Four Circles now available on Amazon.com!!

After all of my hemming and hawing, whining and complaining, writing and editing, revising and reproducing, and general hard work, finally, Four Circles is available on Amazon.com.

It can be read on any portable device (ipad, iphone, kindle, kindle fire, nook) or on a pc or mac by downloading the kindle for pc/mac to your machine. It's quite simple as can be attested to by the fact that my mother and John were both able to do it and don't consider themselves technophiles.

The learning process has been very interesting but, basically, to improve the book's "market share" what I need is for my faithful readers (thanks for hanging on for over a year as I waned in my postings) to buy the book (it's only $5.99 which is equivalent to a coffee at Starbucks or a glass of wine) then - and this is most important - go to amazon.com and write a review (5 stars please!).  The more reviews the better it will be rated and the more people will get to read it. Finally, like my page on Facebook for updates on speaking engagements or other fun Four Circles facts.

Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member the book is free!!

Thank you for all of your support!

Lisa

Purchase Four Circles here: Four Circles by Lisa Vallier
Download Kindle for PC here: Kindle for PC
Download Kindle for MAC here: Kindle for MAC

Winter Born - Nicole Burrill

I saw a link to this novel on FaceBook and being that it was a page to which I belong I thought I'd give it a try. I've never downloaded an e-pub book before but this first one proved I've waited too long to jump on the bandwagon.

Erica is a Bostonian who has a falling out with her well to do boyfriend. She escapes to her great-aunt Bea's house to try to hide from both the boyfriend and his Machiavellian father, Simon Greene. As the story unfolds we learn that Erica's life has been interwoven with the Greene family since she was a child, for good but mostly for bad.

 
Upon reaching her aunt's house in the frozen woods of Northern New England, Erica meets a slew of town folk who take her under their wing and, of course, a man who is the polar opposite of the boyfriend she left behind. Rusty, it turns out, has a story of his own and it is equally as tragic as Erica's. Each page of this novel draws the reader in by making the characters and their motivations more clear bit by bit.
 
WINTER BORN captivated me from the beginning with its quick pace and lively characters. The weaving of shared secrets and intricacies throughout the prose kept me coming back each night and staying up a little later. It's a quick read and can be dowloaded to any e-reader for only $2.99 on Amazon. I would recommend you give it a try!

Away - Amy Bloom

I am tip-toeing back into my blog. My real work has been crazy but this summer I've been getting the chance to read more and Away by Amy Bloom (which I read which I was actually "away") was a great book and deserves a(nother) positive review.

Away is the story of a Russian immigrant who came to the US during the hey dey of Ellis Island. At its core the story is about the kindness of strangers and the ability of people in desperate situations to see the good in any circumstance.

When Lillian arrives on the shores of NYC she is given room and board by an aunt but is quickly taken under the wing of a NYC theatre producer and his matinee idol son. The men's treatment of Lillian is abhorrent yet she views them as giving her opportunities she would never have had at home.

When a cousin arrives from Russia, hoping to take Lillian's place in the theatrical world, and tells Lillian her long assuming dead daughter is actually alive, Lillian takes to the road hoping to reach Serbia and save her daughter from the hands of, what she assumes are, evil relatives.

Her travels, her loves, and her adventures from coast to coast fill out this turbulent story with an ending that is surprising and realistic without being disappointing. Amy Bloom's writing is superb, not too descriptive yet drawing you in with carefully laid out detals that draw you into the heart of the places and emotions that make up the bulk of this novel.

At 256 it is a quick yet extremely moving read. Pick it up!

Taking a break

I'm taking a break. From reading. From writing. I'll be back but right now I'm letting myself take a break. Keep your google alerts on because one day soon - "I'll be back".

The Kitchen House - Kathleen Grissom

I read The Kitchen House too close to reading The Help. The two stories are extremely different and set in completely different time frames, which may speak to a white reviewers inability to seperate two black stories from each other. Where The Help had some likable white characters, The Kitchen House had few. The main characters of The Kitchen House are a black woman, born of the father of the current master of the house but too black to pass for white so she's raised as a servant, and a white orphan from Ireland who joins the family when she is four but is relegated to the kitchen and raised with the servants for most of her life. Eventually the white girl, Lavinia, is educated by t master's wife and takes her place among white society. The plantation's family is dysfunctional to say the least. The master travels until his death, handing the family business over to his troubled son. The son, not realizing the pretty black girl in the kitchen is his sister, rapes her and then drives the family business into the ground but not before marrying Lavinia and wreaking havoc in his path.
If you are a history buff and don't mind reading about death, destruction, and the pain of slavery this book may be for you.

Super sad true love story

I started this book and couldnt' get past page 25. Once I realized the talking otter was real, I just couldn't keep reading. It seems I may be the only one that doesn't like this book though because it was written up in Oprah and, ever since, has been on the best seller list. This, of course, begs the question - Does Oprah make the best seller list or....well, nevermind, Oprah obviously makes the best seller list.

Room - Emma Donoghue

In Room a son describes in playful and vibrant details his mother’s ability to create amazing and fun games from everyday objects. They play eggsnake (a snake made of eggshells) and move furniture for Jack to practice his running. Jack revels in his mother’s games and forgives her occasional inability to get him things he wants (like candles for his birthday cake). The biggest inconvenience in Jack's young life is that he must begin his evenings in the wardrobe in order to avoid running into a man named Old Nick.
Old Nick is Jack and his mother’s captor and, it turns out, Jack’s biological father. When Jack’s mother hatches a plan to escape, Jack is thrown into a brand new world he doesn’t want and can’t understand.


Room takes a topic that could be dreadful - kidnapping, rape, abuse – and turns it into a story of love, perseverance, and hope.

I read this book in about 3 days (hours, here and there). It’s a quick read and very unique. I definitely suggest you pick it up. The website for Room is very cool, it has an actual rendering of the "room" with voice over narration - Inside Room.

On that note, after speaking with an author friend of mine (I’ll let you guess who that might be), my reviews are going to go back (toward) the more honest. I can’t read a book without reviewing it so I’m going to try to give it to you mostly straight and only recommend the stories I really like. I’d love to hear if you agree with my choices or not. Please leave comments when you are so inclined.

Thank you for visiting my blog.