You can log back in to the members area now

I contacted our webhosts about the issue, our in house geek worked on the solution this morning, our hosts did something with the server that I haven't got the first clue about and the result is that it's all ticketyboo again now so the Stories 4 Children members can log in and see the updated pages whenever they want now.

Just updated a page in the members section, but...

...our ability to log in is still timing out unfortunately.  I can only apologise but our webhosts are looking out for us and our security and reliability and stuff, so it's worth it, right?

Book Review: "Kiera's Quest" by Kristy Brown

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

I'm already confuzzled by the age range Amazon have given this book... judging by the review they got it from that instead of the author though, 'cos 8 year olds have very different reading abilities and interests to 17 year olds!

Oh dear, we're 8 pages in to the book and there have already been big names used.. I hope the author has written permission to use them otherwise she could get herself into huge legal hot water!

Up to chapter 4 now and other than the big brand names, it's been good so far... I'm thinking it's aimed at 8-12 year olds, but could be wrong 'cos 12 year olds wouldn't be allowed to stock-take in a shop alone would they?

Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Chapter 18 was totally unexpected and sooo well written!

This is getting better and better... a slow start in comparison to half way through the book!

Why have we gone back to chapter one half way through the book?  Is it like the sequel has been put in by accident or something?  You watch, if this review is posted the recommended reading age and the last half of the book will disappear, making me look like an idiot lol

What does "cat sick" smell like please?  Is it like the gross smell of tinned dog food or something?

The ending left me with so many questions... I hope they will be answered in the authors next book!

Ah-ha!

Just worked out why I and my members couldn't log in to the members area yesterday... our webhosts are doing some maintainance on the mySQL server until 5th November which our in-house geek said is what the login thingamejig uses so basically my update yesterday was just badly timed and we need to be patient until the maintainance is finished, then we're all good to go again.

 

Basically, everything is still there and working, we've just gotta be patient for a little while is all.

Quick update on the members area

Apparently the html is fine and our geek gets the same time out error as me, so he reckons our webhosts are "monkeying around with the PHP bit of the server right now.  Give it a couple of hours and try again" so I'm gonna go and have my tea and hopefully remember to try again before I head to bed.

 

If you're a member and can log in, there's hopefully another section on the navigation bar for you to have a look at and have a go at if you want to - I'd love to see your results and display them in the members section if you want me to... the details are in the new section  😁

 

Just added 3 new pages to the members area, but...

...I can't get in to check the pages work right now for some reason!  I'm hoping it's a temporary glitch with our ISP but I've got our in house geek checking things locally too, just in case it's a PICNIC error 😉

 

Book Review: "Fusion Falls" by Marissa Alove

⭐ out of 5

Oh boy is this book gonna be hard to read... one paragraph goes straight into the next without a single blank line separating them, so if one paragraph ends at the end of a line, then the next paragraph starts, it's gonna look like it's a single paragraph.  That should definitely have been picked up in the first edit or even a crit, a beta reader should definitely have said about it and the publisher should have realised how hard it is to read.

Second paragraph and the name of the place where Emma works isn't capitalised, so another glaring error that should have been picked up waaaay before it was published.

Third paragraph and the author has got the tenses wrong.  I'm already getting fed up of this books errors that should never have made it through to being published.

Now a change of tense in whichever paragraph it is.  Now we're back to the original tense, I'm getting really frustrated already and I'm only on the first page of it, so I'm gonna knock off a star because of all the errors already.

Another change of tense again... if things don't change soon then I'm gonna knock off another star 'cos past and present tenses aren't interchangable every few paragraphs!

A huge wall of speech and I don't know who's saying what or why.  The person Emma is talking to has changed gender already too... another thing that should have been found in the first edit before it was even sent out!

Another change in who is talking... it's gone from Emma to me, so who is who?  It's either first person all the way through or third person all the way through, not interchangable whenever the author decides!

Now we're missing speech marks and I'm only on the second page, so that's another star gone.  Down to three stars after less than a chapter already... not good at all.

More missing speech marks right at the start of chapter 2.  And again at the end of the same page.

And even more missing speech marks!  It's not like there aren't any at all, because there are, but there are at least one set of missing speech marks on every page!  Not good at all!

I give up!  Missing thought marks now!  I've already knocked off a star for the lack of speech marks and I'm feeling generous right now so I won't knock off another one... yet.

Now we've got a spelling mistake (while instead of white).

Another chapter with only 2 pages and a completely blank one before chapter 3 starts too... I'm thinking this is a first draft that has never been edited or even gone through a crit group.

Another spelling mistake (clock instead of cloak)... I've yet to read anything positive to comment on in this book, unfortunately.

Now Louis is I... this is getting me sooo confused!

Back to Emma now.  As the author is using "I" and "me" so much they should stick to just one main character instead of flitting between them and making things even worse... that's another star removed, so we're down to 2 stars now, and we're not even a quarter of the way through the book yet!  If I feel I have to remove one more star then I'll stop reading 'cos you can't leave no star reviews!

Oh dear, another grammar issue... the author has used a full stop instead of a question mark then written "She asked" after closing the speech marks, which is yet another thing that should have been picked up with even basic editing, so I'm thinking this is the first draft for sure and the author was so proud of it that they vanity published the first draft without even thinking that there might be errors in it.  Not good at all unfortunately.

Yet another spelling error "boats" instead of "boots" and "solon" instead of "salon"... I really do think this is a first draft that has been vanity published because of all the errors.

Another mistake, "asked the king's hand" - a limb can't communicate anything  ;-)

Another spelling mistake.  This book is absolutely riddled with 'em and was nowhere near ready to be published!

Now a spelling mistake in one of the character's names.  I've officially given up now, so I'm gonna stop reading and post this review with a single star that is nowhere near deserved unfortunately... it'd be better if it was possible to award negative stars, but I can't leave a no star review, so it's getting a very reluctant single star even though I've only read a quarter of the book.