J Lenni Dorner

Meet C. Solet in this Debut Author Spotlight

Author of "Friends and Lovers"

Erotica ebook

This book really explains virtual booktours, what they are, how to prepare for one, what to expect from one, and why to do one. It also explains guest posting and how to make it work for your author brand. It’s well thought-out and easy to read. I’m really glad that I got this ebook. I’d recommend it to debuting authors as well as those about to publish for the umpteenth time.

The first 13% is all valuable information that will make you a better writer if you implement it. There are great tips such as “the setting in each scene should be unique and memorable” and “conflict needs to be recurring and frequent while varying in intensity.” The settings each have something for all five primary senses, people found there, potential conflicts, related settings, tips, and examples. A wonderful reference guide that could also be used for writing prompts. The book’s appendixes are very nice.

The writing itself seems to be well done. The characters are fleshed out properly. I could have done without the head-hopping chapters. It made me miss Paris, but for me, I understand the way that Will misses Paris, and feel similarly to him on the subject.

I'm not going to debate if life was "bad enough" for a fictional character. I can think of a dozen ways to write it to make it worse. There are events that separate a person from the rest of humanity. Scars so deep they prevent us from ever being like everyone else. This book discusses three of them with an emotional abandon rarely braved.

The book has inevitable spiritual and scientific debates. I've been drawn into heated debates about euthanasia and the appropriate or acceptable amounts of medically scientific interference that should be permitted for two decades now. This review of a fictional book is not going to contain my encyclopedia-worth of knowledge on the topics. The book is fiction. Besides, the book seems to have covered every angle of those debates. One of the primary characters is diverse only in the sense that he has a severe medical condition. I found other minor characters in the story who had similar afflictions to Will, but who lived very different lives than he did.

I would like to remind everyone not to feed bread to ducks. Seeds and lettuce in moderation are okay.

A good short story that shows how much one bold statement, one brave moment, can change a life. Believable characters. Good flow. Well-written and easy to read.

I received this ARC free from the mailing list. My review and rating are honest.
This was an exciting adventure book for young people. There's diversity in the characters. Emotion was well-done. The settings are spectacularly fleshed out. (I want to live in the cave house!)
If you cut down an early Harry Potter book to just the three of them on an adventure-of-purpose, you'd have the feel of this book. It reminded me a bit of my own youth, which is, perhaps, why I enjoyed it so much.

This dystopian novel has an interesting social commentary. It reminded me of the story of Moses leading his people to the desert. The character number-names were a unique and interesting idea, but took me out of the story at times as I tried to keep everyone straight. There was a lot of reassurance in how it turns out for one character, who proudly uses his name in a mental declaration three-quarters of the way in-- that was my favorite part. (He wasn't a .... he was a ... and that was just fine.) I wondered, as he did, why a certain group didn't go elsewhere. Their reason for staying seems flimsy-- but that's exactly the way people seem to be about not leaving an area, even when things are bad.

I won my copy of this excellent book from Sandra Cox’s giveaway.
L. G. Keltner — Felix Was Here — The story reminds me of the Stepford Wives. It also reminds me of the book The Invasion of Tearling, the Lily parts that I loved so much. A great short story that I can imagine being a movie or television series. 5 stars.
Sandra Cox — Rainers — This story is action, perfect tension, decent world building, brief insightful politics, and a sprinkling of romance. A liberal and a conservative working together to run things? What brilliance! 5 stars.
Sylvia Ney — WIN — Something about the story bothered me. Specifically, something about Brian’s character. Can’t put my finger on it. But to live in a world, in 2015, where the skill of reading books is almost gone– so sad! It about killed me when Navine didn’t recognize a library onsight. A very strange story. Not entirely unbelievable. 4.5 stars.
Michael Abayomi — Ground Zero — Interesting. Felt like a few minor spots could be tightened (phone began to ring — could just be phone rang). I’ve always heard it referred to as “the island of Manhattan” instead of Manhattan Island, but this is obviously a parallel universe, so I’m guessing that’s the reason for the difference. The speed Elijah managed to get out of the Empire State Building- wow. And in a hazmat suit yet! Impressive. 12 minutes. (10 minutes 36 seconds was the winning speed in the 2016 race-to-the-top in our real life universe.) 4.5 stars.
Crystal Collier — The Mirror People — Love the twist ending of Crystal’s story. Great concept all around. Very imaginative. 5 stars.
Yolanda Renée — Ever-Ton — Yolanda’s had great tension and plenty of “the feels.” (It still seems odd to me when Earth, as the name of the planet, isn’t capitalized. I guess that’s a style issue instead of a grammar rule nowadays.) 5 stars.
Cherie Reich — Folds in Life and Death — A beautiful story. Very touching and creative. 5 stars.
Hart Johnson — The Seventeen — Certainly interesting. Not my usual kind of story. It felt a little rushed, like parts were missing. Adverse effects from drug testing leading people to need to keep doing trials as the only means to support themselves, wow, that sounds scary and real. 4 stars.
Tamara Narayan — Scrying the Plane — Virtual reality with a massive multi-player interface? Minecraft? A reference to The Matrix? LOVE!!! The bus monitor hologram sounds like a great idea. Looking down at electronic devices long enough to wreck your neck… yeah, that sounds like something that’s coming if it’s not already here. 5.5 stars, out of 5, yes, because this was my favorite hands down.
Melanie Schulz — Haunted — A very different kind of story. I think it made sense in the end. Probably requires a second read-through to fully grasp the whole thing. 4.5 stars.
Average: 48 / 10 = 4.8 rounded to 5 stars.

It's the print version of Queen Song and Steel Scars. I realized this several pages in.
Queen Song:
"There is nothing so terrible as a story untold." Not just writing motivation, but a quote that explains the reason for this story. The lack of world building could make comprehending this difficult for anyone who hasn't read Red Queen. It's a good story, an interesting one. Nice romance. In fact, if the rest of the series weren't aimed at the futuristic-urban-fantasy genre, this could probably be a much longer book, a romance that's a stone's throw from Cinderella.
Steel Scars:
The REDACTED messages are a pain to read. I have trouble with the following line: They're aren't here, in the thick of things, I tell myself. I'm assuming it's a typo or a double negative. The theme can be wrapped up in this quote: She spoke of slavery, because that's what this world is. No one dares say it, but that's what Reds are. Slaves and graves. This story gives a glimpse of another character from Red Queen. Unless you've read that book already, you shouldn't read this one. It picks up about halfway in.

The REDACTED messages are a pain to read. I have trouble with the following line: They're aren't here, in the thick of things, I tell myself. I'm assuming it's a typo or a double negative. The theme can be wrapped up in this quote: She spoke of slavery, because that's what this world is. No one dares say it, but that's what Reds are. Slaves and graves. This story gives a glimpse of another character from Red Queen. Unless you've read that book already, you shouldn't read this one. It picks up about halfway in.

Queen Song:
"There is nothing so terrible as a story untold." Not just writing motivation, but a quote that explains the reason for this story. The lack of world building could make comprehending this difficult for anyone who hasn't read Red Queen. It's a good story, an interesting one. Nice romance. In fact, if the rest of the series weren't aimed at the futuristic-urban-fantasy genre, this could probably be a much longer book, a romance that's a stone's throw from Cinderella.

A fantastic book that trickles in like a new addiction. At first, it’s just interesting, and then it gets page-turning intriguing, filling the mind with new questions that demand answers. By the end, the next book isn’t a want, it’s a need.
Kvothe, the protagonist, tells the story of his incredible life. This book covers his youth and early teen years.
The world built by the author is not very different from our own world. There isn’t much that requires a great deal of explaining or severe stretches of imagination.
Appropriate even for conservative audiences. (PG-13)
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
“All stories are true. But this one really happened, if that’s what you mean.”
“When necessity demands it, I’m an excellent liar. Not the noblest of skills, but useful. It ties closely to acting and storytelling…”
“It was a dragon.”
“There’s no such thing as dragons.”
“There are names for people who take advantage of women who are not in full control of themselves, and none of those names will ever rightfully be applied to me.”
“Words can light fires in the minds of men.”
“We all become what we pretend to be.”

This little reference book was well-written and enjoyable. It talks about how we've come to perceive long term benefits as almost invisible. There are instructions for how to make a better mind-map or spider diagram.
"Unless you want to write as much as you want to live, you won't truly reach levels that aren't even in your thoughts right now." That's a perfect quote, in my opinion.
The book touches on how bursts of inspiration aren't sustainable and can lead to quitting, but should be applied to planning and researching. It suggests quantity leads to quality on ebook sites. Reading weekly challenges the brain, and not reading has terrible side effects on the mind and on life.
Near the end, the author suggests that it's time to stop saying that you'll do something someday-- make today that day. Don't fear not being perfect.
"If I challenged you to unbiasedly profile yourself as a character in a book, how would you describe your attitude?" This exercise not only got my attention, but it inspired me with a new way to look at my characters.

This is a great book filled with plenty of emotion. There are excellent character arcs. Self-sacrifice, love, family, protection, and survival are all well integrated. Symbolism pops up. Allegiant even manages to be politically relevant to the 2016 election.

Humans try to better themselves. They find out that these betters are still just human, they are failures too. In the disappointment, there's a propaganda campaign to blame the failed bettered for all the problems of the world. But the failed bettered (and the not so failed betters) find out that the world had problems long before they existed, so they aren't to blame. Then they fight their oppressors for the right to exist.

There is a movie with many characters that have the same name as those in this book. The movie has a similar setting and takes place in the same general timeline. It's a good sci-fi action movie. To call the Allegiant movie an adaptation or interpretation of this book is like saying the McDonald's BigMac is an interpretation of the planet Jupiter.

Quick and easy to read.
Fun exercises that are easy to do wrap up the lessons perfectly. There's no good reason to not have a bad guy after reading this book.

This was surprisingly insightful for such a short read. There are only 19 flaws and mirror traits listed in the final chapter (had the list been more comprehensive, I would have given this book all 5 stars). An enjoyable read.