February editions of Magazines I review books for are now delivered and on-line

February 1st and the latest editions of the local magazines I wrote book reviews for have now been delivered locally and are also on-line.

This month’s books featured in Fleet Life are;

After The Evil by Cary Allen Stone

Marlin Darlin’ by Margarette Langstaffe

Deceived by L.A Starkey

Secrets Of The Heart by Adrienne Vaughan

and Dreaming Of Love by Melissa Foster

Go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, click on the online directory and turn to page 6

Books featured in the February issue of Elvetham Heath Directory are;

The Parrot Told Me by Rachael Rawlings

Hawk’s Gift by Mary Forbes

Sheer Fear by Geoffrey West

Stories For Feelings  For Children by Hilary Hawkes

Stable Mates by Zara Stonely

Go to http://www.ehd.org.uk, click on the online directory and turn to page 6

Deceived by Brenda Burling

Deceived by Brenda Burling

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Deceived is a book about British housewife Julia Weston, a lady who currently lives a privileged lifestyle near Cambridge. She has staff to run her household, her children in private education and a bottomless bank balance. That is until she finds her top of the range mobile phone no longer works, the staff are missing and so are her husband and children.

Unable to go to the police because her children are supposed to be on a family holiday with their father and in no apparent danger, Julia discovers the family house has been sold and she has just four days to move out. Her husband’s business partner is in the dark as much as Julia, until he gets a visit from the Inland Revenue who are after the £4.7 million owed to them in back taxes.

Luckily Julia finds a forgotten bank account and puts together details of where her husband may have gone with the children and she makes a lucky guess finding them in Florida. She’ll go to any lengths to get her girls back.

The book is very well written, and although the actions of Julia’s husband are shocking, I would have liked to see a lot more drama in the book. I found it hard to connect to Julia the victim, she wasn’t penniless, she found money, she easily found a trail to her husband, got a flight upgrade and found generous people to help her. Perhaps an element of danger hovering more obviously throughout or even mild violence may take the book to another level. At the moment it is a safe unfortunate tale of how the privilege may fall, but not for long.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Deceived by L.A Starkey

Deceived, by L.A. Starkey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Deceived is a YA fantasy and the first book in a series. Sam and Julie are best friends and live in Manchester, New Hampshire. They are Juniors at High School. The book opens with a very vivid dream scene for Sam, she’s in a dream meeting a boy she has met in many of her life-times, yet she doesn’t remember him. He has to suffer the pain of her leaving him once more. Yet Sam hears another voice calling her too.

Sam and Julie are both adopted, they were at the same orphanage and became firm friends and stayed friends after their separate adoptions. At school Sam is very athletic, not usually one to chase the boys, she can’t help it when her hormones are attracted to Ken, although her head knows he can be a serial player, her heart wants some fun. A history project on the ancient Greeks has Sam borrowing a strange book from the library called “The Soul Keeper”.

Nick and Marcus are brothers, Grandsons of Zeus, to them Sam is their Dream-catcher and they vie for her attention in her dreams. Yet they are all destined to be players in a much larger fight. A prophecy is about to be opened by the Time Guardian, Nick and Marcus have been waiting for their destiny to unfold for hundred of years.

I read this book in one day because it kept me so engaged with the story that I didn’t want to put it down. There’s lots going on in the story, but it all flows really well and I like books with the ancient Gods and mythology of any nation. I would definitely pick up the next book in the series, I am dying to know what happens to them all.

They say a soul is the immaterial essence, the animating principle, the actuating cause of an individual life.

But what if you had to share yours with the one person you hated the most?

The soul mate principle states that for every one soul there is another that will recognize its match, hence creating the perfect union.

But what if you had two soul mates, which would you choose?

What if your choices had eternal ramification?

Deceived, the debut novel in the Soul Keeper Series, is a modern day love story about the implications of having more than one soul mate, and having to choose between the two of them. The decisions of the gods has left the next generation, their heirs, torn between fate and reality, and the balance of the future hangs in anticipation of what’s to come.

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

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Good Deeds Challenge, Year 2, weeks 36 – 38

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 am into my second year.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

Week 36

December 21st – Visiting relatives today, took lots of goodies, Christmas presents and helped out with washing up etc.

December 22nd – Dropping off more Christmas gifts. Am reading Feeling Lucky by Kathy Bryson.

December 23rd – Read a very good YA fantasy novel today called Deceived by L.A Starkey

December 24th – Today I’ve read and reviewed 2 books for Hilary Hawkes, they are books for English Primary aged children about kindness and friendship. Stories for feelings for Children and The Friendship Adventure programme from Strawberry Jam Books.

December 25th – I’m cooking lunch for 8 today so that no-one gets left out. Reading Secrets of the Heart by Adrienne Vaughan, the 3rd book in the Heartfelt series set on an island off the west coast of Ireland.

December 26th – Trying to get as many books read from my list while it’s the holidays, plus aiming for my highest year on the Goodreads challenge. So today I’m reading Eyes Of The Enemy by Kelly Hess, a middle grade reading book.

December 27th – Read Unexpected Partners by Sterna Kruger today and wrote my review.

Week 37

December 28th – January issues of Fleet Life and Elvetham Heath Directory are being delivered to approximately 8000 homes today which feature my book reviews. The on-line version will be available around January 1st. I’m reading Stable Mates by Zara Stonely

December 29th – Reading To Eternity by Daisy Banks, which is due for release mid January.

December 30th – Marked For Magic by Daisy Banks is my book today, this will be released in April.

December 31st – Read S.C.A.R.S by Julia Ibbotson today, a children’s adventure book. My final book for the year was To Fall In Love Again by David Burnett. Phew! Clocked up 181 books in this years challenge. Had a lovely surprise in the post a book from Melisa Foster which I’d won and some promotional material from Sophia Grey for more of her books.

January 1st – Online versions of Fleet Life and Elvetham Heath Directory are now out featuring my book reviews, I have drafted my post and will post as we return after the break. Off out for tea later and taking cakes. Helped move some cattle before out tea.

January 2nd – Today I shared an article from The Daily Telegraph about VAT increases on e-books amongst the writing community. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/11320318/Controversial-VAT-change-means-e-books-are-about-to-get-more-expensive.html

January 3rd – Drafted and sent my February book reviews for the magazines I write for, ten more books and authors get some extra free publicity for their writing.

Week 38

January 4th – Had a lovely shout-out for the blog today from Terry Tyler’s article at Uk Arts Directory http://ukartsdirectory.com/terry-tylers-literary-blog-34/. Decided to post my book reviews in Fleet Life and EHD January issue article today making use of Terry’s publicity of the blog and using the popular #SundayBlogShare to get the books and authors some extra publicity.

January 5th – Back to school this morning, with my voluntary work. A copy of Sea Witch by Helen Hollick arrived in the post today, my competition win.

January 6th – Got a lift into town this afternoon and enjoyed a brisk walk back through the park, picked up litter on my way.

January 7th – Feel the need to get outside for fresh air an exercise after the Christmas break so took my self off for a lunch-time walk, picked up litter. Received a copy of Alison Morton’s second book Perfiditas in the post after winning a copy. Really looking forward to it as I loved the first book in the Roma Nova series.

January 8th – Rained hard all morning, but when the sun came out at lunch, nipped out to make the most of it, picked up litter on my way.

January 9th – Really into this walking and getting fit lark. Needed to go to town for one or two things and a quick browse in my favourite bargain book store. Bought two books which begged to me at 20 pence each, strolled home picking up litter.

January 10th – Reading Just Two Weeks by Amanda Sington-Williams ready for a Brook Cottage Book promotion in February, it’s a psychological thriller set in Sri Lanka. My reading review list has toppled over the 20 book mark again.