Reviews of Head Above Water are starting to come in. Peep the current one from Mr. Demetrice Prince!

Head Above Water will be released on 12.22.11 and can be found on Smashwords, Nook & Kindle for only $.99!

""First let me state that I'm not the biggest fan of romance/love stories, so I was slightly skeptical about taking on the task of reading this. However, from reading some of Benjamin Jones previous works, I knew that I was gonna be in for a treat. Within the first few pages I was instantly hooked! What followed was 33 chapters of pure genius with a little bit of something for everyone while still managing to stick to a main storyline!  Mr. Jones truly does have  a way with words. You would be foolish not to read Head Above Water or any of his other works!" - Demetrice Prince

Hazardous Choices, a book by author Joseph Rinaldo (and the second I've read of his) hits HARD.

Hazardous Choices is the story about a college football player named Darnell who goes to school in a small town in Kentucky to escape his life back home in Chicago which consists of being in a gang. The story is VERY intense because you know, at some point, the paths between his life back home and his life in Kentucky are gonna cross and it's not gonna be good.

The thing I liked about this book is the characters, all of which are written very believably and you grow to care about them. You don't want them to make some of the choices that they do but you can very easily understand WHY they make the choices that they do. There are several story lines (football, gang life, a family learning how to communicate with a special needs kid, etc...) that, taken separately, would make for good books in themselves but, woven together, they form this magical tapestry of a book that you really should read. It's a very quick read and, even when it ends (and I was surprised by it) you will be left wanting more.

I was very impressed with it and hope that everyone will give this book a shot.

5 Stars - Highly recommended.

Find more on Joseph Rinaldo and his works by visiting http://www.josephmrinaldo.com/home/ 

Time for another book review, this one for a wonderful little book entitled The Only Witness by Pamela Beason.

First thoughts, I ran through this book in two days and didn't want to put it down. The story - a seventeen year old girl leaves her infant child in a car while she runs into the store, only to find that the baby has been kidnapped. Turns out there is one witness to the event but that witness happens to be a gorilla that knows sign language. Very unique story/plot and the book is perfectly placed with characters that you end up caring about (human and animal alike).

This book would be perfect as a movie, especially the scenes where the investigator, Finn, is trying to "interview" the witness.

All in all, a highly recommended book that is a must read for anyone who likes a well told mystery.

Find more on The Only Witness and it's author, Ms. Pamela Beason, by visitin www.pamelabeason.com

5 Stars!

Time for another book review and, like most that I have reviewed, this one is quite wonderful.

The Stream: Discovery, the first in a trilogy by Bill Jones, Jr., is the story about a 12 year old boy named Charlie who, in a nutshell, starts having these dreams which eventually start coming true. In these dreams he's drawn to a young girl named Robin who he has never met before who merely watches him in the dreams, never saying anything.

Charlie spends most of his time around his G'pa Joe and the inhabitants of the nursing home where G'pa Joe lives - rarely associating with kids his own age. That is, until he actually meets Robin and finds out that she is real which leads to a series of events involving the both of them as well as G'pa Joe and others. Not gonna say to much more for fear of spoiling.

My thoughts on the book - I liked it a lot. It took me a little bit to figure out exactly what was going on but, once I did, I was into it immensely. The main characters are 12 years old and it READS like they're 12, which is very good - the dialogue they have and the way they act is very realistic as to how real 12 year olds act and provided a level of authenticity to the story.

The story itself is like The Matrix-lite meets Inception (wrap your heads around that) but in a tween perspective. As this is a trilogy the ending doesn't resolve everything and leaves you wanting to know more of what's going to happen next. Get lost in The Stream: Discovery, you won't regret it.

Find more on The Stream: Discovery and Bill Jones, Jr by visiting http://www.billjonesjr.com/BillJonesJr/The_Stream.html 

My rating 4.25 stars!

I literally just finished this book about thirty seconds ago and, usually I sleep on a book for a day before reviewing it, but I didn't want to do that this time.

The Gift of Joy by Valerie Maarten, in it's short 107 pages, packs a powerful punch and touches a wide range of emotions.

I'm a sucker for a good romance story and this, like I Loved You First by Reena Jacobs, is one of those. The story revolves around a girl named Joy who, when she's 6 years old, has three things - one of which is great and the other two very un-great - happen to her and they both have a profound effect on the rest of her life.

Domestic violence is a major issue in this book and one that is handled very well and realistically and shows you what can happen to some of the biggest victims of domestic violence, the children that see/experience it. The theme of domestic violence is married with a simple and wonderful love story that has to be read to be believed.

I LOVED this book! Highly recommended.

5 stars!

Find more about Valerie Maarten by visiting http://vmaarten.blogspot.com/ 

Hello everyone.

Today's book review of Committed: The Michael Doyle Chronicles Book One by John W. Mefford is an outstanding book.

What starts off as a mystery involving a young woman's death leads to some most interesting plot developments that will keep you hooked from the initial prologue until the very last page.

The main focus of the story is Michael Doyle who, through incidents I won't dare spoil here, makes it a mission to uncover what really happened to the murdered woman. I personally liked Michael's character (as well as most all of the characters in the book) as he was written as a real person and I could relate to all of his actions in the book.

The pacing of the book is wonderful and the twists and turns that pop up are very welcomed. I highly recommend this book.

5 Stars.

Read more about John W. Mefford and find out how to get your copy of Committed by visiting http://www.johnwmefford.com/

Welcome. Today's book selection is a collection of short stories by author Dmytry Karpov entitled Dark Edge. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I initially started reading but I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

The book starts off perfectly with what ended up being my favorite story of the book, a story about a man about to commit suicide entitled "Dark Edge". I won't ruin the "why" he's decided to commit suicide but I will say that the ending was EXCEPTIONAL and completely threw me for a loop.

The unexpected is a good theme of the book as very few of the stories end like you think they will. You'll have it in your mind that one thing is going to happen and then you're completely hit over the head with something else. Even at the few times where something does end up like you thought it would, as it did in another one of my faves, a story named "Heart Shaped Gift," it's still an enjoyable ride.

All in all the book is a very solid piece of work and definitely will be worth your time. While reading the stories reminded me of something you would see on "The Twilight Zone" so, if you liked that show, you will love this book.

Find more on the author (and where to purchase the book) by visiting http://dmytrykarpov.blogspot.com/ 

4 out of 5 stars!

Time for another book review - YEAH!!

This time I am reviewing The Princes of Tangleforest, a YA novel by Ms. Dorlana Vann. It's been a LONG time since I read a book that was geared towards young adults but this one was a good one get back on that YA horse.

Here's the synopsis:

"Skater and reformed geek, Tanner Dobbs, soon learns that his new school, Tangleforest High, is ruled by the Princes. This group of brains used the techniques of Neuro Linguistic Programming to “persuade” the student body that intellectuals are cool, with an added bonus suggestion: “The Princes are the smartest and therefore the most popular.”

Julia Webster used to be part of the Princes’ crowd until they became obsessed and increasingly dangerous to themselves. Now she finds herself an outcast from her former “nerd” friends as well as the students who had ostracized her since elementary school. She’s worried when new kid, Tanner, is invited to join the Princes. She figures Tanner hides his smarts in order to fit in and worries that the popular status the Princes offer, even though geeky, might entice him. 

When Tanner catches a glimpse of his golden-haired neighbor, Poppi, he thinks perhaps the Tangleforest community isn’t so terribly bad. But after climbing up to her window, he discovers she is locked in her bedroom by her wicked witch of a grandmother. Unfortunately, his only chance of saving the princess may be to become a nerd prince."

Ms. Vann is a wonderful writer and crafts a very delightful tale in the vein of Rapunzel (which she sights as an inspiration) but also adds to the story in some pretty nifty ways. Things that you think are one way end up being completely different at the end and I found that to be awesome. Kids of all ages should take delight in this book.

Highly recommended! 

You can purchase your copy for the insanely low price of $.99 by visiting the following:

Barnes and Noble (Nook)

Amazon (Kindle)

For more information on Ms. Vann and her other works please visit http://www.dorlanavann.com/ 

This is a hard review for me to write.

I was offered a chance to read this book via Twitter by Ms. Zantow and, of course, I never turn down a chance to read a free book, so she sent it to me and here we are. The plot is as follows:

"The moon has not changed in the fifty years of the dark lord Magna’s rule—but everything else has.

All too often, the servants of Dark Overlords are dispatched with a lazy flick of the hero's sword. But in Shadowing, the job benefits of fire, mayhem, and shapeshifting almost make up for it. In between burning down villages, the minion's primary directive is taking out heroes. When a man in golden armor and his faithful companions sneak across the border on a quest to assassinate the Dark Lord Magna, long live the Magna, it's up to the Shadows to cut his quest short. As always, things do not go quite according to plan, and one henchman ends up lone-wolfing it across the permafrost lands, following the stench of valor.

A story of sword and sorcery, tooth and claw, and wyvern wing."


Shadowing is a true fantasy epic, complete with Heroes, elves, swords, Dark Overlords, shape shifters, etc.... which, taken all together, I thought would work for me but, as it turns out, it didn't for whatever reason. I know the age old adage that you can't please everyone but I really WANTED to like this book but it just didn't hit me like I hoped that it would, which is not a knock on Kat or her story telling abilities per se.

My problem was/is that I couldn't get into the book at all, even at a short 83 pages. Even at such a short amount of pages it took me a while to finish it as I kept putting it down and then picking it back up later and I found myself actually wanting it to end just so that I would be done with it. When I did finish it I had a hard time telling my wife what the story was about when she asked because it really made no impression on me.

As I said, no one likes all books and this happened to be one that I really didn't like for whatever reason. Will you like it? It's a good possibility. Would I give Ms. Zantow's next work a shot? Most definitely as, being a writer myself, I know how difficult it is to to even START a book so if someone takes the time to write something then I owe it to them to take the time to read it. So, check the book out and judge it for yourself because books, like art and music, are in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone likes Thriller and it's the top selling album of all time. I didn't like Avatar and it's the top grossing movie ever!

4 out of 10 stars.

Find the book HERE and check it out - only $.99 on the Kindle.