Complex Damaged characters #FridayFiveChallenge NO KISS GOODBYE by Janelle Harris

This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READER’S Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

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)

Share your post, use #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share all relevant posts.

This week I searched for Irish Authors in line with St Patrick’s day celebrations

Book Description (Psychological Thriller)

Kids change your life, they said.

Things will never be the same again, they said.

Isn’t it wonderful, they said.

But no one knows what to say now.

My husband wants to take the kids.

My husband thinks the accident was my fault.

My husband thinks I need help.

But I think he wants rid of me.

Price; £1.99 Kindle $2.99 Kindle

Number of reviews; Amazon UK 232, half are 5* the rest a good mix of 1-4*. Amazon US 167 reviews just over half are 4-5* with the rest a good mix of 1-3*.

Would I BUY or PASS? ….. I think I’ll BUY.

Analysis

The green book cover links well with perceived mental images of Ireland being the Emerald Isle, the teddy bear and rocking horse look cute and made me think of children however this turns darker as you remember this is a psychological thriller. I like the way the author wrote the book description as a poem, which gets darker the more you read, it is quite spine chilling by the time you read the last line. The title “No Kiss Goodbye” is sad and has me asking questions already. The kindle price is very competitive, so this all adds to my reason for giving it a go.

Here are links to other bloggers taking part in todays’ challenge.

Cathy’s chosen a raw mystery thriller The Cold Cold Sea by Linda Huber

Shelley has chosen historical fiction The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

DYING FOR CHRISTMAS BY Tammy Cohen #FridayFiveChallenge #Thriller @MsTamarCohen @TransworldBooks

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This weekend many people across the Uk will be buying their Christmas trees and putting up the decorations, so my search word this week began as “Christmas Trees” in the books section, however I was faced with pages of uninspiring glitzy Christmas trees until I spotted this book.

Dying for Christmas by Tammy Cohen find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

I am missing. Held captive by a blue-eyed stranger. To mark the twelve days of Christmas, he gives me a gift every day, each more horrible than the last. The twelfth day is getting closer. After that, there’ll be no more Christmas cheer for me. No mince pies, no carols. No way out.
But I have a secret. No-one has guessed it. Will you?

Genre; Thriller

Price; £4.99 Kindle £6.99 paperback or $7.50 kindle and used paperbacks from $5.52

Number of pages; 400

Number of reviews; 152 Amazon Uk and 10 reviews on Amazon.com

Would I BUY or PASS?…….I’d BUY

Analysis

After battling around the supermarket dodging all the heaving displays of “Must Have” Christmas goodies, then trying to find some unseasonal items at the garden centre, I was ready for something a little different. There are shelves of feel good HEA books for the Christmas Market but the glamour and perfection of the advertiser’s Christmas rarely exists. Bah-Humbug! So just the title of this book stood out for me. I’m an occasional thriller reader and the brief book description works for me, it has me asking all sorts of questions and wanting the answers. The book is a little pricey in the competitive kindle market, but of the 152 reviews over 120 are 4 and 5*’s so it’s a buy from me today.

Find out which books other bloggers taking the challenge chose this week.

Shelley has a Dean Koontz short story http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/12/04/would-you-buy-or-pass-last-light-by-dean-koontz-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-1197

Cathy found a new series by Rick Riordan http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/12/04/fridayfivechallenge-buy-or-pass-magnus-chase-and-the-sword-of-summer-1/comment-page-1/#comment-3398

Juana joined the challenge this week and chose “The On I Was” by Eliza Graham https://rubiesandsagebrush.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/dying-for-christmas-by-tammy-cohen-fridayfivechallenge-thriller-mstamarcohen-transworldbooks/#comment-40

Girl Online: On Tour by Zoe Sugg #FridayFiveChallenge @ZoeZeeBo

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge (Open to bloggers)

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This week in my continued research to help bring together writers and readers I’ve been looking at YouTube, so this was my search term for today’s post.

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

Book Description

*Contains an EXCLUSIVE Q&A with Zoella!*

The sequel to the number-one bestseller Girl Online. Penny joins her rock-star boyfriend, Noah, on his European music tour.

Penny’s bags are packed.

When Noah invites Penny on his European music tour, she can’t wait to spend time with her rock-god-tastic boyfriend.

But, between Noah’s jam-packed schedule, less-than-welcoming bandmates and threatening messages from jealous fans, Penny wonders whether she’s really cut out for life on tour. She can’t help but miss her family, her best friend Elliot . . . and her blog, Girl Online.

Can Penny learn to balance life and love on the road, or will she lose everything in pursuit of the perfect summer?

About the author

Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, is a vlogger from Brighton, UK. Her beauty, fashion and lifestyle vlogs have gained her millions of YouTube subscribers, with even more viewing the vlogs every month. She won the 2011 Cosmopolitan Blog Award for Best Established Beauty Blog and went on to win the Best Beauty Vlogger award the following year. Zoe has also twice received the Best British Vlogger award at the 2013 and 2014 Radio 1 Teen Awards and the 2014 and 2015 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice award for UK’s Favourite Vlogger, and she was named Web Star for Fashion and Beauty at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards.

Price; Kindle £8.99

Hardcopy; £6.00

97 Reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Would I BUY or PASS?….. I would BUY

Analysis

This subject matter is way out of my usual reading genre, but I’m keen to learn about Vlogging and this book cover grabbed me. The bright lights, the tickets and concert tour pictures fit the book title. Vlogging is popular with the youth market, the digital age and those who have multiple social media platforms. I don’t think this book will tell me how to vlogg but it will immerse me in the world of the vlogger and thus is like market research.

What is interesting is that the kindle format of this book is higher priced than a hard copy. Is this a reflection of the youth buying market? Should authors in the YA band think about this?

I can’t believe that many of my current audience will have any interest in this book, unless it is a Christmas present for a teen, but the vlogging audience may be tomorrow’s readers of your books, think on and keep your eyes wide open.

Here are links to other bloggers taking today’s challenge

Shelley has gone for Sci-fi http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/11/13/would-you-buy-or-pass-oxygen-a-scifi-novel-for-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-1026

Cathy has found a mystery/ thriller http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/11/13/friday-five-challenge-11/comment-page-1/#comment-3219

Liz has been looking at Postcards https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/fridayfivechallenge-8/comment-page-1/#comment-380

 

 

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge WHAT COULD POSSIBLE GO WRONG? By @authorjoditaylo

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This week I searched for a “Mammoth”

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

Book Description

Join Max in the sixth instalment in the off-the-wall bestselling Chronicles of St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor.

Max is back! New husband, new job, and a training regime that cannot fail – to go wrong!

Take one interim Chief Training Officer, add five recruits, mix with Joan of Arc, a baby mammoth, a duplicitous Father of History, a bombed rat, Stone Age hunters, a couple of passing policemen who should have better things to do, and Dick the Turd.

Stir well, bring to the boil – and wait for the bang!

Pages; 476

Number of reviews; 93 on Amazon.co.uk 86 of these are 5*

Price; £3.99 kindle

Would I BUY or PASS? ……..BUY

Analysis

I got me a mammoth or two! This looks fun, I like the spiralling clock face, this is obviously a time travel story, the mad scientists sound fun and judging by the number of reviews it looks good. It’s book #6 in a series and still has lots of fans, I think I might check out book one as well as this one just to get a feel for the series. Amazon has this book under Science fiction and time travel, by the reviews it looks like a gem of a series.

Links to other bloggers taking on today’s challenge

Alison searched “Painting” https://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/fridayfivechallenge-painting-ruby-tuesday-by-jane-yardley-rosieamber1/

Cathy found some Witches – http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/10/16/fridayfivechallenge-buyorpass/

Shelley has gone for Historical with an amazing cover – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/10/16/buy-or-pass-historical-novels-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-896

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge Cobra In The Bath by Miles Morland

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This week I searched books under the “Indian Ocean” theme as I’ve been watching a TV series about the ocean.

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

Book Description

Miles Morland is an adventurer. He was born in India to a naval father and a dangerously glamorous mother. When his parents divorced, Miles followed his mother to Tehran, which they had to leave in a hurry, and on to Baghdad, which they also had to leave in a hurry after the 1958 revolution. His early years were filled with desert journeys, riots, perilous near-misses, and adventures worthy of Kipling, after which he was sent to England for a ‘proper’ education.

Later, following years of shouting down a Wall Street telephone, Miles threw in his job, bought a giant motorbike and set off to discover things in places others did not want to go. Deported at gunpoint from Romania, saved from assassination in Ethiopia by a lucky plane crash, riding an Enfield Bullet through Ooty and following Che over the Andes – Miles has a knack of finding trouble.

Brilliantly observed and told with unique humour, Cobra in the Bath will have you crying with laughter and scared out of your wits.

Price; Kindle price £10.04 or $15.49

Number of pages; 385

Number of reviews; 13 Amazon.UK ( many from readers who have reviewed little else), a 1* with a very useful review.  1 from Amazon.US with a 3* luke warm reception.

Would I BUY or PASS? …..PASS

Analysis

I chose the book cover for the motorbike and the snake. Easy to see it’s a travel memoir and I quite like reading about other peoples adventures from time to time, in places I probably wouldn’t travel myself. The book description looked good, plenty of land covered with many stories to tell. A very quick dip into the reviews revealed too many glowing 5*’s that needed little search to find many of these readers have reviewed little else. I found the 1* and 3* reviews the most helpful. This is now a risk buy for me and at a very high kindle price, too much of a risk today.

Here are links to other #FridayFiveChallengers

Shelley has gone for #YA #Romance – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/10/09/buy-or-pass-young-adult-romance-fridayfivechallenge/

Cathy went in search for #Children’s books – http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/10/09/fridayfivechallenge-buyorpass-why-the-whales-came-by-michael-morpurgo-childrens-rosieamber1/

Barb has been weighing up the cost of kids – http://barbtaub.com/2015/10/09/bill-for-child-production-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/

Bev went for a Post Apocalypse which has an added bonus of being #Free on #Kindle – http://baspicer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/welcome-to-my-fridayfivechallenge.html?showComment=1444405665429#c6618357408994892467

 

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge THE DEAD DETECTIVE by @jr_rain

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This week I’ve been checking out book covers from Amazon’s list of books they’d “Recommend” to me from my browsing history.

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

Book Description

Medical-school-dropout police detective Richelle Dadd is… well, dead. But that won’t stop her from trying to hold on to her house in a divorce battle with a bitter husband. Or keep her from digging into her own murder, to discover who put the bullet into her heart. Or from coming to terms with her Gypsy heritage. And it certainly won’t stand in the way of finding out the reason she’s been reanimated as a zombie assassin, no longer in control of her life.
Richelle will face off against Romani shamans, double-crossing ghosts, a partner she can’t trust, and her own undead nature in a journey into the depths of the occult world and out the other side without losing her sense of humor – or humanity – along the way.
It’s a good thing her deductive skills – and her aim – are still up to par.

Total Pages; 272

Price; £3.59 or $5.52

Number of reviews; 13 Amazon.UK, or 157 Amazon.US. Of the Uk reviews 12 were 4 or 5 stars, and 1 x 1*. I checked out the 1* and the comment said they hadn’t read the book yet. How ridiculous that they then left a 1* rating – that really does give reviewer writers a bad name.

Would I BUY or PASS? ……BUY

Analysis

The emerald green cover shouted at me amongst pages of “same old, same old” covers. I liked the title, “The Dead Detective” immediately had me asking questions of the book and it’s title. The book description was upbeat and fun, giving me a feel for the author’s writing style. Throw in paranormal beings and humour and this book is right up my street. As I had been rummaging for a book in books which Amazon recommended to me, this was amongst them because I’ve read others by this author all of which I’ve enjoyed. I like his writing style. The price is quite high for a kindle book, but this is a popular author with a good fan base, who like what they get, so it will be money well spent. It was a good find and a reminder of an author whose work I enjoy and will continue to read.

I’ll be reviewing this book here on the blog on October 20th.

Links to other bloggers taking today’s challenge.

Shelley searched for the “BloodMoon” and found a FREE paranormal murder mystery – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/10/02/buy-or-pass-the-seventh-sons-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-823

Barb found a children’s book – http://barbtaub.com/2015/10/02/frustration-and-the-most-magnificent-thing-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/

Cathy found a good holiday read set in Pembrokeshire –  http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/10/02/fridayfivechallenge-paradise-house-by-erica-james-buyorpass/comment-page-1/#comment-2748

Wendy went looking for LOVE – http://booklovercircumspect4.com/2015/10/02/fridayfivechallenge-blow-by-kim-karr-buyorpass-romance/comment-page-1/#comment-345

Alison put her trust in Amazon to recommend a book – https://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/fridayfivechallenge-30-days-to-a-clean-and-organized-house-rosieamber1/

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge Busman’s Honeymoon by Jenna Bennett #Mystery

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

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)

This week my search word was “Magpie”

I’m not sure why this book was in the selection but this is what I chose from the cover.

Busman’s Honeymoon: the Savannah Martin Honeymoon Novella (Savannah Martin Mysteries)

Pre-order a copy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

It’s official. Margaret Anne Martin’s perfect daughter Savannah has tied the knot with her unsuitable boyfriend Rafe Collier, and they’re off on their honeymoon to sunny Florida, courtesy of Savannah’s brother Dix and sister Catherine.

However, the happy couple barely has time to enjoy a night of nuptial bliss before they find themselves face to face with the dead body of their hostess, Frenetta Wallin, the next morning. And as soon as the local sheriff’s deputy finds out about Rafe’s criminal record, Savannah’s new husband becomes suspect Numero Uno in what might not have been a natural death.

So much for a romantic honeymoon full of sun, sand, and hot sex.

Instead, Savannah must ferret out the truth about who wanted Frenetta dead, and why, before the sheriff can slap handcuffs on Rafe and slam the cell door behind him.

Price; £1.49 kindle edition due out on September 1st.

Number of pages; 104

No reviews yet, but this is a new book in a mystery series which have a few reviews on Amazon.co.uk but are more popular on Amazon.com

Would I BUY or PASS? ……Pass

Analysis

It was the motorbike which caught my eye on the book cover along with the title, “A Busman’s Honeymoon”. At first I thought it was one of those travel memoirs, where someone travels across a continent. I mis-read the title as “A Busman’s Holiday”. So now I’ve got a book which isn’t what I expected, so perhaps the book cover, although eye-catching, isn’t sending the reader the right message. It is a “Busy” cover with lots going on. As a thumb -nail, I had to peer at the red ribbons and tin can and I guess the “Just Married” sign on the back of the bike. They really don’t add anything to the picture when they are so small. This is only available in Kindle to start with, but if it gets released as a paperback this book cover will work better in a larger version on a bookshelf.

The book description is basic, this is a light read mystery with a bad boy biker for just 104 pages, It will be a quick read and offers a quick burst of escapism.

Here are links to other #FridayFiveChallengers

Cathy chose a psychological thriller https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/friday-five-challenge-8/

Shelley has gone in search of Gypsies  http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/08/28/buy-or-pass-looking-at-gypsy-romance-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-685

Liz has found an East Indianman sea faring book https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/fridayfivechallenge-3/

Barb can’t wait to be a Grandparent, but what kind will she be? http://barbtaub.com/2015/08/28/what-to-call-granny-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/comment-page-1/#comment-138020

Wendy found a very tasty mystery http://booklovercircumspect4.com/2015/08/28/rosie-ambers-would-you-buy-or-pass-innocent-in-las-vegas-by-a-r-winters-fridayfivechallenge-mystery/comment-page-1/#comment-54

 

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge Waiting For A Star To Fall by Elaine Cremin

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

Get yourself a cuppa and give yourself 5 minutes. (Use your own pic or copy mine or anything else like a clock/ stopwatch etc)

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)

This week I was searching for “Pressure Rings” – it’s a LONG STORY which I won’t bore you with! – but found myself in the books category while researching, by mistake, and this book popped up.

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

Now as soon as I saw the purple cover (my favourite colour) and read the title, this song “Waiting For a Star to Fall” sung by Boy Meets Girl, written by Merrill, George Robert / Rubicam, Shannon, ran through my head. The book literally SANG to me this week and took me back to 1988!

Book Description;

Sometimes you have to leave home to find yourself. For Alyson Hughes, this meant quitting her job in Cork, Ireland, packing up her belongings, and moving to New York.

She isn’t completely alone in the big city. Her two best girlfriends live there, and her handsome new boss takes a shine to her. Things start looking up—until Aly discovers her friends have problems of their own and her dream job turns into a nightmare.

Aly can’t figure out how to help Jen or Karen, and to complicate matters, she keeps running into Jack Morgan, an American actor with an easy smile and clever wit. She finds it hard to believe someone like Jack would be interested in an average girl like her, but he sure seems to pop up in the unlikeliest of places.

Fans of Jenny Colgan and Marian Keyes will enjoy this bittersweet tale of love, loss, and catching falling stars.

Price; £1.99 kindle

Number of reviews; 12 on Amazon.co.uk

Would I BUY or PASS? …….BUY just so I can sing the song to myself all the way through!

Analysis

So this is a classic #ChickLit with a fun Irish girl in New York. If you like purple, the book cover is GREAT, it shows the New York skyline so you get an idea of the setting. It’s a competitive price for 337 pages and “that song” is still playing through my head. From the moment I saw the cover and title it was a winner for me.

Here’s a link for all those who just have to hear the song one more time. Sing along everyone!!

Here are links to other #FridayFiveChallenge participants

Cathy found a paranormal thriller https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/friday-five-challenge-7/comment-page-1/#comment-2430

Shelley has found a great book about MONEY http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/08/21/buy-or-pass-show-me-the-money-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-649

Terry found a Talent Show book http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/would-you-buy-or-pass-13.html?spref=tw

Liz has found a time travel book https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/fridayfivechallenge-2/

Barb has found the ultimate insult come-back book http://barbtaub.com/2015/08/21/help-for-political-insult-wannabes-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/comment-page-1/#comment-137873

 

 

Would You BUY Or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge Hard Landing by @stephenleather #Thriller

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

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)

This week I’ve been traumatising spiders in a large cleaning project, so they became my inspiration search word.

I found a book series and author new to me because it’s in a genre I don’t usually choose, however I do read the odd thriller in my reading mix.

Hard Landing by Stephen Leather is the first book in the “Spider” Shepherd Series

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

The first book in the bestselling Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd series.
Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line. Working for an elite undercover squad he has lied, cheated and conned in order to bring Britain’s most wanted criminals to justice.
But when a powerful drugs baron starts to kill off witnesses to his crimes, Shepherd is given his most dangerous assignment yet. He has to go undercover in a top security prison, a world where one wrong move will mean certain death.
As Shepherd gambles everything to move in on his quarry, he soon realises that the man he is hunting is even more dangerous than the police realise. And that he is capable of striking outside the prison walls and hitting Shepherd where it hurts most.

Price; £0.49 /$0.76

Number of reviews; 777 UK/ 69 US

Would I BUY or PASS? ……..BUY

Analysis

This book takes me from my normal reading comfort zone, but the cover was clean, sharp and the black clothes on a white background gave my eye different shapes to look at from the usual rectangle book cover – it drew me in. The picture says “Prisoner” to me and that is what you get from the storyline description. I like the idea that it is book one of a series, which if I like it I can carry on reading other stories. The author is well thought of in the UK from all the reviews. Add to this a bargain kindle price of 49 pence, everything adds up to a BUY.

Here are links to other people taking the #FridayFiveChallenge this week.

Shelley is checking out Diet books – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/08/14/buy-or-pass-looking-at-diet-books-for-the-fridayfivechallenge/

Cathy went in search of Salem witches – https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/friday-five-challenge-6/

Terry looked up  a book from Norfolk – http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/my-weekly-contribution-to-rosie-ambers.html

Liz checked out Non-fiction and Time Management – https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-189

And Barb is late but brings us a wonderful tale from her holiday in Spain, so we forgive her – http://barbtaub.com/2015/08/15/starving-to-death-in-spain-or-traditions-travel-queueing-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/comment-page-1/#comment-137783

Would You BUY or PASS? #FridayFiveChallenge The Curious Incident of the Dog in a Nightdress by Ross O’Carroll-Kelly

Welcome to my Friday Five Challenge

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)

This week my chosen search word was “Nightdress”

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

Book Description

So there I was roysh, life focked, reputation focked, finances focked – everything completely focked, roysh, and we’re talking big time. And it’s all Fionn’s fault, basically. He’s the four-eyed focker who told me that, like, the first time you do it, roysh, you’re firing blanks. Like an unloaded Uzi – seriously impressive, hard as fock and totally ready for action, but the safety’s, like, on, you know. Well that was a pile of stinking turds for storters. And of course it’s muggins here who ends up with the kid – life is SO focking unfair. On top of all that, roysh, the goys stort to, like, totally lose it – JP has gone all Jesus on my orse, Oisinn is basically trying to fock over Interpol and Christian is talking about weddings and, I don’t know, love and stuff. I mean, I am seriously beginning to feel like I am the only good-looking, loaded, sane goy in the whole of, like, Dublin.

Price £6.49 for 320 pages on Kindle

Reviews; 8

Would I BUY or PASS? ……PASS

Analysis

The comic book cover in a bright yellow first attracted me, the title was fun and drew me in, this was obviously going to be a funny read. The book description showed me just what line of comedy the book was going down, the Irish do like to laugh at themselves, but for me there will be too much swearing for me to enjoy the book. It is very pricey for a kindle edition too, not much lower than the £8.99 paperback. This will appeal to many who like this style of humour, but it wasn’t for me.

Here are links to others taking part in this week’s challenge.

Barb has a children’s book about a dog – http://barbtaub.com/2015/08/07/buy-or-pass-dog-days-of-summer-and-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber1/

Alison has gone in search of a French themed book – https://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/fridayfivechallenge-isabella-braveheart-of-france-by-colin-falconer-rosieamber1/

Cathy has a Christmas book – https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/friday-five-challenge-buyorpass-christmas-spirit-by-susan-buchanan-fridayfivechallenge/

Liz chose a mystery set in the Algarve – https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/friday-five-challenge-8/comment-page-1/#comment-179

Shelley is on holiday but has posted an update on where she is with some of the books she bought – http://shelleywilsonauthor.com/2015/08/07/buy-or-pass-a-recap-on-the-fridayfivechallenge/comment-page-1/#comment-591

Terry has been thinking about being over 50 and what’s out there in the book world – http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/would-you-buy-or-pass-11.html