Anyone know where to find one of these beauties? It comes with its own 2-inch long pen!
Book Review: Roots Entwine by Victoria Bastedo
Roots Entwine by Victoria Bastedo
A YA Fantasy novel published by Fire and Ice Young Adult Books (08/21/2014)
Summary:
Joaquin was born unique, a blonde-haired blue-eyed boy with a powerful ability that some call a gift and others a curse. It is known as Phoshat. Kallum, on a king’s mission to find someone with Joaquin’s talents, describes the gift: “He’s capable of heightening his senses, to an amazing degree at times, whenever he chooses, and then calming his senses back into place until they are barely more perceptive than yours or mine.” (Location 2733).
This gift serves Joaquin during the mission by making him an asset in minute detection, but a liability in that the curse, if over-used, makes him ill and in extreme cases could cause death.
Joaquin learns to subdue his gift during the journey he makes with Kallum and their two companions Milte and Pearce, but will it be enough to triumph over the evil that has settled in Shenandya forest?
Keywords:
Fantasy, Action and Adventure, Coming of Age, Magical Abilities, Good Triumphing Over Evil, Nature
My Review:
This novel, like many great young adult novels, teaches the reader a lesson that Bastedo puts so eloquently in her book description, “A tree standing alone shades no one, but entwining his life with his team moves Joaquin towards the inevitable choice he must make for them. It’s up to him to decide what the sum of his life will be, and if his inborn ability will be a curse to him or the gift that saves his friends.”
This novel reminds me of one of Victoria Bastedo’s other novels, Sunrise Meets the Star, in that both contain a journey with a fantastic conclusion, having to overcome some essential characteristic to triumph, learning the power of friendship and loyalty, and being confident in one’s own abilities. Bastedo’s lessons are beautifully interwoven amidst the exciting plot and the quippy dialogue that make the novel flow from beginning to end. She has mastered the art of plot zigs, adding a depth to the tension that is the best combination of intrigue and of giving the characters room to make mistakes and grow.
One of my favorite things about the author is her character design. I fall for her main character every time. Bastedo gives me enough direct description and supporting action for me to know and understand the characters and follows through with just the right amount of perfection for me to be loyal to the character’s sympathies. Joaquin acknowledges his own choice in being a good or evil person with the opportunity Phoshat presents… “For no matter what, Phoshat is a part of me. It’s up to me to decide what the talent will become, a danger or a tool for good!” (Location 2958).
True to Fantasy as a genre, Bastedo gives me lovely character names that are fantastical, but no more difficult to pronounce than yours or mine so I’m able to read the story aloud in my head without the difficulty sometimes shoved upon the reader in fantasy novels. This is the beauty of a young adult novel and of a skilled author. Some of my favorite names were Malaya, Scarvus, Gridiron, and Shenandya. I was slightly hesitant whether Phoshat was the right word for Joaquin’s ability when I first picked up the novel, but I soon fell in love with that label as well.
Not once does Joaquin lament his birthright of Phoshat. I love a character that embraces who they are and with that embrace learns to control themselves and be confident in who they are and what they can accomplish. Joaquin only laments the fact that others can only see him for what the destruction and invasion of privacy the curse can cause. For most of those that are mistrustful of a Phoshat, Joaquin’s humility and politeness win them over. Don’t all parents wish their children as mindful of themselves as Joaquin!
Joaquin is not always on top of everything, because “…knwoing what was coming wouldn’t help him be ready to meet it.” (Location 776). He is, after all, still only a 15-year-old boy. He is not always the strongest. He is not always the most clever. He is just like any of us and that is why readers will love him.
As much as I loved the world Bastedo created, where she gives the reader a wide swath of land with many villages and not just one remote society, I thought she went a little over the top with the whole blonde-haired blue-eyed versus dark hair comparison. “But the worst combination of all was to be blond, blue-eyed, and the second son. Such was Joaquin’s fate.” (Location 104). The implications with blonde hair and blue eyes will never disappear and to invoke that in the opposite sense in a novel will always bring extra attention to the deliberateness of this choice. Being of dark hair myself, I did not dislike being a part of the in-group and when Joaquin proved that he would not live up to the rumors and legends of his own hair and eye color, I was also relieved.
I was let down by the lack of female characters. I know that not all books will be equal in every aspect of gender, race, etc but the females that did appear in this novel had very small parts and were almost completely unnecessary. I wanted to like Malaya, she has such a gorgeous name, but she kept acting small and childish and stubborn and rude. She was almost the exact opposite of Joaquin and I just kept getting annoyed whenever she showed up as the stereotypical girl. Perhaps she will grow out of her flat personality and into a warrior like a Shenandyan and Joaquin himself. I look forward to more by Victoria Bastedo.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reality grounded fantasy, Sunrise Meets the Star, or easy reading fantasy novels.
This novel was published by Fire and Ice Young Adult Books 08/21/2014 and is available on Amazon here.
TLDR Star Rating: 4.50
Links for more information:
on the web: http://freevalleypublishing.com/featured-authors/victoria-bastedo/
Book Review: Wonderkid: A Novel by Wesley Stace
Wonderkid: A Novel by Wesley Stace
A Novel about the music industry published by Overlook Hardcover (02/27/2014)
Summary:
Jack and Blake are brothers and the first part of the story begins with them in England, describing how they got into music and their aspirations as a rock and roll band. They find themselves thrust into “Your child’s first rock band.” (Page 88), making Everyone Music that is marketed to entertain kids and adults alike. It is described as “Punk for kids. Punk fur kids whose parents like punk. Music for kids with cool parents. Top of the pops for tots.” Page 69). The band is made complete with the twins on rhythm section and Greg, but the twins quit before the band makes a run on America and Greg quits as eloquently as possible just as soon as they get to America. These deserters are replaced with Becca Fonseca, nicknamed mum, on bass and Curtis, the non-controversial dreads and diversity drummer. The band is truly now for Everyone but they’d all gone a bit American and the shenanigans truly begin. After controversy Becca is replaced with Camille as the new bass player, “‘Black, very beautiful, quite serious, slightly eccentric, possibly gay, definitely vegetarian, and Christian.'” (Page 197). Camille and Curtis make up the responsible part of the band, and that says something of the other half. Blake has adopted Sweet, our narrator, during the England to America journey, and fame hits the band hard, the charts are risen through, and toes step out of line. They are a kids band after all. It all falls to pieces multiple times, but the band pulls through until the big bust and the big breakup. Mitchell the manager quits and Andy the Damager, their rep from the record company, is none too pleased with the whole affair. Blake goes to jail, goes solo, goes sane and insane. Then the big finale…
Keywords:
Rock and Roll, Fame, Wonderkid, Fake Band, Kindie, Musicians, Band Tour, Everyone Music, Rock for Kids, Glory Days
My Review:
“‘I want to be a musician when I grow up, Mum.’ ‘Well, son, you can’t do both.'” (Page 160).
Wonderkids could be the novelized version of This Is Spinal Tap. It all happened. It never happened. The truth is spit out all over the pages and Wesley Stace continuously impresses with stories that are too detailed not to have happened, but too entertaining to be true. In the beginning, as a rookie rock and roll fan, amateur musician, and reader, I was suckered into believing Wonderkids was a biography. Blowing through the final pages and looking up some of the facts to corroborate some of the more unbelievable details, I lean toward the other side: this is fiction. This is fiction so well documented that it has to have some truth.
The author, Wesley Stace, is himself a musician and I would like to imagine that some of the capers in the story and the personalities in the characters are built from his own personal memory bank and imagination.
Wonderkids was such a winding story, with so many characters and moments that I had to take some notes to help me organize my own thoughts and get a feel for the timeline of the band. The reader gets a good chunk into the book before the narrator is revealed in his own right as Ed Sweet. Before this sweet introduction, the reader is given first-hand details on two of the main characters. Did I mention that there are quite a few main characters? Characters with full personalities and whims that are such an entertainment for the reader.
I was fascinated by Blake as a person (one of the main characters). He was given many simple descriptions, yet remained a complex character given to his own moodiness. He was, in essence, a real person with real faults and character flaws. He had his good days and bad days, good decisions and bad decisions. Blake grew from rock aspirations to nonsensical story teller/songwriter to moody musician. His character was dynamic and molded by his experiences and decisions during his time as a Wonderkidder. He adopted Sweet, who was 10 years his junior. He loved to hang out with the kids of his audience after his shows. Blake is like the pied piper, children flock on and around him and are entranced. He entertains them and invites them to him. He says, “My patience for other peoples kids is infinite.” (Page 114). He is patient with the kids, but also extremely loyal to his own ‘family.’ He takes the fall for his adopted son and brother without resentment or bitterness. Blake is very much the parent, albeit at times misguided, whilst still lacking discipline for Sweet and himself. Blake puts himself under fire for Sweet without a second thought, as parents do for their children.
Our lovely narrator Sweet is the undirected teen who can’t help but get into trouble. Sweet’s Hamartia, if his fault could even be called that, is more than just sugary treats. He is misguided because of his role models’ poor examples in life and lack of parental discipline (also known as consequences), therefore his actions loom larger and larger until real life consequences kick in that affect the entire ‘family’ – the whole band. Sweet, however, is blessed with the motivation and maturity unbeknownst to most teenagers, and is “more than happy to be a handy marketing opportunity [selling the band’s merchandise].” (Page 107). He later becomes what he has studied in these younger years of his: a band manager.
I never much contemplated kids rock or kindie (indie music for kids). Is this a real genre of music? What is rock for kids like? Is it those Kidz Bop songs where kids sing rock songs in horrific A Capella versions? Is it a karaoke-esque version of something great, dumbed down for lesser ears? Censored lyrics? According to Wonderkid, none of these is true. Rock for kids is simply rock… for kids. The venues might be different and the audience might include children, but it is true rock. According to the great Wikipedia, kindie rock ” is a style of children’s music that “melds the sensibility of the singer-songwriter with themes aimed at kids under 10.” Children’s music veterans, Greg & Steve and Bobby Susser introduced various forms of kindie rock to the school supply industry in the mid 70s, and continue to do so, within their repertoire.” So it does exist… I felt, as I was reading this novel, that I was reading the history of kindie, that Wonderkids was the pioneer of rock for kids, rock for Everyone aka Everyone Music.
This novel is somewhat exclusive in its content and writing style, it is written for an audience that enjoys the haze of being on the border of something great or for someone who was there and knows and can point and laugh with the characters saying, “I know them!” or “I know that song, that reference.” But I don’t know them and I was not always sure what Wesley Stace was referring to in his reference-studded novel. Just like Ready, Player, One I still very much enjoyed the book and how well it was put together even if I didn’t get all or even most of the references. I understand the whole, but couldn’t get some of the pieces. For example, “He didn’t like the aggression in the air, the kids who’d stolen his baton, their scruffy seven-inch singles, their Xeroxed fanzines, their lapels full of safety pins and badges for bands whose art direction never deviated from the ransom note font.” (Pages 10-11). It takes a moment to sink in and the whole book is full of these moments, these heavy-weighted sentences and thoughts that it would take a course of study to get through the 300+ page book with serious clarity. Perhaps Stace’s audience is more intelligent or more up on the times than I am and perhaps you will be too, but I could still enjoy the fast-paced rhythm of his writing style and the fascinating story he was weaving throughout.
This novel makes me wonder if the life of a musician rising to fame and falling into nonexistence again is just like Stace describes. Movies might exaggerate, but do books? Is life this glamorous? According to Blake touring is… “Sometimes it’s a bit like getting married every day, eating the finest foods, drinking bubbly, being showered with gifts; eventually, you just want a day off.” (Page 278).
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys movies like Almost Famous and This is Spinal Tap or pop-reference studded books (with specific theme of kid rock or the music industry).
This novel was published by Overlook Hardcover 02/27/2014 and is available on Amazon here.
TLDR Star Rating: 4.00
Links for more information:
Book Giveaways! Goodreads Giveaways!
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Miscellaneous Mondays: 3.6 mile bike ride from home to work
The ride is 3.6 miles (according to google maps) if you take the bike lane next to the road. Coal Creek Parkway to Factoria and voile. Easy peasy. Well… I decided to try to subvert the bikes-merge-with-traffic mess at the Coal Creek Parkway Culvert Construction Zone and went off on a trail that looked promising. One fork later and I was bushwhacking with my bike. The trail narrowed and I stepped into some stinging nettles.
Why did I decide to wear shorts? Backtracking to the fork, I went to the Coal Creek Parkway area and lo and behold it dropped me right smack dab in the middle of the construction zone. Sorry cough cough construction vehicles. I had to climb over the railing with my bike and book it up the bikes-merged-with-traffic lane for 100 feet until the bike lane emerged again. Then sweet ride, slight hill, welcome pipeline trail distraction and finally the end of all ends DOWNHILL on Factoria Blvd all the way to work. What a trip! If I could pay attention long enough to calculate the time it took me I would guesstimate that it was approximately 40 minutes to bike back with minimal distractions (plus I’m such a weeny I may have -ahem- walked up certain hills).
P.S. Go Marty on your August Crossing (stay away from the nettles).
Author Thursdays: the Power Keeper’s Redemption
This is the start of a ‘trilogy’ I began planning some months back. How do you like the beginning? Do you like the first book’s title (the Power Keeper’s Redemption)?
1
Liesle held the switchblade steady in her right hand.
“Give it,” her voice quick-stepped over the two words.
“I don’t have it,” the man behind the counter said.
“We both know that’s a lie” Liesle stepped closer and the man stiffened, eyeing the weapon.
“I swear. I don’t have it. I. I sold it,” there was only pity in his eyes.
This made Liesle very angry and she swung the blade in an arc, jabbing the point up toward the man’s chin. He flinched, but she kept the knife from spearing into his throat.
“Where?” The question hissed through her teeth.
The sound of something dropping broke her from her interrogation and she swiveled on her heels without taking her knife from his throat. She saw nothing. She turned back to the man. He had not moved.
“Where?” she repeated.
“You can’t hardly be seventeen, you’ll get your chance to choose your own power.”
“Listen to me. I have waited for someone to choose the power of Repetition for a year. You were the only one. I can’t wait three more years, it’ll be too late. I need it now.”
A siren wailed in the distance.
Liesle narrowed her eyes at him, the knife wavering for the first time.
“I’m so sorry, Liesle.”
“Put the weapon down,” a power officer stood in the door of the convenience store.
Liesle continued to stare at the clerk, grimacing, and shaking her head. She slowly put the knife on the floor.
“You’re not the only one who needs that power,” the clerk said to her.
The power enforcer cleared his throat, commanding their attention. His eyes scanned Liesle’s history chart. He whistled out his teeth.
“Multiple counts of attempted robbery. Two counts of assault, one against an officer of the law,” the power officer read. “armed robbery is going to have severe consequences. You’re lucky that you’re still a minor,” the officer continued as he read down the list of her life’s un-accomplishments. His eyes grew wide. She knew what was coming. “Parents killed. You live with your grandparents now, eh?” He turned to her to ask. She scowled and glanced toward the abandoned knife on the floor. “And you are?” the officer asked, finally tearing his eyes off his scanner.
“Her cousin, Paulo,” the clerk offered.
“Really?” The officer said, elongating the word and looking from Liesle to Paulo and back.
A tear forced its way out of Liesle’s left eye and she reached up to brush it away. The officer spooked at the motion and leveled his weapon at her. At that moment another officer stepped into the convenience store.
It was all over. She had been caught again. This time she had committed a Grand Felony as a minor and through she held no power, the consequences would be severe. She was going to be taken from her home.
As soon as the power officers beckoned for her to accompany them to their vehicle, she panicked. Her feet pushed off and she was attempting to run between the two large men. She surprised the first officer enough to slip between his grasp, but the officer at the door was ready for her.
“Your reputation precedes you,” he said wryly as he shot her with a sedative-laced stunner. She passed out immediately, almost inviting the nothingness to consume her entirely and put an end to her miserable existence and her unfulfilled undertaking of revenge.
Alone in the Dark with my Electric Car
I am an electric car driver. To be specific, I do not own my car but am leasing it. I am driving a fully electric Nissan Leaf base model with quick charge upgrade package. As of August I can no longer charge at my house, although since I signed my contract last fall I had bought a home charging unit and had been charging at my house. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that the EV charging network works efficiently for me. For the near year that I’ve had my car (and it’s my only car), I have never run out of juice because of careful planning and stress-driving. I mention stress-driving because I don’t always know if I will want or need to make an extra trip on the one ‘tank’ so I am usually driving carefully to conserve fuel consumption and constantly mildly anxious about whether I will have enough. I have had my car and my experiences with the car for a year and so feel I’ve built up enough experience using the EV infrastructure to provide a useful and honest bit of feedback on how it has worked over the past year.
My dealer was kind enough to give me my first membership card (which I still had to activate) and I was lulled into a sense of false confidence that I was ready to hit the networks. Fact: There is no one network/membership for EV charging. Fact: I am part of three networks currently in Washington State, of which all three operate independently of one another and if you do not have a membership activated and in some cases a card in hand you cannot charge or it is very very difficult to start a charging session (i.e. credit card over the phone with an automated voice system).
Blink seemed like a wonderful network. It has a catchy name. They seemed to be all over the state. They had several quickcharge stations, which I had paid about $1000 more total to have use of in my car and was told that I could get to a “70% charge in 20 minutes” (I’m quoting my dealer salesman here). Ah the beauty of the last minute save that only takes a bit longer than the gas station to get you the mileage you need. But alas, this is not the case, see previous blog post here. Almost immediately using this network I found out that Blink was going through some “bankruptcy problems” and was no longer servicing ANY of their stations and I ran into at least 2-3 ‘broken’ stations.
Here is what Blink says about their network: “The Blink Network is a rich infrastructure of over 4,000 charging stations plus a customizable online dashboard. As a member, EV drivers enjoy discounted fees at charging stations across the country and more. (Charging costs vary based on local equipment operating costs and level of membership.) Blink Memberships are free, have no annual fee, and your InCard is free too. Learn more on our Membership FAQ page. Anyone can charge their cars at Blink charging stations– membership is not required. However, becoming a Blink Member has terrific advantages. Join today.”
Cue the need for a home charger and the sanctity of mind that came with it.
Chargepoint was my next venture. When I found out that not all charging stations could be accessed with the handy Blink card I had been handed with my car, I ran out and got myself a free Chargepoint membership. Wonder of wonders the first charging station from Chargepoint I stopped at was FREE. My goodness how wonderful. Not only was it free, I was able to snag a parking spot in an already full parking lot. Thanks Chargepoint. But the happiness stopped there. That same charging station (there are two ports) has since been ‘broken’ three times, causing me undue levels of stress when I assumed I could charge and then came to find that they were unusable. Chargepoint requires membership for station activation even for the free ones, so it is a mild hassle to just try to stop in and start use but after membership is established and the 7-10 business days’ wait for your card to arrive you are good to go. Membership requires a $25 deposit.
Here’s what Chargepoint says about their network: “ChargePoint is the world’s largest and most open EV charging network with over 18,500 public level 2 and DC fast charging spots. We’re growing rapidly adding over 500 new charging ports every month. Our mission is to help people make the switch to EVs and to provide an open charging network so they can plug in wherever they go. ChargePoint is focused on providing a seamless charging experience for drivers, partners and station owners. With ChargePoint, you can plug-in wherever you go. We provide our real-time data to drivers on the web, our mobile app and in car navigation units. We drive policy to support EV adoption and educate the public on why EVs are better – they’re more reliable, cheaper to fuel and maintain, better for the environment and provide a more thrilling driving experience. Every 8 seconds, a driver connects to a ChargePoint station and by initiating over 5.8 million charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 5 million gallons of gasoline, avoided 37.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and driven over 120 million gas free miles.”
I despise Semacharge. If possible, avoid at all costs. They charge about the equivalent of gas and five times the hassle. The two I have used were inconveniently placed and difficult to use and costly. I only activated membership because I had to use a specific charger and it was not possible to use without a membership. I had to send them $20 and they sent me back (after 3-5 business days) a pre-loaded $20 card, so don’t lose it!
Here’s what Semacharge says about their network: “SemaConnect is a leading developer and producer of smart networked electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and sophisticated electric vehicle software for station owners and EV drivers. The company launched in 2008 with the first ChargePro™ 620 edition, and EV software called SemaCharge. SemaConnect has successfully deployed thousands of charging stations nationwide, and is the top choice among class A commercial real estate properties nationwide. Despite not receiving large government stimulus funds for producing EV stations, SemaConnect has tenaciously persevered with organic commercial sales that displays true testament to the growing EV charging market. SemaConnect’s aggressive product, technology and software development initiatives within the commercial industry has led them to become the EV charging company of choice for top companies such as Corporate Office Properties Trust, PMI Parking, The Bozzuto Group and many more. The company’s philosophy is to innovate, design and build high quality products and services that help their customers move to a cleaner, greener future. Much time and thought has been contributed to the overall design, usability, reliability and safety of the station. This has allowed SemaConnect to produce a high-tech product that is durable, smart, and interactive and yet is easy to install and leaves a small footprint on any property. SemaConnect is one of the top tier players in the EV Charging industry.”
Money spent using each network:
| Blink | Chargepoint | Semacharge | |
| September 2013 | 0 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| October 2013 | 10 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| November 2013 | 0 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| December 2013 | 5 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| January 2014 | 5 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| February 2014 | 14 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| March 2014 | 2 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| April 2014 | 0 | Activated May 2014 | Activated July 2014 |
| May 2014 | 1 | 1.51 | Activated July 2014 |
| June 2014 | 5 | 1.43 | Activated July 2014 |
| July 2014 | 0 | 7.21 | 15.11 |
| August 2014 | 0 | 0 | 1.87 |
| Totals: | $43.00 | $10.15 | $16.98 |
Blink: Usage data not available
Semacharge/Semaconnect stats – total energy consumption: 43.316461 kWh
Chargepoint stats: 26 total chargeups, total energy consumption 91.507 kWh, 38.433 GHG savings (kg)
My rating of each network on the following:
On a 1-10 rating scale with 1 being on the low end/not good/poor and 10 being on the high end/good/great
| Blink | Chargepoint | Semacharge | |
| Network/Station Reliability | 7 | 9 | 6 |
| Search-ability using online map/app | 9 | 8 | 2 |
| Customer Service (availability/ease of use/usefulness) | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Ease of Use of Service (start-up, using charging port, etc) | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| Useful Location | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| Busyness (Available and not in use) | 8 | 8 | 8 |
I have walked alone in the dark because I was charging my electric car at an inconvenient location. If you are a station owner, please place your charging station where no regular cars will want to park because If I cannot get to the charging port I cannot charge. If you are considering putting in a station, ask yourself: Would my potential customer spend 3-5 hours at this location? (so don’t put it outside a Walgreens).
Shameless Selfies With a Cat
Wildlife Wednesdays: Goats in the Way of Getting Work Done
Rachel Barnard Publishes New Novel: At One’s Beast
Local Author Does it Again!
Seattle, Washington, July 14th – Rachel Barnard, a driven young author in the Seattle area released her newest young adult novel, At One’s Beast this month. The novel comes on the heels of the re-release of her debut novel, Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams (published March 25th, 2014).
Barnard began writing At One’s Beast last year during the Southern Cross Novel Challenge (SoCNoC – the Southern Hemisphere writing challenge mimicking the NaNoWriMo Challenge to write a 50k word novel in 30 days) in June. She began editing the novel the following winter, handed it to beta readers in the spring, re-edited in the summer and hit the publish button in July.
At One’s Beast is about a village that creates a monster… Every girl and boy in the village of Frey fears the beast who lives in the forest. Ten years ago, the beast was formed from the town’s rage — and the evil that lurks inside all people in moments of weakness. Every year since, the townspeople have sacrificed one of their own to appease his anger. This year the sacrifice does not go as planned. A young man saves the chosen girl from fate. She is torn between doing her duty and untangling the identity of her savior and captor. The young man grew up with thoughts of revenge on the town that turned their backs on him, but when he is close to the girl, he is reminded of who he used to be. From once upon a time to happily ever after, the people of Frey will have to rally together to rid the town of evil once and for all, but in the process will they destroy everything that is good in their world?
What did the beta readers have to say about the book? “Your action scenes are quite good!” and “I’m starting to get into the book and not wanting to put it down!” and “I loved the once upon a time opening – evokes storytelling, tells reader the type of story they are about to read.” (Bill Barnard)
Want to read more? Createspace Preview of Chapter one is available for your reading pleasure Here
For more information on Rachel Barnard and her novels, you can visit her website at www.rachelauthorbarnard.com
Rachel Author Barnard 