The Midwife’s Revolt by Jody Daynard

 Blurb:

The Midwife’s Revolt takes the reader on a journey to the founding days of America. It follows one woman’s path, Lizzie Boylston, from her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams and midwifery, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy for the Cause. Much has been written about our founding men. But The Midwife’s Revolt is unique in that it opens a window onto the lives of our founding women as well.

Review:

The Midwife’s Revolt had such a ring of truth, I forgot it was fiction and thought Lizzie Boylston truly lived.  It was only when I read the author’s acknowledgments at the end that I realized Lizzie was fictitious.  She could well have existed, however, as she and Abigail Adams (our second First Lady) reflect the efforts of women behind the scenes during our long struggle for independence from Britain.  Lizzie is widowed early in the fighting and orphaned when her Tory parents’ ship wrecks en route to England. She is fiercely independent—delivering babies, nursing the sick, maintaining a farm, and finally donning men’s clothing to spy on the Tories.  When someone poisons guests of her neighbor, she sets out to solve the mystery.  I’ll admit, Ms. Daynard even had me stumped on that one, and that’s not easy to pull off.

Finally, if you follow this blog, you’ll know that one of my biggest pet peeves is when historical fiction lapses into modern idiom.  Ms. Daynard passed that litmus test with flying colors.  If she’s anything like me, she must have driven her family crazy while she was writing this book.  I’d be willing to bet she slipped into Colonial idiom in her everyday conversations, forgetting to return to the twenty-first century when she finished writing each day.  Brava, Ms. Daynard!  She certainly took me back to the eighteenth century, into the lives, loves and struggles of the women who helped us win the Revolution!

Length:  440 Pages

List Prices: 

Paperback:  $18.95

E-Book:  $4.95

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Midwifes-Revolt-Jodi-Daynard/dp/0615590624/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1367695575&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=the+midwife%27s+revolt

Thanks for visiting.  RIW

Into the Red by Kelly Whitely

Blurb:

Human blood is an illicit and highly addictive drug--if you're a vampire. Known as Red, its side effects are insanity, and eventual death. A group of Red-addicted vampires known as Poisoners are killing women risking exposure of their race, and one victim survives…

Dr. Evan Nichols, oncologist and vampire, lives a monk-like existence focusing on patient care and research to benefit his vampire brethren. Now his government has ordered him to take a mate—or they’ll choose one for him. It’s a horrible prospect, and one that might push him over the edge—until Fate throws him together with a human female.

Wary of relationships, Tara West has poured her energies into work and inventing cutting edge climbing equipment. She doesn’t like the gorgeous Dr. Nichols, yet finds herself unaccountably drawn to him.  When she survives the Poisoners’ attack, Evan rescues her. With time running out, he has to find her attacker in order to create an antidote to the poison before he loses his chance at love.

Thus the journey begins—into the Red! 

Review:

I normally don’t write reviews before I finish reading the books, but I’m over eighty percent into this one according to my Kindle and I’m pretty sure I can predict the outcome from here.  That doesn’t mean Into the Red is predictable.  As I’ve said before—I often guess things other people might not because that’s how I would have written it, and I’m really good at catching foreshadowing.  That said—

I hope my boss at Jupiter Gardens Press doesn’t read this, because I may get into hot water.  I have three books from the "slush pile" waiting to be read and recommended or not for publication, and I promise I will dive into them as soon as I finish writing this, even though Into the Red is screaming at me to finish it.  My excuse is that I haven't been home, and my Kindle is much easier to take to the VA and the laundry room than my laptop.  But there’s also the fact that Into the Red grabbed me and sucked me in and I haven’t been able to put it down.

Evan and Tara are two lonely people who have closed themselves off to love because of devastating losses in their pasts.  It’s difficult for them to trust that they’ll find love that doesn’t end in pain and loss.  Yet, they’re drawn to each other.  It’s Tara’s distrust and low self-esteem that leads her to the flee the restaurant where she runs into Evan when she thinks he’s left her after a one-night-stand, not having seen the note he left her.  She leaves via the alley, where the Poisoners attack her.  Fortunately, Evan realizes she’s left and follows her scent through the kitchen in time to rescue her, saving her life—temporarily.  If he can’t find her attackers alive and harvest their venom for the antidote in time, Tara will die anyway.  And Evan can’t contemplate losing another love.  But he doesn’t know they’re not the only threat.  I haven’t read how he’ll deal with that yet, but I know it’ll be good.  I don’t believe Ms. Whitely will let me down in the last twenty percent when the first eighty has been so gripping.  Follow the buy-link below and find out for yourself.

Length:  347 Pages

Price:  $5.95

Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=513&category_id=32&manufacturer_id=248&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

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 I created 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.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW