Monday, December 21, 2015

Book Review and Giveaway: The Question by R. Breuer Stearns


The Question:  If You Could Have the Answer to Only One Question What Would You Ask? 
by R. Breuer Stearns
Fantasy / adventure / thriller

Book Description for The Question:

THE QUESTION invites readers to consider this premise:
If you could have the answer to one question, and only one question, what would you ask... and who would try to stop you from asking it?
To what extremes would they go?
THE QUESTION is a thriller that explores a new way of thinking, a method powerful enough to answer very complex questions . . . perhaps powerful enough to solve the universe's most fundamental mysteries . . . perhaps powerful enough to resolve religions' most beguiling unknowns.
THE QUESTION is an adventure story . . . fiction that you may wish, may believe, may know, is true. The narrative occurs in the present, with scenes in California, Washington, D.C., Paris, Shanghai, New York, and Afghanistan.
 
The story is aimed at high-school and older readers and contains some graphic violence and occasional sexual allusions. The plot is action-oriented with an element of scientific fantasy, similar to Jack Finney's "Time and Again." The prose is crisply written, professionally edited, and organized into movie-scene chapters.
THE QUESTION is ideal reading for anyone who is curious . . . for those who gaze into the cosmos at night and wonder . . . for those who look into the mirror and imagine . . . for those whose hearts beat faster when confronting the unknown . . . for readers who enjoy a fast paced, contemporary thriller that inspires them to think.

​Buy the book:   Amazon  ~  Book Depository

My Thoughts:
The Question is a book that I could not put down. I liked this book for completely different reasons than I usually do. Usually one of the most important part of a book is the characters. I didn't care for the characters very much but the topic of Unity made The Question pretty exciting to read. I loved all the experiments that were done to prove that Unity exists. 

I would recommend this book to anyone that can handle some violence in the books they read. There are a lot of innocent people murdered and that's pretty sad but also very realistic because it does happen all the time in real life. What I loved the most was the answer to the questions especially "what is beauty" and the very last question. The ending is great. Overall I would give this book 4 stars.


Author's Bio:

R. Breuer Stearns is an investor and author.

Mr. Stearns graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1970), Harvard University (AB, 1974), University of Chicago (MBA, 1977), and DePaul University College of Law (JD, 1979). He rapidly ascended on Wall Street in the 1980’s, serving as Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions at Lehman Brothers and Head of Investment Banking (North America) at UBS Securities.  While living in New York, he founded “Terrific Teachers, Inc.,” a foundation dedicated to identifying and rewarding the best of the best of the city’s public high school teachers.

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mr. Stearns launched a private investment bank in the former Soviet Union.  He spent the early 1990’s seeking to marry emerging science, primarily emanating from Russia’s Defense sector, with Western capital.  During this period, Mr. Stearns made a small fortune, albeit from a larger one.  The venture provided a remarkable lesson in hubris, a tremendous reservoir of internal strength, and first-hand source material for Mr. Stearns’ first book, Winning Smart After Losing Big (Encounter Books, Beijing University Press).

Subsequently, Mr. Stearns served as Chief Financial Officer of The Dial Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of Columbia/HCA Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of PacifiCare, Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer of Vascular Genetics, Inc., and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quepasa Corporation (QPSA:Amex).

Mr. Stearns is a Founder of VestaPoint Capital LLC, a family of investment funds focused on real estate development.  He lives in Arizona with his wife, two dogs, two cats, and a horse.  He travels extensively and is intensely curious.

Connect with the author:   Website


Giveaway:​
Win 1 of 10 copies of The Question (USA & Canada


Book Spotlight and Giveaway: Deviant Storm by LM Preston




Deviant Storm
by LM Preston
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Date Published:
10/21/2015

Book Description:

The battle is on. Peter Saints thought he'd killed It. But bad people never stay down. Now the jail of his enemy is weakening. Luck is running out for Peter and the girl he saved by wagering the Earth. Only now, with each second and secret revealed, his enemy gains the answers to destroy Peter and devour the world.

Buy Links






About the author:
LM. Preston was born and raised in Washington, DC. An avid reader, she loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. With a thirst for knowledge she attended college at Bowie State University, and worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. She started writing science fiction under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her first published novel, Explorer X - Alpha was the beginning of her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.

Contact Information
LM Preston,YA SciFi Author


Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Book Review and Giveaway: All We Really Need Is Love by LeRon L. Barton





All We Really Need Is Love
by LeRon L. Barton
Non Fiction / Dating / Romance
Date Published:
11/2/2015

Book Description:
All We Really Need Is Love ponders the questions: How is love found, how love is kept, How love is lost, and How love is found again. In this book you will read stories from people in all walks of life in all different types of relationships – straight, LGBTQ, interracial, long distance, and more. Listen as a teenager shares the excitement of a first love, the nervousness of a long time boyfriend proposing to his girlfriend, a determined woman traveling thousands of miles to be with that special someone, and when a young man realizes he met his soul mate. Love is not all roses though, as the book explores why relationships break apart with stories of betrayal, divorce, and heartache. All We Really Need Is Love offers an honest look into relationships and how people feel about love.


Purchase Link:

My thoughts:
Love is a beautiful topic. Like the title of this book says All We Really Need Is Love! Everyone has their own stories about love and it's great to hear them. This book is written mostly as interviews. I like that because it makes me feel like I'm there getting to know the people telling their stories but at the same time I'm missing out because I can't see their expressions or hear the way they tell their stories. I enjoyed reading this book I give it 4 stars.



About the author:
LeRon Barton (1978 – ) was born in Kansas City, Mo. Encouraged by his Mother to write, he attended Paseo Academy Fine Arts High-school to hone his craft. Mentored by famed writer Stan Banks, Barton began to write and recite poetry in KC and contribute to an underground zine. Graduating from high-school in 1996, Barton would continue to write and commit petty crime until 1999, when he would attend college in San Diego, Ca, and return to KC the following year. In 2005 after being laid off from a telecom company, Barton returned to San Diego and began writing screen plays and volumes of poetry. In 2010, he created “Windowshopz.com,” a website that featured writing, music, fashion, travel, and movies. He would also start what would become, “Straight Dope.” After a turbulent 2012, Barton relocated to The Bay Area and started, “Mainline Publications,” an online publications firm that would release controversial works. The first project, “Straight Dope: A 360 degree look into American drug culture,” a book about how drugs are intertwined into American life, was released in February 2013. All We Really Need is Love, a collection of love stories was released in Nov 2015. LeRon’s writing has appeared on websites such as The Good Men Project, Salon, Those People, Gangsters Inc, Gorilla Convict, Black Millennials, and The Elephant Journal. You can contact him on Twitter

Contact Information
Website: www.mainlinepub.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/ninjagaiden78
Twitter: @MainlineLeRon
Blog: www.mainlinepub.com


Giveaway:



Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Book Spotlight and Giveaway: Bach, Casals & The Six Suites for 'Cello Solo: Volumes 1-4 by Steven Hancoff

ENTER THE CREATIVE WORLD OF J.S. BACH IN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED GUITARIST STEVEN HANCOFF’S GROUNDBREAKING FOUR-VOLUME E-BOOK
Bach #1

Bach #2

Bach #3

Bach #4

Book Details:

Book Title: Bach, Casals & The Six Suites for 'Cello Solo: Volumes 1-4 by Steven Hancoff
Category: Adult non-fiction, 1189 pages
Genre: Biography / Music
Publisher: iTunes
Release date: June 2015
Tour dates: Nov 30 - Dec 18, 2015
Content Rating: G


Book Description:


FROM TRAGEDY TO TRANSCENDENCE

A Totally Immersive Multimedia Experience

Richly Detailed Text Embedded with More Than 1,000 Illustrations Illuminating Bach’s Masterpiece, from Its Creation to Its Legacy

Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo and 3-CD set Audio Recording of ’Cello Suites to be Released June 23rd

Exclusively on iTunes and CD Baby

Includes Hancoff’s Complete Recording Of His Acoustic Guitar Transcription of Bach’s ’Cello Suites

From tragedy to transcendence is the theme that embodies the essence of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. “This man, ‘the miracle of Bach,’ as Pablo Casals once put it, led a life of unfathomable creativity and giftedness on the one hand and neglect and immense tragedy on the other,” says Hancoff.

Bach’s life was rife with hardship and tragedy from the start. By the time he was nine years old, he had witnessed the deaths of three siblings and then, within a year, his father and mother also passed away.

For all his education and talent, however, his first job was serving as a lackey for a drunkard duke. Subsequently, he spent the next fifteen years in the employ of Weimar’s harshly ascetic Duke Wilhelm Ernst, who cared little for music. When he was twenty-two, he married the love of his live, his distant cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. During the thirteen years they were married, she bore him seven children, three of whom died at birth.

In 1717, Prince Leopold of Cöthen offered Bach a position as the musical director for Cöthen. Bach jumped at the chance. The officials of Weimar, however, threw him in jail for “the crime” of daring to resign his present position. Still, Bach was on the verge of a career breakthrough.

Three years into his happy and contented tenure in Cothen, Prince Leopold and Bach visited the spa town of Carlsbad for a month of vacationing and music-making. Unfortunately, upon his return Bach learned of the death of his wife and then only when he entered into his home. Imagine the shock, the impact. He never even discovered the cause of death.

Yet this tragic setback in Bach’s life was a major turning point because he came to grips with his personal tragedy by unleashing a flood of masterpieces for which he is and will be forever revered. First came the Six Violin Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo and then the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo.

In the ’Cello Suites we hear Bach expressing his own seeking, yearning, love, loss, sorrow, grief and determination and their overtones of surrender, resolution affirmation and transcendence. He aspired to articulate an ultimate personal confession, a revelation, entirely unique, entirely sublime, as an ultimate act of artistic and creative testimony, a heavenly statement about his own life and even of life itself—as a final gift and an enduring, heavenly send-off for his beloved wife.

Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo invites readers and music lovers into a unique experience, contained in an immersive four-volume e-book from Steven Hancoff – a virtuoso musician’s restless, passionate, multimedia exploration of a musical masterpiece that only grows in stature almost three centuries after it was written.

The many fascinating and inspiring aspects of the book include:

• How Bach struggled and overcame adversity and the lessons his example offer us today.

• The ultimate meaning of the Six Suites for ’Cello.

• How almost all of Bach’s works would have nearly sunk into oblivion were it not for the extraordinary efforts of Sara Levy, the great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn, to rescue them.

• How Felix Mendelssohn singlehandedly created with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion a Bach renaissance and a legacy that continues to be enjoyed to the present day.

• The miraculous discovery of the six ’Cello Suites by Pablo Casals in a Barcelona thrift shop and why he studied them for twelve years before performing them in public.

• What Pablo Casals meant when he spoke of “the miracle of Bach.” Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for ’Cello Solo promises to be an adventure for anyone fascinated by the enduring power of music, art and why they matter.



Buy the music & ebooks: iTunes





Excerpt – Volume One: The Monumental Works

Mass in B Minor: The Numerology

In the esoteric world of Bach scholarship, much is made of the significance of numerological symbolism, which in Mass in B Minor jumps out at a person seeking such significance.

The first two movements of the Credo portion each begin with the words Credo in Unum Deum (“I Believe in One God.”)

14 = Bach

Numerologically the name Bach equals the number 14 because, when the letters of his name are matched to their position in the alphabet:
B = 2
A = 1
C = 3
H = 8
So, 2 + 1 + 3 + 8 = 14 = [Johann Sebastian] Bach

Each of these movements of the Credo has 14 entrances of the musical subject. “I Believe in One God” is proclaimed 14 times, and is thus said to signify: “I, Bach, Believe in One God.”

This cannot be a numerological coincidence because the section Crucifixus also contains 14 entrances of the musical subject.

27 = God
The Holy Trinity = 3 x 3 x 3 = 27 = God
The Mass in B Minor is composed in 27 movements.
The final movement, Dona Nobis Pacem (“Give Us Peace”), has 27 entrances of the musical subject.

43 = CREDO (“I BELIEVE”)
C = 3
R = 17
E = 5
D = 4
O = 14
3 + 17 + 5 + 4 + 14 = 43
The chorus actually exclaims “CREDO!” 43 times.

From here it gets even more complex:
129 = “I Believe in God”
In the Credo portion, the first movement begins Credo in Unum Deum. There are 45 measures in this movement.

Then, the second movement, Patrem Omnipotentem [“Omnipotent Father”], also begins with the words Credo in Unum Deum. There are 84 measures in this movement.
45 measures + 84 measures = 129
43 [I Believe] x 3 [In God] = 129

Meet the author:



Steve Hancoff began playing guitar when he was 13 years old, captivated by the folk music craze of the 1960s. Within a year he was performing in coffeehouses around Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

For nearly 15 years, he toured the world—about 50 countries—as an official Artistic Ambassador representing the United States of America. His recordings include Steel String Guitar, New Orleans Guitar Solos, Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar, and The Single Petal of A Rose. He is also the author of Acoustic Masters: Duke Ellington for Fingerstyle Guitar and New Orleans Jazz for Fingerstyle Guitar. He is a graduate of St. John’s College, home of the “100 Great Books of the Western World” program and has a Masters degree in clinical social work. He is a psychotherapist, a Rolfer, and a practitioner of Tai Chi. An avid hiker, he is also a member of the Grand Canyon River Guides Associations.


Connect with the author: Website   ~  Twitter  ~   Facebook

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Book Excerpt: DiSemblance by Shanae Branham












DiSemblance
by Shanae Branham
Clean YA Suspense/ Fantasy
Date Published: 8/8/2012

Book Description:
Jason Tanner lives between two worlds. Problem is, only one is real.

Inside the hologram machine 17-year-old Jason has everything his heart desires, including a digital simulation of his dead mother. While outside the machine, he’s forbidden contact with everyone. Living within the shadow of a serial killer, Jason is captivated by the beautiful girl next door, Boston Manning. Disobeying his father, he secretly cultivates a relationship with her.

For Boston life is divided into those that have and those that have not. Displaced in a new high school, she is determined to have the life she’s always wanted. But will her choices hijack her dreams and plunge her into the treacherous clutches of a serial killer?

As an action-packed romantic thriller, DiSemblance is sure to keep you guessing until the very end.


“A Marvelous, fast-paced thriller, sure to appeal to teen science-fiction aficionados and the uninitiated alike.”  ~ Jill Allen, Clarion Review




Excerpt:
Jason (This section is first person through Jason’s point of view.)
Friday, October 31st, night

Boston steps through the hole she created in the alder brush onto a patch of grass between a straw-bale wall and the woods.
“Who’s there?” a girl calls from a blanket a short distance off to our right.
I shut off the flashlight and step through beside her, waiting for her instructions.
“Don’t worry, honey.” The male voice is coming from the same direction. “Whoever it is can join us. We’re just getting started.”
Boston drops the machete and bolts back into the woods heading down the trail. I switch on the flashlight and shine it at the voices. The creep that attacked Boston last night and a pretty blonde girl are sitting together on a blanket spread out beside the straw-bale wall. The girl is frantically buttoning her shirt. Hard-edge squints against the light. He’s getting around well, with a cast on his leg.
I pick up Boston’s machete and her backpack and trail her to the car, where she’s trembling in the driver’s seat. Confused by the sudden change of plan, I throw her stuff in the backseat, climb into the passenger side and wait for her to explain herself.
She stares out the front window for the longest time. Then she tosses her mask in the backseat and starts the engine.
“What are you doing?”
Her face is pale as a ghost when she looks at me. “That’s Candice with Ricky.”
I know that her statement is supposed to mean something to me, but it doesn’t. “Who’s Candice?”
“She’s the girl I was going to warn about Ricky.”
“You can still—”
“What?” Her tone is acid. “Tell my friend that the guy she’s making out with tried to rape me last night?”
“Yeah.” I don’t understand what she’s afraid of. If I were Candice, I’d want to know that I was hanging out with a rapist. “Wouldn’t you want to know?”
“But what if Candice doesn’t believe me? What if Ricky says those horrible things about my mother and calls me a slut, again?”
I’m not aware of any horrible things about her mother. “You’re not a slut.”
“Thanks.” She lowers her chin. “If that’s true, then why’d your brother take pictures of me?”
“Because he’s messed up and doesn’t understand people need to be respected.”
Her voice cracks when she speaks. “Why’d your dad let him?”
“Because he doesn’t know how to fix Isaac so he only focuses on his invention, hoping that we’ll be all right on our own.”
She looks at me. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
She’s accusing me of being the bad guy? I feel my pulse throb in my neck as I try to keep the anger out of my voice. “I saw the pictures of our neighbors that you threw away in your room. You didn’t take those pictures because you thought they were sluts, did you?”
Her body goes rigid. “Of course not.”
“My brother likes you.” I touch her hand and her muscles relax. “I should have stopped him, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to upset him. Just like you don’t want to upset Candice.”
She draws her hand away from me. “So you’re saying I should go back!”
“Only if you really believe I should have stopped Isaac.”
She glares at me and turns the radio up so loud that the music destroys any chance of further conversation. After several minutes, she grabs the machete from the back seat and shuts off the radio. “I’m not scared!”
“I know.” But I don’t know. My heart is racing like I’m riding a fifty-foot wave.

Switching the headlights on, she presses on the gas pedal and speeds down Daemon’s driveway. Nearing the back of the maze, she turns onto the grassy section and plows through the edge of the woods moving towards Ricky and Candice. Branches crack and break against the windshield and scrape the side of the car until she stops in front of her targets. Bursting from the vehicle with the machete in one hand and the mini recorder in the other . . . 

Purchase Links



About the author:
I am a professional writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and a minor in grammar. I have also attended several years of classes and workshops in screenplay writing at the Los Angeles Screenplay writer's Expo.

I love suspenseful, action-adventures and clean, young adult, romance stories. I was born and raised in a small town in Idaho. I am the second out of six children. When I was in my early 20's my mother was killed by a drunk driver. This one incident drastically changed my life. I have always had a passion for reading and writing fiction. Owing to a life long struggle with Dyslexia, early teachers discouraged me from pursuing a career in writing.

As I have spent over twenty-five years transforming my language disabilities into professional writing skills, God has honed my insatiable passion into an incredible vision.


Contact Links



Thursday, December 10, 2015

Book Review: The Knights Before Christmas by Joan Holub

I received this book for free to review through Mother Daughter Book Reviews.
The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub Scott Magoon 9780805099324 image copy 2

About the Book

Title: The Knights Before Christmas |
Author: Joan Holub
Illustrator: Scott Magoon | 
Publication Date: September 8, 2015 | Publisher: Macmillan / Henry Holt |
Pages: 32
Recommended Ages: 4 to 8

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million

Goodreads | Indiebound | iBook | Kobo

Book Description:

'Twas December 24th, and three brave knights were just settling in for the night when out on the drawbridge, there arose such a clatter! The knights try everything to get rid of this unknown invader (Santa Claus!), a red and white knight with a fleet of dragons . . .
But nothing would stop
their white-whiskered foe.
No matter their efforts,
he just would not go!

This parody of Clement Clarke Moore's well-known poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is kid-friendly, clever, and just plain silly. Sure to become a holiday classic of a different kind!


Sneak Peek

The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub Scott Magoon

The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub Scott Magoon pages 12

The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub Scott Magoon page 26 image


The Buzz About the Book

“There's an excellent interplay between the amusing illustrations and the polished text, with lots of clever jokes for readers to discover in the art. These knights know how to keep the castle safe and the readers entertained”~ Kirkus Reviews

“A royal romp of holiday pratfalls and punnery. Yule love it!” ~ Tom Lichtenheld, bestselling illustrator of Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

“A royal delight of a book! Sure to become a favorite holiday read-aloud in every household throughout the land!” ~ Judy Schachner, creator of the bestselling Skippyjon Jones

"A great premise...Magoon's illustrations are vibrant and fun...!" ~ Publishers Weekly

"This rousing, ridiculous medieval “Night Before Christmas” parody jingles with castle- and holiday wordplay. Cheeky digital illustrations brim with good cheer." ~ Horn Book


My thoughts:
I have read this book two nights in a row as a bed time story to my three children and they loved every single page. Me too! This book is hilarious and in my opinion the perfect children's bedtime story for Christmas. My boys (2 and 4) loved the illustrations the most I think because they kept pointing to everything on every page. My daughter loved everything and thought it was so funny especially when the knights confuse the reindeer for dragons. My favorite thing was how the Christmas songs were changed a little to go with the knights theme. There isn't anything I could think of that I didn't love about The Knights Before Christmas. I give this book 5 stars!

About the Author: Joan Holub

The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub SIBA 2015 image
Joan Holub is the author of 140+ books for children including the acclaimed picture books Little Red Writing, The Knights Before Christmas, and Mighty Dads, a New York Times bestseller. Joan co-authors (with Suzanne Williams) three series: Goddess Girls (ages 8-12, Greek mythology with a middle school twist), Grimmtastic Girls (for ages 8-12, fairy tale adventure with a middle school twist), and Heroes in Training (ages 6-11, Greek mythology adventure chapter books). Watch for her upcoming chapter book, What Was Woodstock?, and her board book, This Little President, both available in early 2016!


Website | Author Blog | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

Facebook | Facebook (Goddess Girls) | Facebook (Grimmtastic Girls)

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Book Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway - Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers by Sally Allen

I received Unlocking Worlds for free to review from iRead Book Tours.


Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers 
by Sally Allen
Book Description:
Award-winning writer and teacher Sally Allen knows that good books don’t just draw us in; they talk to us, shape us, and transport us to times, places, and minds different from our own.

In Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers, Allen deftly weaves personal stories with fifteen thematized, annotated, and illustrated reading lists for what to read next. By sharing some of the treasures in her library and the secret lives they reveal, she gives us permission to embrace the shameless book lover inside each of us. Unlocking Worlds is a testament to how reading passionately—and compassionately—can unlock the world beyond our back yard. Celebrating books and those who read them, Allen shows how the solitary act of reading can be a powerful thread that creates community and connection. Thought-provoking and eloquent, Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers is a must-have for anyone who can’t leave the house without a book in hand.

Buy the book:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble

Guest Post:
If you could live in a novel, which one would it be?
by Sally Allen, author of Unlocking Worlds

As a little girl, I often wished I could jump into the books I was reading and live in them. A Little Princess, Time at the Top, All-of-a-Kind Family, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Each of these books featured characters so alive to me that they felt like real friends. I wanted to meet and hang out with them. I wanted to know what it was like to walk in their shoes – to experience Victorian London, or discover a secret time machine, or walk the streets of my hometown of New York circa the early twentieth century, or live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For me, books still stimulate this longing to meet the characters I’m reading about and live in their worlds. Admittedly, this is more true with some books than others. Books I wouldn’t be terribly keen on living in include Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You can see why, right? It’s not that I wouldn’t want to meet the characters … necessarily. It’s just that these books are not the most appealing as lifestyle choices.

Ironically, one book series that I’m constantly saying, “I want to jump in these books and live there!” is a murder mystery series: The Hamish Macbeth books by M. C. Beaton. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to find myself on the wrong end of one of the murders, as that would quite defeat the point. So let us proceed on the assumption that I wouldn’t. The series is set in the Highlands of Scotland and follow Police Constable Hamish Macbeth, who is adorable. He can be surly and has an independent streak that gets him into hot water from time to time, but he’s kind and loyal and funny. I’m a little bit in love with him. He’s the reason I fantasize about moving to Scotland.

How about you? If you could live in a book (or book series), which one would you choose?

My Thoughts:
Reading Unlocking Worlds is like visiting a book blog and looking through all the book reviews. Most chapters have a list of 10 books each on a specific subject like children's books, time and space, and times of war. I have only read a couple of the books that Sally Allen writes about and I did find a few more I would like to read but the majority of them I am not interested in reading. They all sound like great books but the time traveling books are what I would probably enjoy reading the most. 

What I liked best about Unlocking Worlds was the way Sally Allen added her own personal stories while telling us about the books. I love the way she tells us what a book is about without spoilers. That is very hard for me I sometimes say too much (oops) but usually not enough because I don't want to ruin the book for anyone. 

If you are looking for a new book to read Unlocking Worlds might help you find one. I give this book 4 stars.



Author's Bio:

Award winning writer and teacher Sally Allen holds a Ph.D. from New York University in English Education, with an emphasis in writing and rhetoric, and a M.A. in English Language and Literature. She teaches writing, literature, and communications, leads book group discussions, and is the founder and editor of Books, Ink at HamletHub.

Connect with the author:  Website   Twitter

TOUR SCHEDULE:

Nov 16 - Corinne Rodrigues - review / author interview
Nov 16 - T's Stuff - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Nov 16 - Leigh Anderson Romance - review / author interview / giveaway
Nov 17 - The Bookish and the Romantic - review
Nov 17 - Griperang's Bookmarks - review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 19 - View From the Birdhouse - review / giveaway
Nov 20 - Laura's Reviews - review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 20 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
Nov 23 - Thistles and Whistles - review / author interview
Nov 23 - booklovercircumspect4 - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Nov 24 - Kinx's Book Nook - review / guest post
Nov 25 - #redhead.with.book - review / giveaway
Nov 26 - Readers' Muse - review / author interview
Nov 27 - Italophilia - review
Nov 30 - Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers - review
Dec 1 -   Worth Getting in Bed For - review / giveaway
Dec 2 -   Bound 4 Escape - review / giveaway
Dec 3 -   3 Partners in Shopping - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Dec 3 -   Keenly Kristen - review
Dec 4 -   Puddletown Reviews - book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Dec 7 -   Sahar's Blog - review
Dec 8 -   Jaquo Lifestyle Magazine - review
Dec 9 -   alwaysjoart - review / guest post / giveaway
Dec 9 -  Lovely Reads - review / guest post / giveaway
Dec 10 - Essentially Italian - review / author interview / giveaway
Dec 11 - misty103 @ HubPages - review / author interview
Dec 14 - Jaquo Lifestyle Magazine - guest post
Dec 16 - Story Matters - review / giveaway
Dec 16 - I'd Rather Be At the Beach - review / giveaway
Dec 17 - Tragically Dull Adventures of An Almost Librarian - review
Dec 18 - Jorie Loves a Story - review / guest post
Dec 18 - Create With Joy - review
TBD     - The Novel Life - review / guest post

Giveaway
Prizes:
5 winners will each get a copy of Unlocking Worlds & a copy of
Book Life: A Book Lover's Journal