Paranormal Romance Just Released by Victoria Roder

The Dream House Visions And Nightmares
Victoria Roder
Paranormal Romance
ISBN 978-1-934337-64-6
Asylett Press
4 bricks out of 5

Reviewed by Bea Ware for Writers Wall, Valerie J. Patterson forhttp://valeriejpatterson.wordpress.com:80/

When I sat down to read Dream House—Visions and Nightmares, the debut novel by Victoria Roder, I expected a book full of ghosts and attempts at spine-tingling scenes. What Roder actually delivers is a taut story with an ending only the most attentive of readers will figure out prior to reading the final chapters.

Roder strategically introduces characters, allowing the reader to gradually learn their significance. This prevents information overload, but also affords Roder the opportunity to develop multifaceted characters the reader comes to either care about or despise. Every good book has a villain, but Roder offers up more than one—and they all have their place artfully etched out in the plot.

The book opens with Hope Graham fighting off sleep and losing the battle. Nightmares plague her. Horrible, unsettling nightmares. The lack of sleep and plentiful nightmares begin to intrude on Hope’s waking hours, causing her boss at the resource center where she works to issue the ultimatum: Get it together or get out. After one nightmare too many, Hope calls her sister, Samantha and, at 3 in the morning, decides she’s going back home to Sheboygan where her sister still lives and where the house of her dreams can be found.

Hope begins to unravel the purpose of the haunting nightmares by investigating the house those nightmares center around. With a little bit of help from her sister and a lot of help from the locals, Hope not only uncovers history about the house, but she unearths secrets that force her to dig deep into her own past and confront the very real nightmare she lived through as a child.

The sunshine in the darkness of the plot comes in the form of very sexy bakery owner, Brock Cooper. Brock offers Hope all the things her ex-husband couldn’t: romance, friendship, support, encouragement, tenderness, understanding, and love. He’s her sounding board, her confidant, and her romance when she needs a break from the intense mystery surrounding her dream house. Roder holds back and successfully allows the romance to slowly blossom between these two, which is refreshing given the fact this is not a romance, but rather a paranormal thriller that serves up a happily ever after in spite of the odds against it happening.

Hope also finds an ally in the elderly busybody living across the road from the dream house. Ida is full of knowledge, but is not as forthcoming as Hope—or this reader—wants her to be. Instead, Ida has a foresight most people wished they had, and there’s a purpose for disclosing information slowly. Hope’s on a voyage of self-discovery and too much information too soon not only makes for a short book, but would defeat what Roder obviously worked so hard to combine into one exciting, unpredictable plot.

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Rebecca Foust Pens Poetry of the Midwest

Mom’s Canoe
By Rebecca Foust
Poetry
Texas Review Press
ISBN-13 Number: 9781933896274
ISBN-10 Number: 1933896272

Rebecca Foust’s award-winning chapbook, Mom’s Canoe, is concerned largely with the rural landscape and the poet’s family’s place in that landscape and its history. Indeed, one of the book’s later poems, “Altoona to Anywhere,” seems to echo the sentiments of the titular poem in Cottle’s book: that one can never erase one’s history.

Go ahead, aspire to transcend
Your hardscrabble roots, bootstrap
The life you dream on,
Escape the small-minded tyranny
Of your small-minded Midwestern
Coalmining town.

But when you’ve left it behind you
May find it still there, in your dreams,
Your syntax, the smell of your hair,
Its real smell, under the shampoo.
Beware DNA; it will out or be outed
And you’ll find yourself back
Where you started…

The Midwest is in Foust’s DNA, and the long shadows of this large and varied region infuse all of the poems in her deceptively slim chapbook, whether they discuss the people of Altoona, Iowa (including members of Foust’s family) or the beautiful, often mysterious landscape. Mom’s Canoe is a celebration of this region as well as a history of Foust’s family and the region in which they dwell.

In many ways, Foust works like an archaeologist to excavate her region and her place within it. She does so somewhat literally in “Fossil Record,” in which she moves from discussing trilobites and ammonites resting in layers of prehistoric soil to the fetus waiting inside a womb and the bones inside a woman beneath an x-ray.

In “Archeological Record” (here reproduced in full), she considers another cross-section: one replete with imagery of the Midwest as well as classical mythology. Like any good archaeologist, Foust then attempts to weave these elements into a story—an impressionistic one to be sure, but a story nonetheless that speaks of loss and hidden grief.

Scotch straight-up, thy neighbor’s
wife and Sunday Church
—Nobody’s talking

but one white glove is lost.
What was said, and not. Gaps
outline the years laid down

in stone, but each wedged-in bit
is rocking. Dreams, cookbook
notes, the dress a mother wore

to a father’s wake, or would
have worn—had she gone?
The shards meet to make

a pot you haven’t seen before.
The walls are half-effaced,
but Zeus is raping some girl

somewhere, you know that
much. It’s all here—battle,
faun, flash of dawn, grapes

twined into leafy crowns,
each loved thing lost, sieved
with bitter salt and ash.

Foust is not always so indirect in her “digging” into Midwestern life, however. In poems such as “The Dream,” “Books for the Blind,” “Kinship of Family” and, of course, the collection’s titular piece she writes about her family’s place in this land—her mother’s tears (of joy and apprehension) upon discovering a pregnancy; her grandmother’s blindness; her parents’ deaths; the distance between two sisters who were once very close. These are poems, at times, of “bitter salt and ash,” as is the case with “Backwoods,” in which Foust describes her mother’s return to an abusive second husband.

“How could you,” she asks

After he blackened
your eye,
dumb-bitched you
and wrecked your canoe?

You escaped from that place once,
his cottage collapsed
on the banks of that dirty, dredged ditch
he calls a river; all you needed was a car
where you could sleep, keep your things.

But of course, no region is all bitterness and bleakness, even the most hardscrabble one. In other poems, such as “Mom’s Canoe,” family and landscape meld together elegiacly, and even a memory of a mother’s death is transformed into something as beautiful and breathtaking as it is sad.

I still see you rising from water to sky,
paddle held high,
river drops limning its edge.
Brown diamonds catch the light as you lift, then dip.
Parting the current, you slip
silently through the evening shadows.
You, birdsong, watersong, slanting light,
following river bend, swallowed from sight.

Foust’s language and imagery, as the reader has probably by now divined, are as challenging as they are startling, and the reader who wants to follow her through her narratives would be well advised to consider and reconsider each poem, each phrase as an archaeologist reconsiders sand, bone and fragment. But patience is well-rewarded. Mom’s Canoe is a subtle and sometimes painful evocation of the Midwest, an example of a regional voice that transcends its boundaries, achieving universal apppeal.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Louisiana Alba Pens Cross Genre Novel Authors Will Find Familiar--And Not Familiar

UNCORRECTED PROOF a novel by Louisiana Alba
Genre: literary/thriller
Paperback: 312 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9558676-0-6 
B
ElephantEars Press, 9780955867606, 2008 UK

Originally Reviewed by Angela Meyer for LiteraryMinded


Can something be playfully and overtly postmodern and still be readable – driving you through a compelling plot? Louisiana Alba proves it can be done.

Uncorrected Proof is a postmodern novel that entertainingly riffs on form, style, character, tense, person – but with an overall thriller/quest type plot appropriation, it folds you into its delicious bizarro metascapes and humorous oft-satirical, oft-homagical visions.

Somehow Alba (if that’s who she really is… death of the author etc.) incorporates stylistic elements of hard-boiled fiction, screenplays, cookbooks, metafiction, the spy novel, cyberpunk, the literary novel, A Clockwork Orange, Gaelic, intertextuality, memoir, and so much more in a book that self-consciously satirises the entire book and publishing industry – authors, editors, publishers – literary
celebrity, literary delusions, literary snobbery, literary stupidity and so on.

So what’s this book about? Archie’s novel manuscript has been pilfered and plagiarized by Martyn Varginas, prolific mystery writer. Archie and his friend Cal plot a convoluted revenge through Archie getting work as an editor, and employing a re-plagiarisation of the book by a young hired-gun (or pen, as it were). What follows are kidnappings, political intrigues, sex, jaunts to New York and
Paris (from London), stake-outs, party crashings, a couple of book launches, boardroom drunkenness, author cameo appearances, mean streets, cop/spy banter, and a few disturbing murders.

I was completely absorbed in this book – somehow Alba makes it so easy to read, despite the switcheroos in style, and shifts in narrative drive and character motivation. The book’s title Uncorrected Proof displays irony – those not in bookselling or publishing may be unfamiliar with a ‘proof copy’ or ‘uncorrected proof’ – books that become available before release, oft-unedited versions of the
final with spacing, grammatical and typing errors. This ‘published’ book, has a few (tongue-in-cheek) placed throughout.

Alba has worked in publishing, and is actually avoiding traditional distribution methods for the book, keeping in the uber-hip underground spirit of the novel – with a well-handled guerilla internet and out-of-hand distribution system. I came across the author through Facebook.

This book proves to me that extraordinary talent can be represented through shunning traditional publishing methods. This book is inventive, imaginative, and inspiring. It is a unique publication. If you enjoy Italo Calvino or John Fowles, or if you also work or have worked in the book industry, even on the fringes, you would get a great kick out of this novel.

There’s an amazing offer at the moment on the ElephantEars Press website. Postage on Uncorrected Proof FREE to any destination!

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Fearing Fear Itself: Jacqueline Wales Pens Self-Help Book

Title – The Fearless Factor
Author – Jacqueline Wales
Genre or category - Self help
ISBN - 978-0979859816

Overview

The Fearless Factor is a timely the new self-help book from in –demand speaker and entrepreneur Jacqueline Wales. This guide helps women move from “stuck in fear” to “moving forward” with practical and inspirational advice on seizing the life they want – and know they deserve!

Packed full of stories from the trenches, and insight from women around the world who have “been there, done that”, The Fearless Factor is a must-have for women who are ready to confront their fears and move on to the next stage of living.

Using the jungle of life as her framework, Wales takes readers through the process of facing their biggest fears, whether they be related to money, relationships, career, age or motherhood, and gives prescriptive ways to overcome those fears and succeed in life.

From learning how to dump emotional baggage that is useless and potentially dangerous to succeeding at stepping away from needing jobs or people to fill them up, readers can learn to detach, let go, and trust their own instincts for what is good for them.

Fear dominates headlines, drives decisions, and can prevent readers from achieving true happiness in everyday life. The Fearless Factor teaches them to face their fears head on and take control of their future.

About the Author:

What can you learn from a former alcoholic, mother of four, author, singer and global nomad who earned a black belt in karate at age 49, has performed in front of thousands of people, and developed a system to help people go beyond the fears, doubts and anxieties that hold their lives in limitation instead of abundance? - Plenty!

A lifelong adventurer, Wales began her motivational career on the tenement steps of her building at age 9 giving advice to the neighborhood children. After a few detours she began singing at age 40, writing at age 41(currently five books) and at 43 she took up martial arts. At 49 she had earned a red belt in Tai Kwon Do and a black belt in Shotokan karate. Who says life begins at 40!

She also sang in front of thousands of people as a lay-cantor for synagogues in Paris and Amsterdam, and recorded an album of original material. At 54, Jacqueline decided she wanted to go into business and began her first motivational company Fearless Fifties which later reinvented to The Fearless Factor which later became a best-selling book. Jacqueline has been a global nomad for over forty years and has lived on three continents and six cities including London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Amsterdam, New York and Bali.

By applying the skills she learned in over thirty years of making change in her own life, Wales has gone on to achieve remarkable success after a lifetime of overcoming the odds and has successfully made the leap from author and mother to being an extraordinary force in the women’s self-help movement, dedicated to helping others achieve their goals. For more information on Jacqueline go to www.thefearlessfactor.com She presently lives in New York.

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Religious Fiction from Kenneth Weene

Title: Widow's Walk
Author: Kenneth Weene
Genre: Religious Fiction, Romance
ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-9840984-2-2
ISBN: 0-9840984-2-9
Publisher: All Things That Matter Press



Widow’s Walk is a story of faith and its effects on already flawed characters. Set in Boston in the 1980s, it is the story of Mary Flanagan and her children, Sean and Kathleen. Mary’s husband, Sean, Sr., died at the wheel of his M.T.A. bus. Her son, Sean, Jr. is a quadriplegic, injured on his way to a brothel in Vietnam; Kathleen, divorced and unable to have children, works and lives at a hospice that primarily serves AIDS patients; there she lives a mechanistically faithful life, but one devoid of belief. This unhappy family structure is erected on the bedrock stoicism of Mary’s Irish Catholicism. It is that faith which is tested, changed, and strangely reaffirmed over the course of the tale.

Two events upend Mary’s world. The first is her friend’s, Lois’s, move to Florida. The second is Sean’s decision to seek rehabilitation in a center in Minnesota – a decision initiated by Jem, a home health aide whose own life reflects a faith of care and service.

Mary finds herself looking for new meaning and direction in her life. In the process she meets two unexpected people, Arnie Berger, a college professor, an agnostic or perhaps deistic Jew, and love interest, and Pat Michaels, a minister, whose view of a joyous faith is much at odds with Mary’s rigid theology. She also moves into a housing share and becomes friends with Amelia Callaghan, the misanthropic house owner.

Sean’s life, too, is dramatically changed because he falls in love with and marries one of the aides at the rehab center. He returns to Boston married, employed and expecting their first child.

Given the remarkable changes in her mother’s and brother’s lives and influenced by Max, one of her dying patients and a man whose story and faith are powerful and unique, Kathleen also seeks love. She meets Danny, a young man tied to his overprotective mother and unable to deal with his own feelings of inadequacy.

Sadly, Kathleen and Danny’s relationship ends in disaster, rape, and abuse. Danny flees. In her own way, Kathleen does too; she becomes catatonic and dependant.

Mary unable to come to terms with her sense of guilt and responsibility towards her daughter – is powerless to keep those feelings from coming between her and Arnie.

We will not share the end. You will want to know.

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Weene is offering a couple of giveaways to people who visit his stops along the tour route and leave comments. *The first is his poetry book which will go to a few different commenters. The second giveaway is a copy of his book Widow's Walk to one lucky commenter

Winners will be drawn at random from all those who leave comments along the tour.

For more specifics on the individual books, visit the full tour schedule for details: http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/07/widows-walk-by-kenneth-weene-virtual.html


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Penny Piva Reviews Foodie Cozy Mystery

Murder Takes the Cake
Author: Gayle Trent
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Murder Takes the Cake Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGnKwHYlPCQ
Blog: Fatal Foodies (http://fatalfoodies.blogspot.com)


Penny Piva, blogger at Sweet Brown Poison http://sweetbrownpoison.blogspot.com/, says, "Through the magic of the Mighty Mighty Internets, I found Gayle Trent. Not that she was lost, but she was out there, floating around. The Google and I caught her. I can't remember how. My powers are strong, but my mind isn't.

"But I found her and that's all that matters. Her cozy mystery, Murder Takes the Cake is all the deliciousness I could possibly want in a book. Cake. Good plot. Wacky family. Did I mention cake?

"And! Gayle is a kindred spirit. Come on...loves cake decorating...and who do we know who went to pastry school? Gets her magical powers from DC...like someone else you know...

You're going to love her as much as you love me--and I KNOW that's a LOT!!!"

Here's what she has to say about the book:

Yodel Watson was dead. And some people blamed my spice cake.

When the meanest gossip in Brea Ridge dies mysteriously, suspicions turn to cake decorator Daphne Martin. But all Daphne did was deliver a spice cake with cream cheese frosting--and find Yodel's body. Now Daphne's got to help solve the murder and clear her good name. Problem is, her Virginia hometown is brimming with people who had good reason to kill Yodel, and Daphne's whole family is among them."

Murder Takes the Cake will soon be released by Thorndike in a large-print library edition, and an English large-print publisher--BBC Audiobooks--has also secured rights to the book. The second book in the Daphne Martin Series--Dead Pan--will be released in November of 2009.

Always Keepers Press, a new Knoxville-based audio book publisher, will be releasing Between A Clutch and A Hard Place, a now out-of-print book written in 2005, in February of 2010.

The first book in her latest mystery series, a cozy embroidery mystery tentatively titled The Quick and The Thread, will be released by NAL/Penguin under the pen name Amanda Lee in August of 2010.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Barbara Becker Holstein Offers Fictional Diary for Girls and Young Women

This isn't really a review but it struck a chord with me. Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein has written a charming little book for young women. Written as a 10-year old girl’s diary, it is a treasure for kids and adults alike because it reminds us of what it’s like to be ten. I thought this might be the perfect book for my grandaughters and that I should pass the information to you.


The book is The Truth (I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything!) .

The author has many years of practicing as a positive psychologist. She believes women can draw tremendous energy and vitality from their deepest and most precious well - themselves. Yes, inside of ourselves are the positive memories from late childhood into teens, the talents, the strengths, and the untapped potential to give us all the resources we need.

She says, "Girls between 8 and 12 can and do everything. However, adolescence can be very hard on girls and years later many a woman has lost touch with her earlier talents, strengths, potential or what makes her happy. I worked to develop a companionship with the 10-year old inside myself. Suddenly, getting to know myself as a child again was serious psychological business.

"That’s when I wrote a journal-style book, The Truth (I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything!) . If you are a woman, it will make you want to dance with your inner 10-year old and make her energies a part of yourself again. If you are an adult, you will see the child in your life in a much more profound light. You will want to help her hold on to her wisdom, wit, sense of competency and self-esteem. If you are a kid or a ‘tween, you will feel understood and connected to this fictional girl. After all, she is like you. The girl sees so much and knows so much as we all did at 10 or 11. And wouldn't it be great to hold on to the energy and confidence that can go with that stage of life?"

Truth is available on Amazon and those who buy it will also receive nearly $6,500 in free downloadable gifts! Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/m8ooto

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Pistonhead More Than Hot Rock 'n' Roll

Pistonheadby Thomas A. Hauck
Fiction
Published by something.hot communications
Publication date: February 1, 2009
Paperback: $12.95, 174 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60145-744-8


Sometimes you cannot judge a book by its cover. At first glance, Pistonhead appears to be yet another entry into the tedious and predictable genre of rock ‘n roll debauchery tell-all category, where the protagonist struggles to become a star, takes too many drugs, divorces his wife, and ends up older and wiser and very rich.

This concise novel, which you can read in one afternoon, chronicles two weeks in the life of Charlie Sinclair, an aspiring Boston rock musician who would not know a limousine if it ran him down in the street. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of struggling artists in America, the ones who still work day jobs and live in mice-infested apartments and eat cold cereal for breakfast before going off to a factory job at eight in the morning.

Pistonhead covers a lot of ground in its refreshingly slender format. The characters are front and center. We meet Charlie’s drug-addled lead singer, Rip; the band’s hapless manager Louie; the cynical concert promoter; the lusty ex-girlfriend; the lustier art student who is making an artsy sex video; the nun who tries to recruit Charlie to sing for her Sunday school class; and Lisa, his enigmatic love interest. The scenes with the Mass Rehab clients in the factory are poignant and occasionally horrifying, as when Roger confides to Charlie that Satan has taken over the body of one of his co-workers.

What ties the novel together is theme of success, and how we define it. When the book opens we assume that Charlie defines success by the usual criteria of the number of patrons crammed into the Big Ditch Club or the number of radio stations playing Pistonhead songs. But a tragedy forces Charlie to take stock of his life and he comes to understand what is most important to him—and it’s not necessarily how many CDs the band can sell.

Pistonhead is an American journey that encompasses, in a concise package, themes that resonate with the flow of our culture as we enter the twenty-first century. Because in the end Charlie makes do with much less, but in many ways his life has become richer, with greater possibilities than before.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Linda Ballou Researches Hawai'i and Pens Book about W ai-nani

W ai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i:Her Epic Journey
Author, Linda Ballou
Publisher: StarPublishLLC
ISBN: 10:1-932993-88-6
ISBN: 13:978-1-932993-88-2

Reviewed by Sofia Steryo-Bartmus for Amazon


Wai-nani tells the story between the first High Chiefess of Hawaii ,and the fierce, great warrior and magnificent ruler, Makaha, who unified the Hawaiian islands in the late 18th Century. Wai-nani emerges as a young, beautiful, strong, powerful and "Free-Spirited" modern woman in an ancient society. She is a woman before her time, who rose to a position (Kuhina-Nui) no other had risen before her, and one who helped bring about changes that elevated the status of women. She loves the sea and her dolphin friends, where she finds peace, solitude and comfort from the harsh traditions imposed on her and her people. She defies the 'kapu' (taboos) of the time and wishes and vows one day to see the savage ways of the long ago lifted, where men and women can sit together and share their joys and troubles without the fear of the death dealing Kahuna.

Linda Ballou has done extensive research on the history of the characters and Hawaii, and gives the reader blow by blow details in a flowery, poetic and interesting language. She manages to intertwine a love story with historical fact and has done a superb job. She narrates the story through Wai-nani's eyes and experiences, and she makes it all come alive for the reader. I found myself transported into an ancient world where human sacrifices were common and where people were put to death for disobeying the laws. I felt as if I was present in the lives of the common people, the warriors and the royal families of the time, as well as in the midst of the lush valleys and beautiful sand beaches and mountains of the Islands.

Although this is a story of the past, Linda manages to bring out the human emotions, feelings and struggles of the present in all of us, which transcend times and cultures. I found the book educational and very entertaining. Make sure you look up the glossary at the end of the book before you get started, it will make it easier to follow the unfamiliar words, names and places of the Hawaiian culture.
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Reviewer Sofia Steryo-Bartmus is author of: Paws of Wisdom , valuable lessons we can learn from our pet

W ai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i:Her Epic Journey
is available on www.Amazon.com in paperback or Kindle edition and for a signed copy and free shipping go to www.LindaBallouAuthor.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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Carolyn Myss Reviews Book That Will Liberate You from Negative Emotions

Title – Emotional Freedom
Author – Dr Judith Orloff
Genre or category – Self help, personal transformation
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Harmony; First Edition edition (March 3, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0307338181


Book Review by Caroline Myss


EMOTIONAL FREEDOM: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Harmony, $24) written by Judith Orloff MD is the perfect book to come along at the perfect time. I couldn’t put it down!

We live in a tumultuous, fear-dominated period in history and must become masters at overcoming fear and other negative emotions so they don’t sabotage our power. With skill and compassion, Dr. Judith Orloff shows us how to become heroes in our own lives by transforming anger, loneliness, and envy and more rather than simply “reacting” when our buttons get pushed.

An Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and intuition expert, Dr. Orloff shares her wealth of personal and professional knowledge to illuminate the field of emotions. She draws on wisdom from traditional medicine but goes light years beyond it by presenting emotions as a path to spiritual, energetic, and intuitive awakening. Why is this leap so important? The intellect has restricted vision about emotions, but bringing intuition into the feeling realm lets us go deeper within. Dr. Orloff asks us to see every success, every heartbreak, every loss, every gain as vehicles for transformation. She teaches readers to view emotions in a non-ordinary way, rather than simply making you happy or miserable. Everyone will benefit from the insightful instructions that continually guide us and also from the author’s intimate personal journey and well-earned life wisdom. Judith is the kind of doctor we wish we all had.

Part One of the book introduces you to the four components of emotions: their biology, spirituality, energetic power, and psychology. Understanding each component in yourself will lead to inner breakthroughs that aren’t possible without seeing the whole picture. It offers a self-assessment test to evaluate your current level of emotional freedom so you can increase it practicing this book’s principles. Dr. Orloff invites you into her romance with sleep and dreams as revolutionary states of consciousness. She also helps readers determine their “emotional type” including “the intellectual,” and “the empath. “so they can make the most of their own finest qualities. As an empath, Dr. Orloff knows the gigantic challenges of being an “emotional sponge” and teaches other empaths who’ve been labeled “overly sensitive” how to stay grounded in an often-overwhelming world.

You’ll enjoy the “emotional vampire survival guide”--specific advice for dealing with emotional drainers. We’ve all met them. You’re talking to someone, when suddenly you feel anxious, depressed, or tired. She describes the narcissist, the victim, the controller, and other types of vampires. Plus, there are quizzes to help you determine “Are you in a relationship with an emotional vampire?” or if you might be one yourself. Sometimes, we all have the capacity to be draining, but with mindful compassion we can catch ourselves early and make a shift.

Part Two of the book offers a hands-on approach for facing the most prevalent negative emotions and building positive ones Each chapter is called a “transformation” in which you learn how to transform a negative emotion into its counterpoint. For instance, fear is transformed with courage, frustration with patience, and jealousy with self-esteem.

You learn to do this in your life by taking a wealth of quizzes, from Dr. Orloff’s patient studies, and her own intimate journey with each emotion.

Emotional Freedom is the rare book that can open your mind and your heart to more empowerment. Give yourself a gift and read it.

SPECIAL OFFER! Purchase a copy of Emotional Freedom with 100 bonus gifts from Dr. Michael Beckwith, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Shirley MacLaine and more at Judith Orloff MD is at http://www.drjudithorloff.com/emotional-freedom-promotion/
or www.drjudithorloff.com


The reviewer, Caroline Myss, is a pioneer in the fields of intuition and mysticism and bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR: National bestselling author Judith Orloff MD presents new solutions for dealing with emotions in our hyper-tense world. She invites you to take a remarkable journey, one that leads to happiness, serenity, and a mastery over negativity that pervades daily life. You possess the ability to liberate yourself from worry, anger, and fear. True emotional freedom is closer than you think.
About Judith Orloff, MD

Transforming the face of psychiatry, Judith Orloff, MD is an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and author of the new international bestseller Emotional Freedom. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality to achieve physical and emotional healing. She passionately asserts that we have the power to transform negative emotions and achieve inner peace. She offers practical strategies to overcome frustration, stress, and worry and teaches people how to quiet overactive minds that won’t shut off.

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

San Francisco Poet's New Work Published

A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities
By Joan Felfand
Published by San Francisco Bay Press
Publication Date: January 6, 2009
Paperback: $ 14.99, 74 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60461-009-3


From a review in Poetica



Expect the unexpected. In her latest collection of poetry, A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams, Joan Gelfand stuns the reader with her range of forms and styles. Whether Haiku, or Villanelle, lyric or rap, rhymed or narrative, the poems in this collection are suffused with her marvelous visual acuity, her ear for today’s language, her keen observations of the here and now.


A songwriter, producer, essayist and community organizer, Joan Gelfand is also the recipient of the Chaffin Fiction Award in 2005 for “Paris Blues Redux”. Joan’s story, “The Art Critic” was shortlisted for the Carver Prize. Her work has been published on the web and in numerous literary magazines around the world, including The New York Times Magazine, Poet’s & Writers and Vanity Fair and in a variety of anthologies. She currently serves as President of the Women’s National Book Association and also as judge of Poetica Magazine’s Annual Chapbook Competition.


A review of her 2006 collection entitled, “Seeking Center”, described her work thus: “That these edgy poems avoid sentimentality is a testimony not only to Ms. Gelfand’s metronomic irregularity - her insistence that meaning is primary - but to the sharp, jagged, always intelligent quality of her awareness.” This apt description holds true of her newest collection as well .Just when you think you have her pigeonholed, she confronts you with the unexpected: words laid bare as she drops the definite article, interrupts a line with slashes, or shifts moods from playful (another one of her talents) to profound.


Gelfand’s affinity with nature is matched by her anger and regret of how we treat our planet: In "Requiem for a Dying World," she writes:


“The taste for cash replaces
The taste for something gorgeous”


In Golden Gate, she begins with a lyric description of the landscape:


“Knife edged hills laid leisurely, deceiving”, surprises us with “But for me, the languorous red swipe taunts,” and leaves us with the haunting,
“Sometimes, distance is greater than the space
Between two points.”


A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams is an outstandingly rich, multilayered collection that rewards the reader with new meanings and nuances at every reading. And you will want to read these poems again and again.

To all of you book lovers, stop by Stories Books & Cafe, 1716 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles on Friday, September 11th, 8 PM, to hear poet Joan Gelfand. California Poet Laureate Al Young had these words to say about Joan's work. "...Joan Gelfand’s poems vibrate, shudder or take flight, roaring and purring to safe and not so safe landings in the heart, in the gut. Readers, beware. This is powerful stuff.”

September 11th, 8 PM
http://www.storiesla.com/
1716 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026 (213) 413 3733

Joan Gelfand’s work has been published in over fifty national and regional publications. Her first book of poetry, Seeking Center: A Collection of Poems has been described by author Jane Swigart as “exquisite and breathtaking…reaching those secret places where we all overlap and long for validation.” Joan works as an arts administrator, organizing panels and readings at colleges and writer’s conferences around the Bay Area. Since 2004, she has been involved with the Women’s National Book Association, an organization with nine chapters and over 800 members. She is currently serving as President. Joan serves on the Advisory boards of booksbywomenforwomen.com and Poetica Magazine. An alumna both of the creative writing programs at San Francisco State University and Mills College, Joan is married to Adam Hertz, a web 2.0 entrepreneur.

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.
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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Turning a Tuscany Trip Into a Tome

Chianti From a Tuscan Villa
By the R. Thomas Berners
100pp
Publisher: Coal Cracker Press
ISBN: 978-0-578-03123-1
Available at www.lulu.com.




The authors, both retired from the Pennsylvania State University, spent seven days on a modest group tour of the Chianti region of Tuscany, staying in a Tuscan villa and going on day trips around the area, to Castellina, Florence, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, and Volterra.

On those day trips, they both photographed extensively with the idea of creating this book, a combination of Thomas’ photographs and Paulette’s paintings, to create our interpretation of the region that gave birth to the Renaissance and Chianti wine. On two spreads, the Berners play off each other, with a painting by Paulette of the same scene photographed by Thomas on facing pages. Otherwise, each photograph and painting is unique.

And although they visited places not on the tour, such as the Beaded Lily Glass Works in Florence, their plans for other sites did not always pan out. Thomas wanted to see the tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the English Cemetery in Florence, but the cemetery was closed for renovation work. He did manage to get some photos from a distance. (If you want to see Browning’s tomb, watch the movie Tea with Mussolini. The film opens at her tomb. The film also shows frescoes of Santa Fina in San Gimignano’s Collegiata. )

Alas, museums and churches, for the most part, did not allow photography, and if they did, it had to be without flash (no problem) and tripod (which made getting good photographs in low light a challenge). One church, Santa Lucia al Borghetto in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (the town where the authors stayed), allowed photography and the use of a tripod, one of the few times indoor photographs could be taken at a slow speed.

The Berners call this 8.5-square-inch book a Pixels and Bristles™ production.
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R Thomas Berner is professor emeritus of journalism and American studies at the The Pennsylvania State University. He blogs at http://rtberner.blogspot.com/
and is an editorial consultant, freelance writer and photographer

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Christian Book Marketing

Title: Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace,
Second Edition
Author:Sarah Bolme
Website: www.marketingchristianbooks.com
Category: Nonfiction: Marketing
ISBN:978-0-9725546-8-8
Publisher: CREST Publications



Synopsis:

This book provides a blueprint for authors and publishers to promote their books in the Christian marketplace. The book covers three areas:

1) Launching Your Book including gathering endorsements, garnering reviews, and pursuing book awards;

2) Selling Your Books with information on reaching Christian retailers, connecting with churches, promoting to Christian consumers, and harnessing the Internet;

3) Special Markets for selling your books to the homeschool market, the Urban market, and e-books.

Review:

Reviewed by Mary Battle

Sarah Bolme has distinguished herself as a leading publisher and author in her latest book, Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, Second Edition. In her book, Bolme reveals the secret to successful marketing for authors and publishers alike. She unveils countless valuable tips, web resources, and easy to follow instructions on marketing in the Christian book industry. As an African-American author, I found the ‘Targeting Special Markets’ section a priceless gem. This book is an essential tool for all Christian authors and publishers.
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Sarah Bolme is an author and speaker. She blogs at http://marketingchristianbooks.wordpress.com
and tweets at http://www.twitter.com/SaraBlome
Buy the book at www.marketingchristianbooks.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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Lani Massey Brown Pens Thriller

A Margin of Error: Ballots of Straw
By Lani Massey Brown
Genre: Suspense/thriller/mystery
ISBN Paperback: 1439206813
AISN Kindle: B002EQ9S3I


Reviewed by Midewest Book Review's Small Press Bookwatch
A Five Star Book

Politics is a tough career, with more knives in backs than a backstabbing convention. ‘A Margin of Error: Ballots of Straw’ is a political thriller following Cady Palmer as she attempts to stand up for what she believes in the face of a corrupt governor and his deep reaching network. Not knowing who to trust, Cady submerges herself in the webs of deceit where her next mistake may be her last. ‘A Margin of Error’ is an exciting read.

Synopsis:



When lovely computer expert Cady Palmer discovers the governor’s plot, the governor wants her dead. The governor's spy simply wants her. And her stalker…

Cady fired Leonard months ago. Since then he’s stalked her, waiting for today, all the while executing the governor’s plan for today’s election. Tonight when Cady’s election crew tallies the votes, she’ll know something’s wrong. It’s her job to know. But there’s nothing she can do to stop it. Later when it’s over, Leonard will come for her. And if Cady’s beautiful assistant, Izzy Palacio gets in his way, he’ll grab her too.

Leonard’s not the only one on the governor’s private payroll. The governor sends his long-time confidante Neal Charles to observe Cady and her election crew, ostensibly to alert the governor if there’s need for early damage control. But the governor really wants a lookout should Leonard’s scheme unravel. The governor doesn’t count on Neal devising plans of his own.

Cady pegs Neal for the spy he is and warns the coquettish Izzy. Nonetheless when Izzy disappears and Cady’s stalker closes in, Neal wedges himself into Cady’s drama, not for the governor or Neal’s own plans, but for Cady and Izzy. At first, Cady and Neal balk at the attractions drawing them together. Then before long, the two join as one in their search for truth and for Izzy. Together they discover the silent coup marching across the country in the governor’s state-of-the-art voting machines. They risk losing it all for each other.


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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.

Sandy Lender Reviews Sutton's Women's Fiction

Title: The Ride
Author: Jane Kennedy Sutton
Jane's blog: http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/
Genre: Women's Fiction (Contemporary)
ISBN: (10)1-59507-193-8, (13) 978-159507-193-4
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by Sandy Lender for Amazon

Going For a Literary Ride, April 9, 2009

What's a middle-aged gal to do when she realizes her disappointing marriage is truly over? Well, her best friend just took off on a cruise out of cell phone range and her aunt-actually-mother just passed away so she's kinda on her own to figure it out. Vulnerable, it would seem. This is how Author Jane Kennedy Sutton hands us the tormented Barbie in the contemporary fiction novel The Ride. Whether you've got a strong feminist streak that wants to scream at Barbie each time she takes a risk or you identify a little too well with her worries, Sutton has created a character that forces emotion from you. Mix in an obnoxious husband that too many women in today's society know, an inheritance that we need to hide from said husband, and a seductive stranger who reeks of self-assurance, and Sutton has a recipe for a coming-of-age story for a woman who's already come-of-age once.

I definitely recommend The Ride, not just because the author and editors obviously took time in refining it technically, but also because the story moves at a brisk pace, keeping the reader engrossed in the plot as it takes its twists. I was thoroughly impressed with Sutton's style and enjoyed her first offering in contemporary fiction. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for another adventure!

From Fantasy Author, Sandy Lender
"Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

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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 loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index 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.