Book review: Eyes of the Galaxy by Jolene Skvarek

⭐⭐ out of 5

I so wish I could give this book more stars, but the first two chapters are pure backstory that could easily have been
dripped in throughout the rest of the book and just when I was getting into it, it finished!  Very disappointing.

This is obviously the author's very first book because there was waaaay too much description and very little speech until
at least chapter three (of nine) and it would have been so much better if it had started at chapter three and had another
couple of chapters at the end instead.

The author says that the book is aimed at 14-18 year olds, yet the main character is 15 so I can't see an 18 year old being
willing to read, let alone enjoy a book with the main character being so much younger than they are.

On top of that, it needs a lot better proof-reading and then editing 'cos there were several missing/wrong letters/words
that could and should have been picked up and corrected before it was published.

It's an OK book with a potential, it was just published before it was totally ready was all.  Sorry.

3 or 4 days later and...

...it's all planned out.

A week ago it was going to be a totally different novel but I couldn't even plan out a single chapter let alone fifty, so I gave up after three days and came up with the idea for this novel while I was in bed four days ago.  Three days later and it's all planned out, just gotta leave it be until 1st November so that I totally forget everything and write with a fresh head.

Amazing what I can achieve under self-imposed pressure lol

Are you left handed?

Don't suppose any of my blog readers are left-handed are they?  If you are and you don't mind me picking your brain about it, could you let me know so that I can make sure that what I'm planning and intending to write for this years NaNo pretty please?  There won't be any kind of personal questions for a change, it'll just be about your left-handedness and how you've dealt with it is all.

Just realised

Good job I checked... the MS I was going to write for NaNo 2019 has already been written (back in January this year) and is waiting to be edited!

I've started planning out this years NaNo novel but I'm really not happy that there's only 10 weeks to plan it all out in... I know that sounds like a long time, but I prefer to leave it at least 3 months between the initial planning and the initial run-through to check to make sure that it makes sense then another couple of months after that (minimum) before I start writing.

Not at all happy right now.

Book review: Simon Grey and the March of a Hundred Ghosts by Charles Kowalski

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Before I even read the first page, the length of the title really put me off.  Why not just call it “Simon Grey” or even “Simon Grey’s march” and have the rest of the title as a sub-heading if at all?  That would, potentially draw the potential reader into thinking “Who’s Simon Grey?” or “who is he marching with, for and against?” and they might lift the book off the shelf and have a read of the blurb on the back or even the first page of the first chapter.  The title, IMNSHO, needs to hook the reader and get them asking questions about the book so that they want to buy it and immediately start reading it.

Ghost stories usually deprive me of sleep for days if not longer after I’ve read them.  The first chapter’s ghost descriptions weren’t too bad though… if the descriptions carry on like that throughout the rest of the book then I might actually get some sleep tonight lol

Up to chapter 4 now and it’s really good so far.  Could easily have done without most of the first chapter but I’m really getting into it now!

Thankfully the ghosts aren’t described like I was dreading which hopefully means I’ll be able to get to sleep tonight.  You’re a great story-teller, just needs a lot less back-story at the start of the book is all.  Sorry to keep going on about it, but that’s just the way I am with books… first impressions and all that jazz.

The joke in chapter 16 about the wall is terrible and exactly my sort of humour lol  So bad it’s good lol

Just a small point, but the age range this book is aimed at wouldn’t have a clue what inches are in chapter 16… if the author had used centimetres instead then the child reader wouldn’t have thought twice about the measurement but reading inches would make them sorta go “huh?  What on Earth are inches?” which would interrupt the smooth flow of the story.

Wow.  After an iffy start to the book that made me slightly unsure if I’d ever get to the end of it in one piece, I’m glad I did.  When the author got into his stride of what was happening, his writing had me glued to my computer until the end of each chapter when I went for a wee.  I started reading at 8.30am and it’s now 5.50pm and I don’t know where all the hours have disappeared to!

Site updated with video's

Just bitten the bullet and put four video's up on the site (2 on the visitors section and 2 in the members bit).  Can't believe that I've finally admitted for the first time ever why I'm so camera shy.  It's only available for my members, so if you want to know the reason then apply to join and pay up so that you can satisfy your curiosity as well as getting unlimited access to me and members only things in the shop as well as on the site  😜😏😉