and Chapman’s story ought to get us all thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Other-Murder-sizzling-mystery-murder-ebook/dp/B0CJN6W5NJ/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Murder-sizzling-mystery-murder-ebook/dp/B0CJN6W5NJ/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Review is based on an advance reviewer copy, so I can’t gauge the
final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 95-90,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-2813299039441954922024-02-26T08:00:00.000-07:002024-02-26T08:00:00.252-07:00Review: Strong at the Broken Places by Steven Newton<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YNanaG7-XIiy7U9bRDnUOHMB0Z6ZmHqAutkEi0aV8clo3R5IlN7CnbffSDRwc8en2Zg0O0ZI1hS-M-Jqd1Noj-y1vpVKDUSyltUn2VcoPwaKkJ4-eaN1BSPNtnZbCHXvl4Ea5OJTTzku3zIgDDfEfgRclJsG-ZfjA-Tzp7wowcxOCQPf_La9sNjaQwc/s466/Strong%20at%20the%20Broken%20Places.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YNanaG7-XIiy7U9bRDnUOHMB0Z6ZmHqAutkEi0aV8clo3R5IlN7CnbffSDRwc8en2Zg0O0ZI1hS-M-Jqd1Noj-y1vpVKDUSyltUn2VcoPwaKkJ4-eaN1BSPNtnZbCHXvl4Ea5OJTTzku3zIgDDfEfgRclJsG-ZfjA-Tzp7wowcxOCQPf_La9sNjaQwc/s320/Strong%20at%20the%20Broken%20Places.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Romance/LGBTQ<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“What happens when two intelligent, resilient women, both suffering
the mental, emotional, and physical scars of severe abuse and living on the
edge of poverty ... lose their jobs?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">As each desperately struggles to recover her equilibrium, they find
their lives further complicated by an experimental living situation, a
precocious pre-teen daughter, a terminally ill best friend, a malevolent
father, and a quirky priest with a penchant for playing matchmaker.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">What do you get? Either a recipe of for disaster, or ... healing love?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Thirty-seven-year-old Sloan McKenzie has just been fired as a Catholic
school administrator, and has barely enough in the bank to eat or pay next
month’s rent, but not both. She accepts a part-time job teaching history at a
struggling women’s college primarily because it will permit her to starve more
slowly. In the closet for years, Sloan isn’t looking for love, though she could
use a friend.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Leslyn Knapp became a teen mom at fifteen. Tossed into the streets,
she’s fought every day to keep custody of her daughter without giving in to the
internal voices that relentlessly insist that the world would be better off
without her. Now twenty-seven and unexpectedly laid off, she’ll do whatever’s
necessary to keep the two of them out of another shelter. "Whatever's
necessary" has so far meant conning her way into a job in the dean’s
office of the same small college, and signing up for a strange co-housing experiment.
Leslyn needs a certain part-time professor to make the work commute possible,
but she can’t afford friends.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Amanda Knapp is bright, athletic, motivated, and knows she has the
best mother in the universe, all those “ghosts” that keep haunting Mom
notwithstanding. But the twelve-year-old also suffers from persistent, often
crippling anxiety that pulls her into dark places no matter how hard she
fights. And Mom must not know; she cannot be a burden. The last thing she needs
is an interloper who might threaten their exclusive, two-person team.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Sometimes, however, you don’t know what you really need until you
stumble across it by accident.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This story is a love letter to all the women and daughters who find
the courage to try and the resilience to persist in the hope of becoming …
Strong at the Broken Places.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A twenty-year member of the US military and
then twenty seven years teaching history at Delaware State University hasn’t
stopped Steven Newton from also writing lots of books, some traditionally
published, others not. This is his nineteenth book.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I loved this book. It would be a great story about human struggles,
familial support, and teamwork, even if the main characters weren’t lesbians
who were struggling with that part of their lives as well. That part just upped
the tension and, for those of us who don’t fit that description, it puts us in
a situation we aren’t going to experience in real life. I think imagining what
others unlike us go through in difficult times is good for all concerned and
one of the reasons I like books like this.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Broken-Places-Sapphic-Kintsugi-ebook/dp/B0CKX13F45/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strong-Broken-Places-Sapphic-Kintsugi-ebook/dp/B0CKX13F45/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language and content. The book’s description on Amazon has
a long content advisory that, if you might potentially be triggered by the
depiction of a character with mental health issues, you should check out before
deciding to read this book.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">My review is based on an ARC, so I can’t gauge the final product in
this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 125-130,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-64859482281853779672024-02-22T08:00:00.013-07:002024-02-22T08:00:00.133-07:00Reprise Review: One Sip at a Time by Keith Van Sickle<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-Sip-Time-Learning-Provence-ebook/dp/B01N24CGEE/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPix8liox3jD26N4mH3m9fp5v8zGZywzmCeos2uLDGF5893mJHcf_AFVu9nqiI0EYZqJ9kBpKlcIw0Em1ysurHON8a-l6l8sDGIAuaX_ZwN99afJ013ipXA3lneN1KwabbMTsfbZ9cHiXdCUp48lS8lIZO5PuchyphenhyphenbOdJGfqNwKHcBFOt7RXcGem6kffyo/s320/One%20Sip%20at%20a%20Time.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Travel
Memoir<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Can a two-career couple really pick up stakes and move to Provence?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Keith and Val had a dream – to live in Provence, the land of brilliant
sunlight, charming hilltop villages and the deep blue waters of the
Mediterranean.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">But there were two problems: they weren’t French speakers and they had
full-time jobs. So they came up with a plan…”?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Keith Van Sickle is a technology industry veteran and lifelong
traveler who got his first taste of overseas life while studying in England
during college. But it was the expat assignment to Switzerland that made him
really fall in love with Europe. With his wife Val and their trusty dog, he now
splits his time between Silicon Valley and Provence, delving ever deeper into
what makes France so endlessly fascinating.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Find out more about Keith on <a href="https://keithvansickle.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">his website</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">At its heart <i>One Sip at a Time</i> is a travel memoir. And yet it
is different than most travel memoirs I’ve read in ways both good and … not
really bad, not really good, definitely different. I’ll try to explain.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">There are two things I tend to look for and expect in a travel memoir.
The two words in that phrase are a hint. For the travel part I’m hoping to get
a sense of the place the person is traveling to or through. That might include
something about the scenery, the culture, the people, or whatever it is that
made this place special, different, or worth visiting to the author. The memoir
part is the more personal. It’s what sets a travel memoir apart from a
guidebook or brochure from the local tourism office. Ideally this part is not
only how they react to the experience of traveling, but also how it changed
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Typically, that last item comes from a narrative that is mostly
chronological with (sometimes literally) one foot in front of the other, going
from point A to point B. This book isn’t like that. Although it has two parts
that are tied together chronologically, it’s more like a series of essays or
true stories that related different experiences with no obvious order or
transition from one to the other. What that meant was that rather than having a
climax or realization of how the trip had changed the author near the end, it
happened (or the reader noticed and realized it was happening) through a
gradual process. If anything, that’s more realistic in how change really
happens and it worked for me as a reader.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">As for the travel part, I thought the author’s insights into the
culture and people went much deeper than a typical travel memoir would, largely
because his goal wasn’t to be a traveler, but to be an actual resident (even if
short term) of the area of France he was visiting. That paid off, for him and
for us.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-Sip-Time-Learning-Provence-ebook/dp/B01N24CGEE/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Sip-Time-Learning-Provence-ebook/dp/B01N24CGEE/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Original review published June 23, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 20-25,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-80529609788867242024-02-18T08:00:00.012-07:002024-02-18T08:00:00.141-07:00Review: The Anshar Gambit by Ian G McDowell<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anshar-Gambit-Alice-Knight-Technothriller-ebook/dp/B0BL2JD1LJ/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnd8NHnvwtY_F_GRCCtmhkCFQW7SboqHMR_rUckdqo5-yOqsv8UxlbiIn4EQ6oA5j3Z7GAxtlXPG-OXRcBwXQ89ZiQtmFEq-OTBOZLFj2EsckOOausqJ4hvqGjaaZYV6t6TMQv3c-tiBrg2ebJWyQpR7AC6fUb7cxkcjWTi8rBhURr7-urPoh9JGk-gQk/s320/The%20Anshar%20Gambit.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Near Future
Techno-thriller<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Earth is about to be blown to bits (not
really a spoiler, as this information is in the first sentence of the Prologue).
There is an asteroid which has been captured by Space Corps Inc to be mined for
rare minerals required for faster-than-light space flight, but is instead about
to be cut into chunks for use as missiles. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Humanity is on the cusp of being able to
‘escape the surly bonds of Earth’ as the poet says. Anshar, as the asteroid has
been named, was supposed to enable that but (mwah ha ha) a lunatic has taken
over the project and several major cities are obliterated before anyone can do
anything sensible. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book cuts between various points of view
and locations to convey to the reader how and why things have come to this
pass. Also, who is trying to prevent the destruction set in motion, and how
they are going about it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The sense of panic thus induced in the
reader is way past ‘page turning’. I couldn’t put this down.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">McDowell is a software engineer and
technologist. He has worked at top Silicon Valley tech companies and has a
Masters degree in Information Management and Systems. He makes excellent use of
this knowledge and skill in his fiction. He is a talented writer. As a reader
one quickly acquires that confidence in the writing, essential for this kind of
tale, that the whizz-bang ride he is taking one on is not going to blow a
gasket mid-story. </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is an excellent, fast-paced, thriller.
The author is well-versed in current and near-future tech, and laces the books
with oodles of drones, HUDs, brain implants, and IT things we haven’t even
imagined yet. McDowell, however, has imagined them. And he knows how to deploy
them on the page. Hopefully not in the real world or we’re all doomed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The strength of the story isn’t in its
plotting, to be fair. It is a standard ‘end of the world as we know it’
scenario. But the characters are drawn vividly and larger than life, and the
tension is kept at ‘twang’ pitch throughout. This would make a super action
movie. There is never a dull moment. And just when you think the story is
coming in for a soft landing – whee! It takes off again. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book is not only a wild ride, it has
plenty to say about where we’re actually heading, environmentally and
technologically. It includes IT/AI and security corporations which seem all too
familiar, and which have no ESG whatsoever in their structure. <i>Inter alia</i>
it asks that all-important question ‘just because we can, should we?’<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Thoroughly recommended, if you like hard,
near future, SF.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anshar-Gambit-Alice-Knight-Technothriller-ebook/dp/B0BL2JD1LJ/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anshar-Gambit-Alice-Knight-Technothriller-ebook/dp/B0BL2JD1LJ/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Plenty of cussing</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A few continuity issues. You won’t have time
to worry about them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Judi Moore<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 80-85,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-72979971274068578862024-02-14T08:00:00.014-07:002024-02-14T08:00:00.135-07:00Review: The Noise by Allison A<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Broken-Places-Sapphic-Kintsugi-ebook/dp/B0CKX13F45/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2xOlQ-y0xPZ37SKG3m1H5079_q-ZTR4eXHNwa8j1JOs_Okn7TNgMSTkFyx20c7GN7oU412CjTAMYLHQtPS29tYf8W9CitpsFN3zEl_N76tUh0tU7j_DdEwpkhGK_Da6pE23pr8rYtlEloK7iOVoFbxxOUjh9P6fZWHTbLjLYj0t5xG0WVmZquoT0rrdY/s320/tHE%20nOISE.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Horror<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Angela Blau has a degenerative bone disease, but she was never warned
her mind could deteriorate as well. There’s no other explanation for the
footsteps coming from the second floor—footsteps her husband, Jack, never
hears. And then there’s the ghosts who attack her at night, and townspeople who
dig through the dirt like rabid animals and peer through her windows.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Maybe the ghosts and the townspeople are in her head—it wouldn’t be
the first time she’s let her mind wander—but the noise has to be real, and
she’d go up there and prove it if the stairs weren’t so rotted that she’d fall
right through, Jack says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Things get worse when Arlo, a lonely old man who lives ‘somewhere down
the street,’ reveals a violent crime that occurred on the second floor. Against
Jack’s warnings, Arlo indulges Angela’s growing obsession and pushes her to
discover the true source of the noise, who exactly the townspeople are, and
whether a traumatic incident that occurred four months ago, an incident Angela
refuses to talk about, is to blame for all of it.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This appears to be Allison A’s first published book. Information about
her is limited with only the first name and last initial as her byline, no
author page on Amazon or any information about her on Amazon’s page for this
book. If you read the book, when you reach the acknowledgements, you might be
able to figure a few things out about her. Her maiden name, a pretty good guess
at what that last initial of A stands for, and that some parts of this book
(but I’m guessing far from all of them) are things she’s experienced in real
life.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The author describes this book as a horror novel, but also says that
at its core it is a book about coping with loss. In some ways I think it could
be looked at as a thriller with a bit of supernatural or at least the
appearance of such since the main character is constantly seeing and hearing
what could be described as ghosts. What else would you call a being that you
see and sometimes even talk to, yet no one else sees them? That’s what the main
character, Angela, is experiencing, and isn’t quite sure what to make of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Figuring out what is going on was an interesting exercise. Let’s just
say that it wasn’t all in Angela’s imagination, no matter what others might
have thought. But it isn’t quite what Angela thought either. I’ll bet if you
figure out the big picture it won’t be until late in the book, regardless of the
clues that might have led you to the proper conclusion. I guess figuring what
is going on makes this a bit of a mystery too. An interesting and unique read
that could easily get you thinking about the big picture of this life and even
whether there is a next life and what it might look like.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Broken-Places-Sapphic-Kintsugi-ebook/dp/B0CKX13F45/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strong-Broken-Places-Sapphic-Kintsugi-ebook/dp/B0CKX13F45/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">A small number of proofreading misses.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 85-90,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-33209332829103690362024-02-10T08:00:00.010-07:002024-02-10T08:00:00.186-07:00Review: Spider Woman Walk by Melissa Bowersock<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Woman-Fitzpatrick-Firecloud-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CRGT6G5X/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMl0vbKz7CEZ9fAmIKhKNc8FJcGBolQ2_WvFAHr8rEFb05YXWHryzvO7KsJHcf6czm6LnRXDjf0jknCVXW2Emx5Pqc66S0_MZsjE-r4LWwU8hm6RyR5dXyybvrxd5sxrqrnMRd2QgnWusGqSHjM5kmjG-RuUBjPNdgf3S4CfCwsxPszZ95vUuakazGrpA/s320/Spider%20Woman%20Walk.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Mystery/Paranormal<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Sam Firecloud is a medium and forays easily into the realm of the
metaphysical, yet he still has earthly concerns and worries about the welfare
of his almost 90-year-old grandfather, Ben. When he gets a phone call that Ben
has had a serious accident, he and Lacey rush to Arizona and the Navajo
reservation. They must figure out how to keep Ben safe while maintaining his
stubborn independence, but at the same time, a recent unsolved murder of a
master weaver in Tuba City has the Navajo weaving community on edge. The heavy
responsibility for both problems falls to Sam, and he's not at all sure he has
the ability to keep everyone safe.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning
author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: paranormal,
biography, western, action, romance, fantasy, spiritual, and satire.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For more visit <a href="http://www.melissabowersock.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb5900;">Ms.Bowersock’s website</span></a> and follow her on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100058085379981" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb5900;">Facebook</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This is the 41st book in this popular series and while I haven’t read even
close to all of them, I’ve read several and liked every one I’ve read. They’re
typically fast reads with some things you know to expect, probably a murder
mystery or at least a mystery involving someone who has died, whether recently
or potentially long in the past. Sam Firecloud uses his ability to communicate
with the spirits of those who have died, but the spirts need his help with
unfinished business before they can truly move on. Sam along with his wife
Lacey helping him always makes for a fun and entertaining read that usually has
a bit of the paranormal mixed in with a mystery that keeps me guessing as to
where things might be going. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">However, that’s typically only half the story. There is typically something
else going on in Sam and Lacey’s personal life that provides another story
thread and, since you can’t read these without liking Sam and Lacey, it’s
always interesting to see how they turn out and, in doing so, the reader gets
to know Sam and Lacey a bit better. In this book this part involves Sam’s grandfather,
Ben, and how to set things up for his remaining time in a way that will work
for everyone. Okay, I’m ready for the next book now.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Woman-Fitzpatrick-Firecloud-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CRGT6G5X/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spider-Woman-Fitzpatrick-Firecloud-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CRGT6G5X/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p>
<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">: 30-35,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-56477390289639031702024-02-06T20:52:00.020-07:002024-02-06T20:52:00.151-07:00Reprise Review: Fairy Bite by Maria Schneider<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Bite-Dragons-Wendal-Book-ebook/dp/B06XXMK7T9/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="295" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH6j8HH-MQplvJ6nZ5NuuJJ5DnrtPvrY7b756j0QpAs1_9IbKt5kYdxJz0W0ABfwhR18_WbcCoj41LRgGWUpVovQKy8u7-X864uAT8kawXyOCwmQTlIhnRbviF0Q7rFQ_AJTWyWstGynl96ypasd5ey65LXEoV8Kyebz3lYDcMAXOpHg8Gmg9emN_4J0s/s320/Fairy%20Bite.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Fantasy/Romance/Young
Adult<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Shunned and ridiculed ever since a fairy mistakenly bit her, Ally
leaves her village knowing it's the only way her family can resume their normal
lives and be respected. She heads to Wendal, hoping the shifters there won’t
care about the little problems associated with the effects of a fairy bite.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Before she is even halfway there, she discovers that the fairies may
not be finished ruining her life. If she wants to leave Birk, she’ll first have
to contend with the little people, a very ornery gargoyle, more than one prince
and, of all things, an enraged dragon.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Maria saw her first dragon while gardening. She asked the gnome to
take pictures, but dragons are shy and very fast. One of the fairies finally
snapped a shot, but just as she handed it over, the dragon came by and flamed
it to ashes! Neither of us wants to get our fingers burned a second time so,
sadly, there will not be pictures any time soon!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">To learn more please visit <a href="http://www.bearmountainbooks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ms. Schneider’s website</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-hyphenate: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because of the fairy bite Ally got at age eight, she can sense and
borrow magic from others. She also describes herself as ugly with distorted
features due to the fairy bite. It took me a while to warm up to her, she
seemed so pathetically withdrawn. Because of Ally’s situation or status for the
last twelve years she grew up with no friends. Being a loner she is also a deep
thinker, logical, and smart. The first friend she makes is Landry, a brownie,
who is on a mission to find a gargoyle to collect on a “boon” (a term for favor
or request) to free his family from slavery and abuse in Prince Kal’s prison
near Anton. Prince Kal has declared every magical creature is his own.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-hyphenate: auto;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-hyphenate: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The plot moves at a nice pace as the small band tries to overcome the
nullifying magic of Prince Kal’s wizard. The rescue of all the shifters that
have been captured is a far bigger job than expected. Prince Kal is nasty piece
of work and his wizard is diabolical. The dialogue fits the story and all the
characters remain true to themselves and grow accordingly. The twists are fast,
furious, and unexpected. <i>Fairy Bite</i> is an engrossing, unique
story, which is cleverly woven together, that goes above and beyond what I
expected.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Bite-Dragons-Wendal-Book-ebook/dp/B06XXMK7T9/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XXMK7T9/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Fairy Bite</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> is book three in the Dragons of Wendal series. I
think book three could be read as a standalone. However, I highly recommend the
whole series.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Original review published June 9, 2017<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Nothing significant.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> ?wazithinkin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 60-65,000 words</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-59419161296475997352024-02-02T08:00:00.001-07:002024-02-02T08:00:00.135-07:00Review: Murder for Treasure by Dave Vizard<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Treasure-Beholder-Steele-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CN3GWS21/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="297" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Wtl3kk0PngDHuXNxDhOOgtCT8xrCtRWS8MB9Q5CTvgmSGIrjUqt9nD95utnfa9gpnegKqtRX0hM8NZ4ghXvmGrqqb3UVw0AMZaV85vyoVNtANmQX6wco1yCl0xIjy0BSLlNvEdsLANBxyOqCmk8xUKZlWpjxFva2NOaDkPYDjbcly5624GVocGjCf8c/s320/Murder%20for%20Treasure.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Thriller<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Long-lost treasure from a sunken Great Lakes steamer is the link
between two Michigan killings and an attempted murder. Plenty of cut-throat
desperadoes are eager to get their hands on the vault of silver and gold.
Follow Bay City news reporter Nick Steele as he solves the murders, tracks down
the killers, and goes on a wild run to beat the bandits to the booty in this
fast-paced thriller.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Dave Vizard is a former award winning newspaper and magazine writer
and editor. He has taught journalism and writing at the college level. Each of
his murder mysteries is rooted in Michigan and revolves around the exploits of
news reporter Nick Steele. If Steele is on the scene, then there's very likely
at least one lifeless body nearby.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I’ve read a few of these thrillers featuring newspaper reporter Nick
Steele and always enjoy them. They tend to have twists that are clever and
unique. For example, the ultimate answer to the mystery at the heart of this
story is going to fit the clues, but I suspect it won’t be what you think the
answer is going to be. These stories mostly take place in an area stretching
from Michigan’s Tri-Cities of Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City eastward to
encompass Michigan’s thumb region. Although I’ve only visited that area a
couple times I find that I’m having no problem imagining the area and the
people populating these stories who fit those in the area very well. When
reporter Nick Steele visits some little town in the thumb area it triggers the
travel nerd side of me and I’m taking out a map to see where it is and trying to
imagine what it is like there. But you don’t need to be a travel nerd to get
into this book, just someone who likes a unique mystery thriller with a strong
sense of place.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Treasure-Beholder-Steele-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CN3GWS21/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Treasure-Beholder-Steele-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CN3GWS21/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">No significant issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 75-80,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-38598076517438615762024-01-29T08:00:00.009-07:002024-01-29T08:00:00.370-07:00Review: The Bad Day Book: Volume 1 by Various Authors<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Day-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CJR1H3LX/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjVVh14A7d2Y-yLTLGcTQV7i0YC4p0-x65TSQyshzGnUH4bh3fIfNgDJB_o2rHg9j9w3g_S-a2OtCQkBnEuILDCZFboUtOFHgjxbd_a5TaX9hQq8_P-3GGyA_X5vw9avmRHSxSH7AG7z1xj6gdidnDBAtR0ptnVnOpOo9QAtn7KmW9lzCBb6hxKYJGvc/s320/The%20Bad%20Day%20Book%20vol%201.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Short
Memoir Collection<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Do you ever feel like life’s a joke and you’re the punchline?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The Bad Day Book</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> is for people looking for a solution to life’s
many bad days; one that doesn’t include curling up in fetal position while
crying, or pretending it never happened.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">You know the days we’re talking about. When your plans get ruined. You
think you’re a superhero, and you’re not. Or you have to deal with… people — no
explanation necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">We all have them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">And frankly, the number of healthy reactions available is quite
limited.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In this collection of real-life bad day experiences, you will find
comfort knowing that you are not alone. And learn to laugh at life’s unexpected
comedy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">By the time you finish <i>The Bad Day Book</i>, you’ll understand that
if your life is going to be a joke, you’re better off making it funny.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Around seventy or eighty authors each
contributed short sections to this book. It reminded me of a short story anthology
in that each author contributed their own short story that fit the overall
theme of the book, with the significant difference that these stories are
supposedly true. Basically, a collection of short memoirs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The premise of each story in this book, the first in a planned series,
is that a “bad day” can be funny. I don’t remember it being explicitly stated,
but the message of the book seems to be that an appropriate reaction, maybe I
should say the best reaction, at some of life’s minor challenges should be to
laugh, not get upset. The book’s introduction makes it clear that the bad days
being explored here are not those terrible days where something tragic or
heartbreaking happens, but more life’s little irritants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This was a fun and amusing read. I realized that many of the “bad”
things that happened to the author of each tale was, if not exactly, at least similar,
to something that had happened to me or someone I know. The reaction of the
storyteller encourages an amused reaction from the reader and you realize that
while a bit of a pain, laughing and moving on is often the best response to
days like those chronicled. The stories are, in theory true, and most of them were
credible and, as I said earlier, even familiar or universal at times. A couple
had things happen that I wasn’t sure I believed, but not so far out there that
I couldn’t suspend disbelief for the sake of the story. A fun read and potentially
good for a bit of an attitude adjustment in the reader.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Day-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CJR1H3LX/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Day-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CJR1H3LX/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">No significant issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 70-75,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-44877692636877263912024-01-25T08:00:00.000-07:002024-01-25T08:00:00.137-07:00Review: Questionable Practice by Randy Moon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Questionable-Practice-Randy-Moon-ebook/dp/B0CJYPXN4G/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6yA66xfQzasU3VKuClJtW1Mr2kygDPlSEWPVtywqI5Plw2YKENuGMqGHhJP5PyelwK8-zqJBtalrY9x5pcHB1TL2wcVv9Z-kAqT5Wb6qbVFNVb4K1hNHCQycSI0aHkZmtrs4rqr21zEpJ9FYeymdphPwIeh-zARtXup3LibJk5njqz9oRtZCXlpaYb-Y/s320/Questionable%20Practice.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Historical/Thriller</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Becoming a hired killer was not in Robert Madigan’s plan when he
began his medical career at The University of Pennsylvania in 1935. He had
pledged to help save lives, not take them. But finding himself thrust into a
desperate situation after his father’s death left his mother and younger
siblings with no financial support, he accepts a sinister offer to become a
hitman for Gavin Noel, a man he meets through one of the medical school
professors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">To help carry out the murderous plot, Madigan enlists the help of his
friends, Samuel Moore, an aspiring medical doctor, and Clark Magnusson, who’s
studying to become a psychologist. Together they carefully craft a diabolical
plan to do away with the victims their employer has chosen. Like an actor
preparing for the movie role of a lifetime, Madigan begins to assume the
personality of a twisted alter ego, tweaking their plan to allow the victims a
choice in their demise - death by bullet or by lethal injection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">‘The Good Doctors’, as the friends call themselves, began their career
paths intending to use their talents for good, but let desperation and greed
cloud their vision and take over. They even seem proud of their ability to carry
out this bizarre assignment as they devise their plans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">But Robert is plunged into a world of criminals, betrayal, and
powerful men who consider themselves gods. There’s no turning back now, and
Robert must find out who is worthy of his trust, and who is plotting to destroy
everything he cares about.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Under the pen name </span><span style="background: white; color: #373e3e; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Schuyler Randall, award-winning
author Randy Moon has written three books. This is the first under his actual
name.</span><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This book is a thriller, with the “good guys” actually not being so
good in that they become paid killers. I guess desperate times might call for
desperate measures, and these are definitely desperate times. Maybe the people
they’re killing aren’t very good people and it can be justified. Are you buying
this? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">It’s an interesting read because it puts the characters who are good
people, or at least want to be, in a difficult situation, and then lets us ride
along as they figure out what their limits are and how to deal with the
situation. The historical aspects, with the story happening during the Great
Depression, are interesting in that they intensify the situation while, due to
the lack of modern technology, also makes getting caught less likely than it would
be today. An interesting mind exercise in an exciting and intense story. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Questionable-Practice-Randy-Moon-ebook/dp/B0CJYPXN4G/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Questionable-Practice-Randy-Moon-ebook/dp/B0CJYPXN4G/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">A tiny bit of adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This review is based on an ARC (advanced reviewer copy) and thus I can’t
gauge the final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 70-75,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-57020342437648047812024-01-21T08:00:00.014-07:002024-01-21T08:00:00.165-07:00Reprise Review: Moving Clutter to the Cloud by Charity Grant<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Clutter-Cloud-Charity-Grant-ebook/dp/B018UPUNIA/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLaFIvgfjh7Hlr9oNjp9ngc_aRbbO5Yc_U7WaG4FWIrkbzjf5LHkFY5_nli6rrfAozrNnW_TuRQXqK-Euduom-8fxBoRrPCzlvCdvuuvDocq1Vlyyx_chCIyIx4qvvcXcelrZGwD3k7YLIctP5wz0vXJQ51SYlWdKXLZ53IS7d6fyChNzGKdpdPwpzffY/s320/Moving%20Clutter%20to%20the%20Cloud.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Non-Fiction/Self
Help</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Film and television views of the future are always clean, sleek and
uncluttered. I used to think it was the technology. That at some point in the
future, we’d have the technology to meet our daily needs without the need to
climb over all of our daily stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Then at one point, quite recently, I realized that we’re already
there…”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Charity Grant is the pen name of an author who has written multiple
non-fiction books designed to make the reader’s life better in some way.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Many (most?) of us have trouble with clutter. Some (like the people on
that Hoarders TV show) more trouble than others. There are numerous techniques
for preventing or eliminating that clutter. My Mom even self-published a book
25 years ago to sell at seminars she conducted that had a chapter on getting
rid of clutter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">My success at implementing my Mom’s decluttering ideas has been mixed,
at best. I think I’ll have better luck with Charity Grant’s suggestions. Some
of them I’ve already implemented. (Those hundreds of books I get each year are
no longer paper which has stopped bookcases from taking over my entire house.)
Other suggestions I can see their value and, most important, can actually
picture myself doing. To me, that’s the sign of a self-help book that’s
worthwhile.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moving-Clutter-Cloud-Charity-Grant-ebook/dp/B018UPUNIA/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moving-Clutter-Cloud-Charity-Grant-ebook/dp/B018UPUNIA/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Original review published May 5, 2017.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 20-25,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-65353477241728372652024-01-17T08:00:00.009-07:002024-01-17T08:00:00.133-07:00Review: Pillars of the Moon by Scott Rhine<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Moon-Empath-Home-Book-ebook/dp/B0BKYKZQ95/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OA4qNKFqMYnHoY__AQKTAxs8bFK1Sp0kaJVMKJ2HPyUWdL0X7liaYHBjMP-WCEtUl9PZIwIkUhveU_boelybVcPlxPovy59edRSPSId3AN0y6t2p5bvVDXPBm5V2frBRVXexAEIhnzEVnotAw0I467b36oLvJILfW6jWl5Z_WoL7_pGvK08j-hbGkaU/s320/Pillars%20of%20the%20Moon.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Science Fiction</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is subtitled ‘Book 1 of Empath, Go
Home’, apparently to be the first of a number of books in this timeline set in Scott
Rhine’s created world, between the author’s ‘Jezebel’s Ladder’ series and ‘Gigaparsec’
space operas. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book could be very interesting to YA
readers who enjoy a complex thriller (which is what this is).</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There is a lot going on here. Jackdaw
Speaks-with-Stones is an empathic Native American boy, conceived to be given as
Speaker to the Whale Nation (yes, the underwater folk) on Earth. However, in
this time and place there is much fear of empaths because there is a kind you
can catch, which magnifies emotions and makes rational thought impossible and
leads to anarchy and violence. Jack is not that kind of empath, but his exaggerated
empathy is still a burden to him because he can quickly become overwhelmed by
the feelings of others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jack begins to go blind in his teens. This makes
him unsuitable as a gift to the whales. His future looks bleak until he is
offered a chance to go and live on the Moon, where he can have his sight surgically
restored. And he can go to an elite school there. However, all of this costs a LOT
of money. How to earn it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And then all Jack’s plans begin (of course) to
go awry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rhine’s Amazon bio says “</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Scott Rhine
wanted to find a job that combined his love of reading with math problem
solving, so he studied both short stories and computer languages. When his
third publication, <i>Doors to Eternity</i>, hit #16 on the Amazon epic fantasy
list, he decided [to quit computer programming] to become a full-time author [in
2012]. Since then, each book of his "Jezebel's Ladder" series hit the
high-tech science fiction top 100. His medical thriller, <i>The K2 Virus</i>,
is his highest-rated novel. His latest books are witch academy stories written
for his teenage daughter.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Humor is a part of every story he writes because people are funny, even
when they don't think so. In the real world, something always goes wrong and
people have flaws. If you can't laugh at yourself, someone is probably doing it
for you. Strong female characters also play a major role in his stories because
he's married to a beautiful PhD who can edit, break boards, and use a
chainsaw.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He has 33 books on Goodreads.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is a first class read. It is chockful
of goings-on (plot, characterisation, settings, gizmos and McGuffins). When
there is a momentary lull, it is only to set up the next extraordinary event.
The reader is wise to remain strapped in for the duration. I consider myself
very good at knowing what is going to happen next, and this book surprised me
so often that I gave up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The two worlds (Earth and Moon) are very
well realised. Rhine has been building both worlds and their societies for some
time for the series I mention above. But that in no way diminishes the richness
of what he has created.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The boy Jack lives in the Arctic on Earth
and then in the Lunar habitat. The technology (or sometimes lack thereof) is
flawless. The plot is Machiavellian: Jack can only stay in control of what is
happening to him because he is an empath, and even then he often finds himself
lagging behind events. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The story spirals upwards and outwards from Jack’s
first unwitting transgression against Lunar social customs, via discovery of
massive corruption, to murder. The whole is driven by the difficulty of
maintaining any kind of privacy because almost every interaction is recorded. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The book reminded me very much of Kim
Stanley Robinson’s ‘Mars’ trilogy in the beautifully realised world building,
the driving plot and the well drawn characters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It also reminded me of our current global
situation (thinking specifically of the UK and US) where we are now wondering
how to deal with AIs, and the surveillance of much of what we do officially by
the State, or by others through social media.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">If you like science fiction I believe you will enjoy this book very
much indeed. Also if you’re curious to read about this caricature of the world
we find ourselves living in now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Moon-Empath-Home-Book-ebook/dp/B0BKYKZQ95/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pillars-Moon-Empath-Home-Book-ebook/dp/B0BKYKZQ95/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The occasional F bomb.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">None worth noting.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Judi Moore<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 120-125,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-2832878429381066192024-01-13T08:00:00.015-07:002024-01-13T08:00:00.244-07:00Review: Far Out by Khaled Talib<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Far-Out-Khaled-Talib-ebook/dp/B0BVWN62SV/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwg1pvfLmegh87NpSBn9KKYFPMYcknJ9EYnCQatH1oIQAZozUVH88IB8xDhyD_lKwTOorUJmn6XemSb7xO1Pgn2ZlLb51q8uspqekL7T1QOm2EXt8wnxzJjQzpycKIx0cOq-NdtsCxIgOV3ImVvWKcYRvubjqDestuU8H2Kc9OaCRBAIT9-qFIEq3nJYM/s320/Far%20Out.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Thriller</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Screenwriter Blake Deco' s life is upended when his Hollywood
movie-star wife, Goldie Saint Helen, comes out of a coma after a car accident
with a makeshift identity. Her lawyers see her condition as an opportunity to
swindle her.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Khaled Talib is a former journalist with local and international
exposure. His articles have been published and syndicated to newspapers
worldwide, and his short stories have appeared in literary journals and
magazines. Khaled is a member of the International Thriller Writers. He resides in Singapore.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">For more, visit <a href="http://khaledtalibthriller.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">his website</a> and follow him on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/khaled.talib/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">It was the best of books, it was … well, not worst, but also had some
serious problems, at least they were for me. I’ll try to explain. But first, I
should point out that my review is based on an advance reader copy which means
the potential for some minor polishing (fixing proofreading misses, for
example) might happen prior to the official book release. While I saw some
issues in this regard, they weren’t serious and I’m going to assume they’ll be
fixed and thus I’ll ignore them in evaluating the book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The story is intense, as a reader would expect and want to find in a
thriller. The characters and their situation are interesting and clever. As the
plot unfolds it keeps you guessing, never sure what might happen next. That’s
good, to a point. But there is a limit and this story keeps crossing it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">What’s the limit? When you’re reading fiction there is a concept called
“suspending disbelief” when something happens that you know really isn’t going
to happen in real life. If you’re reading some genres (science fiction set in
the future, fantasy or other speculative fiction set in their own world) then
it isn’t unreasonable for the reader to play along in their mind with some pretty
wild stuff. But when a story is taking place in the current world the limits
are a bit tighter. I found myself shaking my head and saying “no way that
happens without X happening” multiple times. Explaining details would be a
spoiler, but at least for me, way too many things were too over-the-top for me
to believe they could actually come down the way they did in the story without
major repercussions happening that didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Far-Out-Khaled-Talib-ebook/dp/B0BVWN62SV/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Far-Out-Khaled-Talib-ebook/dp/B0BVWN62SV/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This review is based on an ARC (advance reader copy) and I can’t judge
the final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ***
Three Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 75-80,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-45015205991348375062024-01-09T08:00:00.000-07:002024-01-09T08:00:00.130-07:00Review: Astra the Lonely Airplane by Julie Whitney<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6h90fFZL0t7JFLYO_kRP7tgsn0S_NOk_oHFcJ1UJlvxPWXNrCTSA5JodS8RFYz-iBoueZP6ISh0dYAwUDAVEMhOl0b_-t896vcBkAI0sjwCIzZ_27VFV566YTz2HhGehy5stYFyxYXnJlUgqxaqhlXGyGIDhfbeYOThihnR6-PzB24Omy1rqOSb2rMVo/s342/Astra%20the%20Lonely%20Airplane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="342" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6h90fFZL0t7JFLYO_kRP7tgsn0S_NOk_oHFcJ1UJlvxPWXNrCTSA5JodS8RFYz-iBoueZP6ISh0dYAwUDAVEMhOl0b_-t896vcBkAI0sjwCIzZ_27VFV566YTz2HhGehy5stYFyxYXnJlUgqxaqhlXGyGIDhfbeYOThihnR6-PzB24Omy1rqOSb2rMVo/s320/Astra%20the%20Lonely%20Airplane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Children’s
Picture Book<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Astra is a sleek, shiny airplane who loves to go flying with her best
friend, Captain Dan. But when Astra and Dan suddenly find themselves out of a
job, Astra must wait in her lonely hangar for a new owner to come along and
give them somewhere to go! As the weeks turn into months and the right buyer
still doesn’t appear, Astra begins to wonder: Will she ever get to fly again?”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Julie Whitney is a public relations professional who has also worked
as an actress in commercials and was an extra in the movie <i>Grease</i> many
years ago. She has four adult children and currently lives with her husband Dan
who along with his plane was the inspiration for the two main characters in this
book.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I read this to my granddaughter who I typically refer to in my reviews
as the LBG. We both enjoyed the story of Dan and his airplane, Astra. While I
think you could say there are subtle lessons about life buried in this that a
kid might pick up on to some degree, the overriding feel is a bit of silly fun
that I think most kids would like. The LBG stayed engaged as I read to her and
when I finished and asked her what she would rate it her answer was “9 out of
10 stars.” Since we’re on a 5 star system here I rounded 4 1/2 stars up to five.
The LBG has spoken.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Astra-Lonely-Airplane-Julie-Whitney-ebook/dp/B09NDP28WP/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Astra-Lonely-Airplane-Julie-Whitney-ebook/dp/B09NDP28WP/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 44 pages</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-41275373141492837602024-01-05T08:00:00.000-07:002024-01-05T08:00:00.140-07:00Reprise Review: Warped Ambition by Debbie S. TenBrink<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warped-Ambition-Riskin-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B01MSWZ1C2/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7SiYxIgxKdYRqmDSffnhrZThao3Myl82kU3n-llshNhTYq5qiOfuYExamL_vDiXSdXVBk6LS9RmevMOFJskhIbDWkCrrmmwJjdrqfCti1yc9xGVIoiDmxhT1NlFyMAfpK78N5eSU4TU6ZjxNJGQPFpWFexyjyftLt8CLOf2vP_QHlNwvOKX61WayLxo/s320/Warped%20Ambition.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Police Procedural/Mystery</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“When the battered body of a teenage girl is found in a dumpster,
Lieutenant Jo Riskin is called to take the case. Investigating with her
partner, Detective Lynae Parker, Jo uncovers secrets, loyalties, and ambitions
that give motives to a surprising number of suspects, including a boyfriend
from the wrong side of the tracks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">While immersed in her current case, Jo is battling her own personal
demons. After two years, she is still grieving over the loss of her husband,
who was killed in the line of duty. New information that could help solve his
murder, and let her move on with her life, is within her grasp.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Barricading her heart, Jo is determined to solve both cases and bring
the killers to justice.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Debbie S. TenBrink grew up on a farm in West Michigan, where her
family has lived for over 150 years. She still lives within five miles of her
childhood home with her husband, four children, and dog, Mojo (who is the only
real-life character in her book). She has a Master’s degree in career and
technical education, and she taught computer classes in two local colleges
before beginning her current career as a software specialist for a law firm. In
her free time, Debbie enjoys camping, hiking, sports, and any other activity
she can use as an excuse to spend time in the great outdoors. Other hobbies
include reading (of course), having long conversations with the characters
living in her head, and an almost frightening interest in true crime TV shows.
Her passion for writing began in childhood with short stories and poetry, and
she can’t remember a time when she didn’t know that she would someday write a
novel.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This is book one of the Jo Riskin Mystery series and it appears to be
Debbie TenBrink’s first book. What a great start. I’m ready for book two now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Police procedurals have been a genre I’ve enjoyed reading over the
years. After reading this book and trying to put my finger on why I liked it I
came up with two big reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The first reason is the obvious one. The mystery at the root of the
case (or for this book, the two cases) that the protagonist is trying to solve
needs to hit the right balance. It can’t be too obvious. If you’re convinced
you know whodunit shortly after the book starts and you turn out to be correct,
the book isn’t going to work. But the opposite, a last second twist that you
could have never seen coming, maybe a random person walking off the street and
confessing, is even worse. Warped Ambition hit that balance. The answer wasn’t
obvious, but the clues were there. (I won’t say any more to avoid spoiling the
story.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">The second thing that occurred to me was that I liked Jo Riskin and
her partner Lynae and when I explored why I realized that it was because of
their imperfections. They’re human. Imagine a detective who is perfect. They
wouldn’t struggle. They wouldn’t misinterpret something. They’d never make any
missteps. And books with this mythical perfect detective would bore the reader
to death. It’s the imperfections of the detectives and their fighting through
their own issues to get to the solution that make the story work. If sometimes
we get to the answer before the detective, all the better. (I didn’t this time,
but it wasn’t because the clues weren’t there.) Ms. TenBrink has a winner with
Jo and Lynae. Yup. I’m ready for the next one now.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warped-Ambition-Riskin-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B01MSWZ1C2/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warped-Ambition-Riskin-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B01MSWZ1C2/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Original review published May 30, 2017<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">No significant issues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 70-75,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-18642124656872089272024-01-01T08:00:00.000-07:002024-01-01T08:00:00.133-07:00Review: Time Will Break the World by Aaron Jacobs<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTmocavdxolM-XrEpqISlXqZtTzSIeK-xsFd5gyX3VQzw5Or7CUkkPwoolv2ma552j9lBDlap_OvgGk-RxXBq1YnRNEIbyS6dONyr4N1aGE_5ApVMi2P9mKsDnCF_Nz3ffgNd86b5cdDybXnRfL3rqcESKN9I6BFQKtc_qzrK1qLnpzmqmZVvVmQmLKg/s425/Time%20Will%20Break%20the%20World.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="276" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTmocavdxolM-XrEpqISlXqZtTzSIeK-xsFd5gyX3VQzw5Or7CUkkPwoolv2ma552j9lBDlap_OvgGk-RxXBq1YnRNEIbyS6dONyr4N1aGE_5ApVMi2P9mKsDnCF_Nz3ffgNd86b5cdDybXnRfL3rqcESKN9I6BFQKtc_qzrK1qLnpzmqmZVvVmQmLKg/s320/Time%20Will%20Break%20the%20World.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Crime
Fiction/Historical/Thriller</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“On the second to last day of summer school in 1984, Calvin and Jason
Schott hijack a school bus carrying nineteen students, an unthinkable act of
violence that devastates the community of Brookwood. Thirty years later, twin
sisters and survivors of the ordeal, Brenda and Emily Mashburn, are forced to
relive the kidnapping as they film a documentary about the event in an attempt
to thwart Calvin's looming parole hearing. Meanwhile, Jason fights for his
brother's release, hoping that a reunited family can finally bring peace to
their elderly mother and ease the guilt he feels over his role in the
kidnapping. The result is a feud between the two families, with neither side
willing to back down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Inspired
by the largest kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in American history, <i>Time Will
Break the World</i> weaves a rich backdrop of place and circumstance-long-term
trauma, dysfunctional family legacies, sibling rivalry, a granite quarry, and
the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Aaron Jacobs is the author of the novel <i>The Abundant Life</i>.
Other writing of his has appeared in <i>Tin House</i>, <i>Alaska Quarterly
Review</i>, <i>The Main Street Rag</i>, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn and
the Catskills with his wife and dog.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My thoughts on this book could be summed up by
describing this book as a unique approach to this kind of story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">You could almost view this as two short
books with pieces of each alternating. The first book, taking place in 1984, is
crime fiction or a bit of a thriller. A couple young adults from a formerly
well-to-do family decide they’re going to get a bunch of money by kidnapping a school
bus with 19 kids plus the driver and collect some ransom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The second part of the book, taking place thirty
years later in 2014, looks at what is going on with those involved, both the
kidnappers, their victims, and some family members. It explores how the
experience has impacted their lives and how they react to something involving
the case going on at that point, specifically one of the kidnappers being
considered for parole.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Throw it all together and you’ve got an
interesting story that doesn’t fit the normal patterns for crime fiction or a
thriller, whichever you want to use to describe this, but I found it got me thinking
about a lot of things from different perspectives than normal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Time-Break-World-Aaron-Jacobs-ebook/dp/B0CF7P23GT/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US </a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Break-World-Aaron-Jacobs-ebook/dp/B0CF7P23GT/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 80-85,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-35242627343861998212023-12-28T08:00:00.012-07:002023-12-28T08:00:00.262-07:00Review: Timeless by Jacqueline Hopkins<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Book-1-Jacqueline-Hopkins-ebook/dp/B0CN66XHNC/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-IYYVauUVaJ7pjtUVsdWMgQh3_RFISW2dGqBD4eIHIgNf_FNVYwmx-02QEDUvNRQcMwJfJTq4u2tS26X2TZciRTA4KcIDn-IyxbBy_yuiP8IJ0lEyf2QV379CP0PUqr2pwblvsf1HTvxrSHzzIeGyyFQlPhp8rXOj1Kt1CB8oi4I-zWZ7pLifx07lv8/s320/Timeless.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Historical/Romance/Time
Travel<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“When Liza Starr Love, an historical romance author, travels back in
time with her main character, Ross York, who is a Peterson Detective in her
tenth historical romance novel, she must prevent him from altering the future
and try to save the life of her infamous ancestor--Belle Starr.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Liza is frantically working on her book deadline because without it,
she has no way to keep her farm afloat after her husband died in a freak
framing accident. She needs the money from the sale of her book, but a
thunderstorm with tornado prevents her from working on it when the power goes
out. When she gets it back, her hero and his daughter from her books appear in
her office.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Ross, who lost his pregnant wife, is traveling on a wagon train to
Santa Fe across the territory of Oklahoma, to take his daughter to live with
his brother and his wife, he must also protect the gold he's carrying to pay
the Peterson Detectives and keep it from falling into the wrong hands of the
Younger Gang. But a severe thunderstorm one night finds himself and his
daughter in a strange home with strange surroundings in the future he doesn't
understand.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Together, Ross and Liza must figure out how to get Ross and Sara back
to the 1880s. For Ross to arrest her ancestor without hurting Liza, the woman
he's fallen in love with. For Liza to figure out how to save her farm, let a
man help her and fall in love all over again. And for them both to figure out
how their love can transcend between two worlds they travel between.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Born in Durant, Oklahoma, Jacqueline Hopkins describes herself as a “displaced
Okie with a bit of Choctaw blood.” A bit of a nomad her place of residence has
bounced around a bit, with stints in states as varied as Hawaii, Alaska,
Florida, and Connecticut as well as internationally, living for a time in
Iceland. She currently lives in Idaho and is the author of several books that
range from romance, to memoir, and even one that while primarily a cookbook has
a little memoir thrown in as well. That’s a mashup you don’t see very often.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This combination of historical fiction and romance (aka historical
romance) and time travel isn’t one you see very often. I’m sure they’re out
there, but not common in my experience. The couple examples I’ve come up with involved
people from modern days traveling back in time and having to adapt to a time
that was simpler in some ways, but also harder for the average person as well.
This is different in that while we have a people going back to the 1800s, but
also people from the 1800s who travel to modern times for a while. An adult man
from the 1800s who thinks he understands things getting thrown into the modern
world with various motorized vehicles, washing machines, hot tubs, and … well,
let’s just say that just like with a toddler starting to explore, an adult
thrown into modern times needs a close eye kept on them too. That all makes for
some intense, but humorous things to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Along with those new twists from traveling back and forth in time we’ve
got the tension of a typical romance, complicated due to differences in how
certain things from dress, to action, to gender roles were viewed in the 1800s
compared to today. Throw it all together and the result is a fun read that also
got me thinking about the changing world. I’m afraid I wouldn’t handle it well if
I was transported a hundred years into the future.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Book-1-Jacqueline-Hopkins-ebook/dp/B0CN66XHNC/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timeless-Book-1-Jacqueline-Hopkins-ebook/dp/B0CN66XHNC/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">My review is based on an advance reviewer copy so I can’t judge the
final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 75-80,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-23269757954405194442023-12-24T08:00:00.000-07:002023-12-24T08:00:00.151-07:00Review: Meet Me in Miami by Charles St. Anthony<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meet-Me-Miami-Deliveries-Magic-ebook/dp/B0CHPYRQZ7/?tag=tinvw-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="286" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj84ZjG4JYaqFglf_hMssXR022c1LCO01l8vBGNibNA2IVnyKpBx48P_TWBpXSaNfDztsVM8pU4itDD93fMv_Q0wmRoFGFjhF1GbCepMaZKPCgR2XhHC6vDAAamM6BQUV8tRexApcTcapoal1682WlJX0CivgROVTfqSthuYUj5KFy82PosRut-wT4DKs/s320/Meet%20Me%20in%20Miami.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Memoir/Humor<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Food, romance, and magic: Charles St. Anthony discovered more than he
bargained for in Miami. After a wobbly welcome to the South Florida metropolis,
Charles does more than 1,000 food deliveries using food delivery apps. In doing
so, he finds some of the most scrumptious food that Miami has to offer. Along
the way, Charles picked up more than just pizza! He meets someone and gives his
account of how the relationship unfolds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">We've all seen the bizarre news stories that frequently emerge from
the Sunshine State. Charles also gives the authoritative analysis as to why ‘Florida
Man’ exists. Part comedy and part investigative journalism, <i>Meet Me in Miami</i>
follows studies Charles St. Anthony has written on Beverly Hills and Oklahoma
City. Written with his characteristic panache, he takes you on a tropical
adventure in a city where the cultures of the United States and Latin America
collide.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Meet Me in Miami</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> is a work of creative non-fiction by author
Charles St. Anthony. This work is unrelated to the 2005 romantic comedy and
women's clothing store of the same name.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Host of the <i>T With Charles</i> podcast, Charles St. Anthony has
published several humorous memoirs. His recent series of short reads focus on
the gig economy.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This is much like a couple of other books by the same author. Short
reads that chronicle his adventures trying to earn a buck while delivering food
as a delivery person for one or more of the food delivery services available in
many cities. In these books you learn a bit about the city (obviously Miami in
this installment) and the people who live there as Charles St. Anthony lays out
his experiences. Some of that is what you would expect to discover about a city
(what the different areas are like or where some fun places to go might be
located) while others things are a bit of a twist to the norm, for example you’ll
be able to answer the question ”how well do people in this city tip and how
does it compare to other cities the author has experienced?” You’ll find out where
people in each city like to eat, what places have unique food items, and if you
had the perception that delivering for Doordash or the like was a great way to
make big money, you’ll find out the reality of that as well. As with the author’s
prior books I found this to be a quick, fun read.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meet-Me-Miami-Deliveries-Magic-ebook/dp/B0CHPYRQZ7/?tag=tinvw-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meet-Me-Miami-Deliveries-Magic-ebook/dp/B0CHPYRQZ7/?tag=tinvw-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ****
Four Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 9-10,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-21928264965682666642023-12-20T08:00:00.000-07:002023-12-20T08:00:00.145-07:00Reprise Review: Redeeming Grace by Smoky Zeidel<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Redeeming-Grace-Smoky-Zeidel-ebook/dp/B01MTA3X41/?tag=bisboanpa-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbh4JpmUxquRtyaD9ZY4KyTKseb6OcBG-Ac67FSVPn6KXgBr4EdtTuEsLg8LEqQ0vNCoLIBEr38zvNWtn26oU5hd0aEvmL3U3V1M4_W-JKFu25ba6YFYIGmdWmxpVaV60EabsJNSWhEG-F4Lo415GEbrs9x42AGgpApeXwh7zDJ2hhpafSvykNAVSPm38/s320/Redeeming%20Grace.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Suspense/Historical
Fiction<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“It’s the
early twentieth century, and the tragic deaths of her mother and two younger
siblings have left Grace Harmon responsible for raising her sister Miriam and
protecting her from their abusive father Luther, a zealot preacher with a
penchant for speaking in Biblical verse who is on a downward spiral toward
insanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In the midst of his delusions, Luther believes God has abandoned him
and devises a plan to get back into His good graces—a plan that puts both his
daughters’ lives in danger and unleashes a frenzy of events that threaten to
destroy the entire family.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Will Luther succeed in carrying out his crazed plot against his
daughters, or will an unlikely hero step in to rescue them all?”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Smoky Zeidel is a poet, novelist, and earth mage, whose love of the
natural world is thematic in all she writes. She taught writing and creativity
workshops for many years at venues throughout the Midwest before succumbing to
her bohemian urges and moving to California. Her work has earned her several
nominations for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. Smoky lives with her husband
Scott and a plethora of animals, both domestic and wild.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Wow. What a story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">When I’m looking for a book to read, the information I use to decide
will often set certain expectations. Things like the genre(s) I’ve been told
the book fits in, past experience with the author’s books, and possibly the
book description. For this book I had the blurb and information that it was in
the suspense or thriller genre. Nothing else. It turns out that it could
possibly be called historical since it takes place in the early twentieth
century (clearly stated in the book description, but not something that
registered with me) rather than contemporary times.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Although the story has the suspense you’d expect from that genre, what
sets it apart is that the various causes of suspense have much deeper meaning
beyond the obvious mystery and tension typical of the genre. You’ll have reason
to consider family relationships and the obligations that might come with them
from multiple angles. There are a couple story threads that should have you
considering the past and how it impacts the present. If you’re inclined, you
might find yourself considering religion as a tool for both good and evil. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Suspense stories don’t typically have this much depth. That <i>Redeeming
Grace</i> does is a positive from my viewpoint.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Redeeming-Grace-Smoky-Zeidel-ebook/dp/B01MTA3X41/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Redeeming-Grace-Smoky-Zeidel-ebook/dp/B01MTA3X41/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Original review published May 11, 2017.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">No significant issues<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 50-55,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-27308647733006052052023-12-16T08:00:00.007-07:002023-12-16T08:00:00.136-07:00Review: On the Brink by Michael A. Sisti<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brink-Michael-Sisti-ebook/dp/B0CHHJFVC6/?tag=tinvw-20" imageanchor="1" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4R_xLk3e8smQHN42BXmnGfQ3RutF3ii-FcjiTE1OisZdDNCXatNCqo6BVigWN4EWJtGBY3vVjCdkm6oHGgXHKgxKn39nacNcY0hFKzB2IdJVA3uj_LkZ_4KKCE73q5CkoJ0YQgvtiwJscJJDDL2WAzgpaJss6XOZ4mdDPmQ5fVnQMzZSfL_Wb-jY5coM/s320/On%20the%20Brink.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Coming
of Age/Action-Adventure</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“At age eleven, Dave Powers concludes a profitable but error-ridden
venture selling illegal fireworks that leaves him brimming with confidence and
captivated by the promise of entrepreneurship.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Over the next few years, a series of tragic events shatters his world.
Dave must learn to navigate life's challenges, including basic survival,
business, and love. Upon entering the advertising world during the Mad Men era,
he struggles to find his way amid the excesses of nepotism, alcohol
consumption, and the exploitation of women. Can Dave find the maturity to
achieve his dreams? Or are his scars too deep to overcome?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Based on true events, <i>On the Brink</i> is a novel for young readers
beginning their own journey, nurturing adults trying to soften their failures,
as well as seasoned entrepreneurs and business executives.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“Michael A. Sisti is an author, branding and marketing consultant, and
serial entrepreneur, having founded over twenty-five companies since age
eleven. An International Book Award winner for his debut novel, <i>Executive
Crumple Zone</i>, he has published five other novels, three humor books, and a
popular self-help book. He recently co-authored a pilot for a TV drama series,
and he provides design, editing, and production advice for several other
authors. He also writes and lectures on branding, marketing, creative thinking,
and entrepreneurship and has earned hundreds of regional and national awards,
including National Brand Excellence awards for Blue Cross Blue Shield. He
created an Emmy-nominated series on Rhode Island NBC affiliate Healthcare
Directions and published a companion magazine. Mike also created and wrote an
online column called <i>Local Color</i>. Now semi-retired, Mike continues to
advocate for entrepreneurs, volunteering as a lecturer at schools and
universities and providing pro bono services to small businesses.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">It would be fair to say that I’m conflicted about my thoughts on this
book. This is far from this author’s first book. He has a small publisher
involved that presumably provided people with editorial expertise to polish
things up. There is a page of “praise” from various dignitaries prior to the
story praising what you’re going to be reading which is even labeled “Praise
Page” in the Table of Contents. Yes, I’ve read thousands of books in my life
and reviewed hundreds, but I found myself questioning my thoughts on this book,
wondering if I got it wrong, all those “experts” got it wrong, or maybe our
opinions just didn’t line up. I’ll probably ramble a bit below, but the short
version of the review is I liked the main character in spite of his flaws, and
in many ways it was a good story, but I found myself hitting patches where the
author’s writing style grated on me or the story was too over the top for me to
suspend disbelief. If you want more detail, read on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One issue I had was a tendency to give too
much information about something in a way that while accurate, bogged things
down. For example, early in the book Dave Power, the main character, was taken by
his father on a week long camping trip. An entire chapter of the book (to be
fair, it was a short chapter, roughly 700 words), did nothing but passively
describe the area where they were camping and the preparations that Brad, Dave’s
father, went through prior to the trip. This description mentions that the area
has abundant wildlife (enough to give the reader a decent feel), but then lists
several specific animals, birds, and fish that are among those that populated
this area. The way this was approached felt like a brain dump that violated the
author’s maxim to “show, don’t tell.” The reader definitely got told instead of
shown here and there were several other places where this sort of thing happened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My other issue was that I found I had way
too much trouble “suspending disbelief.” This is something a reader needs to do
to get into a story. Some genres, science fiction or fantasy for example, as a
reader you recognize that the story world is vastly different from the real
world and learn to deal with it. However, when the story takes place in the
real world it can’t get too far out there or the reader is more likely to
struggle. Maybe the old cliché about truth being stranger than fiction applies
here since the story is said to be “based on truth.” The dedication to what I’m
guessing is the author’s wife says that she “shared most of the experiences
described in this book.” However, I suspect the true story got stretched a bit
in some places (if not, the author is lucky to have not suffered any legal repercussions).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I did find myself getting drawn into Dave’s
story. It’s intense with constant ups and downs. Dave had a lot of smarts and
skills in the areas he worked in, but it seemed as though every time those
combined with hard work got him to a good place that something happened to cause
things to come crashing down. After a few cycles of this I was wondering if it
was ever going to stop and it also stretched my ability to buy into it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There is definitely a good story in here
hidden among the not-so-good parts. Those of us who are older (Dave was born in
the early 50s, so much of the story happened many decades ago) will have some
flashbacks to the olden days, which might be a good thing. You kids who are
into stories from the olden days might enjoy a story that mostly takes place in
a time when cell phones weren’t a thing. Go ahead and give it a shot and see
what you think.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brink-Michael-Sisti-ebook/dp/B0CHHJFVC6/?tag=tinvw-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brink-Michael-Sisti-ebook/dp/B0CHHJFVC6/?tag=tinvw-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">FYI:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Some adult language.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This review is based on a pre-release “advance reviewer copy” so I can’t
gauge the final product in this area.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: ***
Three Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 65-70,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360685034740878498.post-23121549969446660652023-12-13T08:00:00.017-07:002023-12-13T08:00:00.166-07:00Review: Dude and Duder by Jeff Goodrich<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Duder-How-Saved-Life-ebook/dp/B0CP2B7NWW/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9Y9FFk67r1a3VOsUP2GkjC60IXFjpIkSogt-En2xzvlVpVgV6OFZ5JLwJvfJ4N3v4aV4gpLLg4OSCuNGbBiffEahlaxJs-Laxsi_T-ER6_h9XdRF_mFq9eBhhTsvyqVcFkUFBvBgZafZGPCxmbNk66R4Z-rrZbIh0_l-dXewn9nzTOhnfMX-8K9rnDU/s320/Dude%20and%20Duder.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Genre:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> Self
Help/Memoir<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Description:
</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">“There comes a time in some people’s lives when they fully start to
understand the depth of their dissatisfaction. After being unhappy for years
and letting that feeling grow in the background, refusing to address it or try
and change it, they eventually have to come face to face with the reality of
things: My life is miserable, and it’s going to stay that way until I make the
change myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">This was the case for Jeff ‘Dude’ Goodrich, at forty-nine years old.
He, like many people do later in life, felt like he couldn’t make the necessary
changes on his own, so he got a little help from his new puppy, Duder.
Together, they were able to get Dude’s life back on track, and after his firsthand
experience with this type of transformation, Dude has taken to sharing his
story in hopes that others can learn from it as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Dude & Duder</span></i><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> is the transformation story of Jeff ‘Dude’
Goodrich. See how the power of reflection and compassion can radically change
your life.”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Author:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Jeff Goodrich lives in the western US with his wife, referred to as “The
Blonde” in his book. They have three adult daughters and four grandkids (not to
mention a dog or two). You can find out more on his <a href="https://dudeandduder.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> or follow him on
that site that <a href="https://twitter.com/dude_and_duder" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">used to be called Twitter</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Appraisal:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">I’ve long been a believer that books are a great way to learn. Yes, with
some kinds of books (those monster text books from school, for one) this is
obvious, but it goes beyond that to every kind of book. I even feel that way about
fiction where characters experience things that, even if they couldn’t happen
in real life, can get you thinking. How would I react in that situation? Would
I make the same choice as this character? Why or why not? I find that
characters who are like me, I’ll explore their motivations and actions,
comparing them to what I think my own would be and pondering whether their
choice is better than mine. For characters not like me it helps me understand
others better.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">A biographical book, whether biography or memoir, is a learning
experience with the added bonus that it is real, chronicling something that actually
happened to a real person, and I tend to enjoy those as well. Obviously the
lessons, like the stories, are much more real. However, there is one book genre
that I’ll often react poorly to whatever potential life lesson is there. That
is the self-help genre. Too often the authors of these books approach their
writings as coming from a position of authority, thinking they have all the
answers for everyone with no exceptions. I’m at least as likely to get
irritated (or not pick the book up to begin with) as I am to take anything
positive away. (Yeah, I know, maybe I should work on that bad attitude. :)</span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";"> )</span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">There are valid arguments to call this book memoir or self-help. I
think either or both would be valid. <i>Dude and Duder</i> describes a period
of the author’s life that was difficult with things that many people could relate
to, having observed or experienced similar situations themselves. I sure could.
The author explains the process he went through to improve his life, chronicling
his thought process, resulting actions, and the results. But any sales job
along the lines of “you should do the same” felt low key, more like “this is
why I think this did the trick for me, it might do the same for you” instead of
“you need to do the same NOW” or “if you do this, it will turn your life around.”
It felt like more of a prompting to figure out whether you have a similar issue,
if it is causing problems, and if so here’s one approach to consider. Reading the
book as a memoir or uplifting story of someone else’s success in working
through some of life’s issues, is good enough. If you read it and want
something to push you more than the story did, there is an appendix with a
bunch of pages with what are called “Duder’s Challenge” that provide a good list or summary
of those things described in the book to attempt yourself if you’re so
inclined.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Buy now
from: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Duder-How-Saved-Life-ebook/dp/B0CP2B7NWW/?tag=bisboanpa-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dude-Duder-How-Saved-Life-ebook/dp/B0CP2B7NWW/?tag=bisboanpa-21" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Format/Typo
Issues:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">A small number of typos and proofreading misses.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Rating: *****
Five Stars<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Reviewed
by:</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"> BigAl<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Approximate
word count</span></b><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">: 30-35,000 words</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0