Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

The resilience of the human spirit.

From Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz/Birkenau to Gulag Vorkuta and back to Czechoslovakia Cilka is beautiful and she is a survivor. Her body may be taken, used, and abused but her soul and memories cannot be touched. 

Starting at age 16, Cilka's journey through pain, terror, death, friendship, betrayal, and finally love is gently traversed through flashbacks. The plot is carefully constructed and, in the end, the parts are greater than the whole. Morris’ careful research and interviews of Lale Sokolov creates a historical novel that plumbs the depths of systems that oppress and compromise the human spirit. Characters are so real the reader will remember them as people who lived and died under circumstances hard to imagine, yet clearly drawn. The cover draws one into the journey and dismemberment that comes through years of survival in concentration camps and gulags. Although this is a continuance of Morris’ novel Tattooist of Auschwitz, it is a stand-alone novel.

This book will be released 10/1/2019

The Crane Diaries: Dirty Blood by Apryl Baker

Deep in the swamps of the Louisiana bayou, a horrifying secret lies waiting to be discovered: a chilling legendary a beast born from a curse…the Rougarou. Emma Rose Crane lets hunter Cass Willow convince her to help him on a ghost hunt, she never imagined she’d be trudging through the swamps, let alone stumbling upon a mess of mangled bodies—or running into the creature responsible for the rotting remains. When the creature attacks, it infects them with the same curse which drove it mad. There is only one hope—kill the beast to cure the infection before they succumb to the hunger eating them alive.

The cover is intriguing with an offer of seeing through a thin veil into the paranormal world beyond – legendary creatures, curses, demon, angels and of course Louisiana voodoo. The title takes the reader more deeply into the series The Crane Diaries and the complicated and complex members of the Crane family, especially the protagonist. All the characters are three dimensional and well developed. The plot flows, except the extended passages referring to previous books, creating the feeling the reader needs to read the whole series in order to understand this book. It could otherwise easily stand-alone since all the plot elements are there. Some careful content editing could eliminate this problem. The dialogue is genuine and moves the storyline forward as do the chapters. The copyediting was spot on.

Readers of previous books in the series should note that Baker is moving Emma from a strictly young adult genre to a college-age romance and thus into more sexual settings. There is an abundance of kisses and very warm hugs and a lot of lap sitting. Although the last scene leads us into a bedroom scene, the act itself is beyond the pages of the book. Following titles may well move into more adult situations.

Baker grew up in the mountains of West Virginia where she now lives. She loves scary movies, books, writing books, and entertaining people with her “silly stories.”

The Queen's Poisoner (The Kingfountain Series #1) by Jeff Wheeler

To survive as a hostage in the court of Kingfountain, eight-year-old Owen Kiskaddon must find help among the adults from the king’s chilling inner chambers to the warm and inviting kitchen.

As Owen wanders the secret passages of the labyrinthine castle he learns to recognize the magic of the fountain that is bubbling through him, he gathers allies and avoids enemies among a cast of well-developed characters including the mysterious Queen’s Poisoner who dwells in secrecy.  

Wheeler’s understanding and ability to express the emotions of his young hero creates a political drama that will draw in readers of all ages.

Based on the War of the Roses, but don’t expect Game of Thrones or Shakespeare’s Richard III. Thought-provoking and moving, this well-paced mystery within a clean fantasy is constructed in the often hard-to-maintain third-person point of view. 

Wheeler’s writing style is straightforward – no long, flowery descriptions nor much internal dialogue. While the sentences and chapters are short, they keep the plot moving, the protagonists and antagonists creating intrigue, and the reader up late at night.

Wrinkles by Mian Mohsin Zia

Wrinkles: A True Love Story by Mian Mohsin Zia

“Wrinkles” by Mian Mohsin Zia WINS Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest 2016 held in USA.

According to Readers' Favorite the 2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest featured thousands of contestants from over a dozen countries.

Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest features entries from new authors to New York Times best-sellers, as well as Hollywood celebrities like "Jim Carrey" and "Henry Winkler".

Mian Mohsin Zia is an International Award Winning Author, Self-Publishing Specialist & a Marketing Specialist.

About the Book:

Wrinkles is a tender story of unconditional love that crosses generations and genders, cultures and creeds and removes the wrinkles from souls. Well-developed characters that carry beyond the pages from Cape Town, South Africa into readers’ hearts and reveal the wrinkles resident there. Zia is a voice for tolerance and change one person, and perhaps one wrinkle at a time. Once again the author takes a slice of a life lived by a strong, complex central character in a circle of relationships that makes him everyman (and everywoman by extension). He asks the hard questions of life and leads readers to sometimes surprising answers that hold TRUTH that teach and transcend without a hint of didacticism.

I have enjoyed watching Zia’s writing career unfold from book to book. He is a strong voice of not only literary Pakistan but the literary world without pretension, heavy-handedness or wordiness. His writing is honed and deep while telling a simple story in simple words that is not simplistic and lingers long after the final page is read.

About the Author

Mian Mohsin Zia aka "M I A N---No Time for Love" is a brilliant, humble and dedicated author obsessed with writing great books. He is an Internationally acclaimed Pakistani author, marketing, and self-publishing specialist. His books have been rated 4 and 5 stars on Amazon and other sales channels. He has set new trends worldwide in novel writing with his books. New York Times bestseller & Edgar Award winner author Mr. Burl Barer refers to Mian Mohsin Zia as "the brightest light on Pakistan's new literary horizon." For more visit: www.mianmohsinzia.com

I received a .pdf copy of this book from the author to read and respond with my unbiased review.

Butterfly by Elvy P. Rolle

Rolle, Elvy P. (2015) Butterfly. Illus. Maksym Stasiuk. Naures Pages.

www.naturespages.com

Five Stars.

A blue morpho flutters from page to page among multi-cultured children and multi-colored butterflies. Poetry and pictures capture the wonder of nature and childhood. This picture book creates early literacy connections as each page captures the essence of word and form. Rolle and Stasiuk have created opportunities to introduce young explorers to the life-cycle of a butterfly, to listen and play with language through rhyth
m and descriptive vocabulary. The size of the print and the connection of word to picture will encourage young readers. Designed for children ages three and up, this book is also a wonder-filled lap-book for infants and toddlers.

In the pre-school to third-grade classroom, Butterly would be a wonderful addition to a cross-center curriculum. In my classroom it would have been used in the science center while watching for chrysalises to hatch. In the math and manipulatives center with butterfly puzzles and matching butterflies and children for one-to-one correspondence from page to page. In the art center paper and paints for creating new butterflies and opportunities to put paint on a ½ butterfly cut-out and then pressed with a corresponding sheet to create symmetrical butterfly wings to attach to toilet- tissue- or paper-towel-rolls to be hung from the ceiling of the classroom. In the literacy center, butterfly shaped books can be used to write and illustrate stories and poetry using a word wall with words from the book and other descriptive and color words. The computer center can include opportunities for research on butterflies by region and on the life-cycle of the butterfly, zoo cams in butterfly houses can be bookmarked for group interaction.  The dramatic play center can be turned into a jungle exploration camp. The block center can offer opportunities to build jungles and vehicles to explore them. Outdoors offers its own learning in addition to moving any and all centers outdoors by planting a butterfly bush or garden and counting kinds and numbers of butterflies to make charts and graphs.

I received a free copy of this book from the author for my unbiased opinion and review.

Author Interview Brenda Baker

Why did you become a writer…was it a dream of yours since you were younger or did the desire to write happen later in your life?

I’ve always liked writing and telling stories, but I didn’t get serious about writing until later in life.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?

I think all characters are based on real people. I mix their traits to create unique, different characters needed for a particular story. 

What was the most interesting research you had to do for your books?

I wanted to write about an eating disorder, but bulimia and anorexia have been covered extensively, so I found out binge-eating disorder is a real affliction.

Where do you go to do your research?

I can usually find enough information on the internet to cover any topic. The main character’s best friend in “Surviving Haley,” is a girl from India. Since some of my students and their families come from India, I knew a bit about their culture. For the rest, I read online articles. 

How do you go from an idea for a book to the birth of the story?  Is the process the same for every book you write?  How long does it take you to write a book? 

I start with a subject I feel passionate about and then develop a main character to fit the story. Overeating and homelessness are two things that interest me. Yes, the process was the same for the second book. I picked a subject and went on from there. It takes me at least a year to complete a first draft and then longer to rewrite it. I do rewrite chapters as I go, but then I have to analyze the whole story when I’m done and fix any plot issues.

Are you currently working on any new book projects?

Yes. I’m almost finished with another YA contemporary novel about a girl whose family loses their house through foreclosure and end up living at a campground.

Do you have any advice for beginning writers on how to write a book?  Do you have any advice for them regarding promoting that book once published?

If you want to be a writer, don’t give up. Keep writing. If you want to be an author (a published writer) you will have to work the business side of writing as well. Be prepared to promote yourself and your work online and in person. Establish relationships with other writers and future readers. Have an online presence even before you are published.

What’s your writing schedule like?  When do you find time to write?

I write every week, but not necessarily every day. Although I’m currently shooting for 500 words per day. I’m not a morning person, so it’s better if I write in the late afternoon or evening.

Do you have any writing idiosyncrasies? 

              

 Yeah, I whisper words as I’m typing them. It helps me know how a passage sounds.

What’s the most challenging aspect of writing for you? ~ POV issues; using too much passive voice and not enough active voice; trouble creating active and engaging dialogue; using too many similar words in starting sentences; or something else?

Definitely plotting. I don’t outline or even plan out my chapters and scenes—they happen on the page. It would be easier to plan ahead, but ideas don’t come to me when I try. I get a chapter written then my critique group comments on it. I’ll often rewrite that chapter before I go on to the next.    

Brenda Baker is a teacher who lives in Nebraska with her husband and a mixed husky. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, word games, swimming, traveling, and spending time with family.

Break from the norm. Recover your identity. Express your creativity.

Morrison, Erika. Bandersnatch: An Invitation to Explore Your Unconventional Soul. Thomas Nelson – W Publishing, 2015.

Contemporary Christianity seems to be suffering from an epidemic of sameness. Uniformity. Monotony. Those trapped inside are often afraid to step beyond established norms and express their creativity, and those on the outside often see little that attracts them. Yet God, out of the abundance of his own creative force, made each one of us unique. Peculiar. Irreplaceable. So why so much pressure to conform?

Bandersnatch* explores this intersection of disillusionment by inviting readers on a journey of liberation. It’s organized around four creative terms viewed through the life of Jesus: Avant-Garde, Alchemy, Anthropology, and Art. Each expression reveals a diverse facet of God’s unorthodox creativity planted within us.

Providing a fresh look at God’s avant-garde nature and a new set of definitions by which to live, Erika Morrison gives us permission to break free from the expectations and labels that cramp our souls. Only in embracing our uniqueness can we create artful, holistic lives that matter to both heaven and earth.

*A Bandersnatch, while more commonly known as the wild, ferocious, and mythical creature of Lewis Carroll’s creation, is also a person with unconventional habits and attitudes.

Morrison’s ability to encourage ability and courage to step outside the norm of our society into a place where we can live out our faith. I believe her approach encourages to us to “work out our faith” (Philippians 2:12) by a willingness to cross over into the life and teachings of Jesus in such a way that we lead original and creative lives that draw others to Christ.

The energy Morrison brings to living faith, and her ability to show rather than tell, captures the reader and takes them through the looking glass to a perfected and redefined life and intentional lifestyle that is exciting and god-breathed.

I received a complimentary proof of this book from the publisher through Net Galley for my unbiased review.