Tag Archive: books



Tears and Triumphs of a New Author
Tears and Triumphs of a New Author by Robert Thornhill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is for Kindle version ASIN B008ED36EC

Thank you, Robert Thornhill, for letting me read your book. I am so glad you had the giveaway day so that I could see the road ahead.

Mr. Thornhill has invited the readers in to view his life as a budding author. He tells how at the young age of 66 and retired, he found writing to be his passion, one he never knew he had. How this guy wrote so much and stayed so passionate about his subject matter and used just a finger and a thumb to typed two series plus this book, is absolutely amazing!

Since I have been on the road of writing through 11 books of my own, I understood that passion. But I must admit that I am a bit envious in that I don’t have a perfectionist wife to read my stories and get them to the next level. Still, I gleaned a lot of good ideas and feel more ready to start on the next steps.

I think all new authors would do well to read this personal account of the rollercoaster ride to publication. Robert never gives the opinion that he knows better than the rest of us. This is merely the paths he took and the lessons he learned. I found that refreshing.

AND this book got me curious enough to order his first book and see what its like. I’ve got to admit to loving the title.

My only problem with the book is the repetition. There were parts of his story that got repeated a few times. Being in the editing mode, I see that it can happen very easily. Hopefully, he and his editor/wife can look at that. From what I hear it is fairly easy to go into the Kindle versions and fix things.

Regardless, I will be sharing this book with writer friends of mine. We all need the kick in the butt to get to the next level like Mr. Robert Thornhill. Even this 64 year old youngin’!

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Power of Vitamin D
Power of Vitamin D by Sarfraz Zaidi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is, I think, the third book on the importance of Vitamin D in our lives that I’ve read recently. And I have to say this was the best written of them all. Though not as personable as the others, the design with the references at the end of each chapter, made it so much easier to get through. I could use the text-to-speech to save my eyes the strain and merely turn that feature off to page down to the next chapter without hearing long streams of numbers, dates, and names.

This was probably the most conservative of the books. Doctor Sarfraz Zaidi tended to recommend far less Vitamin D than the other authors had. He did admit, though, that there were very few studies of actual Vitamin D toxicity from overdose, which reflected what I read in the other ebooks about the subject. This would be a great book to start with in researching this important vitamin. It really isn’t a vitamin, but a hormone that we are globally deficient in.

On a personal note, one doctor told me I was deficient. The next doctor told me I was too high in Vitamin D. So I feel I have first-hand experience with the lack of knowledge that the medical world has. So I have taken the advice of all three books in upping my supplementation of D. I believe that my experience with ‘fibromyalgia’ is merely my deficiency of Vitamin D. As soon as I can I will have a better view of whether or not this is true. I am being cautious and not taking nearly what was recommended in the other two books. The only variable that concerns me is Summer. I always feel better in the Summer. Hopefully, by next Winter, I will have caught up on the vitamin. Maybe next year I won’t be stuck in bed all the time.

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Ethereal Fury
Ethereal Fury by Jessica O’Gorek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this Kindle ebook by the author for an honest review.

This book took me longer than it should have to read. It started out with strong pro-Earth promise. I was willing to see what was going to happen to this soul that hurt the planet so deeply. I love the fact that Earth spoke and had her own entity.

Ms. O’Gorek’s writing and characters were awesome! Even the demons seem to have depth. That would have rated five stars. BUT I am not Catholic, nor do I hold to their priests being holy. I think that on a whole religion and particularly the Catholic church has caused more damage than a million demons could. And to watch these main characters put up with the restraint imposed upon them by the church was more than painful. And what does all this have to to with the oil in the other side of the planet? The book never addressed that again. In my mind that lowered the rating to three stars. So I averaged it out in my system to a 3.5 and rounded up.

Oh, and my worst possible complaint: cliffhanger! If it left me with more of a feeling about where the series is going. If it left me with a few tied up loose ends. Either of those would have helped me want to read the next book. A suggestion that might help is the first chapter of the next book or s blurb that entices the reader to look further into this story.

A note: Since I read using my tablet or fire on occasion, I found the font brightness changing from dim to bright and back again. It wasn’t my settings. I was forced to use my 2nd generation Kindle and used text-to-speech to get through. I don’t know if this font this is an issue that can be addressed easily, but for some of us with weaker eyes, that is nearly a deal breaker. Luckily I do use tts a lot so I could still flow with the story.

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Review: Vitality


Vitality
Vitality by M.A. George
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Want a light read that is fun and full of adventures? This series offers all that. As I said in my review of the previous book, this is a combination of sci-fi/fantasy/YA/Romance.

I love the characters and their talents. What I still have a problem with is that the main character only uses hers to get herself in trouble. She is immature for 118, she’s immature for 18. And the constant fainting is just annoying. At least the author has the character and her friends acknowledge this trait. What is even more annoying is that this is supposed to be a person that is a doctor and scientist. She has gone through all that schooling and has dealt with people going back to Churchill. She is long past teen tantrums. As for her taking chances, that might be less too with maturity. Not that she has any of the horrid aches and pains or fragileness of old age, but just an ability to foresee who she is putting at risk by her actions should be called to mind.

Even so, when you let all that go, this is a fun read. I loved all three books in the series, Proximity, Relativity and this one Vitality. I think even late grade school students would enjoy this. I would have read and enjoyed it had it been around for me in fifth or sixth grades. There is very little science, it is merely alluded to with space travel and other innovations. The talents these aliens possess are more what feels fantasy. Oh, and there is one human from Earth. How I wish he would have been more involved.

Oh, the romance! Not my thing. Have at it girls! In fact, that is why I don’t think guys will like this so much. Still, it was a nice book to escape into.

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Review: Relativity


Relativity
Relativity by M.A. George
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What if there was a marriage of fantasy/sci-fi/romance/YA? What would it look like? Look no more. It’s here. Written from the aliens’ point of view, the ones in love, future King and Queen of a planet, not Earth. Earth is where the main characters lived in secret hiding from the bad guys from their own planet. But that was the last book, book 1. In this one, we get the space travel and battles. And love…

For me that was the part I didn’t like. The gooey-eyed lovy-doviness of it all. Though the main character is 118 years old she acts as a pouty, immature 16 year old. Luckily the man (alien) of her dreams is more mature. I’m so glad there is a lot more story around this young adult(?) fiction. Oh, and I hate when the main character is knocked unconscious and is weak and puny. Ugh! When I was a teen I would have read this and passed it to my romance-crazy friend. Heinlein this wasn’t. Still I assume that young girls who have stars in their eyes would like it.

Space travel and the fantasy parts of finding talents the characters didn’t know they had, that’s what I love!. In spite of what I didn’t like, I found that Ms. George writes a well and tells a unique tale. And I almost forgot to write this as I had already started reading book 3. It has hooked me in spite of myself!

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ARENA ONE: SLAVERUNNERS
ARENA ONE: SLAVERUNNERS by Morgan Rice
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Oh, I am so mad!!!!! I hate when this happens. I’m trying to clean up on books that have been sitting around for a long time. In this case, it was a Smashwords freebie. I know, what did I want for free? Nowhere did the ebook announce that it was a sample. I was reading along with the text-to-speech going. The indicator said I would finish this book in an hour. I thought it was a short story and I could free up a tiny amount of space if I read it. An hour later was an actual cliffhanger with the advertisement to get the real book on Amazon, Kobo, etc. So grumbling I clicked on the URL and saw that the real thing was actually FREE. Had it cost anything I would have backed away. But then the Amazon ad came up that I could get the Audible version for only $1.99. So I got it.

So far I kind of like the main character. I find it impossible that she and her sister had lived alone for so long and her not know how to hunt and fish. What have they been living off of? Then there is a tree that falls over from pushing it with her knife edge. TOO many impossible things. If she hadn’t ridden on the motor bike for a long time, what makes her think she can drive it at such horrendous speeds? Okay, I know, I should have suspended disbelieve and just enjoyed it as a tale.

I think I will let this one go at one star for now, let some time go by and come back in with the narrator helping me.

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The Witch Sea
The Witch Sea by Sarah Diemer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Talk about overdoing it. I picked up the free version on Smashwords.com. Then forgot I had it and picked up the free one on Amazon! By the way, it is still free on both sites.

This was a short but sweet book. I loved the characters Nor, the sea person, and Meriel, the witch. Though there is a brief romantic tryst between the characters, it didn’t overpower the story. I liked that for the quick read.

I loved how both characters came together to understand they could help each other as they were both prisoners of their respective dwellings. I loved the descriptions of sea and surf.

Short stories are not my thing. They always make me want to know more about the characters, and learn what happens next. I love knowing people in my real life in a deeper way. I want to know what they think, what makes them tick. I am very bad at social small talk. So I think that is why short stories don’t appeal to me. Sorry.

Anyway, if you are so inclined, check out this sweet story.

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Caged in Bone
Caged in Bone by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whew! Another 3:30 morning for sleep. Today I slept until nearly 3:00 in the afternoon. Caged in Bone was so stimulating that I just couldn’t go to sleep even when I finished reading it. Sure we were left in a safe spot having a few threads tied up. But you could tell there was more. Luckily, I was too tired to see if I had the next book ready so I didn’t start reading it yet. I am itchy to get started on it, though.

Have I mentioned that I love Elise Cavanough? After this many books with her as the main character, I nearly think of her as real. Heck, she did live in Reno for quite a while; she could have been a neighbor. **wink**

This book is a continuation of the stories before, saving Heaven (Shamain), trying to resurrect someone we love (sorry, Spoilers!) all the while each character fighting their own personal demons, real and imagined. The book grabs you and won’t let go.

By the way, disclaimer: I was given this book by the author for an honest review. So I say, those five stars and my review are fully an honest reaction to a fantastic book in a fantastic series of serieses (is that a word?).

Please read these books. Starting with Seasons of the Moon series, then Cain Chronicles, then Descension and Ascension (which I think I am nearing the end) then the newest one is the Preternatural Affairs series. I can’t wait!

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Oaths of Blood
Oaths of Blood by S.M. Reine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this ebook by the author for an honest review.

Sara has done it again! Another book I couldn’t put down. BUT really, Sara, did you have to do that? Can’t tell you. Spoilers. But NO!!!!

This is the first book of SM Rein’s that left me feeling a bit of a cliffhanger. Not a good ending with threads to tie up later but… So yes, I was glad I had the next book already downloaded so I could start reading.

This one cleared up questions that I had about Rylie’s children. It had been a while since I read the book where they were born and lived in Haven, so I had forgotten their names and how that turned out. But Oaths of Blood helped explain all that a little. Say, wouldn’t it be great to have a Wiki about the books, characters and worlds of Ms. Reine? If it has been a while, or the memory isn’t as good as it should be, it’d be nice to be able to look it all up for a refresher.

Though this one didn’t involve Reno so much it still has Las Vegas, and mentions Reno on occasion. This gets my attention. One always wants to know how their state and cities will fare in a demon apocalypse. 🙂

I was happy to see Elise and Rylie join forces as I love those two characters to bits! I’d write more but Spoilers! On to the next book!

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