Halfway to the Stars, by Marcy Sheiner: #BookReview.

Fiction/Transgressional Fiction 97,610 words It appears I downloaded this book, through Smashwords, in 2014 and then completely forgot about it. I discovered it whilst tidying files in my ‘Digital Editions’ folder a few weeks ago. As this is a book about female eroticism, I’ve no idea how I came to it, except that the title …

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One Summer in Italy, by Sue Moorcroft: #BookReview.

368 pages Genre Fiction/Holidays Intending to visit Italy, I bought a copy of Lonely Planet’s ‘Italy’. Along with other recommendations resulting from that purchase, Sue Moorcroft’s ‘One Summer in Italy’ came up. I thought it might be fun to read this as I lay sunbathing by the pool at the latter end of our visit. …

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#Readers, #BookReviews, #Bookbloggers.

Do you read? Love books? I love readers; you’re my raison d’etre as a writer, the reason I write stories. So, I want more. One of the best ways of helping other readers is through reviews. So, here’s the deal: I’ll send you a copy of any of my books in exchange for an honest …

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Cocktails with a Dead Man, by Joe Albanese: #BookReview.

106 pages Poetry This is a mix of the intensely personal, regarding love and its outcomes; the general as it relates to writers a group; and life in many of its guises. Poetry, and the reader’s response to it, is always personal. So, my review here can reflect only my experience of reading the collection …

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The Verona Exchange, by Lauren B. Grossman and Bernard Jaroslow: #BookReview.

242 Pages Thriller/Mystery I picked up a copy of this book, as I’d enjoyed Lauren B. Grossman’s first in the series, The Golden Peacock. That dealt with a mystery surrounding the holocaust. This book deals with a kidnapping by the Italian Red Brigade. Although this is essentially a thriller, great attention has been given to …

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A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin: #BookReview.

304 pages Children’s/Science Fiction and Fantasy It may seem like an odd time of life to be reading children’s literature. In my defence, I bought this book ‘blind’ as one of a number I ordered after being gifted a book token for my 70th birthday. I’d heard of Ursula Le Guin, had her books recommended, …

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Game Changers of the Apocalypse, by Mark Kirkbride: #BookReview.

Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic Horror 299 pages As far as I can recall, I’ve never read a book in the post-apocalypse genre before, so it’s probable there are recognisable conventions of which I’m unaware. That said, any book should generally be accessible to all readers if possible. This one took some getting into for me. Once I …

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The Darkness Abides, by L. Harcroft: #BookReview.

Fantasy serial It’s difficult to know whether this book is experimental or just badly written. The sentence structure sometimes seems borrowed from the 19th century and there are many errors that should have been spotted in editing. The opening is a strange mix of intriguing detail and oddly expressed action. We’re given no clues as …

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Where Did the Hills Go?, by Lali Gupta Chatterjee : #BookReview.

109 pages Science Fiction When science fiction is written by an established physicist the reader can expect the science at least to be plausible. That’s the case here, even though we’re in the world of quantum physics, which is an area full of speculation and dispute, and much misunderstood by so many. The story here …

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Water Entanglement, by Claudiu Murgan: #BookReview.

Science fiction is a broad genre, as is fantasy. Sometimes the two are mixed, as in this piece of imaginative narrative. The book deals with a scenario only too likely should we continue to abuse nature and the environment in the ways we have for the past couple of centuries. However, I have some concerns …

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Season’s Greetings

And to all those who celebrate other seasonal events at this time, Season's Greetings! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my readers, visitors, partners in word-wrangling, and friends for your continuing support. To those who have 'liked' my posts, I want to say many thanks. To those who have 'shared' my posts …

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A Place Called Schugara, by Joe English: #BookReview.

Every serious work of fiction should carry at least one underlying message. Some manage this with such subtlety it barely makes a conscious impression, others let it blare out loudly, covering their story with a condescending layer of preaching. Most lie somewhere in between; a reasonable balance of theme and story. In this extraordinary tale …

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Pandora, by Joshua Grant: #BookReview.

388 Pages Horror/Action Adventure. Imagination is a crucial element in any work of fiction, and here it reaches new heights, especially in terms of human ambition and the lengths some will travel to fulfil it. This novel is a mix of horror, fantasy, science fiction, adventure and thriller. But, in merging the genres and developing …

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The Golden Peacock, by Lauren B. Grossman: #BookReview.

287 pages Historical Fiction/Mystery, Thriller and Suspense A ‘thriller’ that actually concentrates on the characters, bringing them to life so the reader is eager to invest emotion and concern for them. In fact, this doesn’t read like an ordinary thriller at all. This thoughtful, evocative and moving book is a very good read. I read …

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Invitation to Poetry, by Mihai Brinas: #BookReview.

Poetry is such a subjective literary genre that it’s often difficult to reach a conclusion about whether a collection is very good, difficult, obscure, or any of a mixture of reactions. This assortment is by a poet whose first language is Romanian: whether English is his second language is unclear, but the standard of its …

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