Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 65

Goodreads Book Review – Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book because I love The Interpreter of Maladies. ‘A Temporary Affair’ remains one of the most wonderful and poignant short stories I have ever read.

The stories in this book are good, but not quite up to the standard of the ones before. ‘A Choice of Accommodations’ in particular, was a bit blah. The themes of the dischord felt by the middle class Indian diaspora are familiar and explored in interesting ways, but the storie...

Goodreads Book Review – White Lies and Custard Creams by Susan Alison

White Lies and Custard Creams by Susan Alison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up when it was on special offer because I liked Susan Alison’s cards that she does for the RNA conference each year and was curious about her books.

I loved it! I’m struggling to think of how to describe it. The words ‘madcap’ and ‘caper’ spring to mind. I laughed so much I managed to snort by breakfast as one point.

The plot was convoluted and the twists were completely unexpected. Most of the time I had no...

Inheritance Books – Clay and Susan Griffith

This week’s installment is from Clay and Susan Griffith, who have an audio book narrated by James Marsters. How cool is that?!

Hi Clay and Susan, welcome to Inheritance Books. Please tell us a bit about yourselves.

We are Clay and Susan Griffith, a husband and wife writing team. We are the co-authors of the VAMPIRE EMPIRE trilogy: The Greyfriar, The Rift Walker, and The Kingmakers published by Pyr Books. The trilogy is a rousing combination of pulp adventure, steampunk fantasy, and romance. The...

Inheritance Books – Beth M James

This week’s Inheritance Books are from Beth M James, author of a life plan book.

Hi Beth, welcome to Inheritance Books. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, Rhoda! Thanks for inviting me today.

I live in the St. Croix Valley that borders Minnesota and Wisconsin with my husband Mike. We’re empty nesters now so I can focus on my writing career. I am a new author of a contemporary romance novel, and I’m working on my second book that will be the first in a trilogy. I also write a weekly blog about les...

Inheritance Books – Ali Bacon

This week’s Inheritance Books are from Ali Bacon.

Hi Ali, welcome to Inheritance Books. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello Rhoda and thanks so much for asking me along.

I was brought up in Scotland in a family where reading was high on the agenda. We weren’t particularly well-off but I sometimes wonder if the value my parents put on books and the enjoyment they got from novels was part of what made me want to be a writer.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to go to St. Andrews university for four...

Introducing some doodles

Shocking as it may seem, meetings about intellectual property can sometimes be a bit boring. I have a personal rule that I don’t do any writing when in meetings, no matter how boring it gets. Instead, I doodle. Today I ended up drawing two of the main characters from my WIP – Sally and Grace. Both women get their own point of view expressed in the story. Grace is basically a nice person. Sally is, frankly, a nutjob. She’s also a ghost. What makes Sally unusual, for a ghost, is that she’s not...

Inheritance Books – Ruth A Casie

This week’s guest on Inheritance Books is historical romance writer Ruth A Casie.

Welcome to Inheritance Books, Ruth. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi, my name is Ruth A. Casie. I live in New Jersey, not far from New York City. I’d like to thank Rhoda for inviting me to share the story of my inheritance book.

You’re very welcome!

I write communication and marketing materials for a large US bank. Four years ago I offered to help a friend write a romance. I’ve always had stories in my head b...

Domestic Abuse – it’s closer than you think

Help Rowan Coleman raise £10,000 for Refuge

On September 10th Rowan is publishing her novella Woman Walks into a Bar as an ebook for the first time. And 100% of her proceeds will be donated to Refuge.

Her goal is to raise £10,000 and you can help. All you have to do is buy a book, or two, and get your friends to buy one too. You’ll get a funny, romantic and touching summer read and you’ll be helping women you’ve never even met at the same time and all for the price of £1.59!

The story behind the...

Inheritance Books – Elizabeth Meyette

This week the lovely Elizabeth Meyette shares her Inheritance Books. Betty is a fellow new release angel for USAToday’s Happy Ever After blog.

Hello Betty, welcome to Inheritance Books. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

My older siblings called me spoiled, my husband calls me Beloved, my kids call me goofy and I take that as a compliment. But it was the day I called myself a writer that I felt the world shift a little. That self-affirmation started a series of fortunate events that led to pu...

Inheritance Books – Julia Ibbotson

This week, Julia Ibbotson is stopping by to share her Inheritance Books, as part of her Old Rectory book tour.

Hi Julia, welcome to Inheritance Books, tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi Rhoda, good to meet you and your readers! Well, where do I start? I’m an academic and author, but the latter only fairly recently! I always wanted to be a writer and in fact wrote my first novel at the age of 10. It was all about my passions at the time which were farms, country life, horses and dogs – and of cou...