E.J. Divitt's Blog, page 2

Time To Get Back To Work

That's it. The holidays are over. The lights are down. The tree is packed up. No more nutcracker statues on the fireplace and no more excuses for why I'm not writing.
It's time to buckle down and plan this year's novel.
I've finished the Ghost Protector Trilogy so I'm looking to do something completely new. I've been toying with two ideas. One has dragons and come on dragons are always great; the other has a descendant of Medusa trying to break the family curse.
Brainstorming must ensue.
I have one more week in my self appointed deadline to decide and then I need to outline and start the story. Wish me luck?

New Short Story Available In The World Of The Ghost Protector Trilogy

I've added a short story to the Complete Trilogy edition of the Ghost Protector Trilogy on Amazon. The story isn't available anywhere else. If you've got Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free.



Available here: http://a.co/e2ZKh1M

Complete Trilogy Edition On Sale For 3 More Days-Urban Fantasy Novels

The Complete Ghost Protector Trilogy is on sale for only $2.99 in the US and only 99 in the UK for another three days












All three novels in my Ghost Protector Trilogy are available in one collection; on sale for a limited time. Price returns to $4.99 end of day 8/23/16.
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GLRXXU... USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GLRXXUE

Review: What Customers Crave

What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint by Nicholas J. Webb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free arc in exchange for my honest review.
When I first opened this book on my Kindle, I thought it was pretty short. It registered as being I believe 5% in and I was only on the table of contents. Turns out it isn't short; it's just densely packed.
This book breaks down customer service for the new generation; the digital one. It goes through the importance of treating customers not as demographics but rather as types. What a customer loves and what a customer hates are more important than their age, race or creed. My only complaint was I felt it was a little too general in places but this was probably necessary so as to appeal to multiple business types.
I think this would be an excellent book for a small business and useful for bigger businesses as well.

View all my reviews

Review: Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh

Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. Let me say right off that I've read the previous four books in the series and enjoyed them so I was eagerly looking forward to this one.
It did not disappoint.
For those familiar with the Rock Kiss series, you're already prepared for this final (?) book where the keyboardist in the band gets a chance to win back the love of his life.
The book takes up pretty much where the others left off. We see references to events in prior books but they don't ruin this book. They just pique your interest in reading the previous ones; if you haven't already.
Sarah and Abe were married but Abe was a drug addict and tormented by the death of his sister and he basically ruined everything. Sarah is also portrayed as too timid to stand up for herself or admit her own needs but it's pretty much Abe's fault.
As usual, there were the hot sex scenes for which this series is known.
I have only a couple of small complaints. One, Sarah had a lot of accidental pregnancies. It seemed like stretching things a bit. Two, Jeremy was talked about a lot but never shown. It was all second hand information. Otherwise, a good solid romance and a good solid finale for this series about members of a rock band finding love and redemption. I would recommend the series if you enjoy hot happy ever afters especially with redeemed bad boys.

View all my reviews

Writing Prompt: On The Day I Buried My Sister

“On the day I buried my sister, I felt completely numb,” she says. She takes a long hard drag of her cigarette as though trying to pull every drop of nicotine out of it. She leans over and crushes it out in the metal ashtray already overflowing with cigarettes. Her handcuffs clink against the metal table as she draws back. She looks up at the ceiling and lets out the smoke in a long burst.“Are you trying to say it wasn’t your fault?” the detective asks, looking up from his notebook. One dark bushy eyebrow travels up his forehead as though it is trying to follow his receding hairline.“No,” she says flatly. “I’m just trying to explain. Listen.” She leans as far across the table as she can. “Have you ever lost anyone you loved? Had them suddenly ripped away from you?”“I was under the impression your sister was sick for quite a few years before she passed,” the detective says consulting some notes on his pad.“And you think that means it wasn’t sudden?” she demands. She pushes herself away from the table; scooting her chair back. She starts to rise but the metal chain connecting the handcuffs is looped around a metal bar on the edge of the table and she is jerked back down before she can fully rise. “It’s always sudden.”The detective nods as if conceding the point and gestures for her to continue.She drops back down in her seat and puts her elbows on the table. She leans her head down and rubs one hand through her hair. The burnt ends of her brown hair break off in her hand and fall down onto the table in clumps that she ignores. “I drove myself to the cemetery. People offered and the funeral home would have given me a limo but I wanted to be alone.” She grasps her hands together and starts to rub them one over the other. “When it was over, I stayed there staring down at that horrible hole in the ground and I felt frozen. Like there was this wall of ice between me and this horrible thing. I didn’t want to move; didn’t want to crack it. I knew once I started to cry, I wasn’t going to stop. So I just stood there.” She rubs her hands over her eyes; missing the look of pity in the detective’s.“I’m not sure how long I stood there when this guy came up to me. I didn’t see him walk up. He was just there. I ignored him. I didn’t want sympathy. I didn’t want to be consoled. If he tried to make me feel better, it would just make me feel something and that was the last thing I wanted. So I ignored him. But that didn’t seem to bother him at all. We just stood there until it got ridiculous.” She pauses now; her eyes distant as if remembering.“What happened next?” the detective asks her.“I turned around and started to walk away. He came with me. Still not saying anything; just keeping pace.” She goes back to rubbing her hands together. “I got frustrated with him and then I got mad at him for making me feel frustrated. Making me feel anything.” She takes a gulp of air and wipes her hand across her face. “So I turn on him. I’m ready to blast him and I look him dead in the face and I open my mouth to yell but he’s just looking at me. He’s looking at me like he can see straight through my soul. I stopped right there with my mouth hanging open.”
“You need a distraction, he tells me. He holds out his hand. It’s just hanging there between us. He doesn’t say anything else. Doesn’t introduce himself. And I look down at that hand and I think what the hell. I put my hand in his and he turns and starts walking away taking me with him.” She gulps now. “That what the hell moment. That one moment of wanting to be anywhere and do anything as long as I didn’t have feel; to hurt. That’s the moment I threw my life away.”

Differences

Putting out a book teaches you a lot about how different people are and how differently they view the world. At least it did for me.

Here are some examples:

My writing prompts book received two reviews on the same day. The first said the prompts were too short and therefore pretty useless. They needed to be longer; to have some meat to them. The second reviewer loved them. They said the quick little prompts gave them lots of room to expand and explore without hemming them in. Same exact book. Two very different reactions.

The first book in my paranormal fantasy trilogy was described by one reader as being a slow exploration of death and family. Another described it as a quick paced fun read. If you read those reviews individually, would you even think they were for the same book?

I had no idea going in how very differently the same book could be received by different people. I don't just mean that some people liked it and some didn't. I mean the reasons, the perspectives.

I guess it makes sense. We are all unique people with unique experiences that color our worlds. I just didn't realize how wildly that can vary.

Even when are all in the same place, we took very different routes to get there.

Review: Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this short story. I am a fan of the Kate Daniels series so I was already familiar with Jim and Dali. It was wonderful to see them interact. There is another Jim and Dali story called Magic Steals and it will be part of the Night Shift anthology. I recommend you read this one and then go and read that one.

I would say this story would appeal more to fans of the series but it can be read as a stand alone as well. It is set in a world where magic has started to come back and overtake technology. Tech and magic fight it out constantly for the upper hand and people get dragged along behind.

Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cute and clever. Paranormal steampunk.
This book was recommended to me by a friend and I have to say I truly enjoyed it. The book is set in an alternate reality Victorian England (about mid 1800s) where werewolves and vampires are a part of society. They exist and so does the etiquette on dealing with them.
And as they exist, so does their opposite; people whose touch cancel out their supernatural powers. These people are known as preternaturals or soulless. Our fearless heroine (and spinster having reach early twenties without marrying) Alexia is such a soulless. This doesn't stop a certain supernatural from being romantically interested in her and it doesn't stop her from getting in the middle of some supernatural troubles.
Alexia is a strong woman who isn't going to let a little thing like having no soul stop her from saving society or setting it on its ear.

Complete Ghost Protector Trilogy Edition Out Today

For the first time the full Ghost Protector Trilogy is available in one edition for a discounted price.
All three books in my Ghost Protector Trilogy have been combined into one ebook edition. You can buy all three books for less than the price of two of them individually.

It is also part of the Kindle Unlimited program to read with your monthly subscription. #kindeunlimited

This trilogy represents a year and a half of my life so it is both a relief and a let down to have it all completed. I hope you enjoy it.

You can find it here:

https://amzn.com/B01GLRXXUE