King of the World by Randall Coleman

Blurb:

The year is 2022, and time is running out.

The Earth is heating up at an alarming rate. Governments are corrupt and terrorism abounds. More nations are on the brink of war than at any other time in history, and fear riddles the planet. The Group of Five is fed up, and they’re doing something about it. In their quest to usher in a new way, the Group of Five is seeking to elect a true king, one who can restore balance to the world. Will they find a suitable king in time, or will political corruption and the Earth’s imminent destruction win out?

Review by Rochelle:

The Group of Five plans to field a panel of five candidates for King of the World—until they meet Emmett Comanche Constitution Madison Taylor. He, of all the dozens of candidates they vet for the job, gets it. Not only does he understand what needs to be done, he sees the job as temporary. Once the local national governments are cleaned up, a King will no longer be needed and he can retire.

Taylor sees most of the problems of the world being based on unfairness. His plan for peace in Palestine is to allow the Palestinians and Israelis to vote whether to annihilate each other with nukes, or to live in peace with governments voted for by each other—the Palestinians voting for the Israeli government and vice-versa. He would demilitarize the world and use the money from each country’s war chest for things like national health care. The word “terrorist” would be banned and all terrorists would be labeled “cowardly murderers.” There would be one world currency and national governments would be expected to balance their budgets within a certain period of time. Income tax would be replaced by sales tax of ten percent with a one percent global relief tax. National governments would be elected by anonymous resumés, with the jobs truly going to the best people for them, not the people with the largest campaign funds or the best media personas.

How could they possibly accomplish this? The Group of Five has already established a shielded community in the Mongolian desert as well as a base on the Moon that is stocked with nuclear weapons to enforce their policies globally. They have a crack army and security team to protect Emmett and themselves, and they plan to hold the election over the internet.

Great ideas if they can pull them off. The problem with The King of the World—it needed an editor. By about the third time Emmett gave pretty much the same speech to the same adulation, I felt my blood glucose rising. The dialog was stilted, and despite the assassination attempts, it was slow going. Twice, I put the book down and read other books, pushing it farther back in my review schedule. A good editor would have tightened it up and made it the page-burner it truly should have been.

Am I such a cynic that by the end I was actually hoping Emmett would turn on the Group of Five and take over as the worst dictator of all time, or was I just tired of the saccharine nature of the book? He kept promising “happiness.” A politician can’t give people happiness. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are as happy as they allow themselves to be.” I know people who have a lot of material wealth, and they’re miserable. I live pretty much on a frayed shoestring and I’m usually pretty happy, and I know other people like me. I wouldn’t mind living in the Group of Five’s utopia. I just don’t want to slog through another 450 pages of redundant molasses again. My blood glucose couldn’t stand it.  I'm sorry, Mr. Coleman. I can't recommend The King of the World.

Length:  548 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $18.95

Digital:  $8.99

Buy Link:  https://www.overdrive.com/media/2140500/king-of-the-world

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price 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 royalties from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-BookPublisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. You can download your books onto your computer using “Save As” to a “Books” folder you create and sort them into sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to your e-reader. That way, if there’s a glitch with your e-reader, the books are on your computer. Once you’ve saved the book to your computer plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder you created to your E-Reader/Documents/Books directory. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Crime in a Colorado Cave by Bob Schaller

Blurb:

Ashley and Adam are excited to be in Colorado where they can explore caves during their family vacation. While exploring the Cave of the Winds, they become enmeshed in a theft that involves half a million dollars' worth of gold crystals. Although Mom and Dad Arlington fear their children are in over their heads, the teenagers proceed to look for clues to the mystery. The reader follows them through several well-known spots in Colorado as they search for the thieves. When the police finally close in on the thieves, the Arlingtons think the mystery has been solved, but it has just begun.

Review by Rose Thornton:

Crime in a Colorado Cave  is light fiction; a mystery novel entailing burglary and fraud.  It was billed by the author, Bob Schaller, as a “young adult” level, which is one reason I chose it. I like to sample what young adults are reading from time to time, and I am usually pleasantly surprised.  While reading the book, however, I realized it was not what I would consider “young adult” level. I then discovered the site for buying the book had it labeled as “children’s literature.”  In my opinion, this book is somewhere in-between those two levels; I would suggest it as most appropriate for 7^th to 9^th grade readers. Although it was not really what I expected, it was well-written and interesting.  Schaller has a knack for tying together strings of non-credible, but intriguing, coincidences and making it work well for the overall plot. His technique was engaging and admirable.  I didn’t find this to be one of the greatest books overall, but I can recommend it as one I think the younger reader will find enjoyable.

Length:  126 Pages

Print Price: $7.69

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Colorado-Cave-X-Country-Adventures/dp/0801044537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412974425&sr=8-1&keywords=Crime+in+a+Colorado+Cave

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Alive at 5 by Linda Bond

Blurb:

TV news reporter Samantha Steele is one panic attack away from losing her job. Future on the line and cameraman in tow, she follows her mentor on an exhilarating adventure vacation. When he dies while skydiving, her investigative instincts scream “murdered”, and lead her to gorgeous thrill-seeker Zack Hunter.

Zack is an undercover police officer investigating his uncle’s death through the same adventure vacation company. Samantha is a thorn in his side the moment they meet. Not only is she investigating the same case, but the emotionally wounded loner doesn’t want another partner, especially one whose goal is to splash evidence all over the evening news. But Samantha’s persistence is quite a turn-on, and Zack’s overpowering desire makes it harder for him to push her away.

When the killer turns his attention to Zack, Samantha might be the only one who can save him, forcing the anxiety-riddled correspondent to finally face her greatest fear.

Review:

As Editor-in-Chief of the Marketing for Romance Writers Newsletter, I get inside information on what’s coming out each month. Linda Bond was our Featured Author for August, 2014. One of the first things I noticed about Alive at 5 was the fact that Ms. Bond’s name appeared above the title. That’s rare enough for seasoned authors. You have to be a Tom Clancy, a James Patterson or a J. K. Rowling to get your name above the title. Most mid-list authors’ names stay firmly below their titles. Next, I tested the link for Ms. Bond’s website and found myself watching her book trailer. I thought I was pretty clever narrating mine. All of the other book trailers I’ve seen have simply been a collection of stock photos accompanied by music. Ms. Bond’s trailer is live, with actors, dialog, soundtrack music and even out-takes at the end. It helps to be an Emmy-winning broadcaster and have access to a news crew, equipment and video studio. All of that, however, means Ms. Bond has a really good agent and friends in the right places. So, you’ve got my attention. Can you write?

Well, of course! You don’t get the kind of agent who gets your name above the title by writing a dull, slow-paced story with characters no one cares about! Alive at 5 lived up to its promise and then some. If it weren’t for the help of her mother’s former lover, Maxwell Wentworth, Samantha Steel would not be able to keep her mother in an expensive nursing home after a plane crash leaves her in a coma. Furthermore, if Maxwell hadn’t allowed Sam to accompany him on and cover his adventure vacation, she’d be out of a job. She’s had anxiety attacks every time she’s had to deliver a live broadcast ever since her mother’s accident. Covering Maxwell’s adventure vacation is her last chance—until his parachute fails to open in the first phase. When fellow vacationer, Zack tells her the chute’s been tampered with, Sam decides to follow him on the rest of his tour, and find out who tried to kill Maxwell and why, not realizing Zack is there to track the person who killed his uncle a year earlier on the same tour.

Alive at 5 grabbed me on the first page and held my attention all the way through. I truly did not know who did it or why until Sam and Zack figured it out, and regular readers know how rarely that happens. I’m excited for Ms. Bond. I think we’ll see a lot more of her. I really hope so. Oh, and watch for the hunky actor in her book trailer elsewhere. He’s a soccer player in an Adidas commercial.

Length:  309 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $14.99

Digital:  $0.99

Buy Link:  http://www.entangledpublishing.com/alive-at-5/

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price 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.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory. You can download your books onto your computer using “Save As” to a “Books” file you create and sort them into sub-folders by genre, author, or however you wish before transferring them to your Kindle. That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting. Rose, Julie & Rochelle