#BookReview – The Man in Blue by C.S Luis

The blurb reads,

“The Man in Blue

Claudia Belle never imagined what life would be like with her parents gone. Now she must face that horrible reality.

With her parents, dead and her grandfather a perfect stranger, Claudia has never felt so alone. Her mind-reading abilities have always made her feel like an outcast. And now will those same abilities reveal who she really is?

Following the death of Dr. Edwards, a new principal is sent to take his place, undercover for a secret organization called The Company. The Man in Blue’s true mission is the identification and eradication of alien life forms. The entity he pursues, this time, is as dangerous as they come. He must identify the source of the creature’s powers to capture the subject and complete his job.

There is just one problem, his one weakness: women. And Claudia fits the description of his dream girl.

Success or downfall. Which outcome awaits him?”

 

I absolutely loved reading this book. I only had to read the first chapter and I knew I would like it. The book had my attention from the get go and I didn’t realize when I had read over a 100 pages in one sitting.

The mystery involved was an intriguing one and I loved the different points of view which got me to the conclusion. I was gunning for the characters and I could feel every emotion they felt. I can’t agree enough with the other reviewers when they say the book is captivating.

Each chapter brings out a new facet about the character or some background which is like one more piece of the jigsaw puzzle that fits in place. That makes the book a thoroughly engaging experience.

The one part which really got to me was Claudia when she loses her grandfather. Having lost a grandparent recently, I can imagine the pain, the void that this loss leaves. And in that sense, I could feel how well the book was written. I really felt every emotion Claudia went through.

I will definitely be reading the next books in the series.

#GuestPost – America’s Reality Today by Jamell Crouthers

The concept behind me writing America Under Mind Control was to enlighten people on how much we are controlled mentally on a daily basis. What we fail to realize is society programs and trains our minds to act and be a certain way. Whether we know it or not, we surely don’t take the time to understand the messages being conveyed to us everyday.

From the moment we are coherent and able to speak as little children, there are messages being told to us. While we don’t realize that as children, as we get older, we should start to grasp the concept that the world does anything and everything to control our minds and keep us separated from each other.

Let’s just take the education system for example, which is something I do delve into toward the end of my book, do you remember anything that you were taught in school? Besides the basics of learning the alphabet, learning to write and simple functions of math, how much of what you were taught actually relates to your life?

You ever take the time to question what you were taught in your history books and science books? Probably not because you took everything those teachers taught you at face value. Meanwhile, a lot of it were all lies but at this point, how much do we care?

We were taught to be obedient in school, respect authority, don’t question what you’re being told. You ever catch yourself sitting with someone or in a meeting with people and you have your hands folded most of the time? Yup, that was indoctrinated into your mind and you subconsciously do it now because you did it so much repetitively that it’s ingrained in your mind.

This all works perfectly into a Corporate America environment where you are to respect authority, don’t challenge the big bosses and do what your told. America teaches you to go to college, bury yourself in debt, get a plethora of degrees only to be paying loans back a large percentage of your life which makes you what?

You ever notice you’re not taught the most important aspects of life? Critical thinking, cognitive thinking, challenging yourself and others. The most important things you learn in life you learn on your own or through others, opening a bank account, money management, stocks and bonds, buying a car, buying a home, building and growing your own business. Imagine if we were taught through hands on experiences (which is what life mostly is when you think about it), but that’s not what the rich and wealthy want from you.

Take the time to just think about that alone and then imagine how many other things the wealthy people are doing to control your mind. I tackle things such as music and radio, television, our shopping habits, print media, gun control, technology, credit cards, gambling, student loans, the food you eat, politics, diseases and medicine and many other things.

Until we start understanding and realizing the world around us, we will continue to be average, we aren’t meant to live a life like that. If you have an open mind about life and the world, my book is definitely worth reading, it’s available on Amazon and other bookstores.

Jamell can be found at :

Social Media Info:

Website: www.aquarianmind.info
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aquarianpoet1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/aquarianmind
Twitter: www.twitter.com/aquarianmind1
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/jamellcrouthers
Google Plus+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JamellCrouthers
Author Profile Page: www.bublish.com/author/view/6877
Amazon Page: www.amazon.com/author/jamellcrouthers

You can get America Under Mind Control on Amazon:

Quotables #21 on Music and Radio

Yes I’m music and I’m the radio, and you know you love me,
You can’t escape me I’m not that far away and I’m always near.

 

-Jamell Crouthers

#BookPromo – The Song of Sending by Corinne O’Flynn

Books, Food and Me is glad to host the Holiday Hop Promo for RogerCharlie!

 

The blurb reads,

“They told him his world was destroyed.

And they were the last to escape.

They thought he was safe.

They were wrong.

Seventeen-year-old Jim Wales can communicate with animals, but that’s not why he lives with a traveling carnival. Turns out his family’s been hiding him there since he was little, since someone started hunting all the scholars. Jim is a scholar–someone who can manipulate energy using magic–and he has no idea.

When a message arrives from Jim’s father–who supposedly died twelve years ago–Jim’s whereabouts are discovered, their carnival is attacked, and his mother is kidnapped. On the run with a strange glass map and a single coin, Jim finds himself racing to reclaim the father he thought he’d lost, plotting to save his mother, and discovering the truth about who he is.

But going home isn’t the same as being safe, and trust is everything.”

 

 

Find Corinne O’Flynn at The Expatriates series online:

Official Website
Goodreads

Google+
Facebook
Twitter

Instagram

Amazon

 

 

 

#BookPromo – The Rampart Guards (The Adventures of Jason Lex #1) by Wendy Terrien

Books, Food and Me is happy to be hosting the Holiday Hop for RogerCharlie!

The blurb reads,

“After his mom disappears, Jason Lex and his family move to a small town where he has no friends, no fun, no life. Things get worse when he’s chased by weird flying creatures that only he can see—Jason thinks he’s losing it.

But when Jason discovers new information about his family, he’s stunned to learn that creatures like Skyfish, Kappa, and the Mongolian Death Worm aren’t just stories on the Internet—they’re real and they live unseen alongside the human race. Many of these creatures naturally emit energy capable of incinerating humans. An invisible shield keeps these creatures hidden and protects the human race from their threatening force, but someone, or some thing, is trying to destroy it.

Unsure who he can trust, Jason is drawn into the fight to save the people closest to him, and he finds help in surprising places. Confronted with loss, uncertainty, and a devastating betrayal, Jason must make a gut-wrenching decision:

Who lives, and who dies.”

Find Wendy and The Rampart Guards Online:

Official Website
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

Instagram

Amazon

The Jakkattu Vector Release Blast!

Welcome to another Novel Publicity tour! We’re so excited for the release of The Jakkattu Vector by P.K. Tyler that we wanted to celebrate with a great giveaway featuring a Kindle Fire, one of a kind Jakkattu Vector bookmark and a special book bundle from the author herself!

About the Book

They came as saviors to a deteriorating Earth

Julip Thorne questions whether there is more to life beyond the barren dirt, acidic seas, and toxstorms her people work and die in. Living in poverty on the withering Greenland Human Reservation, she wonders if the alien Mezna goddesses are truly as holy as the temple preaches. Julip begins to dig deeper into the history of the planet and her leaders’ rise to power. But nothing can prepare her for the atrocities she uncovers.

Meanwhile, Jakkattu prisoner Sabaal suffers constant torture and heinous medical experiments as her Mezna-priest captors seek to unlock the key to her genetic makeup. Escaping from captivity, she finds herself suddenly alone on the hostile alien planet of Earth. To survive, she’s forced to work with the same Mezna-human hybrids she’s loathed her entire life, but the more they work together, the more they realize that their enemy is the same.

When humans and Mezna collide, will Sabaal turn out to be the genetic vector the Mezna have been searching for all along, or will she spark the flame that sets a revolution ablaze?

About the Author

P.K. Tyler is the author of Speculative Fiction and other Genre Bending novels. She’s also published works as Pavarti K. Tyler and had projects appear on the USA TODAY Bestseller’s List.

“Tyler is essentially the indie scene’s Margaret Atwood; she incorporates sci-fi elements into her novels, which deal with topics such as spirituality, gender, sexuality and power dynamics.” – IndieReader

Pav attended Smith College and graduated with a degree in Theatre. She lived in New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off-Broadway. Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry for several international law firms. Now located in Baltimore Maryland, she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not penning science fiction books and other speculative fiction novels, she twists her mind by writing horror and erotica.

You can follow PK Tyler on Facebook, Twitter, and sign up for her newsletter, or visit her website here.

I’m so so happy to be able to promote this book through my blog! Pav is an amazing writer and I wish her all the success in the world! Grab a copy at smarturl.it/Jakkattu1

 

Grab a copy at smarturl.it/Jakkattu1

 

The book has launched to some on fire Amazon Rankings!

Get a copy of the book at smarturl.it/Jakkattu1

The book is on tour with Novel Publicity with some excellent prizes to be won!

 

 

#BookReview – Threads of Silk by Amanda Roberts

The blurb reads,

“When I was a child, I thought my destiny was to live and die on the banks of the Xiangjiang River as my family had done for generations. I never imagined that my life would lead me to the Forbidden City and the court of China’s last Empress.

Born in the middle of nowhere, Yaqian, a little embroidery girl from Hunan Province, finds her way to the imperial court, a place of intrigue, desire, and treachery. From the bed of an Emperor, the heart of a Prince, and the right side of an Empress, Yaqian weaves her way through the most turbulent decades of China’s history and witnesses the fall of the Qing Dynasty.”

 

I absolutely loved reading this book. For some reason, I’m very attracted to reading books about China and their culture and this book completely hooked me from the get go.

The one thing that I keep wondering about, was how restricted Chinese women were, and I know, after reading this book, that I’m being remarkably blasé saying Chinese when I probably mean Han, who the protagonist is. The binding of the legs, the matchmaker, their customs. It strikes me as being a completely different world. I can’t imagine the way women were simply treated as child bearers and having no importance in the household. I suppose, there are a lot of countries where women are still treated that way, but reading the extent to which lives were mechanized there in China really amazed me.

I find myself drawn to their history and culture, probably because they have preserved it so well. Their knowledge of their own traditions is intact and accessible. It makes studying or immersing yourself in their culture a rewarding exercise.

Reading about the Qing empire made me research about them on Wikipedia, and it was especially interesting to note how the British landed in the country and went ahead spreading Christianity in the country. I find that an extremely sore point and it angers me to know that countries still routinely send missionaries preaching the superiority of their religion over others. And forcibly converting people. The grim realities in villages in India and Sri Lanka supports me when I say this practice is absolutely disgusting. And to know that it got to China and its people earlier really hurt me. I wish Christianity and Islam as religions stuck to their own roots and did not seek others to add to their religion like a flock of lambs. This behavior is crude and I wish leaders had the guts to call it out globally.

I do digress. Reading about Empress Dowager Cixi showed me a different side to her. Wikipedia spoke about the decisions that she took and the failures that resulted in the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, and yet, I felt Cixi was very smart for most of her life. She showed that if a woman is given the reins and she has enough confidence, she can go the distance.

I spent a few nights completely absorbed reading about the collapse and the end of the Qing Dynasty and reading about how foreign invasions hurt them. And how their loss in wars hurt them. I’ve always felt colonial expansion deprived our world of a lot and this book reinforced that. To say that every country colonized has lost a great deal would be.. diminishing the true extent of the depletion in world culture that resulted.

I absolutely absolutely loved this book. I loved how this book transported me into the Royal Palace in the Forbidden City and how vividly every scene played out! I really wish more such books come my way which transport me in history.

My Rating: 4.5/5

#So-So : A November Bride (A Year of Weddings 1 #12) by Beth K Vogt

The blurb reads,

“Can a decades-long friendship marred by two romantic missteps ever lead to happily ever after?

Sadie McAllister’s clients know how lucky they are to have her: an ultra-fastidious personal chef who leaves behind a spotless kitchen and a week’s worth of mouth-watering meals.

Erik Davis, her best friend since middle school, is content to enjoy Sadie’s culinary skills too while maintaining their “friends only” status. Most of his energy is focused on his just-launched freelance business and casual dates that never come close to a commitment.

But when Sadie is offered a once-in-a-lifetime cooking job across country, Erik realizes maybe he’s taken his best friend for granted. Even more, he’s about to lose his only chance for lasting love.
How can Erik convince Sadie that the well-known adage “Marry your best friend” just might apply to them? With God’s help, can they both move past their assumptions about each other and their future? Should Sadie and Erik risk taking their relationship to the romantic point of no return? If they do, their decades-long friendship is as a good as done . . . unless it ends at the altar.”

I picked this book up when I was in Goa on vacation. I downloaded it on my Kindle and started reading it. I remember already having started reading it and I wanted to finish it so that I could complete my yearly target on Goodreads.

I read a Zondervan after so long. I think I skipped a few titles in between but then I finally decided to finish reading this one. The story is simple. The blurb explains it quite well. And I was excited to read a Novella which was NOT based in a small town. There had to be something more than what happened in the small towns.

So the book starts off with Sadie being dumped yet again. And her trying to move on, with the help of her best friend, Eric. And then how one decision helps them both decide.

Now there will be a few spoilers!

Sadie is a chef. I love that atleast some Zondervan book shows a woman as something more than just a prize to be won over. (Correction, the December Bride does show the Protagonist as a Designer). Anyway, Sadie gets the opportunity of a lifetime and then she throws it in the mud to be with Erik. Doesn’t sound too great does it?

Sadie and Erik have been friends for the longest time ever. And with such friendship, comes a camaraderie which makes you familiar with everything there is about the other person. When such a familiarity exists, is it not natural for you to fall in love? Turns out Erik and Sadie did have a bit of a history in school. And now they both resist coming together.

Until,

Sadie gets the opportunity of her lifetime, she gets a chance to grow and to expand much more than she had before. And at that particular time, Erik in a typical chauvinistic fashion, realises that Sadie’s moving will disrupt his convenient life, and his only chance at love.

Now tell me, if Erik is doing a freelance business, it can be done from anywhere. It can be customised to be location independent. Then why does he, in an underhanded manner, try to win Sadie’s affections? Why does he suddenly realise Sadie’s worth to his life? Why does he not push her harder to go and explore this opportunity?

That’s precisely where my problem was with this book. Why should the woman be the one to give up her dreams for the man? Can it not be vice versa? Especially if she gets an opportunity big enough for her to impact her life positively. Sadie would have really expanded because of the opportunity she got. She would have had a chance to hone her talents like nothing else. She would also be closer to her parents. And her choice to me is baffling.

I think this sort of veiled sexism in books should be called out and changed. The man should also be expected to move. All sacrifices should not come from the woman.

Also my moot point of contention with this book was that it is supposed to be a Christian book but there is barely anything in it. Just going to a church and praying that you get some sort of guidance in life is not what you would have in a Christian themed book.

Somehow I feel this series seems to miss the point. It could have capitalised brilliantly on women doing so strongly and being the shining stars in their books but instead all we get is a series where women as always are secondary.

A little bit of rethinking while writing, curating and editing are definitely required.

My Rating: 2.5/5