Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Author Archives: Eowyn


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GUEST POST: How to Fail at Blogging or Succeed With Reverse Psychology

Gang way! Dog on a mission!

Mom and I have a mission here. We do honest book reviews. They’re not everyone’s bowl of kibble. Fine. If you’re reading along, you probably already know that.

But what you may not know is that we just bowed out of a book blog tour because the tour organizer wanted rainbows and roses, sunshine and unicorns only regarding the book in question. We don’t roll that way. We do For Real here. (More on that later.)

So when this honest, down-to-earth guest post by one of our new favorite writers, D.L. Kennedy, came along, it resonated. (D.L. Kennedy is the author of Thirteen Miracles. Read our full review here.) If you’re a discouraged blogger or a struggling blogger, this one’s for you. Take it away, D.L.:

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5 Simple Strategies to Build Your Blog

 

Does this sound familiar:

Are you are blogger? Would you like to control your own schedule? Do you want and make money at it? How about making enough money from your blog to be able to quit your job and blog full time? Let me show you how to build a money making blog!

 

Just enroll in my specially-discounted razzle-dazzle on-line course and you can make money with your blog, too!

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‘Blood Countess’ Poses Strange Dichotomy

Blood Countess

Blood Countess (Lady Slayers)

Barnes & Noble

(Amulet Books, 2020)

By Lana Popovic

Historical Fiction/YA

“Sick puppy,” says I, Kimber the Magnificent.

“No kidding,” Mom rejoins. “Seriously off her rocker.”

I’m not sure what a “rocker” is. But the antagonist in this book, Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary, is off it by about a mile and a half.

This is a weird book to peg or review. Mom started it the other night. She kept me up until one in the morning finishing it. Ugh!

It’s a gripping read. For sure.

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Finding Treasure in ‘The Lost Jewels’

The Lost Jewels

The Lost Jewels: A Novel

Barnes & Noble

(Harper Collins, 2020)

By Kristy Manning

Historical fiction

 

How can a heart be full of both sorrow and joy?

 

That’s the salient question at the core of this finely crafted historical novel by Kristy Manning. An ambitious undertaking, The Lost Jewels spans some four hundred years between 17th century London and modern day Boston. It features two strong female characters, Essie Murphy in the early 19th century, and Kate Kirby, present day jewelry historian.

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Why Did The Chicken Bus Cross the Road?

Adventure by Chicken Bus: An Unschooling Odyssey Through Central America (Resource Publications, 2019)

 

By Janet LoSole

Non-fiction
hi res ABCB.jpg

When the author first reached out to me requesting a review, I didn’t know what to think about this book. As in, What’s a ‘chicken bus’?* (Kimber: “Can I eat it?”) I was dangling on the rim edge of Not Interested. As a veteran homeschooler myself, however, I decided to give it a chance.

What a ride.

 

Adventure by Chicken Bus is a thoroughly entertaining, fascinating ride along with a family of four as they travel through Central America over the course of roughly a year and a half. With two little girls in tow, ages then-five and eight, the LoSoles roam all over the region, including the Caribbean coast, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico.

It’s quite the odyssey. Continue reading →


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‘Invisible’ & ‘Unbroken’: Two Remarkable WWII Reads

Combining history and biography can be a challenge, especially when the setting is a world war. But two recently read books do that and more, offering compelling reads that shouldn’t be missed. Both are set in WWII.

Here they are:

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10 Fabulous Reads for FALL!

“Fall is in the air!” Mom announced the other day. I’m not sure what that means. But Mom is skipping merrily around the house, chirping about “fall colors,” “sweater weather” and “hot chocolate.” I’d be just as happy with a nice, thick New York steak. Whatever.

I figure it’s only a matter of time until Mom breaks out that stupid bright orange thingy she hauls me into whenever we go out in cold weather. Pay off: Coming home to a cozy spot in front of a nice, warm fireplace.

Anyway, Mom says fall is a great time to grab a hot cuppa whatever and curl up next to a roaring fire with a good book! She’s got a list. Checked it twice. (I helped. The first list didn’t smell right.)

Here are some of Mom’s top picks for the season. Some are old. Some are new. All are worthy reads. In no particular order:

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Shout Out for ‘Bell Hammers’

Kimber here. “This looks fun!” says I to Mom. “And it’s not even bacon!”

Bell Hammers

This debut novel looks promising. It purportedly has a Mark Twain-ish ring to it (we love ‘ole Sam Clemens). We just don’t have time to read it right now.

But the author recently reached out to us. He asked for “a quick shout-out on your social media platforms on the 12th of October, the day it comes out.”

Well. Mom and I? We like to be helpful. So:

Shout out for Bell Hammers, a new novel that looks almost as good as crisp-fried bacon.

The book blurb includes:

Four generations of carpenters and lovers take on major oil and coal companies using pranks.

PRANKS. OIL. PROTEST. JOKES BETWEEN NEWLYWEDS.

AND ONE HILARIOUS SIEGE OF A MAJOR CORPORATION.

Says the author:

Critics compare it to Mark Twain, but I compare it to my grandpa’s old pranks.

Bell Hammers comes out today. Find out more about Bell Hammers here.

How was that?

Rating System & Submission Guidelines

This might also be a good time to re-introduce our Rating System & Submission Guidelines.

We’re getting quite a few review requests that do not meet our submission parameters. Please save yourself and us some time and effort by taking a few minutes to read our submission guidelines prior to contacting us for a review. We’re picky, okay?

Thanks! and Woof!


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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Monique Roy On Art, Historical Fiction

You know we’re big historical fiction fans here, right? Kimber here. Mom and I, we love the creativity of a novel balanced with actual people, places, and events. We eat that stuff up like gourmet dog chow! So when we were asked to review a historical novel about Nazi looting of priceless art items from Jewish owners during World War II, we ate it up!

The book is A Savage Kultur. It’s by Monique Roy. Read our full review here.

We reached out to Monique and asked her to do a guest post, telling us a little more about herself and her book. Why historical fiction. Stuff like that. Monique agreed. Here’s her post. Take it away, Monique!

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‘Thirteen Miracles’ & My New Best Bud!

 

Thirteen Miracles

By D.L. Kennedy

Christian Fiction, 2020

 

Kimber the Magnificent here. Introducing my new best bud, Bebo. He’s a blue-eyed albino boxer dog. Super smart. Loyal. Dependable. Totally fearless. Solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. All-around awesome. You know. Like me.

Anyway, Bebo my new best bud is the hero of this cool book Mom and I recently read. It’s called Thirteen Miracles. Humans probably think this book is about a lady named Abby Welles. She kinda has a crisis of faith after her twin sister dies in a car wreck.

Depressed, confused, and running on faith fumes, Abby travels to Mexico to find Jose Luis Hernandez, aka: Destiny Man. He supposedly knows about miracles. Abby wants to research and write a book on the subject. She heads into the Sierra Madres and the Devil’s Backbone to try to make some sense of her life’s loose ends. What she finds is more than she bargained for as something dark and evil stalks her every step.

But Bebo steals the show.

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