Tina Carlson Review Smashing E-Book with a Twist

Thrift Me Deadly
By Wendy Dager
E-book
Available at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4474
Genre: Thriller, for mature audiences only due to graphic violence, language and situations.

Review by Tina Carlson for Smashwords

Wendy Dager writes a witty story of murder and dysfunction through the diary of Enid Barker, who collects vintage clothes, hates her job and suffers the judgement of family while killing anyone who volunteers to make her life harder than it already is.
The pace is fast and the murders are many as Wendy gives us a peek into vintage collecting and sociopathic behavior in a very funny way. This is a great read.

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Free sample and synopsis of this book is available online; book can be purchased for 40 percent off list price by using coupon code ML66J through December 31, 2009. For more about the author, visit www.wendydager.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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Recession Calls for Special Job Search Skills

Title:Over the Gap
Author: Dave Patterson
Website:www.overthegap.comGenre: Business / Career
ISBN: 9780615316208

Reviewed by Linda Brandau for Bookvisions

Over The Gap is an excellent resource for those who are serious about looking for quality employment or are interested in a career change. Written in both instruction and workbook style, it challenges the reader to take a thoughtful look at their goals, skills, and area of employment they desire. The book has charts, worksheets, sample letters, and much more. The author, Dave Patterson, is a business executive and career coach with an understanding of today's job market, and his advice is a complete look at the challenge, the process of the search, and the targeted goal.

The book shows the reader how to market themselves for the career they desire. It explains proper networking, and the interviewing experience. Chapter 9: Creating a Position for Yourself might sound overreaching, but I especially enjoyed reading it because it actually happened for me a few years ago.

Finding your place in today's job market is hard work and takes research and skill. Over the Gap is a powerful book that will assist the job seeker in a systematic method to success. I recommend this book for individuals, schools, and employment assistance agencies.” – L. Brandau

Author Biography

Dave Patterson is an author, speaker, and leadership and career coach. Find him at www.OvertheGap.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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Poetry Chapbook Reviewed by Poet Jennifer Poulter

Isn't it wonderful when poets see the result of promotion or of an honor. Maggie Ball and my chapbook of poetry was named a finalist in the poetry category at US Book News and Jennifer Poulter reviewed it. I just couldn't resist posting. (-: She Wore Emerald Then:

Reflections on Motherhood
By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Genre: Poetry, chapbook
Published by The Compulsive Reader
ISBN 9781438263793
Illustrated with photos by May Lattanzio
Available at Amazon


Reviewed by Jennifer Poulter Just finished Maggie - utterly beautiful, painful - memorable


A book of finely cut gems to hold, admire, let their multi-facets flash their messages to mind, and the fine sharp edges of each plane hold the image indelibly.

The poets take us either side of motherhood and all the pain and joy held in between.

We visit, through Magdalena’s eyes, the arrival that makes a mother – the amazement, the awe, the juxtaposing of life’s simple statement ‘I am’ against the complexities of “The Genetic Code” that made the babe –

the organised complexity
of your extraordinary
beauty
couldn’t be simpler
as you reach a tentative
hand
towards the future

Then we are led by Carolyn, down the narrowing path to the final drawn out exit. The circle of life completes, the child is yet to know the mother, the mother has forgotten the child…

We all forget names, I say as numb
moves from hand to heart
because it is my name she has forgotten.

Gems sparkling here remind us of those seminal joys – the babe, the birth; other gems flash from the page and we recognise, whether we want to or no – the final pages turning to the close of one life’s book.
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The reviewer is Jennifer McRae/Poulter, j.poulter@uq.edu.au. Go to: http://www.uq.edu.au/~uqjpoult/ then hit 'proceed http://www.kbs.com.au/ Haiku,
J.R. McRae thumbnail moon print impressed on the flesh of a cool evening Humidity........ J.R.McRae Leaves tickle air Till its laughter Runs down their limbs

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Fantasy Elucidates Autism

Title: There Are No Words
Author: Mary Calhoun Brown
ISBN: 978-09776300-2-8
Publisher: Lucky Press, LLC
Author's email: email@marycalhounbrown.com
Author's blog: http://blog.marycalhounbrown.com
Softcover $9.95
Hardcover: $22.00
Kindle: $4.95
Books available for purchase at the author's Web site. After Feb. 1, 2010, There Are No Words will be available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Reviewed by Dr. Ruth C. Sullivan, first President of the Autism Society of America.

This delightful and gentle fantasy is told in first person by Jaxon MacKenzie, a 12-year-old girl with autism. Mute and not in school, she lives with caring and good grandparents. She knows hurt when people outside the home sometimes speak down to her or say unkind things, as though she wasn't (sic) there.

In the house hangs an old oil painting in which a happy girl and boy are holding hands as they dance away from a large tree. One night the girl in the painting reaches out to Jaxon saying, 'come with us. We've been waiting for you.' Helped out to the 'other side of the painting' (as she calls it) by a spritely and happy Sarah, Jaxon begins to talk. She has new adventures, is touched by warm friendships and is moved by their acceptance of someone who is not like them. After some interesting--one dramatically tragic-- experiences-- she finds her way home.

Mary Calhoun Brown has given us an unusual path in getting to the story of autism. Young teenagers, their teachers and parents will be happy to have this one in their library.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

For Budding Editors, Grammarians and Writers.

This may be off the subject just a tad but I thought I'd mention Darell House's CD for children because of its overall quality but expecially, for this audience of writers and lovers-of-English. His Speed -B-B-B-Bumps and Other Poems for Kids and Families (DBTB Productions) has a few poems in it that us word-loving types might want to memorize with our children. One might even put them music and sing them! One is "Write My Story Down" but there are others with subjects dear to the hearts of writers, too, and the others are all gentle and fun. So, if you know of a family or kidlets, this is a good one to pick up for them for the holidays. Find it at www.sonicbid.com/darrellhouse or on Amazon.

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Literary Novel Finds Publisher and High Approval

Shades of Luz
John Gorman
Genre: Fiction: Literary
ISBN 098409847X

Reviewed by Nannette Croce for A Book Review Blog

John Gorman's first novel Shades of Luz is a fun read, though I must admit I'm a little surprised it found a publisher. That's not criticism. It's just that the book is hard to classify, and classification末or genre末seems to carry far too much weight with agents and publishers these day. Happily All Things That Matter Press must be somewhat more flexible.

Shades of Luz is part coming-of-age novel and part love story and even a bit surreal at times. Benny Fluke is a 29-year-old still living at home and working on his Master's thesis, the subject of which he keeps changing. He meets the elusive Luz while selling stuffed animals for a fake charity, and from then on she threads through the story, popping in and out of his life, encouraging him to move out of his parents' house, eventually sharing his apartment, but always hovering between friend and lover. The story is enlivened still more by some oddball and humorous minor characters and Benny's unusual workplace where he goes from overseeing the monkeys who pick stocks on a dartboard to championship thumb wrestling within the same company. And then there's that strange secret about Benny's Mom.

As a Baby Boomer I'm used to thinking of coming-of-age novels dealing with teens, but 29 is probably on target for the current coming-of-age generation. One thing that did confuse me a bit about the novel was the time period in which it was set. While much of it seemed current, Benny's workplace seemed a little futuristic, though maybe it was just meant to be fantastic. Whatever, it added interest and humor.

I "met" John Gorman when I accepted and edited Boba Fett Blues, my last official job with The Rose & Thorn. So I wasn't surprised that Gorman is at his best in those scenes that reminisce on childhood and adolescence.

Here's wishing John Gorman success with Luz and all future endeavors.
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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Remember the Way Sheriff Taylor Taught Barney Fife the Facts of Life?

Your Name Here: Guide to Life
By Michael Rosenbaum
Genre: Nonfiction: Inspirational/Self-Help
Publisher: Barosum Books (July 23, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0982501625
ISBN-13: 978-0982501627

Reviewed for Amazon by Dave Armon
Reviewer's Rating: 5 Stars



When the sheriff of Mayberry passed along a nugget of knowledge on TV's "Andy Griffith Show," it was delivered in such a folksy manner that it didn't sound or look like a lecture or dressing down. That's the kind of common sense and good vibes I got while absorbing the words of wisdom in Michael Rosenbaum's thoroughly enjoyable read, Your Name Here' Guide to Life.

With the recession of 2008-2009 prompting many of us to take stock in our personal fortunes -- monetarily and spiritually -- Rosenbaum's collection of insights and commentary is an easy-to-digest pathway to tranquility. Everyone has personal heroes and demons. Few of us have taken time to write about them and turn them into anecdotes suitable for sharing with our kids to help them be better people.

From a purely financial perspective, the money spent on this book could save thousands of dollars in psychotherapy.

In one story, the author tied his father's guilt of returning unscathed from World War II to a lesson about the motivations of people who volunteer. Later, Rosenbaum equated his mother's need to keep lists of birthday gifts received by the family to the futility of keeping personal scorecards that make individuals feel inferior.

Without preaching or trying to recruit the reader to join a cult, Michael Rosenbaum fills a void missing since many of us lack an Andy Griffith in our lives.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.