Reviews By Charline

“Soul Mate”

Author: Ronald Lewis Weaver

About a week ago I was asked if I would be interested in reading the book “Soul Mate” by author Ronald Lewis Weaver. With a title like “Soul Mate” how could I even think about refusing? It’s amazing what thoughts those two little words can stir up and I knew I would accept the review request without doing my customary research. After all, when it comes to love isn’t each one of us searching for “happily ever after?” Doesn’t each one of us want that elusive “soul mate?” That one person who understands us better than anyone else? That one person who “gets” us? That one person who honestly thinks our morning crankiness and idiosyncrasies are cute? Of course that same person would still manage to laugh at our lame little jokes even though we’ve told them a million times…

So, my copy of “Soul Mate” arrived and I flipped it over to read the back cover. “TEACHER + STUDENT = DISASTER. OR DOES IT?” jumped off the page at me. Hmmm… That warm fuzzy feeling I’d had when I originally agreed to read this title was quickly dissipating. It was now being replaced with television images of attractive young women wearing orange as they are led out of court under police escort…

I put those images aside and continued reading the jacket. Claudia de la Rosa, our soon to be infamous school teacher, arrives in Beverly Hills, California with stars in her eyes. She’s the high school’s new English teacher and (surprise!) this is where she meets Lance, our eighteen year old student. I expelled my breath in a huge sigh of relief. At least age-wise he was legal… At this point I tried to coerce my warm fuzzy feeling into returning but apparently it had already left the building…

A couple hours later I sat down with “Soul Mate” and was pleasantly surprised. Weaver has a fantastic writing style and his words have the ability to transport you into this fictional world he has created. Great character development, and even though the love affair Claudia and Lance share doesn’t conform to today’s social standards there’s definitely nothing tawdry about it. In fact, halfway through the book, I actually found myself wanting them to be able to share their future with each other. Having finished “Soul Mate” I can definitely see why Weaver is the Senior Producer for television’s most-watched daily drama “The Bold And The Beautiful.”

In summary, “Soul Mate” is a great book, a captivating read and well worth the five-stars I’m giving it…

“A Corpse at St. Andrew’s Chapel”

Author: Mel Starr

While “A Corpse at St Andrew’s Chapel” was a really great read it definitely was not what I was originally expecting. The title sounded intriguing; it sounded medieval and having a corpse found outside a place of worship made me wonder if there would be an unnatural element like a werewolf or vampire included in the tale. I performed my customary Amazon research and the plot description seemed to validate my initial feelings.

It’s spring. The year is 1365 and Alan the beadle, or manor officer, left at dusk one evening to ensure no residents were lingering outside after curfew. He never returned home. The next morning Alan’s wife, Matilda, sought assistance from Master Hugh de Singleton the surgeon and manor’s bailiff. Two days later Alan’s body is discovered in the hedge on the way to St Andrew’s Chapel. His throat has been ripped open, his head is barely attached to his body and his face, hands and forearms are covered with deep lacerations. The coroner surmises that a wolf has inflicted all of this damage yet Master Hugh is not convinced. Alan suffered mortal wounds to the throat and the head yet neither the coroner nor the investigators can find more than a drop or two of blood where his body was discovered.

My copy finally arrived and I sat down with it a few days later. Wow, what a great book! Mel Starr, the author, has a really great writing style and I enjoyed the book immensely. I liked that the book was written in the first person and I also appreciated its medieval history. Starr did a phenomenal job with the time period, the language, the religious aspects and the characters while winding multiple mysteries throughout the tale.

In closing I give “A Corpse at St Andrew’s Chapel” a five-star rating. A fantastic read for young adults and older and I look forward to reading more by Mel Starr in future.

“Vivian Rising”

Author: Daniella Brodsky

I had just finished reading and reviewing a different book when I received the following email: “Is there anything new on the pending list that looks interesting?” my editor/friend’s message asked. I chuckled because I really was planning to send him my “what I want to read list” the following day. Traveling back and forth between three states sometimes causes me to be slower than normal and unfortunately coffee can only do so much! Anyway, I promptly went to visit that “pending list” and as I perused it I came across the title “Vivian Rising” by Daniella Brodsky. After looking it over via Amazon, and as you’ve no doubt guessed by now, I asked that it be sent to me.

The premise of “Vivian Rising” is this: Vivian Sklar has lived with her grandmother ever since her mother abandoned her. “Grams” makes Vivian feel safe because she is wise, feisty and gives Vivian the impression that she has life all figured out. When Grams passes away Vivian feels completely alone and bereft. Suddenly her comfortable world is no longer familiar. As she desperately searches for solace she happens upon an extremely perceptive astrologer who is intent on passing along some cosmic help. For a fee of course… “Vivian Rising” is the story of a young woman who, because of her grandmother’s death, is just now realizing that she knows nothing about herself. It’s the story of her life as she frees herself from a mundane and unfulfilling existence in order to allow peace, love, and happiness into her life.

For the most part I would say that “Vivian Rising” was a cute story. Brodsky is a talented writer and her words paint vivid pictures which allow the book’s characters to come to life. Sadly, I noticed some errors which pulled me out of the book because I had to re-read them just to be sure I had read those sections correctly. Example: Viv takes a drink of water but is too shocked to swallow and holds it in her mouth. Next, she makes a joke and I, of course, wonder where the water went. Finally, she “…speaks, forgetting the water, splashing it out down her chin and over her chest.” Lastly, I felt that the ending was unbelievable. One of my criteria for any fictional book I read is that it at least be believable to its own story. Based upon the character of Vivian’s love interest, which had been spelled out over and over again throughout the book, I was totally unable to “buy” the ending that was provided.

“The Bootlegger’s Secret”

Author: Michael Springer

It’s the summer of 1941. Two eleven-year-old boys, Mark Penn and Swede Larson, discover a submerged automobile while swimming in the Minnesota River. The car is a 1931 Pierce-Arrow and Swede decides it merits further investigation. He swims down and into the car but finds nothing of interest other than an inlaid-gold cigarette case. Swede returns to the surface and the two boys open the case. They discover it plays music and contains Turkish filter-tip cigarettes as well as a photograph of a beautiful woman. Surprisingly enough the picture and the cigarettes are dry even after being submerged in the vehicle for the past eight years.

The boys don’t realize that, because of their discovery, they have now attracted the attention of members from Al Capone’s mafia as well as agents from the Federal Treasury department. Unfortunately for the boys, the cigarette case holds a secret neither of them is aware of. The Treasury department wants the case, and its hidden information, so that they can prosecute the corrupt officials who have been bribed by mob member Eddie Knowland. The Chicago gangsters want the records so they can blackmail these same officials. While the Treasury agents are willing to work with the boys in an attempt to recover the case, the mafia members are not. Suddenly and without warning the boy’s summer vacation becomes fear-filled and they discover they are not safe anywhere.

“The Bootlegger’s Secret” by author Michael Springer was definitely a great book. Springer has an easy-to-read writing style and his descriptions of characters and situations are crystal clear, intense and suspenseful. Springer kept his storyline straight and I never had to deal with redundancy or having key elements of the plot forgotten. There was even a nice little twist at the end. It was also nice to read about life back in 1941 where children got to be children; get into mischief and no one really got hurt. A time when there was still naiveté and innocence and a general joy for life… Lastly, at one hundred and fifty-eight pages “The Bootlegger’s Secret” is a shorter book / quick read but I would say it’s definitely worth picking up. It’s also “age-friendly” and can, therefore, be enjoyed by readers of any age.

In closing I give “The Bootlegger’s Secret” a five-star rating and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future…

“Leonidas of Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge”

Author: Helena P. Schrader

While I enjoyed reading “Leonidas of Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge” by author Helena P. Schrader, I’m going to be honest and admit that it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I thought I was going to be reading a fictional story about the legendary Leonidas. I did count on historical facts being woven throughout the book but I figured they would only be used to provide that “realistic” feel. What I got was a book that seemed to focus on education, culture, laws and the Spartan way of life. Leonidas was present, but at times he seemed almost an afterthought… Superfluous as his mother would say…

When I finished, and being slightly dissatisfied, I decided to look at this book from a different point of view. “Leonidas of Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge” is the first book in a trilogy about Leonidas. Hmmm… Maybe the author really intended to focus more on Leonidas’s surroundings as a child rather than Leonidas himself. After all, one can hypothesize that ultimately Leonidas’s childhood is what shaped him into the man he became.

Unfortunately I wasn’t completely thrilled with the writing style either. While I did find “Leonidas of Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge” to be a decent book I definitely was not sitting on the edge of my seat as I read it. It flowed like a non-fiction book. It seemed to be mainly facts and figures with hardly any suspense, drama or humor. Every now and again there was a glimmer of something but then it vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. At this point I remembered reading that Schrader had previously published four non-fiction books. I realized that this would help explain the writing style.

As far as a rating, I give “Leonidas of Sparta: A Boy of the Agoge” three stars. It is a solid book and I would classify it as an interesting read. Schrader does have a good writing style – it’s just a bit on the dry side. She is also descriptive but, because of her writing style, her words tend to come across as if they belong in a college textbook or…the “Journal of Ancient Spartan and Greek History.”

I am however looking forward to reading the final two books in this series. My only hope is that Leonidas plays a more exciting and interesting role in them…

“Sandstone & Mirrors”

Author: Angelique LaFontaine

So… I received my copy of “Sandstone & Mirrors – The Crossover” by Angelique LaFontaine a couple of days ago. To start with, I enjoyed the cover artwork and I really liked the book’s “To The Reader” dedication. I was so happy for the author when I read about her successful completion of this novel after working on it for ten years. In these hectic times, when everyone is constantly moving at 100 mph, it’s easy for dreams to fall between the cracks, become labeled as less than important and forgotten about until finally they become nothing more than regret later in life.

I happily continued reading but my joy was extremely short-lived. In the very first chapter I immediately began coming across blatant grammatical errors. Example: “She looked over at her husband who is still sleeping.” There were misspelled words. Example: “inpatient” versus “impatient.” There was incorrect use of punctuation. Example: “crow’s feet”. versus “crow’s feet.” If a sentence ends with something in quotations, then the period, question mark, or exclamation point is placed after the word but inside the quotation marks. Finally, there were sentences that were oh so long and overly redundant. Example: “Carli had been staring out of the window while trying to remember her dream for so long that the water was overflowing over the top of the water dish and water was flowing back out of the dish and down into the sink.” Needless to say, I wondered who the author’s editor was. I also wondered how this book had even made it to print. Sadly I had noticed at least ten errors and I hadn’t even read anything beyond page three. However, I kept on reading and hoped that the story itself would be interesting enough to carry the rest of the book.

The premise for “Sandstone & Mirrors – The Crossover” is interesting. A young woman feels that something is missing in her current life. One morning she finds herself in another life where she learns that she is the pawn for which both good and evil are fighting. Unfortunately I struggled my way through the entire book because the writing did not improve. In fact, it got worse. I had to start re-reading sentences to figure out what word(s) needed to be added, or removed, just so I could understand what the author was trying to say. Words like “it,” “to,” and “the” are helpful and more often than not, required. Other words like “and” or “inlayed” had to be replaced with “an” or “inlaid.” Example: “…there was and in ground pool.”

I’m going to wrap up this review but before I do, I would like to offer the author two very important suggestions:
1) Find yourself a good editor. No one will rave to their friends about your book if they can’t understand it because of incorrect spelling or major grammatical mistakes; and
2) Visit your local bookseller; buy, and then read “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White. At $9.95 it’s a steal and the knowledge it can impart to you is priceless.

Lastly, I’m truly sorry I was unable to write a better review for “Sandstone & Mirrors – The Crossover” but I do applaud you, the author, for actually finishing the writing of your book. There are many who aspire to write a novel yet there are few who actually complete it. If writing is your passion then keep at it. Just be sure to recognize your weaknesses and be willing to allow professionals to help you in those areas. Sincerely wishing you the best in all your future endeavors…

“Everything I Never Wanted To Be”

Author: Dina Kucera

Where to start? “Everything I Never Wanted To Be” is a brutally open and honest look into the heart of a family beset by drug and alcohol abuse. And, as if that’s not enough to cause one major stress, add caring for an elderly mother with Parkinson’s disease and a grandson with Cerebral Palsy, and working as a checker at a grocery store. Amazingly enough though this family somehow manages to retain a fierce love for one another.

“Everything I Never Wanted To Be” chronicles the life of author Dina Kucera. She shares with us her ups and downs, her fears, her failures, and her triumphs. She shows us she’s human. I respect what she has been through and I commend her for doing whatever it took, and takes, to help herself and her family. As an aside, I don’t feel Kucera needs to use her education, or lack thereof, in an attempt to show the world that her book is different; that she is different. Her writing does that for her. Her heart, soul, and humor shine forth from the book’s pages and THAT is what will make a lasting impression to those who read her memoir.

I also applaud Kucera for not allowing the sad, horrific or overwhelming experiences to keep her down and I like the way she uses humor as an outlet. Even though “Everything I Never Wanted To Be” is a true story there were still quite a few times I actually laughed aloud as I read. I’ve worked as a grocery store cashier. I can empathize with many of her job related experiences, inane customer comments and conversations.

All in all I found “Everything I Never Wanted To Be” to be very well-written and informative. Kucera has a way with words and she shows us a different perspective of drug and/or alcohol dependency. Nowadays we hear about drug use and alcoholism on almost daily basis. The common belief seems to be that if we paid more attention to the people in our community we could stop them before they became addicted to substances which ultimately set them on a path of destruction. If we did this we could save them from themselves. What I take away from this memoir is that it’s just not that simple. Not that cut and dried. What I understand from this book is that the chemical makeup of an addict requires something their body didn’t provide in order for them to feel the way we “normal” people do. They may need something just to be able to enjoy the feel of the sun on their face or the wind in their hair. Things that most of us take for granted. They may not even know it themselves but then one day someone offers them something and all of a sudden the world makes sense and they finally feel “normal.” Who wouldn’t want that? I also know there is a lot of criticism directed at people with dependency issues. My feelings are that unless we have personally experienced it I think we should provide empathy and help versus disdain and judgments.

Lastly, a note to the author… Maybe it took becoming everything you never wanted to be in order to become everything you wanted or needed to be… Divine Order and all that. 😉

“7 Scorpions”

Author: Mike Saxton

I wasn’t quite sure what to think when I originally contemplated reading/reviewing “7 Scorpions: Rebellion.” Usually I can deduce what genre a book falls into just by its title but with this one I couldn’t. Would it be adventure? Science fiction? Or something that falls into the “war” genre? Looking at the book’s cover also made me think of Kurt Vonnegut and I wondered if the author might have a similar writing style.

“7 Scorpions: Rebellion” is the first of three books in the “7 Scorpions” series. After reading it I would label it predominately science fiction. In this series, May 7th is the day that will live forever in infamy… That was the day the previously unknown psychopath (known only as Zodiac) struck. His goal? World domination. Refusing to be outdone by predecessors like Napoleon or Hitler, Zodiac had flash bombs planted in every major city around the globe. On May 7th they simultaneously detonated and the world was thrown into complete and utter chaos. Governments crumbled; the world’s military vanished and the only remaining law was that of self-preservation. However, a hero did emerge after this destruction. Vincent Black, a man who was a former vigilante until he became an unwilling government super-soldier experiment. And now he and his band of rebels are all that stands between Zodiac and the end of humanity.

So, I read the book and I will say that the premise for the series is an interesting one. For the most part I enjoyed the read. Mike Saxton, the book’s author, is descriptive and he shows attention to detail although I did catch a chronological mistake early on. My only criticism, and I hope it will be viewed as constructive, is that the bad guys seemed to get carried away by childish “petulance” rather than the sadistic pleasure that I would have expected them to show. If someone is intelligent enough to mastermind and successfully pull off this coupe then I would have expected different mannerisms from that person.

In summary, I give “7 Scorpions: Rebellion” a four-star rating. While it wasn’t “glue me to my seat riveting” it definitely held my attention. I do feel that Saxton has talent as a storyteller. I also believe that as he writes more he will grow into his full potential as an author. I’m glad I was able to review this book and I look forward to the next installment in this series.

“The Good Healer”

Author: Dimitrije Medenica

Recently I came across the title “The Good Healer” by author Dimitrije Medenica. I read the book’s premise: a six-fingered healer practicing medicinal arts with the aid of local plant-life meets fifteenth century Catholic religion. Accusations of heresy abound because the only “allowed” manner of doctoring is the barbaric custom of bloodletting and consequently Jean Duchesne, the book’s main character, must flee for his life or perish at the stake. I am always interested in historical fiction and I found myself immediately intrigued by the summary.

A couple of days later I received my copy of “The Good Healer” found myself a nice quiet place and began to read. First off, I have to say that I was very impressed with both the author’s writing style as well as the content of the book. The author, Medenica, has more than a decade of architectural and real estate development experience. Truthfully I was concerned that the story would either be over-explained or just plain uninteresting. I’m happy to report it was neither…

Medenica does a wonderful job of personalizing each character. His writing is descriptively detailed but not to the point of becoming boring or verbose. I definitely appreciated the historical aspect of “The Good Healer” especially the parts pertaining to Geneva since I have visited that city. I also thought Medenica did an excellent job with the religious aspects of the book; for the most part they seemed to hold true to history as it has been handed down to us through the centuries. The medicinal and architectural achievements were definitely out of place but I do understand this is a work of fiction, historical or not, and the embellishments made for a better story.

When I’m reading a book for review there are a few criteria I consider such as writing style, character development and the overall plot. For writing style and character development I’m giving Medenica five-stars but the plot aspect featuring twentieth century technology in fifteenth century Switzerland threw me for a loop therefore I’m giving “The Good Healer” an overall four-star rating. In summary: an interesting look at Medieval / Renaissance history. I would also recommend this book to readers of all ages.

“Pun Enchanted Evenings”

Author: David R. Yale

I have to be honest and confess that the real reason I read “Pun Enchanted Evenings” by David R. Yale was because I was having an incredibly bad day and needed something, anything, that would make me laugh.

At ninety-seven pages “Pun Enchanted Evenings” is not a long book and it is definitely a quick read. True to its title the book really does feature seven hundred and forty six puns. I would know. I checked each number as I read each pun. I’m sure some of us remember having to write things like “I will not talk during class” one hundred times as homework and as a punishment for being disruptive in class. I don’t know about the rest of you but I occasionally skipped a few numbers. What do you mean thirty-six is supposed to follow thirty-five? Number forty-seven is missing? Are you sure?? You can see now why I would pay attention to the pun count…

“Pun Enchanted Evenings” was, for the most part, funny. A few of the puns were so droll that I actually had to call a friend of mine in California so that I could share them with him. Of course once I started reading them aloud I even began giggling my way through some of the not so funny ones.

In summary I think it would be safe to say that this book provides a pun for every sense of humor. “Pun Enchanted Evenings” is a quick read and can be leafed through anytime one is stressed and in need of something to laugh about. A great book to keep on your desk at work; it’s fun reading while you’re in the waiting room at your doctor’s office but be aware that it might be considered disruptive if you’re reading it and laughing during jury duty. Lastly, “Pun Enchanted Evenings” would make a great gift for any occasion and will definitely keep your guests amused while they are using the bathroom. Just don’t expect them to vacate the facilities in a timely manner…