Harmony Kent's Blog, page 49

Plants and Payoffs | Story Empire

Hi everyone. Craig is over at Story Empire today with an interesting post all about plants and payoffs >>>

Hi Gang. Craig with you once again. Since today isn’t a holiday, I feel no compulsion to make some kind of arbitrary holiday tie in. That can be almost scary. Last night (Writing this days ahead) I…

Source: Plants and Payoffs | Story Empire

The post Plants and Payoffs | Story Empire first appeared on Welcome to Harmony Kent Online.

New Book Release – #Shortstories – Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries: Sometimes Bitter, Sometimes Sweet by Sally Cronin

Super supporter, author, and friend, Sally Cronin has a new book of short stories out. You can find out all about it by clicking on the link to her post. I’m looking forward to reading this one! >>>

#BookReview: Fragile by Sarah Hilary @sarah_hilary

Hi everyone. Today, I have a book review for you from author Sarah Hilary. I discovered this book via NetGalley and received a free ARC of this book. I enjoyed this read tremendously. And this is definitely an author to check out.

About the Book:

Everything she touches breaks . . .

Nell Ballard is a runaway. A former foster child with a dark secret she is desperate to keep, all Nell wants is to find a place she can belong.

So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands.

But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees that he is hiding secrets of his own.

But is Nell’s arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easy they can be to break . . .

A dark, contemporary psychological thriller with a modern Gothic twist from an award-winning and critically acclaimed writer who has been compared to Ruth Rendell, P. D. James and Val McDermid. Rebecca meets The Handmaid’s Tale in Sarah Hilary’s standalone breakout novel.

My Review:

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free Advanced Review Copy of this book.

I enjoyed this tale of neglect, intrigue, lying, deceit, and a desperate fight for survival.

Nell and Joe grow up together in a foster home, run by Meagan–more interested in money than actually looking after the kids placed under her care. Nell becomes the mother figure for them all, and even at just eight-years-old, runs the house in all aspects. All while dodging Meagan’s fists and cruel taunts.

Then, one summer, tragedy strikes, and everything changes. Eventually, Nell and Joe run away. They end up homeless, hungry, and cold on the streets of London, and do anything they must to stay alive.

After a few twists and turns, Nell finds herself working for an eccentric-seeming guy in Starlling Villas … itself a strange and forebidding buidling in the midst of the city. For various reasons, Nell feels trapped and unable to leave, even when events take an alarming turn.

I found the characterisation and world building well done and the plot intriguing. The narrative flowed nicely.

A few lines stood out in particular for me:

Back at the beginning, Meagan thought Nell was like the sea. Wild and choppy but you could learn its tide, chart its patterns. That summer, she’d started to see the girl was more like their precious pool. Deep and treacherous, full of caves where currents flowed to an ancient rhythm, stealing through the spaces in the stone, taking fish and rocks and anything lost, sucking it into a place no one could ever follow or find.

and

‘Yes,’ Carolyn said, ‘lovely,’ as if she were mispronouncing ghastly.

and

If Robin Wilder imagined his wife’s stones only skipped the surface of my skin, he had no idea how deep I ran, what fears and furies I felt.

This psychological thriller gripped me from beginning to end. I would have preferred a more concrete ending, but it was good nonetheless. Fragile gets a solid 4 stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

How to Publish with KDP: Part Twenty

Hi everyone. I’m over at Story Empire today with the penultimate post in my how-to-publish-to-KDP series. Lots of changes lately on Amazon’s Author Central, so make sure you check this out! … Have a great weekend, everyone

#BookReview: Call me Mummy by Tina Baker @TinaBakerBooks

Hi everyone. Today, I have a book review for you from debut author, Tina Baker. I discovered this book via NetGalley and received a free ARC of this book. I enjoyed this read tremendously. And this is definitely an author to check out.

About the Book:

* A NETGALLEY BOOK OF THE MONTH *

‘Brilliantly written and emotionally compulsive’ – HARRIET TYCE

‘A powerful and thought-provoking page turner’ – KATERINA DIAMOND

‘Disturbing and distinctive, this is a book I couldn’t put down’ – AMANDA JENNINGS

THIS MOTHER’S DAY YOU WILL CALL HER MUMMY

Glamorous, beautiful Mummy has everything a woman could want. Except for a daughter of her very own. So when she sees Kim – heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop – she does what anyone would do. She takes her.

But foul-mouthed little Tonya is not the daughter that Mummy was hoping for. As Tonya fiercely resists Mummy’s attempts to make her into the perfect child, Kim is demonised by the media as a ‘scummy mummy’, who deserves to have her other children taken too.

Haunted by memories of her own childhood and refusing to play by the media’s rules, Kim begins to spiral, turning on those who love her. Though they are worlds apart, Mummy and Kim have more in common than they could possibly imagine. But it is five-year-old Tonya who is caught in the middle…

CALL ME MUMMY. IT’LL BE BETTER IF YOU DO.

My Review:

Many thanks to NetGallley and Viper for a free Advanced Review Copy of this book.

The cover, title, and book description all pulled me in. I’m so pleased that I requested this book. Call me Mummy is a great read, and even more special for being a debut novel. The author has hit the ground running with this offering.

The point of view moves between three main characters: Mummy (the abductor), Kim (the mother), and Tonya (the five-year-old girl). Sometimes, I felt the dialogue a bit too adult to feel true for a five-year-old. However, the characters were well drawn, otherwise, and I found the plot entirely believable.

For some readers, some of the content may prove challenging as historic abuse is a common theme for both women. Even though Kim wasn’t a likeable character, I really felt for her. First somebody kidnaps her little girl, and then the online world villifies and hates her for who she is. She’s too common, swears a lot, and just isn’t the ‘nice little victim’ that everyone wants. Nobody sees the mask she’s adopted for self-protection or the pain she’s in.

Mummy is about as messed up as they come. The author did a fantastic job of showing this woman’s fall into further confusion and alcoholism. And her fraught interactions with Tonya were priceless.

Of all the characters, I adored Tonya the most. What a spirited little lass! Brilliant.

A heart-wrenching read and a gripping one. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it gets a solid five stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

#NewBook: The Culmination by Gwen Plano @gmplano

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Hi everyone. Today, it gives me great pleasure to have my good friend and fellow author, Gwen Plano, over to visit. Even more special, is that Gwen has some exciting news to share! I’ll let her tell you all about it. Please, help yourselves to drinks and nibbles >>>

Thank you so much, Harmony, for inviting me to your blog and for helping me launch The Culmination, a new beginning. It is now public on Amazon, and I’m super excited. To celebrate, the Kindle edition is on sale at 99¢ through [image error]December.

You’re so welcome, Gwen. It’s great to have you here!

So, what’s the book about? The Culmination can best be described as a military thriller. It tackles difficult topics such as denuclearization, the power struggles over oil in the Middle East, as well as the ever-present danger of war. Readers will find themselves sitting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, walking in the historic Red Square, and laughing with children in an orphanage in Turkey. They will glimpse the horror of war and watch the give and take of a negotiated peace. Readers will also meet the two heads of state who fall in love and subsequently commit themselves to creating a world in which all are family.

I never expected to write this book, but in some ways, I had no choice. The characters crowded into my office and insisted that I listen to them. In a very real way, they wrote the book. I simply tapped the keys and learned of the urgent need to become family. How perfect for Christmas!

 

BLURB:

The Culmination, a new beginning is the third book in The Contract thriller series. After an assassination attempt on an Air Force base in northern California, tensions mount. Heads of state meet to craft a denuclearization agreement. The meetings between these nuclear powers take a murderous turn. A nefarious conspiracy re-emerges and leads the characters into the heart of the Middle East, where they encounter the unexpected and find a reason for hope.

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EXCERPT:

The leaders from the nine countries with nuclear arsenals gather in Santa Fe, New Mexico to check on the U.S.’s disarmament progress. This is the team’s first visit to any of the sites. Vice President Margaret Adler from the United States proudly leads the team to the nuclear weapons complex.

 

While storm-clouds gather, the leaders from the nuclear nations board an armored military transport and travel to the visitation site, the Kirtland Air Force Base Nuclear Weapons Complex in Albuquerque. An Air Force engineer greets them and explains how the investigation will proceed. He describes the disarmament process and points out the care that is taken for storing the disarmed warheads. Vice President Margaret Adler stands to his side and listens intently as he discloses the intricate steps required. The engineer then leads the team to a viewing room, where members can look out upon the collection of deactivated warheads.

After the technical questions get answered, the team returns to the hotel. They proceed to the conference room to discuss their experience and plan for the next steps. If they’d expected a leisurely working-lunch, events soon disabuse them of that notion. As the attendees take their seats, a scuffle breaks out among the Chinese delegation. A member of their team points a semi-automatic weapon at his President and yells, “Zhang subverts Mao’s principles and lives by his own!” Then he shouts something in Chinese and opens fire.

The Chinese President falls to the ground. Screams erupt and chairs topple as people scramble out of the way of the assassin. Several rush to the door in a panic. Chaos ensues.

Stunned, Margaret stands and stares, mouth agape, and heart thumping. The shooter points the weapon directly at the Vice President. “This charade will end today.”

Margaret keeps her eyes on the assailant and edges away from the group. Those still seated take cover beneath the table, and those standing take a few steps back. TV crews capture everything. Though nauseous from fear, Margaret confronts the man in quiet tones, “Sir, this is not the way to handle a disagreement. Innocent people surround you. Move to the open area, as I have done.”

Russia’s President Smirnov hurries forward and steps in front of Margaret. Meanwhile, soldiers work their way through the crowd and hold their assault weapons drawn on their target. Smirnov tries to talk the militant shooter into laying down his gun, but he will have nothing to do with the President’s directive. Instead, he aims and fires upon him. Immediately, a barrage of automatic shots discharges and kills the assailant.

Margaret can’t help but scream. She covers her mouth with her hand and blinks in shock. Time seems to stand still, and then the roar of pandemonium and fear hits her. At last, she finds that she can move and reaches to help Smirnov.

His son Ivan rushes to his side. Hit in the chest, Smirnov bleeds profusely. He coughs blood and struggles to breathe. He tries to speak, but words fail to emerge. Ivan cradles his father’s head. “I love you.”

With tears pouring down her face, Margaret holds Smirnov’s hand. An Air Force medical team dashes into the room and to the downed President’s side. Smirnov’s eyes are barely open, but he looks at Ivan and then Margaret and sputters one audible word—family. His eyes close. The Russian President takes his final breath.

Overcome by sorrow, Margaret chokes back her tears. As though in a dream, she stands. Smirnov’s blood covers her hands and suit. She summons strength and raises her voice, “We have just beheld the courage of a true leader. He has made the ultimate sacrifice.”

 

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CONTACT INFO :

Blog:  https://www.gwenplano.com/blog-reflections

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GMPlano

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gmplano

Amazon Author’s page:  https://amzn.to/3eAU2Bt

 

BOOK LINKS :

Letting Go into Perfect Love – https://amzn.to/3bToO7t

The Contract between heaven and earth – https://amzn.to/2U2Lgmv

The Choice: the unexpected heroes – https://amzn.to/3lcz8eA

The Culmination, a new beginning – https://amzn.to/3eEWkj9

 

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The post #NewBook: The Culmination by Gwen Plano @gmplano first appeared on Welcome to Harmony Kent Online.

The Challenge of Persuasive Speech | Story Empire

Hi everyone. Gwen Plano has an excellent post about using persausive speech over on Story Empire today >>>

Hello, SE readers. It’s been a month since I last wrote, and what a month it’s been. We’ve seen riots, listened to yelling pundits, been quarantined off and on, won or lost an election … need I go …

Source: The Challenge of Persuasive Speech | Story Empire

The post The Challenge of Persuasive Speech | Story Empire first appeared on Welcome to Harmony Kent Online.

#BookReview: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Hi everyone. Today, I have a book review for you an author I admire, Kristin Hannah. I discovered this book via NetGalley and received a free ARC of this book. I enjoyed this read as much as I’ve enjoyed other works by this writer. And she’s definitely an author to check out.

About the Book:

[image error]The Four Winds is a deeply moving, powerful story about the strength and resilience of women and the bond between mother and daughter, by the multi-million copy number one bestselling author Kristin Hannah.

She will discover the best of herself in the worst of times . . .

Texas, 1934. Elsa Martinelli had finally found the life she’d yearned for. A family, a home and a livelihood on a farm on the Great Plains. But when drought threatens all she and her community hold dear, Elsa’s world is shattered to the winds.

Fearful of the future, when Elsa wakes to find her husband has fled, she is forced to make the most agonizing decision of her life. Fight for the land she loves or take her beloved children, Loreda and Ant, west to California in search of a better life. Will it be the land of milk and honey? Or will their experience challenge every ounce of strength they possess?

From the overriding love of a mother for her child, the value of female friendship, and the ability to love again – against all odds, Elsa’s incredible journey is a story of survival, hope and what we do for the ones we love.

My Review:

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Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a free Advanced Review Copy of this book.

I’ve read books by Kristin Hannah in the past, and she is a writer who never disappoints. This book is so powerful that I’m still choking on the dust. The narrative was that realistic. The world building and character development were done wonderfully.

As you can imagine, with this book being set from the 1930s onward in the Texas Dustbowl and through the Great Depression, this is no easy read. It’s heart-wrenching, but in a good way. The courage, love, and hope shown are uplifting even while the events were so horrific for so many families. For sure, the author highlights both the exceptional cruelty and prejudice as well as the unprecedented compassion and generosity of strangers. And the bravery.

The main character, Elsa, is feminism personified. And in the midst of betrayal and anger and prejudice, she shows such strength of character, stamina, and love. As well as her bravery and steadfastness, she is also celver and patient. The character arc is excellent. And we live Elsa’s journey right by her side as she finds her way from the depths of despair and zero self-esteem to finding and owning who she is at heart.

A couple of lines especially struck me:

‘There was pain that came with constant disapproval; a sense of having lost something unnamed, unknown.’

and

‘You know the thing about history, Elsa? It’s over. Already dead and gone.’

Much love and research has gone into this novel, and in the current times of hardship from a global pandemic, many of us can relate to the loss and pain written with such care within these pages.

I heartily recommend both The Four Winds and the author Kristin Hannah. I give this book a solid 5 stars.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by

What’s In a Edit? | Story Empire

Check out this great post on editing and what a manuscript needs from Joan Hall over on Story Empire today >>>

 

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. Let’s talk about editing. I recently read a book that had a good plot. The story was intriguing. The writing grammatically correct. I didn’t find any spelling …

Source: What’s In a Edit? | Story Empire

The post What’s In a Edit? | Story Empire first appeared on Welcome to Harmony Kent Online.

Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – Christmas Book Fair – #Authors – Blogging Anne R. Allen, #Networking Lizzie Chantree, #Inspiration Harmony Kent

Christmas came early! I had a lovely surprise this morning when I finally dragged myself to my computer, lols. Sally has featured my book, Creative Solutions, on her Christmas fair alongside two other great authors. I’d be thrilled if you could hop on over there and leave some love >>>