Category: On Writing

What is a good review? It is helpful. It is fair. It is honest. It isn’t venomous, or destructive. All authors experience negative reviews, and that is all right. We can’t expect to please everybody. Naturally, there are various approaches to reviewing, and that leaves us with a few questions. What is a ‘bad’ assessment?…

SS Bazinet, Dying Takes it out of You A deadly Virus A deathly disease that turns its victims into monsters. Two brothers, single-cell twins that are in a way mirror images of one another. One is a scientist the other an artist. Their names are aptly chosen, Milton and Dory, which name gave me associations…

Lesley Eames, The Runaway Women (Silver Ladies) in London A Sweet Diversion Set in the Early Nineteen-Twenties Four young women, Ruth, Jenny, Lydia, and Grace work together in a household in a small town. Their employer is a wealthy woman with a temper to reckon with. As a necklace disappears – stolen – she accuses…

LC Conn, Carling Coming of Age Can be a Hurtful Process Since the end of the first volume of The One True Child series, the Romans are stationary in Britain. Romans kill Carling’s parents and brother get killed in a raid. On the way to their camp, Carling witnesses the Roman commander killing her grandmother.…

Have you ever experienced that, after writing a review, somebody shouted spoiler alert? I have, and that made me think. Yes, in that review, I mentioned things that emerge within the story but, in my opinion, it wasn’t the plot that moved the book forward. It was the characters and their inner lives. Honestly, I’ve…

Suzy Henderson, The Beauty Shop World War II Romance Archie McIndoe, John (Mac) Mackenzie and Stella Charlton are the main protagonists in Suzy Henderson’s WWII novel. The ‘beauty shop’ refers to the Guinea Pig Club and gives its readers a different viewpoint of the horrors happening during the Second World War, presenting the pilots who become…

JT Atkinson, Beneath an Indigo Moon Thought Provoking and Bold It is difficult to write about this book, but it must be done. Honestly, it wasn’t an easy read, because of the challenging subject. Still, it is an important book if one wants to understand the hardship, people of another sexual observation suffered and still…

Kathryn Gauci, The Embroiderer Unfolding an Enigmatic World A prophecy haunts Greek-born and Turkish raised Dimitra Lamartine to such a degree that she can’t love her grandchild, Maria. Her red hair and unruly character become the Ariadne thread that leads through the maze of this tapestry of paintings, couturiers, embroideries, and priceless jewels. In the…

Alex Connor, Legacy of Blood A Harlot’s Progress – Past and Present Hogarth’s painting in the lost series ‘A Harlot’s Progress’ causes mayhem and murders when art dealers meet on a private flight bound for London. Connor takes her readers to seedy and coarse surroundings and uses violence as a plot device. The convincing flashbacks…