Hopefawn Levenson Reviews Cochran Novel

Title: In Love with Eleanor Rigby
Author: Stacey Cochran.
Author's Web site: http://www.staceycochran.com/

ISBN: 9781456595814.

Reviewed by Hopefawn Levenson for Bookstove.com .


Stacey Cochran's four star novellette, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is a snack of a story which fills you up and tides you over well until your next meal. Concise and neat, the story has a positive message for people looking for a fresh start or for acceptance.
Cochran’s stream of conscious style of writing in this book reminds me a bit of William S. Burroughs, “Naked Lunch,"  but simpler to digest and enjoy. Noticeably, “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is ironically about a life rebuilding from the start and not the self-indulgent wallowing of a substance abuser from the bottom of an intoxicating bottle or dropper. The first person perspective offers a look into the psyche and heart of a man struggling with an affliction of his soul. We get an excellent first hand account of the fight or flight phenomenon.

As a protagonist goes, Joe, a likeable carpenter and recovering alcoholic, has an easy manner in spite of his awkward interactions with the his love interest, Tabitha Merriweather and the real world. His struggle to be honest about his dark places inside with someone new is tense and touches a raw nerve in anyone who has wanted to be loved authentically.

If you have a sensitive bone in your body, whether you’ve struggled with the disease of addiction personally or through someone else, or perhaps not at all, this is a poignant, often funny-bone tickling, engaging read.

Mr. Cochran is author of such works as; The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page, and The Legend of the Coral Stone.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Deborah Hockenberry Reviews Glenn Stuart Book

TITLE: The Pawnbroker
AUTHOR: Glenn Stuart
PUBLISHER: Black Leaf Publishing http://www.blackleafpublishing.com
PAGES: 180
PRICE: $11.04 (US), CDN$ 11.39 (CA), £7.99 (UK)
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1907407324
ISBN-13: 9781907407321



Reviewed by Deborah Hockenberry, Independent Author



Imagine. You and your friend are riding your bikes and come upon a dilapidated old mansion. Naturally, you and he go into the old house to explore. Suddenly, you can’t find your friend. When you come out, you start having weird dreams about two boys in another time. This is what happens to Jamie after leaving that old house. Why did Jamie start having these dreams and where did his friend go?
Night after night, Jamie has these dreams but they aren’t always the same dream. They’ve always been about the two boys being told to steal from innocent people but now its worse. Now, Jamie witnesses a murder. What do these dreams mean and why is he having them?
Jamie and another friend, Sarah, visit the library to investigate. By reading old newspapers, going through city directories and indexes they find that all Jamie’s dreams actually happened. The jewels that Jamie dreamt that Bert found in the mansion about are real. Even the murder really happened!

In this paranormal story about traveling through time in dreams, Jamie is terrified. The evil Pawnbroker crosses time and will stop at nothing to get the jewels for himself. Even if it means murdering more people!


Will Jamie be able to solve this paranormal mystery? Can he escape The Pawnbroker?
Please visit Glenn Stuart’s Web site to learn more about this master of mystery and his books at: http://www.horroronthecosta.com . Another way to follow this master of paranormal mystery is to go to his page at Facebook and ‘like’ him. Just sign in to Facebook and search for Glenn Stuart. Even another way to keep up with Mr. Stuart is to follow him on his blog at: http://glennstuartauthor.blogspot.com .

~Reviewer Deb Hockenberry's Web site is http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogspot.com. She blogs at
http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Author Rosanne Dingli Reviews Mainstream Fiction

Title: Days Without Number
Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction


Originally reviewed for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli


Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.



Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.


Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.


He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.


What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.

This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?


Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.
There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.
Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!
In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.


The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?
One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?

~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .







-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Author Review Fellow Author

Title: Days Without Number

Author: Robert Goddard
Website: http://www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk/author.html
ASIN: B004071TB8
General Fiction


Originally reviewd for Amazon by Rosanne Dingli



Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.

Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.


Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.

He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.

What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.
This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?

Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.

There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.

Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!

In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.

The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?

One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?

~Reviewer Rosanne Dingli blogs at http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com/. She is she is the author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy, Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places. Learn more at http://www.rosannedingli.com/ .
















Reviewer: Rosanne Dingli



Website: http://www.rosannedingli.com



Blog: http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com







General fiction







This review first appeared on Amazon.co.uk – January 11, 2004



90% helpful votes (50/58)











Intellectual dilemma - literary or personal?



Robert Goddard's latest thriller seems to be written within the mould this perspicacious author has set himself. Perspicacious? Yes, well - Goddard is the kind of author who does tend to use archaic words, sending one scrabbling for a dictionary older than your average Macquarie or Oxford. You won't find ‘phocine’ in any recent one, that's for sure.





Will the hooked reader waste time searching for rare words? Perhaps not: these thrillers of Goddard’s have the ability to keep one engaged, despite twists and turns that have the mind simultaneously wanting more and wondering how on earth it's all going to tie up in the end. The curlicues and hairpin bends in this particular novel are of fine calibre: history, accuracy in props and language, archaeological detail the like of which will set even the most demanding reader's hair on end.





Nick Paleologus (yes, even the names have that unlikely ring to them) is the son of a retired archaeologist, with a family of siblings whose closet of skeletons is not exactly run of the mill suburban fare. Is it important that his family name is linked to the Emperors of Byzantium? Suspension of disbelief is necessary in most novels; here one widens the eyes and pleads for more.







He has an irascible father, something many can relate to, seeing the comparatively recent time in which the novel is set. Irascible fathers were the order of the day then, and not only in England. The reader understands the cynical bent, the sardonic remarks, the pointed self-absorption that erases all else. The siblings too, are admirably drawn, especially the female ones and their sad choices in spouses, their mistakes with raising children, and bewilderment when faced with their own adolescent escapades coming home to roost.





What draws and amazes most in this book, however, is the history, and the weave of known events into a convoluted story that impresses not only with its ability to thrill and make one turn pages, but especially with its ability to make one conjure and devise possible explanations. What a writer it takes to manage to persuade a reader of a possible historic explanation that sits there, dangling its possibilities under one's nose, swinging and tempting with seduction. What a way to devise a red herring.







This method of charming an audience is perhaps foolproof, because it uses the reader's own bank of general knowledge. Who would not be persuaded to stay on to find out if their educated guess is right?

Educated: the operative word here, because these novels of Goddard's, and Days Without Number in particular, appeal to readers with a considerable bank of general knowledge, with a considerable love of those facts and figures, those nuggets of trivia, garnered over the years and necessary only - these days - when it comes to the vicarious pleasure of watching quiz shows. So one reads with pleasure, recalling stuff considered redundant, and taking pleasure in the fact someone has taken the time to write it all into a means of entertainment.





There is a persecutor here: a villain bent on torturing the protagonist and his family members. The identity of this vulture is withheld, until it is rendered quite skilfully and all too clearly plain. But that is not nearly enough: there is a larger all-encompassing and all meaningful mystery that hangs until the very last pages, and that is the big ‘what if’ question the author sets the reader. Exactly how skilfully this matter is tackled needs to be examined by the individual reader. Only those who enjoy intellectually driven novels will enjoy this kind of ploy. A philosophical question of judgement, of morality, of consequences and resolution is set to readers, who find out more about themselves than they think they would at the outset.







Relating to a protagonist - or two - as they set out towards the proverbial blue yonder at the end – can make or break a novel. Here, as usual, the reader must decide, teased towards the conclusion with even the titles of chapters!





In Days Without Number, we do not have the expected protagonist turned sleuth, an archetype expected in much modern fiction. Instead, we are given an entire family whose distance and cordiality developed over time is erased with a kind of sticky intimacy one associates with infancy. Once more, brothers and sisters are forced to ‘hold hands’. They rediscover personality traits in their siblings they thought they could hold at arm's length, disassociate from their own bank of quirks. Escapades and exploits of parents and avuncular relatives are once more brought to the surface and examined for kinks, with the result that modern motives become clearer and more rabid: more mercenary.





The pursuit of happiness becomes confused with the pursuit of comfort and financial ease. Who today would not relate to that? The solution of a historical mystery is bound up with personal dilemmas the like of which we all nurse. What if? The reader is set a perplexing puzzle ensconced within locations, historic settings and very plausible details, so that one asks oneself the very personal and pertinent question: what would I do in such a situation?





One also asks the question: would I be so gullible, given such a strange set of circumstances? The answer is not always clear, because fathers and siblings are not easy to deal with, even in the best of families. Emotional motives, sticks and carrots, abound. The bones of family skeletons are not hollow, nor are they light. Relating to the disclosure of a fictional history brings one close to considering one's own: what stories did our parents tell us? And with what motives?











Rosanne Dingli















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



ROSANNE DINGLI



Author of According to Luke, Death in Malta,



Vision or Delusion, A Great Intimacy,



Counting Churches - The Malta Stories,



The Astronomer's Pig, and All the Wrong Places



http://www.rosannedingli.com



http://rosannedingli.blogspot.com




























----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Memoir Combines Feminism, Science and Family

Title: Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist
Author: Laura L Mays Hoopes
Websites: http://www.lauralmayshoopes.com/
Blog: http://www.westcoastwriters.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/women0in-science
Genre/category: memoirs and biographies
ISBN-10: 0557923204
ISBN-13: 978-0557923205





Originally reviewed by Elizabeth (Libby) Grandy for Amazon





Laura L. Mays Hoopes has written a memoir that gives a personal face to the struggles of women in the world of science. Although Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling is a serious study of the inequities of the sexes, Hoopes writes about her life as a scientist and professor with good-natured humor.For example, during her sophomore year at college, one of her part-time jobs was beheading frozen fruit flies. Hoopes writes, "I must admit, at times, when I was frustrated, I dubbed these flies with the names of certain professors, just before relieving them of their heads."





Hoopes scientific journey is fascinating, but her personal journey is just as inspirational. Her first husband died at the age of forty-three, leaving her with a four-year-old son to raise alone. To fill the void in her life and support her son, she focused on her scientific career and wrote a genetics textbook published by Macmillan in 1981. When she met her present husband, he supported her passion for science, and they shared a love of Celtic culture, music, and literature. A daughter born several years later completed their family.





Hoopes is a pathfinder for all those young women who choose science as their professional career. This absorbing, honest memoir chronicles a balanced, successful life.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Christian Nonfiction Reviewed by Author of Fiction

A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty
by Joni Earkeckson Tada
ISBN 978-1596443501
Nonfiction: Christianity
Publisher christianaudio, nonfiction

Originally reviews for Amazon by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont


Why does God allow pain? Is God concerned with suffering and involved in it? Plato, C.S. Lewis, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Henri Nouwen, the apostle Paul and others have all addressed these age-old questions.


Instead of focusing on how God is involved in the problem of pain, Joni Eareckson Tada chooses instead in her book, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty, to examine how God can use pain to draw her closer to Himself and lift her above her human sufferings.


Joni, left a quadriplegic from a diving accident four decades ago, is the author of over fifty books and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization devoted to accelerating Christian outreach among those with disabilities. She will serve as the Honorary Chairman of the 2011 National Day of Prayer, held on the First Thursday of May. In addition to coping with the struggles of living from a wheelchair, Joni now has new challenges. She is assaulted with unrelenting, chronic pain and has been diagnosed with cancer.


Her reactions? “Suffering may be a part of God’s…mysterious plan, but God’s intention is always to demonstrate compassion and unfailing love.” Joni illustrates over and over in her book how powerfully God’s love touches her at her deepest point of need.
Her chapter headings ask difficult questions:

• What Benefit is there to My Pain?
• How Can I Go On Like This?
• How Can I Bring Him Glory?
• How Do I Regain My Perspective?

This devout, genuine woman answers each question with tender, heartfelt examples from her walk in faith. Suffering can make us bitter or compassionate. Suffering can drive us away from God or make us fly into His arms. A Place of Healing is her testament to the restorative power of loving, committed service to God, no matter what our circumstances. She rejoices in the fact that God had plans for her life much wider, higher and more profound than she ever could imagine. Her last chapter entitled, “Thank you, God, for this Wheelchair” demonstrates that because of her circumstances, not in spite of them, she is happier as a child of God than she ever dreamed possible.

Do you have a friend or relative struggling with grief, financial loss, health issues or physical pain?

Give them a copy of A Place of Healing. May they find comfort in the profound testimony of someone who treads where they walk, albeit, in a wheelchair.

~The reviewer is Holly Weiss, author of Crestomont. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HWeissauthor.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Noir Short Stories Reviewed: Move Over Stephen King

Title: Bloodstains On The Wall / Three Stories From The Dark Side

Author: Mike Dennis
Author's website link: http://mikedennisnoir.com/
Genre: Noir
ISBN-13: 978-0615455389
ISBN-10: 0615455387


Originally reviewed by Walter Schmida for Amazon  
Rating: ***** (five stars)


Enter the 'noir' mind of Mike Dennis and you're in another zone, an area where you suspend disbelief. These three entertaining short stories are eerie in inspiration, spare and terse in their language,and brilliantly original in concept. "Block" especially blew my mind. While fresh and original, it had a Rod Serling feel to it that had me humming the theme from The Twilight Zone. I can't wait to read more stories quarried from the dark side of this guy's mind. Move over Stephen King.

-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Todd Rutherford Reviews Business Book

Title - Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis

Author – Jim Mosquera
Website – http://www.escapingoz.com/
BISAC – Business & Economics / Investments & Securities
ISBN (13) - Print: 978-1453891216
ePUB: 978-0983296683
Kindle: 978-0983296607

Originally reviewed by Publishing Guru Todd Rutherford for Amazon.com
5.0 out of 5 stars

Jim Mosquera's Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis is an intriguing read that delves into questions about why our economy is in such chaos and confusion. The book, using The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor, encourages citizens to understand what they can do to protect their assets and help eradicate the economic mess plaguing our country. More importantly, Mosquera poses critical questions about our country's political and economic future, detailing precisely how we got to be in this position, and how we're going to get out. There is no "wizard" that's going to come to the rescue and the path this economy is following is certainly not the yellow brick road.

In technical terms, Escaping Oz discusses the number one problem in today's economy: "Our economy became overly dependent on lending and borrowing." However, both lending and borrowing are based on confidence from both sides. In other words, the lender has confidence that the borrower will have the means and sources by which to repay the amount of the loan, and of course, the borrower is confident in his/her ability to repay the loan. Right now, confidence is dragging, to put it nicely.


Jim describes how money has been perceived throughout history, from money in the Americas, to money during the Colonial era, and finally the value of money during the War for Independence. The fact is that money is constantly evolving with respect to its value and its use, both at home and abroad.


More than anything else, however, the book revolves around two concepts familiar to the masses: debt and credit. Jim Mosquera poses a number of eye-opening questions and even bolder statements. For example, he states that today, the evolution of money has taken the form of credit. More specifically, he writes, "As of June 2010, there is approximately $13.8 trillion of credit extended to the United States Government." Interestingly, the deficit facing the government is simply the difference between the revenue accrued and the credit amount allotted to the United States.


Two underlying questions that should set off mental alarms far and wide: if the government could eliminate its entire deficit through taxation alone, why isn't it doing it? Why is it widening the deficit gap by tacking on more credit?


Overall, the parallels between The Wizard of Oz and the wizard known as the United States government make this book an informative and enjoyable read. While there is extensive information on government strategies, there is an entire section (Part III) dedicated to the individual's own business model. Jim Mosquera presents his audience with strategies pertaining to bank, real estate, and stock investing, including managing one's portfolio and planning for the future.

Escaping Oz is a must read! And once you have a copy, you should stand up tall, close your eyes and click your heels together, saying, "There's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like being debt free, there's nothing like . . ."



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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Publisher Reviews Sci-Fi by Doc Meisenheimer

Title: The Immune

Author: Doc Lucky Meisenheimer
Web site: http://www.theimmune.com/
Publisher's Web site:  http://www.ljsspublishing.com/
Genre/Category: Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9667612-2-1


Reviewed by: Victoria Andrew

The paintbrush I use is history, and history paints the same picture repeatedly. Large centralized governments always cause internal collapse and ultimately destruction of the masses. All governmental evils are justified and rationalized, as necessary, to maintain the all-powerful, all-knowing, current leaders for the good of society. – Doc Lucky Meisenheimer, The Immune


Doc Lucky Meisenheimer’s science fiction debut is being hailed as a prospective masterpiece of American fiction. Meisenheimer has fashioned a capacious yet intricately ordered narrative that in its majestic sweep seems to capture multiple themes executed in a fast-paced, action/adventure plot. Furiously ingenious at this stage in his writing career, Meisenheimer has achieved an incredible feat of imagination, intellect, and matchless writing talent within The Immune, which is sure to engender fiery debate, strong opinions, and much rhapsodizing over his shocking plot twists and turns.


Mainstream readers will most likely deem The Immune as an entertaining, often humorous, and sometimes terrifying escapade of one man’s thirst for vengeance against the deadly stings of biogenetically manufactured creatures and their maniacal, Hilter-esqe inventor, Joseph Sengele. The politically astute will compare the work of Meisenheimer to Heinlein, as his story could be a manifesto advocating individual liberty, free will, and a lack of government regulation and oversight on matters of the economy. Literary academics will perceive it as a beacon lighting the way for a new kind of novel, as Meisenheimer has cracked open the opaque shell of postmodernism, tweezed out its tangled circuitry, and inserted in its place the warm, beating heart of authentic humanism. Like other great literary giants, Meisenheimer conveys the drama of his protagonist’s interior life while vividly conveying a world on the brink of total annihilation. As his contemporaries diminish the place of the single human being in complex plot conceptualizations, Meisenheimer has enlarged it while evoking empathy, excitement, revulsion, amusement, a thirst for justice, and sleepless nights of rapid page turning within his readers.


John Long, a distinguished physician and avid swimmer, and his fiancé, Cassandra, emerge from a romantic rendezvous in Grand Cayman only to discover the shocking news of massive deaths occurring across the world from the virulent, lethal stings of a biogenetically manufactured phenomenon named airwars. Such creatures resemble gargantuan Man O’ Wars which have gone airborne, mercilessly wounding and killing seemingly random, innocent souls. A rapidly formed world government, entitled the Airwar Scientific Council (consisting of scientists, politicians, and military members) emerges to disseminate world policy to all governments, resulting in the amelioration of free speech and calling for total gun confiscation.
John Long’s seemingly idyllic life and thriving practice in Orlando, FL come to a screeching halt with the disappearance and announced death of his fiancé in the midst of the chaos. Consumed with grief and burning rage, John confronts and surprisingly defeats his first airwar discovered when its monstrous self is siphoning water in Orlando’s Lake Eola. His murder of the first airwar by suffocation was impulsive, dangerous, and driven by reckless fury, earning him massive fame for being one of the rare, extraordinary individuals who are immune to the poisonous, paralyzing stings.


Much to our horror, readers discover that such “Immunes” are surreptitiously and forcefully sent to a processing plant owned and operated by the government, where they are tortured and skinned alive in order to extract proteins secreted from an Immune’s sebaceous glands used to manufacture aerosol sprays providing members of the Airwar Scientific Council protection from the deadly airwar stings.

However, John’s destiny is salvaged by the “ultimate PR genius of the world,” Admiral Beckwourth, who restores humanity’s faith in government intervention to the airwar crisis by formulating an “Immune Corp” attack force, with John Long as their leader. Readers will become immersed in Meisenheimer’s triumphs of characterizing the Immune Corp team members as they endeavor to kill and destroy as many airwars as possible. Meisenheimer paints one terrifying airwar attack scene after the other with vivid detail and enthralling description of the various types of airwars populating the sky, while instilling admiration for John’s bravery and catalyzing cathartic release with each successful airwar downing.


The plot thickens as we discover an advanced, alien race (referred to as Krones) have contacted prominent world leaders with promises of opportunities “beyond their wildest dreams” - including immortality - in return for their cooperation with their plot of selecting political leaders, key military personnel, scientists, and their families as “The Chosen.” Attitudes, intellect, political strength, compatibility, and one’s propensity for even treachery were considered behind their selection, thus reminiscent of Nazi endeavors to create an ideal, Aryan race.

We discover the Krones are the one who have actually created airwars as a diversion tactic in order to prepare the earth for their alien strike force involving 60-foot tsunamis (with the advanced application of force fields) to wipe out the majority of humanity in preparation for a Krone colonization of the earth, in which “The Chosen” are supposedly to be saved.


However, one intrepid and ingenious character, Admiral Beckwourth, cultivates a brilliant plot coined by Meisenheimer as an “FS Maneuver”, which is a keystone of public relations campaigns and “a deception hiding an underlying agenda.” With audacity and intrepid valor, Beckwourth endeavors to annihilate the greatest alien, military force in the history of the earth to save humanity from an apocalypse.
Does he succeed? We highly recommend you read the book now available for pre-sales at LJS&S Publishing http://www.immune.com/  and coming to a store near you on May 13, 2011.

~Reviewer Victoria Andrew is owner and director of Words Prevail, LLC. Visit http://www.wordsprevail.com/  for more information. Their blog is at http://www.wordsprevail.wordpress.com/. For her articles on Career Transition, visit http://www.examiner.com/career-transition-in-orlando/victoria-andrew /

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Romance Author Reviews Short Story Collection

Title: Five Good Short Stories - Volume 1

Author: Sam E. Jones
Author's web link site: Http://amazon.com/dp/B004G5ZUHS
Genre or Category: Fiction, short stories
ISBN/ASBN: B004G5ZUHS



 Reviewed by Anne Barbour


Sam E. Jones offers us a four-volume package of five short stories each. Following the review guidelines I’ll speak only of Vol. I. It is aptly entitled Five Good Short Stories, Vol. I. The stories are very short, and very, very good. He writes in a quirky, sort of avant garde style, which is not my favorite genre. Being a reader and writer of novels—frivolous novels, at that—I rarely read short stories.. However, when I was introduced to Mr. Jones’ work, I thought I’d avail myself of this reasonably priced ($4.99 per volume) opportunity to stretch my mind. To my surprise, I was delighted.


Mr. Jones, I think, is a born stretcher of minds. His writing consists of finely crafted slices of life, and he can produce more insight into the human condition in a few hundred words than most writers contrive in several thousand. He pulls us into little wedges of his protagonist’s time on this planet, thus leaving the reader feeling that he has turned over some of the many secrets that scurry in the darkness of our own souls. The results are at times exhilarating, painful at others, but always revealing.


Mr. Jones’ short stories are rare, individual treasures. I don’t mean precious jewels, though the comparison is appropriate. No, reading his tales is more like walking along an alien seashore—perhaps encountering small, exotic marine creatures, or a tiny windswept bird. I love the diversity he displays, pursuing in each story a different facet of what seems to the casual observer an ordinary person. With precision he peels away the layers, revealing fascinating bits of mind and soul. Some of the vignettes are charming, some poignant, and others are belly-tickling funny.
As I said, his style is unusual and difficult to describe. He often writes in the first person, which is uniquely suited to his custom of starting his stories off in the middle of a situation. Just as often, the situation is not resolved at the end of the story. We are left with a plateful of clues, and the compelling need to roll the plights of his people around in our minds in an effort to figure out what will come after we have turned the last page.


All in all, I do recommend the occasional mind-stretch, particularly when it comes in the form of such a pleasurable read. By me, Sam Jones is a real find, and I hope he will turn out many more of his explorations of the human scene.

~The reviewer is Anne Barbour, author of fourteen Regency Romance novels, published by NAL/Signet, a subsidiary of Penguin Putnam.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Radio Host Reviews Travel Writer

Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler's Tales

By Linda Ballou
Author's Web site: http://www.lindaballouauthor.com/
Travel Literature
ISBN 978-1449971526



Originally Reviewed byYolanda Renee, Author and Radio Host for her blog, http://yolandarenee.com/





Recent poor health had me looking for an escape. When I picked up Linda Ballou’s book LOST ANGEL WALKABOUT, I found my salvation. Linda combines her most favorite things to create a book of adventures like nothing I have ever read. She blends her love of travel, and writing, and in several stories her love of horses, and with unsurpassed skill she takes the reader with her to places like Raven’s River, Alaska, to windswept Donegal Bay, Ireland, to Waipio Valley in Hawaii, and North Island, New Zealand to name just a few. Linda not only takes you on a journey to exciting places and distant lands she shares herself along the way. Her stories are personal, enlightening, and captivating.


Raven’s River is a particularly touching tale because it is a memorial to Matthew Wayne Bell, her nephew. It is a trip that entails a 140-mile journey, on the Tatshenshini, or Raven’s River and includes white water rafting and hiking on bear trails. Linda shares her adventure and her love for Matt, as she educates us on the environment. Raven’s River is a beautiful story of honor and discovery that is shared with grace and love.


I particularly enjoyed her journey in Golden Horseshoe or Bust. Linda, her 83-year-old mother, and nephew take off on a road trip. Her mother is insistent on driving. It is a typical family argument that adds amusement to this beautiful journey. Linda shares this memory of a courageous woman, with adventure in her soul, with a view in to her own. We learn even more about Linda and her mother in Water Dogs. These personal insights make this book of travel stories more like a novel.


LOST ANGEL WALKABOUT is more than a travel log, it is about Linda, the family she loves, the history of the lands and peoples she visits, and the folks she admires most, including adventure writer Tom Cahill and Horsewoman Lari Shea. I highly recommend this book: whether you are trying to plan your next journey, escape from your own couch, or want to inspire a young trailblazer.
You can check out all of Linda’s adventures and her historical novel Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai’i; Her Epic Journey at http://www.lindaballouauthor.com/ .

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Book Maker Michael N. Marcus Reviews Book for Authors

The Frugal Book Promoter
Subtitle: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
ISBN: 9781463743291
Available on Amazon at www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo
and Kindle at www.budurl.com/FrugalBkProKindle


Reviewed by Book Maker Michael N. Marcus originally for Book Making blog

Carolyn Howard-Johnson (www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com) is an award-winning author and a former publicist. With a last name that makes me keep thinking about fried clam strips and ice cream, Carolyn serves up a large portion of useful info and advice. Her book, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t was one of the first books I bought when I started self publishing in 2008, and it has been extremely useful.

It has just been updated with a new subtitle ("How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher") that recognizes self-publishing, and it has been expanded to include simple ways to promote books using newer technology. I bought the new book a few days ago and recommend it highly. It can empower you to give your book the best possible start in life.

Book promotion has changed tremendously since publication of the first "Frugal" in 2004, particularly because of the web, e-books and the growing acceptance of self-published books. So, this new edition includes lots of information on ways to promote that were not around or were in their infancy a few years ago.

Here's some of what's new: (1) The Second Edition has been reorganized. (2) It's much bigger -- so it can be much more helpful. (3) Updates on writers’ conferences, getting reviews, book fairs and trade shows; media releases, query letters and media kits; working with a professional publicist; "backdoor methods" of getting reviews -- even long after a book has been published (4) Online bookstores (5) Blogging (6) Social networks (7) Avoiding scam-traps

"Frugal" shows you how to promote your book with powerful but inexpensive or even free publicity. Carolyn points out important publicity possibilities that you may not think of, like reviewing other authors’ books.

The promotional tips are not just theory -- they come from Carolyn’s own successful book campaigns. Several ideas will certainly be right for you and your book.

Most new writers have much more time than money, and this book can help you achieve big-buck results with minimum use of your credit cards -- and no federal bailout. “Frugal” belongs on every author’s shelf, whether you are an independent self-publisher, are using a self-publishing company or a traditional publisher.

Here are some of Carolyn’s tips:

• Read, read, read: Even your junk mail can be useful. My daughter found a flier from the local library in the Sunday paper stuffed between grocery coupons. It mentioned a display done by a local merchant in the library window. My book was displayed in their lobby and I became a seminar speaker for their author series. Rubbish (even spam email) can be valuable.
• Keep an open mind for promotion ideas: Look at the different themes in your book. There are angles you can exploit when you’re talking to editors. My book, This is the Place is romantic and set in Salt Lake City, the site where the winter Olympic games were played in 2002. I found sports desks and feature editors open to it as Olympics fervor grew, and even as it waned.
• Etiquette counts: Send thank-you notes to contacts after they’ve featured you or your book. This happens so rarely they are sure to be impressed and to pay attention to the next idea you have, even if it’s just a listing in a calendar for your next book signing.
• Publicize who you are, what you do: Reviews aren’t the only way to go. Think of angles for human interest stories, not only about your book but about you as its author. Are you very young? Is writing a book a new endeavor for you? Several editors have liked the idea that I wrote my first book at an age when most are thinking of retiring, that I think of myself as an example of the fact that it is never too late to follow a dream.
• Develop new activities to publicize: Don’t do just book signings. Use your imagination for a spectacular launch. Get charities involved. Think in terms of ways to help your community.
• Frequency is important: The editor who ignores your first release may pay more attention to your second or 25th. She will come to view you as a source and call you when she needs to quote an expert. This can work for novels as well as nonfiction. Publicity is like planting bulbs. It proliferates even when you aren’t trying.

Even if you are lucky enough to have a huge promotion budget and don't need to be frugal, Carolyn has important advice and information for you. Buy the book.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and . As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

A Book That Can Change Your Life - And How You See Yourself

Book Title: UNFEAR Facing Change In an Era of Uncertainty
Author: Karlin Sloan
Genre: Business/Self Help
ISBN-10: 1452885850
ISBN-13: 978-1452885858
Publisher: CreateSpace

Reviewed by the author of Evidence of Insanity, Carol Piner exclusively for The New Book Review



UNFEAR Facing Change In an Era of Uncertainty, by Karlin Sloan is an astounding book, much as Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking was. Using staggering intellectualism at times, Sloan is able to break down the barriers we all carry within ourselves and tries to make us see how we can reach a level of confidence and self-reliance, free from fear based reactions. We have all experienced the feelings of insecurity she describes, but she takes those insecurities and shows us the way to overcome them. By association we can change our interactions and make the places where we work more productive.

I loved her the way she shared the ordeal experienced by the crew of the Endurance, their bravery, and the “never-give-up” attitude of leader and explorer Ernest Shackleton. She showed sensitivity and respect in every word she wrote. This was a perfect example of what her book is about and of how we can all look forward to overcoming the obstacles we face in live without being controlled by fear of the unknown. Instead we should the energy lost in fear behaviors, convert it and show others how to turn challenges and change into opportunities for growth, especially when faced we are faced with what seems like overwhelming odds.


Karlin sees the boundaries we surround ourselves with and the fear based excuses we give for doing so --how we allow ourselves to be smothered by fear paralysis, controlled by a fear of failure or through a lack of confidence in our own abilities. Her simple charts, techniques and explanations offer tools that reduce those fears and give the reader a perspective and a path that will free them to reach higher levels of leadership and personal success.


Karlin Sloan has given us a gripping how-to book that everyone should read if they want to go to work looking forward to achieving goals. This book will help you see fear patterns and behaviors for what they are, and realize you have the power to break free from them. Whether you have problems at work, or even at home, the spirit and the principles that she is teaching will help you recognize in yourself the capability of achieving anything if you believe through UNFEAR.


~This review was written for The New Book Review by the author of Evidence of Insanity, Carol Piner.

~Continue to follow Karlin's virtual book tour on March 10, 2011, for an excerpt from UNFEAR Facing Change In an Era of Uncertainty, presented at Dallas Woodburn's Writing Life.


~Executive leadership guru Karlin Sloan is the founder and CEO of Karlin Sloan & Company, a leadership development firm providing development consultation for national and multinational organizations seeking to advance through enhanced training and executive coaching. Karlin holds a BA from Mills College, an MA in clinical psychology from the Professional School of Psychology in San Francisco, and executive coach certification through the William James Institute Center for Executive Coaching.

Karlin's UNFEAR virtual tour was launched from Karlin's Success TV blog with a discussion provoking article about future shock and facing change in an era of uncertainty. The tour will travel the Internet offering question-and-answer written and radio interviews with the author, blog articles, reviews, book excerpts, and more. Each tour stop will explore the concept of UNFEAR, and the four practices taught by Karlin Sloan & Company to executive leaders around the world.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Title: What Every Dream Means
Author: Scott M. Shafer
Web Site: http://whateverydreammeans.com/
Genre/Category: Non-Fiction: Christianity
ISBN-13: 978-1589094635

Reviewed by Marsha Randolph
“What Every Dream Means” is not what I expected nor is its’ author Scott M Shafer. What I expected was a dream dictionary with commentary; it is not. I also expected an author who would give Biblical interpretations to justify various statements without actually citing a particular verse; this was not the case. Incorporating personal experience, years of study and much prayer the author has put together a biblically based argument for the importance of understanding dreams as well as foundational information to do so.

The author, Scott M. Shafer, speaks at seminars, workshops and retreats as well as hosting private dream interpretation sessions. His website www.whateverydreammeans.comintroduces the viewer to the potential of dream interpretation by providing such workshops as: “Dreams and The Professional Community”.


Scott’s journey to understanding dreams began as a young man. In examining the significance of his own dreams he noticed a relationship between his conversations with God and the proliferation of dreams. This gave birth to years of study and as opportunities presented itself the interpretation of the dreams of others. Through experience he learned the importance of listening to the details of the dreamer as well as listening to the Holy Spirit. “What Every Dream Means” incorporates the knowledge of 20 plus years of studying dreams.


“Scott’s intention and purpose is to build knowledge into others in order for them to properly understand and interpret dreams.” (see: http://www.whateverydreammeans.com/  About the Author)

Though dreams have been around as long as mankind existed it is not a recognized “ministry” in most Christian churches. In discussing how people receive what he does Scott shared the following with me:

“…As a result they assume that it is New Age or occult based.

I recall a pastor’s wife who came to a dream interpretation table in a bookstore where I was interpreting one evening. After to talking to her she admitted that she could not find answers to her dreams in the church and when she saw the interpretation table at the bookstore she thought or assumed it was New Age but she was desperate to find answers for her dreams. So she came to the table and immediately took the opportunity to share her dreams.


I have another person, probably a well-meaning person; say to me recently that they thought what I did was ‘psychic’. Again I think the reason is that they have never been exposed to who I am and what I do and on the surface they are only familiar with what the New Age has become known for. “


Obviously there is a need for dream interpretation yet as with many areas of ministry the laborers are few. “What Every Dream Means” is a beginning. From the Introduction forward Mr. Shafer walks the reader through the dream process which does not begin with going to bed. There is a biblical basis for dreams and throughout the book there are both Old and New Testament references to corroborate various points.


The book is 159 pages full of much needed information. (Generally speaking; I hate reading the introduction to most books yet I found Scotts’ to be very thought provoking and a necessary read.) Chapter 1- “DREAM RECALL: Remembering Your Dreams”, has subchapters that include: Passivity Can I Really Change This?; “God Speaks in Dreams”: “The Night Season: Sleep Preparation”; and “Improving Memory”. Though chapter one could be a book by itself there are eleven subsequent chapters each building upon the other.


In preparation for dreaming Scott teaches the reader the importance of exercising his or her “memory muscle” by memorizing bible verses. When asked to suggest a few mentioned the Psalms of David and also Romans.


“Romans 12:1 reveals the light that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. As we meditate on this verse at night it will have a profound and deep influence on our conscience and gradually as we come to believe the verse it will set us free from any nagging sense of accusation, guilt or fear. Fear, stress, worry and guilt are some of the things that negatively affect the quality of our sleep at night and can erode our dreaming experience.”


Scott makes it clear in this book that God speaks to us in our dreams no matter who we are or what we believe:


“The things that I recommend about sleep preparation are not intended in any way to become ‘law’ or some kind of legalistic burden to people. I do believe it will enhance their sleep and dreaming experience but I am ultimately confident in the Sovereignty of God. When he wants to speak to us in a dream He will do it. There are examples of this kind of thing happening and being reported in the mission field. Muslims are reporting Jesus appearing to them in dreams and being converted by reason of their dreams.”


He, Scott, also makes it clear that there are no rules etched in stone as to how we are to interpret dreams. Which is why; I don’t use the dream book that I have.


“This is the genius of God that keeps us dependent of Him and His Spirit and not on some methodology of interpreting by knowing a list of symbol meanings from a dream dictionary.”


Each of us should have a personal relationship with Father God. Knowing that He speaks to us in various ways including dreams it is important that we know how to get the most out of our sleep. What is presented in “What Every Dream Means” is the compilations of biblical principles supported by scripture to help you interpret you own dreams as well as the dreams of others. In case you have not determined it yet: I am recommending you purchase this book.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Memoir Review: Answering the "Why Me" Question

Title: Long Run, Short Catch: One Woman's Desperate Attempt to Discover If Normalcy Actually Exists on Earth

Author: Asama Iwuoha
Genre: Biographies, Memoir
ISBN: 978-1456309497
eBook ISBN: 978-1456600136
Publishers: CreateSpace, eBookit

Reviewed by Rosella LaFevre originally for The Temple News


Many of us, I believe, have asked the question, “Why me?” When we face tough situations, we wonder why those things had to happened to us. I am sure I’m not the only one who has begged for an answer to this question.

Asama Iwuoha, a Nigerian-American and the author of the self-published memoir “Long Run, Short Catch: One Woman’s Desperate Attempt to Discover If Normalcy Actually Exists on Earth,” posed this question on the first page of her book.


Iwuoha’s memoir encompasses the sexual abuse she suffered as a child and her years as a Temple student, where she met the man she eventually married. She wrote that from the start she has never found the answer to this question.


In her book, Iwuoha recalled the time her mother discovered her father sexually abusing her and called the police. When her father returned from prison to live with the family, Iwuoha had to learn to deal with his presence. Understandably, she continues to hold a grudge against him, getting fancy clothes and accessories out of him out of forgiveness and finally, she marries a Jamaican man to spite him.


Sometimes, when we ask the question, “Why me?” we seek to absolve ourselves of any guilt, as did Iwuoha. She asks the question without pausing to consider that perhaps her ill-fated marriage happened because she chose to marry a man for the wrong reasons.


As a sophomore at Temple, Iwuoha was finally fitting into a group of girls. One of them introduced her to Michael Williams, a polite Jamaican man. He immediately took a shine to her despite being more into light-skinned girls, as Iwuoha’s account tells us.


His father had brought him to America using someone else’s passport. Advised by his father that marriage would be the quickest way to solve his problems, Williams recognized that Iwuoha could solve his problems and he set out to marry her.


Action was taken so that he might go to college, but it caught up to him when a student enrolled at Temple with the same Social Security number. That was when his father told him he must find a woman to marry and soon after, he met Iwuoha.


They started dating, and he later told her his dilemma. Unsure, she said she’d think about marrying him.



“Is it possible he just wants to use me as his ticket?” Iwuoha wrote. “Either way, marrying him could be my final valediction from father.”


The outcome of the situation is surely undesirable, but this could be the very answer to the Iwuoha’s question.Why should her marriage end the way it did? Perhaps because, as much as Williams was using her for a green card, she was using him to get back at her father.


Often, we beg the question, “Why me?” because we hope that should the answer come to us one way or another, that it will give meaning to our suffering.


Perhaps Iwuoha’s supposed inability to find her answer is because in writing the book, she sought to answer the questions her family had about the choices she made in life.


“Not only does my book entail many of those answers, but it also served as my catharsis, releasing me of emotional baggage that had been haunting me,” Iwuoha said of why she chose to self-publish her story now.


Ultimately, Iwuoha’s book raises more questions for the reader than it answers, but this could be considered its greatest charm. By questioning Iwuoha’s actions, reactions and feelings, we learn that sometimes the answer we’re looking for is right there. And sometimes, it’s not so important why you suffered as how you championed that suffering.

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