I wanted to include a photo of Denise Satterfield and I at the Great Big Hair Ball during the Pulpwood Queens weekend last January. Fern Brady was there, too. We made the Nacogdoches newspaper!! Whoo Hoo!!  Here’s the photo:

I’ll be signing at a Kroger next weekend, July 11 and 12 at Ella and 43rd.

I’ve heard from a reader in India, Aditi, who read The Dry. You can see her blog post here: http://bookstopcorner.blogspot.in/2015/06/review-256-dry-by-rl-nolen.html

Here is an excerpts from her review:

The book opens at a drought-affected land somewhere in West Virginia where a young boy, named, Elliot Sweeney, embarks upon a journey to find his missing father when his father’s search rescue team called off their mission to find him. Soon Elliot meets a young girl named, Left, who too is looking for her missing brother, who worked in the col mines. On their way, they chances upon a scary rat-like looking ma, or rather say a rat man named, Mr. Nogard and a lost and forgotten world, Penumbra, separated by a Dry side and a Water side. But in the Dry side there is a dragon and ruled “The Wicked Prince of Every Place”, named, Prince LeVane, a huge monster wasp, who hires children to work in his mines. And now it’s Elliot’s decision to take a brave step to go to the Queen of the Water, Tosia, and to help him rescue those helpless children.

Firstly, the story is absolutely mind-blowing and thoroughly engrossing enough for the readers to keep them hooked till the very last page. And since the author have included so many action-packed events that provides a fast pace to the book. The narrative is kept catchy and thoughtful and layered with emotions. The graphic detailing and vivid description of each events makes the story a complete page turner.

The backdrop of the story and especially the world building of Penumbra is very striking and excellently done with enough information for the readers to understand the hows and whys of this strange insect-filled and drought-affected land. The author sets her readers mood right into the very heart of the story by unraveling the strangeness of this dark, scary world moment-by-moment.

The characters from the main protagonist to the evil ones are all strongly developed masking them with flaws that can induce fear in her readers’ minds. Elliot is an ever-growing character who grew out of his fear till the very last page and though he is a 12-year old boy, still his mind progresses like an adult and it is real easy for the readers to connect with his and his fear.

The wasps play a huge role in this book as each chapter begins with an important wasp fact that holds the key to the following events. And I believe, after reading this book and reaching that satisfying climax, the readers are bound to get some giant-wasp-filled-nightmares for a while.

The book deals a lot with trust issues, like on his way to find his father, Elliot meets a man named, Mr. Jack. In the beginning he had trouble believing in his stories, so he runs away with his donkey and the author does a great job in building that misunderstood trust in his heart for Mr. Jack. The adrenaline-rushing moments and the action-packed events make the book one hell of an edgy roller-coaster ride.

Verdict: All YA lovers, especially dystopian fans, will highly appeal to this book.

Here’s a website with a great review of Deadly Thyme by Kathryn Svendsen. Here’s her blog post address: http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-deadly-thyme-by-rl-nolen.html

Here is what she said:

From the very first sentence, the author will have you hooked. This is a mystery novel that is difficult to put down. It will give you the chills and make you want to know where your daughters are at all times.

In this complex mystery there are very few clues to go on. The kidnapper almost seems to be like a ghost. He seems to be able to move about the village without anyone seeing him. As I tried to unravel the mystery along with the detectives, the various twists and turns had me suspecting a variety of different people. I even had the advantage of knowing some information from the perspective of the perpetrator of the crime.

The author did an excellent job of making the characters in Deadly Thyme seem just like anyone else you might meet in a small village in England. I thought the main character Detective Jon Graham was very personable. The torment that Annie experienced was palpable and realistic.

There were a few gruesome scenes and a few very surprising twists. But this killer is a depraved madman and no one can figure out who he is.

I gave Deadly Thyme 5 stars out of 5. It’s a clean read with no profanity and no sexual scenes.  If you enjoy murder mysteries, you should definitely pick this book up. I highly recommend it.

Isn’t that wonderful?