If you want to keep up with the reviews, interviews and giveaways of Interviews & Reviews please make sure to go to this link http://www.interviewsandreviews.com because that is where you will find me now.
I see that I have about 91 followers on this site from Google, and about 39 from Networked blogs, so I hope you will follow me over to my new site. I would hate to see you go. As an added incentive, there is a contest going on right now, for a chance to win a signed copy of my book Come to Me. Also, next week author Carol Stratton will drop by for an interview and she is giving copies of her book, Changing Zip Codes away.
We have a lot of book giveaways coming up and author interviews, so don't miss out! Bookmark http://www.interviewsandreviews.com today, so you will not miss anything!
I've tried countless times to point Blogger in the direction of my new website for Interviews & Reviews. Since it won't cooperate, you will have to click this link to find me http://www.interviewsandreviews.com because after one month I & R will disappear. So PLEASE save this link to your records.
Thank you!
Within the next 48 hours (maybe sooner) a new and improved Interviews & Reviews will be debuting.
Keeping our mandate to connect readers to authors, the new I & R will have its own domain name and a few new features to compliment the old. The new site will have the following:
- A membership area where authors can advertise themselves and their books for free and readers can communicate with their favourite authors.
- Featured Book of the Week: If you don't have time to wait for me to review your book, this feature will get it up there in no time at all - minus the review. This is part of our new low-cost marketing option for authors. Basically, you provide a synopsis of your book, your bio and the first chapter and it is featured for one week here at I & R. Since we receive over 2400 visitors a month from all over the world, this is a great way to get your book out there.
- Other Marketing Options for authors to help get the word out about their books.
- Giveaways! At least one book a week. We have to have something for our readers!
- 3D Book Design for authors who want their books to "pop".
So, if you want to continue to follow Interviews & Reviews, don't worry - this blog will automatically take you to the new website once we go live. In the meantime tell your friends about the new changes and think about becoming a member of Interviews & Reviews - it's free!
One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Canadian author Ann Voskamp has been on the New York Times Bestseller list and has consistently been on Amazon's Top 100 Bestsellers list since it was first released in January of 2011. Ann is a member of The Word Guild, to which I belong, and we rejoiced with her over the success of her book.
So, why am I reviewing it a year later? To be fair, I did buy it a year ago and started to read it, but unlike my colleagues, I did not like this book. I found her writing to be too staccato-like. Her words and phrases were awkward and at times blasphemous. I had to put the book down and walk away.
However, that does not mean I hated the book. Not at all. One Thousand Gifts has created thankful people seeking to know God intimately and that is a good thing. A dare from a friend to write down one thousand things to be thankful for, obviously changed her life and has changed the lives of many others who have picked up this book. That is something to rejoice in and something I cannot discount. While I do not like her writing style and it took me a year to muddle through this book, I do appreciate what she was trying to convey and you may too. Her words are sometimes shocking, but her exuberance or craving for closeness with God comes through loud and clear. I give this book 3 stars.
I haven't reviewed a children's book in a long while and so I was pleased to receive The Big Red Chair from Canadian author Brenda J. Wood.
I'm going to guess that Brenda, who lost her husband last year, wrote this book for her grandchildren. Why? Because it deals specifically with grieving the loss of someone you love and it is done with the love of a grandmother's heart.
In the book, Afi, which is Icelandic for Grandpa, loves to sit in his big red chair. The big red chair holds special memories of Afi holding grandchildren, mommy and daddy snuggling and what seems to be a grudging respect for the chair from Amma (Icelandic for Grandma), who didn't really want The Big Red Chair.
But, as the story unfolds in rhyme, we see the colourful pictures that are included in the book start to change, and Afi is now in a different kind of chair in the hospital, longing to be back home in his Big Red Chair. The author has included questions at the end of the book that guide children who are grieving and in addition, a CD is included of her reading the The Big Red Chair.
If you know of a little one who is struggling with grief, this would be a good book to read to them. To contact the author visit http://heartfeltdevotionals.wordpress.com
Murder in Hum Harbour by Canadian author Jayne E. Self features a cast of suspects that will keep you guessing until the end.
Set in Nova Scotia, in the fictional town of Hum Harbour, the author has created characters that all have a secret to keep, making this novel a page turner. Gailynn MacDonald, our main character, is out for a stroll on the beach when she comes across a boat that has run aground. When she goes to investigate, she discovers newly retired Doc Campbell lying face down in a pool of water - dead.
Turns out that Doc has a past and a problem with drinking, so right away the police assume his death is an accident. But not Gailynn, she immediately suspects murder and then proceeds to investigate Doc's death on her own, eventually convincing her brother, one of Hum Harbour's three police officers, that she might be right.
Gailynn was a fun character because she found a suspect in just about everyone in the small town of Hum Harbour and all of her reasons are quite plausible. The author has done a great job of fleshing her out and giving her an inquisitive nature. Unfortunately for Gailynn, this nature soon gets her into trouble as she starts to ruffle the real murderer's feathers.
A great whodunit that will keep you turning the pages. I give Murder in Hum Harbour 4 stars.
