My Review of Sallowed Blood by Stuart G. Yates

I have four thousand books waiting for me on my Kindle. For reals.  So--choosing my next book is always difficult. I decided to read Sallowed Blood by Stuart G. Yates  because I found the description intriguing, but even more interesting to me was an exchange between another Amazon reviewer and the author. Basically, the reviewer said, "Hey author, you need to have this edited again. There are some errors and you changed one of the character's names midway, and then changed it back." And then the author said, "Nuh uh." (I paraphrase both parts, of course.) Well, any author who is willing to argue with a reviewer has my attention! So I decided to read the book for myself to see who was right!
Any bets on who that might have been??
This story is about a boy named Daniel who is about fifteen years old. His mom has recently passed away, and his dad has taken to drinking. A lot. When his grandmother dies, that is the last straw for Daniel, until he finds out she was filthy stinking rich, and now he has a trust fund. And also a castle. Yeah, Granny left him and his dad a castle in Bavaria.

Daniel's grandma left him a castle. All mine left me was a copy of Little Women and a painting of a dog.

From the first night in the castle, Daniel is uneasy. He's hearing weird sounds. The staff is creepy, and there's some weird dude who keeps showing up telling his dad he wants to buy the castle and they shouldn't move there. But Daniel is a trooper and he is determined not only to stick it out but not to point out any of the weird sounds or creepiness to his dad, not even when one of the maids turns into a monster in front of his face and another one of he workers tries to kill him. Nope, why would you mention that to your dad?
Eventually, a tutor comes along and enlightens Daniel that there are a bunch of legends associated with the former owners of the castle dating back to medieval times.  They go exploring in caves nearby and villagers tell them to move.  Again, why tell your only living parent any of this?
People start showing up dead, and then Daniel's dad goes away for a while, leaving his son alone in the creepy castle where at least two people have supposedly died in the last two weeks. As any good parent does.
Daniel's Aunt Flo shows up--no it isn't that time of the month, that's really her name--and the story begins its climax with Daniel stumbling upon the secret to all of the evil noises coming from the pits of the house! Will Daniel survive? Will things with Aunt Flo get messy? Does Dad ever realize that his son has been accosted by the waitstaff? Well, to find out, you will just have to read this one for yourself.
Here are some things that I really liked! First of all, the backstory to the castle is great. I'm not sure if Yates made up the history he weaves into the story or if he's just an excellent historian, but either way, I found it intriguing.  I really liked reading about the medieval characters and the history of the castle. Also, I found parts of the plot to be very creative. I'd certainly never read anything like this before, and when it comes to the paranormal element, I think that's saying something. There isn't a lot that hasn't been done to death.
Here's where I had some issues. Remember that reviewer? She was sooo right. There were a lot of sentences missing words, grammatical errors, punctuation in the wrong place or doubled up, things a good proofreader could have caught. The story was also in need of some actual editing as parts were hard to follow. I'm talking about overly wordy sentences and things like Daniel handing a cup to a maid only to be gripping the cup a few minutes later--things that take you out of  the story and make you say, "what just happened?" There is a character named Mr. Spencer in the beginning of the book. About a quarter of the way through, he is referred to as Mr. Simpson, and then later he becomes Mr. Spencer again. This is confusing, particularly in a book where characters have similar names--like Martha and Maria. And then there's Daniel and Dad. Yes, the character may as well be named Dad as that is pretty much all he is ever called. The book is written in third person limited, not first person, so the character should really be referred to by his name, particularly in scenes where Daniel isn't present, but even then he is called Dad most of the time, which gets annoying after a while. (As any parent knows, having one's own identity is crucial to existence. My name is not Mommy!)
Another thing that bothered me is that Daniel cries. A lot. He is a 15 year old boy who has a crush on a 18 or 17 year old girl (the book gives her both ages, in that order) who cries at least a half a dozen times. I don't think most teenage boys cry that much--but if they are the kind of boy who does cry, then they are probably also the kind of boy who tells their dad they saw a monster in the kitchen!
I wanted to like Daniel, but I couldn't.  He was too pathetic for me. I did really like the character of Rex. I don't know if I liked Dad or not because he was a stereotype and not a real person, which is indicated by his name (which must be Dad.)
Overall, I would say, if you like a quick read, paranormal with historical background, and you don't mind the problems I've listed above, then check this one out. You can find it on Amazon here and at the time of this posting, it is still free, regularly $2.99.
One more thing, I know as an author it is difficult to read critical reviews. (I literally know that!) But I don't know that it is ever a good idea to respond back to a reviewer with negativity. In this case, maybe it was a good move on Yates's part because it caused me to read his book, but it also caused me to leave a three star review on his book, which may or may not be a good thing.  Sometimes, it's best to leave those types of things unsaid, or publish them elsewhere. Like on your blog.... If you'd like to read my three star review on Amazon, which is slightly different than this one, you can find it here. If you find my review helpful, please click "yes." It is alway nice to get positive feedback on my reviews!
I wonder if Mr. Yates will find it helpful.
Now, what am I going to read next....Perhaps something the negative reviewer wrote! She really did have a way with words.

My Review of Freefall: Custom Culture Book 1 by Tess Oliver

I have over a thousand books on my Kindle account waiting to be read, so when I go to pick a new one, it's really difficult to decide which one to choose. Lately, I've been picking some disappointments. I was really relieved when I started reading Freefall to have gotten a good one. I liked it a lot! If you like sweet romances you can read in a few hours that have just a little bit of tastefully written bedroom scenes, then you will probably like this one as well. I will warn you, however, there are a lot of F-bombs in this one.
This book is written in first person and alternates between the perspective of the main characters--Nix and Scotlyn.  Nix is a hot guy with a reputation for breakin' the ladies' hearts.  He owns a tattoo parlor and lives in a houseboat with a friend, Dray, who likes to fight.  We find out pretty early that neither Nix, nor Dray, nor their other best friend, Clutch, have had an easy life. In fact, very few characters in this book seem to have come from easy livin'.  As far as Nix is concerned, he lost his race car driving father as a child, and his mother is no longer in his life. He has a sister and a precious Nana who is starting to succumb to dementia.  It seems obvious pretty early on that Nix is not your typical macho guy with no substance. He loves his Nana and is doing everything he can to take care of her despite her failing health.
The other main character, Scotlyn, also has a rough past. Her parents and her sister, Olivia, were all killed in a car crash when she was a child, and while she walked away from the accident, she lost her voice that day--either from screaming or from shock. She isn't sure, and she hasn't had much of a life to live for since then, so she hasn't been too concerned with getting her voice back. She was living on the streets, strung out, doing other illicit activities when a man named Lincoln Hammond finds her and takes her in. When she enters the story, she is living with Hammond as his girlfriend. Hammond has hired Nix to cover Scotlyn's scars from the wreck with an intricate tattoo.

Maybe it's because Scotlyn's mutism instantly reminded me of Katy from Deck of Cards, but I found her to be intriguing in a very ethereal way.  It's almost as if she is just the ghost of a woman, and she needs Nix's love to transform her into a whole person again. In the meantime, she seems to flutter about in her existence, something between a ghost and a lingering dream.
There is another interesting and creative aspect that comes into play when Scotlyn and Nix meet for the first time, but I will let Ms. Oliver reveal that part of the story to you herself, should you choose to check this one out.
Needless to say, Nix and Scotlyn are destined to be together, and they know it from the start. This didn't come across as cliche or ridiculous in this story, as is often the case in poorly written "love at first sight" stories.  The more we begin to cheer for Nix to get the girl, the more is revealed about Hammond until we end up realizing he is a pretty nasty guy, and it is definitely in Scotlyn's best interest to get away from him posthaste.
Oliver is a great writer. This isn't a messy self-pub that makes a person shrink back from free or reduced price books.  She moves the story along at a steady pace, encouraging the reader to continue to turn the pages to find out what happens with each of her characters.  Even though the ending of the story was not what I was expecting and ended up being a bit too easy, it wasn't ridiculous or disappointing.  There are other books in this series, and I left the book thinking it would be nice to find out what else happens to these characters, a sure sign that I am emotionally invested in the book, which is the hallmark of any good writer.
Of course, there were a few things that bothered me a bit; there always are.  First of all, this needs one more proofread by someone with a scrutinizing eye.  There weren't a lot of errors, but there were a few, and they were usually the kind that take a reader right out of the story, like a missing word in a sentence, or the misspelling of a character's name.  The mistakes aren't blaring, but they are there.
Another thing that I found confusing was that a couple of the characters have two names.  Nix is also called Alex by his sister and Nana. The first time his Nana called him this, I thought she was talking about someone else.  I don't think the story was set up well-enough at that point for me to gather this was the same guy. Also, Scotlyn calls her boyfriend Lincoln (in her mind, remember she doesn't talk, although she does write notes....) and everyone else refers to him as Hammond. This is also a little confusing.  Nothing major, but enough to make me stop reading and go back--something I don't really like to do.
Also, for someone who was horribly injured in a car wreck, Scotlyn sure doesn't seem to mind writing notes to people who are trying to drive. There were lots of occasions when she and another character are driving down the road and she's writing the driver notes like it's no big deal. How in the world does Nix, or whoever, read these notes while he's trying to drive?  I get that it was necessary for the story to progress, but it didn't seem very realistic to me.  I guess it could have been happening at stoplights or something....
Finally, when the steamy scenes arrive, there is no mention of protection. This is the sort of thing that drives most romance readers/writers crazy, and I highly recommend Ms. Oliver consider slipping some plastic into her dudes' pockets. Some might say it takes away from the action, but I disagree. I've seen it done tastefully lots of times, and I feel it's the responsible thing to do.
Again, I really liked this one! I gave it a four star review on Amazon, which you can read here. If you read my review please remember to vote "yes," that it was helpful, so that others will have a better chance of seeing it and will also be able to use my thoughts to determine whether or not to read this one. You can purchase Freefall: Custom Culture Book 1 by Tess Oliver here. It's currently priced at 99 cents.  Best of all, this is NOT a cliffhanger--it's a complete story--so if you love these characters, like I do, and you want to keep reading, you can do so, and if you've had enough, you don't feel cheated with only a partial story.
If you've read it, let me know what you thought in the comments!

My Review of Never Forgotten by Kelly Riser

This the book that has been sucking my life away for the last month or so. I usually try to finish a book a week. This one took way too long. For one thing, it was slightly longer than most books I read. For another, the first 65% of the  book was boring--and I couldn't get through it. Rather than rushing through other tasks to read, I by-passed reading to do anything else (like sort socks, scrub the toilet, or watch paint dry.)  I'm glad I didn't give up because the ending turned out pretty good.  But I'm still not sure it was worth it.
I'd like to say I won't include any spoilers, but in this one, that's hard to do. From the beginning, we already know that Meara's dad is some mysterious sea creature. We can figure that out from reading the "about" section or from reading the first page. It takes Meara a lot longer to realize this for some crazy reason.
You'll want to like Meara when you find out her mom is dying of cancer, and she has to move to Canada to stay with her grandparents during her mom's final days. You'll be happy when she makes friends and meets a cute guy. But she also does a lot of other things that kinda make you think she's a bit of a jerk.  You'll see what I'm talking about. You also kind of have to wonder how slow she is that she hasn't figured out what's going on with her dad or when he starts mysteriously appearing to her why she accepts his ridiculous answers of "just wait, you'll see" why I've been gone for seventeen years, why I can talk to you in dreams, why I can magically show up in your bedroom. "Oh, okay. I'll just wait then. Thanks." (Not exact quotes, but you get it.)
Many of the characters are extremely flat, which is a shame because there was an opportunity to do so much with some of them, especially the magical ones.  The boyfriend is the typical all-star athlete, straight A student that all the girls want.  The best friend is "like, totally whatever...." Lots of cliches. Too many cliches. Even the dying mother is a cliche.
Something else that really bothered me is that this book is published through a publishing house, Clean Teen Publishing. It does not list a specific editor, but I'm really shocked that, first of all, they didn't reduce the first 45% of the book to about 20% and that, second of all, they don't have better proofreaders.  There are a lot of typos, misspelled words, etc. in here that I would expect to see from an Indie author who possibly hired someone on Fiverr to proofread for them (not knocking that--I have edited several books that way myself) but if you work at a publishing house as a publisher and you don't notice when the author calls the boyfriend Even instead of Evan or leaves words out of sentences, or leaves letters out of words that make the tense incorrect, uhm, that's a problem. I hope this isn't a vanity press and that Ms. Risser didn't pay these people to publish this for her because if she did, she should consider getting her money back. And if it's a legitimate publisher, they should look into hiring new editors. Seriously.
All that being said, the last 25-30% of the book was really good. If I was jut ranking that portion, I would have given it five stars.  I am tempted to read the second installment to see if it is as good as the end of this one, but I'm not sure I want to take the risk of sitting through another 65% of how Meara painted a dock and what sweater Katie wanted to pick out for her boyfriend to test it out. Maybe if it's free and the other 2000 books on my kindle account suddenly disappear.
I honestly hate to be so negative.  I really don't feel like it's necessarily Ms. Risser's fault that the end product ended up the way that it did. She was supposed to have help, and in my opinion, they didn't do their job. If you'd like to try this one, seriously skip to about halfway, and you won't miss anything important that you can't figure out. It may be worth it.
If you'd like to see for yourself, you can buy Never Forgotten here and the current list price is FREE (might be a reason for that.) You can read my 3 star review here. I will note that this book does have a 4.4 average review with 123 reviews, so other people do like it.
Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

My Review of The Lot by Chris Morrow

The Lot is the name of the first short story included in this trio of shorter works by award winning author Chris Morrow. I purchased the book in order to read the title story, but I read all three, and I'm glad I did.
The main character in The Lot is a rock music producer named Cody. Even though he was born a couple of decades before me, we have a lot in common in that we both grew up chasing fireflies, untethered from the world with technology, and running around empty lots near our homes.  While I wasn't the one playing baseball, I have legions of memories of watching my older brother play ball in the lot next to my grandma's house and even more memories of watching him play on an actual baseball field, my dad almost always nearby in the dugout as the coach. Regardless of whether or not you grew up with baseball as a part of your life, you have fond memories of running around outside in the summer time, or you just have nostalgia for small town life, this story is sure to strike a cord with you.
It's a quick read. I read it in one sitting in less than thirty minutes, even with my daughter constantly interrupting. But it will stay with you long afterwards, particularly the little twist Morrow throws in toward the end. The introduction of Cody's brother, Adam, is expected and still startling when it finally happens. It is only because Morrow is an outstanding storyteller that he is able to take the expected and turn it into one of those moments that makes the reader say, "Wait. What?"
And Morrow does this in the two other installments included in this selection as well. The second story, Dinner for the Dead is told from the perspective of an actual member of the recently departed. Again, Morrow tells the story so well, you find yourself wondering if he has connections on the other side. How else could he be so familiar with how a haunting works? But this isn't a horror story, not really. It's a provocative look at what one might do when one has passed on, especially if one is desperately searching for absolution, as our main character is. I love it when an author finds a clever way to bring a story back around, and Morrow does this exceptionally well in this one.
The last story in the compilation, Fear and the Storm, manages to take almost every phobia one can imagine and wrap them into one compact, creepy tale.  Jill is afraid of just about everything, and when a terrible storm hits as she and her husband Jim are moving cross-country, she finds herself faced with every single torment imaginable. These nightmare scenarios not only include an impending tornado, but Jill also finds herself in a small, dark, enclosed place where she can both see and hear bugs and rats. Yes, RATS. EEWW! To top it all off, she is faced with the possibility of losing a loved one.  While all of these things make this a great read, the surprise at the end is what will leave you asking your friends if they've read this one yet so you can talk it over.  You're gonna want to hash this one out with somebody--it's just that good.
While it was Morrow's longer work, the award winning The Devil's Choir, that made people start talking, his shorter works are worth a read as well. I highly recommend The Lot. My five star Amazon review hasn't posted yet, but you can see for yourself by purchasing The Lot here. You can also find The Devil's Choir here.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will happily admit that I have met the author, though that does not affect my review.  I know lots of writers and not all of them are particularly talented. Not all of them will get my five star review.

My Review of Seven Sisters (Seven Sisters Book 1) by ML Bullock

Before I begin with my review of this book, I am going to go off on a little rant. If you're not up for it, by all means skip to the section below that starts with "THAT BEING SAID" in all caps.
I know that a lot of authors read this blog. How do I know? Simple--I have a lot of friends that are authors, and they are often kind enough to check out my blog posts.  So I hope that they will pay particular attention to what I am about to say. Likewise, a lot of readers read this blog--and some of them are leaving decent reviews (4 or 5 stars) for books like this one--the one causing this rant. And I'm gonna ask them to stop.
Here's the deal. I'm a Reading Specialist. That's what I do for a living. I teach kids how to read and write. And one of the basic concepts I teach is that a story is made up of three parts; a beginning, a middle, and an end. I also teach story arcs--where every story has a problem and a solution (or resolution.)  So, in order for a novel to be a complete story, it has to have all of those components. If you write a "book" and you separate the full story arc into two or more parts, you aren't selling us a book.  You're selling us part of a book. When one is writing a series (and as you can see in the title, that's what this allegedly is) each book in the series must still contain the same components of a complete story (beginning, middle end/problem--solution). Close out one problem, open another. That's fine! But if you only start a problem and don't finish it at all, that's not a book. Anything less than a full story arc and we don't have a book--we have a "sample" of a book. And, for that I have to shout, "Bullocks!" (Perhaps my first clue that this was a sham could have been found in the author's last name.)
Why the rant now? Because the last two "books" I have read have had this same sort of ending, that's why.
And it's aggravating.
Because, otherwise, this was a good story (or start to a story) and it stinks that I don't know what happens. And in looking at reviews, there's no resolution in book two either.
THAT BEING SAID, Seven Sisters is a very engaging, interesting read.  Bullock is a very talented writer who creates a complicated world, two of them actually, and guides the reader between antebellum Mobile and present day. All of her characters on both sides of the plot line are engrossing. Once can't help but feel for Calpernia from the very beginning. And the true protagonist of the story, Carrie Joe, is also enjoyable from the first time we meet her as she is moving to Mobile to take on the restoration project at a plantation named Seven Sisters. Being a history major in college with a focus on Civil War history, this book was right up my alley.  I also love the paranormal twist Bullocks brings in.
As far as the writing is concerned, the vast majority of it is well-crafted with lots of imagery and foreshadowing weaved into the story as it moves along at a nice pace.  Some of the dialogue seems contrived, but it isn't enough to take away from the impact of the story.  There was one instance where I really wished the plot would have built a little more, rather than just suddenly seeming to interject an important piece of information out of nowhere (deus ex machina in an innocent fashion, no doubt) but it is forgivable. There's no offensive language, no raunchy love scenes, yet the story is enticing, and keeps you thinking even when the book is not in your hands.
But I don't recommend you read it unless you're willing to shell out however much money it takes to buy the entire series. And I'm not sure if the series is complete yet, either, since I won't be reading the rest.
My review on Amazon is located here. I gave it three stars. If it had finished with an ending, a conclusion, a resolution, I would have given it five stars. But I  can't give five stars to the first quarter of a book. If Gone with the Wind had ended right after Scarlet met Rhett, would it have been the best selling fiction book of all time ? I don't think so.... If you'd like to check out Seven Sisters for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.  The current price is FREE.