#BookishThoughts: The Rose Contract by Scottie Kaye Book Review

Magic meets romantic suspense in this first installment of the Sleeping Lotus series. Raena Barren has magic power, and she’s the only person in the kingdom who can hide it.

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She survives on the streets of Soma using the magic until she comes face to face with Jorr Potent, and she must save his life.

After he gives her a job in the castle, Raena spends ten years falling in love with him.

Overall, I found McKaye’s writing to be poignant and page turning but at the same time I felt the story lacked something.

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#BookishThoughts: Good Brave People by Nicholas Trandahl book review

As a writer of both fiction and poetry, I love reading novels with poetic soul within their core. As a reader, I love novels that instantly feel like they will be classics or remind you of some of the literary greats.

Trandahl gives mention to legendary writers in their own right Hemingway and Chekhov. Jasper Augustine stares you down with the intensity of a writer who’s all about the experience from the first page.

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Primarily set in Basque County, a mountainous and agricultural area of Spain, this novel follows Augustine who sets out to write a novel, and who happens upon life’s greatest muse: an ordinary person in their home country being extraordinary at what they do, and it in turn makes you want to learn everything about them.

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Upon arriving in San Sebastian, Augustine meets Oihana and begins writing his novel with fervish inspiration.

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What’s crazy to me is how effortless this novel reads which makes it a bit of a shock that this is his debut novel.

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Filled with intrigue, Spanish mystique, and a romantic story for the ages, Good Brave People is a classic for this age, and for ages to come.

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#BookReview: Light On Glass by @MKeenerWrites

I know this going to sound pretentious and a bit ungrateful but the last book I read that had me absolutely enthralled was Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren. I read that at the end of August. As you can see, it’s been a while since a book transported me fully into the story.

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As I was reading the first chapter, Light On Glass immediately had me hooked.

“the first chapter has left me breathless. Keener chiseled a cave from stone with her words and whoever this Lucia character is I must know her story.”

Overall, it has two main characters the author Sarah who is struggling with writing her book after publishing a first novel that turned her into a has-been writer who suffered a few very poignant critiques when the novel was reviewed.

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As a former teenage author myself, I instantly related to that.

Right now, I am struggling writing the first draft of a new WIP because of a comment my dad made and kept harping at me with when I wrote the first scene and shared it with him even in its premature state.

I will do as Sarah does and forget the critics, head to a library, and just tell the story.

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The second character is within Sarah’s novel Lucia. She is standing on cliffs overlooking the rough seas below. She is likable, romantic, and fights for her chance at true love no matter what people say or think of her, and that to me takes guts.

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Overall, Light On Glass is enthralling, enchanting, and even educational as you learn some fun beekeeping facts throughout. Once you read it, your heart may never recover but you will be forever changed, in the best possible way.

#NationalPoetryMonth Book Review: Love In Between by Mercy Jane Ballesteros

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Written in vignette-style sections and sonnet-like eloquence, “Love In Between” showcases strong writing from a young author who also makes a statement about young love being very real, and practically unavoidable.

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With themes of young love, unrequited love, and torturous heartbreak, even loving someone who pines for someone else, Mercy’s poetry gives me still the same “you aren’t alone,” calm sensation that I have while reading the work of International best-sellers like Lang Leav.

Mercy’s poetry overall will leave you falling in love with the writer behind the few but powerful words.

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CALLING ALL POETS and MICROPOETS! April is National Poetry Month and as always, I celebrate all month long by showcasing a new poem every day on my social media pages and by reviewing primarily poetry books all month long. So if you are a poet who knows it, and you have a book already out or about to come out, please email me by March 26, 2018 to be featured for the month of April. And yes, you get to skip the wait list line for free due to the high demand!

Send me your poetry graphics, Instagram poet recommendations, and poetry book review requests to wittywriterpoet26@gmail.com

So much love,

The Smart Cookie