Birthdays: William Ernest Henley (1849), Edgar Lee Masters (1868), Will Cuppy (1884), Henry F. Pringle (1897), J.V. Cunningham (1911), Norbert Blei (1935), Nelson DeMille (1943), Robert Irwin (1946), Willy Russell (1947), Melanie Rae Thon (1957), Charley Boorman (1966), Curtis Sittenfeld (1975),

Edgar Lee Masters is best known for his poetry collection “Spoon River Anthology”

Henry Pringle won the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for “Theodore Roosevelt”

Quote: “If everyone howled at every injustice, every act of barbarism, every act of unkindness, then we would be taking the first step towards a real humanity.” – Nelson DeMille

Writing doesn’t leave much time for hobbies, unless you consider that I began writing as a hobby and have made the hobby into a profession.” – Nelson DeMille

Tip: A metaphor compares two dissimilar things, but utilizing the word “like”: He was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.

Jumpstart: He stared at the bodies in the room – there were at least a half dozen. In the corner, she stood watching him, wiping her blade on her shirt. “You’re late…”

The danger and lies are more than she can handle.
Shea O’Bannon feels like a fifth wheel around her romantically paired-off friends, but there’s too much slime in the dating pool for her to bother with it. Then she sees her two-timing ex, Trevor Madero, serenading the mostly female crowd at a live-music bar. God knows trouble follows him around, but her desire for him rushes back in anyway. After he rescues her from a handsy drunk, temptation takes over.
Determined to prove he never stepped out on Shea, Trevor slides back into her life—and her heart—with forever in mind. Even with the wall he keeps up to protect her, his secret criminal life weighs heavy on his soul and drives a wedge between them.
When the truth comes out and his enemies target them both, they’ll have to fight for their love, or kiss it goodbye.

Amazon

https://books2read.com/trevorsredemption/

The Author:

Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats. Feel free to visit her at https://amberdaulton.com/ or sign up for her newsletter at https://amberdaulton.com/newsletter-signup/.

– Book 3.5 in the sexy romantic suspense series, Arresting Onyx.
–Triggers: scenes depicting gang violence and organized crime, drug use (discussed), brief workplace assault, and kidnapping. Intended for mature audiences.

Standalone novella. No cheating. HEA guaranteed.

Available in the Arresting Onyx series
Arresting Mason (Mason and Mia)
Arresting Jeremiah (Jim and Calista)
Ryan’s Temptation (Ryan and Chanel)
Arresting Benjamin (Benji and Belle)
Trevor’s Redemption (Trevor and Shea)
Arresting Alan (Alan and Hannah)

Birthdays: H.P. Lovecraft (1890), Jacqueline Susann (1918), Jeff Brown (1926), Edgar A. Guest (1881), Sue Alexander (1933), Lionel G. Garcia (1935), Heather McHugh (1948), Kevin Baker (1958), Diedre Madden (1960), Greg Bear (1951), James Rollins (1961), Etgar Keret (1967)

Quote: “The hardest theme in science fiction is that of the alien. The simplest solution of all is in fact quite profound—that the real difficulty lies not in understanding what is alien, but in understanding what is self. We are all aliens to each other, all different and divided. We are even aliens to ourselves at different stages of our lives. Do any of us remember precisely what it was like to be a baby?” – Greg Bear

When I write I do five drafts. The first is on inexpensive white paper. I don’t try for style, I just spill it all out. The second draft is on yellow paper, that’s when I work on characterisations. The third is pink, I work on story motivations. Then blue, that’s where I cut, cut, cut.” – Jacqueline Susann

Tip: Weak words: Shakespeare didn’t call Katherina a “mean woman”. He called her a “shrew”. When a cat is chasing a mouse, it doesn’t “jump suddenly”; it “pounces”. A starving person “wolfs” his food. The words shrew, pounce and wolf are stronger than the lukewarm phrases they replace. Check your work for weak words.

Jumpstart: The moon has disappeared from the sky. What happened? What effect does it have?

Birthdays: John Dryden (1631), Samuel Richardson (1689), Ogden Nash (1902), James Gould Cozzens (1903), Ring Lardner, Jr. (1915), Frank McCourt (1930), Jack Canfield (1944), Greg Jonathan Coe (1961), Veronica Roth (1988)

Jack Canfield is best known as the co-creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.

Jonathan Coe holds the record for the writing the longest sentence in the literature of the English language – 13955 words (beating out James Joyce’s “Ulysses”)

Quote: “People of little understanding are most apt to be angry when their sense is called into question.” ― Samuel Richardson

“Keep Scribbling! Something will happen.” – Frank McCourt

Tip: A malapropism is the misuse of one word for another in a comical manner, such as “I took him for granite.” (instead of “granted”). They can be used for effect, but don’t overuse.

Jumpstart: I had to stop it somehow. I’d buried too many friends…and enemies. But how? I’d given everything I could and still…

Birthdays: A.A. Milne (1882), William Sansom (1912), Elsa Morante (1912), Brian Aldiss (1925), Robert Anton Wilson (1932), Sonia Levitin (1934), Paula Danziger (1944), Brian Pinkney (1961), Nicole Krauss (1974),

Quote: “How do you spell ‘love’?” – Piglet
“You don’t spell it…you feel it.” – Pooh”
― A.A. Milne

“A writer wants something more than money for his work: he wants permanence.” – A.A. Milne

Tip: Which witch is which? They’re over there with their parents. To be, or two bee—which is the right question? Homonyms trip up more writers than any other words. The most common mix-ups are usually those dealing with apostrophes, especially it’s vs. its and they’re/their/there. And you can’t rely on a spell check program to find these errors for you. They aren’t spelled incorrectly—but they are often used incorrectly. Have someone who knows the difference check your work.

Jumpstart: They say that time heals all wounds, but years have passed since that day, and I still feel…

Birthdays: Ted Hughes (1930), V.S. Naipaul (1932), Herta Muller (1953), Jonathan Franzen (1959), Jessie Burton (1982),

V.S. Naipaul won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature

Herta Muller won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature

Jonathan Franzen won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction

Quote: “You are who you choose to be.” ― Ted Hughes, The Iron Man

“Read it out loud. I did this five times with The Muse – exhausting, but helpful. The brain, when you read silently, often corrects things for you. It’s only when you hear the rhythm of your sentences aloud, does your choice of words fall, or clear the hurdle. Muddy images, unintentionally repetitious adjectives, things that just don’t *land*…the list goes on.” – Jessie Burton

Tip: When a writer stutters, it means that s/he has used the same major word twice within the same sentence or paragraph, or has started too many sentences or paragraphs the same way, has given all his or her characters names that start with the same letter, or has repeated the same action too many times. Look over your work. How often have you “stuttered”?

Jumpstart: You’re on your way back from a trip. At the luggage kiosk, you grab what you’re sure is your bag. After all, it had that red ribbon you specifically tied to it. When you get home, you open it and find…

This is part of the “One Scoop or Two” series of novella length, ice-cream related stories from The Wild Rose Press. Enjoy!

Spooky Tutti Frutti

by Margaret L. Carter

Category: Fantasy Fiction

Series: One Scoop or Two

A midsummer sailboat race is coming to Annapolis, and Celia Rossi’s 1950s-themed ice cream parlor will have a booth at the waterfront celebration. To keep her business flourishing, she needs to impress both locals and tourists on the festive day. But how? She receives unexpected help when she hires a part-time worker who pops up out of nowhere. Suzie Conroy proves to have an almost magical gift for the craft of artisanal ice cream, yet she acts clueless about some ordinary details of everyday life. And why is she so determined to churn up the perfect batch of tutti frutti?

ISBN: (digital) 9781509231683  

Available through these fine retailers…

Amazon

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Google Books

ITunes

STONEBRIDGE by Linda Griffin

Fiction, Gothic Romance

3***

Blurb: After the death of her mother, Rynna goes to Stonebridge Manor to live with her great-grandmother, Edwina, and her disabled cousin, Ted. Almost immediately, she is aware of a mysterious presence who was murdered years before.

Thoughts: This book reminded me of the old gothic novels by Victoria Holt. It’s a romance, but it is dark with a slightly less than happily ever after ending. The story does have what may be triggers for some (spousal abuse). There’s also murder, and a ghost with a vengeful bent.

Set in the mid-50s, Rynna moves to Stonebridge Manor—a dark, imposing structure—with her great-grandmother and cousin Ted after the death of her mother, Pamela. There are also servants—something she’s never had to deal with—and a second cousin, Jason. In the music room, Rynna feels a presence, perhaps her aunt (name) who was killed by her husband—Jason’s father. There’s a lot going on in this story, all of it about family relationships.

Recommendation: This is a good story with a ghost, murder, darkness…and hope at the end. But also a touch of angst. If you’re looking for something different, this is it.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

I’m coming back from a long weekend writer’s retreat and playing catch up on my emails and all the stuff that makes up life. In my emails, I found several requests for reviews, some of which I had to turn down. Reviews are difficult to get (and give) and I try very hard to accommodate authors, but I do have my limits – as do most reviewers. Thus, this notice.

When you go to a reviewer website, please be sure you read all their rules and preferences. Lately, I’ve had to turn down multiple requests for reviews for “thrillers with terrorists” – I will not read them. Nor do I do zombies or horror. Or anything with graphic gore. Just because your best friend thought it was the best book ever, that doesn’t mean I will like it.

Reviewing is very subjective. One person may absolutely love a book while another will not. That doesn’t mean it’s a good or bad book – it just means the people reading it have different opinions. The writing may be brilliant, but that doesn’t mean every reader will enjoy the book.

I spend a lot of time reviewing books – time I could spend on my own writing, but I try to help my fellow authors where I can. I also spotlight books and authors I like. I do not charge for this even though it does take a lot of my time. So a word of advice – if you want a review, read the preferences of the sites you go to and follow them.

Thank you for coming to the Sparkling Reviews site.