Book Reviews, Etc

I’m in the middle of editing The Prophet Conspiracy right now. My editor (Sherrie Dolby-Arnoldy, by the way. If you write, hire her. She’s amazing, and works at an embarassingly-low price for how good she is.) sent the manuscript back with 5000 words worth of editors notes, so you know I had a lot of work to do.

When I do work for hire, or writing for my day job, it’s so easy to accept correction. But with my own work — especially with a novel like The Prophet Conspiracy, which is important to me and I love — it’s really hard to have every little detail nitpicked.

And yet, as a person whose job it is to communicate, I am absolutely bound by this simple fact: if someone didn’t receive the message I wanted to send, the fault is with me, not with them. If I want a message to get across, it’s MY job to make sure it’s expressed in a way that others can understand. If others don’t understand, I have not done my job.

If you’ve already signed up to be a beta reader, and you’re wondering where your free copy of The Prophet Conspiracy is, it’s coming. I just have a lot of changes to make. If you haven’t already signed up to be a beta reader, hurry up and do so! I need your help.

The Jackalope Saves the World by Sean O’Brien is a lighthearted superhero story with a heart. It makes you smile at the misadventures of a small town “nobody” and his sidekick as they adapt to the experience of sudden superpowers. I didn’t expect to have as much fun as I did.

I usually review “family friendly” fiction, so to speak. It was a bit of a surprise to be caught by a crack about joining the mile high club on the first line of the book, but then, it was a scene about newlyweds on their way to their honeymoon, so it fits. Otherwise you may occasionally find young single men talking like young single men do when there are no women around, but this is basically a pretty clean book.

The story’s progression was a little non-typical in terms of the classic three-act dramatic arc, but I’m not sure anyone but writers notices things like that. It was a fun story with characters I cared about, and that’s what mattered. I felt angry when our hero was unfairly accused or backstabbed, disappointed with him when his antics earn him trouble instead of praise, and more. In general, it’s a story that pulled me in, made me care, and entertained me.

Any time I can find suspense and action without gratuitous profanity and sex, I snap that right up. I recommend you do the same with The Jackalope Saves The World. It’s a lot of fun.

I received an electronic copy of this work for review purposes. I don’t believe that influenced y opinion of the work at all.

Wow, what a pleasant surprise!

I received an electronic copy of Dangerous Allies by Rickie Blair as part of a request for a review, and was delighted to discover that it was really enjoyable to read. Very suspenseful, very well-written, and kept me hurrying through pages.

Dangerous Allies is called a financial thriller. I was a little worried when I began that I might need a better understanding of how finance works in order to enjoy it. Readers, if you have such concerns, set them down! It was easily accessible to anyone who understands this much about high finance: People move money around on Wall Street.

It’s part of a series featuring our heroine, Ruby Delaney, AKA Ruby Danger, a fallen actor married to a financier. Like most of my own books, it can readily be described as “plot driven,” but I don’t believe most readers consider that a criticism. I think they like it — at least, this reader does.

There were a few tiny items that might pose obstacles for people who seek out books they can share with their parents without shame. But honestly they were quite small and done in a way that made it easy to accept them as part of the book. Overall, this did not rise to the level of being an issue.

I cared about the protagonist, I wanted her to succeed. I felt good about her successes. When she encountered failures, I hurried through pages to see whether and how she turned it around.

Overall, a really fun book. I recommend it without any reservations. If you like suspense, check out Dangerous Allies by Rickie Blair.

If you want to be the first to know when my own next novel comes out, or when I have books on sale or even free, sign up for the Books by Bowen Greenwood e-mail list!

Driven by my heightened interest in Israel since my trip there last May, I decided to check out Diamonds are for Eden by Felicia Mires. It’s the story of Natasha Kelly, a secure courier who becomes an agent for Israel’s famed foreign intelligence service, the Mossad.

The action in this novel makes me glad I read on Kindle — otherwise I’d have gotten paper cuts from turning pages so fast. The action and suspense kept me eager to see what was coming next.

No profanity, no sex, and although like most thrillers this requires a certain amount of violence, it was never handled in a way that was explicit or exploitative.

The novel is also rich with authentic details about Israel that reminded me of things I loved about the country.

If you like spies, like action, like suspense, or like Israel, definitely don’t miss Diamonds are for Eden.

My first novel, Death of Secrets, is free on Kindle today only. If you haven’t read it yet, this is your chance! Check out the technothriller that became an Amazon bestseller and earned rave reviews from government officials and privacy advocates for its warning about the surveillance state.

Kathy Kelver nearly trips over a murder victim on her way back to her dorm room late one night. In his last words, the dying man gives her stolen data about a secret project that could blow the lid off a shocking conspiracy. From the halls of Congress to the National Security Agency and beyond, Kathy must run for her life from shadowy forces who want her dead, while trying to build a relationship and hang on to her faith. The secret she’s carrying could end the right to privacy forever, if she doesn’t survive to warn the world.

Click here to get your copy today!

Regular readers may have heard by now, I have a new novel getting ready to come out. It’s called The Prophet Conspiracy. It’s a terrorism thriller set in Israel. To learn more about it, click here.

Would you like to read it for free?

I’m looking for volunteers to be beta readers for the new book. Beta readers are a huge help to me in the following ways:

1) Your feedback: I like to hear when you feel like a character does something unbelievable, or when a scene just doesn’t work, or any other criticisms you may have. These make a huge difference to me, and to the eventual success of the book.

2) Publicly posting honest reviews on Amazon.com. Reviews make a huge difference to customers considering whether to buy a book. Having many reviews gives the reader way more information from which to judge whether or not they want this book. Almost nothing my friends and regular readers can do will make as much of a difference in the sales of the book as leaving a review. If I can launch the book with 20 reviews, that’s a major, major step towards success. (Honest reviews means, post your real opinion. Don’t feel under any obligation to give positive reviews if that’s not what you believe.)

If you’re willing to do those two things, I will give you a free electronic copy of The Prophet Conspiracy to read before it comes out, along with helpful hints about how to put that electronic copy on your Kindle or iPad. You can read it at your leisure and, when the novel launches (most likely sometime in October) I will let you know to go online and leave an honest review.

If you want to be a beta reader, sign up below!

Many of my friends and readers have heard by now, I have a new novel nearly done. After extensive surveying, A/B Split testing, and prayer, I decided to call it The Prophet Conspiracy.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Siobhan McLane comes to the Middle East to live out her dream: work on an archaeological dig in the Holy Land. But when she uncovers a mysterious inscription in an ancient ruin, suddenly terrorists want her dead. Running for her life with a disgraced government agent as her only ally, Siobhan will have to confront the truth about herself while discovering proof that peace in the Middle East hinges on a thousand-year-old lie.

I intend to have it out by the end of summer, God willing. Watch for a cover reveal in about a week!

Fiona Quinn, author of the novel Weakest Lynx, is also the author of the truly wonderful Thrill Writing blog, which I read regularly. It’s a compendium of factual interviews with experts in areas that a writer of thrillers may need to know for his or her books.

As a fan of her blog and follower of hers on twitter, I saw the publicly-posted encouragement to vote for her novel Weakest Lynx in the Kindle Scout program. This action I undertook with alacrity, because her blog provides such great research I figured the resulting novel had to be good. As often happens with the Kindle Scout program (remember this, when I ask you to vote for my books!) I later received a coupon from Amazon to get Ms. Quinn’s book half-off, after it was successful in the Kindle Scout program.

Armed with a 50% discount and a fresh out of the box replacement Kindle, I settled in to read a book that was a bit outside my personal comfort zone, but was also a master class in the art of suspense.

I found myself looking away from the Kindle, afraid to know what happened next. I found myself trying to peek at the Kindle out the corner of my eye, so I could find out what happened next but be in a good position to look away again if it was too scary. But most of all, I found myself pulled back to the story constantly because the author succeeded in creating a villain who I really wanted to see get his just desserts.

One should know upfront, this novel contains elements I don’t usually read. There was a fair amount of describing our heroine’s state of undress, and I don’t usually read about psychic stuff unless it comes in a spiritual context that I completely trust. But the sympathetic nature of the heroine, the villain who richly deserved a bad fate, and the suspense about how those two interacted covered over all that.

I recommend Weakest Lynx, but read it in the daytime!

The Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth is a sweeping work of fantasy/soft sci fi from a Christian worldview by Jarrod L. Edge.  If parents want a book to give their kids that reflects solid values and points toward the Lord, they will be well-served by this.

Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth comes in two books, and I’ve read them both. This is my review.

There is a massive world-building project at work here. The story sweeps from an ancient scribe at the bedside of a dying apostle to a modern world under threat of demonic alien invasion. From the FBI agents to the superheroes to the journalists, the author invests in every character.

Honestly, I feel like getting to know this fictional universe now is an investment in books to come. In the first book, the writing wasn’t really there yet. In the second book, the author’s skills had grown substantially. I have confidence that, in books to come, the crafting of the stories will become even more impressive.

This is an explicitly Christian book, which is half of why I like it. The good guys pray, they read the Bible, and they walk out what it means to follow Jesus. That’s what makes it such a great book for parents to give their children, or maybe even read with them.

Overall, Jarrod Edge has done a good job of creating a fantasy universe in which you can lose yourself while remaining secure that you won’t have to encounter language and scenes that might take you out of the story.