The New Book Review

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Angel Falls by Tess Thompson Romantic Suspense Book Review

Title: Angel Falls

Author: Tess Thompson

www.sisterswritingcrime.com

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Purchase at Amazon

5-star rating

Reviewed by L. Porter

This was an amazing story. I loved the authenticity of the NM food, places and people. Russell is a very complicated character, he’s loyal, sexy and conflicted. He’s been through something really bad but you don’t know what at first.

Magdalena is awesome too. She’s strong, loyal to her family and determined. I loved her abuela, who is a psychic and reads the tarot cards. She leads Magdalena is a loving and true way that I absolutely adored. Throw in the psycho ex-boyfriend and it’s seriously interesting. Their problems run deep, but their love runs deeper and I can’t recommend this book more. If you love an emotionally compelling, paranormal read with an addictive storyline you will adore this book like I did.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tess Thompson is the pen name for two sisters (Charlene Tess and Judi Thompson) who combined their two last names into a pseudonym when they began writing as a team in 2002. At present, they have published 8 novels and are working on another one. All of their novels have a strong female lead and a happy ending. Learn more about her at www.sisterswritingcrime.com.

Angel Falls by Tess Thompson Romantic Suspense Book Review

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER, THIS BLOG, AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog 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.

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

Sunday, June 23, 2019

David Lee Summers Shares His Sci-Fi Review with The New Book Review

Title: Taboo Tech

Author: Joy V. Smith

Genre: Science Fiction

ISBN: 9780359516575

Purchase on Amazon: https://amzn.to/30eJcd9

Reviewed by David Lee Summers originally for Amazon

This past week, I had the opportunity to read Joy V. Smith’s latest novel, Taboo Tech. It tells the story of a young woman named Lacie Leigh Collier. Her parents seek out and try to understand old, dangerous, and forbidden technologies. As the novel opens, Lacie is graduating from primary school and preparing to move on to secondary school. Meanwhile, her parents have just found a lead on such a cache of taboo tech and leave her in the care of her uncle. If anything her uncle has an even greater interest in taboo tech and is soon tempted to explore yet another cache. He takes Lacie along with him, but they soon find the Interstellar Guard on their tail. Lacie’s uncle devises an intricate escape for his niece, but she soon finds herself alone in the galaxy with only the companionship of a fledgling AI called Embers.

At this point, Lacie’s adventures really begin. She completes school, then meets and befriends a group of professors who worked with her parents and they take her to a cache of taboo tech where she’s given command of a spaceship left to her by her parents. The professors and Lacie then hatch a plot to build a school on the site of the cache to allow the professors to investigate the cache while not arousing suspicion. To further allay suspicion, Lacie moves on to the resort world of Rainbow’s End where she befriends two members of the security staff and a diplomat’s daughter. All together, they help to thwart a plot against a princess. Lacie then must rescue her friends, the professors, from a plot to take over the school she helped to create. All the while, Lacie hopes to find clues to her parents’ and uncle’s whereabouts.
Taboo Tech is a rollicking fast story that propels Lacie from one adventure to another as she meets new friends, new adversaries, AIs and aliens. We’re never really told why old tech is taboo in this world other than it’s “dangerous.” However, I did wonder if the author gave us some sly clues. Her characters are often as carefully analytical as computers and the deepest emotions are sometimes expressed by the AIs in this world. It makes me wonder if the powers that be in this universe don’t want the humans to know something about their connection to the AIs. If Joy V. Smith ever writes a sequel, maybe this is something that can be explored.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joy V. Smith has been writing stories since she was a kid and made her own little books. Her stories and articles have been published in print magazines, ezines, and anthologies; and her SF has been published in two audiobooks, includingSugar Time. Her books include Detour Trail; Strike Three; Sugar Time; a collection of her published short stories; and five e-books. She lives in Florida with Blizzard the Snow Princess, Pemberley the tortoiseshell cat, and Samwise the Chihuahua cross puppy in a remodeled house. (She's been practicing building and remodeling.) Learn more about her:

Website: http://www.joyvsmith.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyVSmith

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/joyvsmith/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007389700154

David Lee Summers Shares His Sci-Fi Review with The New Book Review

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Guest Post: The Big Lie About Book Reviews

Today's guest post by loannis Tsiokos debunks one of those myths authors hear about reviews but also offers a new resource--one you don't want to miss! Watch for future guest posts on this blog from this new force in the world of book reviews. If you are having trouble getting book reviews, try #TheNewBookReview's Lois W. Stern's free book-review-getting service by going to https://bit.ly/FreeBookReviewMatchingService on this blog. Use the link or go to the tab at the top of the home page. It's part of Lois's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors project.

The big lie about book reviews

By loannis Tsiokos

Here is the big lie they told you about book reviews.

“You need sales to get reviews”

You most certainly need reviews to get sales, but the reverse is not true. In fact, book sales is the slowest process when it comes to reviews.

To get reviews you must put your book in the hands of Book Reviewers. That simple.

The three kinds of book reviewers.

Professional reviewers, book bloggers and casual reviewers.

Book bloggers and casual reviewers are almost always interested in the content of a book. They don’t care much about the publication year or publisher’s name.

The good news is that, although professional reviews can be a lot harder to get, casual and blogger reviews can be just as valuable.

The bad news is that finding casual reviewers to review your book on Amazon is still not easy.

That is perhaps because, you are not supposed to find them.

They need to find you.

Sure, you can give a book to somebody and ask them to review it, but if they were not already looking for that kind of book (and the chances of that are slim), getting them to read it and review it (for free as per Amazon’s terms) is not going to happen.

Note that I did not say that it’s hard to give away free books to people and ask them for reviews. People will happily accept freebies, but you will need to push several thousands of copies to get a handful of reviews. And to do that, you need marketing dollars and marketing knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no way to avoid marketing. The idea is to make is cost effective and worth the effort.

So, how do you get reviewers to find your book?

Think of the perfect reviewer. No, that’s not the one who would leave you a five-star review although I see where you are coming from. The ideal reviewer is the person who would have bought your book even if it was not a free review copy. Therefore, the ideal reviewer is nothing more than your target reader.

Once your target readers finds your book, you can offer them a free copy and ask for a review. You cannot offer a free copy “in exchange” as per Amazon, so be careful of the language you use here.

By free copy, I mean one of three things. You can either send them the ebook file or you can send them a Prepaid Amazon link, or a Gift Amazon link. The first one is self-explanatory. Amazon pre-paid and gift links are basically secret Amazon links where somebody can claim a free Kindle version of your book.

Prepaid and Gift links are not the same although they appear to be. One important difference is that prepaid links cannot be exchanged for credit whereas gift links can. Therefore, with prepaid links you can be 100% sure that the recipient will get the book (and you will also get the royalty payment back). However, prepaid links result to Unverified reviews whereas Gift links result to Verified reviews.

Getting your review copy to the hands of your target reader will also require a marketing budget and marketing knowledge. However, you will end up spending way less per review.

So, what’s your next step?

Unfortunately, you cannot use Amazon ads to offer free review copies in exchange for reviews. BookPub does not allow links to lead funnels so that can be restrictive. That leaves you with Google and Facebook ads, but you have to know what you are doing.

If you use Google, you will have to host a page where you kindly ask for a review and offer a free review copy.

If you use Facebook, you could ask for people to get in touch with you through your page. A better strategy is to ask readers to simply comment on a post and have a bot reply back to them with the review copy. This process, and even the follow up, can be automated entirely.

Finally, you might just want to try Fiveabook, a website that I started to help authors and publishers get reviews for their books.

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER

Ioannis Tsiokos is a programmer, author, book publisher and entrepreneur. He has published over 100 non-fiction titles. He owns and is managing director of Fiveabook.com, a website that connects authors who want reviews for their books with readers that enjoy free books. Find him on Twitter @fiveabook.

MORE ABOUT THE BLOG, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS

Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you a badge similar to this one to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

Monday, June 17, 2019

A Little History of Bond Novels and a Wesley Britton Review of a New One

Title: Forever and a Day

Subtitle: A James Bond Novel

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Publisher: Jonathan Cape/Waterstone's, London, England; First Edition (2018)

ISBN-10: 1911214772

ISBN-13: 978-1911214779

Purchase on Amazon

Reviewed by: Dr. Wesley Britton originally for BookPleasures.com

Beginning with John Pearson's 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, Ian Fleming Publications has licensed a number of pre-Casino Royale Bond stories as part of their ongoing series of James Bond continuation novels. In addition, a number of unsanctioned books, often fictionalized versions of Ian Fleming's World War II experiences, have been published as alleged foreshadowings of the literary material Fleming would use in his James Bond yarns.

The longest-lasting sanctioned pre-MI5 Bond stories began with Charlie Higson's 2005 "Young James Bond" books which author Steve Cole took over in 2014.

In terms of the adult Bond, after long runs of Bond continuation novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, in which the character of Bond was "frozen in time" and emulated the cinematic aspects of the films, Ian Fleming Publications opted for a course change in 2014 beginning with Sebastian Faulks's Devil May care in a new series featuring books by various authors sticking as closely as possible to the spirit and flavor of the Fleming books, using settings and events occurring in the 1960s.

Then came Anthony Horowitz's well-received 2015 Trigger Mortis which took Bond back to the '50s, and included unused material by Ian Fleming himself. Horwitz, Bond, and a bit more unused Fleming material returned in 2018 with Forever and a Day, the latest offering set before the events in Casino Royale.

007 literary aficionados have been divided in their responses to Forever and a Day, with many a reader praising the book for its keeping close to the style and flavor of Fleming, its comparatively subtle introduction of many Bond tropes of the original novels, its revealing how James Bond got the 007 number, and the characters introduced by Horwitz, notably the love interest between Bond and "Madame Sixteen."

Add me to the list of critics who really, really liked Forever and a Day. I don't see much to complain about, especially as so many continuation novels were entertaining, readable, and completely forgettable. For me, Madame Sixteen is now one of my all-time favorite Bond girls, although calling her a "girl" isn't close to accurate. She's well-developed--in the literary sense--mature, resourceful, as good as an action companion as 007 could ever ask for.

True, that scene where supposed acid turns out to be merely water and some of the incursion scenes are a tad contrived, and nothing could be more contrived than Irwin Wolfe's rationalization for his motivations. But when was Ian Fleming ever flawless?

I'd wager most Bond literary fans have already read, evaluated, and passed judgement on Forever and a Day. It's the rest of you this review is for. If you're not a habitual reader of either Fleming or the continuation novels, is Forever and a Day a good read for you? Is it a good starting point, now being the first authorized 007 adventure in the chronological sequence of the canonical Bond?

Naturally, every reader should start with Fleming himself, and I recommend Dr. No, From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or Casino Royale. (Not coincidently, these became the best films.) In terms of continuation novels, yes, Forever and a Day is now an ideal starting point. It's the most memorable yarn in many a moon. More Horowitz, please.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of The Beta Earth Chronicles and reviews for BookPleasures.com and this blog among others. Learn more about him at:

Reviewer, BookPleasures.com

Explore the Beta Earth Chronicles website:

Follow Wes Britton’s Goodreads blog:

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Enjoy the videos at Wes Britton’s YouTube Channel:

MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER AND
SOME WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

Friday, June 14, 2019

A Dr. Bob Rich Review of "I Am Malala"

Title: I am Malala

Author: Malala Yousafzai

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

ISBN: 9780316327916

Reviewed by Dr. Bob Rich

Everybody knows about Malala.

Everybody should read her book.

Doing so will make you into a better person.

Naturally, some of it is horrific reading, including natural disasters, the atrocities of the Taliban, and of course the later part reporting on her shooting and recovery. But even these sections are fascinating, informative and inspiring.

And so much of it is joyful. If a flower could write about her life, this is how she would write.

Seeing Pushtun culture from within was interesting and educational. And no one reading this book could continue with the delusions of those who see all Muslims as evil terrorists, the Other to fear and hate.

Malala comes across as a real person, with her faults as well as good points. She is not some saint, up there, but one of us. That means, each of us can be like her.

Even before reading the book, my often expressed opinion was that her father must be exceptional to have raised a daughter like her. My reading confirmed and even reinforced this. From an early age, he has defied the conventions of his culture, and followed his own light of decency, intelligence and courage.

I do have one slight disagreement with this young lady. For her, education is the key to everything, for me it is one essential component of several. But that’s fine. I hope her influence only continues to grow.

MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Dr. Bob Rich is a professional grandfather, with hundreds of grankids all over Earth. Anyone under 25 qualifies: they only need to apply. Everything he does, including his 18 published books, is designed to work for a survivable future for young people, and a future worth surviving in. This means changing a global culture that emphasizes and rewards the worst in human nature, particularly greed and aggression, into a global culture that empahsizes and rewards the best in human nature: compassion, empathy, cooperation, sharing, decency. He has lots of good resources at his blog, Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com including descriptions of his books, which get uniformly high ratings and complimentary reviews.

Learn more about him:

Website: http://bobswriting.com

Dr. Bob's newsletter: Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com

Twitter: @bobswriting

Bob's Mottoes: Commit random acts of kindness

Live simply so you may simply live

I-Am-Malala-The-Girl-Who-Stood-Up-for-Education-and-Was-Shot-by-the-Taliban.jpg

MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

Monday, June 10, 2019

Dining Out On Planet Mercury (Dining Out Around The Solar System Book 4)

MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. 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 and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. 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.

Dining Out On Planet Mercury (Dining Out Around The Solar System Book 4)

Clare O'Beara

Kindle Edition

Book 4 in the Dining Out Around the Solar System Series

· ASIN: B074Y53JMX

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074Y53JMX

Please see the reviews for book 1, book 2, and book 3 as this is the fourth and final book in the Dining Out Around the Solar System books.

Donal becomes an interpreter for the police in book four as knows the language of people from planet Mercury. A Mercurian girl, Surrune, is suspected of murder, and Donal is there to help, wearing trousers with solar panels to be able to charge his electronic gadgets. Myon, the Jafraican journalist, also helps as he and Donal are a team for London’s Eye. Donal works on his writing for publication in this book. The food scenes in restaurants are wonderfully described as Donal still writes restaurant reviews. The pair ride the tube and walk to their destinations.

At Surrune’s, they find off-world workers are being exploited as there are too many people crammed into the rented spaces inside mansions. The landlord does not have proper permits. The building could not have passed health or safety inspections for many reasons. Doors are blocked, some tenants have no escape routes, and poor air quality are just some of the code violations. Similar mansions are standing empty or unoccupied -- inviting other troubles.

There is a British Parliamentary election, and the police need to keep public fears to a minimum. One of the election issues is the rising sea, and another is the health issues of the space miners. Donal’s mother had radiation sickness from working for BSM (British Space Mines) and died. His concerns are understandable. The off-worlders may not vote, so they can’t help themselves through politics.

An interesting micro-business set-up is that people are using the former red telephone boxes for small businesses such as mending, sewing, dog-walking services, or other small shops. There is even a directory of red box businesses in London.

Climate change is affecting life in London with cut flowers being less popular due to their carbon footprint. With the sea level rise, the water table is saltier. Care must be taken with trees and plantings. Only cremation is permitted as London has no more space for burials. We learn about how climate change has affected other areas of the world, as well, such as Australia.

A case of jealousy almost causes Donal a terrible problem, but he insists it is a misunderstanding. His attitude again reveals he is a nice person.

The overcrowding issue is resolved in a most off-world manner, both on and off Earth. Oh, best of all, Donal and Myron have girlfriends by the end of the book, which is a satisfying ending after reading all four books.

Winter is approaching, and it is time to think about getting shuttle-flu jabs before Christmas!

Clare O’Beara reads extensively and reviews books for Fresh Fiction.com.

Check out her books and sign up to her quarterly newsletter on:

http:// www.clareobeara.ie

Dining Out On Planet Mercury (Dining Out Around The Solar System Book 4)

Thank you for reading,

Carolyn Wilhelm

Wise Owl Factory

#A Book Review Blog, #BookReviewResource #GreatBkReviews #HowtoGetGreatBookReviews #HowToDoItFrugally #CarolynHowardJohnson #TheNewBookReviewSci

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