Harmony Kent's Blog, page 139

First Five Friday

When writing a novel, authors are advised to make the first five lines pop. These are what need to catch the reader’s attention from the get go. So, each Friday, I shall share with you the first five lines from a book that caught my attention, and then I’ll do a bit of show and tell, where I make up Five First Lines on the spot. Feel free to comment, and leave Five Lines of your own! If you have read a book where the opening lines impressed you, please do share! For any books I post on First Five Friday, you will find the UK Amazon link in the title link, and the US Amazon link by clicking on the book cover.

These Five Lines are from The Torturer’s Daughter by Zoe Cannon:

Becca’s steps slowed as she approached Processing 117. The floodlights of the parking lot shone down on her, exposing her. Past the lot, the darkness threatened to close in. There was no other source of light nearby except for the dim glow of the streetlamps, nothing but trees for at least a mile in every direction. The concrete structure loomed taller than its five stories–maybe because of the invisible presence of the underground levels, or maybe because in a moment Becca was going to have to walk inside.

I love these because they set the scene succinctly, and the final eight words ‘Becca was going to have to walk inside‘ ramp up the tension. Immediately, I am left with a question: What waits inside? What is Processing 117, and what’s so scary about it? In just Five Lines, the author has invited the reader into her world.

The best books lure you inside, and then slam the door shut behind you. 

Okay, time for me to write Five First Lines for today:

The answer is yes. I will marry you. But before you make that commitment, you should know something about me. My name isn’t Mary. And I don’t work in a bank.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come lurk in my lair next Friday, where we’ll have more Five First Lines!  

Find Harmony’s books on Amazon UK and Amazon US

She’s on Twitter: @harmony_kent and Facebook.

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Fall into Great Reads is here!

Be sure to head on over to A Word With Traci now! Don’t miss this awesome tour, where you’ll find new favourite authors and books!  

 

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TRB Review: My African Dream

My African Dream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BY MARIO SAINCIC

Romantic Suspense

Reviewed on behalf of The Review Board by Harmony Kent.

I received a free PDF copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Millicent Cramer lives a boring, unfulfilling life in Texas. She has never left Texas, let alone travelled abroad. Her sister keeps trying to set her up on blind dates, but Millicent’s heart just isn’t in it. Then, on a whim, she signs up for an online competition to win three months at a game reserve in deepest, darkest Africa. Millie never could have guessed the danger both her body and her heart would encounter on the trip of a lifetime. She wanted excitement and a fresh start, and that is exactly what she gets in Kulindwa.

The plot, pacing, character development, and word building are all done very well, and this would definitely have been a five star read if not for all the spelling errors and impossible dialogue tags. Smiled and Scowled should never be used as dialogue tags, as they are actions (beats) not a way of speaking. Basic errors are made like putting ‘main’ instead of ‘mane’, ‘site’ instead of ‘sight’ ‘weary’ instead of ‘wary’, ‘UV line’ instead of ‘IV line”, etc. Also more than a few sentences have missing words. The writing tends toward the passive style and could be tightened up. One big annoyance was the use of ‘yip’ instead of ‘yep’. Had this been used for one character, as a character trait, I wouldn’t have noticed it so much and would have found this a good device for the author to use. However, every single character, no matter their nationality or location, use this form and it just sticks out like a sore thumb so much that it leads me to wonder if this is yet another misspelling. Another thing that could be done away with are phrases like the following: I thought to myself … who else are we going to think to but ourselves? Unless it’s a book about mind readers, this is a given and could simply be ‘I thought’. Having said that, as this is in first person, the monologue doesn’t even need this kind of tag—we’re already in the character’s head.

Okay, gripes aside, I loved this book. I adored it, in fact. And other than the above, it would be up there on my top reads. This is so frustrating, as this author has talent, in spades. It kept me gripped and I read it in no time. It had me cringing, sitting on the edge of my seat, and laughing aloud aplenty. It did its job: it dragged me off my sofa and into Africa for a wild ride.

I give a soft8 out of 10 TRB stars, which translates into 4 out of 5 stars on other rating scales.

 

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Fall into Great Reads

Catch all these awesome authors all through October on A Word With Traci !
31 Days!
31 Authors!
Multiple Genres!

*Thrillers

*Romance

*Sci-Fi

*Mystery/Suspense

*Children’s

*Non-fiction/Self-help

*Historical Fiction

*Paranormal/Fantasy

Fantastic Prizes!

Every day in October! A Word with Traci. See you there!

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RRBC Books of the Month!

Congratulations to September Books of the Month!
Michelle Abbott

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U65KU22

Ernestine Rose

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AC89HZ4

Maggie Thom

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009RPTFIC

Have a great month!  
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To Hell and Gone

To Hell and Gone in Texas

Reviewed on behalf of The Review Board

 

BY RUSS HALL

 

Crime Thriller

 

I received a free mobi copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

 

Al is a retired detective who is pulled back into business when someone makes an attempt on his estranged brother’s life. Various agencies join the fun in this crime thriller, and soon things escalate way beyond anything Al or the Sheriff’s department could have foreseen. We have shoot outs aplenty, helicopter chases, and a romantic thread that has nothing to do with Maury, Al’s rake of a brother.

This book has all the elements of an exciting and rip-roaring read. Unfortunately, it didn’t do it for me. The characters felt too one dimensional, and the crises all seemed to resolve themselves way too easily. Characters appeared to have been killed, only to end up being resurrected again. The plot didn’t have any twists or turns for me to get my teeth into, and is more of a shoot-em-up kind of a book.

The writing could be tightened up, with much fewer delaying actions (overusing “began tos” and “started tos”), less filter words (he knew/heard/saw/etc.). It is also passive in nature with the use of “wases” and “weres”, etc. Certain stock phrases are overused, such as “pretty much”, as is the word “own”. All of this made it a more tedious read than it needed to be.

 

 

One of my pet hates is descriptive dialogue tags that tell instead of show, or worse still, tell what is already shown. Some real humdingers can be found in this book, like: Bonnie bubbled on, and: she gushed.

All of that said, the plot is cohesive and the pacing good. The characters could be padded out more, but they are believable enough.

This book gets 7 out of 10 TRB stars, which translates into 3.5 out of 5 stars on other rating scales.

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And the winners are …

 

Prize Winners for this stop!

 

1st Place

Bette A Stevens: $5 Amazon Gift Card!

2nd Place

Natalie Ducey: e-book copy of Finding Katie!

3rd Place

Tara Fairfield: ebook copy of Slices of Soul!

4th Place

Jan Hawke: paperback copy of Polish Your Prose!

5th Place

Steven Kay: paperback copy of Slices of Soul!

Congratulations to all of you! I have your email addresses and will contact you shortly. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and left comments.

I’ll see you at the next stops of this awesome BOOK & BLOG BLOCK PARTY!

 

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RRBC Back to School Book & Blog Block Party!

Hi and WELCOME to Rave Reviews Book Club’s BACK-TO-SCHOOL BOOK & BLOG BLOCK PARTY at HARMONY KENT ONLINE! Location: Cornwall, UK.

Prizes I’m giving away today!

$5 Amazon Gift Card

One e-book copy of Finding Katie

One e-book copy of Slices of Soul

(UK only) One Paperback copy of Polish Your Prose

(UK only) One Paperback copy of Slices of Soul

Number of winners for this stop: 5!

I’d like to introduce you to my books and I do hope that you will take the time to check them out. I’ve included a short blurb and video on each to help you make the perfect decision in your next book selection!

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 Slices of Soul: My latest book, but my first-ever book of poetry!

Slices of Soul is a collection of contemporary poetry from author Harmony Kent that will both delight and call for deeper reflection. ‘Phantoms’ gives a gritty account of pain that you can never catch. ‘Enough’ expresses the contentment of Zen. ‘Diamonds’ shows the beauty to be found on a drab and rainy day. While ‘The Alchemist’ shows you how a guitar can turn lead into gold. This wonderful arrangement of fifty poems takes you from the abstract of Zen to the melody of music, and will reach into your mind, your heart, and your soul.

Finding Katie: This girl grabbed me in the middle of the night and wouldn’t let go until I’d told her story

I killed someone, you see. I killed the girl, who used to be me. I’m Kate … Kate Charlesworth. I’m seventeen, and self-harming. This time I cut too deep, and I’m in hospital. I hadn’t meant for it to be so bad—it just sort of happened. I needed a lot of distraction that day. You’ve had bad days, right? Days it hurts too much to think. Days you just wanna stay in bed. Days when the world needs to go away for a while. Right? What do you do when you’ve hit rock bottom? When there’s nowhere left to turn? This one little mistake lands me back on a psych unit—the last place I wanna be. Only this time, the nurse I end up with isn’t content to stick on a band-aid and send me home. She wants me to face my demons. But to do that, I’ll have to face who I am … who I used to be … I’ll have to find Katie.

Polish Your Prose:

Polish Your Prose is a powerful new guide that gives essential editing tips for authors. Lots of books have been written on the art of writing, and here—at last—is a guide that will teach you the essential techniques of editing your own book. This will help you turn a promising manuscript into a published novel. And, it does this without the jargon. You don’t need to know all the grammatical terms in order to make use of this book. You don’t need to know the definition of a split infinitive, a comma splice, or a ‘to be’ verb, as this manual explains these in detail in easy to understand terms, and a lively and engaging style.

Chapters on Passive Writing, Tense, Point of View, Dialogue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an editor would go through to polish and perfect your manuscript. Good writing is nothing without good editing. Learn the secrets of good editing and writing with this essential author reference, which offers so much more for so much less.

Harmony Kent is an award winning author, and accomplished editor and proofreader. Her passion is helping Indie Authors to successfully achieve their goals and dreams.

Elemental Earth: Book 1 in the Mysteries Series:

YA Fantasy Fiction

“You turned the god of gnomes into a garden ornament?”

Sarah looked closely, but couldn’t tell if her dad was annoyed or amused—perhaps he was both …

Whilst 15 year old Sarah may be struggling to regain her feet, after being ripped from her everyday mundane life and ending up in a whole new dimension, she still knows how to have a bit of fun along the way. The Earth Elemental isn’t the only one whose feathers she manages to ruffle, and it’s only been four days. Meanwhile, her best friend is missing, and big trouble is brewing. She soon has a lot more to worry about than what happened to her phone or iPod, or even how much of an idiot Caleb obviously thinks she is.

Elemental Earth is the first book in The Mysteries series, and is aimed at Young Adults. Even if you’ve already reached an age where the young ones might call you ‘old enough’, if you’re still young at heart then you’re bound to enjoy these books just as much as the next—err—younger adult.

Age aside, perhaps we should be more worried about what further havoc Sarah’s antics might be about to wreak on the universe as we know it? We’d probably all be sleeping a lot more soundly if she’d only stuck to applied maths and the odd pillow fight. But no, sadly the lure of the proverbial rabbit hole proved just a tad too much. And now she’s taken the plunge, there’s no turning back.

The Glade: Fiction to scare your socks off!

You are being arrested for the murder of your husband…You have a secret you can’t tell…The evil is gathering.. This book has it all: murder, intrigue, the supernatural, a broken marriage, a love affair, courage against impossible odds, suspense, and high drama. The Wenstrops have it all: health, wealth and happiness. But then it all begins to fall apart. Helen is arrested for murder, yet is either unable or unwilling to give a defence. During her detention, vital evidence goes mysteriously missing and tensions are running high. Helen finds herself surrounded and yet alone: not knowing who she can trust or how she can tell her enemies from her friends. Helen has to work through her self-doubts and fears, in order to know whether her suspicions and misgivings are valid or simply products of an overwrought mind. There are those who would like to encourage her confusion, and those who would help her – but how to know one from the other? And then there are those who actively mean her harm. Meanwhile, malignant forces in the forest are gathering power, ready for a final assault. Helen finds herself in a battle of life and death, and faces having to lose everything in her attempts to thwart the evil that has insinuated itself into her very existence – but is she ready to make the ultimate sacrifice? This sensational second novel by acclaimed author Harmony Kent will have you alternately laughing, crying and gripping the edge of your seat as this roller coaster ride of a plot unfolds. It will keep you guessing through its many twists and turns, and hijack your attention right up until you turn the final page.

The Battle for Brisingamen: This book will always hold a special place as my debut novel

There is a World not too Far Away …

Beneath the north sea a land of magic lies undetected. The lives of many are drawn inexorably closer together in a race against time, as both energy companies and evil beings attempt to destroy the magic which is protecting not just this land but all worlds. The unwitting protagonists have no idea of how suddenly and irrevocably their lives are about to change.

It is a race against time to try and recover the lost necklace, Brisingamen, which holds the ancient power of the Goddess Freya, and to prevent the undersea drilling from taking place. Are Aart, Matthias, Gemma and Dirck up to the challenges they now must face?

Here there be Dragons, and all manner of Creatures …

All my books can be purchased on Amazon. Once again, thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to share your thoughts and comments below.  Good luck on winning my giveaways!  I’ll see you at the next stop of this awesome BOOK & BLOG BLOCK PARTY!

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RRBC Pay it Forward Week! Welcome to Liz Gavin!

Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the third of three authors I will spotlight, promote, and propel this week as part of the RRBC BT Pay it Forward Week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow board member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Liz Gavin! Liz is a supportive member of RRBC, as well as a talented lady! So, lets all please give Liz as much support as we can today!  

 

Proud Rave Reviews Book Club Member

When Liz Gavin was in Second Grade – just a couple of years ago, really – her teacher told her mother the little girl should start a diary because she needed an outlet for her active and vivid imagination. She was a talkative child who would disrupt the class by engaging her colleagues in endless conversations. She loved telling them the stories her grandfather used to tell her.

Apparently, the teacher wasn’t a big fan of those stories, and Liz’s mother bought her a diary. She happily wrote on it for a couple of months. Unable to see the appeal of writing for her own enjoyment only, she gave up on it. She missed the audience her friends provided her in class. She went back to disturbing her dear teacher’s class.

Since then, she has become a hungry reader. She will read anything and everything she can get her hands on – from the classics to erotica. That’s how she has become a writer of erotica and romance, as well.

As a young adult, she participated in a student exchange program and lived in New Orleans for six months. She fell in love with the city and its wonderful inhabitants. NOLA will always hold a special spot in Liz Gavin’s heart. Nowadays, living in Brazil, Liz’s creativity has improved many times because it’s such a vibrant, gorgeous and sexy country.

Welcome to her world of hot Alpha males and naughty, independent women. Add a touch of the paranormal in the presence of some wicked souls and you’ll get the picture.

Sit back, fire up your eReader and enjoy the ride!

 

 

Liz has written many books, which can be found here!

Check out Luck of the Irish:

Keira Ashe’s parents are great but her mother has overprotected her for years. Now, this twenty-two-year-old Bostonian has graduated from college and can go on a trip she has been planning for years. She fears her shyness may get in the way of her enjoying what could be a life-altering adventure. However, Keira feels her luck is about to change when she meets gorgeous bartender Declan Slane.

Declan Slane is twenty-six and works at a hotel bar in Dublin. He hasn’t been very lucky in his love life so far. Also, he has got a troubled past he has chosen not to revisit in order to keep his sanity. Because he isn’t looking for a girlfriend, Declan isn’t very pleased to meet a certain breathtaking American who walks into his bar one afternoon.

Get a taste of adventure and heartache as Keira spreads her wings and matures while she gets to know her great-grandparents’ home country – Ireland. Hold your breath when she faces tough decisions and dangers. Root for Keira while she weighs up the consequences of making love for the first time. Bite your nails when she comes across unforeseen threats.

Liz Gavin’s second full-length novel is hard to put down just as it is hard to pinpoint its genre. She has woven an intricate web around her characters that will leave readers breathless. In the sizzling concoction, this talented new author poured heart-warming romance, heart-stopping suspense, and a dash of heart-searching paranormal. Take your pick. Regardless of the literary genre you might favor, Liz Gavin’s writing will take you to a whole different side of it.

Liz also offer translation services. Check them out here!

Liz Gavin’s Website

Liz Gavin’s Blog

Liz on Twitter

Liz on Facebook

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!

 

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RRBC Pay it Forward Week! Welcome to Sarah Stuart

Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week!

Hello everyone!

I am delighted today to host the first of three authors I will spotlight, promote, and propel this week as part of the RRBC BT Pay it Forward Week. Credit for this Pay it Forward idea has to go to Bethany Turner, who is a fellow board member of RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and such a supportive lady. She had the idea of supporting one author per day, and not promoting herself or anyone else at all for that whole day. Well, as RRBC is all about support, this was a huge hit, and we now have our very own RRBC Bethany Turner Pay it Forward Week! For more information, or to sign up for future Pay it Forward weeks, please click HERE. Okay, I’m sure you’re all dying to know who my author of the day is today …

A HUGE warm welcome to Sarah Stuart! Sarah is a supportive member of RRBC, as well as a talented lady! So, lets all please give Sarah as much support as we can today!  

Sarah lives near the river Wear in County Durham.

Her interests are theatre, wildlife, history and travel, all combined

in the Royal Command series of romantic suspense novels

spanning 500 years from the 16th century to the present day.

Dangerous Liaisons, opens in the Western Highlands of

Scotland.

The main setting is London’s theatre-land, the West End.

Sarah, revelling in a world she knows from the inside,

reveals wannabe frustrations and the lives of celebrity stars.

The former desperate for publicity and the latter faced with the

paparazzi, who are determined to reveal their secrets.

Illicit Passion, out September, features a concert tour of twelve

European cities, with the paparazzi back in force, threatening

the lives and liberty of the stars and their family.

Dynasty of Deceit is the working title of Book Three.

Sarah’s short story,The Secret of Hagia Sophia,

will be published in an anthology in December.

Written in the first person, it shows a very different Sarah.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS by Sarah Stuart.

A story of men and women who loved too much.

When Lizzie inherits a Book of Hours first owned by Margaret Tudor, James IV of Scotland’s Queen, she decodes entries previously ignored, and ignites a spark with the potential to ruin the lives of everyone she loves.

 eBook or softback available HERE

Read a sample HERE

 

 

 

ILLICIT PASSION – BOOK TWO IN THE ROYAL COMMAND SERIES

by SARAH STUART

 

More about this fascinating continuation of the drama begun

in Dangerous Liaisons to come.

Watch this space!

Coming Soon

Latest Draft Prologue may be read in Blogs

Sarah’s Website

Sarah on Twitter

Sarah on Facebook

 

 

 

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