Sunday, December 17, 2017

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-041 - SNOWBEARD the PIRATE and the NAUGHTY LIST


I received a signed hardcover copy of this book along with its accompanying CD from the author through a giveaway he recently had on GoodReads, and the following is my honest opinion.

We all remember growing up our parents kept on telling us about Santa and how he keeps tabs on us with everything we do each day. They told us as Christmas approaches he keeps checking and rechecking his lists to make sure each child is on the correct list; the nice list and the naughty list. While we knew Santa spent the entire night going to every good boy’s and girl’s home where he’d leaved a nice gift; we never knew anything about how the naughty gifts got delivered to those naughty boys and girls.

Chip Huddleton, in this, his debut children’s book, has successfully attempted to clear this mystery up for his young readers and some of their parents. It appears Santa has a brother, the black sheep of his family, who he enlists to handle the naughty gift giving to the children on his naughty list.  Santa’s brother is Snowbeard, a pirate whose home is in the Florida Keys.

Snowbeard had been reluctant at first, but his brother’s jovial manner finally convinces him to undertake the task. With the rotten old fruitcake Santa gave him and private toys made by his crew loaded onto a huge jolly-boat that will be pulled by a team of eight now-flying sharks, thanks to Santa’s magical pixie dust, Snowbeard takes off, following the route his brother gave him.

Santa had an alternative motive for plotting the course the way he did. Even though his brother was actually on the naughty list, he wanted to give his brother a nice gift for helping him the way he did. What the gift is I’m not going to say, what it was is in the book.  

While I could have easily read this book as an adult, I used the accompanying CD.  The addition of the music, sea shanties, and carols heard in the interludes between the actual story totally enriched the experience of having the book read to me by the author, who used his talents to give an authentic private voice to the story as well as its characters.

In the end there’s no way I can give the author, Chip Huddleston, or this book anything less the 5 STARS I’ve given it; wish I would have been able to give it 10 STARS.






Sunday, December 10, 2017

HAIKU HORIZONS # 25 - OCEAN


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



The ocean is blue
There lover’s beau is sailing
Wanting him home safe.

Ocean of tears flow
A woman’s emotions show
Her husband’s now dead.

There’s but one ocean
But it has more than one name
Please explain reason

I would love to get your feedback here.


Friday, December 8, 2017

ROBIN LEIGH MORGAN'S PROMOTION/MARKETING IDEA # 23

If there's one thing any author wants to do, it's to get people to know who they are. And they want to do it in an efficient manner.

One way to do this is to open an account at about.me. On this site you can continuously update your bio and all of your books, your blog sites, etc. Once you have it completed you can then place a link to this site on your Twitter account, add the link to your signature when you send out an email message to name two. 

To see what I'm talking about regarding Twitter, you're invited to check out my account there:  

 
The about.me link is on the left, right below my location.



ROBIN LEIGH MORGAN'S PROMOTIONAL/MARKETING IDEA # 22

Summaries are important in whetting a potential reader's interest enough so they'll decide to buy a copy of your book.  This being the
case make sure the summary is catchy.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

STATUS REPORT # 120


This week I’m going to be rather brief.

To begin with Amazon just changed a badge they had given me.  Originally, they’d given me one for being an ENTHUSIAST for TRUE CRIME BOOKS. Now, they’ve given me one for being a TOP CONTRIBUTOR for the same genre. Wish they’d given me for ROMANCE.

Today, Sunday, December 3, 2017, I completed my GoodReads Reading Challenge for 200 books; in fact, at this moment I’ve got 201 reviews written. This is the third time I’ve taken the challenge and have completed it.

If you’re looking to give a book as a gift to someone, a family or even yourself, I’d love for you to consider giving one of my books.


In additional, I’d love for you consider getting a copy of one of the first books I had the pleasure of reviewing, “A Lesson My Cat Taught Me” by Saul Weber. It’s a wonderful award-winning book which teaches its young readers [5 – 8] about the acceptance of others for who they are, and not what they are.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IJKFKW6 

If anyone is interest in the review I wrote for this book here is the link:





Saturday, December 2, 2017

BOOK REVIEW # 2017-040 - SEASONAL SHENANIGANS


I’ve received an ARC [Advanced Reader’s Copy] of this book from one of the authors, and the following is my honest opinion.

While all of us look at Valentine’s Day, February 14th, to be a special time for romance, whether it be a first love or a second chance one, every woman is longing to find that special guy, a guy she can have her long desired HEA with; most of us have forgotten that the holiday season about Christmas as being the second most popular day for romances to come into bloom. The holiday season includes the Winter Solstice, Chanukah [there’s multiple “correct” spellings] and of course Christmas; and this wonderful holiday anthology with 14 well known and loved romance authors cover all three of these holidays.

I truly love to read anthologies, especially when romance is a key element to each story, and when you add in the winter holidays, as I’ve said in the above, how can you go wrong.

This anthology offers a wide spectrum of all the romantic subgenres we love to read, from those sweet love at first sight to a hot, steamy, BDSM, how can you go wrong. Animal lovers get a chance to read how an abandoned box of kittens brings two neighbors together when the woman is at a lost at what to do with them. Sci-fi romance lovers get two chances to read their favorite genres, one where the two protagonists are on a spaceport, and the second involving two strangers up against aliens out to ravage the Earth’s resources. Can Kismet bring two individuals together, well if you love this type of story there’s something there for you as well.

As you can see there’s a strong possibility you’ll love reading at least a few of them, and at a price of 99 cents for 14 short stories, it’s a can’t lose situation. This anthology offers romance readers a chance to venture into reading a romance subgenre they’ve haven’t read before, and to possibly enjoy discovering authors they’ve never read anything from before.

So if you read only one story a day, depending on the holiday, these stories will either get you through the holiday, to the holiday itself, or get you into the spirit for the holiday for when it actually arrives

All in all, given what I’ve written in the above; I’m happy to give all the authors and the short stories they’ve contributed to this collection 5 STARS and hope you’ll enjoy reading what I’ve read.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your families !!!  😊 😊 😊

HUGS and KISSES to everyone.

NOTE: This book releases on December 7, 2017