Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Sunday, June 26, 2016

This Time Together by Carol Burnett



Blurb:

A touching and hilarious memoir by the author of Carrie and Me: A Mother Daughter Love Story, This Time Together is 100 percent Carol Burnett—funny, irreverent, and irresistible.

Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable eleven-year run. Now, in This Time Together, Carol really lets her hair down and tells one funny or touching or memorable story after another. Reading it feels like sitting down with an old friend who has wonderful tales to tell.

In engaging anecdotes, Carol discusses her remarkable friendships with stars such as Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews; the background behind famous scenes, like the moment she swept down the stairs in her curtain-rod dress in the legendary “Went With the Wind” skit; and things that would happen only to Carol—the prank with Julie Andrews that went wrong in front of the First Lady; the famous Tarzan Yell that saved her during a mugging; and the time she faked a wooden leg to get served in a famous ice cream emporium. This poignant look back allows us to cry with the actress during her sorrows, rejoice in her successes, and finally, always, to laugh.

About the Author:

Since the book is an autobiography, I was unable to find an author bio.

Review:

What can you say about the autobiography of one of your idols? Hopefully, it lives up to your expectations of that person. Having read Ms. Burnett’s first book, I knew it would.

However, her first book stopped short of her success on The Carol Burnett Show, and did not include anecdotes about meeting (and in many cases becoming friends with) many of her idols, her friendships with the likes of Julie Andrews and Beverly Sills, or stories about Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and the rest of the cast and crew of her marvelous variety show.  Warning: don’t eat or drink anything when you read the chapter on Tim Conway, and be sure your mouth is dry. I laughed so hard, I choked on my own saliva.

Finally, Ms. Burnett attended school when they still taught grammar. And she writes the way she talks. Nothing stilted there. I put off reading This Time Together, because it wasn’t business; it was just for fun, so I waited until I was somewhat “caught up.” And, indeed, it was fun! Thank you, Ms. Burnett.

Heat Rating:  G
Length:  290 Pages
Prices:
Print:  $15.00
Digital:  $10.99
Audio:  $23.53

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Taking on Water by David Rawding



Blurb:

When James Morrow, a social worker, first meets Kevin Flynn, he suspects the teen is being abused. To learn more about Kevin’s home life, he gets to know the boy’s father, Tucker, who’s a lobsterman. James is able to put his suspicions to rest, and the two families begin to form a friendship.

When a kid at the local recreation center dies of an overdose, Detective Maya Morrow adds the case to the long list related to the drug problem plaguing the small New Hampshire coastal town of Newborough. But her investigation gets her much too close to the dangerous players.

Both the Morrows and the Flynns are holding dark secrets, and when their lives collide, tragedy is inevitable.

About the Author:

David Rawding has a BA in English from The University of New Hampshire and an MFA in Fiction from Southern New Hampshire University. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his short stories have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines. David spent three years as a fly-fishing guide in Alaska, worked several years at a non-profit for at-risk youth, was an online adjunct professor, and has a litany of other jobs in his wake. When he’s not writing, he enjoys traveling the world with a backpack and a fly rod.

For more from David visit:



Review:

Taking on Water is a fascinating book. James Morrow and Tucker Flynn start out on the side of the good guys, but by the end of the book, circumstances and other things drive them into fuzzy areas at best, with consequences you’ll have to read to discover.


What starts out as a pretty good page-burning thriller turns into the profile of a psychological nightmare, a glimpse into the mind of a man as he goes mad and goes on a killing spree. And we get to watch it from the inside out and cringeand even cry.




Author Website: 
Heat Rating:  R
Length:  212 Pages
Prices:
Print:  $12.99
Digital:  $5.99

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.