My first peer review.

As I sit back and wait for Friday to come I received my first peer review of Soul Mate from Angel Martinez. I mentioned in my recent video blog how important I thought doing review were in the grand scheme of things. A wonderful side bar to that, is how happy your reviews make the author feel. So, here is my very first review.

Most werewolf stories focus on the 'infection' - the events leading up to and following the change, the how and why and the mechanics of it. In Soul Mate, while the were aspect is vital to the story and Kari is perhaps the most lupine character I have ever met, the nitty-gritty of lycanthropy does not overshadow plot and character development.

Ms. Bybee does a wonderful job with the slow reveal, allowing the reader to discover the characters in a natural progression rather than having them dumped in the reader's lap, no mean feat for a short piece. Through dialogue and interaction, we become privy to Kari's necessary wariness, her suspicion, her purposeful walls, while Nick, who appears a touch arrogant and invasive at first, reveals his courage, his persistence and a steadfastness worthy of a tin soldier.

A fast-paced, smoothly progressing read, this is not your typical werewolf story. Laced with humor and moments of heated sensuality, it's well worth the time to devour.

Soul Mate Available August 20th from Red Rose Publishing.

Why you should write a review

Okay... now that I have your attention, dirty girls...

As many of you know I write reviews. I do this for a couple of reasons. First... Can you say FREE BOOKS? Yeah, free as in zero, nada...nothing down... Great price if you ask me. The other reason I write reviews is for practice. When you write a review you need to summarize the book in a blurb type format. And when you do this over and over again, you get rather good at it.

Another reason to write reviews is this... When you have to put your feelings about a book down on paper, all of a sudden you realize how difficult it is to do this. So when the day comes that someone reviews your work, you'll really be able to appreciate what goes into the review. Some reviewers write better reviews than others... and dare I say some reviews are down right mean...

...and another thing... If you enjoyed a recent read it is always a good idea to , write a review and place it on the publishers site... Amazon... or simply send it to the author who may be have a right shit of a day and would love to hear that they made someone happy. So be an angel and write a review.

So tell me... have you ever written a review? What is the hardest part for you about writing a review?

Why do you choose the E-Books you read?

Today's blog is my way of doing a little research about where to put my advertising dollars.


But before I get into the questions, I need to thank all of you who helped get my first blog off the ground. WOW! RWA and the questions in regards to E-Publishing is quite the hot spot. I think I'm going to keep my RWA membership for the next year and see if it makes any difference in the coming year. So thanks again for giving me your two cents on the subject.


Okay... On to my next topic.


Now that I'm going to have two books out next year, I need to know how you pick the books you read. I will have a series of polls asking specific questions during the month so please stop by once and a while to answer them.


Do you choose a book based on who the author is? Did you read an excerpt on a blog, myspace or a yahoo loop? Do you look for best sellers? Do you check the reviews?


I do look at the best sellers, but I'm known to cross reference those titles with the reviews. I look for recommendations from other readers a lot. I'm known to pick up an e-book because I've talked with, blogged with and watched an author go from-wanna be-to-published. If the excerpt doesn't spark my interest and the blurb is confusing I won't pick it up.


Let me know what sold you on the last E-Book you read.