Review of Harvest Day by Tamar Sloan & Heidi Catherine

Humans saved bees from extinction…

and created the deadliest threat we’ve seen yet

 

The loss of bees was heralded as the sixth wave of extinction. Economies crashed. Ecosystems collapsed. Wars were waged as countless starved. Luckily, humans were able to alter bees’ genetic code to deal with the hazards of pesticides and disease.

Inadvertently making their venom fatal to humans.

River grew up in the Green Zone, a haven for those who are Immune. Bees are free to fly, pollinating their prolific crops. Echo was raised in the Dead Zone where bees are exterminated so vulnerable humans like her can live. Stealing from the heavily guarded Green Zone is a necessary part of survival.

River and Echo are both in their seventeenth year. They’re both about to have their immunity tested. And they’re both about to have their futures forever altered.

Ultimately, they’re about to become part of the final fight for human survival. Are bees really the enemy they need to defeat? Or is mankind a far greater threat…

 

Amazon 

 

My Review:  5 STARS

I picked this up because I usually adore Sloan’s work, and was in the mood for a nice dystopian and boy was I right! From the first page, you’re thrown into a world where immunity means you either live like a king, or die in squalor. I adored Echo, and loved River too, the love story was perfectly pitched and as you went through all the hurdles with them, you’re hooked and desperate to know more. And that ending had me wanting to read book two, and I read this one on release day in one sitting. Highly, highly recommended!

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Drafting While Chronically Ill [CC]

I thought I'd discuss drafting while chronically ill and/or disabled and my thoughts on it! #Authortube

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#TeaserTuesday

Tara knows she needs to confide in Nate, but the implications are enormous...

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[ID: A rocky waterfall background with the title DYING THOUGHTS - EIGHTH ENDING at the top and out now in ebook, paperback & audiobook just below the title. The except reads:

I knew that telling Nate, while possible, would be too much of a risk.
If he even believed me, what happened when, not if, because I was pretty sure we weren’t going to stay together for ever, we broke up? What if he told someone, like Gareth? I had to protect myself and I wished I could tell him that my secrecy was me doing just as he wanted: keeping myself safe.
Did I want to tell him? Sure, there were times it would be nice to share that side of myself. I couldn’t risk it though, it wouldn’t end well and at best, he’d think I was lying or joking.
At worst? It didn’t bear thinking about.

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, in the top right corner is the Readers' Favorite seal, and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

The Trials Of An Indie Author: Hard Work Pays

THE TRIALS OF AN INDIE AUTHOR: HARD WORK PAYS

One thing you get told a lot when you're starting to publish, whether that's through the indie route or traditional, is that it will be hard work. I don't think anyone who goes through the query trenches, or through the editing process will ever doubt that because it's very much true. Whether you've had to query to get an agent, or if you're deciding to go it on your own and go indie, you're going to have to work hard to make it as an author, no matter what 'making it' mean to you.

It's not just a case of time and energy poured into writing that first draft, and then editing, and revising, and all that goes with it, but the cost to you personally. It can be monetary for those of us on the indie path, and it can be other things when it comes to the traditional path. You'll lose sleep, you'll spend hours upon hours going through things, and you may find that at the end of it, you're drained and unsure whether you want to continue on this author life.

I don't say this to depress you, or to discourage you, and of course, I can only talk about the indie path because that's the only one I've walked to completion. I say this because you should be aware that feeling like that? Feeling like it's all for nothing, or that you've given everything you have and don't know if you have any more? That is completely normal, and I guarantee that pretty much every author you've read, or known, or met, or whatever, has, at some point, felt that way too.

I have been publishing for a long while, over fifteen years, and I have to say that even though I'm very much a small fish, I do still feel that burn, that struggle, when it comes to bringing a book into the world. It's not an easy path to walk down, and I'd say that writing the book is in fact the easiest part. Telling yourself that story and getting it onto the page pales in comparison to revising, and editing, and going through the whole publication process. The anxiety you feel, the stress, the angst, the anguish when things go wrong (as they generally do) is completely normal. That doesn't make it easy to deal with though, and I get that on a deep level.

One thing that I have learned over the years, and that has stuck with me, is that it's all worth it in the end. Like I said, I'm very much a small fish when it comes to the world of publishing. I sell books, I get reviews, but I'm nowhere near a big name, and I'm pretty much okay with that. I can only imagine the amount of stress and pressure that must come from being a big name, and while the sales and such would be nice, I'm also happy to write my books for the readers that need them.

But my point is simply that, while on this hard road, you will learn to work out what works for you, how to reach those readers and how to make it so that your hard work pays off. While it can take a while for you to get into your groove, it's very much worth it. I've been writing my stories and publishing for a while, as I said, and I have never found it easy to publish. I have never found it a quick path that brings no stress, but that hard work pays off. That hard work is what brings the right readers to my work, and gives them the stories that they need to read.

So even when it feels like so much is going wrong, or feels like you're never going to get to the point where it's something you can brush off, remember that this path is a hard one, and it's completely normal to find it that way. Writing stories, writing books, publishing them, it's not a quick ride to riches and it's not a path that everyone can walk. Someone, years ago, once said to me that the world needs your stories, stories that only you can tell, and I have to agree that's the case. It's hard work yes, but it's rewarding work that is worth the hardship.

Keep writing, keep telling your stories, and know that there are readers out there who need them.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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Review of Things Not Seen by Monica Boothe

How do you protect someone you can't even see?

17-year-old Kristin has selective blindness. She can't see, hear, feel, or smell her brother. This doesn't stop them from becoming best friends, turning his unique invisibility into a game, but when the two of them are stranded alone during a blizzard, it doesn't feel like a game anymore. Kristin will do everything she can to keep her little brother alive, but she's the least qualified person in the world to do so.

Amazon

My Review: 5 STARS

I picked this up because the blurb sounded like something that I would enjoy. I ended up reading it in one sitting, finding myself tied to the pages and desperate to know what happened next. Kristen and Josh, their unique circumstances, their relationship and the way they adapted to interact was just delightful, keeping me hooked on the page as the tension grew. It was a quick read for me, but a delightful one. I adored seeing the brother and sister turn into a team despite the circumstances and it was a book I very much enjoyed. Recommended!

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here

Life Of Joey & Bi-Monthly Goals - March 2023 [CC]

Letting you know what I got up to last month, as well as reviewing goals from January & February and setting new ones for March & April! #Authortube

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#TeaserTuesday

Lock has never had someone claim to be too young for the events...

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[ID: A sea green background with the title LIGHTS OUT at the top and out now in ebook, paperback & audiobook just below the title. The except reads:

“Martha Connors?”
“Yes, that’s me, but you see there must be some mistake,” she said. “I mean, I’m only thirty-five, but I got the email and I didn’t want to ignore it in case I got in trouble.”
I paused for a moment. “Thirty-five?” I asked, grabbing her ID off the scanner before it could finish. I checked it over and sure enough, her date of birth matched with what she was saying. “When did you get the email?”

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, in the top left corner is the Readers' Favorite seal, in the top right corner is the New Apple award searl and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Petty Crime & Research

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: PETTY CRIME & RESEARCH

One thing that is always in the back of my mind when writing crime is how it's gonna look if I'm ever actually suspected of a crime. We've talked about search history, and that's well known, I think I could easily talk my way out of that. I have those contacts in the police that would, hopefully, vouch for my interest in crimes, especially grisly ones, but there's always the chance that I'd be suspected of something small, and the fact that I know so much about procedure and how it all works, the cops would dig deeper and think I was some criminal mastermind!

Of course I don't intend to commit any crimes any time soon, and I could just show them my books, and hope that they were happy with the depiction of their chosen career, but these are the things that your brain comes up with at 3am after six hours or sleep. You start to wonder, and worry, and then it all spirals down, if you're anything like me, to actual borderline panic. Ah, anxiety, how nice to have you join the party!

I have always been someone who was fascinated by crime. I don't know if that was the crime novels on tape that my mum would listen to on car journeys, or if it's just some part of me that likes the idea of knowing why people do certain things and watching the whole thing play out. Right now I'm in the midst of writing my first straight up crime/mystery for a long while. There are no paranormal elements, it's just a little touch of murder, and four teenagers trying to save one of their own after he's been wrongly accused. I'm loving every second of it, because it allows me to really dig deep into that part of myself that enjoys this kind of thing.

I know that might seem warped, but I promise you I am not the only one. After all, crime writers the world over feel the same way, and then there's all the true crime podcasts and shows, and all the many millions of people who enjoy watching them.

It seems that when things go wrong in our world, everyone, or almost everyone, wants to know the motive, the why behind it all. So it got me thinking about smaller crimes, like I've read a lot of things that talk about career criminals who start small, shoplifting or the like, and work their way up, and I just find that fascinating. I don't condone any kind of criminal act, and while it might seem like I romanticise them, I promise you that I'm pretty straight-laced about this kind of thing. It's not an urge to want to watch these things go wrong, but a keen sense of justice and escaping into a world where, usually, the bad guy is caught and everyone else can somewhat live happily ever after.

That's one of the reasons that I write the genres I do. I know that a lot of them are considered to be dark genres, and as a two-time attending author to the Darker Side Of Fiction, I'd agree that I'm very much a dark fiction writer. I've written lighter pieces, but I do find that I lean more that way. I don't know what that says about me, if anything, but I like to make sure that whatever I put my readers and characters through, there's some light at the end, some nod to the fact that the characters endured and are now out of the woods. Of course it's not always possible, but the intent is the same.

Crime is such a fascinating subject to me, but then again I would say that because I write crime novels, and I'm sure those who write historical feel the same about their chosen subject, and on with others as well. That's the point of choosing a genre and setting your story within it, that you will be delving deeper into the facets of that genre. I'll admit that a lot of my research over the years has made me even more curious about the inner workings of some of the people who commit both minor and major crimes, and I don't see that changing any time soon. It's just how I roll and I gotta be okay with that!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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Review of Over The Moon by SE Anderson

 

Ding Dong, the Technowitch is dead.

As an illegal clone of the murdered galactic princess, Dora's face would get her killed the minute she steps off her dull farming moon. She spends her days tinkering with gadgets and gears, with Tau, her kitchen-timer-bot, for company. But when forces close in and threaten her family, her escape attempt lands her deep in the Outer Zone — and on top of the Technowitch of Night, crushing her in the process.

Now a fugitive in two solar systems, Dora's only chance of survival is to find her way to the mysterious Technomage on his Emerald moon. In a place where science has advanced to be indistinguishable from magic, she must accept the help of an unlikely trio: a cryogenically-preserved girl with no memory, an obsolete theme park droid, and a bioengineered beast with a penchant for the dramatic.

As Dora realizes there's more to the princess's death than what the universe has been told, she must choose — save her family, or risk everything to right a centuries-old wrong.

Amazon

My Review: 5 STARS

I’ve always loved Anderson’s work and when I saw this one up for pre-order, I knew I had to pick it up. I adored Dora, the world building, the characters that all came together and were so real they jumped off the page. The twists and turns through the story will keep you guessing and make you wonder what comes next, and every single time it’ll blow your mind. An amazing retelling of Wizard of Oz, and done in a way that is delightfully enjoyable. Very much recommended to all who love sci-fi and magic!

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here

Time Off Drafting [CC]

Giving you my thoughts about taking time off drafting! #Authortube

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