Harmony Kent's Blog, page 90
June 12, 2019
Careful Who You Kill
Do you kill as you go along, or do you wait a bit? …
Hello SErs. Harmony here. My current WIP is the first time I’ve written first draft without doing any editing. None at all. At first, I found it tough. But by now, having reached near the end…
Source: Careful Who You Kill
June 11, 2019
Unclear Purposes Blog Tour
Check out a great excerpt from Joan Hall’s latest book over on Craig Boyack’s blog today …
Joan is a good friend, and has the final book of her trilogy available right now. She’s also one of my compatriots over at Story Empire. Make her feel welcome and share her excerpt across you…
Source: Unclear Purposes Blog Tour
#MondayMeme #MondayBlogs
Head on over to Marcia Meara’s place for a giggle with some Monday Memes … okay, I’m late reblogging, lol. So, have a giggle on Tuesday instead
June 10, 2019
#BookReview: The Warehouse
A dystopian sci-fi mystery written by Rob Hart and published by Random House UK.
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Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC of this book.
The Warehouse is a believable not-too-far-into-the-future dystopian mystery. Though there is some future tech in there, it’s not a hardcore sci-fi but more general.
I liked the characters, the world building, the plot, and the premise. The story hooked me early and kept my attention and interest throughout. If not for the many errors in the text, I would have rated it a top five stars. The only wobble on that is the ending, which did close off the threads nicely but felt a little flat to me. It was a long way from awful though.
Some of the errors that drove me nuts, ignoring the massive formatting issues on this ARC which hopefully will be addressed before publication, were to do with hyphenating words. The author seems to have a phobia on using too many hyphens. For example, we get ‘canaryyellow’ instead of ‘canary-yellow’, and blood-pressurelowering’ instead of simply ‘blood-pressure-lowering’, and `zeroemission’ instead of ‘zero-emission’. Not to mention sentences such as: ‘And then have get a full-grown elephant tied to a tree with …’
All of that said, one or two lines stood out as awesome. See the following: ‘A presence remained, and after a few moments Zinnia realized it was that shadow of Death. It had followed him in, but it hadn’t left.’ Brilliant (if you can ignore the missing comma after ‘moments’.
All in all, even though it does need further work, I would highly recommend this book.
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.
Are Writers Born or Made?
An interesting question … check out the post and discussion over on Story Empire today …
Hello, SEers. Mae here with you today. Recently, I’ve been thinking about stories I wrote when I was younger. Much, much younger. It made me realize how long I’ve been creating characters and world…
Source: Are Writers Born or Made?
June 7, 2019
How to Tweak Your Newsletter
Check out this great post from P H Solomon over on Story Empire today …
Happy Friday to all the Story Empire readers! Today I’m veering a bit off course from a regular post format at the end of the work week into the topic of managing a newsletter to gain better …
Source: How to Tweak Your Newsletter
Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links
Check out this great Friday post from Staci Troilo with some useful author/writing links …
Ciao, amici! I’m super excited today. I wrote THE END on my rough draft of book 2 of the Astral Conspiracy series. I haven’t revealed the title or cover yet, so that’s all I can s…
June 5, 2019
The Eyes of a Killer
Excerpt from Unclear Purposes by Joan Hall
Thanks for hosting me today, Harmony. I’m
super excited about the release of Unclear
Purposes, the third and final book of the Driscoll Lake Series.
I’ve decided to share a scene today from
the antagonist’s point of view.
[image error]Excerpt from Unclear Purposes
Some occasions required a person
to be an extrovert. To mingle with the crowd. Other times one needed to blend
into the background. Being able to disguise oneself had its advantages. The
ability to be virtually unrecognizable.
Tonight was a time to remain
hidden. To observe.
Three couples sat at a table close
to the stage. It was a cozy little scene with lots of interaction among them.
The women each had a distinct beauty, the men all tall and handsome. Talk about
standing out in a crowd.
Who wouldn’t
envy the brunette and her six-foot-four husband? Or the auburn-haired physician
and her successful man? But the third couple was the most intriguing.
What exactly was between them?
Casual friendship? Something more? The desire to know had been festering for
several weeks. It was the reason for tonight’s
visit to Pinnacle. To confirm what was already feared.
It didn’t
take long to determine the answer. The way Christine and Vince danced together
wasn’t something casual friends would do.
When the song ended, Rachel
Nichols whispered something to them before leaving the floor with her husband.
Whatever it was, caused a change in Vince. It wasn’t
hard to see he had gone into alert mode as if looking for something or someone.
Careful. He
’s
been in law enforcement. Trained to be observant. Wouldn’t take much for him to
notice something out of the ordinary.
The inner battle began.
Calm down. Breathe. There
’s
no way anyone would recognize you. Still, it’s probably best you leave. Your
mission is accomplished. You’ve got the information you came for.
The
relationship between Christine Lawrence and Vince Green would have to end.
There were lots of ways to ensure that would happen. But when it came down to
it, there was only one way to guarantee success.
[image error]Book Cover, Unclear Purposes by Joan Hall
Blurb:
Some
people take secrets to the grave…
Three years after her husband’s murder,
Christine Lawrence still struggles for balance. She has a rewarding career and
a close circle of friends but feels oddly unfulfilled. Worse, the close
relationship she once had with her teenage daughter has grown increasingly
strained.
Former FBI agent, Vince Green, is battling
demons of his own—painful secrets that drove him from Driscoll Lake. Newly
resettled in the small town, he makes his living as a private investigator.
When Vince and Christine cross paths,
stumbling over the body of a murder victim, he’s forced to confront memories he
thought long buried. The circumstances surrounding the killing are eerily
similar to a victim from his past.
As the body count continues to rise,
Christine finds herself drawn to Vince. With a murderer stalking the streets of
Driscoll Lake, neither is aware the killer has targeted her as the next
victim—or that Vince’s past is key to unmasking a disturbed and deadly killer.
[image error]
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How You Can Get Neither Nor And Either Or Right Every Time
Check out this great post on using neither/nor and whether it wants a comma or an and …
You can get neither nor right every time if you know that both clauses must be negative. For either or, both must be positive. It’s as easy as that.
Source: How You Can Get Neither Nor And Either Or Right Every Time
The Day I Went to Jail
Check out this fun and informative post from Joan Hall over on Story Empire today …
Hi, SE Readers. Joan here today. This is a short post, but the subject is something that could happen to any of us. No, I really didn’t go to jail. At least not a physical place with bars. It’s wha…
Source: The Day I Went to Jail
