Welcome #New LWI #Book #Reviewer @SierraJBoone

It’s time to welcome our newest member to the LitWorldInterviews Team and Family. Sierra Boone! @SierraJBoone

Unlike the rest of the team, who I met online, Sierra and I actually know each other personally. A former student in the school system I worked in, until I had an in-home accident and suffered a concussion and severe complications, she’s now a friend, in college student for some time now, a genius since birth, and lover of all things literature probably since someone began reading to her or she tasted her first book cover in the crib, as in baby crib, not celebrity homes.

LitWorldInterviews has become something I never expected. People actually request we review their books and we needed help. Me being the one who created the site and recruited everyone else, am the one recruiting now. Sierra is the beginning of that process. I am wanting more.

It dawned on me what better way to serve a great deal of the authors out there than to introduce a young Book Reviewer who loves;

YA
SciFi
Fantasy
Poetry
Oh, and of course she loves the Classics.

Why is Sierra my first to ask to join in this new round of recruitment to expand our services and take us to a new level? I know who she is and what she is. I know she is the young woman I saw immersing herself in those acting roles on the stage. She was the one people knew had it when it came to the classes. She took the hard courses, not the easy outs to keep a good Grade Point Average. She attained that GPA with the hard courses.

Why is she here and the first I asked? Because I respect and admire her. She works for everything she has as a student. (And I saw her update her status on facebook and thought, hey why not Sierra.)

When I asked her and we discussed it a bit she said it was funny how in school when I covered a class she was in, we had conversations and some of those were about books. I guess I was setting her up then before I even knew what WordPress was. She is mature beyond her years with an appreciation for the Classics in all aspects, not just literature, but movies, acting, everything.

To request a Review from Sierra click here to go to her Author page here on the LWI site and fill out the form. For other team members go to their Author pages (In the black box on the left of the site and in white text.) and either follow to their sites for forms or fill out the Book Review Submissions form here.

As I said, I am still looking for Book Reviewers. Why? My health is not the best. I can’t keep up with what I have now, and I hate saying no to people. Rather than damage the reputation of this site the Team has worked so hard to build, I decided to bite the bullet and ask for help. If you know me, you know I can’t stand asking for help. I feel as though it is a burden I am putting on others. But the authors, the Indie Authors, come first, not my pride. If you have read the book reviews here, you know what I am looking for in maturity and professionalism. Email me at ronovanwrites @ gmail.com if you know me and are interested or you have someone you know very well and can vouch for.

Share this post however you are able to, in order to spread the word about this great new Book Reviewer.

Welcome @JERoyle Newest LWI Team Member.

Blog: Jason Royle

Twitter: @JERoyle

Contact: JasonRoyle.net Contact Form on the Right side bar for Book Review Requests.

Who is Jason?

Author Bio: Jason serves as the pastor of St. Paul’s UCC in Schaefferstown, PA. He is a graduate of Sewanee: University of the South School of Theology with a Doctorate in Ministry and Johnson University with a Master’s in Theology. He and his wife, Heather, have two children (Katelyn and Nate) and one loyal but lazy dog (Rudy). You can find his book, Judas: Misunderstood Hero on Amazon. Connect with Jason on his site, http://www.jasonroyle.net/ and on Twitter at @JERoyle.

Read more about her on his website, http://www.jasonroyle.net/.

Ronovan’s Take: Jason writes from where he believes in a way to help others understand truths not traditions. He and I agree a lot on these elements. Honest, trustworthy, and a great guy.

Why is Jason here?

I read Jason’s book at his request and enjoyed it greatly. A little spin on the idea of Judas that I actually agreed with in basic meaning. I felt LitWorldInterviews needed to branch out to the spiritual and faith areas of books and Jason, after my interview with him that is here on LWI, I knew I had found the person. Non-judgemental, likes to hear other people’s ideas, a teacher and a learner at the same time.

What does Jason do here?

Jason writes Features and Book Reviews. If you want him to review a book please contact him through his contact form on his site.

Remember to check out his book on Amazon, Judas: Hero Misunderstood. It’s only .99 and worth it. A somewhat quirky read about the trial of Judas.

#Book #Review by @RobertHughes05 of “Fireworks” by @boyzbooks

Title: Fireworks
Author: Aimer Boyz
ASIN: B00MTZ7732
Published: 5 August 2014 by Lulu Publishing Services
Pages: 352
Genre: Gay Adult Fiction, Erotica
Format: Kindle Edition
Price: £2.38 includes VAT and free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
File Size: 542KB
Language: English
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Sold By: Amazon UK Amazon US

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review, which follows.

Daniel had been in a relationship for eight years but it ended with his partner, Aiden, leaving him for another man. He’s hurt by the spilt and has no interest in meeting a new partner. He does what every other self-respectable guy does when getting dumped. He hits the bars, credit card in hand, gets plastered and tries hooking up with any guy that moves, because that’s how he thinks he can obliterate the memory of Aiden. Steven has just moved to the house opposite one of Daniel’s sisters and she invites Steven to the Canada Day celebrations she and her husband throw every year for Daniel and the rest of the family. Little does Daniel know that his whole family have plotted for the two men to meet with the hope that maybe love will blossom between the pair. However, soon after meeting, in walks Stephanie into their lives, who proudly announces she is Steven’s Ex.

Daniel and Steven are two of the most lovable characters I have ever encountered in a book. From the beginning I fell in love with both, not only because of the descriptions the author built up of them, but because of the way both seemed so naïve that love would be something they would ever experience again. Like most relationships it’s lust which makes both men want to get to know each other far better but, as time goes on, love also starts to play its part in the developing friendship between the two men.

All of Daniel’s family do whatever they can to get Daniel and Steven together. Daniel’s father offers to help Steven assemble some new furniture, while Daniel’s mother invites Steven around for the meal the whole family have together on a Friday evening. Daniel’s two sisters, Karen and Sandy, and their husbands also want to play a part in helping Daniel find true love again after the heartache Daniel encountered when his relationship with Aiden ended. Little else seems to matter to the whole family other than Daniel’s future love life.

Boyz writes the book like she is part of the family the book is centred around which is just how it should be. She carried the story along very nicely and ensures that each member of the family plays their part in ensuring that Daniel finds true love. On the other hand, she barely mentions Steven’s family which I found quite odd even if they do live the other side of the country. She has a very interesting way in the way she writes in getting the reader to really like every character in the book. I even found myself liking Aiden, Daniel’s Ex partner, who had brought so much heartbreak and sadness to Daniel, and who is the bad guy in the book.

There is a lot of Gay erotica in the book and, at first, I wondered just how she would cope with writing such material. She must have done a lot of research on the subject as she knew exactly what she was writing about and I could not fault any of the erotica scenes she wrote. In fact, some of the scenes rather took me down the memory lane of my younger days, which of course I won’t be divulging about. Some of the scenes seemed they were never going to end and although there are lots of them, never once did I think that Boyz was duplicating earlier scenes from the book.

Although the main characters in the book are part of the same family, the other characters she introduced played just as important a part and she cleverly connected each of these characters to Steven, Daniel or Daniel’s family. While reading the book I felt as if I were watching the whole story unfold on TV as I could very clearly picture everything that was happening in my head. To me, that is a very talented way to write as it makes the story seem even more real and true to life.

My only criticism of the book, other than there was little mentioned about Steven’s family, was that the chapters were far too long. They could very easily have been made into smaller chapters, especially where the story changed completely to a different scene with different characters or where there was a time break.

Fireworks is a typical love story with its ups and downs for the characters involved and will pull you deeply into a family who want nothing but happiness for one of its family members. It is an easy read and won’t have you turning back pages because of misunderstandings about its plot. You will either fall in love with, or wish you had two friends like, Daniel and Stephen because having them around would bring happiness and joy into anyone’s life. I do hope there’s a sequel because this story certainly deserves to have one. If not, then Fireworks would make a perfect screenplay.

Ratings

Realistic Characterisation: 5/5

Made Me Think: 3.5/5

Overall Enjoyment: 4.5/5

Readability: 5/5

Recommended: 4.5/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Review by:

Hugh Roberts

@RobertHughes05 (https://twitter.com/RobertHughes05)

hughsviewsandnews.com (http://hughsviewsandnews.com/about/)

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Safe Reviewing by @JoRobinson176

It’s important not to tarnish your brand when you’re in the public eye – or to invite others to tarnish it for you. No matter how small a fish you might think you are. As an Indie author you really do have to be reading books by other Indies as well your traditionally published favourites, and leaving reviews for our peers is absolutely necessary for the good of the whole tribe. I will ask you one question though – how many times have Dan Brown or J K Rowling publicly published a bad review of their peers? They don’t, because there are reviewers out there who get to do those things, and they probably don’t want to get into barnies with other scribblers either. If you have set yourself up as a book reviewer as well as an Indie author that’s fair enough, as long as you’re prepared to take the possible fallout if you post a less than rosy review. I’ve seen troll brawls caused by a bad review that almost had me under the desk, and I wasn’t even involved, with authors taking down their books and bowing out of the industry.

I am not an official book reviewer. I do review books, but never publicly if I really haven’t enjoyed reading them. It’s not just because I don’t want to be the target of some troll rage takedown, but more because I know how much goes into the writing of a book. Not everyone can write a book. Even though we cringe at the thought of the millions of eBooks out there competing with ours for visibility, the fact is that less than one percent of the population of the planet are writers by trade, and that not all of them write good books. Their bad books are not hurting yours at all, so there’s no need to trash them when there are many non-writers who can and will do so with relish. We’re a little old segment of the planet, and I honestly don’t think that tearing each other down is the way to go. Especially if you have your writers eyeball out when you read a book and pick up on grammatical errors, expecting a novel to be written according to rules.

I haven’t written all my life, but I’ve read all my life, and I can tell the absolute difference to the way I read any book these days. I see things now that I never would have noticed before, but mostly I choose to unsee them straight away if I know they’re something I wouldn’t have picked up on back in my pre-writing days. So far I haven’t seen any writer who is also a book reviewer give a blatantly unfair review, so they’re mostly safe, but you have to ask yourself if posting a scorchingly bad review on any public site is worth the possible damage it could do to your public persona as an author.

On the other side of the coin, leaving a glowing review for a book that you didn’t like at all could also affect your credibility, so don’t do that – rather abstain entirely and move on to a new read. Lately there have been a couple of furores in Indie world about all sorts of things from attempts to get funding to take time off to write a book, to vicious troll attacks and catfishing. We all should realise that there are a lot of people out there on the internet who will attack with the slightest provocation, and sorry to say, some of them have written books, so I suggest that we stick to doing what we love best, and leave the review takedowns to the many people who enjoy that sort of thing. We’ve got much more important things to be getting on with than spending any of our time trashing anyone else’s book publicly. If you can’t give it three or more stars, just let it go.

#BookReview by @RonovanWrites of Jasper Penzey: The Ruby Brooch of Atlantis by @MLaSarre

Title: Jasper Penzey International Boy Detective: The Ruby Brooch of Atlantis
Author: Monica LaSarre monicalasarre.com
Format: Hardcover
Price: $13.01
File Size: 5430 KB
Print Length: 144 pages
Genre: Detective, Adventure, Middle Grades, Fantasy
Simultaneous Device usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Chalfant Eckert Publishing
Published: 21 Oct 2014
Language: English
ASIN: B00OR2NFXG
ISBN-10: 1633081206
ISBN-13: 978-1633081208
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Not Enabled
Sold by: Amazon Barnes&Noble

Nine year old Jasper’s life changes unexpectedly when his father announces the two of them are moving to Greece because of his work. With a mysterious gift and message left for him on his windowsill Jasper begins an adventure in a new country that takes him in search of the secret to finding the Lost City of Atlantis. Does Atlantis exist? How can he find it? And who is trying to stop him?

With a 10 year old, intelligent and inquisitive son of my own I was looking forward to reading this book. The book is aimed at Middle Grade readers and I can see that through some of the word usage and the thinking processes used by Jasper. Very well done. Very much Recommended on that front. Some of he words will push a young reader just enough to make it a challenge but not take away from the enjoyment.

Being a debut novel I was surprised by the great imagery the book provided. LaSarre really does an amazing job of making you feel like you are in the various environments of the book ranging from Louisiana to Greece. Very good descriptions but not at all over done. Just the right touch.

The characters in the book are mostly believable with only a couple of actions that caused me to pause as to how and why but nothing to take away from the book. The story itself is very easy to follow and the flow is good until right near the end where a few things became slightly confusing because of the action taking place but ultimately it all came together.

For a young reader this would be a great book. It gives just enough to make for an interesting read without being loaded down with a lot of unneeded mythological or archaeological details you would find in an older reader book. My son is the next one to read it. He’s been waiting for it.

Monica LaSarre @MLaSarre MonicaLaSarre.com

Ratings
Realistic Characterization: 3.5/5
Made Me Think: 3/5
Overall Enjoyment: 4/5
Readability: 4/5
Recommended: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3.7/5

Review by:
Ronovan

@RonovanWrites

RonovanWrites.WordPress.com

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Book Review by @RobertHughes05 of “Game On: A Love’s Landscape Story” by Olley White

Title: Game On: A Love’s Landscape Story
Author: Olley White http://olleywhite.blogspot.co.uk
Format: Kindle Edition
Price: £0.00 Free
File Size: 468 KB
Print Length: 124 pages
Genre: Gay, Romance, Fantasy
Simultaneous Device usage: Unlimited
Publisher: L.Powell
Published: 8 Sept 2014
Language: English
ASIN: B00NFUONFU
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Enabled
Word Wise: Not Enabled
Sold by: Amazon UK Amazon US

Max thinks he is about to meet Stephanie on a blind date. The two have only ever communicated via an online gaming site. Stephanie turns out to be Stefan, but they enjoy their day out at the Zoo anyway and, as the day goes on, they become the best of friends. As time goes on, both start to get feelings more than of just friendship for each other and, gradually, they fall in love. ‘Game On’ is a book about two men falling in love with each other, but it’s not as easy as just falling in love. No, there are feelings to consider and Max, after all, is straight, having had several girlfriends in the past.

I found this book to be a roller-coaster of a ride. It was rather difficult to get into, but I stuck with it and was somewhat glad I did. Then, it began to sink again and I seriously thought about putting the book down for good, but I persevered and finished it. Being a gay man, I found it hard to relate to the characters. To me, they did not seem real and did not seem to be living the life of a gay person as I know it. Yes, we all live different lives, but having been gay all my life and having many gay friends, I found it hard to relate to most of what was happening to Max and Stefan.

White certainly wrote this love story well but, in the real world as I know it, the time it took for the relationship to develop into something physical, was way too long. There were times when Max and Stefan both knew they wanted to take their relationship further, but White always put obstacles in their way. OK, I suppose that is part of the story, and for Max I can understand this with him coming to terms with the fact that he may be bisexual or gay, but for Stefan, I found the obstacles to be rather silly and raised my eyebrows wondering if such obstacles would really ever exist. Even after meeting each other many times and becoming the best of friends, and Max giving Stefan signs that he wanted to take their relationship further, White choose for Stefan to ignore all the signs which I am sure a gay man would not do.

‘Game On’ is a very easy read but it did not generate any emotions for me. Usually when I read a book I will feel some kind of an emotion such as happiness, sadness, anger, feeling frightened, etc, but ‘Game On’ failed to raise any emotions in me what so ever. Stefan would very much play the clown in the book, but the humour failed to come through the pages and make me laugh or smile. There were parts of the book which reminded me of times when a new boyfriend would introduce me to his straight friends, but it was never as easy as White made it out to be.

If you are looking for a simple straight forward love story with a slight difference, then ‘Game On’ could be the very book to read, but don’t expect to come out of it with the feeling that you must read it again. For me it was not a book that I would talk to friends about because I would not really have an awful lot of interesting things to say about it.

Although the book was not the best of reads, I did like the author’s style of writing. It was simple to follow and the story flowed along nicely. Some of the descriptions were very well written and never, at any stage, did I have to really think about what was really going on in the story. I’m not a huge fan of books where I’m not really certain what is going on, ending up having to reread whole chapters and maybe putting the book down for good, so well done to White for keeping me reading. I’ll certainly read other books written by Olley White, but I won’t be thinking about ‘Game On’ while I am reading them.

Ratings
Realistic Characterisation: 2/5
Made Me Think: 2/5
Overall Enjoyment: 2.5/5
Readability: 4/5
Recommended: 2.5/5
Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Review by:
Hugh Roberts

@RobertHughes05 (https://twitter.com/RobertHughes05)

hughsviewsandnews.com (http://hughsviewsandnews.com/about/)

Welcome Florence to the Lit World Interviews Team! #Australia

I want to welcome

Florence

To the Lit World Interviews Team!

You’ve seen her picture over there in the author’s section, well now you know who she is if you didn’t check her out already.

This is what she says about herself:

“Psychotherapist, educator, lawyer, and a student of writing with a passion for books and music as well as an insatiable curiosity for learning and everything else.”

Yes, she’s here to a) try and make my writing look good when I remember to ask her to look at it before I hit ‘Publish’ and b) because she has a lot of talents that will benefit us greatly. She will be doing reviews of various genre including non-fiction subjects such as Psychology.

Tag: Book Reviewer

Welcome #New LWI #Book #Reviewer @SierraJBoone