Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 27
June 17, 2018
A post about themes to do with fathers – Happy Father’s Day!
Since it’s Fathers Day, I thought I’d talk about the theme of Girl In Trouble. This book is all about fathers – and their relationships with their daughters. After attending a talk about using theme to unify your story by the fabulous Julie Cohen several years ago (2013?) , I mapped out the main theme of Olivia’s story and then, as Julie suggested, looked at other ways to explore the same theme.
Olivia, the heroine in Girl In Trouble (as you’ve probably guessed) is a grown up tomboy. She has...
June 14, 2018
Book review: The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of my daughter’s friends is mad on dragons, so I often pick up dragon related books and check if they’re appropriate to give as presents. Which means, OBVIOUSLY, I have to read them first.
The Dragon with a A Chocolate Heart is a book about a dragon who gets turned into a human. Aventurine is still very much a dragon inside… and she’s passionate about chocolate.
This is a lovely story. It’s got dragons, adventur...
June 5, 2018
Book review: Lily’s House by Cassandra Parkin
Lily’s House by Cassandra Parkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up. It was dark and compelling and beautifully written. There are secrets and twists, deftly revealed like cards being turned over. When I finished reading it, I felt like I was resurfacing from deep immersion. That’s a rare thing to find.
Jen’s grandmother, Lily, has died and Jen needs to sort out Lily’s house. A place with many happy memories, but somewhere she hasn’t visited...
May 29, 2018
Box set of books: The Turners by Courtney Milan
The Turner Series by Courtney Milan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I bought this as a boxed set. I was going to review the book individually, but I found the link for the full set, so here’s a review of that instead.
I loved the Turner brothers, their complex back story and the strong bond between them.
I loved Ash and Smite’s stories best. The others were great too.
There are three stories in the box set, plus a novella and short story (and some additional content that I didn’t get around to, sorry...
May 28, 2018
A ROYAL WEDDING – zooming up the charts
A ROYAL WEDDING by m’alter ego Jeevani Charika is zipping up the charts at the moment. It’s #1079 in the overall Kindle chart in the US (which, given how many bazillions of books are on Amazon US, is pretty cool).
AND it’s still a #1 bestseller in Weddings in Amazon UK!
I’m a very happy author!
If you read the book (thank you, thank you, thank you), please leave a review. It makes a huge difference to know what you thought (even if it’s a one-liner).
If you haven’t read it here are the links...
May 22, 2018
Book review: Married to Her Enemy by Jenni Fletcher
Married to Her Enemy by Jenni Fletcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Having just read a load of regency romances, I thought I’d try something different and read a book with a medieval setting.
Aediva hates Normans (she’s a Saxon). So when big, blonde Norman dude Svend comes crashing into her village, she’s not happy about it. Svend, incidentally, is a Dane and not actually Norman … but to all intents and purposes he is the enemy.
I liked that Aediva is a ‘Saxon wildcat’. Her conversations with Sven...
May 18, 2018
Rules to observe when you meet a member of the Royal family
In A Royal Wedding, each chapter starts with a newspaper clipping. Here’s the start of chapter 3. I did a ton of research for this book, so this is actually genuine advice, y’know, in case you should meet a senior royal.
http://www.glamorous.co.uk Rules to observe when you meet a member of the Royal familyDon’t be like Kumari Senavaka. Know your royal etiquette
Rule 1. Don’t touch them. Don’t initiate a handshake. If they indicate they want to shake your hand, do so, but then let go!
Rule...
May 16, 2018
A Royal Wedding is 99p in the UK today
The heading says it all, really. A Royal Wedding is currently 99p in the UK.
Since this would looks like a really short post now, here are some extracts from reviews.
[image error]“I was blown away. Such strong characters, and such a marvellously weaved story. It’s unpredictable, real, deep, and relatable.” 5 stars – Amazon review
“It’s a beautifully written fairytale romance where a Prince meets an ordinary doctor from Leeds, a daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, and falls in love, but it’s so much more...
May 15, 2018
Book review: The Magician’s Lie by Greer MacAllister
The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow.
The Amazing Arden is a famous illusionist, who is well known for her trick ‘the halved man’, where she saws (or hacks) a man in half, with blood and gore and drama and then he reappears whole again. But when a dead man is found amoungst the props for the the halved man, Arden is the main suspect.
Virgil Holt is a small town policeman with a secret of his own. WHen he sees the main suspect for the murder on the run, he catche...
May 11, 2018
A Royal Wedding – all of the links
Some people have been having trouble with the US Amazon link to A Royal Wedding – with it coming up as unavailable. I’m not sure why this is, but if you did have trouble, here are the direct links to all the big Amazon and Kobo stores.
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Wedding-heartwarming-feel-good-summer-ebook/dp/B07CCGWJRQ
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Royal-Wedding-heartwarming-feel-good-summer-ebook/dp/B07CCGWJRQ
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Royal-Wedding-Jeevani-Charika-...
