GRANT LEISHMAN
  • ABOUT
  • MY BOOKS
    • THE SECOND COMING
    • RISE OF THE ANTICHRIST
    • HOLY WAR
    • JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN
    • PARANORMAL ALLEY
    • TORTURED MINDS
    • THE PHOTOGRAPH
  • ARE YOU AN AUTHOR?
  • MY BLOG
  • Be A Part of the LIMITLESS Anthology
  • BOOK REVIEWS
    • BOOK REVIEWS
  • CONTACT & LINKS
  • AFFILIATE - Rachel McGrath
  • THAT'S LIFE
    • FOOD - PINOY STYLE
    • THE GREAT BEETROOT HUNT
    • GETTING AROUND THE METRO
  • PHILIPPINES
    • PLACES TO VISIT >
      • BORACAY
      • OCCIDENTAL MINDORO
  • SPORT
    • NEW ZEALAND SPORT
    • PHILIPPINE SPORT
  • TRANSFORMATIVE POWER
    • THE SECRET
  • GALLERY
  • ABOUT
  • MY BOOKS
    • THE SECOND COMING
    • RISE OF THE ANTICHRIST
    • HOLY WAR
    • JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN
    • PARANORMAL ALLEY
    • TORTURED MINDS
    • THE PHOTOGRAPH
  • ARE YOU AN AUTHOR?
  • MY BLOG
  • Be A Part of the LIMITLESS Anthology
  • BOOK REVIEWS
    • BOOK REVIEWS
  • CONTACT & LINKS
  • AFFILIATE - Rachel McGrath
  • THAT'S LIFE
    • FOOD - PINOY STYLE
    • THE GREAT BEETROOT HUNT
    • GETTING AROUND THE METRO
  • PHILIPPINES
    • PLACES TO VISIT >
      • BORACAY
      • OCCIDENTAL MINDORO
  • SPORT
    • NEW ZEALAND SPORT
    • PHILIPPINE SPORT
  • TRANSFORMATIVE POWER
    • THE SECRET
  • GALLERY
GRANT LEISHMAN

The P.S. Wars: Last stand at custer high by Geoffrey Carter

30/6/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman  ​

The PS Wars: Last Stand at Custer High by Geoffrey Carter takes us inside the battle for the minds of America’s young people and the debate over private vs public education. Dave Bell is a retired teacher with over thirty-odd years spent teaching at the Public High-School, Custer High. With his wife and children estranged he sees no downside to returning to the school as a substitute teacher for another year. But Dave and his fellow teachers are about to be caught up in a battle for the privatisation of Custer High. EduNet and its corporate minions are seeking to convince the school board and the city that Public Education has failed its students and its community. They want to take over the school and replace it with a private charter school. Dave and his fellow long-serving teachers know well that in this predominantly African-American community and in a school with over 40% of its students falling into the Special Needs Education category, a private charter school will do nothing to help these students. In fact, they know they will be excluded. The students, the teachers, the parents and the community in general will rally around their beloved school but can they convince the School Board and the City not to give in, to the corporate raiders?
 
Being a non-American I found The PS Wars: Last Stand at Custer High to be a fascinating insight into the machinations of the US Education system and the argument that private enterprise can always do a better and more efficient job than a beurocracy-laden Government. Author Geoffrey Carter is clearly passionate about the topic and this flows throughout his work. The author’s style is easy, flowing and very readable. I found the characterisations of the teachers, especially, to be endearing. We can all remember those rare teachers, from our childhood, who made going to school somehow make sense. I loved the counterpoint he made between those (generally of the older generation) for whom teaching was a vocation and for whom the students were their lives, with those who just viewed teaching as a stepping stone to a more rewarding and successful career. The corporate greed honchos were perhaps a tad overdrawn and incredibly dysfunctional but no doubt made that way to highlight the differences in motivations between the two sets of characters. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Dave Bell’s teaching style and his interactions with the students, which were realistic and never pulled any punches, showing starkly the difficulty and the rewards of working in an inner-city, impoverished, school. The point that the teachers were doing their absolute best, despite the appalling situation came through loud and clear. I found this book an excellent read and can highly recommend it.             

Picture
You can find The P.S. Wars: Last Stand at Custer High by Geoffrey Carter, here on Amazon: 

4 Comments

Re: Camelot - The complete edition by e. c. fisher

27/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

E. C. Fisher has brought the Arthurian legend to life in a new and different way in the novel, Re: Camelot, The Complete Edition. Young Arthur is unaware he is a direct descendant of the great King Arthur of Camelot. After Arthur’s parents are killed in a car crash when he was just twelve, a miserable aunt sends Arthur off to a boarding school where he is lost and alone, his only solace the books and stories his mother used to read to him, so assiduously, of Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur and their adventures. Obsessed with everything Arthurian, Arthur wishes for nothing more than to be transported from his hell here to the days of legend, a legend he somehow feels intimately connected with. On the planet Avalon, trouble is brewing. The sleeping black dragon is awakening and about to spread its evil across all of the land that was once Camelot – unless, a young man can be summoned to save the world, a young man capable of drawing Excalibur from the stone, of reuniting all of the sacred weapons and defeating the evil that threatens to destroy Avalon. Could young Arthur be that man?
 
Re: Camelot, The Complete Edition is certainly a unique twist on the old Arthurian story. Author E. C. Fisher has created a whole new world in which Camelot once existed and although now fragmented, can be unified again by the right person. I loved the unique premise and it is not one I have found in my Arthurian readings to date. It is always difficult to take a legend such as Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which has been so written about over the years and give it a new and fresh twist. Fisher does this well and the descriptions of the planet Avalon and its environment are well done. Arthur and indeed the main characters of the story, for me, were a little superficial and their treatment and characterization not in-depth enough for my liking. That may be a feature of the author’s desire to have such a large ensemble cast but nonetheless apart from Arthur we really did not get to know the other characters in any real depth. That being said, the story is one that rollicks along at some pace, with plenty of action and fight scenes in the narrative, along with some budding romances between the characters. I suspect this is squarely aimed at the young adult audience and the speed and unique qualities of the story will doubtless appeal to them. I did particularly like the lack of gender bias the author built into the story – automatic rights of accession regardless of gender and, of course, a female Merlin all go a long way to address the need to be gender equal in today’s world. Well done to the author for that.         

Picture
You can find Re: Camelot, The Complete Edition by E. C. Fisher, here, on Amazon:   

0 Comments

vices/virtues: a novel by beatrice De Soprontu

24/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

Vices/Virtues by Beatrice De Soprontu is an interesting piece of contemporary literature that attempts to go inside the minds of its characters and determine what motivates them in their decision making and why they took the course, in life that they did. It is very much a novel of “manners” in the old-fashioned style. Cristela grew up in a conservative, but poor world shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Her mother, a devout Venezuelan Catholic and her father – well, she wasn’t quite sure exactly who her father was. For years Cristela believed her father was from Puerto Rico, the same man, as her elder brother’s father but later on she would discover that not to be the truth and in fact her mother had no idea who her father was. Unsure of her heritage and doubting her place in the world, Cristela lived a double life. During the day she showed apartments, to potential tenants, in a large apartment block but by night she was a dominatrix working in a New York dungeon. Her attempts to keep her two lives completely separate would result in some difficult and at times humorous interactions with her friends and family. The book is essentially a collection of observations and anecdotes of the parade of clients and of staff of the dungeon. An endless line, of both, pass through the building during her time there and Cristela is often surprised by the different motivations people have for their involvement in this business.
 
I enjoyed Vices/Virtues for two main reasons. Firstly, it was a gentle exploration of what is often seen as the seedy side of society. Author Beatrice DeSoprontu does not bombard us with explicit and/or violent fetishes but introduces many of Cristela’s clients with understanding and compassion, making the reader aware that often fetish is simply a manifestation of something else that may be lacking in a person’s life or indeed a reaction to something that happened to a person earlier in life. She is not critical nor judgemental of her clients, which I found extremely refreshing. Coupled with this was the main character’s long-standing search for herself, her identity and her place in the world. The author’s characters, especially many of those drawn to work in the sex industry, were intelligent, funny and often extremely caring and sympathetic, which is perhaps not what one would expect from a “house of pain.” Secondly, the author eschewed the possibility of sensationalizing and exploiting the sexual nature of the job. Yes, there is explicit content but it is handled with grace, aplomb and sensitivity by the author, giving the tale a “naughty but nice” feel to it. I suspect this was a debut novel from this author and as such, I commend her on finding the right tone, the right style and for hitting all the right notes in this reader’s mind. Vices/Virtues is an excellent and insightful tale, well told.  


Unfortunately, Vices/Virtues is not yet available on Amazon but it is worth keeping an eye out for. It is an excellent read. 
0 Comments

the transmogrification of toby pickles by wilf tilley

24/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​The Transmogrification of Toby Pickles by Wilf Tilley is a journey back in time to 1960’s Britain where the swinging sixties, laced with post-war austerity and conservatism were very much on a headlong rush to culture clash. Mick is an Assistant Stage Manager for a small theatre company based in Skipborough. Seen as important to the preservation of culture in a devastated post-war Britain many of these small companies flourished, funded by local councils and putting on a collection of serious and humorous plays, plus, of course, the obligatory holiday pantomimes for the local hoi-polloi and summer tourists to the coastal regions. Mick wants to be part of the “players” but it seems he is forever destined to work behind the scenes. Life for Mick is simple, straightforward and humdrum; from rehearsals, to drinks at the pub with his co-workers, to regular dalliances at the pictures with the local lasses, Mick is young and ready for life. When his gay, theatre pal and man of mystery Toby Pickles is knocked out in a fight and hits his head on the concrete, putting him into a coma, Mick’s life begins to change as a new, weird and extremely colourful cast of characters come into his life. Suddenly Mick and his cohorts are thrust into a world of the elite; “Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen” plus a mystery that takes them into the London criminal underworld inhabited by the likes of the Kray twins along with a good dose of international espionage. Coupled with Mick’s fall for a certain Jamaican nurse, life gets much more complicated.
 
As someone with a British heritage and television upbringing, I was able to fully enjoy the humour, innuendo, double-entendres and colloquial language of both the period and the place. The style that author Wilf Tilley has used in The Transmogrification of Toby Pickles is reminiscent of the extremely popular 60’s movie franchise “Carry On…” with even some references to those movies and actors, in the text, with a dose of the “Benny Hill’s” thrown in for good measure. One particular scene late in the story of Matron’s running from the law did bring Benny Hill’s famous chase scenes to my mind’s eye. I enjoyed the, at times, clever double-entendres and the Cockney rhyming slang which leant authenticity to the time and place of the tale, however, I wonder how effective this story will be to those outside of the British Empire. That having been said, the story is one long collection of “mishaps” which lead our characters to understanding more about themselves. I liked Mick, especially, as the main character because he was, in many ways, naïve and innocent of the wicked ways of the world and yet he worked in an industry that was notorious for its gender misappropriation and its general sexual shenanigans. Don’t expect political correctness here; mid 60’s Britain was the polar opposite of political correctness, especially with the cultural clash between those who went to war and the new generation of baby-boomers. I did enjoy this book and can certainly recommend it.       


Picture
You can find The Transmogrification of Toby Pickles by Wilf Tilley here, on Amazon: 

0 Comments

wild hare by laura koerber

20/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Wild Hare was certainly something different in the reading genre from my perspective. Author Laura Koerber has brought us a tale of fairies and other magical creatures but they are far removed from the usual fairies and fae of fantasy novels. These fairies and half-fairies are, it seems, just normal characters trying to survive in a world gone crazy. Like the animals, the fairies have seen their world and their habitat shrink over the generations due to man’s incessant demands on his environment. Consequently, it appears they are indeed a dying breed struggling for survival. Living at a run-down resort out near Bear Lake, Bob gets by on a day-to-day basis with a bit of petty thievery, using his somewhat limited fairy skills and some odd-job work with his best mate Arne. Always wary about the militia who now run the police force, Bob and his friends lament the destruction of their environment and the loss of personal freedoms in their country. It is 2032 and the all-seeing, all-controlling Government has everyone at their mercy but Bob’s not so sure that he and his fairy friends can take much more. Perhaps it is time to strike back.
 
I really enjoyed Wild Hare, it was something different. I loved the idea of red-neck, southern characters coupled with the abilities of supernatural creatures such as fairies. Bob, was a fascinating character. Outwardly he cared little about the goings-on around him and sought solace in his limited slice of freedom at his cabin, in the forest and by the lake, but deep down a rebellion was stirring inside of him. To me, as a reader, Bob epitomized the concept of the individual who feels he can do nothing on his own to change the system, so why even try. It takes an epiphany of a little, old lady and his best friend’s arrest to get him riled up enough to take action. Bob was complex, yet simple and that’s what I liked the most about him. The opportunity to learn something of the Native American legends and culture was a real bonus in this story. I particularly appreciated this idea that fairies and their ilk revealed themselves to the Native Americans and lived in harmony with them, but understood that wasn’t possible with today’s modern humanity – a definite indictment on our society, of course. Beautifully written with a descriptive focus and limited dialogue the story eloquently tells of the pain and angst as the fairies watch their world being destroyed by man’s greed, seemingly unable to stem the tide. I can highly recommend this book for anyone looking for something just a little bit different.     


Picture
You can find Wild Hare, along with the rest of Laura Koerber's portfolio, here on her Amazon page: 

0 Comments

traces of home (open wide my heart book 1) by s.s. bazinet

17/6/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Traces of Home (Open Wide My Heart Book 1) by S. S. Bazinet takes us right inside the lives of some seriously dysfunctional people from difficult childhoods. Lea, a successful pediatrician is haunted by her childhood memories when her parents gave her none of the love and support, she needed instead leaving her to be brought up by nannies. One brutal Nanny, in particular, had physically and mentally abused and tormented her when she was just three. As a result, she has found it impossible to get close to anyone, as an adult. Engaged to an eminent but somewhat emotionless surgeon, Lea decided she has to run away and stop Matthew, her fiancée from the mistake of marrying her. When she is struck by a car, driven by a hard-working cardiologist and loses all memory of her past life, Eric and his Mother take her in and show her the love and concern she has always been lacking. What she doesn’t initially realise is that Eric and Margaret have their own internal traumas to deal with, relating to Eric’s late father and Margaret’s husband, Ricky. Throw in a somewhat confused and frustrated psychiatrist and you have a story full of angst, loss, doubt, self-discovery and love.
 
This story is essentially about family and the pressures and pain that parents can transfer to their children. In Traces of Home (Open Wide My Heart Book 1), author S. S. Bazinet has created an ensemble cast of characters each of whom has something in their past they are ashamed of or they are struggling to live up to the expectations of others, be it their parents, their peers, or their loved ones. The characters are drawn to an absolute extreme and sometimes appear less real because of this but the author does an excellent job of describing and understanding the weird dynamics that go into making family relationships work, let alone the extreme dynamics of these terribly dysfunctional people. The overwhelming saving grace of the story is the deep caring and love that is evident in each of the characters the author has drawn, beneath their exterior walls of indifference and pride that they have placed around themselves. An incredibly easy book to read, the author’s style and changes in POV’s were abrupt and frequent, which allowed each of the characters to shine at various times. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Matthew, Lea’s fiancée and Eric, her angel and faux brother. There was a chemistry and humour between them that had me chuckling and turning pages rapidly. It is difficult to write, convincingly, about the angst of familial relationships and I think the author does very well at that. If you enjoy family drama and the power of love to overcome all odds, you’ll enjoy this book. I look forward to the further adventures of these odd-ball characters in the next installment in the Open Wide My Heart series.  


Picture
You can find Traces of Home (Open Wide My Heart Book 1) here on S. S.  Bazinet's Amazon page: 

4 Comments

dragon noir (dragon cycles book 1) by daniel moylan

14/6/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

Written somewhat in the vernacular of old mobster-style novels from the 40’s, Dragon Noir (Dragon Cycles) by Daniel J Moylan was a new and interesting take on the existence of magic and witches in our society. Victor Quinn is the seventh son of the seventh son of the Magician’s King of the Americas. As such and as a warlock, he is in line for the throne, eventually. What he doesn’t realise is that his opportunity to shine, as ruler, will come much sooner than he anticipates. He has, to some extent, shunned the wealth and power of the family royal name and until such time as he inherits his title, he is happy to work as a private detective using his abilities to perform the role. Despite expectations from the family to provide a future lineage, Victor has to date stayed very much unattached. That is until his mother sends a woman to him that seeks his help but also opens his heart to love and need. Victor is about to discover that there is much more to being a warlock that he, or even his father or his beloved Paps, knew and understood. He is about to embark on his own journey of self-discovery.
 
Dragon Noir (Dragon Cycles) is certainly not your usual run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure about magic. I liked that it was set in a real-world environment where keeping the magic secret from the rest of the dullards on earth was a prime objective. Author Daniel J Moylan has created a group of characters who are caricatures of mobsters from 40’s crime novels and has done it successfully. The plot was novel, the writing imaginative, inventive and refreshingly new, for this reader, anyway. I also liked the fact that the author kept the possibility of future stories of this vein alive, with a clear path to a possible sequel. The writer’s ability to entrap the readers senses with his prose was evident in the descriptive nature of the some of the gorier fight scenes, inherent in the story. It was possible to almost smell the rot, the decay and the sense of fear described so eloquently by Moylan. If you like real-to-life fantasy adventure then this book should absolutely satisfy your needs. I was particularly taken by the idea that the warlock was not the final state of being and without giving away the plot look forward to more exploration of that theme in future stories.       

Picture
You can find Dragon Noir (Dragon Cycles Book 1) here on Amazon: 

3 Comments

tied lives by jonathan finch

11/6/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
​I've read a number of author Jonathan Finch's books over the years, both poetry and prose. I've always been impressed with his grasp of the language and his ability to write poetry that transcends the norm. He is truly a craftsman of words. It is fair to say that sometimes I have criticised his prose for being too verbose, too obscure and often too pretentious. Instead of focusing on the characters and their development it sometimes seemed that the descriptiveness of the writing was more important. One of the things about being a reviewer is it allows you to watch an author grow, develop and change. Finch's latest work Tied Lives is living proof of this adaptability and for that reason is an absolute winner. 
Finch  brings us a story that is both simple and complex, one that allows the most unlikely of characters to connect, to develop and to expose their vulnerabilities. 
Reginald Washington is the archetypal British senior civil servant - stiff upper lip and all. Extremely successful, well respected and an authority on gender equality in society, Reggie, has achieved it all. Close to sixty, Reggie is unmarried and still lives at home, with his parents and adult sisters, though. When a chance encounter at the local pub introduces him to the beautiful, exotic, and alluringly sexy, thirty-year-old, Thai domestic helper, Siri-Srai, Reggie's whole world turns upside down. He is smitten and no amount of "common sense" from his family is going to change that. Reggie is in love and embarks on a journey of discovery that will take him away from his "safe place" the halls of parliament, halfway across the world to the "Land of Smiles" where he will discover exactly how the "other half" lives and what it is like to be a "foreigner" (farang) in a strange land.
This is a beautiful love story, a poignant and touching portrayal of devotion and betrayal that will pull at any reader's heartstrings. The story resonated so deeply with me because of the personal connection to the experience, yet Finch invites us all inside that very different world of cross-cultural relationships and bathes the reader in understanding, empathy and a deep connection to the characters. I can honestly say I loved this story and I particularly loved the telling of it in a straight-forward narrative. Jonathan Finch is to be commended for his exceptional work on this book and I think, from my perspective, he has truly arrived as a novelist. Congratulations on a job well done. Oh, and the little pun in the title of the book was just the icing on the cake for me.   

Picture
You can discover Tied Lives and indeed all of Jonathan Finch's work, here on his Amazon page: 

4 Comments

escaping midnight (what goes on in the walls at night #3) by andrew schrader

11/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Escaping Midnight: What Goes on in the Walls at Night #3 by Andrew Schrader is a collection of short stories based around a collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Some of the stories are short and sweet, whereas others allow the characters to develop and mature. The tales are as told to the narrator by a faceless, nameless beast he comes across “between the walls”. One story focuses on a woman who decides the best way to punish her uncaring and thoughtless, wealthy husband is to extract his consciousness before he dies and keep it in a hard drive where he can see and feel everything that is going on around him but can do nothing to change it or communicate. In another, reminiscent of “big brother” watching, a scientist has developed a scanning machine which can detect future criminal tendencies in advance of them appearing in the subject. Society can then, it seems, take proactive action to protect its citizens by locking them up before the crimes occur. All children will be scanned at age sixteen and those who fail will be dealt with accordingly. All goes well until the powers that be determine that the best way to get the public onside with this measure will be to perform the scan on the scientist’s own son in front of a world-wide television audience.
 
This collection of short stories offers a glimpse into a world that some would describe as madness. Escaping Midnight: What Goes on in the Walls at Night #3 is a chilling journey into what might be, especially with the continued advent of technology and AI. Author Andrew Schrader has plumbed the depths of his imagination to bring these stories to life. Not normally a fan of the short-story format, preferring the character development that full novels permit, I was nonetheless dragged into his weird and wonderful world. As always, with any collection of work, there are some that stir the consciousness and resonate with me, more than others. A couple of the stories I found particularly compelling in this collection were: The Cosmos of Meaning and See You in Theaters. The Cosmos of meaning particularly struck me, as a reader, because much of the philosophy on life, espoused by the character aligned with my own thoughts on the subject. See You in Theaters was great for another reason – simply because it was so weird. It was also long enough to allow some character development and I appreciated that. This is a wonderful, easily read, collection of the weird and wonderful. I can definitely recommend it and am inspired to check out Volumes 1 & 2 of the series. That’s a compliment, for sure, to this author. 


Picture
You can find Escaping Midnight (What Goes on in the Walls at Night by Andrew Schrader, here on his Amazon author page: 

0 Comments

normal family (normal family trilogy book 1) by don trowden

8/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Normal Family: Volume One Normal Family Trilogy by Don Trowden takes us back to the end of the sixties, to an American being torn apart by cultural unrest, generational change and an extremely unpopular war half-way across the world in South East Asia. Ten-year-old Henry Prendergast is growing up in what is becoming an increasingly dysfunctional family, trying to come to terms with why he doesn’t seem to fit into his family. Through a series of four disastrous family, holiday, celebrations including Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, Henry slowly discovers that everything and everyone he thought brought stability into his life is either leaving or changing dramatically. Looming large over Henry’s father and entire family is his over-achieving Grandfather – a well-known, wealthy and feted explorer and author. Henry’s mother is not only hiding a difficult past she is also trying to come to terms with her role as a wife and mother. It seems her slide into depression and mental instability is only exacerbated by the dysfunction of her family. Henry’s siblings provide little relief to his confusion; his elder brother being a “genius” and heading off to Yale at the mere age of fifteen and his elder sister appearing to be on the verge of anorexia. For Henry, at ten, life is simply an incredibly confusing state of being.
 
I found Normal Family: Volume One Normal Family Trilogy to be an extraordinarily insightful view into the psyche of a child growing up in a dysfunctional environment at a time of great social change. Perhaps it was the fact that I was, like young Henry, just ten-years-old also in 1969 but whatever the reason, author Don Trowden’s book absolutely resonated with me. The world, not just America was changing dramatically in 1969 and as children we looked at the uproar with wide open eyes not understanding at all why our solid bases we thought our lives were grounded on were slowly being chipped away. I absolutely could identify with Henry’s bemusement at it all. I chuckled when Henry began to wonder if he was adopted as he couldn’t grasp being genetically related to these weird people that made up his family. The characters in the story loomed large and real in the narrative. I particularly enjoyed the interaction and eye-rolling comments from both Grandfather and his long-suffering but clearly deeply loving wife. The stepmother also was pushed to the extreme of the “evil witch” and I appreciated that also although it was nice to have her children able to soften the effect on young Henry. This was a fantastic read and I absolutely loved it. As the first in a proposed trilogy, I absolutely look forward to see where this takes us next. I am making an assumption there is an element of an autobiographical nature in this story and I appreciate the catharsis this may have for the author, if this is the case.   


Picture
You can find Normal Family by Don Trowden, here on Amazon: 

0 Comments

double down by bruce wessell

8/6/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Double Down by Bruce Wessell is a fun romp through Las Vegas with a man who has been stretched to the limit by his job, his relationship and his life. Finally he takes a giant step and does something he never thought he would do. Johnny, a sales rep. for a food processing company in Iowa, was a success but today couldn’t possibly get any worse, could it? Just prior to the company’s annual conference where Johnny is going to be awarded the Pinnacle Award, including an enormous bonus, as one of the company’s top salesmen, Johnny is visiting some of his more difficult clients and not enjoying it one iota. When he gets a message from his boss, who he hates with a passion, he knows this day is going downhill fast. When Johnny’s informed he won’t be getting the Pinnacle Award due to some unaccounted for returns from one of his clients, he’s devastated and angry as hell. Seeking solace from his girlfriend, he returns home only to find her in bed with one of her co-workers. After rearranging the man’s face for him, Johnny storms off to see one his least favourite clients, Bernie and Mother. When presented with a bag full of cash at Bernie’s, sitting unattended in the office, Johnny grabs the bag and runs – heading for – Vegas, of course, some fun and adventure, all on Bernie’s money.
 
Double Down is a comedy but not in the gut-busting laughter vein. Its comedy is more subtle than that and Author Bruce Wessell has painted a scenario that each and every one of us has possibly wondered about from time to time. If presented with a clear opportunity, would I do something illegal if I was angry enough or feeling cheated enough? Johnny was a great character, in that despite his stealing Bernie and Mother’s money he still maintained and showed a moral compass that some of us may not have been able to. The supporting cast were all well-drawn almost to the point of caricature; with the Russian Mafia guys and Bernie’s Mother (the Mother of all Mothers). I liked the writer’s style, which flowed effortlessly from one amusing situation to the next. The action is fast-paced and the comedy subtle but funny. Johnny is on a winning streak and it seems no matter what he does, he will come up smelling of roses. This was a fun read and one I enjoyed very much. As a debut novel it is well presented, well-written and engaging. If you fancy a bit of light relief, I’d say give Double Down a try.     


Picture
You can find Double Down, here on Bruce Wessell's Amazon page: 

2 Comments

the healing of howard brown by jeb stewart harrison

5/6/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​The Healing of Howard Brown by Jeb Stewart Harrison is a return to the epic tales of the deep-South. When 60-year-old retired English teacher Howard Brown Jr. revisits his roots in the bayous of Louisiana he is taken on a journey of discovery and given an opportunity to rediscover himself and find out who he is and who is meant to be. As Howard and his wife Sandy wait patiently for his father to die, Howard’s sister Sisi is creating her own unique brand of havoc both within the Californian family but also back in the back woods of Louisiana where the Brown family roots are located. Howard has suffered from chronic pain, all over his body, from numerous problems and has been hopelessly hooked on opioids, to manage it, for a number of years. When his seemingly crazy sister disappears, Howard is forced to return to his roots both to try to find Sisi but also to look at the land his father has left the pair in the bayous. What Howard actually discovers is that he knew so little about his family’s history, his father, his sister and himself. The journey to meet his cousins in St Francisville turns into a real journey of self-discovery for the whole family.    
 
It’s a long time since I’ve read a book of this style – old fashioned contemporary literature, written with a massive dose of “good ole boy” Southern humour, redneck nature, gentlemanly conduct, and self-deprecation. I found The Healing of Howard Brown to be a real refreshing change from the genre driven fashion of the day. Author Jeb Stewart Harrison really got inside the heads of the characters and they were true characters. From Howard Jr. the drug addicted retiree who effectively was just waiting for his father to die and release him from his all-powerful control, presumably so he could then just fade away quietly himself through to the passel of second cousins in Louisiana who were the archetypal good ole boys. Sister Sisi was a fascinating mixture of mental health issues and deviousness but all of the characters contributed to this incredibly dysfunctional family. The writing style was true to the environment and the descriptive language when conveying the miasma that is bayou country was so eloquent, I could also smell the rotting moss and the stagnant water, as the boat pushed through the swamp country channels. This was a fantastic read and although it could be accused of being a little fanciful in places it didn’t shirk from asking the big questions of Howard Brown Jr. and attempting to answer them. I can definitely recommend this read.      


Picture
You can find The Healing of Howard Brown, plus the remainder of Jeb Stewart Harrison's work on his Amazon page, here: 

4 Comments

two hearts under fire (two hearts wounded warrior romance book 8) by tamara ferguson

5/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Author Tamara Ferguson regularly brings us new iterations of her wounded warrior series and Two Hearts Under Fire (Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Romance Book 8) is the latest story in that franchise. Airman Russ Quinlan and his team are targeted and their transport destroyed en-route in Iraq. When Russ returns to the States he realises that someone has been trying to frame him and the subsequent inquiry may well lead to his own court-martial and a lengthy prison sentence. Whilst looking for help, he contacts his old friend, AFOSI Agent Brand Reardon but instead finds the beautiful Claire Ellis at Brand’s apartment, a friend of Brand’s fiancé, Sarah. When a gunman attacks the pair, for no obvious reason they aren’t sure quite who the target was Russ or Claire. Clair it seems is on the run and hiding from a violent and deranged ex-husband who wants to kill her. The pair takes to their heels in a mad dash across country in upstate New York and the Great Lakes area, to try to escape whoever is after either one of them. The attraction between the pair was electric from the first moment they met and can only get deeper and more intense the more they are thrown together in this race for their lives and safety with their friends Brand and Sarah in Crystal Rock, Wisconsin.
 
This is not the first Tamara Ferguson book I’ve read. I can honestly say Two Hearts Under Fire (Two Hearts Wounded Warrior Romance book 8) is up there with the best of the stories I’ve read, from her, to date. Two things I particularly love about this book and about all of this author’s work is the immense amount of action, excitement, plot twists and romance, she can jam-pack into what is essentially a smallish novel. I’ve read some books with this much excitement that are double the size of this and yet Ferguson loses nothing in the paring down of her work. There are no wasted words or padding in her books, which make them simple and easy to read in one sitting. In fact, it is always hard to put a Ferguson novel down and this one is no exception. The second thing I love about her writing is the sensitive and caring natures she manages to build into to these giant, hulking men, many of whom are ex-special forces operatives, who she shows are capable of feeling and expressing deep emotion, without shame. I also appreciate that much of the action takes place against the backdrop of The Wounded Warrior Hospital and the school for children with disabilities, both in Crystal Rock. These are obviously twin passions of the author and they fit perfectly with her stories. This is a great read and one I can highly recommend.        


Picture
You can find Two Hearts Under Fire, along with all of Tamara Ferguson's fine portfolio, here on her Amazon page:  

0 Comments

The flavorist by kevin urban

3/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​In The Flavorist by Kevin Urban, Allen Hale is a man in a billion. His incredible olfactory abilities and his talent of discerning every chemical and compound that goes into the making of a food product has made him renowned and envied world-wide. He is a flavorist, working in the candy industry. When he is surprisingly, to him, invited to the launch of a special new chocolate, in Belgium, by the famous and wealthy chocolatier, Adolf Van De Groot he absolutely destroys his welcome at the function and his host’s temper by tasting the new chocolate and immediately declaring it to be “rather good” for an imitation chocolate. At the function that he is rudely tossed out from, he meets Richard Harden, a CIA operative who is investigating Van De Groot for a suspected biological weapon that he is supposedly developing. When Harden recruits Hale for his scientific expertise all hell will break loose, as Van De Groot and his loyal henchman, Victor look to derail the investigation before it even begins and let loose their weapon on the world.
 
The Flavorist is a thriller in the grand style and is action-packed from start to end. Author Kevin Urban has created some archetypal characters that play their roles according to the standard rules. The arch-nemesis Van De Groot is a man bordering on insanity and well-written, especially with the suggested but subtle relationship that clearly exists between him and his No.1 henchman, Victor that leads to some interesting scenes and encounters later in the story. The tale takes us from Belgium to the South Pacific, the Amazonian jungle and the broad savannahs of southern Africa. The character of Harden especially and his relationship with the transitioning Maxi was something different in a thriller and added some needed levity and humanity to the non-stop action. For me, the many coincidences and synchronicities in the tale were a little overdone, but in general this was a satisfying and exciting read, with a touch of humour along the way. If you like thrillers that are not massive reads then The Flavorist will definitely appeal to you.       


Picture
You can find The Flavorist by Kevin Urban, here on his Amazon page: 

0 Comments

memory lane: journey to retribution by P.D. Platt

1/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Reviewed For Readers' Favorite by Grant Leishman 

​Memory Lane: Journey to Retribution by P.D. Platt is a novella that brings us the premise that revenge is a dish best served cold. Elena and her Dad lived simply, but happily in a little cul-de-sac just off the main expressway. When Elena’s Mum had died, her Dad poured everything into looking after his little girl. That was, until Gayle turned up and offered Elena’s father a different option. Unbeknownst to Elena, her father, Gayle and Gayle’s two half-brother were about to turn Elena’s life upside down forever. It is fifteen years since the horrific events that took place in that childhood home of hers and Elena is seeking closure and the ability to move on from her awful childhood memories. For the first time in fifteen years Elena visits her old caregiver, Ms Flynn, their old neighbour who Elena remembers as a sweet, old, grandmotherly lady who saved her from the carnage of that night so long ago. Visiting Ms Flynn is the first step on the road to putting those memories behind her and finally moving on.
 
Memory Lane: Journey to Retribution, was a wonderfully, detailed and exciting story, albeit somewhat short for my liking. I loved the premise the author P.D. Platt began with – a journey to seek closure to a traumatic event but as the story unfolded, so much more became apparent and I read furiously to find out what would happen. The characters were everyday, ordinary folk who we could all recognise and identify with. Even Elena’s Dad and his dalliance with the dark side was totally understandable and acceptable. I loved the authors writing style and highly descriptive paragraphs describing both emotions and events. I would definitely have preferred a longer book but that’s just me and if you like a good, sharp, mystery with a twist or two in the tail then this is absolutely a winner. I am moved to read more of this author and that is probably the greatest compliment I can pay him or her. A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying read.


Picture
You can find Memory Lane: Journey to Retribution here on P.D. Platt's Amazon page, along with numerous other titles. :  

0 Comments
    Picture
    Please Subscribe

    Author

    In this section I will review books I have read. All the opinions expressed here are my personal opinions only.

    Archives

    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    Anthologies
    Children's
    Contemporary Lit
    Dystopian
    Fantasy
    Fantasy/Romance/Erotica
    Historical Fiction
    Humour
    Mystery/Mayhem
    Non Fiction/Memoirs
    Non-Fiction/Memoirs
    Romance/Adventure
    Science Fiction
    Young Adult

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.