Don’t Get Mad Get Even is a jolly tale with a northern counties village cricket club setting. The storyline takes place during one last desperate season for the cricket club as they struggle to win a league cup and thus keep their club open. No win and the land gets turned over for housing.
A large cast of characters fill the pages in this comedy of errors punctuated with dry dark humour as more than one person sets out to sabotage the club and take advantage of their loss. From the couple who have just moved to a house on the green, the long suffering resident who boarders up his windows against the cricket ball, to the lad the team dropped and the greedy son of the landowner who hopes to take advantage of his invalid father.
This book would suit those who have been immersed in village cricket, especially readers who appreciate a bit of Lancashire style humour. It is a quick light read.
As the cricket season starts, so do the shenanigans…
Life is tranquil in the quintessentially English village of Throttle – until the local cricket team receives a devilish demand.
When industrialist and landowner Sir Alfred Bullock is laid up, his devious son Roland, devises a get-rich-quick scheme. He gives an ultimatum to the cricket club: win a trophy by the end of the season or we take back the ground you play on and sell it for development.
In a desperate attempt to win games and hold on to the pitch, the club enlists the help of a professional whose skills – to the delight of the local ladies – extend far beyond the cricket Field. Roland, together with an unscrupulous estate agent and two dodgy builders, hatches malicious plans to ensure the team loses its games. Meanwhile, village residents whose houses are devalued by being on the perimeter of the pitch take matters into their own hands to ‘fix’ the club’s failure…
Greed, scandal, tragedy and farce ensue as the cricket club fights for survival against increasingly dangerous sabotage…
Welcome to my #FridayFiveChallenge anyone can join in, if you have a blog and want to post tag myself on Twitter @rosiamber1 or @terrytyler4, use the hashtag and we’ll help share.
Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes.
In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?
AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?
My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….
1) Go to any online book supplier,
2) Randomly choose a category,
3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,
4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,
5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,
6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?
(then write a little analysis about your decision)
I need to get my teenage, cricket mad son reading over the school summer holidays, so I headed for his favourite subject matter CRICKET
Stuart Croll and David Alexander are Scotsmen on a mission of international importance. As life-long cricket fans they are heading Down Under to watch the Ashes and cheering for England. Will they be welcomed by the Barmy Army? How do the Scots, Irish and Welsh feel about supporting the mighty, mighty England? Five cities, five five-day matches, fifty days on the road. What begins as a childhood ambition turns into an epic voyage through a rapidly changing Australia, set against the backdrop of a legendary Ashes series. Blending travelogue, sport, psychogeography, scurrilous opinion and with laughter on every page, AUSTRALIA BLUES packs a lot in to one suitcase and a carry-on bag. Always funny, genuinely enlightening, occasionally poignant a unique book that captures the highs and low of a tour of a distant land. With cameos from some of cricket s biggest names, Australia Blues gives the fans eye view of the exhausting experience of criss-crossing a vast continent with too little money, too little sleep and too much to drink.
Number of pages; 360
Price; Kindle £1.99 $3.13
Reviews; 13 reviews
Would I BUY or PASS? ……BUY
Analysis
I need to find a book which will be a fun read for my son, he needs to be tempted to pick up this book, the book cover says “FUN” to me, add the book description, my son is sporty and likes geography. The latest cricket Ashes is due to be played soon and I know he’ll be following it. I’m prepared to gamble on this purchase because the kindle price for 360 pages won’t put me too out of pocket if he refuses to read it. In fact I think I might sneak a read too! Outside of cricket loving nations and players I can see this book having limited appeal, but for now it’s a BUY from me, LOVE the cover.
Check out these links to other #FridayFiveChallengers
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.
During my week I’ll also being updating you on My Kindness Challenge which I’m also doing. I read about a new challenge to make the world a better place to live in. “Speak Kind Words, Receive Kind Echoes” see the inspiration on The Kindness blog . During my learning process I’m donating money to charity for my slip-ups to make me work harder to achieve results. I earn no money from any of my book reviews, so having little to spare should focus my mind.
This week I’ve been doing the following;
June 22nd – Last night we went to the 25th Wedding Anniversary of dear friends. It stirred up so many past memories, they’ve been churning in my mind all night, bringing more and more names from the past that I haven’t thought about for several years. So first thing, I wrote a long Thank you e-mail to my friends and added all those names we couldn’t remember last evening and added our love and wishes for another 25 happy years of marriage.
People are signing up for the Book review Challenge, it’s marvellous the support I’m getting.
Good Deeds received, had a e-mail this morning from a computer wiz who inputs all data that moves at the cricket matches our son plays in. Our son’s a bowler and bats very low down in the order, often not batting at all, but yesterday he got to bat and scored a very handsome 21 runs. The e-mail contains all the data of both his batting and bowling, every ball bowled or faced and a fancy wagon wheel diagram of just where he hit those balls to. I just know he’s going to be over the moon when he gets up and will spend hours over the information. He’s a stats boy and it’s all stored away in his brain ready for the next game.
Another Good Deed received, this morning I’m a guest over with Seumas Gallacher
June 23rd – My morning helping out at school, listening to the young ones reading. Good Deeds received; I’m a guest on Lizzie Lamb’s blog this morning. A Woman’s Wisdom has done a lovely post to help promote the Book review Challenge and people all over the world are working their butt’s off to help spread the news and prepare post pieces and get books ready to send out to readers. BIG THANKS to everyone.
June 24th – A day of challenges today. I’m thrilled with all the support I’ve got for the Book review Challenge. I had to work this morning so when I got home at lunchtime I was eager to get back on the computer to keep on top of all the mail. Blah! The internet was down! So I looked at the opportunities this gave me, a quick lunch and out to the supermarket for bread and milk hoping the internet would be back up and running when I got home. No luck, phoned the supplier to get a message that it could be another 7 hours. 7 hours without the internet this gal can’t have that. Rang my Mum, “I’m coming over I need your computer”. Dashed over taking a few things with me that needed dropping off and managed to get on-line and get through all the mail and social media that needed attention. Phew!
Back home and we have internet for another 2 hours before it breaks down again in the middle of the England World Cup match (we have cable TV) So my son’s mad and I’m chucked off the internet again. I’m adding money to my Kindness pot like a slot machine as very unkind words escape my mouth. Wait patiently! ha ha. Phone the provider again, they do love a joke! Internet may be off for another 6 hours! Do they realise the significance of (Rosie Amber being off of the internet? Oops!) The England match? Back on after a couple of hours, missed most of an uneventful game of football, but made it just in time to see England beaten at the cricket. There’s quite a lot of gloom looming over this house.
Can’t wait for the Book review Challenge to start tomorrow, there are so many people helping out all doing Good deeds to help promote and support it, that the love is spreading.
June 25th – Day 1 of the book review challenge. I’m also trying to sort out a night out for a group of friends, so it’s a round of e-mails to check everyone’s availability.Phew! What a busy day on the blog. Still need more people to read and review the books, but lots of kind comments about the post.
Day 2 of the book review challenge and we are joined by Bodicia from A Woman’s Wisdom and later in the post we discuss, Non-fiction reviews.
Just got back from the weekly Tesco supermarket shop to re-fill the cupboards for the hungry hoards. Got chatting to the lady on the checkout about a fellow worker who had suddenly died a few weeks ago. A much loved co-worker he also played a big role in the running club that my oldest child belongs to. She’s involved in an athletics project at the club and the group of the athletes are getting together to organise a competition event and they intend to make call it The John Hewitt memorable. Apparently John was always whistling “Always look on the bright side of life” by Eric Idle which was originally featured in the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian.” The song has been in my head playing since I left the supermarket and it brings a smile to my face. I’ll suggest to the group that the local Tesco might be happy to provide some sponsorship for the event.
Enjoy this clip from the 2012 Olympics (Eric begins after a couple of minutes, it brought back lots of fun and should make you all smile)
Life really is for living isn’t it? Got completely lost in youtube videos of the Olympics after I’d researched the Eric Idle video for you all. I’d forgotten the way that Britain pulled together and got behind the whole Olympic dream. I watched a couple of more clips; the Mr Bean one to The Chariots of Fire theme tune and the Queen’s arrival at the Olympic Stadium with oo7 James Bond, such showmanship. Thne I just had to watch the clip from The Life of Brian and the original “Always look on the bright side of life” song, just so funny!
June 27th – Posted a book review for Susan Scott’s book on Goodreads and Amazon In Praise Of Lilith, Eve And The Serpent In The Garden Of Eden And Other Stories . Day 3 of the Book review challenge and we heard from author Terry Tyler on the importance of book reviews, we looked at Goodreads and I talked about writing bad book reviews.
Went for a walk and picked up litter, my walk took me along the canal, there was so much litter, a dead pigeon, a dead fish, a rat crossing my path. Smells of dog excrement (Bags of it left for others to pick up – I do draw the line there) and rotting rubbish spoiled my enjoyment of the nature.
Sent a long over-due e-mail to a friend in Australia.
June 28th – Day 4 of my book review challenge and today we heard from fellow book reviewer Diane Coto, I gave an overview of Shelfari and I wrote piece about going deeply into a book review.
E-mailed a friend to check on her daughter’s twisted ankle.
Think I need a rest, anyone else exhausted just reading this? Go and watch that video for a few minutes then.
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.
During my week I’ll also being updating you on My Kindness Challenge which I’m also doing. I read about a new challenge to make the world a better place to live in. “Speak Kind Words, Receive Kind Echoes” see the inspiration on The Kindness blog . During my learning process I’m donating money to charity for my slip-ups to make me work harder to achieve results. I earn no money from any of my book reviews, so having little to spare should focus my mind.
This week I’ve been doing the following;
June 1st – Today the two local magazines that I write book reviews for uploaded their online versions, so I sent out my promotional post and tweeted and e-mailed the authors who had books featured. Any appreciation you feel for the book review features can be e-mailed to the editor alex@fleetlife.org.uk or alex@ehd.org.uk Here is a link to my post
June 2nd – I’m getting better at the kind comments if I don’t rush into a conversation, but stop and think about my reply first. Today was my morning helping out at school, the first Monday back after a week of school holidays. Finished reading Gypsy by Cynthia Harrison and sent off my review.
June 3rd – Stayed on at work today and did some extra filing that I hadn’t been asked to do, but which needed doing. Went straight on to read book 2 in the Travelling Girls series by Cynthia Harrison and finished reading Sweet Melissa in one evening.
June 4th – Sent off my review for Sweet Melissa and began reading A Gunman’s Destiny by Randy Mixter. Went to see my parents and sorted a couple of computer queries. Thought I did pretty well with my kindness challenge when Mum talked about all the latest village goings on.
June 5th – Sent off my review of A Gunman’s Destiny. Went into town and bought a shirt at a charity shop rather than brand new, for a fancy dress party we are going to in a couple of weeks time. Met friends and now I need to add a £1 to my charity Kindness pot, let my mouth run away with me again! But I am learning from it.
June 6th – Had my hair cut today and left tips for the lovely ladies. Oh Goodness! A kindness challenge! Once we’d covered my weekend and holiday plans the conversation just waited to be filled with a good moan. I had to dodge several pot-holes in the conversation and tried to disappear into my book, but eavesdropping on other clients was interesting, most were failing in areas of kindness. Am reading Archer of the Lake by Kelly R Michaels.
My son has 6 cricket matches in the next 7 days so think of me will you;
CHEF – “quick get in the car, I forgot to turn the vegetable off before I rushed to pick you up from school, I was trying to get dinner cooked early” Rally drives out of the car-park on two wheels!
TAXI DRIVER – Late to match, abandons car in a great space, later realising the front windscreen faces oncoming hard cricket balls when hit for a 6.
WASHER-WOMAN – Tries hopelessly to get grass and mud stains out of cricket whites, sends son off in “nearly whites”
SUPPORTER – Sits dutifully on the side-lines for 2.5 hours, freezing as the sun goes down and the wind blows. Misses all of son’s best moments because I was either chatting to someone else or secretly reading a book behind large dark glasses and feigning interest in the game.
LISTENER – Dutifully nods and makes appropriate noises to the post-match blow-by-blow analysis which lasts all the way home and for the rest of the day or night with rest of the family joining in. Not expected to make any useful contribution as calling the Umpire the “Referee” and asking why they didn’t use the “off-side ruling” doesn’t go down well.
BEST MUM THERE IS – Replying to all the e-mails from the team managers, providing cricket teas when asked, finding the obscure village cricket pitch on an old fashioned paper map when Google gets lost, making sure there’s a fresh drink in the bag for each match and taking out the stale bottle days later. Washing all those sets of whites in time for the next match and being there for when things didn’t go too well.
June 7th – Finished reading Archer in the Lake and sent off my review. Rain this morning meant cricket was cancelled, we had a game last evening at a picturesque village cricket green out in the English countryside with warm sun and a win for our team. The sun came out this afternoon and I went for a lovely walk this evening and picked up litter along my way.
During this week I will officially pass my 10th week of Good Deeds, I started back on April the 16th, a Tuesday. Now I blog from Sunday to Saturday giving you, my readers, a weekly update on my challenge to follow in the footsteps of Judith O’Reilly author of “A Year of Doing Good”, who inspired this series of posts. If this book is new to you catch up with my review of the book here http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-1hL
My challenge is to complete at least 1 Good Deed a day for a year. I have already inspired others to take up the challenge and to draw on the good effect this can have on their own lives and I am especially thrilled to hear each week of others who are picking up the baton. I hereby invite you to join in too and let me know how you got on and what surprises came to you as a result.
Here’s an example; I have baked cakes and cookies which I take as gifts to friends when I visit, then the good came back to me and I won a years supply of rice and pasta! Which again I turned into a good deed as I have been able to give much of it away after providing free meals for my family.
Friends and family pass on books to me which I read, review and blog about, in turn more people send me books and the cycle continues. I pass on my love of books across the globe and back again.
June 23rd – I now look forward to Sunday posts where I catch up with Harula and we swop our Good Deed posts, they inspire us to continue and it’s so lovely to read what others are doing. Here is a link to Harula’s blog for you to enjoy her posts as much as me. http://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/good-deed-weeks/ Sent 2 books to my mother-in-law to read and received 3 books back from her for me to read.
June 24th – Drove my daughter and two of her school friends to the Sixth Form College for their taster morning, helped to start some new paperwork checks at work which need implementing. Rang another work colleague and offered some extra help. Found my jam jar of saved coins in the kitchen and realised that I’d not put any money in it for a while. Added some money.
June 25th – Found money on the ground near my car at work, so saved it for my jam jar. I’m the person who goes around looking at the ground, usually to stop myself tripping over invisible objects, but it does mean I have the potential to spot shiny objects on the ground. Over the years I’ve found quite a lot of money; My best was £20 at the Boxing Day races! I certainly came home with more than I won on the horses! I once found £10 on the floor of a charity shop, but I felt I couldn’t pocket that due to the location, I was quite gutted at the time! Anyway back to today, I was going to dodge out of work quickly when my conscious reminded me of a phone call which needed making. I hesitated, should I pretend to forget it and leave it for someone else? No! my “Good Deeds” inner voice shouted! Oh Bother! Took 2 minutes to make the phone call which didn’t make any dent in my time, but meant the job was done. “See, I was right” said my inner Good Deeds voice smugly. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Replied my inner adolescent child.
June 26th – The July issue of Fleet Life has arrived and I’ve scanned my page of book reviews ready to post on Monday when the online version goes live. Due to the imminent summer holidays, deadlines for the August and September issues all have to be completed by the 19th July, so today I’ve sent off my copy for the August issue. I love doing the “Big Reveal” at the beginning of each month and sometimes surprising authors with the news of their free book promotion.
June 27th – It’s school prom night tonight, so I’m firstly a taxi driver today as the girls get ready. Later tonight they are going to the prom in a horsebox! Which they’ve done up like a party bus. Have bought snacks for any of the pre or post prom parties and I have got flowers and beers for the two wonderful parents who are providing the transport and the after party sleepover. Posted a devilish writing prompt on the community storyboard site involving writing using a dialect. http://neverendingstorydepository.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/writing-using-a-dialect/
June 28th – It’s Friday and the evening is warm and sultry, so I’ve decided to go and watch my son play cricket under the false pretences that it will be a lovely way to spend a few hours. However out team’s game has been allocated the pitch in the middle of a field with very little shelter and the black clouds are heading our way. Then it starts to rain! Rain doesn’t stop much play in youth cricket, so I huddled with other mother’s under umbrella’s as we muttered about the umpires and the English weather. My good deed was being their to support the team who played badly in poor conditions, we clapped each lad who bravely faced bowlers who had better luck and sad as it may be us Mum’s were thankful when the game ended early as the opposition walked all over our team. We hurried back to the warmth of our waiting cars and left the menfolk mumbling about the state of play. I gathered are a few pieces of litter and couldn’t wait to get home!
June 29th – Agreed to review 2 more books for authors, finished reading another book and posted my review on the blog and at Goodreads. Will sort out some more books to pass on to my Mother-in-law. Took cakes when we went to tea with the relatives. Did some weeding in the garden and watered some thirsty looking plants for the mother-in-law. Hope this made up for the fact that I had to tell her that the jam was “off”, my son said the pate smelt “funny” and my husband commented on the cracked china – oops!
Continuing my attempts to follow in the foot steps of Judith O’Reilly after reading her book;
May 12th – Sent e-mails and texts to children of friends who are all starting their GCSE exams tomorrow. Signed up to follow several new blogs and new people on Twitter. Supported another author on Facebook and followed up a few more blog posts with comments. Visited my parents and caught up with their news. Remembered to send a birthday card to another relative. Sent out reminders to authors who will be appearing as guests on my blog this week, just to let them know that I haven’t forgotten them. Added money to my jam jar.
May 13th – My half morning of volunteering at a local school. Invited to go on a school trip with the baby class to a zoo, it’s causing me a huge dilemma, it’s got “Good Deed” written all over it, but it’s on a day that I usually work, so I would have to change my day, then it doesn’t fit with my own children’s activities, plus I know from experience that it is unlikely to be an easy trip. It boils down to how much do I want to do this good deed? I’ll have another think about it! Dropped off a card and present for a friends son.
May 14th – A busy work day for me, not much time for good deeds. Have made a batch of cookie dough ready to bake in the morning so that I can take cookies as a gift for a friend when I visit her for coffee. It’s raining today which gives me the ideal opportunity to empty my homemade compost on to the garden. I recycle all of my kitchen vegetable scraps and ferment them for my garden. There is a smelly downside, so for the sake of my neighbours and the family I try to spread it on the garden when the rain can wash it in. I know I should have dug around and found some gloves to wear, but I was being lazy. Phew!! I can smell my hands from the keyboard, think they need a fourth wash! (It’s all organic, it just stinks!)
May 15th – Baked my cookies and some cheese sables which I took with me on my visit to my friend. Picked up litter on my way home. Am trying to make a conscious effort to regularly check my spam mail after I found some “Guest Authors” had slipped through the net. Most spam is just that “rubbish” but I felt really bad when I stumbled upon people who had made an effort, only to have their message relegated to spam.
May 16th – Invited a friend out for coffee. Had a phone call from an 84 year old relative who needed help filling out a security form. She needed actual dates and places of birth of her parents, and as I hold the current family tree she came to me for the details. The need for pages of security details just so that she can continue a voluntary job which she has been doing for nearly 20 years has ruffled her feathers! Let me explain; Imagine an Edwardian style Lady in today’s society, we’re talking table manners and best behaviour, they call her “The Hat Lady” mixed with a mobile phone and her own independence. She’s been mistaken for the Queen, which is hilarious considering her voluntary job. She is a garden tour guide for HRH Prince Charles at his Highgrove garden estate. The security form went on to ask if she has ever been involved in espionage? (Well you’re not likely to admit it are you?) She’s not impressed with one or two other questions on the form, so someone in admin will be receiving a phone call from her today. Rather them than me!
May 17th – Whilst digging through the Family tree file yesterday, I found more details on a 999 year lease which is being argued over at the moment. Spent another 2 hours surfing the net to find a solution. We (My Husband’s Family) need to prove ownership of a piece of land which a family member leased to St Mary Magdalene Church in 1793 in order to extend the churchyard. The lack of documentation is infuriating, we have a signed document but can’t prove where it was registered, I keep spending hours and getting lost in fascinating documents held by the National Archives, inching my way closer. Every time the entitlement gets passed down a generation there is trouble with the proof of ownership, there is a £22 per year rent which was worth loads at the start and will be worth nothing at the end, but it’s the land which is in Bermondsey, London which is today’s issue. There is a painfully slow and expensive investigation being done by the family solicitor, plus the local council transformed the closed church yard into a garden last year and they have stopped paying the rent. All a bit of a nightmare, good job I love history. The chance to do today’s Good Deed will be later as my name is down to help provide the cricket tea at my sons match. (Praying it’s not another freezing cold evening)
May 18th – A tired day today, my Good Deeds have been very minor, just keeping up with my cyber friends, supporting their blogs and tweets and writing book reviews. Sent out e-mails to guest authors who will be appearing on the blog next week. Keeping up the Good Deeds feels like a long up hill trudge today.
TGiFriday! We are rolling in to the last Bank holiday weekend for the summer. Football has started and the other members of the household are avidly discussing their fantasy football teams! Plus the performance of the real teams who they all support. Cricket season still remains and they lament the performance of their fantasy cricket men! But Hampshire are through to the T20 final in Cardiff this Saturday. And the Paraolympics is not far away.
This week has been full of all the last-minute pre-school bits and pieces like hair cuts, eye appointments, dentist, name label sewing, new school shoes and final bits of missing uniform. Phew!
GCSE results were down for the first time in several years as questions are asked as to whether examining boards felt under pressure about comments that marking was getting too leniant.
Gone a bit mad in the kindle store downloading books, don’t have time to read them all! Still wading through the classic “Water babies” by Charles Kingsley. I’ll be honest, some of it is like chewing on cardboard! But it’s a classic!! I must be missing something?
There’s a e-mail floating around warning of a mobile phone hoax, where you get a call from an “engineer” who claims to be testing your phone and he asks you to press #90 or#09. DO NOT do this as it gives then access to your sim card and they can use your account to make calls. END the call immediately.
Read “Tender Flames” by Stephanie Hurt last night on Kindle. A lovely easy read romance set in the world of horses and ranchfolk.
In my own world of writing the flow of words to laptop has been extremely slow due to the school holidays. But the ideas are buzzing and as September approaches and the start of the new school year looms, I’m sure the hours spent typing will begin again. I’ve got plenty of material lined up for “The Farmer” and shouting for attention at the back are the characters for “More Talk of the Playground” I’m sure if I don’t hurry up with that one then Good old Glenda Glossop will have something to say about that!
As a parent I have a whole pile of things to achieve before term starts. I haven’t started the name labelling of all the new uniform and we still have shoes to buy and other bits and pieces, plus everyone needs an eye test and a hair cut! We’ve certainly been in “chill-out” mode. Time to put down the cricket bats, pack up the picnics (well perhaps there’s time for just a few more!) and step back up a gear!
An easy read romance, I thought I had guessed the ending, but there was as unseen twist. This is the second book I have read from Stephanie, looking forward to her next one.
Book reviewer and garden enthusiast. Updates from my Hampshire garden. Usually talking about books and plants. People do not forget books or flowers that touch them or excite them—they recommend them.
Don’t Get Mad Get Even by Colin Goodwin
Rosie Amber 