Tag Archives: reading

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Sally Cronin Shares Some Great Reads

Today’s my second visit with outstanding blogger, author, and supporter of the indie community: Sally Cronin.

She’s drawn from my blog archives and shared one of my book review posts. These are all highly entertaining reads, and if you missed one or need another nudge, head over.

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2025 – My Pick of two of your posts- November Book Reviews: Part Two! by Diana Wallace Peach

While you’re there, you might check out Sally’s books. They’re all excellent, and this one’s delightful. Here’s my review:

Just an Odd Job Girl, by Sally Cronin

Amazon global link

One of the books that flew west with me was Sally Cronin’s Just an Odd Job Girl. In more ways than one, it’s a great summer story.

I picked up this book while on vacation and thoroughly enjoyed it. A quick read at 156 pages, the book begins with an older Imogen. At 50, she’s on her own, traded-in by her husband for a younger “fast-tracker.” After 25 years of raising children and keeping house, she feels frumpy and bored, and decides to find a job.

The temp agency asks for a resume of her work experience, and all she has is a long list of pre-marriage odd jobs, starting with a summer stint as a teenager at a seaside gift kiosk and rambling through temporary positions with a dental office, department store, bar, funeral parlor, boys school, and country inn.

As the reader joins Imogene on a reflective journey through her odd jobs, it’s impossible not to laugh at her antics, the colorful characters she meets along the way, and the predicaments she gets herself into and out of. What I enjoyed most was young Imogene’s humanity. She’s a wonderful combination of funny, compassionate, resourceful, and fearless. I couldn’t wait to see the fix she got into next.

In addition to laughs, Just an Odd Job Girl has a lovely message for young adults as well as those of us getting on in age: that life is full of opportunities, that wonderful people are everywhere, and that you are never to old to grow. Get your copy for the beach or backyard hammock. You won’t be disappointed.

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Comments are closed here. If you get a chance to stop by Sally’s, I’ll see you there.

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Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour, Last Stop #10

Welcome to Day Ten, the last day of the Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Blog Tour

Thank you to everyone who stopped by here and there along the tour to support my launch, and I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about the book. For the finale, I’m visiting with Jacqui Murray at her blog Worddreams where I’ll be sharing the folklore origin of the magical creature called the gripe. He’s one of my favorites and a good one to end on. Before you head over:

Meet Jacqui

Jacqui’s popular blog is a wonderful resource for writers. She’s a voracious reader and reviewer of indie books, and she posts all kinds of writing tips including technical solutions, genre information, and lists of descriptive words, to name a few. Count on her to support other writers, including “insecure ” ones, and to help other authors with book promotions.

She’s also a writer, and though she’s written modern-day suspense novels, she’s since found her niche in the fascinating genre of prehistoric fiction — with completed trilogies taking place 1.8 million years ago (Dawn of Humanity), and 850,000 years ago (Crossroads). And…

Endangered Species, book one of her Savage Land trilogy. It’s hot off the press and getting great reviews. Book two, Badlands, is available on preorder for an April 15th release. Set only 75,000 years ago, this series dives into the lives of the Neanderthals. Once again, her research shines. Needless to say, I’ve read all of her books!

Here’s my review of her latest:

Endangered Species by Jacqui Murray

Amazon Link

My Review: I’ve traveled back through time with Murray’s prehistoric fiction, starting 1.8 million years ago with her Dawn of Humanity trilogy, and then advancing to 850,000 years ago with her Crossroads trilogy. This book is the first in The Savage Land trilogy, bumping readers up to modern times, well almost modern—only 75,000 years ago!

Fans will find this book quite different as it explores the lives of the Neanderthals (The People), who shared the planet with and interacted with Homo Sapiens (The Tall Ones). Mankind has developed a spoken language. The characters talk to each other and can think critically. They make clothes, use fire, and have learned some sophisticated methods for hunting and healing. Those are only a few of the discoveries and skills our ancestors have developed since the previous series.

Murray’s extensive research into the lives of the Neanderthals is evident in this book, which lays the groundwork for the rest of the trilogy. The research is fascinating, and something that I highly appreciate. The attention given to the daily lives of the People, including their challenges and ever-present dangers, does make this story a slow burn until near the end when the main plot literally “explodes” in the form of a volcano, forcing the People and Tall Ones to begin a perilous migration that, I expect, is the focus of the next two books.

In this novel, one interesting deviation from historical research is the spirit presence of Xhosa and Ump from the Crossroads trilogy. They provide a significant amount of support to at least one of the book’s main characters. Both main and secondary characters are well-rounded with distinct personalities and emotional lives. Though ancient versions of ourselves, their struggles feel familiar, and they’re easy to root for. Main characters Yu’ung and Shanadar (both Neanderthal People) share the POV, with a few exceptions. They also share a sense of destiny, though they don’t meet until the very end of the book.

It isn’t necessary to have read the earlier trilogies to start this one. I highly recommend this book to fans of prehistoric fiction, and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

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Comments are closed here. If you have a chance, head on over to join us on the last day of the Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver tour at Jacqui’s blog: Word Dreams.

Thank you!

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour Schedule

January 6 – Robbie Cheadle – Introduction and Humans!
January 8 – Debby Gies – Nobbin, a Hospet
January 10 – Noelle Granger – Mazheven and the Wylyali
January 14 – Jan Sikes – Nelithi and the Oak Witch
January 16 – Teri Polen – The Winter King and North Bearfrost
January 21 – D. L. Finn – The Autumn Prince
January 23 – Colleen Chesebro – The Winter Queen
January 27 – Miriam Hurdle – Lochalai and Watermaids
January 31 – Liz Gauffreau – Woodling and the Naggris
February 10 – Jacqui Murray – The Gripe

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Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour, Stop #6

Welcome to Day Six of the Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Blog Tour.

Today I’m visiting with D. L. Finn at her Author D. L. Finn blog. With each tour stop, I’ve been sharing some of the diverse folklore origins of the magical beings, creatures, and monsters that informed the characters in the book. This visit is a little different. Today is all about the Autumn Prince, his season, and why he differs from the other Charmed. He’s complex and kind of yummy. But first:

Meet Denise

Denise is a writer and poet who’s also a voracious book reader and reviewer. Her love of nature and its creatures comes through loud and clear in her stories and poetry, as does her gracious, positive spirit. Her blog is a great source for indie book reviews, info on new releases, her poetry, and the happenings in the magical Finn Forest around her home (which includes bears!).

She recently started a monthly “Creative Perspective Challenge” for flash fiction writers and poets. Her first image-prompt (below) is wonderfully evocative. For details on timing, story length, and posting responses, here’s her introduction to the challenge. If you miss this one, follow her so you can catch the next!

I’ve read almost all of Denise’s books, and she writes in a wide range of genres from poetry and short story collections to horror, suspense, YA historical fiction, and YA fantasy loaded with magic.  She’s been super busy with two publishing projects completed just this year.

Here’s my review of her latest (spooky) novel:

Sounds in the Silence by D. L. Finn

Amazon Link

My Review: In 1965, Maria and Logan purchase an old manor and begin renovations to transform it into an inn. Almost immediately they encounter a troubled ghost with a murder mystery for them to solve. More dangerous than the ghost is the man lurking around their barn at night.

A second, alternating timeline, brings the reader back to 1924 when the manor was owned by Helen and Charles Elliot, a wealthy couple who enjoyed parties and flouted prohibition, bringing down the scorn of religious fundamentalists in the area. Maria’s research into the lives of Helen and Charles meets with a lot of local suspicion, especially from those connected with the past.

The story starts at a slow burn as the characters and sense of threat are developed in both timelines. There are plenty of suspicious locals and red herrings, and the tension and pace ramp up as the threats turn into real danger. I guessed who the murderer was early on, but there were some twists that I didn’t see coming.

Helen was my favorite character, but Maria and Logan were also fully fleshed out and easy to root for. Four pets join them about halfway through the story, adding some entertainment while increasing the action and distress as the danger becomes more overt. Recommended to readers who enjoy dual-timeline stories, ghosts, and murder mysteries.

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Comments are closed here. If you have a chance, head on over to join the Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver tour at Denise’s blog: Author D. L. Finn.

Thank you!

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour Schedule

January 6 – Robbie Cheadle – Introduction and Humans!
January 8 – Debby Gies – Nobbin, a Hospet
January 10 – Noelle Granger – Mazheven and the Wylyali
January 14 – Jan Sikes – Nelithi and the Oak Witch
January 16 – Teri Polen – The Winter King and North Bearfrost
January 21 – D. L. Finn – The Autumn Prince
January 23 – Colleen Chesebro – The Winter Queen
January 27 – Miriam Hurdle – Lochalai and Watermaids
January 31 – Liz Gauffreau – The Gripe
February 12 – Jacqui Murray – Woodlings and the Naggris

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Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour, Stop #2

Welcome to Day Two of the Seasons’ Weaver Blog Tour.

Today I’m visiting with Debby Gies at her blog D. G. Kaye Writer where I’ll be sharing some of the diverse folklore origins of the magical beings, creatures, and monsters that informed the characters in the book. Join us for a peek into the charmed character Nobbin, Erith’s hospet. But first:

Meet Debby:

Debby’s blog is a writer’s and reader’s resource that occasionally ventures into the happenings in her life, including her travels to sunny destinations. She shares reviews, writer interviews, and links to writing and blogging tips from all over the blogosphere. Debby regularly contributes to Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Blog, most recently featuring discussions on spiritual awareness and personal growth.

Debby writes memoirs about different aspects of her life. From the conflicted relationships she navigated as a child to her journey of self-discovery, to the challenges of aging with those we love. From travel tips to the trials of menopause to a fun account of her fifteen first times. Some are hilarious and some are poignant, and all are rich with advice for others facing similar situations.

Since losing the love of her life, Debby’s recorded a series of podcasts on the topic of grief. As a previous grief counselor, I can say without hesitation that her podcasts are insightful, honest, moving, and full of gentle wisdom. Anyone interested in learning more about the human journey through grief can start here: Grief, the Real Talk, Episode One. I hear she’s working on a book about the subject, which I look forward to reading later this year.

I’ve read all of Debby’s books. Here’s one of my reviews:

Twenty Years: After “I Do” by D.G. Kaye

Global Amazon Link

My Review: Twenty years after her vows, author D. G. Kaye, looks back at the lessons learned about love, commitment, and aging. Kaye married a man twenty years her senior, already 58 at the time, and asked him for twenty years (at least) – thus the title of the book.

In a way, this memoir is a tribute to the man she dearly loves, a fact that comes through loud and clear. But it’s also about her journey as a partner, about the hurdles, insights, and growth along the way.

“In sickness and in health” is a major theme as bodies bend to the inevitable challenges of aging. Kaye shares her emotions and thoughts regarding her husband’s illnesses, but also some wisdom about preventative care, advocacy, and the adjustments needed to continue living a full life.

This is a poignant read to be sure, but full of practical advice too about laughter, travel, sex, communication, and preparation for the end of life. Most of all, it’s a memoir about love. An evening’s read and highly recommended.

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Comments are closed here. If you have a chance, head on over to join the Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver tour at Debby’s blog: D. G. Kaye Writer.

Thank you!

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver Tour Schedule

January 6 – Robbie Cheadle – Introduction and Humans!
January 8 – Debby Gies – Nobbin, a Hospet
January 10 – Noelle Granger – Mazheven and the Wylyali
January 14 – Jan Sikes – Nelithi and the Oak Witch
January 16 – Teri Polen – The Winter King and North Bearfrost
January 21 – D. L. Finn – The Autumn Prince
January 23 – Colleen Chesebro – The Winter Queen
January 27 – Miriam Hurdle – Lochalai and Watermaids
January 31 – Liz Gauffreau – The Gripe
February 12 – Jacqui Murray – Woodlings and the Naggris

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Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver: An Early Review

Today, I’m visiting with the marvelous author and blogger Sally Cronin at her blog: Smorgasbord Invitation. She kindly read an advance copy of Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver and posted her thoughts. Needless to say, I’m delighted with her review and couldn’t wait to share.

I’ve closed comments here and will be taking up space over at Sally’s if you want to stop by.

Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair – New Book Spotlight and my Review #DarkFantasy #YA – Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver by D. Wallace Peach

Before heading over – a word about Sally. She’s a great person to know for a bunch of reasons:

  1. her eclectic blog has something for everyone (books, reviews, humor, music, and more)
  2. her tireless and generous support of indie authors
  3. her ability to keep you stuffed to the gills with books, and
  4. her wonderful novels, books of poetry, short stories, and guides to healthy living.

I read her latest book in August (my review is below). If you’re interested in eating your way into a healthier life, I happily recommend her book: Size Always Matters. My husband and I are still on the plan, and I’m halfway to my goal. The good news … it’s been almost effortless!

Click on Image for Universal Link

My Review of Size Always Matters:

If a reader wants to lose weight and keep it off by adopting a healthy lifestyle, this book can get you there. It’s not a fad diet or a quick-loss plan since those methods for losing weight are usually unhealthy and therefore unsustainable. It also doesn’t require getting a personal trainer, running marathons, or giving up the foods we love. Conscious care for the body’s nutritional needs, gentle adjustments to our eating choices, gentle increases in activity—with a goal of losing 1 pound a week—leads to a lot of sustainable weight loss over time.

And Cronin knows what she’s talking about as someone who’s worked with hundreds of clients as a nutritionist and undertaken the weight-loss journey herself. Her personal stories about her struggle with weight and diets will probably sound familiar to many. And her determination to understand the contributors to weight gain, both psychological and physical, is not only enlightening but empowering.

To me, this wasn’t a diet book as much as a “take care of your body book” which leads to weight loss and weight maintenance. I knew about the value of fresh food over processed food, and the nutritional advantages of eating a balanced diet with lots of vegetables. And the detrimental abundance of sugar in the modern diet isn’t anything new. But I learned a lot about how the body metabolizes food, its nutritional requirements, and what happens when those requirements aren’t met.

The book includes a comprehensive explanation of our amazing and complex biology related to food, as well as a great deal of nutritional science. I didn’t retain all the information on the first read, but the book is a great resource for future reference. Cronin’s strategy for weight loss makes sense and even better, it sounds doable! As a bonus, she includes a few recipes that are staples in her home. Highly recommended to readers who want to live a lighter, healthier life.

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Hope to see you at Sally’s! ❤

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Date A Girl Who Reads

I saved this the first time I heard it – a fun piece by Rosemarie Urquico. Enjoy!

Frangonard, The Reader (Wikipedia)

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Pixabay

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

Ivan Kramskoi, Reading Woman (Wikipedia)

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

Mary Cassatt, The Reader (Wikipedia)

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

Agnes Goodsir, Woman Reading (Wikimedia)

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

Renoir, The Reader (Wikipedia)

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

Pixabay

Happy Reading!

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More Indie Book Reviews

It’s time to share a few more reviews. Another eclectic bunch: short stories, a middle-grade gem, and of course, speculative fiction. I have a stack of reading for the holidays. I hope I can add a book or two to yours.

Flights of Fancy

by Sally Cronin

I’ve read several of Cronin’s books of short stories, and this collection of eleven tales is as enjoyable as the others. I inhaled it in a single afternoon, completely immersed. As usual, the author includes a wonderful variety of tales from touching stories of eternal love in The Other Side of Heaven and Curtains, to adorable cuteness in Henry’s Story, and humor in Psychic Parrot. Highly recommended for anyone who loves short stories and well-told tales.

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Talon

by Gigi Sedlmayer

I had no idea how much I would enjoy this book. It seems appropriate for middle-grade readers with short chapters and a charming story, but will appeal to younger kids as a chapter book, as well as adults.

Matica is the ten-year-old daughter of missionaries in Peru. She has a disability that leaves her tiny for her age and socially isolated from the indigenous community. She befriends a pair of condors and her adventures begin, changing her life in marvelous ways. Matica is delightful, caring, and undaunted by these giant birds.

The setting adds to the book’s interest as well as the details on the condors. Matica interprets the bird’s “language” which adds a bit of magic to the tale. The pace is just right and the plot wraps up nicely with more to come. A wonderful first book in the series. Highly recommended.

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The Gate

by D. L. Cross

An alien invasion is imminent, and Landon Thorne goes from being a recently fired college professor to a much sought-after expert. His unconventional theories on ancient alien astronauts have caught the attention of top-secret government operatives and a group of mysterious bad guys.

This is classic first-contact sci-fi, and Cross appears to have done her research. Combine fact with a dose of imagination and a bunch of ruthless characters, and this is a story that moves at a fast clip.

And those “ruthless characters” include just about everyone. The main characters are well-rounded, ambitious, competitive, and argumentative. And Cross has no problem letting characters cross the line and/or killing them off.

The Gate, the first book in the Astral Conspiracy series, leaves off with a cliff-hanger, so be prepared to read the next books to reach the conclusion of the tale. Highly recommended for readers of sci-fi thrillers.

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More to come. Have a lovely holiday season and Happy Reading!

 

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Goodreads 2018 Challenge

I’m a slow reader, so I gave myself a Goodreads Challenge of only 26 books for the year.  Imagine my surprise when I found I had read 39 books!  I love the way Goodreads recaps a year of reading. I’ll bet you recognize a few books in here, maybe your own! Thank you for a year of amazing entertainment.

My goal for 2019 is 30 books, and I’m looking forward to every single one of them!

Happy Reading!

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3 Fiction-Writing Terms: Data Dump, Filter Word, Head Hopping

While some of us are pushing through the last week of Nanowrimo, noses to our keyboards, an editing-monster looms in our future, packing on problems like a glutton.

Kathy Wagoner wrote a great post clarifying three different writing terms that carry a lot of unwanted calories. These are often newbie problems, and I’ll confess that they gave my early writing serious indigestion. The good news is that after fixing them thousands of times (literally), I do a better job of avoiding them in the first place.

Are these important? Yes. All three of these can knock a reader out of the book or reduce a reader’s engagement by distancing them from the characters and story. For me, head-hopping will usually result in an unfinished read.

Even after years of vigilance, I still have to put my monster on the editing treadmill to trim away the fat and give my writing more muscle. Kathy did a thorough job of explaining the terms and providing examples. It’s worth clicking over for a look. 🙂

via 3 Fiction Writing Terms: Data Dump, Filter Word, Head Hopping