The New Book Review

This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Coming of Age Story Impresses Reviewer

The Lady
By Judy Higgins
Genre: coming of age/mystery (prize winning novel)
ISBN 978-0615878089
 

Reviewed by Jesse Sisken, author of Cavanila's Choices originally for Amazon
 
        "The Lady" tells the story of Quincy Bruce, a plucky, talented 16-year old girl who, in rural Georgia in the 1950's, dreams of becoming a concert pianist. But her fundamentalist parents and Aunt Mildred are more concerned about her soul than her aspirations. Quincy's salvation comes when her parents go to Africa as missionaries and leave her with her Aunt Addy who fosters her dreams and opens her eyes to a whole new world. But Addy has a mysterious past that, out of love, Quincy feels she needs to get to the bottom of. But what she finds is more than she bargained for.
       Higgins does an outstanding job of putting the reader into her scenes, capturing the speech and attitudes of the time and place. Her characters are well-rounded and believable. She writes well and has a nice voice. Once into the book, it's hard to put it down. And once finished, it's hard to get Quincy's story out of one's mind. I recommend this book very highly.

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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.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Poetry: Order Your Best Valentine Ever Early

Title: Cherished Pulse: Unconventional Love Poetry 
Authors:  Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. 
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 9781449546052
Reviewer: Joy V. Smith 
Review was originally published on Amazon
Publisher:  A Compulsive Reader Publication
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle
 Reviewed by Joy V. Smith
 
Say it with poetry
 
This chapbook of poems is a delicious serving of loving and lovely thoughts, memories, and images of love shared and remembered in a breathtaking way, as in these lines from "Aurora":
 
 
"Red, green and purple curtains
waved above you"
 
"If I could capture that spectrum of
atomic neon sign of lost wonder"
 
As a science fiction writer, I so appreciated the cosmic comparisons in Magadalena Ball's poems. 
 
The first group of poems is by Magdalena Ball; the second group is by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  All the poems flow and entice you into a world of longing and caresses.  Howard-Johnson's poems reflect the imagery of nature, as in these lines from "Dreaming Lilacs":
 
"hearing bougainvillea's fuchsia
song, taking shortcuts
across the lawn to kick
through jacaranda's silent
petalfall. Like Van Goh's flowers
twist their faces
 to the sun, ... "
 
These gentle, but stirring poems are a sweet gift to yourself, a friend, a loved one, or a young girl to show her what love really means...

 
ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Joy V. Smith loves science fiction; she reads it and writes it and interviews other science fiction writers when she tracks them down...  Her SF includes Sugar Time (audiobook), two collections of her published short stories, Aliens, Animals, and Adventure andThe Doorway and Other Stories, and three e-books: Hidebound (SF romance/adventure), Pretty Pink Planet, and Hot Yellow Planet (the sequel).  But her latest novel is a western, Detour Trail.

Find The Doorway and Other Stories on Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SV1FB2

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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.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Ever Wondered About Miss Marple's Luck? New Author Takes On The Question

Twelve Days of Christmas Murder and Mayhem
Genre: Fiction: comedic mystery
By Aaron T Knight
ISBN 978-1494233358
Available Amazon or CreateSpace eStore
 
Miss Marble the famous amateur sleuth has amazed everyone for years with her insight into murder cases. Here you will learn some of the secrets of her success. Why a murderer has never thought of knocking her off when they learn she is on the case is a mystery. A group is formed to kill Miss Marble for rvenge at Christmas time in an old castle in northern England . A humorous mystery with many twists to the tale.


About the Author:
During the time author Aaron T. Knight spent on the road and living out of a suitcase, he found writing to be a great way to spend his evenings.  Writing fiction has been a hobby of his for many years now.  He tried his luck with traditional publishing but had no luck.  When self-publishing became an option, he dismantled the couch he had made out of rejected manuscripts and gave it a try.  Now he is learning the marketing side of the writing industry.

The Story
The author grew up reading Agatha Christie’s mysteries.  I own all of them, and each one has been read several times.  No criminal could get away with any wrongdoing if Miss Marple happened to be in the vicinity.  With her long history of solving crime, have you ever wondered why no criminal ever tried to do away with her?

 
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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.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Wish Associates Success in New Year with Gift That Keeps Giving


The new year is upon us and I thought I'd share a new review for my little engine that could, The Frugal Editor : Do-it-yourself editing secrets for authors: From your query letter to final manuscript to the marketing of your new bestseller, because it isn't too late to order it sent from Amazon to your favorite editor to wish professional assoicates success in the New Year of 2014 .  And it's a gift that will keep on giving.

The Frugal Editor 
Second Edition
Subtitle: Do-it-yourself editing secrets for authors: From your query letter to final manuscript to the marketing of your new bestseller
First Edition Published by Red Engine Press
Available as paperback and Kindle on Amazon
Genre: Nonfiction: Writing/Marketing/Editing/Self-Help

 
 
By Helen Dunn Frame
 
When Carolyn Howard-Johnson offered me the opportunity to own The Frugal Editor, I was deep into resurrecting an incomplete mystery manuscript that definitely would require editing. Having begun my writing and editing career in what some would characterize as “the old days,” I am always open to reading articles or books that might inform me about the latest trends or refresh my stuffed memory regarding grammar and punctuation.

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson deserves commendation for taking the time to explain much about the editing process, especially in this self-publishing era. Her goal is to help authors to obtain a finished product worthy of Simon and Schuster. The book guides readers through the changes evolving in the English language that has no governing academy regulating it.

When I learned to touch typing, for example, our teachers emphasized putting two spaces between sentences. Computers have changed the rule to one space. This habit is ingrained so deeply that now I have to make a conscious effort to strike the space bar only once or to use the wonders of Word to correct those that Gremlins (or Poltergeists) sneak into the piece.

If you are just beginning to create articles, stories, or books, you will find The Frugal Editor a great tool. As a veteran to the craft, you may stir up a memory of something you had stored in the file cabinet of your mind. If somehow the book fails to benefit you, pass it on to that budding writer who will be ever grateful. I, for one, am delighted to have it in my e-book library. For more books and poetry check out The Frugal Book Promoter: http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo and the website: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com

 ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Helen Dunn Frame
Retiring in Costa Rica or Doctors, Dogs and Pura Vida (Second Edition); Greek Ghosts Website:
www.helendunnframe.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.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Reader's Favorite Gives Five Stars to Fiction Set in China

Author:  Catherine Aerie
Title: The Dance of the Spirits
ISBN:
978-09-89690928 (paperback)  
978-0989690911 (eBook). 
Price: $12.80 (print) 
$2.99 (eBook)
Stores:   Amazon.com.     
BN.com (print only). 
Walmart.com (print only).
Smashwords (eBook).
Goodreads (eBook).
Bookhitch (eBook).Review:  Rating: 5.0 stars

Reviewed by Patricia Reding originally for Readers' Favorite

“The Dance of the Spirits, by Catherine Aerie, is the story of Jasmine Young who is raised in a well-to-do home in China. Her life is punctuated by experiences of wealth and plenty on the one hand, and family misery on the other. Throughout Jasmine’s young years, her mother continually encourages (bullies?) her to become a doctor so that she will be self-sufficient and not have to depend upon an unfaithful man, as has Jasmine’s mother. Into the mix of family life is added Tin-Bo, a street waif whose ability to learn quickly makes him a favorite amongst the servants… When communism comes to China, Jasmine, to save her family’s honor, goes to the war in Korea. While there, she meets an American, Wesley. Through the death and misery of a war-torn land, Jasmine and Wesley find love, while Tin-Bo concludes that Jasmine is to be his or she is to belong to no one else.

On the surface, The Dance of the Spirits is a story of love and of war, but on a deeper level, it is a story of the misery that the communist ideology brought to millions of souls in the twentieth century. Whether that philosophy is related to nationalism, internationalism or faith, Catherine Aerie reminds readers that when a system that will entertain no contradiction in thought or deed comes to power, no one is safe — and no one is free. Aerie draws a vivid picture of war and its price, and a tender image of love. This is a story to be read…with an eye toward seeking a meaning greater than just that of the lives and events that visit its pages.”

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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.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Readers' Favorite Reviews Legal Thriller

False Prophet, a Legal Thrillerby Jeff RasleyAuthor's Web site: http://www.jeffreyrasley.com

Genre: Legal thriller, mystery
ISBN 978-1-4524-1027-2
ASIN for Kindle: B005ECBYAE
Buy link:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ECBYAE

Reviewed by Ray Simmons  originally for Readers' Favorite
5-Star Rating


False Prophet, A Legal Thriller is the story of a defamation lawsuit brought against a big newspaper by a charismatic African-American minister in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is also the story of Jack Ross and his struggle to save his marriage, save his struggling partnership and most of all, save his idealism and belief in justice after working too long in a legal system he doesn't believe in anymore. Jeff Rasley has created a very likable and credible character in Jack Ross, someone who fights for the underdog while actually being something of an underdog himself. Jack's most redeeming qualities are his strength and determination, something nurtured during years of high school athletics, and his loyalty, demonstrated by his walking away from the largest and most prestigious law firm in the state in support of his best friend.

Jeff Rasley's novel is as good as anything written in this particular genre and better than most. He takes his time developing his plot and setting up the situation. There is a compelling sub-plot - Jack's threatened marriage - which is woven alongside the lawsuit and dispersed in timely increments that complement the main thread of the novel. The politics, greed, and ruthlessness of those in the top tiers of society in modern day Indianapolis ring true. The strengths and frailties of the characters are subtly but effectively portrayed and the portrait of our legal system in action is vividly rendered. This is a legal thriller indeed and I eagerly await the next one by Jeff Rasley.
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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.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Intenet Review of Books Lauds Ester Benjamin Shifren

HIDING IN A CAVE OF TRUNKS:
A prominent Jewish Family’s Century in Shanghai and Internment in a WWII POW Camp
Author: Ester Benjamin Shifren
Non-fiction/memoir/history
ISBN 978 1479165384 and ISBN 1479165387
Available on Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/1479165387
RReviewed by Katherine Highcove originally for  Internet Review of Books (IRB)
 


Hiding in a Cave of Trunks is the saga of British family's century-long residence in Shanghai. Author Ester Benjamin Shifren is the descendant of Sephardic Jewish émigrés to the eastern city. Her ancestors sailed into Shanghai from India in the early 1840s and from Persia and the Mideast in 1917. For the next century, family members were active participants in Shanghai's multi-ethnic cultural life and commerce, while remaining faithful to the rites and rituals of their religion.

In Shanghai, Jews were not hampered by Christian prejudice, which enabled the immigrants to flourish. But like other Shanghai émigrés who chose to retain citizenship in their home countries, the Benjamin clan steadfastly maintained British citizenship during their hundred-year residency in the International Settlement - the section of the city where wealthy foreigners built and maintained spacious homes.

The chapters of Hiding in a Cave of Trunks are split into four sections: Early Childhood Days in ShanghaiFrom Freedom to CaptivityHomecoming, and Hong Kong. In preparation for the book, Shifren researched family records, copied photographs, sorted through correspondence, and interviewed old friends and living relatives to flesh out her own Shanghai memories.

The first section, Early Childhood Days, introduces the author's grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and servants. She reviews important incidents and devastating events in the family history, and outlines how the Benjamin family, generation by generation, integrated into the highest circles of Shanghai society. Shifren recalls her chaperoned excursions into exotic street scenes and the émigré community's social occasions at private clubs, weddings, funerals and the racetrack. Many members of her family owned racehorses and enjoyed that level of the city's sporting life.

Much of Shifren’s research for this book was based on several interviews, done over a period of seventeen years, with her parents. Their-first person input makes this story a poignant account of courage and parental fortitude in a time of high stress and danger.

The From Freedom to Captivity section recounts the family's traumatic experiences during WWII. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese military swiftly invaded Shanghai and took over all of the city's profitable enterprises. The Allied nationals, who had owned many of the banks, shipping warehouses and businesses, lost much of their savings and possessions - even their family cars - to the invaders. Even worse, families who had retained citizenship in Allied countries were labeled security risks by the Japanese. All Allied families were soon forced to leave their luxurious homes and take up residence in a hastily prepared prisoner of war camp.

The author's family members, as British citizens, were also considered enemies of the Emperor. This poignant passage from Hiding in Cave of Trunks relates their last evening in their spacious ancestral home:

On the first morning of Pessach (Passover) in April 1943, we tearfully celebrated the Seder, eating matsoch and performing all the rituals. This was to be our last wonderful home-cooked festival meal for a long time.

The next morning Mummy and Daddy looked around our home for the last time…. Some Chinese men with large wheelbarrows arrived to collect our things. They grunted and groaned while they transported all our cases, kitbags, beds, and bare necessities to the Public Boys and Girls School on Yu Yuen Road, our designated camp, and “home” for the unforeseeable future.

The incarceration of Allied civilians in the Far East has been dramatized in several movies and television shows. The dramas usually emphasize extreme hardships: torture, forced marches, rapes, and other types of inhumane treatment inflicted by the merciless Japanese military. And the movies re-create, or a scriptwriter fantasizes, dramatic acts of resistance by heroic civilians. Extreme cruelty is easy to dramatize. But everyday tedium, limited bland nutrition, and less onerous deprivations - like never providing kosher meat to the Jewish families - are considered ho-hum matters to a movie director.

Shifren provides a vivid picture of real life in the POW camp. Although Hiding in a Cave of Trunks chronicles cruel and sadistic acts by the Japanese Commandant, the author puts the emphasis on the subtle mind games that were played every day between the military captors and the Allied prisoners.

All through their three-year captivity, the inmates of the prison camp found ways to work together and make their imprisonment bearable. For example, they had a secret communication system that imported outside news of key battles and Allied victories, even though the Japanese threatened death to anyone who participated in this grapevine. And the community resisted their captors and demonstrated loyalty to the Allied forces by staying physically and mentally active. The women of the camp found ways to nourish and educate the children; the men did heavy work and repaired their ramshackle housing when the Japanese allowed such activity. This daily effort to maintain esprit de corps and community well-being was heroism on a less flashy level.

When the Allies began to win key battles in the Pacific arena, the news eventually sifted through the camp news sources. Hope grew weekly. But the closer the battle came to Shanghai, the more recalcitrant the camp's Japanese commandant became. New rules and requirements amped up the mind games until the last day of incarceration.

After the official Japanese surrender, the truth could no longer be denied. One morning the captors melted away into the postwar mayhem and confusion in the city, and the Allied families slowly realized they were free to leave their prison. They eased their way back into the streets of Shanghai and rejoiced.

And yet, the former captives soon realized that they couldn't simply take up where they left off before the war. Their property was now in other hands. The Communists were on the horizon. Shifren's parents, like many other camp survivors, came to understand that they had to start over again … but not in Shanghai.

In the last two sections of this memoir, Homecoming and Hong Kong, Shifren relates how her family slowly let go of their friends and the Jewish community in Shanghai, and moved to Hong Kong. But as mainland China steadily morphed into a repressive Communist society, the family decided to break with their ancestral home. They boarded a plane to Israel. Émigrés once again.

I asked the author what had inspired her memoir. She replied:

 "I wrote the book because I felt I had to tell the little-known story of the history of the multi-ethnic groups living in Shanghai, "The Paris of the East," and the brutal Japanese occupation of the Far East during WWII. Of great importance was letting the world know about the internment of all Allied civilians, and the resultant losses of material wealth, optimum health, and dislocation that we endured."

With the completion and publication of this intimate memoir, Ester Benjamin Shifren has given the reader a valuable eyewitness account of a little-known historical event. Her story is especially valuable for those who study and seek to preserve Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Eastern Jewish history.

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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.