Sandy Appleyard's Blog, page 19

Book Review: One Small Fib (The Millionaire’s Club)

Jan Romes likes to write about fun, romantic and easy going characters and One Small Fib definitely falls under this category. If you’re looking for an escape from reality, into a world where grumpy, rich men change their ways for unique women, this book is for you.

One Small Fib is about Allie, a flight attendant who meets up with millionaire Kiptyn Thomas, on one of her first days on the job. At first, he’s a mean-hearted, self-centered jerk. But when he’s acquainted with Allie, a woman who...

Book Review: The Evil Beneath

The Evil Beneath is one of those books that you continue reading, literally every chance you get. Every story line is connected somehow, and half the fun is figuring out how. The action is constant, the plots are nail biting and there’s even a hint of romance. A. J. Waines has definitely created a five star read on her first attempt.

Juliet Grey is a psychotherapist working out of her home, and she also works at an abortion clinic as a counselor. Her clients are strange, morose and some are ev...

Guest Post: Seven Essential Tips for Writers

A.J. Waines, author of `The Evil Beneath`

As a Psychotherapist, now writing psychological suspense novels, I’ve worked with writers, artists, actors and a range of imaginative people, helping them deal with some of the hurdles involved in ‘being creative’. Here are a handful of writing tips I hope you find useful:

1.Writers’ Freeze

Many creative people who have stopped producing say it’s because they’ve ‘frozen’ inside. The fear that what they are going to put on the page might ‘not be any good’...

Book Review: Spy in a Little Black Dress

Spy in a Little Black Dress is the story of Jacqueline Bouvier, or Jacqueline Kennedy, as we all are familiar with; before she was a Kennedy. This novel touches on her life as a CIA agent working under cover in Havana, Cuba. It is riveting, heartbreaking and historical in the sense that some of the storyline is factual.

Reading about Jacqueline’s budding romance with Emiliano was excellent. The character development was nicely done and the reader could slowly follow along as Emiliano transform...

What are Blog Tours? Are They Useful?

A blog tour is simply a way to bring attention and/or exposure to something (usually a book, but it doesn’t have to be) via other people’s blogs.

Essentially you are a guest blogger on different blogs over a certain period of time.

You can either set the blog stops up yourself, or you can pay for them and have someone with possibly more or better connections set them up for you.

My book, The Wife of a Lesser Man, was on a blog tour set up by Buy the Book Tours from April to June of this year. Fo...

Guest Post: Many Stories, Many Methods of Promotion

Anthologies are notoriously bad sellers. With that in mind, you might wonder why a new press would start off with publishing an anthology. The truth is that I like writing and reading short fiction. A lot of people love short stories. In mystery, which is what I usually write, there are only a couple of well-paying magazines left.

The anthologies abound, but most of them never go beyond the small group of authors and their friends. The problem is that it is hard to connect the people who love...

Book Review: The Man in a Haystack

Alice Huskisson tells the true story of her experience dating men in this raw, blog-style memoir.

The title and blurb was interesting and led me to purchase the book out of sheer curiosity. Reading ‘The Man in a Haystack’ is similar to reading a diary, which made it very intriguing and unique.

The author gives her readers a first hand account of what it’s like to date men today; all types of men and from a few different sources. She adds drama to the plot when she regularly ‘dates’ a married ma...

Book Review: Amber and Blue

K. R. Rowe does an amazing job weaving two stories together in this romantic mystery. Amber and Blue begins with some back story, setting the stage for the mystery portion of the novel. Afterward, we are knee deep in an enthralling romance.

The second story is what throws the reader for a loop, but it’s a good loop. Without any spoilers, I’ll simply tell you that the main character, Grace, finds herself falling in love with another, Lucien….having ‘forgotten’ her first love, Alex.

When Alex and...

Book Review: Stella in Stilettos

Oh Stella….such a klutz! Between stumbling over her own feet, spilling her coffee at inopportune moments or sending the right online message to the wrong person, Stella finds herself in a pickle most days.

If you’re looking for a fun, easy and light read, Jan Romes is the author for you, and this book will hit the spot perfectly. Stella in Stilettos has just the right amount of hilarity, wit, romance and drama to stimulate the avid romance reader.

Stella is single and over thirty, with a handfu...

Book Review: An Englishwoman’s Guide to the Cowboy

Wooooeeeee! Hot Dawg! What a great read! If the hot outlaw, the bitchy sister or the don’t-mess-with-me attitude doesn’t hook you in, the Southern drawl sure will!

June Kearns sure knows how to make a reader interested in the story she has to tell. An Englishwoman’s Guide to the Cowboy was an easy and fun read, but it also had an important message that was well delivered and received.

Annie, a naïve, inexperienced and flawed spinster finds herself in the company of a wanted outlaw to the dismay...