At first I wasn’t sold on My Dark Self by Jessica Huntley, but in the end I give it 4 stars. There were few typos/miss-used words in the early chapters that had me almost putting it down, but I kept going because I enjoyed the voice and was intrigued by the character(s). I’m not sure if the actual disorder is well (or factually) represented, but I am not really one to be bothered by inaccuracies if they do not affect my reading or engrossment of the book. The mystery was well kept up; when you think there is one thing, it leads you along, then tosses that thing you think you knew out and sends you on a new venture.

At times, I wasn’t sure I liked Alicia (I know she’s a psychopath, but I always like a love-to-hate character and I’m not sure I ever truly liked her) but she engaged well with the other characters and it was interesting how the POV shifted and kept us as in the dark as Josslyn was much of the time.

The final twist was well executed, although not totally surprising once we got there. I think some areas could have been expanded on in this quick read, but I definitely enjoyed it for that. Being able to pick it up and flip the last page in a short time frame made the dark theme fun and almost light reading-wise. Little things didn’t bother me because of the length. I love to read and write short, so this was really in my wheelhouse. I look forward to where the series takes us!

*spoiler free, so may be a little strange if you have read it, but it’s hard to talk about without spoilers so.... here we go*

Final Girls by Riley Sager comes off my TBR pile after a long time to an unimpressive 3 stars. It took me a long time to get into this one. I only kept going because I had heard so many good things about it, and its twists. For the first half I kept finding myself thinking of twists that it may be that would really piss me off, but I pressed on. The pace picked up some after the two-third mark, but at that point I was more finishing it to see it through rather than because I was into it. I found I didn’t like any of the characters: Quincy annoyed me, Sam was kind of a bitch, Jeff was bland, Coop was kind of creepy with his ‘helpfulness’ and so on.

In the end, I supposed I didn’t *quite* see the twist(s) coming exactly. I had a good idea where it was going with the killer, and it got a bit of an eye-roll when we got there. Sam’s surprise was a welcome relief, but after the whole book, it didn’t feel like it was worth it, and felt kind of forced in the speedy wrap-up. Am I glad I read it? I suppose. Was it what I expected? No, I wanted more into the final girls; I wanted the story, not the conspiracy. Maybe I had too high hopes for it since it was littering my thriller pages for such a long time, and it was unfair to start with. Although my always-gripe, I know there was some mystery at first as to the authors gender, but without any research I can tell you Riley Sager is male. I did get one or two of those eye-roll moments where you basically get ‘ she breasted boobily’ please, men, for gods sakes please stop. That always tears me right out of the story. I can’t find the line right now, but maybe a few more early female readers could help.

So, I know other people really like this one, and don’t run off on my account. But maybe reel in your expectations—it may be a perfectly fine book, if that’s what you are looking for. If you think it’s the next big thing—I suspect you will be a bit disappointed like I was. If you can justify a whole book for a couple of final-final act twists, go for it.

So PitMad happened, a fateful day of Twitter-posting our micro-blurbs to get an agent’s attention. Joy. But it’s a way to get noticed, and it gave me an excellent deadline for editing According to Plan. We’ll see if any agents want to request more than my query—which don’t we all love writing those too?

I wish I had some sage advice for you about either pitches or queries, but the best I can do is to tell you to ask for help! I posted my pitches several times for feedback and each time got critiques that made them better. People who had no idea what the book is about could help me pull the * big themes * and make the pitches even more snappy. I thought they must be pitching gods... then I started seeing other people posting theirs for help, and guess what? It’s so much easier to do other peoples than it is your own! So go forth, ask for help and give it in return, everyone’s pitches will be better for it.

No, if you want to know about writing a synopsis, I think we all loathe those, too. Mine is—well, mine is words that seem to sum up the plot. But I would rather go back to high school than have to do these things all the time. But the same logic applies. Share it out, swap it, read others and revise.

Off to research agents, and see what the next steps will be! Who knows, maybe this whole querying thing will go...According to Plan (sorry, not sorry)

I give Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman 3 stars, it should have been a book I loved. The promise of mystery, suspense and a twist ending got me excited to start it. I was interested, the main character Lisa Power is a writer and well known in her small town. A mysterious boy with no memory appears at her house.... I'm totally sold. Police are looking for him, but something is off, they seem hostile. She lies. She hides him and tries to find the truth. I'm still sold, although as I go on the waterfall of metaphors and the like are cascading off the page and getting in the way a bit. But I press on, I want to know what is going on!


Lisa keeps running around her home town trying to find allies and answers, but it seems that both are in short order. A few more things pop up that annoy me, I had to look back to see that the book was written by a man; it is- and it isn't anything big but there are a few times where it just screams off the page (Native Americans are referred to as Indians - something I wouldn't expect from the MC, and at one point he refers to getting an introvert o come out of their shell- sorry but no.) Lisa and her boy run all over town, blocked in and hunted. He remembers bits and pieces and she starts to figure his story out - it is eerily close to the plot of her famous book! What a coincidence!


Still, I'm on board, waiting for this ending that is promised to be amazing... I'm still trying here. We start getting bits from other character perspectives and things are starting to get hazy - I'm getting the idea that it isn't all Lisa thinks it is. I think I have a clue as to what is going to happen and I'm starting to get let down.


In the end I did not see the ‘twist’ coming, but I wouldn't register it as a twist personally. I'm sure lots of people were thrilled with it, but I found it almost as cliche as the ‘it was all a dream’ endings. The only thing that made me go ‘OK, alright’ were the two words that she mentions throughout. They are not the two words you think they are, but the reveal of that is too late to have enough impact. So it gets three stars, I finished it, it wasn't full of typos or anything. But I wouldn't pass it along to a friend.

Question: First, tell us how you came to be a published author and how you came up with the idea to provide services to authors.
Answer: I wrote my first novel, Esperanza: A Latina Story, WHILE I was still in college. The book follows the story of a 14-year old Mexican-American girl trying to get out of the barrio and make something of her life. Full of humor and refreshing dialogue, this book was voted as an inspirational favorite by teen readers. Shortly after that, I wrote the sequel entitled Beyond the Gardens, published in October 2009. In the second book, the lead heroine gains new confidence and strength as she learns the hard way that “you can take the girl out of the barrio, but you can’t take the barrio out of the girl.”
I write stories with strong and independent female characters that I, myself, would like to read about. When I’m not writing, I get my fill on reading for the enjoyment as well as to improve my craft.
Like every published author, I was emailing book bloggers, asking them to please review my book. But, like querying to a publisher, most of them were unresponsive and some weren’t interested. And, of course, I used paid services that would list my book in their newsletters, reaching potential readers that may or may not review my book. That worked out okay. But let’s face it: getting reviews is tough. It’s hard when your book isn’t well publicized and no one is willing to give it chance. That’s what started my book blog. Initially, it started as just a blog for my own personal reviews on books that I read. At that point, I started taking requests from authors and publishers. My own personal review would be free, but, of course, like every other blogger, I only chose the ones that I wanted and rejected those that I didn't. Yes, my readings tastes are pretty open in a wide variety of genres, but there are some that just don’t really interest me (i.e. westerns, politics sports, etc.) So how do I help those rejected authors get reviews? After all, I couldn't possibly review them all. That’s when I came up with the idea of starting a book club of readers and a review program to supply authors with more reviews besides the one that I give them. Readers can sign up to get free books from authors, and authors can get reviews for their books. It’s a simple, easy, and convenient program. And it’s working!

Q: How can this review program benefit writers?
A: The review program allows authors to list their books and reach a wide range of readers. It's been a hit so far! About 91% of participating authors get at least 1 – 2 reviews on Amazon, and we receive over 100 reviews a month from readers. And the best part about it is that we offer free ways for authors to list their book in our program. As an author, I totally understand that budgets can be tight, which makes it harder (maybe even impossible) to promote your books. Most authors shy away to any promo service when there's a price. What better price is there than FREE?

Q: What do you think is the most important aspect of a book to make it sell?
A: The story itself along with a fabulous cover is definitely important. But probably the most important would have to be reviews. Let’s face it: reviews are the life blood of any book. More reviews equal a greater online exposure and a higher sales ranking, which, could result in sales. My book, Single Chicas, has over 80 reviews, and that has given me more royalties on Kindle sales. The reviews made the difference because before I got no royalties, and now I’m surprised to actually see one come through knowing that I didn’t do any promotion. Book reviews are definitely the key thing here.

Q: How is your author review program unique?
A: My review program is unique because I offer a free option for authors, and I do that because I want authors of all kinds to get a fair chance at getting reviews for their books. Every book deserves a review. These are HONEST and LEGIT reviews. There is no buying reviews here. Readers are free to choose any book and reserve the right in whether or not a review gets posted. It’s all strictly voluntary and 100% honest.

Q: I see on your website that you also do graphics. Would you mind telling us a little more about
that end of your service?
A: As a graphic designer, I help authors with book covers, bookmarks, flyers, social media graphics, headers, and so on. I often try to offer clients bundle packages that include graphic design, book promotion, AND an opportunity to get listed in my review program to reach potential reviewers daily. I definitely know what authors want and I try to give that to them in a bulk deal.

Q: How can authors and readers sign up?
For authors interested in submitting their book to get reviews, please go to:
https://sandrasbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/08/submit-your-book.html

For readers interested in signing up to read free books, please go to:
https://sandrasbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/09/read-review-program.html

XOXO, Piper by Ginger Li was a super cute, sweet high school romance, and I give it 5 stars. Generally light and fluffy, but not without depth. Piper is thrown into a completely new life after being home schooled and her brothers caretaker in New York when she moves in with her grandmother in California and goes to a public school for her senior year.

One of the first people she meets is Asher, the popular, smart, driven guy in her class. He doesn't want anything to stop him from his self-made goals and pushes away his attraction for her with rudeness, in turn making her dislike him. When they are forced to work together, they get to know each other and we get to see their relationship change through both their POVs.

Despite following a typical enemies to lovers route, the author gives them plenty of back story to make them both feel like real people, and we get to know just enough about the side characters to make me want to pick up the next book in the series when it comes out and see what is going on with them on a deeper level.

If you want a sweet, clean, (spoiler?) happy ending this is the book, and likely series, for you.

** I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **

You may or may not know that I am also a horse trainer and riding instructor. When I started a break from teaching kids this spring, to give myself more focus on the writing (boy did I pick a good summer to not have to work outside every day- it’s already been filled with heat waves and downpours!) I couldn’t leave horses behind completely.

Thinking about my riding and what I told my students all the time—I used my newfound book design skills to create things for equestrians. I started with a goal-setting Riding Journal and a Handbook to keep track of all your horses info. Then I turned to a younger audience with an activity book and a trivia quiz book. It’s been really fun to combine my two loves; horses and writing, and I hope that my E.S. Damon Equine line can keep growing right alongside my fiction work.

If you happen to share the same interests, you can find all my equestrian offerings on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E-S-Damon/e/B091NG9659

You might have noticed I haven’t had a book review up lately. It’s not because I haven’t been reading—I’ve been doing tons of it, just none of it is published. With According To Plan in the beta reading stage, that means I’ve traded the job out for reading other authors WIPs too.

I love beta reading time, and I wish I had more time for it when I wasn’t needing to trade manuscripts. I’ll read nearly any genre to find a good beta partner and that means often reading things I wouldn’t normally pick up off the shelf. I’ve just finished a sci-fi dystopia about the uprising of a group of people who were told they were living on the moon, right alongside a YA retelling of Pride & Prejudice. Talk about some whiplash. And the biggest surprise- I loved them both! My favorite part was being able to give the authors some ideas to make the even better, I’ve even heard one has already gotten a partial request from an agent!

In return, I’ve gotten some really good feedback on AtP as well, places to improve and comments that make me feel like it’s going in the right direction.

Sometimes, after all my beta reading, I find myself trying to insert comments on the published books I read. Oops. I’ve just picked up a couple ARC books, so there will be more reviews to come, in fairly random genres, but I think it’s always good to read wide—everything is a learning opportunity.

It’s no secret that I love anything in the horror genre at anytime of the year, but something feels extra special about writing (and reading/watching) horror at Halloween. I am always part of any horror writing event or contest that pops up that time of year and I crank out whatever creepy thing might fit into their guidelines—when I’m lucky those guidelines are simply ‘horror’—and wait to see what everyone else has come up with.

I will watch a horror movie any-day, any-time. But for whatever reason it feels so much easier to write it around the holiday. Maybe it’s because I know everyone else is excited about it then too. My shorts are often firmly in the horror genre but my novels have led me towards thrillers; which is fine. I love those too, but I would love to get my Halloween mojo up for a full on horror novel next.

Maybe I should just pull out my spooky decorations and do up my writing room. Would that be strange? Can I hang up a bag of candy and reward myself after each chapter...that might be a good motivator. If I knock on your door and say trick or treat in July will you find something to drop in my bucket? Too far? Fine. But If I get that horror novel going, will you be down for it? Let me know, do you tend to read horror more around Halloween, or are you a fright-a-holic like me?

OK, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but the em-dash is one of my favorite punctuation marks. However, the number of keystrokes for getting one was driving me crazy—the default on windows is alt 0151—and when I’m on a roll, I don’t want to have something so trivial slow me down.

I don’t know a ton about computers, but grew up as ‘the one who fixed it when it broke’ in my family, due only to the fact that I was the only one willing to google stuff, and willing to try it out when faced with the blue screen of death. So I went back to my old ways and hit up google. It turns out making a script for it isn’t all that tough. I downloaded AutoHotKey, attempted to learn how to use it—and failed—then hopped over to the forums instead and found my answer.

Once you have the program, open a new script. Right-click anywhere and it’ll be under the ‘new’ menu. Use this code:

:?*:---::{ASC 0151} ; em dash

Inserting whatever keystrokes you want to customize for the --- . I used a double comma since it’s easy and never comes up organically. Hit save, then double click the script file icon to run it. BAM em-dashes for all!

Here's the discussion forum link for anyone interested in more about how it works.