Sunday, March 25, 2012

Footprints in Time by Kate Welsh



Historian Sharon Henderson is transported across time to the middle of a prisoner of war camp in 1864 Maryland. There she meets Ridge Grayson whose home she inherited and whose portrait and journals have always fascinated her.

Wounded in battle, Captain Grayson faces death with one great regret. Though he’s searched he’s never found the woman of his dreams – until a Sharon visits the injured at Hammond Hospital.

Across time and space they instantly recognize each other as soul mates. Can she save his life and make a future for them by changing history? And should she?


Footprints in Time was a great read.  Ms. Welsh did her homework, and I especially loved it when she went into the point of view of a rather precocious small child.

The only problem I had is that like so many other independent authors, Ms. Welsh could use a better copy editor.  The book is still well worth your time and money, but there are numerous typos throughout the manuscript.  I guess that’s the editor in me speaking.


Price:  $3.99


You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive forty percent of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about five percent.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Garnet Gale Gets Her Man




19th Century New England.

Shipwrecks, emotional flotsam from past wrecked relationships, jilts, deceits, lost fortunes, and building passion swirl around Abigale Hawthorne and Randolph Blessing. Can the pair overcome the negatives to win each other’s trust and hearts?


Throw in an angry ghost or two and you have a page-burning paranormal romance full of historical detail, misunderstandings, a trek across country, encounters with bandits, bears, and let’s not forget the Indians.

I couldn’t put this book down and I suggest you grab a copy of your own.  Ms. Arnold is a wonderful writer.


Length:  238 Pages

Prince:  $5.95


You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Nude Descending a Staircase by Joyce Richardson



Always ready for adventure, Amy and Susan, friends and neighbors in an idyllic university town, find more mayhem than they bargained for.

While scouring the sky for flying saucers, Amy and Susan find a naked man, unresponsive, on the grounds of the museum/asylum. So begins the trouble. As the women delve into the bohemian art scene at Foothills, they end up haplessly trying to solve the mystery of the bodies that seem to appear wherever they are. Soon, not only their friendship, but also their reputations and lives are at stake. Still, their zany spirit prevails despite pratfalls and miscalculations.

This quirky mystery is as humorous as it is intriguing. The tortured corridors of the museum are nothing compared to the strange art and artists who inhabit this world.



Nude Descending a Staircase was a really good book and I do recommend it, but I’m not quite sure it lives up to some of the wording in its blurb.  Admittedly, getting up before dawn to look for UFOs could be considered zany, but once they find the naked man in the car, it gets less so.  Oh, the bohemian artists and weird exhibits are still there and you may get a chuckle from some of that, but I got caught up in the mystery and the danger.  Susan and Amy become the prime suspects in the murders and Susan especially sets out to clear their names, while worrying about Amy who disappears for several days.  When she turns up, Amy helps, too, but more bodies surface, pointing still to the two amateur sleuths, and the closer they get to the answer, the more they realize they’re becoming the next targets.  I couldn’t put it down, but I’m knocking off half a rose because the blurb led me to expected more chuckling than there was.


Length:  218 Pages

Price:  $5.95


You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if this book costs $5.95 at the publisher and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.38.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

When We Were Amazing by Christine London



Fourteen freaking hours in the hell that was the interior of a jet plane. He tried to read, listen to music, watch a film. Nothing. He could see nothing but her lying in a hospital bed, tubes and technology running from her, surrounding her with their manufactured sterility. She needed to be touched. He needed to touch her. Make sure she was warm, well, alive.

A nagging weight lodged in the pit of his stomach. No food, no drink, just her. She was the cure.

He slid the sunshade up. The first rays of light sliced across the horizon as they chased the day at thirty six thousand feet. He could scarcely make out the scallop of cumulus below as they drifted by. The world went on, not caring a thing for the concerns of man. His world was suspended like an insect in amber. The rest of humanity could look in at him, but he was paralyzed to act, to move, to breathe.


I once asked a best-selling author how she coped with mid-book doldrums and she said, “I think of the worst thing that can happen to my characters and, that’s what I do.”  I believe Ms. London must have met that author somewhere along the way.  I like her writing, but it gets a bit sudsy as her characters go from one tragedy to another.  Every time they get together, some tragedy creates an obligation that pulls them apart.  The timing just never seems right for them.  It doesn’t help that Carrie is much older than Bryan and he has a bit of maturing to do.  Or that she lives in California and he lives in Australia.  But even the entire Pacific Ocean can’t keep them apart forever.  Grab the Kleenex—you’ll need it, and not just at the end.  It’s a good book.


Length:  218 Pages

Price:  $5.95


You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if this book costs $5.50 at Secret Cravings and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.38.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.72.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.