What I've been doing?

Howdy! I know it's been a while since I've posted. Last post was in January and I summed up 2017 and announced the soon to be born Baby Summerlin in 07/25/2018 (unless they come early).So what have I been doing for the last four months?Reading and Writing. It's no secret that reading makes you a better writer, and I really need to bring my A-Game for my next book: 'The Love Frog''The Love Frog' is a love story...ours. No not you Valued Reader, my wife Victoria's and mine. So despite having lived it with me, Victoria is most likely going to want to read it, thus the necessary A-Game. Hence (at least somewhat) all the reading. So since I've been reading so much, I thought I'd take a minute to write a few reviews and provide some links to some of these books. Now, the majority of these books aren't anything like "If Only" or my upcoming "The Love Frog" novel, both of which are based in reality. Pretty much every book I've read within these past few months have been related to the Fantasy genre."Wow! That's really irresponsible of you! Don't you have a baby on the way? Shouldn't you be reading dad books instead of wasting your time reading all these fiction books?!"Whoa, pump the brakes Valued Reader. Yes you are absolutely right. I do have a baby on the way. Since you mentioned it here are the two books I've read in that particular arena.Note: If you're not interested in baby books...skip this sectionBaby BooksThis was the first book I read. I didn't like it...at first. I give author John Pfeiffer props for attempting to bring humor into an often times stress filled situation. But, while the book did provide me a few hearty chuckles. I found that the actual information I sought took a back seat to Pfeiffer's attempts at making a joke. This problem is primarily found in the beginning of the book. Content takes the drivers seat in the latter half, making the book an overall good investment.Then I read this: 'The Expectant Father' is a much more down to earth book. No jokes, just facts. To be honest, if you get stressed easily I recommend 'Dude you're gonna be a dad.' The above book doesn't pull any punches. It lets you know exactly what to expect, from best to worst. What personally stressed me out was the potential costs of everything, which the book goes into painful detail. Everything is covered in detail...a lot of detail. So while you'll probably finish the book feeling cold and sweaty instead of the expected warm and fuzzy, you will most definitely finish the book with the necessary knowledge to be new dad. So there valued reader, those are the books I've read thus far. Now that I've vanquished your concerns like the valiant Dad-to-be I am, let's get on to the other stuff.Fantasy...ish Read this...enough said. Just kidding. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. If you liked Harry Potter, or are familiar with the less known Mathias Thullman Witch Hunter novels, you'll love this. Author Jeffrey L. Kohanek does an impeccable job of drawing you in and keeping your attention throughout the novel. He builds his world and characters in flawless tandem. Enabling you to immerse yourself in both the character relationships as well as satisfy your growing curiosity about the world he's created. Amazing book; if it was ever found by the right people it'd make a great movie. Now the next one and possibly the one after is where the "...ish" part of the fantasy comes in.This is an action packed book about cupids and their struggle to foster true and lasting love in an increasingly fickle world. Interesting right? That's what's going to get you through the book, you're interest in the overarching story that Laskin lays for us. He has a great idea, and overall a great story. The difference between Laskin and Kohanek from 'The Buried Symbol' is that while Laskin manages to hold your interest in his story, he fails to do so with the characters, at least mostly. Most of the characters seem like copies of one another, ultimately creating about three characters total if you were to just combine all of them into what they actually are. Part of this uniformity is by design, this much is clear, however Laskin goes a bit too far. Another potential flaw, is the message.Laskin laces a heavy message within the dialogue of his characters. Its not necessarily a political message or commentary as much as it is human (the heart of which I agree with), yet he lays it on too thick. It's painfully obvious what the Author thinks of certain aspects of our world. Whether or not you agree, is irrelevant. Chances are Laskin's lack of subtlety will bore or annoy you.That being said, the story was well crafted enough that I bought the next two books in the series.Now this last book was my first adventure into the genre of LitRPG. If you're unfamiliar with this genre the book and now movie "Ready Player One" is set within this genre. It revolves around the bulk of the story taking place within a virtual space or video-game. 'Fantasy Online' follows Ryuk, an adolescent boy who prefers the virtual world to that of reality. The story moves from world to world as Ryuk ultimately fights to save both. This was a fun way for me to test out the genre. I read it on a Kindle Fire. Throughout the book the characters will be immersed in their online avatars. During this immersion their avatars will 'level up' or gain 'new skills' based on the feasts they perform. Whenever this happens on the kindle fire positive effects are written in green text while negative effects are written in red. I found this to be oddly satisfying. Although you as the reader aren't playing the game it provides some sense of secondhand satisfaction as you watch the characters grow and progress in literally measurable ways.I imagine its similar to the appeal one gets when watching a Youtuber play a video game. You the viewer aren't doing anything yet you're somehow invested in the player's performance. If you are a reader who also enjoys video game based Youtube channels or Role Playing Games yourself, I'd imagine that the LitRPG genre is a great fit. 'Fantasy Online' is a solid enough book. I can't say how it stacks up against others in its genre, but as far as my own experience with it goes I'll rate it at four out of five stars.Now that concludes the Review part of this post. If you think that's not that many books...well you may be right. However I have also read the one of the following most nights before bed:If you want a review of these books feel free to email me at contact@dicebookpublishing.com but for now, I'll tell you that they have prompted many a kick from baby Summerlin.