Peter and the Little People by @David_J_OBrien #FairyForts, #Leprechauns, #Middlegrade

3 Roses

The Plot:

You’ve heard stories about Little People: leprechauns and their like. Ireland is full of people who’ve had strange experiences out in the fields in the early morning. All just tall tales and myths, of course.

At least, we assume so...

But Peter knows better.

A boy with a love of wildlife and talent for spotting animals, Peter often sees what he calls elves in the fields as he travels Ireland with his dad. Sometimes it’s just a flash as they drive by, but he catches sight of something too swift for most people to keep their eye on. And Peter is young enough to trust his own eyes more than the adults who tell him these creatures are not real.

When his family go to spend the summer with his granny on her farm, Gemma from the farm next door offers to show him the badger sett under an old Ring Fort. Peter accepts gladly. To his surprise and delight he finally gets a chance to do more than catch a glimpse of the Little People. Will the Little People be just as happy? Perhaps, when Peter learns about some plans for the farm, they might be.

10% of the Author’s Royalties will be donated to WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, and to IWT, the Irish Wildlife Trust.

About the Author:

David is a writer, ecologist and teacher from Dublin, Ireland, now living in Pamplona Spain. He has a degree in environmental biology and doctorate in zoology, specializing in deer biology, and is still involved in deer management in his spare time.

As an avid wildlife enthusiast and ecologist. Much of David’s non-academic writing, especially poetry, is inspired by wildlife and science. While some of his stories and novels are contemporary, others seek to describe the science behind the supernatural or the paranormal.

A long-time member of The World Wildlife Fund, David has pledged to donate ten percent (10%) of his royalties on all his hitherto published books to that charity to aid with protecting endangered species and habitats.

You can find out more and read some poems and short stories at http://davidjmobrien.wordpress.com/ and can join David on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DavidJMOBrien.

Review:

When MuseItUp Publishing opened, it was dedicated to producing the highest quality books possible. Lea Schizas started with about a dozen authors and maybe three editors. She personally went through every book she published. Today, the Muse has over a hundred authors, with a staff of several editors, and Ms. Schizas is no longer able to monitor the quality of every book that leaves her house. I’m afraid that shows. The quality of the grammar I see in Muse books has dropped somewhat, even in middle-grade books where I believe it needs to be higher so children can learn what good grammar is.

I also believe the pacing of Peter and the Little People was uneven. It seemed to take quite a while for Peter to spot a Little Person, find out what he thought they were, what they really were, and finally get to the problem. From there, everything seemed to speed up considerably, and pow! The book was done.

Since this is a middle-grade book and it’s been a very long time since I’ve read a book for a child that age, I’m taking a three-rose neutral stance here. A child would probably enjoy Peter and the Little People. A grammar Nazi with adult ADD, maybe not as much.

Author Website:  http://davidjmobrien.wordpress.com/

Warnings:  None

Length:  128 Pages

Digital Price:  $2.99

MuseItUp Publishing, Inc. Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/now-available-in-ebook/peter-and-the-little-people-detail

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. You can move the file by highlighting it and dragging it to the documents directory in you Kindle you want to move it to. Or right click on it, and then left click copy or move. Or hit Control/C for copy, Control/X for cut, and Control/V for paste.

Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.

Desire, Deceit, and the Doctor by Kryssie Fortune @KryssieFortune #Suspense #ContemporaryRomance #LooseId

The Plot:

Twelve years ago, Mandy Devlin moved away from her friends and family—under threat. If she returned in the next ten years or told anyone who fathered her baby, her boyfriend’s great-aunt would bankrupt her family. She’s a single mom who dreams of her lost love and a good spanking. When she’s finally free to return to Westhorpe Ridge, the last person she expects to see is Adam—the man she loved and lost so long ago.

Dr. Adam Montgomery doesn’t know he has a son. Thanks to his great-aunt’s will, he has nine months to find a bride or he loses Montgomery Hall and the fifteen million dollars she left him. Although he seduces Mandy on his first night home, he still believes she betrayed him twelve years ago. No way would he marry a woman like her.

As Valentine’s Day looms, someone tries to kill Mandy. Is Adam trying to get rid of her? Or can Mandy trust him to protect them?

About the Author:

Alpha males and their sassy mates rule in Kryssie Fortune’s books. If the hero’s a shapeshifter, then so much the better.

Werewolves prowl through her Scattered Siblings series, along with the occasional Fae and vampire.

She grew up climbing trees and playing with imaginary dragons. Kryssie still loves dragons, and if she can sneak one into her books she will.

Her pet hates are unhappy endings and books that end on a cliffhanger.

Kryssie’s books are hot and explicit, but the plot always comes before the sex. Since she writes erotic romance, she guarantees a happy ending.

Review:

When are schools going to start teaching English grammar again? Desire, Deceit, and the Doctor is not an independently published book written by an author who could not afford an editor. Loose Id presumably has an editorial staff, yet this book needed better editing. I found it very frustrating.

Books also need to be believable. There was a big, honkin’ elephant in the room that made me crazy. Mandy Devlin returns to her hometown twelve years after she left with an eleven year-old son, and it doesn’t occur to any of her friends that she must have been pregnant when she left. Can’t anyone do the math? Adam’s a doctor. One would think he could count.

Furthermore, Ben’s the image of Adam and has Adam’s habits and mannerisms. Mandy’s best friend is Adam’s sister. How does she not take one look at this kid and see her brother? How does Adam not see himself? I yelled at the cast of Desire, Deceit, and the Doctor all the way through.

Finally, in order to enjoy a romance, I need to like both parties. Adam was no hero in my eyes. What kind of guy takes a girl’s virginity, and then believes she has sex with another guy immediately afterward? The guy shows Adam a pair of panties. Big deal. How does Adam even know they belong to Mandy? But, he buys the guy’s story and calls her every kind of name there is in front of the whole student body before walking out on her at their Senior Prom. As far as I’m concerned, Adam’s not worth the dirt Mandy walks on, and I don’t understand how she can possibly feel anything but loathing for the man after that.

PS: Where do they get the models for these covers? I've seen several where the woman looks a good ten years older than the man. This book is not about a cougar. This couple's supposed to be the same age.

Don’t bother with this one.

Author Website:  http://kryssiefortune.wixsite.com/kryssie

Warnings:  Sex, BDSM, and Violence

Length:  142 Pages

Digital Price:  $4.99

Loose Id Buy Link:  http://bit.ly/2kTGqp5

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. You can move the file by highlighting it and dragging it to the documents directory in you Kindle you want to move it to. Or right click on it, and then left click copy or move. Or hit Control/C for copy, Control/X for cut, and Control/V for paste.

Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.

Witch Way to Mintwood by Addison Creek #AmateurSleuth, #Ghosts, #Humor

The Plot:

(Witch of Mintwood Book 1)

House falling down? Check. Pet sitting job with annoying clients? Check. Ability to speak to ghosts, which has the unfortunate side effect of having to listen to what they say back? Double check! Hot high school crush still in town being all successful and stuff while you protest his building projects? All kinds of checks! Did anyone say Witch of Mintwood? Yup! Just add murder and this will be a week to remember!

About the Author:

I was unable to find any info on this author. S/he has no bio, photo, website or social media presence.

Review:

Lemmie sees dead things—both people and animals. She speaks to them, too. Unfortunately, she also has to listen to them. Her grandmother was The Witch of Mintwood, and Lemmie inherited the title/job along with her grandma’s Victorian farmhouse and spacious yard. One of the ghosts in the yard blackmails her into checking on her great-great-granddaughter, who goes missing along with a family heirloom. Lemmie doesn’t even like the girl, but the ghostly grannie’s a handful. She doggedly pursues the case with the help of her best friends and roommates—Greer and Charlie, and Paws, the ghost cat, who her grandmother inherited along with the house.

Witch Way to Mintwood had me chuckling on the first page, and kept my attention to the end. I liked Lemmie, even though I didn’t learn her name until the sixth chapter. And I just now skimmed almost the entire rest of the book looking for her last name, but only a few people in the book seem to have last names, a notable one being Jasper Wolf, who makes Lemmie’s knees weak. However, her grandmother warned her to stay away from him, just as his grandfather issued a similar warning to him about her. I had questions about Jasper that were left unanswered.

Greer and Charlie have romantic sub-plots, but otherwise, the background characters could almost be painted on flats had this been written as a play. They’re pretty two-dimensional. Maybe that’s why Ms./Mr. Creek is completely invisible, with no website, Twitter account, or even an Amazon author page.

That said, I’ll probably buy the second book in the series. I still have those questions about Jasper Wolf.

Warnings:  None

Length:  189 Pages

Digital Price:  $0.99

Buy Link:  https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01N5HIGH5

Thanks for visiting.