Blurb:
Carman
has worn out more towns and last names than impractical shoes protecting the
secret of her magic blood. But when a friend goes missing, and another is
infected with a deadly spell, Carman must choose. Expose her magic blood by
curing the spell—or stop the infection from spreading by killing the source…the
grandmother. Magic bounty hunter Dylan has scoured libraries of banned magic
paraphernalia seeking a method to distinguish genuine witches from
impersonators. He suspects unorthodox librarian Carman might hold this
information tighter than the hair he’s dying to unleash from her bun. With a
past as hidden as his sleeve of tattoos, Dylan discovers he’s been used to gain
Carman’s trust, and their passion risks more than mixing mortals and magic.
About the Author:
Growing
up with four siblings had Maureen familiar with escaping into a good book, or
the recesses of her mind. She realized later in life everyone didn't have
characters telling stories in their heads, or weren't envisioning magic and
mayhem within the everyday. This, and long walks in the beautiful state of
Pennsylvania spawned a love of writing.
Since
her desire to become a Solid Gold Dancer was thwarted when the show was
discontinued, Maureen opted to pursue other paths. Writing stories proved
fruitful, while other endeavors, such as challenging a fear of heights with
parasailing, were unsuccessful. Therefore she's chased other interests, though
none-the-less-daring, but closer to the ground, such as belly-dancing, becoming
a self-proclaimed tequila connoisseur, fulfilling her role as biker babe to her
alpha hubby and surviving motherhood to twins.
She
pens stories boasting laughter, light suspense and something magical in the
hope of sharing her love of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary world.
Review by Rochelle:
I
really wanted to enjoy Grandma Must Die
and to an extent, I did. I liked the characters and the plot grabbed me and
kept my attention.
But
really, what has happened to editing? Where was the editor of this book? I know
we tell our authors not to use too many adverbs, but substituting adjectives is
not the answer; it’s just bad grammar. Grandma
Must Die was also full of sentence fragments. In fact, the final sentence
of Ms. Bonatch’s bio was a sentence fragment which I edited to read as a
sentence. It originally read “Penning stories boasting laughter, light suspense
and something magical in the hope of sharing her love of finding the
extraordinary in the ordinary world.” That’s not a sentence. Penning, boasting and finding are gerunds.
There is no subject and no verb in these lines. No one is doing anything. There
are a lot of instances in the book like this where I would read several lines,
and then go back to see what I’d missed because it went nowhere and I was
confused. Then I’d realize it was another fragment. That slowed the action
considerably.
The Wild
Rose Press needs to find some editors who at least know enough about grammar to
recognize problems and look up the solutions in The Chicago Manual of Style. It’s as simple as changing a gerund
like “Penning” to a noun and a verb like “She pens.” As for the
adverb/adjective dilemma, if you use a strong enough verb, you won’t need
either. When a person rushes to the door, they don’t need to do it quickly—or
worse yet, quick.
It’s bad
enough when an indie author has grammar problems, but it’s shameful when a book
that’s supposedly been edited has them.
As I
said, I liked the characters and the plot really engaged me, so while the
grammar made me want to toss my Kindle across the room, Grandma Must Die was good enough to overcome that obstacle and earn
four roses.
Author Website: http://www.maureenbonatch.com
Heat Rating: R
Length: 318 Pages
Prices:
Print: $16.99
Digital:
$3.82
You’ll
notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors
usually receive 40-50% of the net proceeds from the publisher. Editors and
cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes
& Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the
author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if
a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author
will receive about $2.40-$2.99. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will
receive about $1.70-$2.10.
Download
the file from the publisher onto your computer as you would any other file.
I’ve created a folder for books on my computer, with subfolders by source
(Marketing for Romance Writers, Net Galley, Authors who find me on Kindle
lists, etc.). That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on
your computer. Some publishers send books in all digital formats. If my Kindle
breaks and my kids buy me a Nook, I won’t have to replace all of my books. If
you have a Kindle and your hubby has a Nook, you won’t have to buy separate
copies, so buying directly from the publisher can save you money.
Moving
the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any
file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your e-reader
charging chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from
the folder into which you’ve downloaded the book to Documents/Books directory
on your e-reader. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her
royalty statement.
