Sage Nestler's Blog, page 63
July 18, 2016
Summer Author Tour: Cat Banks
Our first author feature for the Summer Blog Tour is Cat Banks! She is the author of over ten novels, and she was kind enough to answer all of our questions and tell us a little bit more about her process. Enjoy!
Bio: Catherine Banks is the author of the Artemis Lupine Series, Little Death Bringer Series, Ciara Steele Novella Series, and the novels Daughter of Lions and Pirate Princess. She began writing fiction stories when she was only four years old and finished her first full length novel at the age of fifteen.
Catherine is a Northern California native and has lived within a twenty mile radius her entire life. She plans to travel to as many places as possible in her thirties to make up for her lack of traveling experience. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who blessed her with two amazing children. After her full time job she reads books, plays video games, and watches a lot of anime shows and movies with her family to relax.
1) What is your favorite genre to write, and do you write across different genres?
Fantasy is by far my favorite genre to write. YA fantasy has been the main one I’ve been writing in. I plan to branch out and try some science fiction soon as well.
2) What has your publishing experience been like?
I first published Song of the Moon as a paperback book only through Createspace (Amazon). I had very few sales though. I decided to publish it as an ebook as well with Amazon and Smashwords as well. I get 99% of my sales from ebook sales. I have had a pretty decent experience publishing and enjoy having full control of my books. I have started trying to improve my marketing skills, but I’m learning!
3) What is your advice to aspiring authors?
Write! Seriously, you need to write. It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to ever be seen by the public, but writing is practice and practice is important. Write what you love and what you want, not what you think people want to read or what you think will sell the best.
4) What do you hope readers will take away from your writing?
Enjoyment. I hope readers enjoy my books and possibly use them to escape reality for a bit.
5) What are you currently working on?
I have several projects I’m working on right now, but I will be focusing on Pirate Princess 2 mainly in the last half of the year.
Catherine Banks
www.facebook.com/CatherineBanksAuthor
https://www.goodreads.com/catherine_banks
July 14, 2016
The Crown of Stones: Magic – Scars by C.L. Schneider
Title: The Crown of Stones: Magic Scars
Author: C.L. Schneider
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis:
They took it all: his will, his memories, his freedom, his magic.
Imprisoned by his enemies, tortured and drugged to keep his magic suppressed, Ian Troy returns to a world as marred and broken as he is. Ravaged by the reign of her new High King, Draken of Langor, Mirra’kelan’s citizens live in fear. The Shinree, misled by Jem Reth’s promises, are no longer slaves, but they are far from free. Thrust together by necessity, refugees from all realms have banded together and formed alliances never before thought possible. They share a common goal: freedom from oppression. And a common, fragile hope: Ian Troy.
But as Ian struggles to put the pieces of his life back together, he finds he is not the same man as before. Afflicted by an unsettling, personal transformation, he strives to discover the truth behind his connection to The Crown of Stones. He searches for answers among the ruins of the past and uncovers ancient secrets that may have altered the course of his entire race.
The Price of Ian’s magic and his addiction have never been higher.
Review:
C.L. Schneider’s imagination runs wild in her series The Crown of Stones, and her sequel, Magic – Scars, is even better than the first book in the series. Schneider’s story climaxes in this novel, and it is everything that a great epic fantasy novel should be, while adding in contemporary issues to amplify the story. The issues of oppression and prejudice against Troy’s race connects to today’s racial issues, and in that way Schneider allows fantasy fans to connect their love of the genre with the contemporary issues going on around them.
As with the first novel, I am still amazed by the new way that Schneider represents magic. She doesn’t glamorize it in her series, but presents it as a burden that magic doers carry. The way that Troy is addicted to doing magic makes it like a drug for him, and I think that by presenting magic this way, Schneider clearly wanted to show that sometimes what you are addicted to is killing you. Troy is reminiscent of Sampson from the bible in the way that he is more powerful than others, but is beaten down by them to be at their level. They are intimidated of him because of his powers, and it is because of this that he suffers. Schneider is an artist with her words, and I admire the way that she weaves such intense insight into her fantastical characters. I was blown away by this novel and her series, and now consider it to be one of my favorite series of all time. C.L. Schneider has earned a strong spot on my favorite authors list, and it is because of her artistic way with words and her scholarly insight on humans and the human experience. Epic fantasy series do not get any better than this.
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July 13, 2016
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis:
Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?
Review:
Jenny Han is the modern day L.M. Montgomery. She captures the life of today’s teenage girls perfectly, and doesn’t paint their lives as perfect. Lara Jean Song is easily our modern day Anne of Green Gables, and her insight on how serious high school relationships can be for children that age is flawless. When reading Han’s novel, I couldn’t help but go back to the pain and complications of being a teenager; but I was also reminded of how free it felt to be on the verge of starting your life and leaving your childhood behind. Watching Lara Jean fall in love and experience those feelings with not just one, but two boys was beautiful. She touched on the subject of understanding that teen love doesn’t always last forever, and her insight on how you become many different people in your lifetime was flawless. I loved how she discussed how she did love different boys at different times in her life, but when a person enters different stages they no longer feel the same things that they did before. It was also heartbreaking to read how her best friendship with Gen didn’t stick through high school, and that is a tough reality for anyone who has ever been a teenager. High school is a place of ultimate evolution, and in order to evolve, some bonds have to break. Unfortunately, as Lara Jean realizes, the pain of those broken bonds does stay with us, and when reading this novel I felt those age old scars throbbing back to life within me.
Han’s writing is not something that I will ever forget. Her books have changed me as much as Anne of Green Gables did, and I could see them easily becoming classics. She doesn’t paint the teenage experience in a bitter way, but in a realistic one. She makes sure that everything she writes is raw, not shiny, and that is why her novels are perfect for not only young adults, but all ages.
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July 12, 2016
I Won’t Break by E. Mellyberry
Title: I Won’t Break
Author: E. Mellyberry
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis:
Lea and Andrew’s story continues in this sequel to My Lea. From the city of San Francisco, the tale journeys on to the other part of the world: Jakarta, Bali, and Tokyo.
It’s been five years since Andrew walked out of his apartment and left Lea in America. Five long years without any single contact.
Andrew is now a twenty-eight-year-old man who just inherited his father’s business empire and is about to marry the granddaughter of the wealthiest man in Singapore. At twenty-four, Lea is in the early process of sorting out her life and career back in her home country.
When Andrew’s father passed away, they are reunited again for the first time since America.
Like it or not, they are forced to revisit their past and deal with their unfinished business. For most people, love is the answer to everything. But Lea and Andrew’s love is far from ordinary. Theirs is tainted by sin and guilt. And anger. Lots of anger.
What happened five years ago that made Andrew leave?
What happened after Twin Peaks?
What happened to their baby?
Told in both past and present events, I Won’t Break tests the limit of love when faced with grief and heartbreak, discovers the true power of forgiveness, and explores the meaning of second chances.
Review:
I Won’t Break is a rare sequel that is not only just as good, but even better, than the first book in the series, My Lea.
The novel follows Lea and Andrew five years after the first novel when they are reunited once again, and one of the best things about this novel was that it wasn’t a dreamlike reunion. Instead, it brought about more heartache because they were both forced to confront each other and the feelings that they shared those five long years ago. E. Mellyberry did a fantastic job pouring reality into this novel, and not making it into a fairytale. She knows how people tick and what emotions they experience in any situation, and her insight was amazing. Her books are not just novels, they are stories of you and me, of people living and hurting and forgiving and loving. She doesn’t force her novels to be cheerful and entertaining for the reader, she forces her reader to stare at things that they would rather look away from – such as grief and heartache – and feel all of those things along with the characters. The best writer is one that writes about life as how it is, but from a raw and real perspective, and Mellyberry’s novels are some of the best of our time. She writes with a knowledgeable and dignified voice, and doesn’t shy away from speaking what she feels and sees for herself. It is clear when reading not only I Won’t Break, but My Lea as well, that she is writing to speak her voice and get her stories out into the world, and isn’t writing to satisfy the reader. Her novels have become a part of my soul, and if you want raw, heart wrenching novels that ring with the timeless voices of some of our greatest authors, such as Harper Lee, then look no further than My Lea and I Won’t Break. Her work cannot be categorized because it breaks the mold, and you will be changed upon reading her words.
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July 11, 2016
Echo From Mount Royal by Dave Riese
Title: Echo From Mount Royal
Author: Dave Riese
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
1950s Montreal. A young woman from a working class, Catholic-Jewish family blindly falls in love with a handsome, wealthy, Jewish orthodox man. The courtship is a romantic dream, but class, religion and sexual secrets test their love, leading to a shocking, life-changing revelation.
Review:
Dave Riese is effortless in the way that he molds current times with the past. His characters were very well developed, and I felt as though they could be my neighbors or people I would pass on the street. Echo From Mount Royal is a timeless novel about a person’s past and how their past changed them for the future. When reading this novel, I reflected on my own life and how small events can change the entire course of a life.
But what fascinated me the most about this novel was the romance element that encompassed the story and the time period. I am always fascinated by romance stories set in previous times due to the romantic air that always seems to surround them, and this novel lived up to my expectations. I am not familiar with Montreal in the 1950s, and I enjoyed learning about that world through this novel. Riese made history fun, and I enjoyed knowing that Rebecca was based off of a real person and her stories. It was clear that Riese worked hard to make sure that her stories were accurate, while also incorporating his own fictional elements to make the story his own. I was very impressed with the natural flow of his plot and scenes, and plan on keeping this book forever. I found it to be an ideal historical fiction novel, and it deserves to be recognized on a broader scale. IF you are interested in historical fiction novels that involve the characters in current times as well, then this book is the best choice to pick up.
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Summer Splash Book Blog Tour
Hello Everyone!
For the next few weeks I will be taking part in a summer blog tour with numerous other amazing authors! We believe that as indie authors we need to support one another, not compete with each other, and this is a great way for us to showcase other authors while being featured ourselves. Below is the list of of dates and authors who I will be featuring:
Week One: Opening Blog
Week Two: Cat Banks Interview
Week Three: Carol Ann King Interview
Week Four: D.j. Ruggiero Interview
Week Five: Leslie Conzatti Interview
Week Six: Marie Silk Interview
Week Seven: Anna Kringle Interview
Week Eight: Susan Ferrell Interview
Week Nine: Kristan L. Cannon Interview
Week Ten: Closing blog
I hope you all enjoy the upcoming author interviews, and check out the other blogs as well!
Much love,
Ashley
July 8, 2016
My Lea by E. Mellyberry
Title: My Lea
Author: E. Mellyberry
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis:
When Lea Amelia landed her feet in San Francisco for her overseas study, her idea of freedom was simple, like eating junk food ten times a day, sitting in front of the TV in her PJs, or going out late with her friends without the need to check in with her mother constantly. Then she met Andrew Jaya, her brothers’ best friend. A twenty-two-year-old guy whose physical appearance looked like he was crafted straight from God’s heavenly hands, but possessed a past as bleak as if it was drawn by Evil himself. A conflicted guy who wore sadness like nobody’s business beneath his mask, a perfect-looking mask she slowly peeled away. He was also the guy who hurt her. Suddenly, everything about her was no longer simple. Andrew Jaya had convinced himself that not feeling was good for him. He’d been doing it splendidly for almost his entire life. But that was before his best friend’s sister stepped into his life and ruined it. After weeks of knowing Lea, all of those warm and wonderful feelings he’d long ago denied to himself started to reappear. Problem was, the brighter the light, the bigger the shadows that came with it. His traumatic past refused to let him go. When the unthinkable happened, the easiest thing to do was to run. But life often proves that the easiest way is usually the hardest.
Review:
Tragic love stories are always a guilty pleasure for me, but lately I have found that when I pick up a tragic love story, it doesn’t hit me as hard as I would like; however, that was not the case with My Lea. E. Mellyberry knew how to wrap the romance with tragedy and realistic elements perfectly, and I couldn’t put her book down.
Lea, herself, is an intriguing character. The book followers her as she goes to San Francisco for an overseas study, and watching her become a part of American culture was intriguing. I enjoyed her alternative view on America as someone from overseas, and it was heartbreaking to see her falling in love with someone who was so tainted and beaten down by life, just to be torn apart from and by him in the end. Mellyberry did a wonderful job of putting the reader in Lea’s shoes, by portraying to them what it is like to just be getting your life started, only to be hurt by someone who changes you forever. I really connected with Lea in that respect, because sometimes love can be damaging, but it does change you as a person and usually for the better.
Reading Mellyberry’s novel was a roller coaster ride of emotion, and I was crying like a baby by the time the end came around. It is a novel that has pierced my heart, and one that I will never forget and keep going back to, despite the emotional turmoil it brings. I am honestly surprised that this novel hasn’t been published on a a larger scale, and it is truly a hidden gem. If you are looking for a new romance author to send you into a whirlwind of emotion, then look no further than My Lea. The best books are those that tantalize your emotions so much that they change you, and this book is certainly among them.
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July 7, 2016
Beaten by Rebekah Rue – 4/5
Title: Beaten
Author: Rebekah Rue
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
My name is Lo Knight.
I am possibly the worst person in the world.
All I wanted was for them to disappear.
I killed my parents.
Heath Mavrick has a claim on me that can’t be touched. He is a free soul, a wild card, but he was the tiny spark that caught my whole world on fire and brought it all crumbling down into a pile of ashes. I cut him from my life, and, in turn I lost the love I loved the most.
Change is hard, especially if it’s being forced.
So when life gives you a second chance, you take it. You make it right. You play it safe. You don’t fall for a dangerous street racer. I was warned.
Never date the bad-boy, tattooed, asshole, and Talon is all three.
The names Talon Baylor.
I’m great-looking, hot-blooded, and worshipped.
I don’t ask. I just take. I love competition and I never lose.
Me? I’m numero uno
Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking.
I’m a bossy dominant prick.
There, you happy? I said it.
There’s a new blonde in town that I’ve made a promise to stay away from, but I can’t. When she turned me down, she made this a challenge, and if I wasn’t interested before I certainly am now. She can resist all she wants, but in the end, I always get my little trophy.
Review:
Dominance has never been so good…
Rebekah Rue has an enviable talent. Not only do her characters jump off of the page due to their realistic qualities, but she allows the reader to connect with her protagonist, Lo. Instead of painting Lo as an untouchable beauty who surpasses all other women, she is painted as an average girl who is quiet and has gone through many traumas in her life. I could easily plant myself in Lo’s shoes, and I enjoyed imagining myself as her throughout the story.
That being said, this book is definitely only for women who adore dominant men and relationships as Talon can be seen as abusive if his dominance is not understood. Talon is a force to be reckoned with, and I enjoyed watching him pine after Lo while she just kept denying him. Seeing a dominant man get played is always fun, but his personality definitely kept both Lo and I on our toes throughout the novel. I also enjoyed seeing her being chased after by two men, since I am a sucker for love triangles. Some times authors can present readers with a love triangle that is infuriating, but that was not the case with Beaten. I felt as though I were living my life through Lo, and the sexiness of Rue’s novel let me live out my wildest fantasies. Her sexual writing was not grotesque as erotica can oftentimes be, and I found it to be artistic in a way that wasn’t apologetic. She made it clear that sex is not something to shy away from, but an active part of the human experience. Watching Lo come full throttle into a new sequel awakening was, for lack of a better word, hot, and I was envious of her experiences.
If you are looking for a quality erotica romance that is both realistic and artistic, then Beaten would be your best choice. I thoroughly enjoyed Rue’s style, and I am looking forward to what she comes up with next.
SCORECARD
EDITING: 5/5
ORIGINALITY: 4/5
ARTISTIC STYLE: 4/5
PLOT DEVELOPMENT: 5/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 5/5
FOR BOOK REVIEW REQUESTS FILL OUT FORM: Book Review Request Form
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July 6, 2016
Exciting News!
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to share with you some exciting news. I have been scouted out and hired by My Trending Stories as a book reviewer/blogger and author. This means that from now on all of my book reviews will be posted to their website, as well as my creative writing, publishing tips, and author interviews. The website receives over a million views per day, which means that any book reviews or author interviews I post will help all of you gain massive publicity! I am very excited for this opportunity, and how passionate they are about my writing and my blog. I think that my blog and writing is becoming a career, and I would have never expected this. I am truly blessed.
Much love,
Ashley
July 4, 2016
Weekly Update – 07/04/16 – 07/10/16
Happy 4th Everyone!
This week I will be reviewing:
Broken by Rebekah Rue
Ruby Ink by L.J. Wilson
Echo from Mount Royal by Dave Riese
This is also an update that we have new author requirements for the Go Indie Now! Bibliotherapy Box. I have already emailed all upcoming authors who will be included in the box, but if you are interested in being featured please review the requirements first. The new requirements will allow us to stay in business and dig ourselves out of the financial hole we have been dealing with, while also featuring your books in the best box possible.
I have also opened up four more spots for our full July box (2 books), and three new spots for our simple July box (1 book). But hurry, because these spots won’t last!
Have a great week everyone!
Much love,
Ashley
FOR BOOK REVIEW REQUESTS FILL OUT FORM: Book Review Request Form
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SIGN UP FOR GO INDIE NOW! MONTHLY BOOK BOX: Go Indie Now!
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