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

Essences by Kenneth Webb

Blurb:

Essences III is a continuation of the poetry published in Essences and Essences II, which were published in 2006 and 2013 respectively. Mr. Webb has written about several sciences and major religions, using many traditional poetic forms. Subjects include The Universe, Nature, History, The Animal World, Characterizations, Potpourri, Japanese Haiku, Filipino Haynaku, Children's Poems, and America.

Review:

I’m not normally a fan of poetry, but Essences III has something for everyone from Shakespearean couplets to Filipino Haynaku. Although his Christian beliefs are quite evident, it is clear Mr. Webb honors all beliefs, giving respectful nods to most of the other major religions. Some of his language use is almost child-like, which is probably why he was so successful as a substitute teacher in the Waukegan/Lake County, Illinois school district. He is able to see the world through the fresh eyes of a young person, and convey that wonder and delight in his poetry.

My only objection is the poem “Fun With Sounds” in the Children’s poetry section. Mr. Webb states this is a particular type of poem in which one simply adds the letter “y” to the end of a word to create the “y” sound, but some of the words in this section should be formed using “ie,” like “cookie.” I believe children have enough difficulty learning to spell properly without seeing words misspelled in poetry books. Don’t anyone show this book to the Cookie Monster. But that’s only one poem out of the entire book. Otherwise, it’s not a bad way to spend an hour or so.

Length:  146 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $9.96

Digital:  $3.99

Buy Links:

Print:  https://tsw.createspace.com/title/4867125

Digital:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/451992

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

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society By Amy Hill Hearth

Blurb:

Eighty-year-old Dora, the narrator of a story that began a half century earlier, is bonding with an unlikely set of friends, including Jackie Hart, a restless middle-aged wife and mother from Boston, who gets into all sorts of trouble when her family moves to a small, sleepy town in Collier County, Florida, circa 1962.

With humor and insight the novel chronicles the awkward North-South cultural divide as Jackie, this hapless but charming “Yankee,” looks for some excitement in her life by accepting an opportunity to host a local radio show where she creates a mysterious, late-night persona, “Miss Dreamsville,” and by launching a reading group—the Collier County Women’s Literary Society—thus sending the conservative and racially segregated town into uproar. The only townspeople who venture to join are regarded as outsiders at best—a young gay man, a divorced woman, a poet, and a young black woman who dreams of going to college.

Review:

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society is my favorite kind of novel. It combines wit and wisdom in a lively and credible tale of friendship and bonding with the perfect touch of humor. I could identify with every single character in this book in one way or another. This was a first for me. The story is narrated in first person and set in South Florida in the ‘60s, a time of great social and political challenge in America.  The author, Amy Hill Hearth, uses her special literary technique to bring her characters to life both individually and collectively. “There’s an old southern saying that if you’re worried about your weight, your clothes, or getting old, then you don’t have any real problems,” is just one of many gems shared with the reader through the main character, a common-sense, kind and simple woman searching for her own individuality. Each character is portrayed as multi-dimensional as every live human being is in reality. Unique analogies are effectively used with humor throughout the book, as in, “There was a miserable silence, like when you’re at the dentist and you’re waiting for the novocaine to work.”

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society is a delightful and smooth read. I highly recommend it, and think it would appeal most to women, especially those who enjoy an escape from routine through good fiction.

Length: 272 Pages

Prices:

Print: $15.00

Digital: $10.93

Buy Link:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Miss-Dreamsville-and-the-Collier-County-Womens/Amy-Hill-Hearth/9781451675238

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 & Rochelle