Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Artful Dodging; The Torpedo Factory Murders by M.S. Spencer




Waiting out the rain, Milo Everhart takes stock of her widowhood and the handsome man standing in the door to the bar.  Little does she know she will meet that man again and again under both passionate and terrifying circumstances.

Tristram Brody waits for his date, too conscious of the beautiful woman sitting by the door. Little does he know that she will hate him for trying to destroy her beloved art center, and even suspect him of murder. Nor that she will be drawn inevitably into his arms.

Little does either of them suspect they will be embroiled in not one, but two murders, in which the fate of the Torpedo Factory, an art center housed in an old munitions factory on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, will be decided.


This is the third book I’ve read by M.S. Spencer and it did not disappoint me.  Her books are tightly written, her characters well-drawn and she keeps me guessing who did it right up until the end—which is difficult to do, because I usually guess at least halfway through.  But when you read her biography, you can understand how she manages it.  Ms. Spencer is well-educated, well-traveled and she brings a wealth of experience into her writing, along with a finely-honed sense of the craft.  Bravo.  I highly recommend this book.


Length:  202 Pages
Price:  $5.99
Buy Link:  Secret Cravings

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, April 8, 2012

Beach Party Girls by Vanessa Rose Lee


Welcome to Miami. The city lights up at night and parties are endless. Meet the Beach Party Girls. Kim Bailey and Stephanie Cole enjoy living a fast-paced, glamorous lifestyle.

One day, an event changes their lives. What will they do to get by? Join the fun-loving Beach Party Girls and their adventures!


If you like programs like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or “The OC,” you will probably enjoy this book.  I, however, worked for a living the better part of thirty years.  It took me eleven years to earn my bachelors degree working full time and going to school.  Some of those years, I swear the only time I slept was on the El between work, school and home.  I did one of those semesters in a wheelchair with a broken ankle.  I've also been homeless and currently live with my daughter because I cannot afford both my car and my own apartment.  So the characters never engaged me.   

They live rent-free in a penthouse condo owned by one girl's farther and get cushy jobs planning fashion shows when Daddy has a temporary financial set-back.  Should I spoil the ending?  I guess not.

I read the book on Kindle and it was a mess in terms of editing and formatting, but the author assures me the paperback copy is clean and she doesn’t know why it got so messed up when she converted to Kindle.  I gave her some conversion tips so your copy may be cleaner than mine.

I’m being judgmental when I say I wouldn’t recommend this book.  It all depends on your perspective.  If you enjoy the exploits of wealthy, spoiled people, you’ll like this book.  If you avoid that stuff like the plague, this book is not for you.  I have a doozey of a dream house and it would be nice to win the lottery or better yet have all my books on the New York Times Bestseller list and be able to build it.  I prefer the latter because I’m used to earning what I get. Either way—if I were a millionaire, I’d still probably shop at Wal-Mart most of the time.


Length:  110 Pages

Price:  $4.99