Crushing on the Enemy by Darcy Doll

It has been a good week. I've had lots of fun setting up and posting to the new FB page: Tomfoolery. Tom the cat has now a decent following.
Tomfoolery on Facebook
The thunderclap campaign is also gathering momentum with half of it's target reached. With 13 days to go things, are on target.
Support my thunderclap
I've also updated the website (long overdue but I had to lean to do it myself!) I still have some work to do but the new book is added and the title changed:
 Webpage
Paradox design has provided the cover to the print copy and that is looking fantastic too.
Amongst all that, I've finished a book too. It is a gentle romance that will appeal to all ages. I gave the wholesome clean read 5 stars.

Crushing on the Enemy by Darci Doll on Amazon

Crushing on the enemy introduces us to a thoroughly modern woman with an old fashioned marshmallow heart. Roselyn Cosi is a hard working woman in charge of opening new 24/7 chain stores. When the chain is planning to open up in a picturesque village, they are met with fierce protests from local business owners. Roselyn is faced with a dilemma when the heart wants what the head forbids her to do.

What I do like about the main character Roselyn is that she faces what many women do in the work place. She has decided to sacrifice romance in the pursuit of a career. Two weeks before her 30^th Birthday she hears her biological clock ticking loudly and she realises she wants a family. Her younger sisters engagement and bliss make her realise a large part of her life is unfulfilled. She meets a man that is the polar opposite to her and she starts to question her love and work life.

I enjoyed this book; it is written in an engaging style and moves at a good pace. This is a book you won’t feel embarrassed to give to either your mother or your daughter as it is a good clean read that will appeal to all age groups.

 

Conversations with Tom

Big News! Conversations with Tom is ready to pre-order on Amazon. Be the first to have a copy on your kindle when it hits the virtual shelves on the 5th of February. It is the perfect romantic Valentines read.

Conversations with Tom by Angela Lockwood on Amazon.com

When Jeff and his wife Lisa adopt a kitten named Tom, they have no idea their marriage is in trouble. When the fluffy kitten turns out to be a boisterous cat, hell-bent on destroying furniture, Lisa realises life isn’t turning out the way she’d planned. Tom’s conviction that 4am really is the best time of day, plus her husband’s disastrous business sense, soon drives Lisa into the arms of another man.

Newly single, and at a loss, Jeff turns to his cat for a sympathetic furry ear. The witty and convincingly cat-like character he imagines becomes the friend he so desperately needs. But as his owner agonises about love and life, Tom concerns himself with more important matters, such as soliciting tuna and how to get better acquainted with the neighbour’s rabbit. Although they don’t always understand each other, Jeff and Tom form an unbreakable bond – until a trip to the vet changes everything…

 
You might have also noted that the blog has changed it's title to a more suitable: Angela Lockwood writes and reviews.

Dangerous Liaisons (Royal Command Book 1) by Sarah Stuart

Part two of this book was quite a shocker and kudos to the writer for taking a taboo subject and writing about it. I found some bits harder to believe, so that is why it got a four star. Well written in a fast paced and original style.

Dangerous Liaisons by Sarah Stuart on Amazon.com

If there was one word to describe this book it would be a roller coaster. The pace is fast and furious as it flicks from Lizzie; an heiress trying to find her place in the world, to Margaret; Henry the VIII sister; whose writings in the book of hours Lizzie is trying to decipher, and Michael; the man Lizzie has fallen in love with. The book is written in two parts and they couldn’t be more different in storyline. Part one is a sweet love story between two young people. Michael has ambitions as an actor and Lizzie wants to become a nanny. She has gone against her parent’s wishes to study management and take over the families hunting estate. After meeting Michael she puts all her efforts into furthering his career. Part two is about love too, but it’s rather twisted side and be prepared for a few shocks. Lisette; Lizzie’s daughter has now inherited the book of hours and is deciphering Margaret’s granddaughters writings. Lizzie and Lisette are descended from this queen and the thoughts in the book of hours have influenced the descendants. For Lisette this leads to rather reckless behaviour. There is a lot to like about this book and the characters are complex and not straight forward. It is a story with some unusual and original plot twists. The writer keeps the reader on their toes by a fast if at times confusing style. In part two especially as the mother’s and daughter’s names are so similar, but I understand why they had to be. One question mark remained for me; if a director cast a father and daughter as a pair of lovers in a musical that featured a nude scene too, would the audience not be gasping a collective breath of horror and disgust?

 

Changes

You might have spotted some changes recently. Firstly I thought I’d better change the heading of my blog. The line ‘as she struggles to write the follow-up’ was outdated. The follow-up to Language in the Blood, Blood Ties, came out in January.

If you recently visited my Amazon page you may have noticed that the cover of Language in the blood has changed from this:

To this:

I believe that I should explore every avenue of book promotion. I have little faith this will work but I gave advertising on Amazon a shot. I was very surprised that they rejected my campaign. It took a bit of back and forth but the reason they rejected the campaign was the design of my cover. It fell foul of their blood and violence rules. (What!) A toy dog lying on a marble floor smeared in ketchup was judged to graphic. I used their software to design a new suitable cover and now the campaign is running and having very little effect as predicted. I did like Amazon KDP’s cover design software and probably will use it again as it was just so easy to get a professional look in very little time. So which cover do you prefer? I hope to go back to the original as it had a very distinct look that I carried forwards to book 2 and sums up the quirky nature of the books.

At long last

I'm so pleased to announce the publication of my third book. It is the follow up to Language in the Blood. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Ties-Language-Book-ebook/dp/B00SD3GY6A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421749967&sr=8-1&keywords=angela+Lockwood

At the moment it is only available as an e-book on Amazon, but even if you don't have a kindle you can download the app for free that lets you read it on your computer. Keep watching this space because there will be a free promotion for a few days on the first book.

Now the really hard work starts of promoting the book and letting the world know that it is out there.

Book reviews: Dark and Fanaticism by Cody Alan Reel

I down-loaded both these books for free as they are self-published books. A lot of you don’t bother with self-published, but why not? It is not easy to find a publisher these days that will take the risk with an unknown author. More and more writers are now taking the self-published route so amongst the terrible you might find a few gems. With Cody Reel I found both. Let’s start with the gem.

Fanaticism by Cody Alan Reel

http://www.amazon.com/Fanaticism-Cody-Reel-ebook/dp/B00ANUAO8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390998244&sr=8-1&keywords=fanaticism+by+cody+Reel

This is a short novella about Richard a fanatical sports fan, who spends most of his time following his favourite American football team; the Philadelphia Eagles. He is overweight and apart from a resemblance to the Eagles coach Andy Reid he hasn’t got a lot going for him. It gets him abuse when the team loses, but free beer and lots of it when they win. Then he meets Violet, an attractive woman and the two get along great apart from the fact that she isn’t interested in sports. He is in love and tries to see things her way. He tries new things and discovers gradually that there is more to live than just sports.

I found this a sweet story, Cody describes the sports fan and his budding romance with Violet with humour and warmth. My problem with the story starts when Richard decides to help out at the children’s hospital. He gets mistaken for coach Reid again. The line that had a doctor saying that a sick kid was dying to meet him, had me spitting up my coffee; was it meant to be funny?  Probably not, as the story turned rather serious after this. I did like the story a lot and the ending was heart-warming although a bit naive for my liking. I rate it worthwhile reading and give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Dark by Cody Alan Reel

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Cody-Reel-ebook/dp/B009R8I8NC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390998317&sr=8-1&keywords=Dark+by+cody+Reel 

In short it is about the fictional Village of Marion. The sun is slowly dying and when it does murder, rape and mayhem ensues, until a group of children decides to make a stand.  

When I started reading this book I could hardly believe it was by the same writer as Fanaticism, as that was written with some understanding of humanity. I struggled through this book and when there was an alternate ending I screamed. ( but hey, I read this so you don’t have too, just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a good bit at the end) I don’t know if Cody has a 10 year old child, but it feels like it was written by said child. I give you an example from the book:

The rapists were also happy at the cover that the darkness allowed at their arousal. They would pick up women as they screamed: the town in a dark chaos that was sometimes too busy to hear. Most men tried to be heroic and safe her, but a murderer would appear and kill him before he could. Then the murderer would kill the rapist and the woman.

What? Why? Anyway, don’t bother with this one. I rate it 1.5 out of 5.