December Issues of @FleetLife and @EHDirectory featuring my #Bookreviews

Here are a list of books I’ve had featured in my local magazines for the month of December 2014, with links to the magazine on-line versions and Goodreads links to all the books.

http://www.fleetlife.org.uk click on the online directory and once loaded, find my reviews on page 36.

Dec FL

The Immortal Greek by Monica La Porta

Britannia Part 1: The Wall by Richard Denham

We That Are Left by Juliet Greenwood

Romancing My Love by Melissa Foster

BackPacks and Bra Straps by Savannah Grace

Dec EHD

Books that made it in to my reviews in the Elvatham Heath Directory http://www.ehd.org.uk. Click on the online directory and once loaded go to page 13

How I Changed My Life In A Year by Shelley Wilson

Echoes In The Darkness by Jane Godman

Fairy Tale In New York by Nicky Wells

Midnight Sky by Jan Ruth

Craving by Sofia Grey

Good Deeds Challenge, Year 2 Week 27

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I an into my second year.

New Good DeedsThis week I’ve been doing the following;

October 19th – Dropped some money in the Help The Heroes collection.

October 20th –  My morning at school, next week is half term so I shall have to look harder for a Good Deed. Informed an author that I was now in possession of a book review for her book from one of my team and donned the battle armour as she didn’t agree with me going to post a review which will say that the book had some editing errors, apparently I shall be rubbishing 10 years of work! Found a lovely comment which I shall now use “It’s not the audience’s fault that they don’t like it”.

October 21st – Heard from an author today who received my 3* review, gracefully accepting that the book wasn’t for me. That’s the type of author we all like, one who appreciates that we’ve taken our free time to read their book. Good deeds received; Nipped into the supermarket for a few things and the man in front of me firstly gave me all his shop reward card points, then a voucher for £5 of next weeks shop and finally £5 off any shop after he’d finished  and paid for his own shopping. How nice was that? So I thanked him profusely and dropped some of my own money in a charity pot on my way out.

October 22nd – My car is being serviced today, dropped it off and walked home picking up litter on the way.

October 23rd – The path I have chosen to take with book reviewing is definitely hard, I have been mulling the process over. I could take the easier path and give 5* reviews to everything I read, but I would be false to myself. I could post only those books which make my 5* list, but then what of all the time I spent reading the other books? I could just post my reviews with no feed back to the author, but again that seems a coward’s way out for me, so perhaps this is the right route, the one where I read a book, write the review, send it in advance to the author, offer to discuss it if my review is less than they are expecting, then post the review for my reading audience, the ones whose curiosity may be roused by any review, not just the 5* ones.

I’m reading A Place In The World by Cinda MacKinnon, it’s set in Colombia on a coffee finca in a cloud forest, the visual pictures I’m getting in my mind are fantastic.

October 24th – Dropped off a birthday present for a friend. Today I’m reading Inkker Hauser Part 1, Rum Hijack by Phil Conquest, a short read full of dark humour.

October 25th – The November paper issue of Fleet Life dropped through my door this morning with my month’s book review page. Reading the magazine I note that local author Richard Denham who wrote Britannia Part 1: The Wall which I reviewed recently http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5PL will be signing books in Fleet Library on Tuesday November 11th between 11am and 12pm. Will write a tweet on the day for him. The on-line version will go out nearer the 1st of November so I shall save my post for then.

Britannia Part 1: The Wall by Richard Denham

Britannia,  Part 1: The Wall (Britannia, #1)Britannia, Part 1: The Wall by Richard Denham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Britannia Part 1: The Wall is a work of fiction set in a historical backdrop of occupied Britain in the Roman era. Hadrian’s wall has been built and it is up to the VI Vitrix to defend the wall against the Barbarians from the North.

The book opens and introduces us to four leading characters, soldiers of the VI, who are out hunting. Leocadius is just 19, Vitalis 18, they are out with Justinus aged around 30 years and Paternus who is a family man of just a little older. They’ve been hunting for two days and are returning home when smoke and scavenger birds alert them to trouble. They find the fort of Banna has been attacked and no one is left, Paternus fears for his family.

Rushing to the next stronghold along the wall the soldiers finds this one has been savagely attacked as well, and it’s not just one, the wall has been lost. They suspect the Picts, Saxons and Attacotti. Heading for the larger Roman town of Eboracum (York) The four soldiers come across an Arcani, a wise man of Britain, a man of the land called Dumno, also a paid Roman informer. They Learn of a mysterious Hero of the Barbarians called Valentinus, who controls these Barbarian armies and wants to rid the land of the Romans.

These four soldiers become heroes of the Wall, rumours spread of brave deeds and the Roman leaders use the men to drum up positive response to the attacks from Valentinus. Attacks that pour fear into an Army which once had a fearsome reputation and now looks like it might be defeated. But who is the man behind the silver mask? The biggest fear is the unknown.

All over Britain talk of Valentinus spreads as Roman Britain itself moves forward. In Londinium Leocadius and Vitalis both find themselves in positions unthought-of because of their Wall hero status. We see a City with different religions that people follow out of belief and fashion. This book drops you right into Roman life in Britain, with the harshness of living in the wilds of the North, to military life and civilian lifestyles. It’s all about survival, unless you are an army man and then it’s all about Rome. A good historical book.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.