The Silence of the Stones by Rebecca Bryn

I would have liked to have posted this review a few days earlier, but with work etc. I didn't get the book finished until this morning. The book was free over the weekend so it would have been nice to blog about that too. Anyhoo, go and buy it, it's worth the money. I give it 5 stars.

The Silence of the Stones by Rebecca Bryn on Amazon.com

This book has all the ingredients for a good read; a plucky heroine that is far from perfect. A mystery that has you guessing to the very end and a nail biting ending. Alana is a struggling artist that inherits a cottage on the Welsh Moors. Despite her families warning she decides to keep the cottage and risks everything by not selling it but creating a monumental art work. The easy way would have been to sell the cottage and carry on as before, but Alana is inspired by the place and makes a bold move. Knowing many struggling artist I found her character ballsy and entirely believable. Alana soon uncovers the unhappy past of this village and finds that things are still not right. Mysterious Runes appear on doors followed by a death. They seem like natural deaths, but is someone out for revenge? The story is complex but Rebecca has written it in an easy to read style. I couldn’t put this book down as there were just so many mysteries to uncover.

Set against the very atmospheric backdrop of the Welsh moors and its ancient monuments, this is a book well worth reading. I hope to discover more of this talented writer.

 

A Circle Around Forever by Robert K. Swisher Jr.

I've reviewed two books from this Author recently. Both were from the Bob Roosevelt series, which I liked very much. When I was asked to review Roberts latest work I agreed settling in for a fun read. Maybe I should have read the blurb first just to prepare myself as this book is very, very different to what I've read from this author before. It took me a few chapters to settle in and let the story pull me in. It did at times, but I found this a hard read. I'm just not a spiritual person and this just wasn't the book for me. However as a reviewer I stick to the questions;
Is it well written?
Are the characters believable?
Would other people appreciate it?
The answer to the first two was yes, with some to the third. Resulting in a four star.

A Circle Around Forever by Robert K.Swisher Jr

Barbara has been haunted by the ghost of her late grandmother Bertha since her funeral. Bertha was given away by her father and as her birth caused her mother’s death. Her brothers’ cruelty sowed the first seeds of hatred in young Bertha and were nurtured by a mysterious voice, causing her to committing unspeakable acts. This bitter vicious ghost is not at rest and tells Barbara that her son  Shannon, will give what she searches; a nothingness. A battle for the boy’s soul looms; orchestrated by forces older than time.

I’m familiar with this writer because of the Bob Roosevelt series, which I liked very much. I was asked to review this; his latest work and was rather surprised that this is by the same writer. I’m not sure the same reader that enjoyed a ‘bucket full of Lies’ will enjoy this book.

This is a rather serious book, written from a deeply spiritual place. Many chapters do begin with a biblical quotation. It explores human emotions like hate, love, jealousy and envy. I have to admit that I found it at times bleak and hard going. However it is well written epic piece of work and at times quite poetic. If you do like literature to make you think and question the more spiritual things in live, this will be the book for you. A work to read slowly and reflect on.

 

Awesome Authors

This week I'm just going to redirect you to Rhoda D'Ettore's exellent blog. She has compiled a list of Indie writers worth reading and some of her reviews for them on Goodreads. A few of the authors have been reviewed by myself too. I'm very honoured to be included in this list:
http://www.rhodadettore.com/awesome-authors.html

Free on Amazon

I'm running another book promotion on the 1st and 2nd of August. After day one, I'm a very happy bunny indeed. #8 in the general humor section on Amazon.com and the copies downloaded are almost double from the last give away:

So what is making the difference?
I would like to say the new book cover. I also joined a few more Facebook groups and have now a following on twitter of 784. I'm also part of an author retweet group on Facebook. The only advert I placed this time was on the choosy book worm site.
Free book ad link
and they have featured my book on the first line, which must help. So a lot of hard work and 15$ got me up to #8. Not bad I think, but time will tell if people buy book 2 and leave reviews. One depressing statistic someone mentioned the other day is that only one in a thousand books given away generates a review.
Here is the link again to Amazon and the graphic I use for tweets:
Free copy of Language in the Blood

Injury by Val Tobin

As I mentioned previously, Romance is not my favorite genre, but this book turned out to be more than that. It luckily was mostly devoid of the will they wont they, longing looks and yearning hearts. There was also a more gritty story line to keep me entertained. That I read this book in a few days says a lot, so I'm happy to give this a five star. I also like to mention that the cover of this book was designed by Paradox book covers, that recently revamped my Language in the blood covers:)

Injury by Val Tobin on Amazon

Daniella Grayson seems to have it all, a successful career in films, money and good looks. Her reason to seek the limelight been the abandonment by her father when she was five; somewhere out there he might be watching her and proud. I thought this was a very touching and realistic motivation for the character to be into acting. Then they find Daniella’s father’s body and her abusive mother is arrested for his murder. What I liked most about this book is the character of Daniella, she had to cope with a lot in her young life and being from an abusive home, she fell into an abusive relationship, which led her to drugs and alcohol addiction. She managed to walk away from that and turn her life around. She’s not a victim and able to steer her life onto the right path, despite her past conspiring against her. I would say this is a romance, but there is also a tense thriller story line within it. It’s well written and easy to read, it kept my attention from start to finish. The love scenes between her and Cope are quite hot and steamy, but not too explicit. I would recommend this if you like romance with a grittier edge. Very enjoyable read.

 

The Gamblers by Christoph Fischer

At the moment we are enjoying (Maybe not quite the right word!) a heat wave here in the south of France. The temperature tops the 35°C some days and I've not seen rain since early June. I'm fortunately I have aircon in my flat, so I can keep on working. The response to the book cover has been very positive and I've seen a few sales. I'm continuing to promote on twitter and have build up a decent following that retweets my posts. August will be interesting as I have another free promotion on the 1st and 2nd. I'm not doing anything different from the last time so it will be interesting to see if the new cover will help me give away more copies. I'm also getting some reading done and the last one was a real pleasure that deserves its five stars:

The Gamblers by Christoph Fischer

Ben is an accountant obsessed with numbers. He looks for patterns in card games and even the lottery. Whether it is his luck or his system, he doesn’t know but he finds himself the winner of 65million in the European lottery. Due to his obsession, Ben has never had many people in his life, but during an unplanned trip he meets an attractive stewardess; Wendy and a charismatic gambler named Mirco. The two become the main people in his life.  What Christoph fisher has done here is create a very clever book around the question; when it comes to large sums of money, who can you trust? He has created a wonderful character in Mirco, who introduces Ben to all the temptations that money can buy. You know he is a player but is he genuinely Ben’s friend? Is the beautiful Wendy just too good to be true, or is she really in love with Ben? The author has you guessing to the very end. The characters are engaging and you just want to keep reading on to find out what is going on. When I started to sense that something is going on I held my breath rooting for Ben not to walk into any traps that could see him relieved of his money. I enjoyed this book very much.

Cover reveals

When I started out as a hapless writer, I didn't want to spend any money. I didn't know if any one wanted to buy the book. One thing I did shell out on was a proper edit. Reading a lot of Indie writer now, I realise the DIY approach is not always the right one. Don't get me wrong, some clever writers can edit, design and are marketing experts to boot, but most of us are not. Much as I liked my original weird dog photo, it stood out on the virtual book shelf as some weird art students project, not a sexy book cover. Much as we writers hate it, a book does get judged on it's cover.
I put my feelers out amongst my supportive writers group and got recommended; Patti Roberts at Paradox book covers. Judge for yourself but I think the new covers look very sexy!

And Book 2 is new and improved too!

Now I need to think long and hard about printing. I've been told that the Amazon createspace printing service is free and you get the books at cost. So I think that will be the next exciting bit of news I'll be sharing with you.