These are all books by people I (kinda) know!

During the past two months I’ve read a number of books by authors who I have either met in person or online. I’ve had the privilege of reading a few of these books as a beta reader—giving advice (sometimes minimal/sometimes more than that) for possible changes before the book was published. I feel it’s an important disclaimer to give you before I review these books and recommend them to you.  

It’s that time again . . . it’s almost Halloween. Or for those who follow a slightly different calendar, Samhain, is nearly upon us. This is when the veil between the worlds thins and makes it easier for us to commune with the spirit world. (Are you feeling the spooky vibe yet?)

Are you looking for ghostly, eerie, witchy, creepy, spine-tingling reads this year?

Or even just a little non-frightening Halloween fun in book form?

I have some excellent book lists for all ages and fright levels. Nine lists . . . because nine is a magical number.

This past week, I was invited to the cool kids’ lunch table . . . The Tall Poppy Writers invited me to take part in their Book Blogger Appreciation Week on their reader site: Bloom: A Group for Tall Poppy Readers.

I have been immersed in dystopian, post-apocalyptic fiction during the past two months. What’s new? Everyone knows I love that sort of story!! However, the truly outstanding reads were a memoir and two works of contemporary fiction.

I have not had time to read much in the past few weeks! This makes me sad, but that means I’m getting a lot of other things done. (Or maybe it means I’m watching too much TV? More about that below!)

There are four outstanding writers who entertained me during the months of April and May, Beth Flynn, Theresa Shaver, Nora Roberts, and Holly Tierney-Bedord.

I’m so glad to talk with author R.R. Campbell about his upcoming 2018 release “Accounting for it All”. Campbell is a Wisconsin author and editor as well as the host of Writescast, a podcast for writers, by writers.

Ryan, tell us a little bit about how you got started writing. Have you always been a storyteller?

Welcome back to author Amanda Zieba, who I first introduced you to in the kick-off post for 2018 on Forging (Real Person-to Person) Connections. I appreciated very much Amanda's post about writing book reviews--so much so that I'm giving the whole thing to you here.

With more than 20 titles checked off the list in February and March, I have more than a few stand-out favorites to share with you.

In the past few weeks I’ve given five-star reviews to the following children's books and featured the titles along with interviews of the authors. 

“The Field” by Baptiste Paul