Samyann's Blog, page 64

Review for Yesterday – Yea!!

Amazon review posted today – what a great Friday the 13th!

Written by

Mrs. Cathy L. Piggott  (Sussex, UK)

 If you could go back and meet yourself in your previous life… what would you find?, December 13, 2013
This review is for: Yesterday: A Novel of Reincarnation (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. It took me on a journey, made me care about the characters, it was well-written and well narrated.

I discovered that this is the first offering by this author. This astounds me, as I have read books that weren’t half as good as this one, by authors who have been at it for decades.

The research done for this book was thorough and the book never leaves you hanging, and the factual bits are footnoted.

All in all, this is a great read. It’s not a deep book, though it does have its moments, and you do come away with a few insights at the end as well.

Well done, Samyann, I look forward to more work from this author.

****

Note: Cat Piggott is a talented musician. Visit http://www.catpiggott.com

State of the Union – by Brad Thor – Review

Early in the story,  you’ll learn that State of the Union references an address given by the President of the United States to a joint session of Congress. Founding fathers mandated that the President advise the nation on an annual basis of the current ’state’ of the ‘union’. Within a few pages, you’ll also discover that this President has two of these addresses prepared. One will be given, and the story progresses through the thrilling episodes of Scot Harvath as the hours tick toward the date and time of the speech. Some grizzly scenes that will have you grinding your teeth, which is Brad’s intent. A good read.

This story is early in the Scot Harvath series and is much, much better than the later books in the series.

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Review

Audiobook review. There isn’t much I can write about this novel that hasn’t been written before. The audiobook version was published in 2006, so it has been out there for quite a while; there are over 4000 reviews on Amazon. I bought this book for one reason: A television commercial for the upcoming movie. I wasn’t disappointed. 

To be brief, if you read one book this year, this should be your selection. The Book Thief is the story of a German girl and her small town during WWII.  In an amazing and gripping tale, the author weaves a story through the point of view of Death. Grasping at any semblance of understanding, either through her own revelations or the words of others, you’ll be completely taken with this journey of Liesel Meminger. This story of war, through the eyes of an innocent German child, is an amazing awakening. As they say in the lexicon today, ‘Just do it.’ Buy this book. You will be stunned.

Sycamore Row by John Grisham – Review

Audiobook review. Sycamore Row begins about three years after A Time to Kill left off. The main character, Jake Bergance, is still a small town lawyer in the south. He is still wary and confronted with the undercurrent of a southern mentality regarding blacks and whites. Some will call it out-and-out bigotry, some will call it a waning culture of racial bias. I suggest reading A Time to Kill first, because there are several references throughout Sycamore Row that will make more sense. The story centers on a man who amassed great wealth through primarily legitimate means, even though he led a personally colorful life. No spoilers, but this man dies early in the book, leaving the bulk of his massive wealth to his black housekeeper. This would be fine, but this resulted in his son, daughter, grandchildren, etc., all being left out of the picture completely. Much of the story takes place in the legal arena, very John Grisham, and if you enjoyed A Time to Kill, you’ll enjoy Sycamore Row. Jake Bergance is selected by the deceased man himself, to represent the estate and, at all costs, see to it that a last will and testament stands. Throughout the story, the reader will ask themselves: ‘Why would he leave nothing to his family?’, ergo the thrust of the tale.

As we all do when reading a novel, movie casting will bring Matthew McConaughey to mind because of his portrayal of Jake in A Time to Kill. This book has no where near the rape, life and death, murder and mayhem of the previous novel, it’s more a study of familial relationships, and how greed can bring out the worst in some and the best in others.

Grisham created a winning tale, taking advantage of several well-rounded characters from A Time to Kill. I personally enjoyed the story, it’s one of the better Grisham novels in several years.

The Lone Wolf by ED Martin – Review

At the beginning of The Lone Wolf, you’ll be introduced to Kasey Sanford. Within a few words, you’ll immediately relate to a woman leading what is on the surface a fairy-tale life that is shattered by the infidelity of her husband, David. The day-to-day business of living for Kasey is turned upside down as she is confronted with forks in a road she never dreamed of traveling. Understanding her role as a partner through life is the journey a reader will travel with page-turning pleasure and sadness. E.D. Martin expertly brings forth the empathy of the reader with an unusual and wonderful approach, alternating character views with Andrew Adams, the man Kasey will ultimately turn to for healing the ache and confusion of a collapsing life. Carrying a load of his own demons, chemistry draws them together in mutual need.

The Lone Wolf is a character driven story. As with most people, personal history dominates behavior, and the methodology used to reveal the motivations and behavior of Andrew is artfully done. No spoilers here, but you will find the process of this presentation a pleasant read.

I recommend this book, and I’m looking forward to a continuation of this story.

Thankless In Death – by J. D. Robb – Review

Audiobook. Not giving away any secrets, no spoilers. But, within the first page or two, unlike many of the In Death series, you know who the murderer is, his motivation, and weapon of choice.

So, the mystery is within the cunning chase involving Eve, Peapody, Roarke, and the rest of the usual cast of characters. Thankless is a timely book, in that the Thanksgiving Holiday and a seasonal visit by Roarke’s Irish family blends into the story. Eve’s distaste for any holiday is understandable, having been subjected to the the void of these events in her past. But, Roarke’s need for a family bond sort of exaggerates Eve’s selfishness in this regard. Robb does a terrific job in the light ‘romance’ of the novel, but it’s becoming apparent to me that the romance is more from Roarke than Eve. At least he puts up with a great deal of her nonsense. Maybe I’m becoming a little cynical and beginning to know the characters too well, since I’ve read the entire series through Thankless in Death. Sometimes I’d like to shake her . One of my pleasures is to turn on my audiobook and listen when I go to bed. Not sure what it says about the In Death stories lately, but if I fall to sleep during the playback, I’m at the point where I no longer reverse the player.

Very simple writing, made for the masses, predictable.

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Never Go Back by Lee Child – Review

Audiobook review. I’ve been reading Lee Child/Jack Reacher series for years. I’ve always enjoyed the character, a no-nosense, alpha male. I think maybe…just maybe, Lee may be losing his momentum with this release, the 18th book in the Jack Reacher series. Child has taken to repeating phrases in his writing of this book. A lot. For example, ‘He breathed in; he breathed out.’ It seems to be an attempt by the author to do something ‘different’, rather than simple character behavior, i.e., ‘he frowned’ or … ‘A trickle of sweat ran down his back.’ etc.. It’s not the only instance and he’s making Reacher almost seem mentally deficient, constantly iterating his thoughts. I’ve read several Jack Reacher stories and enjoyed them….but THIS? Child is doing this repitition throughout the book and I’m annoyed as hell. The character behavior is predominantly in the beginning of the story and eventually tapers off, although it doesn’t completely go away. Not as dynamic a story as it could have been, in my opinion. I listened at 1.25 speed as Dick Hill seemed a little slow.

Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts – Review

Audiobook review. When downloaded, the reader was Peter Berkrot. I listened to eleven chapters and received an email from Audible informing me that the audiobook had been replaced due to listener reviews. The remainder of the book was narrated by Luke Daniels. I had no problem with narration. I have no criticism of either.

Honestly, I’m struggling with the proper tone of this review. I admire Roberts, any struggling author would. The J. D. Robb In Death series alone is enviable, let alone all the other best selling books and made-for-TV gems this author has penned. The story of Whiskey Beach is okay, I guess, typical boy-gets-girl love story, ultimately. Throw in some murder, mystery, and an ancient mansion overlooking a wind-swept beach and you have a winner.

One of my issues with this story doesn’t have anything to do with a tried and true formula, which Roberts has perfected. It’s more along the lines of writing conventions that successful veteran writers ignore. An example is point of view. In Whiskey Beach, today’s acceptable standards are ignored. If submitted by an unknown writer, this book is likely headed to the slush pile. Personally, the double standard is a bit hard to take. If you’re a Nora Roberts, the rules don’t apply.

The book is enjoyable, albeit a bit formulaic. A three-star read.

 

A different perspective on the FREE ebook.

The word alone is sometimes all it takes. FREE!

To a degree, it’s been proven that free copies of your book work, but 5000 downloads because your book is FREE won’t buy a bus token and worse yet, if the book hasn’t been edited or vetted, it will indeed get your name out there and get you a reputation, but not the wondrous reputation you want.

Some authors are completely convinced that tagging a book as FREE is helping them with the goal of becoming the next J.K.Rowling or whatever. Well, I’m of the opinion that the content of the material has more of an impact on sales.

PLEASE, get your ebook professionally edited. Get the book vetted. Get critiques. Get a beta-read. Polish and polish again. Then, and only then, click ‘submit’ and self-publish. NO misspellings. NO run-on sentences! Stop giving the self-published world the reputation of providing crap by complete due diligence!

The opinion of a self-published author on the plethora of self-published books.

Occasionally issues arise that raise my blood pressure. Spouting off at my husband or chihuahua or a few unfortunate friends simply gets understanding nods or a sympathetic cold nose. I’ll leave it to you to guess on that.

Thought I’d take advantage of the fact that I have a blog, such as it is, and voice my opinion once in a while. Take or leave, comment or not, I don’t really care. These are my opinions, mine alone. If you agree, you’re a very smart person, if you don’t, well…..that’s the way it goes, and it’s okay. I’m sure you’re a very nice person anyway. Comment if you like, or not. But I won’t count on a soul reading or caring a whit. Contribute a better name other than ‘Samyism’ if you can think of one, the name came about with a few seconds of thought. Here goes….with my first Samyism:

Unfortunately, the scenario of authors jumping the gun simply because they can and it is so easy is giving the world of self publishing the reputation of flooding the book market with crap. The sad part is that many good writers are being lumped into this toxic pool because of the avalanche of people who have discovered the magic and ease of KDP or similar services.

Just look at the nightmare at Goodreads. The entire debacle has been caused by hot tempered authors lacking the maturity to stomach a bad review.  They push an ebook out to Amazon expecting it to take off like the next Twilight or 50 Shades, get called on the quality of their work in a review, and spout off in review comments. Goodreads users are fuming about review deletions in Goodread’s attempt to fix the issue.

Not sure where it’s all headed, but the next couple of years is going to be interesting to watch. KDP, and the like,  are just too tempting and easy. Cavemen can do it.

These words of wisdom are from a self-published author. So, shoot me, but it’s what I think. BTW, I reserve the right to change my mind . It’s my blog, after all!