Book Review: The Nameless by Allison Rose

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Waaaaay too much boring backstory in the first few chapters... doesn't really get going until chapter 12 which is 56 pages of boredom.

There could be a lot more speech (or at least thoughts) by the main character to explain the things that are just boring text right now.  It's a reasonable book so far, but there is already a lot that can be improved which is on the verge of another star being knocked off, but I'm in a reasonable mood this afternoon so it's at 3.5 stars instead of 3 right now  ;-)

Chapter 14 is a lot better, so I'm gonna promote it back to the 4 stars again.  Chapter 15 was good too... the author is really getting into her story now, which is great.

I'm really enjoying the novel now... I've read ten chapters without stopping to review any of them 🤣  Still a solid 4 stars... would have been the full 5 if it hadn't been for the first few chapters!

What a great ending!  If you can forgive the first few chapters this is a great read when the author gets into her stride.  A solid 4 stars before I head to bed.

Book Review: Beau Bear: The Tale of the Hidden Blue Treasure by M.R. Everette

⭐⭐ out of 5

First off, this book is aimed at 4-6 year olds but they have very different reading abilities... 4 year olds don't know how to read the alphabet, but 6 year olds are just starting to read books themselves with adult help, so who is it more suitable for?

Also, the title alone would put children off because they wouldn't know what "beau" was, let alone how to pronounce it!

Oh dear.  If a child looked at the first page of text, they would put the book back on the shelf 'cos in only one page there are more words than a 6 year old could read... way too daunting!

In the first paragraph alone, there are words waaaay too advanced for such young children... I'm thinking this is more for 8-10+ rather than 4-6 and even they would struggle already!

Another page full of text!  This is definitely more for older children than the small ones it's aimed at and we haven't even got onto the boat yet!

And a third page full of text... the author has lost even the most dedicated reader by now and has used up an entire book's industry-length word count on each page and there's still 9 pages to go!

There's no way any child would know how tall "forty-foot high waves" were either... it's been metric for well over 30 years so far!

Just finished reading the book and it's waaaay to advanced for the audience it's aimed at... it's more like a very short early chapter book without the chapters judging by the vocabulary and length the author has used.

Judging by the graphics, this is a self-published book too and I'm guessing the author had got so frustrated by the rejections from publishers with it not meeting industry standards that they gave up and self-published it rather than seriously editing it to meet requirements of the industry.

I don't like giving negative reviews, but there is very little I can find to be positive about with this book, unfortunately.  Sorry.

New page in the members area!

Just added a new page to the members area with a new way to work when it comes to planning your next WIP!

Now would be a good time to sign up to become a member if you haven't done so yet!

Book Review: "Super Doll" by Erin Schulz

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

 Oooh!  I've got a novel written in the first person in front of me, it seems!  I'm already inside the main characters head which is great going by the author!  Definitely deserving of the 5 stars each book I review starts out with.  I hope the novel continues like it starts off!  Immediate thoughts are that this is a great book so far... I hope I'm not disappointed in it by the end!

I hope the author has permission to use the Wikipedia brand name in her novel otherwise she could land herself in legal hot water.

Really enjoying this book so far... I'm already at chapter 3 and it still deserves those 5 stars.

The author has used the Oreo brand name too, so I hope she got permission to use it before her book was published!

There have been a few places where Piper has been talking to herself but the author has forgotten the inverted comma's to indicate this... slightly annoying but is that and the brand names enough for me to knock off a star??

There's the brand name problem again... it was going so well, but the brand name usage and not distinguishing the thoughts from the rest of the words is the reason I'm reluctantly knocking off this star, so we're down to 4 stars, but considering there are only 64 pages left to read tomorrow, that's really good going!

First chapter of the day starts off pretty mysteriously...

And another brand name usage!  I seriously hope the author has permission to use them all!

The end of chapter 22 is tense and slightly exciting... WTG!

Oooh!  The end of chapter 27 came out of nowhere... I thought it was Piper throughout the novel!

I really wasn't expecting the ending!!

What an awesome read and a definite must-read for Young Adults and even young-at-heart adults!

Just another update in the members area!

Just updated a page in the member's area... I'm gonna make a start on it tomorrow because it's unlimited submissions so I'm gonna make the most of the opportunity... are you going to join me❓  😄

Another update to the members area

Just added a new page to the members area - I can't log in to check it atm for some reason, but if you can then definitely have a look!  I'll add more as I come across them  😃

Any ideas please?

Hello again everyone.

I wanna make the most of the lockdown by at least planning, but hopefully also writing my next manuscript.

Sounds good so far, right?

Thing is though, I'm all out of ideas and can't afford to buy any software or books or even magasines to give me ideas... can't even afford the shopping until Monday!  Can you help me out pretty please?  If you've got an idea that I can expand on, I'll use your name (or a name of your choosing if you prefer) as the main character.  I'm all out of ideas even for the title of the manuscript.

I'm thinking maybe a fantasy novel but if you've got other ideas, just leave them in the comments in reply to this blog post!

If you don't have any ideas for MG/YA then how about a chapter book instead?  I'm totally open to pretty much anything right now and if you've got more than one idea, leave more than one comment and more than one name!

If you're more of a primary school ideas person then that's totally cool too, just a single paragraph with just the main characters first name is all I need for them - just leave a couple of blank lines in between each idea in a single post for those.

I write for all ages, but my muse has totally deserted me again, so I'm opening up the floor to you, the readers of my blog!

Over to you!  Can't wait to read your ideas and start on the planning out of my next manuscript!

Another update to the member's only software

Just updated one of the pieces of software for my members... if you're interested in becoming a member and getting access to members only software, you can apply here!  If you're already a member then you get access to all the updates that I make, just like this.

Lemme know what else you wanna see on the site and in the members area and I'll definitely consider it and try and come up with something that hopefully exceeds your expectations!