The New Book Review

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Medical Writer Uses The Great First Impression Book Proposal

The Great First Impression Book Proposal:
Subtitle: Everything You Need to Know to Impress a Publisher in Thirty Minutes or Less
HowToDoItFrugally Series for Writers
Genre: Nonfiction: How-To, Writing, Marketing
ISBN: 9781453690956
Available on Amazon as a paperback and e-book
Paperback: $6.95
Free digital copy when you purchase paperback with Amazon’s Matchbook program

Reviewed by Treacy Clement, originally for Amazon

I have relied on this wonderful little guide when writing previous book proposals, and got it out again this morning as I am starting a new one. Carolyn strips all the intimidation out of writing a book proposal. Her clear, hands-on advice makes proposal writing not only less daunting, but in fact enjoyable.

"This is a really smart proposal," was one comment from an agent who went on to sell my nonfiction book to a publisher. The "smartest" thing about it? I used Carolyn's guide to write it!

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Treacy Colbert is a medical writer based in Southern California. She is co-author of End Your Menopause Misery and Before It's Too Late. When she isn't writing about health and medicine, she explores love, death, and 3-In-One Oil on her blog, The Green Side of the Grass.

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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, March 1, 2014

A Pause in Regular New Book Review Programming for Special Shoutout

This tip is from my newsletter--not from another reviewer or author as most of these blog posts are. But when there is good news out there that I know will help my writing friends (and aren't we all writers in these days of cyberspace?), well, what can I do but shout it out--as often as possible! (Anyone who wants to subscribe to my SharingwithWriters newsletter can do so on my Web site; the subscription form is in the upper left corner of almost every page. )

Favorite Tip: June Casagrande is my favorite grammar guru and former student at UCLA and she has her third grammar book coming out on April 15^th. It is The best punctuation book, period. Yes, no caps. And the title includes the punctuation. It's published by Ten Speed.

June also writes a syndicated column for newspapers, A Word Please. AND she gave me blurbs for my The Frugal Editor, both the first edition and the newly released Kindle version of the second. I think I’m as excited as she is about this. Go by her buy page on Amazon and at least add her book to your wish list. It’s a way to support fellow authors.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The Medea Complex Given Five "Confident Quills"

Title: The Medea Complex
Genre: Psychological Thriller / Historical Fiction
Author: Rachel Florence Roberts
Format: Paperback, eBook, 366 pages
ISBN: 149365117X
Publication Date: Edition 1, November 13st 2013.
Edition 2, 23rd November 2013.
Notes of merit: 5/5 star, Readers Favorite. Recently featured in The Leader, The North Wales Pioneer, Rhyl Journal, Chester First Lifestyle, Chester First, County Times, Denbighshire Free Press, and The Whitchurch Herald.
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdpFnfvuQxQ
Website: http://www.themedeacomplex.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/themedeacomplex
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/themedeacomplex
Available on Amazon:

Reviewed by Auggie for her Auggie for her Auggie Talks blog

A very confident 5 out of 5 quills.

Based On A True Story
Anne wakes up in a strange bed, having been kidnapped from her home. Slowly, she realizes she is in a lunatic asylum.

1885. Anne Stanbury - Committed to a lunatic asylum, having been deemed insane and therefore unfit to stand trial for the crime of which she is indicted. But is all as it seems?

Edgar Stanbury - the grieving husband and father who is torn between helping his confined wife recover her sanity, and seeking revenge on the woman who ruined his life.

Dr George Savage - the well respected psychiatrist, and chief medical officer of Bethlem Royal Hospital. Ultimately, he holds Anne's future wholly in his hands.

The Medea Complex tells the story of a misunderstood woman suffering from insanity in an era when mental illnesses' were all too often misdiagnosed and mistreated. A deep and riveting psychological thriller set within an historical context, packed full of twists and turns, The Medea Complex explores the nature of the human psyche: what possesses us, drives us, and how love, passion, and hope for the future can drive us to insanity.

Anne was a bit aggravating, but you had to keep reminding yourself that she'd been struck with grief. It has been a long time since I've read a book that impressed me to the extent that "The Medea Complex" has. When I first began the book I was mildly impressed, but somewhat aggravated by the actual insanity of the main character. The randomness of her behavior and the constant conjectures of Dr. Savage had me squirming throughout the first chapters. The squirming wasn't negative necessarily, I was enjoying the book but hadn't yet been truly drawn in.

My aggravation towards Dr. Savvage had taken root without any reason much before the book even began.

A few quotes that got my blood boiling:

"Women. Most of them are bordering on the limits of insanity at the best of times." ~Dr. Savage

"I know exactly what caused her insanity. Books. Women and their books." Dr. Savage

Then it happened. I spark of strangeness that I couldn't quite shake. Some happenings that had me questioning what was really going on. Who was right? Who was wrong? Who was the liar? Who killed that baby? I was lost in the book after that.

And I was confused and intrigued until the very end.

Overall This book infuriated me. Obviously, from the rating, you can come to the conclusion that this is actually a very good thing. I was angry at Dr. Savage, I was angry at the nurses, I was angry at Anne's husband, and darned if I wasn't angry at Anne too! I felt sympathy, and disgust, and confusion, and compassion for our main character AND the Dr. throughout the book.

Just when I had started to hate Dr. Savage with all my heart, he would do something genuinely, authentically kind. He would have an epiphany that contradicted his otherwise ignorant and sexist thoughts.

"Sometime simple human wamth can do wonders for a lost person." ~Dr. Savage

What the heck, Dr.! You're not supposed to be good meaning! You're supposed to be easily hated. Why are you making it so difficult to draw perfectly reasonable conclusions about you?

Back and forth. Back and forth. By the middle of the book I had no idea who to trust, or what to make of the situation. I was starting to feel like I was looking through a foggy lense at a puzzle that was poorly pieced together, and yet I was so curious and determined to understand WHAT was going on.

Author Rachel Roberts crafted a fantastic mystery, without making it seem a mystery at all. I was constantly asking myself questions, sitting back and considering the facts presented, and rolling my eyes at the ignorance of the time.

This book was intelligently written and there were no points throughout where I felt there were holes or weak story points. This was a strong, solid work made even more intriguing by the fact that it was based off of true events, true people, true horrors.

I actually feel compelled to check out all of the resources Ms. Roberts compiled at the end of the book for curious readers.

Ms. Roberts has created something that lures the reader into a fog of knowing some things, but not enough things. So, the reader draws their own conclusions based on personal feelings and even a bit of rambling from "Professional" sources. Consideration isn't made for alternatives until it's much too late to be prepared for the twist.

Without giving too much away (because you MUST read this book. RIGHT NOW) I'll say that I was flabbergasted by the way things progressed and the way things ended.

"The Medea Complex" will definitely find itself featured as one of the "Best Books Read in 2014" and Rachel Roberts is now on the list as one of my Favorite Authors.

I wish I could write all about this book. Just type it all out here in the review to prove to you how impressive and incredible this work is. But I don't want to give anything away. I want you to experience it for yourself.

This is a book to watch, and an author to keep up with.

----- 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.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

New York Editor Praises "American Sycamore"

American Sycamore

By Karen Fielding

Paperback

Publisher: Seren
ISBN-10: 1781721173
ISBN-13: 978-1781721179
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
Available for purchase on Amazon com and Amazon UK

Reviewed by Dana Micheli, New York Editor, Writers in the Sky
A Goodreads five-star review

"Fielding captures America's unique physical landscape -- and dysfunction -- in a truly palpable way. Not since reading Joyce Carol Oates could I so easily step into a book." Dana Micheli

Her longer review is as follows:

It is a rare pleasure to be completely immersed in a book-when a writer is able to engage all five senses so the reader feels like they are truly there. That's what Karen Fielding did when she created the beautiful, tragic world of American Sycamore. It is the story of Alice Sycamore, a young girl coming of age in the rural Pennsylvania of the 1970s, as well as the turmoil of dealing with her mentally ill brother.

Fielding's prose is achingly beautiful, with descriptions of nature so vivid it reminded me of Alice Hoffman. With every page of American Sycamore, I could smell the brackish odor of the Susquehanna River, feel the desolation of walking along it on an icy winter day, and the insects landing on my skin during a hot, sticky summer.

But what I loved most about Fielding's writing is its subtlety. Humor in the face of emotional agony and matter-of-fact statements must be used by only the most skilled writers, and even then very carefully, lest they downplay the drama of the story. In Fielding's hands, they give this drama yet another layer of realism. We see the ignorance of these times through the eyes (and funny, cryptic statements) of Joseph Lightfoot, a Native American who is trivialized by white society but gains wisdom from the ghosts of his ancestors. This also serves as a bit of irony, for Alice's brother, Billy-a manic depressive- also sees things that others cannot. Is Billy completely crazy, or does he also possess a particular brand of supernatural wisdom? While it is most likely the former, it did give me pause. I would be hard-pressed to name many authors--Joyce Carol Oates being one of them--that conveys human emotions and family dysfunctions so simply and so honestly.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Midwest Book Review Generously Shares Review with New Book Review

Title of Book: Miracle Man

Author: William R. Leibowitz

Publisher: Manifesto Media Group
Publication Date: January 16, 2014
Genre: Thriller
ISBN-13-978-0-9898662-1-7
Editions: Paperback and E-book
Number of Pages: 385 in E-book;   428 in paperback
Paperback: $12.95 E-book: $4.99

Available on Amazon

Reviewed by Diane Donovan originally for Midwest Book Review

Miracle Man opens on a rainy day with a sad scenario: a baby is abandoned in a dumpster by people too young to be burned with a child and too involved with drugs to care about a tiny life. Fast forward four years: Bobby is being raised by loving foster parents and has a good life despite his near-death experience as a baby; but something is still wrong - which is why they have taken him to a child psychologist for evaluation.

Bobby is developing patterns of behavior that are odd (trances, disturbing nightmares, broken sleep); but what the psychologist discovers is even more disturbing. Far from being a victim of childhood trauma, Bobby is actually a genius operating on a level far removed from anything intelligence tests have measured before.

Bobby's abilities are superhuman and his early interest in the medical field leads to a fascination with curing diseases; something that diverts from the purposes of the military group controlling his advanced education.

To call this novel a 'medical thriller' or a 'political story' would be to do it an injustice. Miracle Man is about miracles, motivations, ethics and morals, and the influence of special interests in the work of genius minds. It's about one 'super' boy's devotion to solving some of medicine's greatest mysteries against forces that would divert these great talents to something darker; and it's ultimately about the ability to withstand moral and ethical temptations against all odds.

Readers are treated to a plot with many twists and turns: it holds intrigue, describes compulsions and diversions, shows how a genius battles dark forces within and outside of himself, and generally paints a powerful picture of a search for privacy as much as meaning: "Every time he received an award or made a discovery, it became an impetus to the press to dredge him up as the subject of a story or special report. The snooping began anew. He hated to admit it, but in retrospect, he was grateful to Orin Varneys for having taken possession of all records relating to his childhood and sealing them under the protection of the OSSIS. Bobby shuddered to think about the field day the media would have if they had been able to discover his past."

A dash of romance would seem impossible under such conditions but even this emerges, even as Bobby's work threatens to separate him from anything resembling a normal life - including love…."But as the weeks went by, Susan began to notice a difference in him. He was becoming increasingly detached from present reality. Even when he wasn’t in one of his frequent trances, he didn’t seem present. Reclusive and paranoid,

he sequestered himself in his office with the door locked—or worked from the guest house for days on end."

Is Bobby a savior or a destroyer? A miracle man or a tortured genius with the power to annihilate himself and the world?

Miracle Man pinpoints the true wellspring of Bobby's genius and what amounts to an ultimate illness defying everything he's worked for and believes in. And so a gripping novel of psychological tension becomes much more than your usual 'medical thriller', and is a pick for any who want high octane action and emotionally-charged reading right up to an unexpected, gripping conclusion.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Bookstory Blog Calls Thriller "Unputdownable"

HALLWAYS IN THE NIGHT

Athor: R.C. O'Leary

Author's Web site: Www.rcoleary.com

Genre: Legal Thriller

ISBN: 978-0985838287

Amazon buying link

Reviewed by Bookstory Blogspot

"A Totally Unputdownable Book. Looking forward to the Sequel."

Sometimes you stumble across a good book or a new author in the most unexpected way. I met Andaleeb Wajid through a Twitter conversation about kichda. R C O’Leary somehow got to this blog and he was kind enough to send me his novel as a Kindle gift. And so I spent the weekend in a courtroom with Remo Centrella and Dave Mackno and I must say, it was a weekend well spent.

An arrogant, steroid pushing baseball player gets killed by a cop. Self defense, he says. But when there’s 45 million dollars involved, a clean self defense claim doesn’t fully cut it. So what we have is an edge of the seat legal battle that makes you keep turning the pages till the very end. I love American legal dramas, be it reruns of The Practice or John Grisham novels. I don’t know if I am being fair to the author by saying that this was like a Grisham, but it was. And some more. The characters were well formed and I actually didn’t take sides till the end. I wavered back and forth throughout the trial. Did Dave Mackno overreact? Was he driven by his own ghosts from the past? At one point you want him to win, and a few pages later, you wonder if he should.

There are little backstories for all the characters, one of which becomes a vital twist towards the end. The book touches on some relevant and sensitive topics like the identity crisis that the African American lawyer goes through, how the internet broke a family and of course, the usage of steroids in sports ( Made me wonder why we never ever hear of steroid use in cricket. Could Slapgate have been ‘roid rage?) And then there was even a dumb witness who actually named his kid after Hulk Hogan!

A totally unputdownable book. Looking forward to the sequel.

RC O'Leary

Author of Hallways in the Night

Legal Thriller, Available in print at Amazon

E-book at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Nook

Print Book available at Amazon and Inkwood Books

When a veteran cop tries to arrest baseball's home run king, one of them ends up on trial and the other ends up dead.

Free Sample Chapters at RCOLeary.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.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Novel Gets Raves from Amazon Reviewer

Title of Book: Miracle Man
Author: William R. Leibowitz

Reviewed by Mark Mavrantonis originally for Amazon

One Word: AWESOME

I read this book in one sitting, and I have to say it’s one of the better books I’ve read in a very long time. I generally read between four and six works of fiction every week, and for me to say this is one of my favorites is really saying a lot.

The story begins with an abandoned baby—found in a dumpster –being taken in by very kind foster parents. As the infant grows, it becomes very clear that he’s a bit “different.” The parents take him to a doctor when he’s four, and from there, it becomes obvious that the boy’s IQ is off the charts, about three hundred points off the charts when compared to some of the smartest people in history.

The parents are reluctantly convinced to allow Bobby to be taken in to a special program to develop his incredible intelligence. From here, it gets really good –the kid has a great personality, somewhat sarcastic, but very kind overall. There’s an obvious different about him, and he tends to be alone most of the time, ever studying, or in one of his “trances,” where he just stares off into the distance for long periods of time, working things out in his head. The company funding the program, has an ulterior motive to focus Bobby on math and science, in particular to solve problems for military programs.

After several tragedies occur in Bobby’s life, before he’s even twenty years old, he decides to devote all of his focus to the medical field, to cure diseases and to help mankind doing medical research. Needless to say, this isn’t ideal for the group who is running the program and they’re not thrilled with Bobby’s decision.

I’m not going to give away any more, but all I can say is that you need to read the book. The author seems to have done some excellent research, and everything seems very plausible given the unusual circumstances.

The “flow” of the timeline was seamless as well – a week or two here and there, sometimes it would skip a course of several years, but it was all tied together perfectly.

At the end of the book, it seemed to me that there could quite possibly be a very exciting sequel, maybe even the possibility of a series. I hope there is at least one more in the works –I’ll read it nonstop when it comes out.

Buy this book –you will definitely not be disappointed.

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