Tag Archives: good books

Good Books Outweigh the Bad

July 19, 2015 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

I wanted to give you a few good book suggestions and then two that I didn’t like so much. Here are some of this week’s reviews.

This review is from: Flypaper: Dark Psychological Thriller – Book 1 (Kindle Edition)

This was a story within a story about a writer who writes horror with a sense of humor. He has some crazed fans. Some break through the security measures he’s set up. One in particular is a girl he falls for. She’s written a story called “Flypaper”. The author finds it terrible. I want tell more but this was a good story that kept me turning pages till the end. I really couldn’t put it down. It’s short at 199 pages but that’s all that’s needed. The author knows how to write a series. This book had a great ending. It wasn’t a trick ending that isn’t an ending like a lot of “series” writers are doing these days. It was an ending that made me want to purchase the next book, not because I have to, but because it’s such a good premise I know the next in the series will be good, too.

Any of this next author’s short stories will getcha!

This review is from: Silent Baby Screams (Kindle Edition) ReginaPuckett

This was a short fun read. I was surprised about midway through when I figured it out but could not stop reading until the end. At the end I decided it was brilliant. Awesome!

This review is from: SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN (Kindle Edition)

Tony Burnett is a master of the short story. Southern Gentlemen is the perfect title for this collection of stories about – southern gentlemen. Some are great people, others are a bit shady, while some are scary. This book has a story for everyone. My favorite is the story of the man who watches the woman emerge from her hotel at exactly eight minutes past the hour for several hours. It has a surprise ending.

Here are the ones I didn’t like. Sometimes I feel like Marvin Zindler when he would yell “slime in the ice machine”. I want to ask why do you think I didn’t like these? Because of the seriously vile habit new writers have gotten into of leaving you hanging in hopes you will then buy the next 18 books to get the original problem solved. Foul! Foul! Foul! You’re out!

This review is from: All the Blue-Eyed Angels (Erin Solomon Pentalogy Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

I really loved the book until the end. It didn’t have an end. I’m to buy the other books to find out what happens. The writer is good in story build up and her cliff-hangers are good. The girl protagonist could be better developed. The confusion over the two guys is confusing for the reader, too. Her story of the girl who inherits a sinister island and the man in the hood who seems to be in cahoots with someone else to kill everyone the girl loves is done well until the end that isn’t an end. Disappointed about that. Well-done series can be read as stand alones. I don’t know who has got the cart before the horse and pushed for this new trend of not ending books. It makes me livid.

Now I know you will be surprised at my assessment of the next one but the reason is clear.

This review is from: Dorothy Must Die (Kindle Edition)

I can’t improve on some of the great reviews. I thought the book was imaginative and fun to read. HOWEVER, I was disappointed that the book did not deliver on it’s promise. It ends too abruptly. We must purchase all the other books to find a complete story. I don’t like that. In fact, it’s a terrible thing. So I say, don’t buy this one.

reviews, The Writing Life

Two Great Reviews

July 2, 2015 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

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?

reviews, The Writing Life

Thank you, Lilia Fabry!

July 1, 2015 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

I’ve been struggling for months to get my computer to cooperate. It’s frustrating. I like to play music while I’m working and I haven’t been able to since last summer. I do pretty well to figure things out with these electronics. I can move computers around and get them to work again. Hey, with all the wires and devices, that’s something, isn’t it? I can go into the computer’s CPU and replace parts. I can go into programs and operate to delete bad things. I’m no slouch around a PC. But I’ve been stumped with this problem. I’ve appealed to my computer geeks, techies, and chat rooms and no one could tell me what the problem was. I tried all suggestions. I scrubbed my internet, twice. I downloaded the AVG PC tune-up. It would work for a few hours at most before I’d have to do it all over again. I’ve changed batteries, uninstalled and reinstalled. I changed internet browsers, I changed internet providers. (We were using Clear 4G satellite for the internet for 4 years. We switched to Comcast/Xfinity) No change.

So I had heard that Houston Writer’s Guild member Lilia Fabry worked on computers. She’s very sweet (she does not want me to say that) and she had a fantastic novel out. I’ve read Ordinance 93. I highly recommend it for those interested in how things can change with the simple passing of a law – in this instance, a law about reproduction. Scary stuff. So I got Lilia to come over. Apparently I had several programs that were not playing well together. She helped me sort it all out and to optimize the computer so that it could run at blazing speeds with the programs that I actually use. She does this as a profession and she is very reasonable. I did not tell her I was doing this, so I do not have her permission to put a phone number up. But if you ask, I’ll pass that along to you with her permission.

I’ve been listening to my music for an hour now. No problems. My internet is not using a pitchfork to boot me off. I’m not crazy. Probably a good thing.

Well done, Lilia. Everyone should know about you, and your writing, too.

reviews

Old Wounds of the Heart, a novel by Ken Oder

June 7, 2015 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

I want to tell you about a novel I just finished. Reading it was a thrilling experience. Not because it is a thriller, because you know I read a lot of those, but because it is a work of art, or poetry, or beauty and all of the above. To slip it soundly into a specific genre would be doing it a disservice. It is historical – 1960’s. It is romantic, but not a romance. There is some mystery because the reader has to wonder if the main character will survive. I guess this is a literary novel.

Sometimes I’m privileged to be able to receive a novel to read and review before the novel is published. Sometimes I get these from Net Galley and sometimes I get these from author’s or their representatives. I don’t solicit novels for review any longer. I found that I was reading things I didn’t enjoy, not because the work was awful but because it was a genre I don’t normally read.

When Ken Oder’s editor asked if I would read this book I grabbed at the chance. I’ve read his other novel, The Closing, and liked it.

Old Wounds of the Heart is nothing like The Closing but I probably liked it just as much or more. The writing is simply beautiful. For instance, listen to this:

Toby pulled into the dirt lot beside the store. It was a rectangular frame box with peeling paint. Smoke curled from its stovepipe and the morning rain still dripped from rusty gutters that clung desperately to the roof line by scattered nails. The storefront was a concrete porch with a single gas pump in front of it. Two long wooden benches sat on the porch on each side of the door. Four rotting wooden pillars buckled under the weight of the porch’s sagging roof. The old store had already been remodeled and repaired a hundred times, and another facelift was overdue.

The author takes you back in time to a place in a rural Virginia town and gently revealed parts and pieces of its topography and people.

The story is not a gentle one. It is about some old friends who were going to go to their cabin up the mountain, until a few of them declared they are too old to continue to participate. That night one of the old men, Billy, is almost asleep in his bed, is awakened by noises, then confronted by a ski-masked intruder with a gun. What happens next is an edge of your seat read. The conclusions are a complete surprise. The things Billy has done to some of his friends and family produces a lot of regret and worse.

The emotional range portrayed by the characters as they each struggle with memories or consequences of the same events brought me to tears or smiles. I am reminded that all our actions bring consequences even heart wounding ones.

Find it on Amazon now.

reviews

Death Wears a Mask by Ashley Weaver, a review

May 10, 2015 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

This story is set during a period I seldom get a chance to read, the roaring twenties, when ladies wore gowns to fancy balls, alcohol is illegal in America but not England, and they enjoy the modern conveniences of telephones, elevators and cars. The author paid close attention to bring out these details in such a way so as to not draw attention. I also appreciated learning a few good words like quidnunc. What a wonderful way to describe a busybody.

The main character Amory is married to Milo, a strikingly handsome man (from all accounts). They have gone through some serious ups and downs in their short marriage, but things seem to be going very well. But this happy feeling is dampened all too soon.

Amory garnished some cred in the amateur sleuth department from her “Murder at Brightwell” adventure, so now she has one of her mother’s oldest friends asking her for help with finding a jewel thief. The clues multiply quickly. Amory has made it a goal to speak to each of the people who are suspected, but then things change with a terrible bang.

I found the characters believable. I love how she comes to some very mature conclusions about her relationship with her husband. I look forward to getting to know more about these fascinating characters in future novels.

Home and Family, MY BOOKS, The Writing Life

The Best of Both Worlds of Bookstores

July 27, 2014 Rebecca Nolen 2 Comments

You’ve heard me expound on the virtues of independent bookstores (indie-bookstores) and how important they are in the world of book selling. They are gatekeepers to literacy, pushing good books out in front of our noses, and encouraging all ages to read. Each small bookstore has its specialty, and personality. My latest favorite is River Oaks Bookstore on Westheimer. I offered scones and creme fraiche at my book signing there. You know me, it’s really all about the food. I’ve been to a book signing at River Oaks where there was a full meal served. Now that’s a book signing to go to!

River Oaks is good about encouraging their authors to offer food that might be part of the world of the story. You’ll notice I didn’t have bug crackers, or chocolate covered earthworms on the menu, so the world of The Dry wasn’t on the menu. You’re welcome. I featured scones and clotted cream and cream fraiche and rough-cut marmalade because I was promoting the world in Deadly Thyme, a British thriller.

This past weekend I was signing books at Barnes & Noble on West Gray. There were other authors there. I believe that is how I will be signing books at bookstores from now on. Other authors mean more fans, and my fans get an opportunity to enjoy other authors, so it will be happy times all around. New model for book signing – going forward.

Actually this blog post is about Barnes & Noble. I’ve probably mentioned in earlier blogs how each Barnes & Noble is like a sovereign kingdom. In other words, each Barnes & Noble is unique because of their manager.

How can you as the reader appreciate this? Because your Barnes & Noble will cater to your needs, or not, depending on what their individual policies are regarding requests. For instance, if you want to hold a meeting for your book club on the second Tuesday of every month at your B & N, the manager either gives you a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I believe B & N’s live or die according to what the answer would be from that manager.

What does this mean for authors? How well are you loved by your B & N? Have you asked or been approached to have a signing? The answer is critical to the indie-published author especially. It’s hard enough to rock the stigma that is very real about indie-books (that’s another blog post). Here’s where the book leather scrapes the pavement. Listen up, I’ve even heard of traditionally published author’s being given the “brush-off” by their B & N in regards to a book signing. Seriously? Yes. Can you imagine the answer to an indie-published author? How about a huge, whopping no! What a shame.

On a more positive note I can now say I know of two Barnes & Nobles that readily offer book signing opportunities for indie-authors (indie-authors are independent authors who may be self-published but often are published through small press publishers. I am an indie-author.) My experience signing books yesterday at the Houston Barnes & Noble on West Gray was marvelous! I sold out of The Dry that they had ordered through Ingram and I had to call for reinforcement books from home and still, I kept selling. They told me I was the “best-selling” author of the day at the store. That means I sold more books that any other author, not just my friends who were signing their books but of all the author’s books across the store. What? It’s true. I’m sorry. There is always the part of me that wants to apologize for outselling friends. They are as earnest as I am. But I have to say – I bring a wasp.

So what say I of this Barnes & Noble? I love them. That store was humming with business yesterday or dare I say, buzzzzzzzing? Every one of those store workers were fresh-faced happy people wanting to do all and everything to make all of us successful. That’s a store that will still be there next year.

Barnes & Nobles as sovereign states? Yes. Will some of them fall away, widening the crevasse between the reader and brick and mortar stores and giving Amazon more of a foothold in their bid to take over the world? Yes.

Upper management at Barnes & Noble did an interesting thing when they allowed autonomous rule in their stores, because what they essentially created were independent bookstores (like indies) with a common name. Plus, they probably offer benefits. It’s an interesting business model.

What can you do? Find a B & N that you like. If you’re ever in the Barnes & Noble on West Gray say hi to Michelle. Also, if you are interested and I hope you are, go to your local B & N throughout the U.S. & where ever you are and please ask them to order my books. They are in the catalog. More interested in an e-book? My e-books are available on Nook, too.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Big hugs!

Keep reading great books.

reviews

The Night Visitor by Dianne Emley

July 25, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Such a Page Turner!

Rory has a successful cosmetics company but is still haunted by the death of her company’s representative model, her twin sister. So much mystery surrounds her sister’s murder: Junior, the man found next to the model in a vegetative state from a gunshot wound to the head was Rory’s fiance, his wound is not consistent with a self-inflicted wound but Rory’s wealthy family leaked a story to the press that he murdered his fiance’s sister and then tried to commit suicide, no one in Junior’s family believes it and prepares a civil lawsuit, and Rory can’t accept her family’s story either. As Junior’s death nears he reaches out trying to clear his name and communicates with his brother who gets confused messages and believes that what his brother is trying to tell him is that Rory is responsible. His actions lead to tragic consequences and plunge his family and Rory’s into a deeper mystery. Rory begins seeing pictures in her mind of what happened the night her sister was murdered. As she is pulled deeper and deeper into a psychic connection with Junior, her mind sinks deeper into turmoil as she sees but doesn’t see what truly happened. As Junior’s health fails, so does Rory’s. Will she be able to figure out what Junior is telling her before she dies with him?

I can’t tell you. You’ll have to read this riveting story for yourself.

I received this novel from Net Galley for my fair and honest review.

reviews

Boarding House Reach by Peter Crawley, a review

July 15, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Boarding House Reach is set in England and is told from the points of view of several people, none of whom know each other. As the story unfolds each person is dealing with a problem. Phoebe is dealing with being kicked out of Cambridge for plagiarism. Stella is dealing with England’s equivalent of the IRS wanting to know how she came up with the monies for extensive repairs to her boarding house, The Reach. Audrey is wanting a nice vacation to deal with her two-timing husband’s death and reclaim her past love. Phillip is wondering how he can improve his shaky marriage.

All these people stumble and fail again and again trying to come to terms with, or to deal with, or to avoid their troubles. The author ties these story lines together so well that it happens seamlessly. The boarding house reach the author manages with the characters is well done, as he moves and maneuvers them into place. Though by the fiery end the reader is turning pages very fast in hopes that at least someone will get what they wish for. And someone does. And someone dies. And to tell anything else would be to ruin it for you, the next reader.

I received this book from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

Recommended.

reviews

A Circle of Five, The Pha-Yul Trilogy by Jan Raymond: A Book Review

April 30, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Five students are sent to detention for various reasons. When an electric storm erupts there is a disturbance but they wake the next day with very little remembrance of it but a shared confused. That’s not all they share now. What really happened is that Ryan, Cassie, Sam, Sebastian, and Maya are infused with special power.

I don’t want to spill any spoilers but i do want to emphasize that the author very skillfully transitions the plot from the “every day” high school drama played between these five to an “out-of-this-world” story-line that will keep the reader turning pages.

There are two teachers at the school who noticed the change in these five students. One of them, Mr. Harris, helps the five get control of their very special new powers. I won’t comment on the other teacher, because again, I’m not giving anything away.

The story centers on the five students, their relationship between each other and their growing understanding of a much bigger world than their small town school. And by bigger, I mean outside of the norm where time-travel is believable. There is nothing unusual about their school and their society, with drugs and booze available they must scale their desire to be like everyone else because their destiny is larger than what they know is apparent. Despite their differences and their “normal” dramas about class schedules and girlfriends and boyfriends, they must learn to get along and to help each other out, especially when one of them goes missing.

One central drama centers around the wealth or lack of wealth between the five and how this creates tension, there is also racial tension, the tension created when one of the five lies about another, and the tension between the children and their parents. All very believable and because I used to teach high school, very realistic.

This may be a YA novel but it could be a middle-grade. I recommend for ages 9 to 16.

reviews

Review of The Guardian’s Angel

March 24, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Picture of the book pulled from Amazon.com

I have nine years experience working with autistic children, most of whom were brilliant as is the little, blond Tommy in this story. The author did an exceptional job of writing an autistic child dealing with serious trauma – losing both parents when they were violently murdered.

The boy does not speak at the beginning of the story. Libby, a doctor who works with autistic children and who is the main character, knows Tommy can speak because she overhears him mimicking cartoon characters. This is very realistic and shows the author did her research. When Tommy repeats the words “tree-terty” he is telling the exact time that his parents died. I don’t know enough about this so I had questions here. 1. Did Tommy witness his parents’ deaths so that is the reason he knows the time? 2. How did his parents die. We know they were murdered but I don’t remember how, which makes talking about it awkward. The device of Tommy repeating the time whenever he missed his parents is well-written. This leads me to the end of the book where Tommy wakes JD with those words. Immediately JD announces that Tommy says it because the bad guys are here. That was a jolt. I would have assumed Tommy was having a bad dream and needed comfort.

I love the romance that was evident before even chapter two. It was well-written, subtle, not too on-the-nose. The sex scenes were well-done, not over done or too graphic. The psychic connection of the two characters was delicious. The author leaves the reader feeling very good about the future of these two. She actually didn’t need the last chapter. But it was sweet – so keep it!

I had a few pauses though, for instance in the scene where Libby and JD are up in the bunk above the cab. They left Tommy asleep on the pull-out bed/table. I was thinking the entire scene that they would look down and Tommy had opened the door and taken off across the campground. It would have added an entire scene of angst and fear for the reader. This seemed like a missed opportunity.

Because after all, there is suspense here as well. The suspense of escaping, being on the road, getting caught, escaping again, long road flight, who knows who the bad guys have “fixed” to help. The tiny scene where we discover who the bad guys have forced into helping them was well-done. However, I would have liked to have seen more of the bad guys making their evil plans throughout the novel. This would up the race against time more.

It was jarring to have JD’s family show up at the secluded cabin. I liked that it made for a touch of humor. But it seemed out of place. The solution is to take it more slowly perhaps have the reader witness the car driving up the mountain and having us believe it was the bad guys and – surprise! it is the hilarious Canadian brother-in-law and family. I loved him. He made an excellent foil to JD’s serious demeanor.

Action scenes: The two major fight scenes flash by too quickly. I barely had time to register that there was a fight scene. I never did figure out how JD got shot. The end fight scene is a blur. Being a visual learner, I couldn’t see it. I would suggest practicing the moves and rewriting it that way. We need to see each step every character takes and each shell casing land on the turf.

The author did an excellent job of creating characters that we really cared about from the beginning. I would recommend this to friends.