HAIKU HORIZONS # 15 - SPOT

Here’s this week’s prompt from the Haiku Horizon site which is “SPOT” and here are my three Haiku response endeavors:  

[ https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com ]

In my aching heart

There is a big empty spot

Since we broke apart

On map, there’s a spot

Where a pirate’s treasure lies

Problem, map's a fake

Spot on my dear dress

Must find a superb laundry

To make it like new

Would love to get your feedback

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-022 - LOVE'S SECOND CHANCE

Love, true love, is a marvelous experience if you’re lucky enough to find it. However, fate occasionally has a way of stepping in and tossing it asunder, or not allowing it to happen. Such is the case with the two protagonists in this story.

On one hand, you’ve got Kelly who’s besieged with disturbing recollections and horrific dreams of the difficult and brutal childhood she had suffered. Yet she’s been able to become a nurse, and adores being one.

On the other had you’ve got Liam, who’s been suffering with a life alternating condition for most, if not all his life. Yet, despite this, this guy has an optimistic outlook on life.

Having one of her patients die under her care, Kelly starts to question herself about being a nurse. This is where a kismet begins to make its appearance, as she now has gotten to have Liam as one of her patients. Looking at herself being downtrodden regarding her job, and seeing him and his upbeat attitude is creating some confusion in her mind.

With his intuitive nature, Liam has been able to see right through Kelly’s façade, and has caused her to become extremely frighten. Given time, a fear can be transformed something that can be understood. As time passes Kelly starts to have emotions towards Liam and realizes his presence must be, in most people’s eyes, kismet; but in her eyes, must be part of G-d’s purpose and path for her, as well as her second chance at having love in her life.

Does this mean Liam now also has a second chance at love?

Being a child of the 1950’s caused me to hear Frank Sinatra’s 1962 song, “Love is Lovelier” in my mind as I read this story:

Love is lovelier the second time around

Just as wonderful with both feet on the ground

It's that second time you hear your love song sung

Makes you think perhaps that love, like youth, is wasted on         

      the young

Love's more comfortable the second time you fall

Like a friendly home the second time you call

Who can say what brought us to this miracle we've found?

There are those who'll bet love comes but once, and yet

I'm oh, so glad we met the second time around

Who can say what brought us to this miracle we've found?

There are those who'll bet love comes but once, and yet

I'm oh, so glad we met the second time around.

For having given her readers and myself a touching second chance romance, I’m giving this book and its author, Serenity Jones, 5 STARS !!!

US:  https://www.amazon.com/review/R30C18R6HCVRCO

UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2UIY36P263XV

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-021 - A LOVER'S WILL

I read this book via an Amazon-US KINDLE Unlimited download.

For some reason, after reading/reviewing the genres I’ve done recently, I wanted to read some poetry, poetry which encompasses, when I happen to find this collection of 50 poems written by Mahiraj Jadeja.

This collection leaves its readers with a relatively intense emotional yet naive foray into love, and does it in a manner which is both pure and intense. What surprised me the most regarding this poet, is that this poet is a male who must have allowed his feminine side to come out, since the imagines which are created as someone reads these poems are quite vivid, and are successful in showing the personal and subtle feelings of love in an unadulterated state; an unadulterated state some readers have yet to experience.

Given what this poet has succeeded in doing, I’m pleased to give the 5 STARS he deserves in receiving.

Copy and paste these links:

US: https://www.amazon.com/review/RSU279BBOBPS6

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RDOCX5K7R9YH2  

HAIKU HORIZONS # 14 - DARK

Here’s this week’s prompt from the Haiku Horizon site which is “DARK” and here are my three Haiku response endeavors:  

[ https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com ]

Darkest silent came

Scary shadows seen on wall

Stuffed bear keeps me safe

Woman walks dark lane

Eyes on alert keeps her safe

With help of guard dog

Love dark chocolate

Good for heart not for my shape

Must go on diet

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-021 - SPOT 12 - FIVE MONTHS IN THE NEONATAL ICU

I read this book on my computer via a copy one of my dear neighbors had loaned me, and the following is my honest opinion.

Granted, while this endeavor by the author, Jenny Jaeckel, is in a comic book format, it does a decent job depicting the reality and the anguish by the parents, especially the mother, of seeing their newborn child lying helpless in an incubator in a NICU ward, it doesn’t come close to the real thing.

Having worked in city hospital for over 33 years in a non-medical capacity I had the opportunity of seeing NICU babies up close and personal. You can’t imagine what it’s like looking at these infants first hand, some so small you could hold in the palms of both of your hands. There they lie with their still pink helpless               bodies, in their incubators, with monitors and tiny IV tubes with tiny needles taped to their bodies. The incubators have two holes on each side through which gloved nurses gingerly manipulate these pre-mature infants.

You can’t imagine the mothers sitting on chairs looking at the wonder they’ve given birth to. It’s a marvelous sight looking at these NICU babies has they win their battle of facing the numerous medical complications associated with being born pre-mature. You can’t imagine the emotional sight of seeing the mother being able to hold her infant in her arms for the time after several weeks, unless you’ve witnessed it yourself.

While having one child in a NICU is emotionally draining, just imagine what it’s like when the mother had given birth to multiple pre-mature infants, with each one developing at different rates. A mother might have one child at home, and the other(s) still in the NICU.

For having given her readers this insightful story, how can you not give it 5 STARS.

US:   https://www.amazon.com/review/R1AC52NV4DGJQT

UK:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R32G6TMPF41QP7 

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-020 - WEDDING PLANNERS

I read this collection of stories written by four wonderful authors of romance via an Amazon-US KINDLE Unlimited download.

Come on now what woman hasn’t yearned for the day that she finds herself walking down the aisle towards the altar all dressed in white to have her HEA come true with the man she adores. However, there are two groups of women for which this day is actually one of nothing less than a day of frustration; frustration of not being the bride who’s getting married.

The first group is one some of you have been part of, that of being a bridesmaid. Being part of this group, you might feel resentful and frustrated in seeing one friend after another getting married with you once again being a bridesmaid.

The second group consists of wedding planners, those wonderful individuals who work side by side with the bride making sure all the wedding details deliver a dream wedding, dress shop owners making sure each bride had her dream bridal gown, and photographers making sure all the marvelous details of the event are meticulously recorded for posterity.

It doesn’t help the situation any when someone from their past shows up and puts a damper on what’s transpiring; the groom who happens to be the planner’s ex, a former lover wanting to buy the bridal shop from the owner and threatening to steal her heart again, a wedding planner’s is helping her beloved grandmother get married with a second chance at love has to avoid her former lover and now the small town’s doctor and her own second chance romance; and then there’s the wedding planner’s brother who insists their friend lend his expertise to the wedding plans, and who’ve guess it – a former ex as well.

Wedding planning while having an ex-lover floating around can make for a dreadful situation. Imagine helping someone make their HEA come true, and at the same time thinking of what might have been had their own HEA not fallen apart. The female protagonists in these stories are just waiting for a second chance for romance to occur, but only if all the participants are willing to put aside their past experiences of having lost a love and the reasons related to them.

So, if you’re into second chance romances, then this collection is for you; and why I’ve given it 5 STARS.

US:   https://www.amazon.com/review/R20EMQ6BDUHCM1

UK:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2AORL72H94JYZ

STATUS REPORT # 108

With my usual voracious desire to read/review books, and with my cutting back on the original goal I’d made for myself for this year’s GoodReads Reading Challenge from 200 books to 150, I felt the need to switch gears to make a concerted effort to concentrate on my reading/reviewing of books. The end result of doing this is that according to GoodReads I’m 5 books ahead of schedule with a total of 86 reviews being written. For those of you who don’t know me, I post all of my reviews on: GoodReads, LibraryThing, Amazon-UK and of course Amazon-US where I’ve got 550 years posted so far. So, if anyone is looking for a book to read or to give as a gift you’re welcomed to check all my reviews out at:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A19QLCLVPLZH0B

Starting this afternoon, my main push going forwards will be completing the second-go-around for the line edits I’d have received for the manuscript of what had been my debut romance, a MG/YA Paranormal entitled “I Kissed a Ghost.” I hope to complete this process by Wednesday, which will be followed by my quickly updating the copyright and other introductory pages. This will allow me to submit the now completed re-edited manuscript to CreateSpace with my instructions regarding setting up the interior pages of the book.

It’s easy to image how anxious I’m getting to see this process completed, so I can get back to work on my other writing endeavors, including that of my steamier, erotic side.

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-019 - YOU ARE NOT ALONE

I read this book via an Amazon-US KINDLE Unlimited download.

How many of you reading this love to read romances? How many of you are into reading those which happen to fall under the sub-genre of military romances? How many love fantasizing about being in the shoes of the female protagonists in these stories, longing to be in the arms of the man in uniform in these stories and the HEA you’ve always desired to have with a guy who’s considered to be a hero in another person’s eyes other than your own.

While these stories are wonderful to read, there’s a reality which is seldom, or better yet, never gone into. In this book Jen McDonald takes you from the realm of romance books and fiction into the real world; the real world of which she’s a part of for over 25 years.

The blunt reality is not like in a romance novel where you’re marrying the guy you love, you’re also marrying all his comrades in the service he’s enlisted in along with a new way of life you probably didn’t foresee or had imagined.  

You’ve probably just wanted to settle down, own a home and raise a family; but once you’ve become a military family you go where they want you to go and when they want you to go. And even though you might remain stationary in one place, your dear other half might be deployed to G-d where with the dreadful possibility he might never return alive.

Ms. McDonald in her book has aptly described how she’s managed to sustain herself and her family through the years she’s been an obedient military spouse. With the addition of biblical quotations and her own triumphs, the author tries to elicit her readers to remind themselves that military spouses are not alone in their journeys.

While this book’s target audience seems to be military spouses, this book proves to be quite beneficial to all those who have friend that have a military spouse. This book is not only beneficial to any woman who has a military husband, it also should prove to be beneficial to any guy who has a military wife.

Given the extremely worthwhile intention of this book, how can I not give it or its author 5 STARS.

US:    https://www.amazon.com/review/RQ5UVV4GZHW3R

UK:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R39LEQO39BI5H0

FLASH FICTION # 1 - WAITING

For those of you who don’t know that beside romance I loved to write Flash Fiction, and that my second book is a collection of 100 flash fictions written around a prompt world; with most them consisting of only 5 sentences.

I’ve just found a website which each week gives its readers a prompt word along with a picture to which they’re challenged to use these prompts to write a flash fiction of less than 250 words. This week’s prompt has been “WAITING” and this is my response.

(c) K. S. Brooks

TO ERR IS HUMAN

W  endy sits at an outside table,

A   waiting the arrival of her date.

IT  ’s not like she’s been stood up before,

I    t’s just he’d always call if he would be delayed.

N   ow it’s been two hours and not a word from him.

G   rowing impatient Wendy calls him, only to find out 

     her date is for tomorrow and not today. Mistakes are

     these are getting for more frequent for her, probably      
     due to the beginning stages of the Alzheimer she’s
     suffering with. Given this she must be forgiven,
     because to err is human, to forgive divine.

Notice the prompt of WAITING has formed an acrostic for this endeavor.

The above flash fiction is part of the weekly Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge and I would appreciate getting your vote for it. - THANKS !!!

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2017/07/12/which-waiting-flash-fiction-story-gets-your-vote/

BOOK REVIEW #2017-018 - POP GOES THE QUESTION

It's been a quite a while since I've posted one of my book reviews, so going forwards I'll be posting them on a more regular basis. In addition, I'll be going through all the reviews I've done on Amazon, GoodReads and LibraryThing since my last posting on this blog and will be posting what I feel are one of my better review.

Okay are you happily married with a HEA relationship which you’ve always wanted to have? Can you recall the day your man got down on one knee to ask you to marry him? Where were the two of you when he’d asked you this question and how did he go about asking you? While some guys do it in a traditional manner, others want to make sure it would be quite memorable.

It doesn’t actually matter how you had been asked, each of the six contemporary romances will have you reexperience one of the most important days in your life; aside from getting married or giving birth to your first child. Stepping into the shoes of each of the female protagonists in these stories, you’ll be able to fantasize about being asked by the male protagonists for your hand in marriage in his own imaginable, forgettable  manner. I for one did fantasize about being in their shoes.

As I read this book I couldn’t help but recall listening to “Will You Marry Me” by Alabama; which got released around my birthday in 2001, which gives the guy’s POV for the premise of each of the stories in this collection.

LYRICS:

I come here today, I'm kind of nervous

You know how words get in my way

It should come easy, I've been rehearsing

I don't know why I'm so afraid, to say

[Refrain]

Will you marry me

Put our love and life together

Will you stay with me

For always and forever

On bended knee, would you take this ring

Will you marry me, please

Will you marry me

To be with you is what I live for

But at this moment I confess

Though I love you, God knows I love you

Deep down inside I'm scared to death, say yes

[Refrain]

On bended knee

On bended knee

Would you take this ring

I will take your ring

Will you marry me, please

Will you marry me

For giving its readers an opportunity to relive one of the most important days of their lives, how can I not give these authors 5 STARS.

US:   https://www.amazon.com/review/R2CG658BUXDVRL

UK:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R36P9NT6M2H65K

HAIKU HORIZONS # 13 - WALL

Here’s this week’s prompt from the Haiku Horizon site which is “WALL” and here are my three Haiku response endeavors:  

[ https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com ]

Wall is barrier

Separating me and you

And all we can be

The wall is canvas

On which a mural I paint

See distant places

Bang nails into wall

Art gallery you can make

Just need the paintings


Please leave feedback - THANKS

STATUS REPORT # 107

I’ve finished my first round of reviewing the edits for “I Kissed a Ghost” as well as the line edit suggestions which had been made by the editor this past Wednesday. With my concentrating on handling this as well as promoting my steamier, erotic side I had no real time to devote to the reading/reviewing of any books. This had caused me to fall behind with my original goal of 200 books for the 2017 GoodReads Reading Challenge, which has resulted in my lowering my goal to 150 books.

On June 28^th I received a surprise email from Amazon informing me I’ve been awarded an Enthusiast Badge for my reviews for True Crime novels.  Enthusiasts are customers who frequently share engaging and high-quality content on Amazon related to the interests they're most passionate about. Since I had no idea Amazon gives out a badge like this, I feel relatively honored that Amazon had chosen to give me it.  The badge is now part of my Amazon profile. While True Crime novels is one of my favorite genres to read/review, the ones I love to do even more are most of the romance genres followed by children’s book.

In addition to not reading/reviewing any books, I’ve also fallen behind in posting several types of entries I should be posting on a regular on-going basis. Once the Fourth of July holiday is over, and I handle certain personal issues should as medical, I’ll be starting my second round of reviewing all the edits I’ve received for the book I’ve mentioned above. Once this is completed, and I’ve revised the copyright, title, acknowledgement/dedication pages I’ll be able to start the interior formatting process with CreateSpace. And after receiving/reviewing the proof copies for the book, I’ll be able to do a KINDLE conversion, etc.  I anticipate that when everything has been said and done, I’ll be releasing the revised, improved edition of my debut romance novel in about three weeks.

HAIKU HORIZON # 12

I know it’s been a while that I’ve last posted one of these. So, here’s this week’s prompt from the Haiku Horizon site which is “MIRROR” and here are my three Haiku response endeavors:  

[ https://haikuhorizons.wordpress.com ]

Mirror on the wall.

Show me as others see me

No way is this me

Using two mirrors

I didn’t know I’m so fat

Must lose my behind

Staring in mirror

The eyes are your soul’s windows

Look deeply into self