Tori's July 2017 #Book #Reviews (LBE)

It's time to take a look at what I read in July.

As with the previous posts like this one, if you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question.

Don't forget: the format I've reviewed may not be the format I read. Also, please remember that I read across multiple genres and age ranges, so you should always check if a book is suitable for the intended reader, especially when children are involved. Sometimes reading the book's description on its Goodreads page will be enough for this, but other times you may need to check elsewhere to figure out the genre and/or recommended reading level.

OK... On to the reviews!

Rain Glade by John H. Carroll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have loved everything I have read by this author, and this book is no exception.

Cloudswept by John H. Carroll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An exciting and entertaining read, which is a fantastic and fun addition to the series.

The Girl Who Swam to Atlantis by Elle Thornton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting book, which will really make you think.

Talwar and Khanda - Assassins in Love by Barbara G. Tarn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is another enjoyable read from this author, with a great cast of characters, and an interesting plot.

Saif's Story by Barbara G. Tarn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another excellent read by this author, which once again has an interesting plot and contains a great cast of characters. As a blind person myself, I was especially impressed with the blind character in the book, and the way he was portrayed.

Star Minds Third Generation Snippets by Barbara G. Tarn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an excellent addition to the Star Minds universe, and an enjoyable read in its own right.

The Traveler in Black and White by Jemima Pett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is an enjoyable read, with a lovable cast of characters and a creative plot.

The Talent Seekers by Jemima Pett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think this book is my favourite of the series. It is so far, anyhow. I absolutely love Humphrey as a character! The only way I could have enjoyed this book more is if the author had used guinea pig terms instead of people terms for the characters - "paw" instead of "hand" for example - which is something I believe I mentioned when reviewing some of the earlier books in the series. But I suppose that's a personal preference thing, and am not going to let it influence my rating, since I loved everything else about the book.

Bravo Victor by Jemima Pett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting story, but far from being my favourite of the series. I love the characters - especially knowing they're based on real guinea pigs - and have enjoyed the books in the series so far, but just didn't feel this one was as good. I'm not sure why. Perhaps Victor's confusion was rubbing off on me? I felt like he spent an awful lot of time questioning what point he was at in the personal timeline of certain characters, and unsure what to say or do, and it sometimes made it difficult for me to be completely clear on things myself.

Willoughby the Narrator by Jemima Pett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved hearing Willoughby's whole story, and thought the addition of some of his tales when he's telling them was a nice touch.

Ernie by James Sutherland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this story! Not only is it well-written, but it's also cute and entertaining, and you just can't help but adore Ernie.

The Further Adventures of Roger the Frog by James Sutherland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a fun and entertaining read; I loved reading more about Roger the frog's misadventures.

Tarmachan by Geoffrey Wakeling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was an exciting and action-packed read, with an interesting plot, a wonderful cast of characters, and some fantastic worldbuilding. I can't wait until the next book in this series!

The Twisted Galaxy by Michael L. Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having read the previous book in this series, I was eager to read this one. It turned out to be an enjoyable read, with an interesting and exciting plot, as well as a great cast of characters. The way the story from Earth 1 that was going on at the same time as that on Earth 2 was told in flashbacks was a little confusing at first, but I got used to it after a while. Other than the flashbacks thing, I loved this book, and would recommend it to those who like their science fiction to include a good dose of science, rather than just consisting of alien invasions and space battles.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An excellent and exciting start to the series.

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
An excellent continuation of the series, which has an action-packed and interesting plot.

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I don't even know where to start with this one. It had an action packed and exciting plot, which grabbed my attention from the start and held it well until the end, as well as a fantastic cast of characters. Insured, this is an excellent addition to the series, and a great read in general.

The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack by C.S. Boyack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an enjoyable - sometimes creepy or a little scary - collection of short stories. All I can say is: I think the experiments were a success.

The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack II by C.S. Boyack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another collection of successful writing experiments, which were enjoyable - if sometimes a little creepy or scary - to read.

The Enhanced League by C.S. Boyack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I knew I wouldn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed the other short stories I recently read by this author, because I'm not a baseball fan. But I decided to give it a read anyway. As it turned out, the author's skill with weaving a good tale, combined with an interesting cast of characters, meant I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. If you're a baseball fan, you'll love this book. If you're not, there's an excellent chance you'll still really enjoy it.

Amputeddy Makes A Choice by Kate Policani
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully written story, in which one little amputeddy learns an important lesson about how disabilities shouldn't stop you at least trying to do things for yourself.

Merminia by Emm Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book contains an interesting plot and some wonderful world building. The ending was too sudden for my liking though.

Keeping Merminia by Emm Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought the descriptions were better in the first book, though the insight we get in to the main characters thoughts due to the change to first person viewpoint goes some way towards compensating for that. I also felt the ending should have included the answer to the question of a certain character's fate, which I felt was left unanswered. Other than those things, however, I thought this book was a great read.

#Furkid Friday: Lilie The #Westie's First Walkies Experiences (FD & LBE)

Hi everyone! This is Lilie the Westie.

I've now been allowed to go walkies for a couple of months, but this is the first chance I'm getting to tell you about it.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of the walkies thing at first. Quite frankly, my first reaction upon finding myself on the ground outside was to stare around in utter terror at the sheer size of the world, followed by a frantic attempt to dig my way back through the door to get inside again. I mean, I'm only a small dog, and it really is a very big world! But this walkies thing is growing on me, and I'm learning to love going places with the humans.

The first time we went, the humans helped me get used to it by carrying me by the road, and taking me to some place called "the park" where it was quieter, and where we could alternate between resting a while on benches and exploring the world. Here are lots of photos taken while we were there:

I don't know who the person on the bench with me and the Mummy human is in one of the photos, but she said I was cute, so I liked her. Lots of people said I was cute... I loved when they did that!

Anyway, later on we went to the place called "the beach" that I'd been staring at out of our windows. I loved how the breeze felt in my fur, but was still a bit nervous of the whole being outside thing, so we sat down for a snack and to watch the other people and dogs on the beach for a while first. I was a bit upset at first, because the Mummy human wouldn't share what she was eating - it was something called a "Snickers" and apparently dogs aren't allowed it - but felt better when I learned she'd brought some of my doggy treats for me to have. Anyway, that time to just watch everyone else really helped me, and by the time we were ready to walk a while, I was actually eager to do so. Here are some photos:

Oh, and... In case you're wondering... Yes, I did get something to drink too. I needed it with how hot it was out there, so was glad the Mummy human remembered to pack me some water. Actually, she's really good about making sure I have water every time we go out - she has a backpack that has all kinds of things in it I might need, which she takes with us when we go walkies - especially on a sunny day. Shame she's not so good about remembering a drink for herself, but that's another story.

Anyway, even though it was hot, we didn't go down to see the water that time, because there were lots of people and other dogs there. I was a bit nervous of there being so many people and dogs about - especially since some of them were really big dogs - and it would have been tough for the Mummy human to take me down there without getting in everyone's way. So we saved that for another time. Here are a couple of videos of when we did that though:













I wasn't sure what to think of the ocean. On the one hand, the idea of playing with the water seemed fun. On the other hand, it was really loud, and the water kept trying to come and get me. I loved playing in the stones on the beach though...

We've also done something the humans call "popping to the shop" several times. Actually, we do that most days. I wasn't sure about it at first, since it means the Mummy human and I spend a lot of time standing around outside buildings. But lots of people go by while we're there, most of them comment on how cute I am, and some of them even stop to pet me, so I guess it's not so bad. The version called "going to town" is better though. It means another ride in one of those taxi things where I watch the world go by outside the window while feeling the breeze in my fur, and then we go for lunch at a place where we can sit outside together while we eat. Here's a photo of me taken the first time we were at the outside food place:

What's even more fun though is the place called "petstore" where there are loads and loads of toys and treats and things, not to mention everyone there always wants to be my friend and tell me how cute I am, which is great! I'm actually allowed to go inside the petstore place, which is another reason I like it. The times we've been, I was even allowed to pick something to take home with me. Of course, I wanted to take it all with me, but the humans said I couldn't. I don't understand why, but there are lots of things I don't understand when it comes to the rules humans insist on trying to make me obey. Humans really do seem to have a lot of rules... What's up with that?

Anyway, as I said, I wasn't sure how I felt about this walkies thing at first, but I've learned to love it, I'm learning not to be so afraid of the big world that's waiting out there for me to get up the courage to explore it, and am even starting to become excited about all the things just waiting out there for me to discover them.

Although, I'm still a bit hesitant about going out for walkies when the water is falling from the sky - which the humans say is called "rain" - even though I do like water. Look, I only like it on my terms, OK? Anyway, I have this fancy coat to wear when I go out on those days when water is falling from the sky, or it looks like it will any moment, which makes going out on those days not as bad. Here's a photo of the Mummy human putting it on me for the first time:

I think I look good in the coat, so I like to show it to people. Including the guys at the pizza place downstairs...

OK. OK. I admit it... You twisted my paw! I was kind of hoping showing them how good I looked would get me some pizza. Hey, can't blame a pup for trying, can you?

Lots of licks,
Lilie

#Writing Wednesday - August 2nd 2017

For those waiting for it... The paperback edition of "How To Trust Your Human" has been approved, and is now available via CreateSpace and Amazon. It will soon also become available via those other retailers who carry my paperback books, such as Barnes & Noble. Click on the book's title in this paragraph to go to the page for it on CreateSpace.

In other news...

Audiobook production is moving along nicely.

ACX officially recommends that you don't have more than five titles in production at any time. It's not a requirement, but something they suggest due to allowing yourself enough time to give them the attention they deserve. However, since they're assuming you'll be working on full length novels, and my books are generally short ones, I decided not to take their advice.

Actually, that's not entirely true. You see, I did take their advice at first, and simply uploaded my five book "Toby's Tales" series. But - convinced as I was that nobody would want to audition for me - I left the Toby book auditions open to pretty much anyone who could read and speak English, and it turned out that during auditions for the Toby books I discovered people I loved and spacifically wanted for some of my other books, so decided to offer them the contracts for the books in question. This, of course, meant I had to upload the books and set up their project profiles, otherwise I couldn't make the offers officially. Offers which, I'm pleased to report, the narrators I wanted have accepted.

So... Yeah... A lot of those books are now in production. They will become available in audio some time in the next few months. I'm not entirely sure when at this moment in time - we have production schedules, but I'm not sure if we'll need the whole time I've allowed for production or not; I don't think we will need all the time I've allowed for production, because I've tried to be pretty generous with time allowances, but you never know - and I'm not entirely sure what order they'll actually end up ready in now (though the Toby books will probably still be first, since they're furthest along in production). Either way, I'll let you know when it happens, of course, as well as where you'll be able to buy copies if you want them.

If you're interested: Joseph A. Batzel is the narrator for my "Toby's Tales" series, Giles Miller is the narrator for my "Kero's World" books, James Watkins is the narrator for my Degu Days Duo, and Natalee Pfeifer is the narrator for my Magical Chapters Trilogy. I'm hoping to have you get to know a little more about my narrators during the promotional posts when the audiobooks are released.

I also have a couple of other narrators eager to work with me on future projects, which is funny when you consider how convinced I was that nobody would want to audition for me. Despite this though, I won't be setting up any more audiobook projects until at least one of these are finished. As much as I'd love to get the books all available in audio as soon as possible, I think having all 51 of my published books in production at once would be a bit much. Not to mention, you'd probably get sick of announcements of my books being in audio now if I was posting them every other day, and I'd like to let each one have its moment in the spotlight, so I want to space out the promotional stuff for them a little. Still, it's nice knowing my books are so interesting to potential narrators.

Anyway, while those books are in production, I'm working on the notes for the details of requirements for the other books, as well as making arrangements for the audiobook versions of the book covers to be sorted. That way I'll have them ready to set up when some of the stuff currently in production is finished. That's something I can work on in between listening to - and giving feedback on - audio samples, writing poems, writing promotional posts to go up when the audiobooks are ready, working on that pirate themed story I keep getting distracted from writing, and enjoying some of those things causing distractions (like reading, furkid playtime, etc). I might sleep from time to time too... You never know. *wink*

If you're an author who wants to get your books available in audio too, you're in luck! Fellow author, Alex Butcher - the author friend who helped me get started - has put up some posts on her blog to offer tips to help you. Here's the link for where you can check out a noob's guide to audio books with ACX - part 1, and here's where you can find a noob's guide to audio books with ACX - part 2.

So... You've ended up taking a break from your own writing for a while? That's OK. Regardless of the reason for the writing break - and regardless of how long the break was - here's some advice on how to start writing your book again. Also, here's everything that will tempt you to quit writing - and how to deal with it.

Last - but certainly not least - take a look at these tips to promote your book, and bear in mind that it takes a village to launch a book.