Nicole R. Locker's Blog, page 14

Book Review - Risk by Dannika Dark

Book Title: Risk (A Mageri World Novel)
Author: Dannika Dark
Length: 278 pages (full length novel)
Price: $3.99 Kindle Edition



My Review
5 STARS


Simon the Strategist from Dannika Dark's Mageri world gets his own story, and this book did not disappoint. 

Dark has a way of really bringing her characters to life, giving them unique and recognizable personalities. The magic of her world

Flash Fiction for Romance Writers 8/22/16

"Ugh," she groaned.
From an archway that divided the foyer and the barroom, Sharla’s nose flared taking in the mixture of cheap colognes, whiskey, and sex.  Classy place, she thought, as her eyes skimmed the crowded pub in search of her date.  
The music pounded in her ears, some kind of hard rock music she wasn’t fond of.  It was a far reach from Sharla’s typical scene.  She wondered why they couldn’t have met in a nice restaurant or a coffee shop like normal people on a blind date, but Rory and Jenn had somehow convinced her of something to the effect of nothing ever growing in a comfort zone.  Whatever that meant.
She didn’t see anyone fitting her date’s description, nor did she notice the tell-sign they had agreed on, a gray beanie, so she took a seat at the bar and ordered a cosmo.  She had her doubts when the bartender laughed at her, shaking his head.  She cringed when he strained the shaken ingredients into a chilled beer mug and slid the drink in front of her from across the bar.
Sharla grudgingly took her drink in hand and shifted in her seat to watch for her date to arrive, at this point late.  A woman brushed up beside her wearing what looked like a cheap knock-off version of a leather halter top.  The woman’s boobs were pushed up unusually high, and Sharla wondered if the woman had ever tried to bury her own face in them.   As she bent over the bar next to Sharla, the slits that were ripped in the woman’s faded, painted-on jeans showed her tight, round, butt cheeks, causing Sharla’s face to redden in shock.
If she hadn’t been trying to prove a point to her friends, she would have pulled her collar up to her chin and braved the walk back through the questionable neighborhood, back to the safety and comfort of her Lexus coupe she had to park three blocks away.  She wasn’t about to park it outside a place like this, not if she expected her windows to be intact when she came out.
At fifteen minutes past the hour, Sharla checked her watch for what may have been the hundredth time and decided to come to terms with being stood up.  She couldn’t believe it.  If anyone was going to stand anyone up, it should have been her by the looks of this place.  She couldn’t help but feel deflated as she decided to get the hell out of there.  It was disappointing, but the longer she sat there alone with no date, the more she felt completely pathetic, and the suggestive glares she kept getting from two guys at the nearby pool table, with scraggly beards and missing teeth, were not helping in the least.
“Ugh,” she groaned, as she stood and hurried toward the exit.
The cool night air caressed the skin of her face once she got outside and she took in a fresh lungful of it.  When the door closed behind her, it muffled the sounds of the screaming music, and she was thankful to be rid of it.
She had only taken about five steps in the direction of her car when she heard a thundering machine roaring up to park in front of her.  The man driving the bike put a foot out to balance as he cut the machine off, and Sharla couldn’t help but admire the man’s toned, masculine physique.  She would joke with her friends that she couldn’t date a man who was skinnier than her, but this man had her mouth watering with thick, sculpted muscles, from his arms, to his chest, all the way down to those delicious thighs.
Sharla’s eyes were still glued to the man as he pulled his helmet off, revealing his face that could only be described as ruggedly handsome.  A scar marked the dark stubble on his jawline, and she drew in a shallow breath as she noticed the line of his lips that curled up to one side as he stared back at her.  What stood out most were his eyes.  Even in the dim lighting of the full moon and the blinking lights of the bar, Sharla could tell his eyes were the lightest shade of piercing blue she had ever seen.  The color was striking against the backdrop of his tousled hair that he swept back before replacing the helmet with a gray beanie.
Realization struck her. She licked her lips as she pictured herself laid out beneath him as he straddled her like he did the monster bike he currently held between his powerful legs. The night held promise after all, and she found herself swearing off comfort zones from that point forward. 

Book Review - Tempting by Alex Lucian

Book Title: TemptingIndie Author: Alex LucianGenre: New Adult/ Contemporary Romance/ Erotica (mature content)Length: 339 pages (full length novel)Price: $2.99 (Kindle Edition) or FREE on Kindle Unlimited
Book Synopsis: In this steamy erotic romance, Adele Morello is a 21-year-old creative writing student at a Boston university.  She runs into her professor, Nathan Easton, one night in a bar.  While Adele knew he was her professor, Easton did not recognize Adele as one of his students, and they leave together for a little one-on-one action.  When Easton later realizes that Adele is his student, he tries to resist her advances, but Adele is a persistent one when she wants something.  Nathan then must battle his inner demons that falling for Adele has brought to the forefront after the death of his wife nearly four years prior.
My Review5 STARS
What worked: I'm just going to say it.  Go ahead and click the link above to buy this book.
Where do I begin?  The characters of this book were very well developed.  I got a clear sense of who they were, their background stories, their personalities that remained consistent throughout.  Their chemistry was phenomenal and explosive.  Their thought processes were very realistic.  The characters are really what made this book.
The story itself was interesting and kept me turning the pages.  Had I not committed to beta-reading another story in the middle of reading this book, I would have easily finished it within a couple of days, and when I did finish it yesterday, I turned around and read the sequel (Provocative) until I finished the entire thing around 2:30 a.m. this morning.  (The sequel was even better than this book!)
I felt like the pacing of this book with right on point.  The story kept moving, not too fast and not too slow.  There was just the right balance of conflict and bliss.  There was never a point in this story where I was trying to skim ahead to get to the good parts.  It was almost all good parts!  (And by good, I mean interesting.)  
Some of the quotes I highlighted in this book include:So softly I nearly didn't hear him, he asked, "Have I gone mad?"  My heart tumbled in my chest, tripping right over the Alice in Wonderland quote... I brushed the hair from his forehead.  "I'm afraid so.  You're entirely bonkers."  My lips spread.  "But I'll tell you a secret... all the best people are." (Chapter 25, page 238)I wanted to make her feel so good and so beautiful and so wanted that she couldn't fathom having any man touch her but me.  (Chapter 28, page 264)Some people spoke the loudest when they said nothing at all, and my father was a prime example of that.  (Chapter 32, page 302)Any woman worth her salt should make a man beg and grovel and work harder than he's ever worked before in his life to gain her forgiveness, especially if he's spoken to her the way that I did to you.  (Chapter 33, page 314)
What could use some work:There were a few typos here and there, and places I thought a comma needed to go, but I could probably count these errors on one or both hands.  They were very minimal and did not detract from the story.
There were a couple of paragraphs where some words were a little repetitive.  For example, "I rolled my eyes.  My eyes searched the bar before coming back to Leo..." (Chapter 2, page 12).  Then in Chapter 6 on page 45, "Rolling my eyes, I moved my eyes back to the paper, wholly uninspired.  My eyes caught on the doodle I'd drawn during class..."
Overall, this book was fantastic.  I highly recommend, and I recommend Provocative as well.  There is another book in between this one and its sequel, Beguiling, which the author claims is a standalone novel with Adele's best friend, Leo, as the main character.  I might just read that one next!  And by the way... if anyone can figure out if Alex Lucian happens to be a man or woman, will you please let me know?  I'm not sure why this is such a burning question for me, but it is!!

Join the Indie Books GoodReads Group

I've been spending a lot of time on GoodReads recently, and one of the most helpful tools I have found as an Indie Author has been the various groups on the site.

What's Out ThereA few of the groups I've been following include:

Support for Indie AuthorsBeta Reader GroupGoodReads Reviewers' GroupAnd several other genre specific groups I've found most helpful.  (Give these a follow if you haven't already!)

I've been thinking a lot about these groups lately and what I would like to get from and accomplish by using them, but one thing was really lacking in the groups I joined.  That was... the books.

What's MissingEach group has a Bookshelf where group members can add books for others to see, but these groups vastly under-use this option.  The Support for Indie Authors bookshelf (the group most pointedly geared toward Indie books) only has 73 books on it, and only Moderators of the group are able to add more.  Even less helpful, there are no individualized "shelves" to specify different genres, so you can't easily sort through them to quickly find ones you might be interested in reading.  I'm sure they have their reasons, but since this doesn't work for me (and possibly others), I had to figure something else out to get access and exposure to Indie Books.

So... with that being said, I decided to work on creating a new GR Group that specifically focuses on Indie Books for readers and writers.



Things you'll see in the Indie Books GoodReads Group:
The Bookshelf - A place where readers and reviewers can easily find Indie Books to read, with various "shelves" identifying genres, topics, or other helpful info (i.e. on KindleUnlimited).Kindle Unlimited and Other Sales - A place where authors can post and readers can find sales promotions on books and where to find them.Beta Reads & ARCs - Here is where authors can post and readers can find Advanced Read Copies of pre-released books for the purpose of getting early book reviews and helpful info on what's working and what could use some fixing in an Indie Book prior to releasing it to the public.Indie Reviews - A place for readers to post their reviews on Indie Books.Author Interviews - A thread to get our most pressing questions answered by some of the most successful Indie Authors.Authors' Corner - Geared more toward the writers of the group, this is a place for discussion, book suggestions, or links to articles on any topic related to writing and self-publishing help.General Discussion - Any discussion that doesn't fit any of the other threads.
Call To ActionI hope you'll check out the group, join, and get some conversations started!
If you're interested in following me here on my blog, CLICK HERE.  You can also sign up below for email notifications.  (I usually post about once a week, give or take.)  You can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Goodreads, and Amazon at the links provided on the side-bar.

8 Ways I'm Judging Your Indie Book for Review

It was recently brought to my attention that across different platforms, numbers of stars in the rating system can mean very different things when rating books.

For example:

AMAZON
5 Stars = I LOVE IT
4 Stars = I LIKE IT
3 Stars = IT'S OKAY
2 Stars = I DON'T LIKE IT
1 Star = I HATE IT

GoodReads
5 Stars = IT WAS AMAZING
4 Stars = REALLY LIKE IT
3 Stars = I LIKED IT
2 Stars = IT WAS OK
1 Star = DID NOT LIKE IT

(Does anyone really think 2 Stars was an "ok" book?)

MY RATING SYSTEMSo which system am I using when I rate my books?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  I'm a whole lot closer to Amazon's style of rating than I am for GoodReads, for sure.  But... mine has been a little more complicated than that up to this point.

Because I am specifically reviewing Indie Books, self-published books by independent authors, I am looking at a few different things when I read and review them.

What Am I Looking For?1. Was I entertained by the story?

2. Was it well-written, creatively?  In other words, how developed were the characters and how well did I attach to them, relating to them and wanting them to succeed?  How interesting was the plot line and pacing?  Did it drag in places or move too fast in others?  Was it evocative?  Did it make me laugh, cry, angry, anxious, etc.?

3. Was it well-written, grammatically?  In other words, was it all one verb-tense, or did it switch between more than one?  Were there any obvious grammatical errors, and if so, were there many or just a few?  Was it enough to detract from the story?

4. Are there any plot holes?  If so, are they major enough to affect the believability of the story, or were they minor enough to barely notice?

5. Were there dialogue tags to keep the dialogue anchored to the scene, or were there "floating heads?"  If there were floating heads, was it confusing being able to tell who said what?

6. Did the first sentence, paragraph, and chapter hook me in and make me want to keep reading?  Did it make me care?

7. Were there any parts of the book that made me lose interest, or was I unable to put it down?  How well did the story line propel the story forward?

8. Finally, was it obvious I was reading a self-published book, or was it so well-written and finessed that I had to check the publisher info to make sure I was reading an Indie?  How does this book compare to a traditionally published book in the same genres/categories?

MY RATING SCALE
5 Stars = I LOVED IT (it was traditional published quality, I couldn't put it down)
4.5 Stars = I REALLY LIKED IT (good story and very few grammatical errors)
4 Stars = I LIKED IT (it was interesting, probably could've used some minor editing)
3.5 Stars = I LIKED IT (overall interesting, maybe an aspect or two I didn't like, needs editing)
3 Stars = IT WAS OKAY (it has potential, with a little work it could be better)

Anything below 3 Stars, you're not going to see on my blog.  I might post a review on Amazon on GoodReads if I just really think it's bad, but if it's really that bad I probably wouldn't finish it and wouldn't rate it.

If I rate any half-stars here, I will round it up to the next star when I post on Amazon, GoodReads, B&N, etc.

Book Review - College Girl by Sheila Grace

Book Title: College Girl: A College Girl RomanceIndie Author: Sheila Grace (C.J. Valles)Genre: New Adult/ Contemporary Romance/ Erotica (mature content)Length: 100K + wordsPrice: $0.99 (Kindle Edition) or FREE on Kindle Unlimited
Book Synopsis: Alexis Reed, 18-year-old college freshman, is walking to the library one night after leaving her Calculus class when she's nearly attacked by some creep she recognizes from her Creative Writing class.  Luckily, the Teacher's Assistant from Calculus, Ryan Matthews, had seen her being followed and steps in to intervene.  This leads to a complicated love affair between young Alexis and the hot, older TA, whose name is actually Ryan Bennett, heir to the Bennett winery.
My Review4 STARS
What worked: I read this entire book in less than two days.  It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, needing to know what happened next.  It was a lot like reading the 2nd book in the Twilight Series (New Moon)... you just KNOW it has to get better for this poor character at some point, and by golly, you just HAVE to keep reading until it does, or else you and her will be just miserable!  Next thing you know, you've finished the whole giant thing in a matter of hours.  This book evoked some pretty strong emotions from me (more about this later).
I really liked Ryan Bennett's character.  His character was pretty consistent throughout the book, as far as his personality.  He was kind of amazing, actually, and might just be one of my new favorite male heart-throb characters of all time.  I loved the way he was so protective of Alex and kicked ass for her on more than one occasion!  (A few times, actually!)  He was realistic, most of the time.  In fact, both of the characters were pretty realistic.  There were several times in the book when asking myself why Alex was acting so immaturely and naive, and then I was like, well... she is only 18.  It makes sense.  It also makes sense why she pushes people away, when we find out more about her background and history.
Then there was the slow build-up of the physical relationship between Alex and Ryan.  The first night they meet, and we know she's still a virgin at this point, and I'm thinking... seriously?  She's just going to jump into bed with him?  This writer is writing herself into a corner here... but then it goes in a different direction and she just gets a little taste.  Then later she gets a little more of a taste.  Then later a little more.  Very nice pacing in this aspect of the story.

What could use some work:So here's where it gets tricky.  There are several things that I thought could use some work in this book, but just because there are more things on the negative list, I hope that doesn't prevent anyone from reading it, because I really did like this book.  
First of all, this book felt like it really dragged out in certain places.  Namely, in the many times these two characters pushed each other away.  I would have liked to see the pacing in those heartbreaking scenes move a little quicker, and likewise regarding pacing, I would have liked to see it slow down on the love scenes.  
I felt like throughout the book, there could use some refining and fine-tuning. For example, there are numerous places throughout when words are used a little to repetitiously within the same sentence, paragraph, or consecutive paragraphs.  Going through with an editor's eye would be beneficial.
Then there's the beginning of the book, when we are just being introduced to the characters.  We have this naive, goody-two-shoes virgin, who throughout the book is described as being boring, having no life, and having really strict parents, having never really drank but maybe a sip or two before, and so forth.  But she curses like a sailor.  This doesn't really fit her character, in my opinion.  Also towards the beginning of the book, Alex really doesn't seem all that affected (at all) by nearly being attacked by the creeper guy... and while I'm at it, that whole nearly attacked scene could have been written better to sound more ominous and dangerous than it does... but then she wakes up in the middle of the night that night freaking out about it and seeking comfort from a nightmare she had about it.  This was a little too forced, and I would have liked to see that being set up a little better than it was.
Now, let me go back to where I mentioned previously about how this book evoked some pretty strong emotions from me.  Truth be told, this book pissed me off.  I wanted to slap some freaking sense into these characters for being so gosh-darned stupid, SO MANY TIMES!  
Finally, there are still some questions I would have liked to see answered that weren't by the end of this book, but I can't really say those without having spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that for now.
Overall, I recommend reading this book, with the caveat that it will not be for everybody.   I notice there is a sequel revolving around one of the characters in this book that I really loved to hate.  I'm still undecided yet on whether I want to read that one, just to see if it can change my mind about him or not, and maybe even tie up some of the loose ends from the previous book, though I'm not sure that would be possible if it revolves around different characters. 

Book Review - Open Home Closed Heart by Libby Cole

Book Title: Open Home Closed HeartIndie Author: Libby ColeGenre: New Adult/ Contemporary Romance/ Erotica (mature content)Length: 52K wordsPrice: $0.99 (Kindle Edition)
Book Synopsis: Tessa is a real estate agent, a top performer at her agency, and the boss's pet.  She is ambitious, talented, and assertive in her job, and she's on track to go places.
Then Damien comes along.
Damien is a transfer from a competing company, and immediately sizes Tessa up as his top competition, literally giving her a run for her money.  He ruthlessly sets out to beat her numbers, even using some pretty underhanded methods to go about it.
But things aren't always what they seem, and they both find out soon enough that there's a little more to each other's story than what meets the eye.  
My Review3.5 STARS
What worked: This book has a pretty good opening line and immediately starts giving the reader some depth to the main character.  Immediately, we know she has a habit of being late, and she's pretty realistic about making a point to work on that but knowing it's not likely to happen any time soon.  
Throughout the book, there are some witty lines that made me laugh.  The writer has a pretty good foundation on writing well, overall.  I also felt like the story flowed at a good pace for the majority of the book.
Then there were the steamy scenes.  Quite a few of them, actually!  Those, I felt, were well-written and did a good job of pulling me in.  In fact, I'd say the steamy scenes are what made this book work, and I especially liked the tension building up to those.
I also liked that the female protagonist/main character was a strong female lead, not just a weak, damsel-in-distress type who needs to be rescued and have other people solve her own problems for her.  I definitely liked Tessa's character the most, but Damien's character wasn't so bad himself.  Of course, isn't it every girl's secret fantasy to make the bad boy fall so desperately in love with her that he changes for her and her alone?  No?  Okay, well maybe that's just me.

What could use some work:My biggest complaint about this book is, I felt like the ending could have been developed a lot more.  I felt like there could have been a little more conflict in the final plot twist to help draw it out and keep the reader hooked in to the story.  As it was, without giving too much away, it felt almost too easy, and then some emotional stuff that happened a little too instantly for my taste, or maybe not instantly but definitely too fast.  This could just be a personal preference that others would not agree with.
Instead of an epilogue, I could see there being a sequel to this book, that goes into the struggles, conflict, and ultimate resolution for something major that was revealed in the end portion of the book, that would let us see how Tess would ultimately reach her biggest goal in life.  Those are some stakes, right there.
There were a few minor grammatical errors here and there (against when it should have said again, he when it should have said she).  These were few and far between, and not enough to deter me from reading.
Overall, I felt like the story was interesting, and there wasn't any point of the book where I really just felt like putting it down because of my interest level, even though I took several days to read it from beginning to end.  It was a fairly quick read, and I would recommend it, especially for the steamy scenes!  (/fans myself.)

Writing Exercise - Ghost

I follow a Writers' Discussion Group community on Google+.  This is an active group with a fair amount of participation, which makes it fun.  

Yesterday evening, I happened across a writing exercise posted in the group that I thought was intriguing.  I decided to give it a go.  I didn't read any of the other entries prior to writing mine so that I was sure to not be influenced in any way by any of the other submissions.

What I came up with, I thought, might be an interesting first chapter of a fantasy book.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!


THE INSTRUCTIONS:(Posted by Vicente L. Ruiz)
Weekly Writing Exercise: June 20-26, 2016

Some explanation is needed for this week's exercise. First of all, I looked for a random word generator, and I ended up using this one:

http://creativitygames.net/random-word-generator/randomwords/1

Next I used it to, ahem, generate one word. To be honest, I did this several times until I got an interesting word. I got this:

ghost

Then I went to unsplash.com and searched for images tagged "ghost". I got eight of those.

Last, I used random.org to generate a number between one and eight, and I got five. The fifth image is the one in this post, by artist Steinar La Engeland.


Read More...


MY SUBMISSION:Title: We Need To Talk

I usually wasn’t asleep at three a.m. anyway. Like clockwork, this was when Amity’s intangible figure would reach to me through the veil, an ethereal glow surrounding the world behind her.

It was the Portal. To where, I wasn’t sure just yet. Sometimes she was alone, and others she came accompanied by dark, abstract figures whose shapes I couldn’t quite make out.

What did they want from me? That was simple. I was their link to this world, just as the portal was my link to theirs.

Tonight was different. Amity came singularly through the veil and sat before me as I lay on my bed. Her lips didn’t move, but I heard her speak. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard her melodic voice ringing inside my mind. It was, however, the first time she asked me about him.

He needs you, Reya.
I didn’t have to ask who he was. Along with the sound of Amity’s voice, I could see his face inside my inner consciousness. It wasn’t the first time his face appeared when she was nearby.

Shy was my neighbor who shared the adjoining wall to this tiny, third-floor apartment. He was polite, as neighbors went, in that he kept to himself and didn’t make much noise during the day when spirit gave me reprieve. That was when I got my sleep.

“Why does he need me?” I asked aloud as I sat upright pushing the thin, knitted blanket off me.

You know why.
I heaved a sigh from deep within my chest and rubbed my temples. “Dammit, Amity. I feel the love you felt for him. Feel for him,” I corrected. “But how am I supposed to explain… this… to him?”

Amity was already drifting back toward the portal.

Help him, Reya. He needs you. And you don’t know it yet, but you need him, too.
With a bow of her head, Amity was pulled back through the veil, and at once she was gone.

“What does that mean? Amity, wait! What are you not telling me?” I had to be careful not to call out too loudly. It wasn’t the dead I was afraid of waking, but the living. I could sense Shy in a room nearby, and I knew the walls were thin.

A strange tingling deep in my chest told me that things were about to change.

I didn’t need the tingling to know that Amity knew something she didn’t want to let on about yet. Part of my abilities included sensing what other people felt. Some called it empathic. There were a lot of things people would call me if they knew what I was capable of. Medium. Psychic. Crazy.

I moved to my writing desk and switched on the small lamp. I drew out a blank journal that lay tucked away in a nook of the table, half-way filled with my ramblings, and began to flesh out my anxious feelings and the meanings behind Amity’s unspoken message.

By seven-thirty, I was showered and ready to walk out the door, just in time to meet Shy walking into the elevator.
“Good morning,” he greeted in obligated politeness.
“Good morning,” I returned.
We stood facing forward as the elevator carried us downward, and just before he stepped out, I grabbed him by the wrist.
“Shy, will you be home this evening?” I asked.

He looked down at where my hand and his wrist were connected, then back to my eyes, a questioning expression influencing his features.

“I’ll be here,” he replied.

“Good. We need to talk.”

GoodReads GiveAway - Second Thoughts (Paperback Edition)

 

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What's the Deal With Prologues?

I'm an Indie Author.  What does that mean?  It means that I write because I enjoy writing, and then I share it with the world through self-publishing.  Have I tried submitting my work to an actual publisher?  Not even once.  Have I considered doing so?  Maybe in the future, but not so far at this point.  
After finishing my first two books (one story, two perspectives), I decided to get some feedback before delving into my next writing project.  First, I wanted to know what worked well and what I could have improved on in my finished books.
The feedback I received was mostly positive, but I was lucky to also receive some constructive criticism on what I could work on to do better the next time.  Then there was some, shall we say, less-than-constructive feedback, that still ended up being helpful in a way.  It was ultimately what led me to invest in the beta-reading and editing services.  This was the feedback that centered more on the personal preferences of the reader that really had nothing to do with my writing.
Now that I've started on my next book, I've done a huge amount of research on how to make it really good.  I've signed up for a writing workshop led by the world's bestselling author, James Patterson.  I've purchased various books, such as Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland, and read numerous articles on fiction writing, like 25 Things To Know About Writing the First Chapter of Your Novel.  
I've seen some pretty solid advice through various sources, but there is one thing I just can't quite figure out.  That is, WHY are there so many people in the writing industry, whether it be publishers, agents, editors, or whoever, who are completely and unwaveringly against Prologues?  So much so that, many people are said to not ever read a prologue of a book.  They just skip it all together.



Many articles I see about this are chock full of individual opinions, and few have given any really credible and persuasive information.  In fact, many of them are contradictory from one to the other on why these are a bad idea versus when it is okay to use a prologue.
For example: Why I Hate Prologues - written by Natalie LakosilI'll at least give it to this person.  They explain why they personally hate prologues, not why everyone else should hate prologues... at until you get past the title.  
In this article, the reasons NOT to use a prologue include:Background informationFrom a POV other than the main characterForeshadowing (seriously?)A false startAn attention grabber (again, seriously?)And then they go on to list what a prologue SHOULD be:An introduction - which means the story will CONTINUE FROM THAT POINT, not 30 years laterA preliminary act that sets the ACTION of the novel into play - NOT the action itself displaced into the first three pagesA method to call attention to an important THEME

The Seven Deadly Sins of Prologues - written by Kristen LambThis article, in my opinion, has a lot more merit than the previous one above, because it qualifies what it means, such as "not having the sole purpose of...." instead of just saying not having those things at all.  
In this article, what SHOULD a prologue be includes:
 To resolve a time gap with info critical to the story (hello, contradiction)A critial element in the backstory is relevant to the plot. (another contradiction!)The reasons NOT to use a prologue include:A vehicle for a massive info dumpHas nothing to do with the main storyHaving the sole purpose to "hook" the readerBeing overly longWritten in a totally different style and voice that is never tied back into the main storyHaving the sole purpose of setting the moodI'd probably agree with most, if not all, of these in this particular article.


The Pleasures and Perils of Prologues - written by Bharti KirchnerThis article posted by The Writer Magazine defines what a prologue is and what it should not . 
What the prologue SHOULD be:
A preliminary act (seeing a pattern yet?)A teaser to usher the reader into the storyGenerally happening in a different time period and place (that's two out of three)Sets the stage for the main actions to take placeIt tantalizesForeshadow an event (another contradiction)Establish the mood (contradiction city over here)The prologue should NOT: Spell out too much.  It should just whet the reader's appetite.Do you read book prologues?  Why or why not?What, in your opinion, should a prologue be and not be?