Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns
Showing posts with label Ghosts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghosts. Show all posts

Friday, June 2, 2017

The Soul of Adam Short by @David_J_OBrien #Paranormal, #Ghosts, #Souls



The Plot:

The cares of life are beginning to cloud fifteen-year-old Adam Short’s carefree existence. Important exams are looming, his girlfriend Julie thinks he’s unfocused, and right now he’s about to be late for the school trip. Neither his teacher, nor Julie, will be pleased if he misses the bus.

Adam has much bigger problems when, in an extraordinary accident, his soul is torn from his body. His body loses all consciousness−reduced to a mere automaton existence: eating when food is put in its mouth, moving when guided, reacting only to touch. Meanwhile, Adam, discovering that ghosts are very much real, is trapped without a body, and stuck in a place from which he cannot freely leave.

Only the untiring efforts of his girlfriend Julie−who had never considered the existence of a soul, and for whom the idea of ghosts is laughable−against the advice of everyone around her, including her parents, Adam’s doctor, and his best friend—can save Adam. Will she be able to figure out what has happened to Adam? Even if she does, can Julie help Adam escape the scene of his accident, and return the life to his body?

10% of the author’s royalties will be donated to WWF, the World Wildlife Fund.

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 a freak incident tears Adam Short’s soul from his body the morning of his class trip, he doesn’t quite know or believe what’s happened to him. It’s not until later in the day when he meets a ghost who experienced the same incident, but whose body eventually died, that he realized what happened and figures out how he might be able to reunite himself with his “comatose” body.

The Soul of Adam Short is a paranormal coming-of-age book that is thought-provoking as well as amusing. At a time when most kids are worried about clothes, dances, and exams, Julie’s boyfriend is in a semi-comatose state, and she’s having nightmares about being run over by a flaming antique pick-up truck driven by two boys. When she wakes up, she’s sure she can feel Adam in her room.

The characters in this book are deeply-drawn. There are subplots around the parents, live friends, and even ghost friends in addition to the main plot, which kept me turning the pages. I highly recommend The Soul of Adam Short for all ages.

Warnings:  None
Length:  226 Pages
Digital Price:  $3.99

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.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

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

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