Whale Season by NM Kelby Book Review

I just reviewed Whale Season, a darkly-comedic novel by NM Kelby over on the Reading Site at BellaOnline. Check it out, but here's a little bit to wet your literary appetite...

What do you get when you take a flailing RV salesman with a penchant for gambling, a card-shark Jesus who happens to kill people in his spare time, a female Strip club owner grieving the loss of her son, a cop who is always pining for women he can’t have, an aging blues musician with a secret, and a one-legged football has-been itching to make a comeback—then you throw them all into a floundering coastal town that once thrived on it’s namesake as a tourist draw, despite the fact that it doesn’t have whales, and never has?

What you get is Whale Season, a heck-of-a-good novel and an adventure in your armchair.

Discount Books!

I've just discovered a wonderful place to buy current Best-Selling books (fiction, non-fiction, children's & more) at a huge discount! In the past, I've paid a membership to Barnes & Noble ($25 I think it was) to get 20-30% off of select titles. It seemed worth it at the time. However, Bookwise has an annual membership for Preferred Customers that is only $15 a year. Additionally, they will donate $1 for each book you buy towards Children's charities and Literacy programs. Cool. Cheap books, huge savings and philanthropy-- what more could you ask for?

Check out Discounted Best-Sellers at Bookwise

I am BOOKWISE. Are you?

The Killing Sea Book Review

Hello again! I want to share with you a terrific YA book that I just reviewed on BellaOnline. Don't let the YA fool you though, this book is worthy of adult attention too! Check it out! (click on the photo)



The whole world watched when the footage of the tsunami rolled over the airwaves the day after Christmas in 2004, but how much could any one person really understand what it was like to live through it by video alone? In The Killing Sea, novelist Richard Lewis does more than show us the tsunami, he makes it real, he makes us live through it, swimming, fighting, struggling to hold on to life. (see the rest on Bella)

Oh, and Mr. Lewis was kind enough to mention my review on his personal blog, Novelist in Paradise!

Three Days in New York City: Book Review

I recently read two great Chick-lit/ women's erotica novels, and reviewed them for my Reading Site at BellaOnline.

Check them out!

Three writing gigs in one week!

Well, I've had a hell of a week! First, I was offered the Feature Writer position for Suite.101's topic Writing Fiction.


Then, I was offered the postion of Editor for BellaOnline's Reading topic.


And last but certainly not least, one of my short-stories was accepted for publication over at The Chick Lit Review (I'll update the link to my actual piece as soon as it's published.

Wow, the Literary Gods are smiling at me now!

Pen on fire : a busy woman's guide to igniting the writer within by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

This book, Pen on Fire: a Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within, is one of the most refreshing books that I've read about the craft of writing in a good long while. Like many women who have small beings underfoot, I seem to lack enough hours in the day, and when I do find that illusive moment to write, my (creative) mind just doesn't feel up to it. I don't know, maybe it's the long hours filled with accounting tasks, the eons spent trying to help my kindergartener with his homework, or the house-drudgery that invades my every line of sight, but at the end of the day, my creativity is at a almost-non-existent low. But, ye gods, this book practically lept off of the shelf and into my arms (Praise be to B&N)...

Other than helping me refocus my desires and understand my procrastination, Pen on Fire is a bottom-less cup of joe-- giving me infinite ways to trick my inner muse and dive headlong back into what I am-- a writer. See, it's already helping me blog.

I knew there was a reason that I'm keeping it on the nightstand by my bed!

Judge & Jury - James Patterson & Andrew Gross

Okay, so despite my obviously sarcastic blog a while back about Patterson cashing in on co-writing as a way to mass produce literature and thus multiply his earnings, I must say that there is one benefit to Patterson being able to churn out multiple books per year:

I DON'T HAVE TO WAIT LONG BETWEEN RELEASES!

Yes, I am impatient. I can think of a half-a-dozen authors that I am not-so-patiently awaiting the next book from, and with Patterson I just don't have to wait. It's instant gratification of the literary kind. Love it!

I finished this book, Judge & Jury a few days ago and, as usual, Patterson has delivered a rather good bit of suspense here. This book involves a two trials for the same crimes, a butt-load of witness intimidation and silencing, and a couple of characters that just won't give up. At the crux of this story is one twisted bastard, a cop with a load of guilt on his shoulders, and one ferociously determined woman. Compelling, fast-paced, worth the time to read!

TRY- Lily Burana

Now, normally, I wouldn't even take home a book that seems to live a good bit of its life in and around the rodeo circuit, but what can I say, I was having one of those "TRY something new days".

And it's a good thing I was.

I could have missed this engaging, fresh novel, but I'm the better for having read it. All I really want to say about it is this: this book, this kind of writing that is so fluent that you don't feel like your reading a story but rather watching it unfold, is the reason why I write. I want to write like this! And I'd hazard that other would-be authors are thinking the same thing. I'll bet again in saying that this debut novel won't be the last one we get from Ms. Burana.

Bon appetite!

How I Write, By Janet Evanovich

I read this all in one sitting last night, so it was a quick interesting read. As far as information on how to become a best-selling author, I don' think that there was any tips or hints that I haven't seen before. The best parts of this book occured when Evanovich's humor shined through. It did give a good deal of insight into "how" she writes and "why", as well as why she changed genre's midway through her career.
Overall, this book was an interesting little look into the mind of a writer, cheez doodles and all!

Sexy Series with Bite!

I can't even begin to tell you how enamored I am with Laurell K. Hamilton's series of books involving Anita Blake, Vampire executioner and Necromancer extroidonaire.

I started reading smack in the middle of the series, which is more the pity, because then I had to hit rewind and find all the books that came before. Still, even as a series, all the books read independently and it wasn't too hard to keep up.

And I never take more than two sittings too finish a book. (In fact, I've devised a way to sneek my book into work, and pretend like I'm doing research or something. Don't tell!) Her books are heavy on suspense, eroticism and horror, but she combines them so well that even the person that says "I don't read books about vampires!" would be hard pressed not to become engulfed by these books.

So go ahead, have a taste. I'm almost certain you'll develop an appetite right away!