“The Worst Life Has to Offer” penned by the author Venetta Cox-Mlynczyk is a must read. The moment I started reading this book, my heart sank. Venetta’s world was shattered when she received a phone call in the middle of the night. She received the news that her son Brandon is on life support and she has to reach Royal Victoria in Barie asap. Her son was hit by a SUV that was being driven by a woman named Sharlene. But worse happened when she reached the hospital and received the news that her beloved son had passed away.
As a few months passed, another heart wrenching tragedy happened to Venetta. She lost her older son Devon who was in Toronto. With two tragedies back to back will Venetta find her way back to happiness?
This is a heartbreaking true story of the author. This book will take you on a rollercoaster ride full of emotions. The content of the book is sensitive especially for parents who have lost their kid. I appreciate the author for sharing her story with us. Memoir lovers should go for it. This story has touched my heart deeply.
Darkest Rose penned by the author Vera Morgana is the first installment in “The Inevitable War” book series. Main characters of the story are Ella Desouza and Edmund Gilmore. Ella is the daughter of the Emperor’s eastern royal guard, Lord Derrick Desouza.
Gilmore and Desouza are enemies. Gilmore tries to outdo Desouza. When Edmund was climbing the wall to get a glimpse of Sophia in Desouza’s party, Ella saw him. Ella recognized immediately that it’s a Gilmore because Gilmore are known for their red hair. When Ella had a dance with Edmund, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Soon her heart fell for Edmund.
Ella and Edmund are in love. Ella’s parents had arranged her wedding with Wilkin, the Duke of Kroukhesta. Will Ella and Edmund be together?
Narration is smooth and strong. Ella and Edmund’s characters are my favorite but Nurse Marcie also won my heart. Writing style of the author is impressive. She has developed an interesting world that totally hooked my attention to the story.
Those who love reading Young Adult fantasy stories should get their hands on this one.
Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
I am second generation Cuban, Spanish, Mexican Indian, born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, New York. My father was a renowned electrical engineer, and my mother was an ER RN. I am the second of four children with an older sister and two younger brothers. Alcohol was abundant in the family home and I became an alcoholic by the age of 10. I was raised in a predominantly white community and faced fierce racism while attending school, first Catholic, then public school. I fell in with the wrong crowd as I approached adolescence and started smoking marijuana in junior high school, then abusing amphetamines in high school. My first arrest for possession of marijuana occurred when I was only 13. I became a gang member in high school and ended up in jail at 18, then a psychiatric hospital at 19. I was convicted of theft and placed on probation. Ironically, this is where I first thought about becoming a probation officer. I always loved reading and writing. I was an all-conference football player in high school, which is when I first set my eyes on my future wife, Paula, who I followed to California when I was 21. We were married on the beach. I stated working as a juvenile probation officer in Southern California. After several years we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where Paula and I attended graduate school at U.C. Berkely. In 1987 I obtained my masters degree in English. I studied James Joyce with John Bishop and poetry with Robert Pinsky and Gary Soto. I became a federal probation officer in 1990. Our daughter Tebben was born in 1991. After Paula completer her PHd in School Psychology, we moved to Connecticut to be closer to family. I continued to work as a federal probation officer and Paula is still a professor at Fairfield University. I retired in 2016 and began working as a mitigation specialist in federal death penalty cases. I wrote my three memoirs during the Pandemic and I am excited about my first work of fiction, a novella titled The Painter, which is being released this summer.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing ‘Hard Faith’ book?
Preparing an outline and deciding which stories to tell. Also obtaining input and perspective from my family and friends.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
When I set out to write memoirs, I looked for authors who have written memoirs who had a similar background as myself. I discovered James Brown, author of The Los Angeles Diaries, This River, and Apology to a Young Addict. He became a friend and mentor and wrote endorsements for Hard Knocks and Hard Faith. I’ve been strongly influenced by the classics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Moby Dick in particular. I wrote my masters thesis on Ulysses by James Joyce and was influence by Jack Kerouac. I’ve embraced a stream of consciousness style. One of my latest readers, Frederick Block, the author of Disrobed: Memoir of a Trial Court Judge and Race to Judgment, said my writing reminds him of Kerouac. Judge Block is writing an endorsement for The Painter.
Q4. What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
That would be Southern California, specifically San Clemente, where Paula and I were married in 1981 and lived near the beach until we moved to Berkeley in 1986.
Q5. Is there lots to do before you drive in and start writing a book?
Yes. The primary thing is putting together and outline for both non-fiction and fiction. In fiction, character development and vivid description of people, places and events is key. I loved writing The Painter. I came to know my characters but not always what they would do or say. This came through the writing.
Q6. How long did it take you to write ‘Hard Love’ book?
Hard Love was fast. I thing I wrote the first draft in a couple of weeks Again, I wrote all three memoirs during the Pandemic
Q7. On what all platforms readers can find ‘Hard Knocks’ book to buy?
All my books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other online sellers and through my publisher, Wipf and Stock.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the cover and the title of your books?
My daughter, Tebben Gill Lopez, is a talented artist and designed the covers for my memoirs. She read the books and responded by what moved her. She is also one of my most important critical readers, as is my wife, Dr. Paula Gill Lopez, who wrote the forwards for all three memoirs.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
Well first you just must write and not worry about your first draft. Writing The Painter was so different than the memoirs. Writing the memoirs was therapeutic, wherein writing The Painter was an adventure. I came to love and care about my characters and some of the emotional scenes that I wrote made me cry. The novella is based on true stories and characters. The main character, Giordano Bruno, the painter, is based on my close friend, Gaitano, who was a capo in the Patriarca Family who was convicted of murdering another mobster in the late 80s. I worked on his case when I was a federal probation officer. He now teaches art therapy at a residential drug treatment facility!
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
Book: Calvin, Center Of The Universe: The Beginning
Author: Doug Gonterman
Available On: Amazon
Language: English
Rating: 5/5
“Calvin, Center of the Universe: The Beginning” is an interesting story book penned by the author Doug Gonterman.
Main character of the story is a little boy named Calvin who thinks he is the center of the universe. He has proof of his statement. Read this fun-filled story book to know why Calvin considers himself as the center of the universe.
Story is imaginative. Language used in the book is lucid and kids would be able to follow the story easily. Illustrations are pretty and would catch kids’ attention in the first look. Cover photo is eye-catching. Go for this amazing Children’s Book. Your little one would definitely enjoy reading it.
“A Factory in my Garden” is an amazing book penned by the author Elaine Taylor and illustrated by Rachel Moss. Story features a little girl that has a garden. In the morning, when she goes outside, she sees factory workers busy in collecting the materials that are needed for day’s work. At the factory, the workers get down to work to make their well-loved product.
Read this story book and find out who these factory workers are and what product they make. Pages of the book are colorful. It is an engaging story. Kids would be delighted to read it. I appreciate the storytelling skills of the author. Illustrations are pretty and would catch little readers’ attention in the first look.
This book teaches a beautiful lesson to kids to keep the environment alive and healthy. The activity pages at the end of the book are something kids gonna enjoy a lot. Glossary given in the book is really helpful. Add this book to your children’s bookshelf.
The setting for the book is in Florida and Connecticut. By reading this book, the reader would get to know why the author is the way he is.
Through this book, readers would get to know how a kid’s life can get fucked up because of parents’ action. Steve’s parents divorced when he was five years old. His father took full custody of him as his mother couldn’t take care of him financially. He ended up living with his father and grandparents.
Steve was raised mostly by his paternal grandmother. He didn’t have any friends and was a loner. The only person on whom he could depend is himself. When he was around eight years old, he got a chance to spend some time with his mother. It was heart touching to read the author wearing a Rolex watch as it reminds him of a night with his mother.
I totally agree with the author when he has mentioned that we are not born fucked-up. We are created, formed and molded by a person or circumstances into who we become. This book has taught many important lessons to me. It teaches readers to listen to their inner voice. Writing style of the author is raw. I appreciate him for sharing his story with us. It’s a book worth reading. Go for it.
Q1. Hello Ma’am, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
I am a writer, author, and poet, each of which defines me a little differently and compels me into different places physically and artistically. What they have in common is a love for stories: when I meet people, I love to learn why they are where they are, where they were before, why they do what they do. In my case, the short answer to those questions is that ranching made me a writer, and readers can learn more about why as they travel through the stories in ‘Barbed’.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing ‘Barbed’ book?
The book version of ‘Barbed’ that is now published represents about seven years of writing and re-writing. Not wanting to forget the people who helped me as a rancher, I wrote down what happened—what we all did. The story around those events wasn’t clear at first because I was still living it, and it hadn’t reached its end, which was to be a publication offer, but I didn’t know that at the time I was working on the manuscript. I thought the story started and ended with my coming to and leaving the ranch. The story, and my publisher, felt otherwise.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Deborah Ledford was the first published author to work with me to make my writing into a manuscript. As a mystery author, she knows what puzzles readers will and won’t accept: whodunit? Yes. What ‘it’ means without an antecedent? No. Lisa Schnebly Heidinger was the one who said I had to finish ‘Barbed,’ a great honor and huge push at the time because she had literally written the book on Arizona (“Arizona: 100 Years Grand 1912-2012”), the state where ‘Barbed’ takes place. I listen to Craig Johnson’s Longmire books over and over because he is a master of weaving description into the narrative without having to stop for it. I aspire to that level of craft. I also revere Barbara Kingsolver, Alberto Ríos, Fredrik Backman, Neil Gaiman, Sherman Alexie, Ivan Doig, and others I cannot hope to emulate yet, and once I had written ‘Barbed,’ I felt that the very best I could with what I had learned about writing up to that point, I decided to go get an MFA to give me more facility for future books I hope to write.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
In the saddle of a beloved horse is a place like no other; probably the spot most likely to bring out my best self. I like who I am when I am simply in that moment with my trusted friend, and I am most disgusted with myself when I feel I messed up and ruined that moment for both of us. Thankfully, my horse friends have been very forgiving, which is part of why being with them is so precious.
Q5. Is there lots to do before you drive in and start writing a book?
Thankfully, to start writing, all we have to do is start writing, which is a frequent blessing for me, as writing is my second most favorite place in the world. To start turning that writing into a book, oh, yes, there is lots of editing, re-writing, and other re-visioning to make that story into the best version of itself. I often say ‘Barbed’ needed both Julies to make it work: the publisher who worked me from Soulstice, Julie Hammonds, and me.
Q6. How long did it take you to write ‘Barbed’ book?
I wrote the first draft in 2014. I revised it in 2016, then again, massively, in 2019 when Soulstice expressed an interest in it. I stopped work on it, telling Soulstice I couldn’t do it, in 2020 when I was also trying to run the ranch for a second time, then told them I wanted to try again when I realized coming back to the ranch was what the book needed to end on. Soulstice sent me an editorial letter about what I needed to fix in late 2020, and Julie Hammonds and I worked almost daily to bring ‘Barbed’ to a print version through spring 2021. In October 2021, we had an actual book in hand.
Q7. On what all platforms readers can find ‘Barbed’ book to buy?
Barbed is in print and an e-book. I’d like to read it to make it an audiobook, but I haven’t figured out how to voice the male characters…yet.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Barbed’?
‘Barbed’ was always part of the title. Julie at Soulstice pushed to add ‘A Memoir,’ hoping to interest memoir readers, a very dedicated market. I fought with myself, going several rounds, over whether I was allowed to have a memoir as a non-famous person in my forties. I had hoped to someday, but I didn’t think I’d start a writing career with one. Besides which, I wasn’t quite evolved enough to believe Sherman Alexie when he told an audience I was part of years prior that “you had an epic day today. You have stories to tell.” Ultimately I decided that if it were a friend of mine who was asking me, I would say ‘Of course you get to have a memoir! Everyone gets to have a memoir!’ I would never limit a friend, so why would I limit myself? The cover came from Lindy Martin of Faceout Studio. Soulstice wanted a Flagstaff connection if they could find one, and Faceout is run by a graduate of Northern Arizona University, which is right in town. Lindy had designed for Christopher Paolini, and since I had devoured the ‘Eragon’ books and she had a unique way of making a cover look like a gateway into a world I wanted to be in, I was quick to say ‘Lindy! Yes, Lindy!’ when Soulstice presented her as an option.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
Because the events that comprise ‘Barbed’ have a ‘you’ll never believe this’ quality that made me want to record them in the first place, I didn’t worry much about a fresh approach.
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
I did a lot of living between the events recorded in the Bootstraps and Begats sections of ‘Barbed.’ I went back to Spain to help my horse farm owner friend write his memoir, became fascinated with and visited every one of the (Alta) California missions, danced on both a rooftop and a stage in Las Vegas, and performed and got published as a poet. Most otherworldly of all, I accepted myself as a writer. These are all adventures I may write about someday, that added to the perspective I needed to revise and finish ‘Barbed,’ but they will remain unpublished stories for the time being.
“Hard Love: A California Memoir” penned by the author Ray Lopez is set in my favorite destination. Ray came to California with Paula. During the interview when his criminal history was explained, he impressed the interviewer by mentioning about the insights he gained during his journey through the system.
Ray has mentioned how Paula is industrious. She worked two jobs at a time, doing waitressing, managing house chores, cooking, etc. She was also Ray’s training partner at the gym. Paula is the kindest, beautiful and smartest person and Ray wanted to marry her. So, they said their vows and became husband and wife soon.
As the story progresses, we get to know about Ray’s struggles with alcoholism and how God helped in bringing his life on track. The story is worth reading. I am grateful to Lopez for sharing his story with us. This book is a hope to those who are struggling. Writing style of Ray is nice. Pace of the story is fast and you won’t get time to be bored. Go for it without any second thoughts.
Q1. Hello Sir, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
My name is Ryan Jacobson and I have been a middle school English and Geography teacher for the past 17 years. I live in the beautiful coastal town of Westerly, Rhode Island and in the summer months I bartend on the beach. Back in 2018-2019 I took a year off of teaching and bartending to travel around the world and write my first travel memoir, “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside.”
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing “The Adventure Of Mr. Brightside?”
The biggest challenges when writing “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside” was narrowing down all of the memorable moments I experienced when traveling around the world to just 36 short stories. Also, another challenge was accurately portraying just how beautiful the world can be. Sometimes there are literally no words to describe some of the wonders of the world.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
“The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger has always been my favorite book, and Salinger’s use of hyperbole, sarcasm and exaggeration has always made me laugh, even after reading it dozens of times. More recently, David Sedaris is the level of humor I strive for. Also, of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention the late, great, Anthony Bourdain, and my all time favorite author, Ernest Hemingway.
Q4. What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
My favorite spot in the United States to visit is Key West, Florida. I love how laid back it is, how friendly the people are, and how much it is intertwined with the life of Hemingway. There is a solid chance I may end up going to Key West to write the sequel to “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside.”
Q5. Is there lots to do before you drive in and start writing a book?
Specifically with a travel memoir, the obvious first step is to actually get the travel experiences and make sure the stories are there to write about. Planning a year of traveling around the world on three very different budgets is almost, itself, a year’s worth of work.
Q6. How long did it take you to write “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside?”
After the year of travel was complete, it took me about six months to write the actual book, and about three months of editing and re-editing.
Q7. On what all platforms readers can find “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside” book to buy?
I sell exclusively with Amazon (both the hard copy and the Kindle version.)
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside.”
The title is two-fold. First, when traveling around the world on very specific budgets for an entire year, things can occasionally get a little stressful… plans fall through, transportation delays and cancellations, traffic, language barriers, and getting lost are things that you come to expect when long-term traveling. Getting frustrated and/or panicking about these unfortunate situations only escalates the problems and causes additional problems in the process.
I have learned to take (the vast majority) of travel mishaps in stride, and look on the bright side of things.. That I am fortunate enough to be traveling around this beautiful world.
Secondly, the song “Mr. Brightside,” by the band The Killers, is my anthem.
On the cover I wanted to portray the three budget levels I traveled in, so I included an example of each accommodation type that represented each budget.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
While writing “The Adventures of Mr. Brightside,” I kept things fresh for the reader and myself but trying to include fun or interesting tidbits of information I discovered while researching each destination… also humor, and the “mystery” of how each chapter ends, and how I somehow miraculously survive each encounter tends to keep the reader on their toes.
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
The theme of the book ends up being much more of a how to avoid traveling the world, than a how to travel the world reference. I basically sacrifice my body in more ways than one to help the reader learn what they should NOT do when visiting each of the countries. It’s more of a “do as I say, not as I do,” memoir.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
“Hard Knocks: Memoir of a Small Moment” is the first book by Ray Lopez that I have read. Through this book, readers would get to know about Ray’s life, how there were cultural and language differences during his childhood. His bilingual parents used to communicate in Spanish to discuss secret matters.
Ray’s paternal grandparents were Roman Catholic and he was also raised like that by his parents. School wasn’t easy for Ray as he was reminded everyday by his classmates about his dark skin.
I am quick to get angry but after reading this memoir I have decided to stay calm in situations that can make me frustrated. Ray’s mom attended school events and encouraged him a lot. By the age of ten, Ray became alcoholic and that helped him to forget his troubles at school. For all the abuse he received in class, Ray was involved in stealing from his classmates. There were many letters sent to his parents from school. Read this story to know about the events of Ray’s life till his twenty-first birthday.
Cover photo of the book is lovely. I enjoyed reading this memoir. I got to know a lot about the author through this book. With faith, one could achieve anything. It’s a must read book. It’s a captivating story and I was hooked to it till the last page. Curious to read Ray’s next book now.
Sassy Reviews 