Bernard Jan's Blog, page 11

Jay Bird Book Review

Jay Bird by Thomas Grant Bruso

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don’t know why I’ve been waiting to read some of Thomas Grant Bruso’s work. If I was waiting for a perfect moment, I can’t say it arrived because there are still over a hundred books on my to read list. Either way, it doesn’t feel fair; it doesn’t feel right. The moment I read the few first pages of Jay Bird, I knew I’d like the story and I knew I’d like Thomas’ style.

Jay Bird is a beautiful and tender story of two adolescent boys, Jay and Rocco, who are best friends in becoming something more, whose friendship is tested with personal dramas and trials and teenage doubts, desires and needs.

With a strong dose of realism and credibility, Thomas Grant Bruso portrays a relationship between Jay and Rocco, but also between Jay and his parents and in particular with his Grams. As someone who has experienced a similar relationship with his grandma, I could identify with Jay’s relationship with his Grams and reminiscent about my childhood and juvenile days with nostalgia.

Jay Bird has the charm of a young adult and coming out story which wins your heart in a flash. Despite the publisher’s warning that this book is for adult audience only, because it may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language offensive to some readers, I suggest to even more sensitive readers to give it a try. Because nothing in this book is more sexually explicit or has a more graphic language than what we see or hear in everyday media, on social networks or in the circle of our friends and even with family members.

In the end I want to point out Thomas Grant Bruso’s strongest weapon. And that is his dialogues. Dialogues between his protagonists pull us with their fluency through the story, making it a fast and easy read. With their richness, humor and intelligence they give us the feeling they are the only thing needed to make us experience and love this book. Even if stripped of all other descriptions, Jay Bird would be an entertaining and worthy read because of their strength and power to make us devour them with a sweet aftertaste in our mouth.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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South Branch Scribbler

Allan Hudson, author of A Dark Side of a Promise, Wall of War and short story collections, invited me to consider being a guest on his blog. On South Branch Scribbler, Allan introduces authors to his readers from all over the world and he asked me to be his guest from Croatia. Grateful for this honor, I accepted the invitation.

Please check here how he featured me as his guest author together with the excerpt from my novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow.

Thank you, Allan!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Offstage: A Book Review

Offstage by Jonathan Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A kiss and drunken lips. Is it a close friendship between Daniel and Nathan or the birth of the first love?

Who speaks the truth when youthful lust gets the cold shoulder?

Love cannot be killed. If it cannot be reciprocated it must be endured.

In Offstage Jonathan Hill gets more sexual, more erotic, more sensual, more emotional, more unforgiving, more everything.

More a writer.

I needed a break after reading this story. And a few moments of solitude. Jonathan Hill can do that to you. There lies his brilliancy.

Read him!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com



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Bernard Jan

The Shadowverse: May the Shadowforce Be with You

The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Thriller by John-Clement Gallo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


2019 is the year of discoveries for me. By accident, or guided by the starlight, I wouldn’t know, I came upon two teenage writers and authors who are still not out of their classrooms but are already “competing” with thousands of more experienced writers on equal footing on Amazon and other book-selling platforms.

In February this year, Michael Evans disarmed me and won my sympathies with his dystopian Control Freakz. A month later, John-Clement Gallo did it with his Sci-Fi adventure novel The Shadowverse.

“This parallel universe, what I call the Shadowverse, is a mere shadow of this one, where energies of all kinds reign. It is connected to this one by a series of wormholes—the creators of which I do not yet know. Sometimes the portals open where they should not.”

If this “definition” of the Shadowverse, in the words of the villain Titan, is not enough for you to grab and time-travel through this book, then I hope the group of six of our superheroes with their incredible powers gathered under the name the Shadowforce will be. Just out of their teenage years, they are warriors of the universe on a mission to save our home planet from the alien force which wants to take it over.

Still being a teenager, Gallo delivers us natural, funny and witty dialogues between his young protagonists and development of a clumsy romantic relationship I enjoyed very much. His personal expertise in martial arts (he is ranked a black belt in taekwondo and hapkido) gives his fighting scenes an extra-realistic touch and excitement.

But it is his love for astronomy, astrophysics and distant worlds that breathes life into this story. John-Clement is a teenager who dreams of stars. His enchantment by a star-spangled night sky and the modern culture of superheroes saving us in various blockbusters and comics is the real juice that sets his imagination in motion by creating a fast paced and action-packed story of tall, likeable and ordinary-young-people-turned-superheroes with an important mission.

If we had doubts about the future of Sci-Fi or dystopian genres, we can be at peace now. Both Gallo and Evans want to save humanity, they both have talent to entertain us and capture our attention, and their determination to write and publish the series of books is nothing but commendable ambition at such a young age.

What more is there to say?

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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My Spring Equinox Promo Week

It is not coincidence I targeted the new promo week for my novella Look for Me Under the Rainbow on spring equinox. With the coming of spring I wanted to offer my faithful old and new readers and supporters another opportunity to get the story of Danny at a 67% bargain price.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 8:00 AM PDT through Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 12:00 AM PDT

This promo week comes a few weeks before this year’s slaughter of baby seals will take place in the east of Canada. Some pups will be only a few weeks old before their gentle heads are smashed with hakapiks and their bodies skinned alive. What an awful reminder that our civilization has so little place for humanity in its profit-and-money driven heart!

If you oppose to this violence and the slaughter of harp seal pups in Canada, please sign PETA’s petition to the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Unlike Look for Me Under the Rainbow which is $0.99 for this promo week only, my other ebook A World Without Color has a regular price of $0.99 throughout the whole year. You can check it here. Thanks!

I hope you enjoy reading both of my books. And don’t forget: your honest reviews are always welcome. They are your valued input to other readers looking for the books they may love to read and your gift to me so I can improve myself as a writer and deliver you better books in the future.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Bernard Jan

Broken Heart Attack Book Review

Broken Heart Attack by James J. Cudney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Have you already read one or both books from Braxton Campus Mysteries? If not, this is a good moment because James J. Cudney is about to release the third book from the series!

After finding a dead body on campus in Academic Curveball, the main protagonist of the series Kellan has the opportunity to solve a sudden death mystery in the second book Broken Heart Attack which happens during the King Lear play’s dress rehearsal. His grandmother’s friend succumbs to a suspicious heart attack, and Kellan and Nana D are ready to solve a possible crime.

This is a cozy mystery that will make you love it, not only because of its intrigue, strongly characterized and entertaining protagonists and another masterful cliffhanger, but also because of the genuine humour that keeps forcing the hearty laughter out of you. Nana D rocks even more than in Academic Curveball, and her relationship with her grandson Kellan is a pure fun and entertainment.

Broken Heart Attack is another book in which James J. Cudney proves himself as intelligent, skilful and humorous author ready to push boundaries. I have no doubt his third book Flower Power Trip from Braxton Campus Mysteries will be yet another success in the series.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Bernard Jan



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Talk about it Friday with Wayne Clark

Yes, it’s true! I had the pleasure and honor to be interviewed by Wayne Clark for his Talk about it Friday podcast!

Wayne Clark is a thriller author and founder of Talk about it Friday podcast show whose mission is to help brands and individuals to reach out to a wider audience and to give them the chance to tell their story on this show.

To listen to the interview with me please click here. My short bio you can read here.

Thanks, Wayne!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Bernard Jan

Control Freakz vs. a Teenager with an Attitude

Control Freakz by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Michael Evans, a high school student, an advocate for a better future and a young adult author, nailed his appearance on the writing scene with his debut novel Control Freakz. I didn’t expect such mature and imaginative writing from someone so young! The fact I’ve read the second edition of his first novel in Control Freakz Series, which has a couple awesome plot and style changes from the first edition, as the author says in his note, cannot diminish the quality of his writing and story-telling.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian literature, this is the book you must read. Not just to support the young and ambitious author but to enjoy the action-packed story of Nathalie and two of her best friends, Hunter and Ethan, who are trying to escape attempted mind control by the invasive government of President Ash in the post-apocalyptic America.

As you read Control Freakz, you see the love and attraction Evans has for the words and how instinctively he handles them. But his love goes much further than writing books and telling exciting stories. He wrote this book (and the whole series) as a wake-up call and out of concern for our own world and its future. His desire to inspire others to advocate for positive changes in their lives and our world is admirable and I support him in that.

Michael Evans is a teenager whose commitment to his writing and love for this world we should all recognize and support.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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What If It's Us Book Review

What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


OMG

I need to pull myself together first. This book is a bomb, and it blasted me in all directions! Bursting with emotions, it kept me glued to its pages, feeding my new addiction.

Honestly, I don't remember when one book made me want to intervene and get actively involved in its story! Page after page it sucked me into the vortex of twists and turns, the irresistible lure of New York City, and two teenage boys who are too cute and too unfit to handle their affairs. And for that alone, for that crazy need to materialize myself in their imaginary and yet so realistic world and help them fix things, it deserves my respect and praise.

Arthur and Ben and Ben and Arthur are charming, but it would be unfair not to also give credit to their friends, parents and colleagues who made them as they are, and especially Dylan who almost stole the show!

This is a love story you must love! I can only thank the universe for this book and its authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, in case you still don't know who they are.

On a side note, What If It's Us has a huge potential for a great movie with lots of smiles, grins and tears! I can't wait!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach Book Review

How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach by Tobias Leenaert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Like no other (recent) book on veganism, How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach by Tobias Leenaert will without a doubt spark many discussions and debates. Lots of us (vegans and animal rights advocates) will find ourselves challenged to question our way of thinking, living, and acting.

I might not fully agree with the author about everything said in this provoking and insightful book, but I do agree that we need to spread the circle of our compassion to everyone, both animals and humans alike. Not only because it is the right thing to do but also because it is the fastest way to the liberation and freedom for all of us.

Being a pragmatic idealist might therefore be the most effective way to a kinder, more compassionate and just world we all wish to see and live in.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



View all my reviews
Bernard Jan