Sharon C. Pennington's Blog, page 5

Vote please!

All votes appreciated: Hoodoo Money's book trailer (Entry #12) is up on the You Gotta Read video poll, voting during Dec 21 through 26 http://yougottareadvideos.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much!
Sharon Cupp Pennington

VOTE TODAY...

Vote today for Hoodoo Money's book trailer in the You Gotta Read video poll. HM is entry #12. Thanks so much for your support! http://yougottareadvideos.blogspot.com/

 

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REVIEW of Kait Nolan's Forsaken By Shadow

I wanted to write this review while fresh from reading Forsaken By Shadow. It's clear from page one that Kait Nolan is a talented wordsmith. Her novella opens as the central character awakens in a Nevada motel room with his badly burned hands bandaged and his memory nonexistent. Immediately the reader is both sympathetic and curious. In a word, hooked.

 

A dissociative fugue, the assigned case worker explains the amnesia, most likely brought on by some type of trauma. She is then able to solve the puzzle of this character's identity using fifteen year old fingerprints. Hmmm . . . a finger-printed eight year old boy? Why, was the question that jumped into my mind. Though Nolan's tale is intriguing, with likeable and easily related to characters, and sparks of romance (literally), I would've liked to have seen her take her tale a step further. To take a bit more time setting her stage and back story, as there's a jarring leap from that Nevada motel room to the present day, some ten years later.

 

The return of Cade Shepherd's memory takes him on a treacherous journey of fire and shadow. Light and dark. Who, from his past, is worthy of trust? With whom can he forge a future? Will an old love rekindle, or will the return of his memory also be Cade's death warrant?

 

Action sequences abound in Forsaken By Shadow, and these scenes are well played. They generate excitement, elevate tension and move the story forward at a good clip. A huge plus. However, being relatively new to the supernatural genre, I would've preferred explanations of lesser characters and their varying mystic talents worked in throughout the story instead of contained in a glossary at the book's beginning — which I, unfortunately, had to refer back to. But, and it's a big but, this inconvenience did not sway me from reading Nolan's entire novella in one sitting. If you love this genre, even if you're new to it as I am, Forsaken By Shadow does not disappoint — and proves a promising start to a worthwhile series.

 

You can find out more about Kait Nolan and her writing at http://www.kaitnolan.com/about-me/

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Exciting news!

I'm pleased to announce I've been named the Polka Dot Banner's featured author for October. Thanks, Jamie Saloff, for this honor and for providing authors another fine vehicle with which to showcase their work! Click on the banner below to see my interview...

 

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REVIEW: The Sweet Smell of Decay by Paul Lawrence

The Sweet Smell of Decay, Paul Lawrence's first installment of the Harry Lytle Chronicles, opens in the year 1664, with Oliver Cromwell dead and Charles Stuart occupying the throne of England where feuds abound, religious temper seethes, and witch-hunting is heinous sport.Accompanied by the pious butcher, Davy Dowling, Harry Lytle finds himself standing reluctantly in the vestry of St. Brides Church. Is this woman lying before him a cousin - or no? Harry hasn't a clue. Other than the cryptic...

I CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT THESE GUYS . . .

I smile whenever I read about the generous and innovative folks at TOMS Shoes. In March they teamed up with Kris Allen (singer-songwriter from Conway, AK and the 2009 American Idol winner) and the altruistic Arkansas-based group, Bridge2Rwanda, to deliver 1000 pairs of shoes to children in need. According to an entry on TOMS' Blog & News page, another 32000 pairs of new shoes are on the way and will be distributed by Bridge2Rwanda volunteers and local Rwandan organizations.

 

In this age of...

ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES . . .

I just saw the most uplifting news byte on the Today Show. In piece presented by Jenna Bush Yeager, TOMS Shoes was highlighted. Not for the diversity in their fashionably chic footwear, but for the generosity in the wake of every sale. The driving force behind TOMS is native Texan and world traveler Blake Mycoskie, and Blake's philosophy is simple: for every pair of shoes purchased from TOMS, they give a second pair to a child in need.

 

He wanted to call his company TOMORROW'S SHOES but...

BOOK TRAILERS ARE DONE!

Book trailers for both Hoodoo Money and its sequel, Mangroves and Monsters, are now finished and posted on You Tube (under videos) and on my website at http://www.sharonpenningtonwrites.webs.com/apps/videos. Come have a look! Creating the video clips took a lot of work, certainly many hours, but it was also great fun tapping into that other creative side of me. Can I now call myself a cinematographer? Just kidding. But I do have a new respect for that art. Two weeks ago I didn't even know my...

REVIEW: Cast the First Stone by Rebbie Macintyre

        It's 1932, Colorado, height of the Great Depression and widowed Trinidad Bates finds her younger brother Parnell accused of murder. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, she's used her inherent gift for dowsing to lead local authorities - namely the malevolent Sheriff Mallis - to the bootlegger's body. A gift that now seems to have deserted "Trini," leaving her bereft and confused.

        Who can she turn to for support and counsel when so many of her neighbors see her as a...

THOUGHTS ON REVIEWS

     My latest novel, Mangroves and Monsters, received a brief but lovely review from a reader on Goodreads.com this morning. I don't know this reader's name or where she resides, but this is what she said: I picked this book up last night and sat down to read the whole thing in one night. I have not read a good mystery in a while and this qualified. The setting was beautifully described and the character development was deep. I really felt I could picture each of Pennington's interesting...