Isabel Roman's Blog, page 28

New Release #writing

It's been a while since I've had anything published. A while since I've written anything, actually. Been busy with other things, other projects, other stuff. So I decided to take some time and write. This week I'm devoting my entire week to a new project, a contemporary romantic suspense based in LA.

The little writing bar on the side has held steady at 11% for months while I tried to figure out the rest of this story. Sunday I decided to rip it all out, start fresh, and begin anew.

It took forever to get through chapter 1! But once I was in there, firmly entrenched in Jules head, story plotted through the 90% mark, it was smooth sailing. Jules is a little left-of-center, stream-of-conscious woman, while Archer is a no-nonsense, ex-military man with a sense of the ridiculous and sarcasm that matches Jules.

I'm hoping my writing week will get me through the 3/4 mark of this story, and so far-judging by the % bar to the right-I'm not doing bad!

#BookBlast Bloom in Winter by TJ Brown

About the Author:
TJ Brown is passionate about books, writing, history, dachshunds and mojitos. If she could go back in time, she would have traveled back to England, 1910, Paris, 1927 or Haight-Ashbury, 1967. She resides in the burbs of Portlandia, where she appreciates the weirdness, the microbreweries, hoodies, Voodoo Donuts and the rain. 

WebsiteTwitterFacebook 

BLURB:
Victoria Buxton [image error]  With her delicate constitution but strong, unflappable spirit, Victoria has never followed societal conventions, the rules of fashion, or the pursuit of a husband. Instead, she finds herself drawn to the controversial—and dangerous—fight for women’s suffrage. But her dream is compromised, and her heart divided, when her struggles for equal rights collide with unexpected love.
Rowena Buxton
[image error] After yearning to no avail for a certain young pilot to fly back into her life, Rowena fears her chances for happiness have been jeopardized by recklessness and scandal. Burdened with guilt for bringing her sister Prudence to Summerset Abbey as a lady’s maid while she herself led a life of privilege, Rowena hopes to one day make amends. But her desire to set things right is complicated by her passion for flight and a sudden engagement…to the wrong man.
Prudence Tate
Raised like a sister to Victoria and Rowena, then banished to the servants’ quarters when their father passed away, Prudence has seen both sides of life, upstairs and down. But once the truth about her parentage was revealed, Prudence forged a new life for herself, married to a penniless veterinary student. Living in poverty in a shabby London flat, she wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake—and there’s no turning back... 
T. J. will be awarding to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour a 4 piece Whimsical Butterfly Tea set. The tea set is handcrafted by artist April Cook of white stoneware slip and painted with a unique whimsical design of a butterfly in lime green and plum glaze. It is both dishwasher and microwave safe. The set includes a 32 oz. tea pot with lid, creamer and sugar bowl (To see more of April's designs, see www.etsy.com/shop/speeglecreations). (US ONLY) 
Excerpt:
The nurse got Victoria into bed and settled the covers over her. Victoria’s bones ached and even the roughness of the gray woolen blankets and the hard mattress felt wonderful. When the woman moved to leave, Victoria caught her arm. “Wait,” she pleaded. It seemed as if this woman was the only person between Victoria and unknown terrors. “When will I see a judge? When can I see my family?”

The woman shook her head and flicked a switch off. The only light now came from the open door, and long shadows spilled over Victoria’s bed “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.”
“What’s your name?” Victoria pleaded. Anything to keep the door from shutting.

“Eleanor. I’ll check on you before my shift is up. Now try to get some sleep.”

The light slivered and then was gone. The darkness, once the door had closed, was absolute, and Victoria trembled. She’d never liked being alone at night, and for years she had slept with Prudence to keep the nightmares away.
There was no one to keep the nightmares away now. Of course, how could anything her mind conjured be worse than her current reality?

Tears rose and fell down her cheeks in the darkness. How did she get here? Why hadn’t she just ignored Mary’s note? The woman was mad. Victoria wondered where she was and then realized that Mary was no doubt locked in a cell in this very prison.

She wiped the tears with her hands. Her uncle would get her out if he could. He was an important man and a rich one to boot. Surely he could do something.

With a sinking heart, she remembered some of the newspaper articles she’d read over the preceding months. Public opinion might be mixed on the suffragettes, but the justice system was not. Most judges had no sympathy whatsoever, and they had been known to throw a suffragette in jail and toss the key at the same time. And if they really thought she had plotted to destroy the painting . . . Victoria shuddered.
Something dropped outside the door and she stilled. She could hear muffled voices for a bit as the nurses and orderlies worked their way from room to room, checking on patients, and she listened intently. At least she knew there were people out there and she wasn’t all alone. But the noises grew fainter and fainter and soon there was only the sound of her own ragged breathing. Then a soft moaning began and her heart leapt jaggedly in her chest. She screwed her eyes up tight against the darkness and began to recite:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. . . .
Victoria paused with a shudder. No. Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” was much too frightening for this situation. Her father used to run his fingers through his hair and recite it while making the most horrible faces. Father! She swallowed and began again. This time choosing Rudyard Kipling’s, “The Bee Boy’s Song.”
Bees! Bees! Hark to your bees!"Hide from your neigbours as much as you please,But all that has happened, to us you must tell,Or else we will give you no honey to sell!"

Buy Links:
Simon and SchusterAmazon Barnes and NobleBooks a MillionIndieBound

#BookBlitz: 3 by Julie Hilden

What's the greatest sacrifice you would make for love?

Maya and Ilan have an unusual marriage: Maya will tolerate Ilan's chronic infidelity as long as he includes her in the affairs. Initially, Maya finds these unorthodox threesomes as arousing as they are disturbing - but when her writing career takes off and she becomes more independent, Ilan feels threatened, and opts for sexual experimentation of another kind: one that plays on Maya's fear and ultimately threatens her life.

Meanwhile, Maya is drawn into a relationship with a fateful third character. When her new liaison begins to mirror her marriage to Ilan, Maya discovers that her lover, seemingly a stranger, knows far more about her past than she has revealed.

Brave, daring and deeply erotic: 3 is a compelling chronicle of obsession and power.

'Julie Hilden does what few writers can dare to. 3 is smart, sexy, strange and impossible to put down.' Dani Shapiro  Available from:Amazon UKAmazon
Excerpt:It is the first Saturday in August when I walk up to the porch of the summerhouse and see them. I am supposed to be in the city this weekend but my interview is canceled, the actor called out of town. I see them through the fan propped in the window, through the transparent blur of its blades.
She is moving on top of him slowly, with such concentration that though she faces the window, though she could look right at me, she does not. I am only a few feet away from her. I have never seen her before.
I watch her glossy brown hair shift on her shoulders, I watch her empty eyes as she moves on him with calculation, with slack lips, with nipples so erect that the areolae wrinkle around them – as she moves with such pleasure, really, that who could hate her in this moment?To love her, to want to be her, to want to touch her, yes. But not to hate her, not in this.
I watch her, and watch, too, a sliver of Ilan’s narrow chest beneath her, its pattern of hair that breaks across his sternum. I can see the necklace sliding on his chest as they move, the tinysilver hand slipping back and forth, its touch faster and jerkier than Ilan’s own smooth caresses – than the touch of his hand moving on her downy back.
For perhaps five minutes, I don’t say a word. It seems a weird privilege: here is the life I don’t see, the life that goes on without me. I watch them as a ghost watches the living.
Then I say his name slowly, just audibly. She starts and looks around wildly. When she looks through the fan and sees me, she gasps.
Ilan does not start at all; not a flicker. But he lifts his head, sees me, and winces, and just like that he lifts her off him and at the same time off the bed.
‘You have to go now,’ he tells her.
She dresses insolently slowly. Her blouse fastens in the back with a line of ties – it is really just a square of cloth that settles on her breasts – and she loops each of the ties into a perfect bow.
‘Fuck you,’ she tells Ilan. ‘You fucking liar. I deserve better than you.’ Righteous anger, but controlled.
She and I brush past each other. It’s as if she’s preempted me with her anger; I want to shout at Ilan too, curse at him, but I don’t have the heart. ‘I should leave too,’ is all I say.
‘You can’t leave me, Maya. I love you.’
‘Was this the first time – the only time? I need to know.’
‘It started in college,’ he admits, ‘a few weeks after I met you.’
I shiver. I never expected to be chosen by myself, for myself alone. It had felt wrong – unlike me – to be chosen. Now, hearing this, I feel only a sickening familiarity, not surprise.
‘It never meant anything,’ he assures me. ‘I felt awful about it. I don’t know where it comes from. I thought, with enough therapy, I’d talk myself out of it. But all I do is confess, I don’t change.
Look, can we at least sit down? I feel like any moment, you’re going to leave.’
‘Okay, but I’m not promising to stay.’
I sit down on the rattan couch. He stands behind me. I lean back and reach my head up to him – like a rabbit in a cage straining to sip from its water dispenser, the single round, hanging drop. And he leans down, princelike, to kiss me.
Then he starts to touch me. He slips his hands down my jeans, his fingers splayed, rubbing my clitoris insistently, with the slightest pressure. I moan quietly, move against him.
‘Don’t I know you?’ he says. ‘I know exactly what you want, don’t I?’
It agitates me as he rubs and rubs, softly, softly. He touches me the way he learned from me years ago – the way I touch myself. He studied it. The detail of his knowledge of me devastates. If I were to close my eyes, I could confuse his touch with my own.
But as he nuzzles into my shoulder, I smell sex in his hair and break away from him.
‘Would you at least shower?’ I demand.
‘No, you love that. Tell me you love it.’
In seconds my jeans are gone, my shirt is gone. He holds on to me, won’t let me leave.
‘It’s so soft,’ he says as he touches me. ‘You’re so wet.’
He gets a little bleat out of me as he rubs. Then I clamp my mouth shut. Ah, but then I relax it. I begin to breathe in the sex smell in his hair; I begin almost to like it.
‘Maya. Tell me you want this.’
‘I want it.’
‘I knew you did.’ And I do. And it is hours, then, before we can stop.

About the Author:Julie Hilden graduated from Harvard, and earned a law degree at Yale and an MA in creative writing from Cornell. After several years of practicing law, she has now turned to writing full time. Her first book, a memoir entitled The Bad Daughter, was published by Algonquin Books, and she has also written for Slate magazine. She lives in New York City.

Other Modern Erotic Classics available:The Houdini Girl by Martyn BedfordLie to Me by Tamara Faith BergerThe Phallus of Osiris by Valentina CilescuKiss of Death by Valentina CilescuThe Flesh Constrained by Cleo CordellThe Flesh Endures by Cleo CordellHogg by Samuel R. DelanyThe Tides of Lust by Samuel R. DelanySad Sister by Florence DugasThe Ties That Bind by Vanessa DuriésDark Ride by Kent Harrington3 by Julie HildenNeptune & Surf by Marilyn Jaye LewisViolent Silence by Paul MayersbergHomme Fatale by Paul MayersbergThe Agency by David MeltzerBurn by Michael PerkinsDark Matter by Michael PerkinsEvil Companions by Michael PerkinsBeautiful Losers by Remittance GirlMeeting the Master by Elissa Wald

Calories #Dieting Week 6

It is amazing how much I am aware of calories now. There are days when I think my budgeted calories for the day are not enough and others when I feel I can’t eat that much. It truly is a daily battle.
For those interested, here is the formula to lose a pound. 
Negative 3500 = 1 pound loss.
There are several calorie calculators online to figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. Find one and plug in your stats and it will tell you what calorie count to maintain. In order to lose weight you need to be negative 3500 calories. The method I choose for myself is to reduce my calorie intake by 500 calories a day below my ‘maintain’ weight ideal there by giving me a negative 3500 calories after 7 days. By this method I should lose one pound a week.
By upping my activity level and staying with a 1200-1400 calorie a day diet, I can increase the speed by which I lose weight.
There is a science to all of this; but you still have to figure out what is best for you. 

Wednesday Review: Minotaur Revisited by David Gelber

Legend states that the Minotaur was confined to the Labyrinth, slain by Theseus and then laid to rest by thousands of years of Greek mythology. But, the truth is far different. Read the Minotaur’s own words as he recounts his full life as god, king, warrior, matchmaker, midwife, monk, sage, father, mother, husband and, most of all, witness. The fierce Minotaur lived to see and be a part of the best and worst of humanity during a life spanning thousands of years. Part bull, part human, the Minotaur struggled to find his place in this world and, in the end, left his unique mark on history.



 Review:
This was a tough one. I loved the concept, but felt it dragged a little. One of those on and on stories. But let's start off with the positive: Wow, what a concept! I love mythology, Greek, Roman, Viking, Native American, ancient Japanese, whatever, I love it. And to see a character from mythology working his way through history is pretty cool.
And not so cool. It may be that I've been sick, or it may be that I've been reading other things lately, but this one seemed a little bogged down in the middle. Course, he did go through quite a bit of history (like all of it) and was pretty much everything and everyone he could possibly be. Which did make for interesting changes in perspective.
 All in all, if you want something a little different, enjoy history and mythology, and don't mind it being told from the Minotaur's perspective, then this is the perfect book for you. Not that I know of another Minotaur-type book out there, but all that aside, definitely try this one.
David will be awarding a $100 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter at the conclusion of the two tours.

About David:
David Gelber, a New York native, is the seventh of nine sons and one of three to pursue medicine. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1980 and went on to graduate medical school in 1984 from the University of Rochester.
He completed his residency at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, followed by three years as attending surgeon at Nassau County Medical Center in Long Island, N.Y. Gelber has since joined Coastal Surgical Group in Houston, Texas.
Gelber has been a surgeon for more than 20 years, but over the last few years he began to pursue his passion for writing, initially with his debut novel, "Future Hope" (Emerald Book Company, January 2010). The novel speculates about future Earth and what the world might have been like if man had not succumbed to temptation in the Garden of Eden. "Joshua and Aaron" is a sequel to "Future Hope" and follows the battle of wills that transpires between unsung hero Joshua Smith and satanic Aaron Diblonski.
Dr. Gelber has added two books about surgery, "Behind the Mask" and "Under the Drapes", both of which provide the reader with a view of the world of surgery rarely seen by those outside the medical professions.
"Last Light" is an apocalyptic short story which starts off asking the question: "What would happen if nobody ever was sick or injured?"
"Minotaur Revisited" is an entertaining romp through history seen through the eyes of Quint, the famed half bull half man monster of Greek Mythology. It was in October 2012. 

Gelber was raised in reformed Judaism, but joined the Presbyterian Church 15 years ago. He is married with three teenage children, four dogs and 24 birds of various species. His interests include horse racing, mechanical Swiss watches and, of course, writing.

Michel Prince, her new release, and a chance at a butterfly necklace!

Michel Prince is an author who graduated with a bachelor degree in History and Political Science.  Michel writes young adult and adult paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance.

With characters yelling "It's my turn damn it!!!" She tries to explain to them that alas, she can only type a hundred and twenty words a minute and they will have wait their turn.  She knows eventually they find their way out of her head and to her fingertips and she looks forward to sharing them with you.

When Michel can suppress the voices in her head she can be found at a scouting event or cheering for her son in a variety of sports.  She would like to thank her family for always being in her corner and especially her husband for supporting her every dream and never letting her give up.

Michel is a member of RWA Pro and Midwest Fiction Writers.  She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, cat and new puppy. 


www.michelprincebooks.comhttp://www.facebook.com/MichelPrinceBooks?fref=tshttps://twitter.com/MichelPrince1http://www.youtube.com/user/Michelprincebooks?feature=guide


BLURB:  
In the annals of dysfunctional families, the Chisholm’s are working their way to the top. Drug abuse, an unwed mother with multiple fathers, and the questionable cash flow for the 'pretty one'.   All this from a seemingly normal, two parent middle class family. But were the choices truly made of their free will?

            Bad choices are a Chisholm family trait, one that confounds the youngest child, Ellie, who's trying to separate herself by making smart decisions. And falling for Oscar Jeffreys, the hottest guy at school, would be number one on the list of  Chisholm family disasters.  Yet the crazy part is it’s not a one sided attraction.  Somehow Ellie has caught Oscar Jeffreys’ eye.   Sure she could see the barriers between them.  Race, age, popularity.  They were at opposite ends of the spectrum.  But a demon set to destroy her family? She can't see that.  

            Oscar provides security and acceptance Ellie never imagined she deserved.  As the passion of first love grows, Ellie honestly believes she has a chance to beat the odds and live a happy, normal life. Then her world collapses around her. With the help of a guardian angel, Ellie learns of a world that has unknowingly surrounded her for years.  And she'll have to find strength buried deep inside to save not only her future, but flush out and stop the demon in her midst.

            And Ellie will have to learn that sometimes the hardest lesson about growing up is accepting that you're worth more. 


Thanks, Michel for stopping by! Today she's talking about the top 3 things on her bucket/life list, her best vacation ever, and several other fun things. Plus a cool giveaway!
Michel will be awarding a butterfly gift basket to one randomly drawn commenter and a butterfly necklace to a second randomly drawn commenter.



Top 3 things on my bucket/life list:

1. Stay at least a week in Bora Bora at the Softel in a hut over the ocean.
2. See Europe…at least the Western countries if not a few of the Eastern. 3. Get at least one of my novels turned into a movie.

As for best vacation ever that I’ve taken-- it would have to be Florida with my husband and son.  We hit Coco Beach, Cape Canaveral and Universal Studios as well as one evening at Medieval Times during what was deemed “mom’s geek day.”


 

Interview Questions:
1. At any given time do you work on only one story at a time and maybe plot out the next one or are there many ideas racing around your head? I have many stories running around my head and laptop at varying stages of completion.  There have been only two books that I worked straight through from start to finish; Chrysalis and The Guardian’s Heart.  Otherwise I usually keep between 2-5 stories up so I can switch with my muse.
2. Is there a genre you haven't written in but would like to? Or wish you could write in?  I wish I could do espionage or spy novels.  I’m not versed enough it the alphabet agencies, weapons and security systems.
3. Do you add an element of romantic suspense in your stories? If so, how difficult is it to maintain the integrity of the mystery?  In Chrysalisthere’s more of a romantic strain than suspense.  In other books there is a suspense element, but I think we all question ourselves in our own relationships so the story wouldn’t have much integrity if there wasn’t that mystery of will it or wont it happen.
4. Say you have unlimited funds: What kind of writing office/cottage would you create for yourself?  I’ve seen a few that have really gotten my fingers all tingly at the thought.  One of my favorite ones was like a tree house or playhouse separate from the home with two levels of books, because there has to be a library for down times.  I’d need a comfy chair with good lighting, wifi and maybe a fireplace.  Basically a desk somewhere but I’d need to have music pumped in for editing days.
5. If you could turn your novel into a TV show, which novel or series would you do? Where would it be set? Network TV (ABC, NBC, CBS), Cable (AMC, BBC, Lifetime) or Premium Cable (HBO, Showtime, Starz)? Most people say that Chrysalis would be a great movie…but if I was going to do a series it would have to be The Frozen because as that story grows in future novels there are great twists coming up in that series.  I’d say Showtime, maybe HBO with demon sex it’d need to be on one of those two.
6. Finally, tell us about your latest release! The latest would be book two of the Chrysalis Series called The Beam.  In the first book we meet Ellie who learns her family’s bad choices were influenced by a demon set out to destroy them.  As she harnessed her powers to destroy them she also learned that she was worth more than she ever thought. 
Now in book two her boyfriend has asked her to marry him as she enters her senior year of high school.  Although she has learned to destroy demons she now has to pull her family back and separate them from a demon that has completely infiltrated her home.  All the while fighting with growing up as suddenly people that didn’t seem to notice her for the first 17 years of her life suddenly decide she’s still a child and needs to be corralled. 
Ellie is the only one who knows about the demons and who can save her family.  With them blocking her at every turn she has to walk the line of being an adult and child as she desperately searches for the strength to save her family and finally find the peace she needs.


Buy Links: Amazon Barnes and Noble All Romance eBooks Bookstrand

Changing Habits: Snacks #Dieting Week 5

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty of stopping and buying a Hersey’s bar or a bag of cheese doodles or chips in the middle of the day when I get hungry. It is the worst thing you can do for any diet. Obviously fruits and veggies (veggies I don’t like at all) are the preferred snacks. I like oranges and bananas. So a banana is great and an orange range under 100 calories or so; they are great snacks.
But sometimes you don’t want either; I have gotten into the habit of carrying the Special K bars in my purse. I really love the vanilla one and the chocolate and pretzel ones. They are great on the go, you know the calories and they satisfy the need for sweet. There are also all sort of granola bars and snack bars on the market just find the one that suits your taste and that craving for a snickers might be tamed.    Also, Trader Joe’s is a good place to find something healthy to snack on that doesn’t have several hundred unneeded calories!

Changing Habits: Food #Dieting Week 4

Oh yes, I am SO guilty of the McDonald’s run for lunch and sometimes dinner. I love me that greasy fried chicken and that saucy pasta. This is probably were the change is most noticeable for anyone trying to lose a few pounds or just get into healthier habits.
Now, I know if I deprive myself of my fried foods I'm not going to be a happy camper and I’d likely fall off the diet wagon sooner rather than later. So my motto all in proportion; find out the calorie count and instead of having what you really desire as a overflowing plate fit for a family of four for just your dinner; have half or a quarter of it.
A trick a friend taught me recently I have really appreciated. I love fried chicken as opposed to baked – though baked isn’t bad. But there really is nothing like a nicely fried wing or drumstick. So she gave me this advice:
Use about two tablespoons of oil (or a tad more if you are frying a lot of meat) and use about ¾ cups of water. Place both in a pot (a pot not a skillet because the contents will rise in a boil) and make sure *both are at room temperature* do not under any circumstances heat the oil before you add the water. Combine both room temperature oil and water into the pot. Add the meat. Bring pot to a boil.The boiling water will essentially poach the meat, thoroughly cooking it and when the water evaporates it leaves the oil at the bottom which will give the meat a gentle fry. Then remove the meat and place on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
This process reduces the amount of oil absorbed by the meat and while not as healthy as baking; it will satisfy the craving for fried foods while reducing the grease consumption overall. However, whenever possible baking of course if preferred but changing ones eating habits is a process and this could be step one.

#Review: Wisteria by Bisi Layton

Bisi Leyton was born in East London in 1978. She grew up in London, Nigeria and the States, listening to the stories life and love from aunts, cousins and big sisters.She lives in London, but has worked around Europe including France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. She has a fondness for reading graphic novels. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Wisteriabooks Current Blog; Old Blog; Twitter; Goodreads





 
Blurb:
Sixteen year old Wisteria Kuti has two options—track the infected around the Isle of Smythe or leave the only known safe haven and face a world infested with flesh eating biters. But even with well-armed trackers, things go wrong and Wisteria ends up alone facing certain death, until she is rescued by the mysterious Bach. Uninfected, Bach is able to survive among the hordes of living dead.

Eighteen year old Bach, from a race known as The Family, has no interest in human affairs. He was sent here to complete his Great Walk and return home as a man—as a Sen Son. The Family regard humans as Dirt People, but Bach is drawn to this Terran girl, whom he has never seen before, but somehow knows.

Hunted by flesh eaters, cannibals, and the mysterious blood thirsty group called Red Phoenix, Wisteria and Bach make their way back to the Isle of Smythe, a community built on secrets and lies.

Review:
I can go either way with a YA book. Some are fantastic and I devour the entire series in a week. Some have the stereotypical teenager I hated in myself and despise in books I wish to read for pleasure. Wisteria fell into the former category. She didn't make me want to scream and beg for it to end, she was a very well-visualized teen. I liked her a lot and felt really awful for her over the abuse and treatment she endured from everyone throughout.

Seriously, I'm amazed she didn't go zombie-psycho on the town. Maybe in book 2...

The zombies were simply the world, the Nero virus how it all started. The story really centered on the characters, however, not the zombies so much.

The rest of the book, however, I had some difficulty with. For instance Bach. As in most all of Bach--his back story, his Family, his speech. Didn't like him at all. Nope. I could have done without his storyline and equally bad treatment of Wisteria. In fact, he's not worthy of being her love interest OR of having a distinct storyline.

Other little things that bothered me were the slang and the lack of description for the Isle of Symthe (Is this a real island? Or one of those places where it's made up like in Hunger Games and Panem?) I had no real physical layout of the place and found myself confused over distances and locations. As for the slang, I'm all for that, don't get me wrong but a little description on what it means would probably have helped. Are these English words? Or the post-apocalyptic world's words?

I'm all for Indie writing, definitely, but I'm also all for editing. I think Ms. Layton needed another pass with a really great editor. There were continuity errors, weird sentence structuring, repetitiveness, and lack of character development until the very very end. Hey, don't get me wrong, there's that in a 'publisher' published book, but again I recommend a great editor to weed some of that out.

Overall I'd give this book 3 stars for the interesting plot, the execution of said plot, and Wisteria. Give it a chance and see for yourself.


Excerpt:
Thirteen months after the first official case of Nero Disease


“Wisteria, run!” Rebecca O’Leary screamed over the radio.

Wisteria Kuti whipped around and came face-to-face with the blood-red eyes of a hungry flesh-eating biter. The biter was a man, infected by Nero Disease, who had long lost his mind. He looked more animal than human and he wanted one thing—to feed on the flesh of uninfected people. The biter growled and staggered toward Wisteria.

She fled down the deserted road to the nearest house. The front door was locked. She kicked at the door, but it didn’t open. Taking out her handgun, she smashed through the window of the door.

“Ugh,” more biters growled behind her.
She spun around, fired once, and hit one in the head. She unlocked the door by reaching in and turning the lock. Once inside, she chained and bolted the door.
Crash—a biter smashed through another window into the house.
Wisteria’s heart jumped and she darted up the stairs as fast as she could.

“Get out of the house, Wisteria!” Rebecca radioed.
I’m trying.

A biter grabbed her ankle as she ran. Falling hard on the steps, she wailed in pain. “Ah.” No time to cry, Wisteria. She fired at the biter holding her. One bullet left.

Three more biters appeared below and started coming up the stairs. Leaping up, she sprinted to the top floor and dashed into the first open doorway that led to the master bedroom. Locking the door, she headed straight for the window.
The infected clawed at the door, tearing it apart and snarling as they entered.

Changing Habits: At my desk Dieting Week 3

So it has been a few weeks since I started my diet/ weight loss journey and I am coming along if painfully slow. Everything is a change of mindset. As a writer I spend an inordinate amount of time sitting at my desk; in fact it is common for me to sit here for nearly 8 hours straight with the only break being ye ol’ potty break.(OK and food. Definitely!) So this is where I started to change my habits. I set an alarm on my computer and every 45 minutes – 1 ½ hours (I have it varied) it goes off and I know I should get up and do something – no matter how small. I either take a few minutes and do a fairly thorough stretch, back, hamstrings, arms, etc or I go off and take a short walk or do a flight of stairs or two before returning to my desk. I have also gotten into the habit of keeping small hand weights near my desk and at one or two of the alarms I do several sets of reps of different exercises. What I have found since I've increased my activity level is that my energy level has gone up dramatically. That is a fantastic benefit! And you don’t have to start with a one hour intense cardio workout; just an increase in activity in the beginning. This isn’t The Biggest Loser – it is just the beginning of a healthier lifestyle and a healthier feeling.