Unmasking Maya / Libby Mercer

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count: 55,000-60,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

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Author:

Libby Mercer lives in San Francisco. For several years, she worked in fashion - first as a journalist and then as a shopkeeper, and for a while she dabbled in design. Unmasking Maya is her second. Her third novel, The Karmic Connection, is scheduled for release in 2013.

Check out Libby's blog here. 

Description:

After a being wrongly accused of betraying trade secrets by her previous long-term boyfriend, fashion designer Maya Kirkwood leaves New York and moves to San Francisco to start a new life. She is commissioned to design and install a series of fabric-inspired wall hangings for Derek Whitley, CEO of a Silicon Valley hi-tech company. The story follows their often bumpy journey toward romance.

Appraisal:

I don’t read enough romance novels to make an informed comparison between this story and others in the genre. That said, I enjoyed Unmasking Maya. I’ve tried to examine why, because unlike sci-fi, thriller, or action, much of this story takes place inside Maya’s mind. In these other genre, ‘telling’ the story in this manner would be one-star-worthy, but I became involved with Maya’s internal workings as she shared her thoughts about Derek (handsome and smart, but too driven, and a workaholic), and her struggles with her own insecurities (he seems distant, hard to read, and can she ever trust again after her last relationship).

They get off to a poor start because he doesn’t much like her artwork, which is a tough pill to swallow as she’s trying to reinvent herself through her creations. And then there’s the repeated references to Daisy, which both intrigue her, and make her suspicious of Derek’s viability as a partner - maybe Daisy is another one-night-stand.

Derek and Maya are both likeable, the more so because they have interesting jobs. The author’s knowledge of fashion and of San Francisco help to imbue the story with realism, and the obstacles over which our heroine must of necessity stumble seem believable, as does the ending and the way they reach it.

Format/Typo Issues:

Only one typo noted – Wow! Kudos, Ms. Mercer.

Rating: **** Four stars

The Disrespectful Interviewer / Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction

Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

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Author:

Novelist Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s family is full of authors. She has written numerous books (I don’t have enough fingers to count them) aimed at adults, young adults, and children.  Her husband, Greg Logsted, writes young adult novels. With daughter Jackie, the entire family collaborates writing the Sisters Eight series, for kids.

For more, visit Baratz-Logsted’s website.

Description:

“Just what the title promises! Thirteen disrespectful interviews with authors, including: Chris Cleave, Jon Clinch, Tish Cohen, Joseph Finder, Kristy Kiernan, A.S. King, J.A. Konrath, Greg Logsted, Lisa McMann, Lynn Price, Lev Raphael, Adriana Trigiana...and Lauren Baratz-Logsted - discover new favorites and see some of your favorite authors, like you've never seen them before!”

Appraisal:

What is the point of author interviews? I have a website where the majority of the new content consists of author interviews from a standard list of questions, so I better come up with a good answer, right? As a reader, knowing more about your favorite authors could make you a bigger fan. (Isn’t this the same as all the TV shows and magazines devoted to actors and entertainers? Aren’t authors like rock stars to readers?) For authors we aren’t familiar with an interview can be like an audition. While they’re trying to sell you on reading their book (the author’s reason for doing the interview), you’re looking at how he or she words their answers. How they express themselves in interview answers could reasonably be expected to be the same as in their books. Do you like their sense of humor or find them to be insightful? Or is their verbiage convoluted? Other authors may enjoy author interviews for the opportunity to compare experiences. However, coming up with unique questions if you’re conducting the interview or, for the author, answering the same old questions without using the same old answers is tough. Which is where this book comes in.

Baratz-Logsted originally did these interviews for the defunct literary e-zine BiblioBuffet. The premise was that she’d ask questions that are different and at times disrespectful. By shaking things up with the questions, maybe it would get some different and more entertaining answers as well. To give you an idea of what this means, here are a couple example questions:

There have been several authors who’ve turned out to be one-hit wonders. Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee are the two that spring most readily to mind. How about you – planning to be a one-hit wonder, or do you have something else up your sleeve?

I see here that “The Dust of 100 Dogs” is classified as a Young Adult novel. Care to comment on why you didn’t write it as a real book – you know, one for adults?

The answers were (as they should be) more entertaining than the questions. One of my favorite answers was J.A. Konrath talking about the worst review he’d ever received. He ended with this comment:

Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, critique. Those who can’t critique well, work for “Kirkus.”

I enjoy humor with a touch of irreverence, so this was a fun read for me. Prior to reading these thirteen interviews, I’d read a book from only one of them (Konrath) and heard of two others, Joseph Finder and, having this book in hand, I’d also heard of Lauren Baratz-Logsted. (Yes, she interviews herself, and the disrespect between interviewer and interviewee is shocking.) The acid test is whether, after reading these interviews,  I am interested in reading books from some of those who were interviewed. The answer to that is a resounding yes.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four stars

Reclaim My Heart - Giveaway

To celebrate the release of her latest book, Reclaim My Heart, romance author Donna Fasano is sponsoring a giveaway exclusive to readers of BigAl's Books and Pals. 

Donna Fasano was the winner in Books and Pals first ever Readers’ Choice awards in the romance category. She is also a three time winner of the HOLT Medallion, a CataRomance Reviewers Choice Award winner for Best Single Title, a Desert Rose Golden Quill Award finalist, and a Golden Heart finalist.  Her books have sold just shy of 4 million copies worldwide and been published in nearly two dozen languages. 

Sixteen years ago, Tyne Whitlock cut all ties to her past and left town under the shameful shadow of a teenage pregnancy. Now her fifteen-year-old son is in trouble with the law and she is desperate for help. But reaching out to high-powered attorney Lucas Silver Hawk will tear open the heart-wrenching past in ways Tyne never imagined. 

Forced to return to the Delaware Indian community where Lucas was raised, Tyne and Lucas are tempted by the heated passion that consumed them as teens. Tyne rediscovers all the reasons she found this man irresistible, but there are scandalous secrets waiting to be revealed, disgraceful choices made in the past that cannot be denied. Love is a powerful force that could heal them both—if the truth doesn't rip them apart.

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And watch for a our review of Reclaim My Heart at Books and Pals next week.

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Dearest Irish / Lyn Horner

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Western Romance/Historical Romance/Supernatural

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

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Author:

Lyn Horner resides in Texas with her husband and several beloved cats. Trained in the visual arts, Horner worked as a fashion illustrator and later as an art instructor for Art Instruction Schools (famous for their "Draw Me" heads.) After quitting work to raise her children, she took up writing as a creative outlet. This hobby grew into a love of historical research and the crafting of passionate romances based upon that research.  She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Yellow Rose Romance Writers, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. Ms. Horner was also nominated for Books and Pals first ever Readers’ Choice Award for her novel Dashing Irish. To learn more about Lyn Horner visit her website, blog, or facebook page.

Description:

“Dearest Irish (Texas Devlins, Rose’s Story) is the third book in a western romance trilogy set in the 1870s. This unique series features three siblings who descend from a hidden line of Irish Celtic Druids. Each possesses a rare psychic talent they hide for fear of persecution. Dearest Druid stars Rose Devlin, youngest of the three. Rose has an extraordinary ability to heal with her mind, a secret gift that has caused her great pain in the past. She also harbors another secret, one she can’t share even with her brother and sister, one that threatens her chances of ever finding love.”

“Choctaw Jack, a half-breed cowboy introduced in Dashing Irish (Texas Devlins, Tye’s story), straddles two worlds, dividing his loyalties between his mother’s people and the family of a friend who died in the Civil War. Like Rose, he keeps shocking secrets. If they ever come to light, he stands to lose his job, possibly his life. Yet, he must risk everything to save someone he loves, even if it means kidnapping Rose.”

Appraisal:

Rose has lived a sheltered life having spent the last seven years in self imposed exile in a convent in Chicago. She is naïve and trying to find her place in the world while keeping her healing touch a secret. Choctaw Jack witnesses Rose healing a mean spirited stallion’s leg injury under the cover of darkness. To save this unbreakable horse she must learn to ride him or watch him be destroyed. Her sensibilities won’t allow that to happen. Tye employs Jack to teach her how to ride a horse. The plot takes a mean twist when Jack receives word that his mother is dying back on the reservation.  After having witnessed Rose heal the stallion he kidnaps Rose to take her to heal his mother. It is a long hard journey, physically and emotionally as neither is willing to share their past.

This story is engaging as two battered and wounded souls find each other and begin to heal one another. I sympathized with Choctaw Jack trying to live in both the Indian world and the white man’s world, but he has managed it well. Jack is a complicated man with a sordid past that he is not sure he deserves forgiveness for. He recognizes Rose’s wounded spirit and does his best to contain his desire while he tries to figure her out. Each feel they are not worthy enough to ever be loved.

Lyn Horner has done an outstanding job exposing what life was like in this time period between Native Americans, the Calvary, and other settlers in the Oklahoma and Texas areas whether on the trail, the reservation, or a homestead. This story has it all. The fact that she has brought Irish immigrants, with a Druid history into the melting pot just makes it that much more interesting. The plot is realistic and the characters were wonderfully portrayed.  This is an entertaining and educational story that took me on a wonderful journey into the past.

FYI:

This book contains adult situations that may be offensive to some.

Format/Typo Issues:

No Significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Look for me / Traci Hohenstein

Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Mystery

Approximate word count: 20,000-25,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

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Author:

The author lives in Florida. In addition to the Rachael Scott series, she has a series of romance novels. You can find her on Facebook page. 

Description:

Rachael and Rick Scott’s three-year-old daughter, Mallory, is snatched from their front yard. Rachael tries for months to find her child and to cope with the trauma. The story follows her path.

Appraisal:

Rachael’s life seems empty and lacking in meaning without her daughter. Her husband throws himself into his work, but she finds no solace in hers (she’s a successful commercial realtor). When a boy, similar in age to her daughter, is also taken, Rachael contacts the mother and helps her find her son. Mostly the story revolves around this event rather than the loss of her daughter.

This story is a prequel to a series starring Rachael Scott. As such, it delivers some background—she sells her business and puts herself on a firm financial footing and then starts a business service that will focus on finding missing persons.

I enjoyed the opening of the story a lot. Rachael is well drawn, and I was pulled into her dilemma, but most of the story was spent on the missing boy, and seemed a bit flat and predictable to me. The writing style is easy on the eye, but at novella length, there wasn’t enough meat here to either define Rachael, or to leave me panting to follow her further exploits.

Format/Typo Issues:

Too few to mention.

Rating: **** Four stars

#Free for your #Kindle, 5/16/2013

The author of each of these books has indicated their intent to schedule these books for a free day for the Kindle versions today on Amazon. Sometimes plans change or mistakes happen, so be sure to verify the price before hitting that "buy me" button.

Stranger at the Hell Gate by Ash Krafton

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Delayed Death (Temptation in Florence) by Beate Boeker

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At the Brink of Neverendings by Leonard Little

Amazon US

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Author's interested in having their free book featured either here on a Thursday or a sister site on a Monday, visit this page for details.

Card Declined, How Britain Said No to ID Cards Three Times Over / SA Mathieson

This is the second half of a double shot. If you missed it, look for Keith Nixon's take on the same book this morning.

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Politics

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

SA Mathieson is a journalist and author. He specializes in healthcare IT and management and contributes regularly to blogs and publications such as the Guardian newspaper on these subjects.

You can learn more about the author on his website.

Description:

In Card Declined… the author traces the historical facts regarding Britain’s use, abolition and attempts to reintroduce an identity card scheme over the period 1945 – 2011.

Appraisal:

This book discusses the history of a movement to institute a program requiring a national ID card in Britain. A political battle that raged on and off for several years, a law was ultimately passed and then repealed before it could be fully implemented. I thought it would be interesting to read this from the viewpoint of an American, not just to see the differences in the political systems of Britain and the US, but also what we might learn from Britain’s experience in a few related political battles going on here. I’ll start with a quote from the book

Americans have a written constitution that states that “we the people” are sovereign. Britain doesn’t, and many people (including Tony Benn) talk about a ‘they’ who are responsible for all manner of things – which means they can take the blame, too.

At least in theory that quote should get to the heart of the differences between the two systems. But at least from what I read here, although the political process of passing a law may not be the same, in how it functioned (or didn’t) I couldn’t see much difference. There was partisan bickering between the majority and minority parties, with gamesmanship seeming to matter more than doing what was right. In the next election the majority and minority might change, but the game didn’t. There was plenty of money wasted and in the end, nothing of worth (from any perspective on the political spectrum) was accomplished.

However, I did notice some similarities and two significant differences between this political battle in Britain and two current issues in the US, specifically voter ID laws and some laws that have been passed in some states allowing law enforcement to demand proof of citizenship. One difference I saw was that the changes are generally being proposed by parties on different ends of the political spectrum, with those from the liberal end championing the ID laws in Britain and those from the conservative side proposing these laws in the US. The other difference is the proposed changes in the US aren’t as sweeping, in that they wouldn’t require everyone to have a specific form of ID, but would potentially require people who currently have no need for accepted forms of ID to obtain one of them. Rather than argue either for or against, I’ll point out a few of the ideas raised in Card Denied that seem pertinent to the US and the laws under consideration here.

The first is this quote from an opponent which sounds familiar to those who have paid attention to discussions of voter ID laws in the US. “This is a rare victory for civil liberties. ID cards were a solution looking for a problem.”

The main objection to the ID cards in Britain is that it would provide the government a means of tracking too much about a person, in essence making it easy to invade privacy. The law that eventually passed gained favor with politicians in the wake of 9/11, not unlike the passing of The Patriot Act in the US. In the wake of recent terrorist acts in the US, we should be on guard for attempts from either party to shove through laws using this as an excuse.

Last is this quote, which is applicable in many ways to the issues being discussed in the US:

“My biggest objection, of many to this scheme, is the impact I know it will have on racial minorities,” she added. “It won’t be the home secretary, or his family, or people that look like him, that get hassled for their ID card in a doctor’s surgery, on the street, at every port and call. It will be people who look like me. That is the experience of every European country that has compulsory identity cards.”

Card Denied raised the specter of 1984 and how ID cards allowed Big Brother to track every citizen. Although the US is nowhere near that, we need to scrutinize proposals taking us more in that direction and decide whether they are solving a problem or only helping put us in Big Brother’s sights.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: **** Four stars