Showing posts with label Amen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amen. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Everything I know about Author Platforms

To be honest I only really know what my guru Kristin Lamb told me in her fantastic books and blog posts, and what I’ve experienced myself. 

I hope this example of what an author platform is will help you better than me defining the term. I’ve been following Liv Rancourt’s blog for a while. Please don’t ask how long because I have a confused sense of time, but it’s been over a year. The woman is a hoot, even when she has guestsposts she adds something interesting before handing over the reigns. Sometimes she talks about whats happening in her home and shares pictures. I enjoy reading her blog and miss it when she doesn’t post for a while.

On the left panel of her blog is the cover of her book. Every time I landed there I saw the cover. The first time I read the blurb I didn’t think it would be my cup of tea, but after reading 
her entertaining posts I bought the book. And guess what? I loved it. See my review here.

And that, my friends, is an author platform. Gaining readers and fans through innocuous presentations rather than begging them to buy your books.  It works. I’m the proof.


What does the term author platform mean to you?

Saturday, 7 September 2013

Book Review: Forever and Ever, Amen by Liv Rancourt

The Blurb

Molly, a forty-something single mom, tangles with the wrong guy and gets a hell of a hickey. That blotch is really a demon’s mark, and she’ll have to face the three things that scare her most to get rid of it. First, Molly loses her job and then she has a near-sex experience with her philandering, not-quite-ex-husband. Worst of all, she has to sit by a hospital bed, wondering if her son is ever going to wake up.

The Powers That Be assign Cass to help her. He’s an angel who’s trying to earn a seat in the celestial choir by helping out a human in need. Vanquishing the demon would be his ticket up, but only if he plays by the rules. He’ll never earn his wings if he loses his heart to the lovely Molly. But she has even bigger things to worry about. She stands to lose her soul.


My Review
I’ll admit that it took me a while to buy this book. Humans, angel, demon, and a vampire (not mentioned in the blurb) all in the same book. Hmmm. Foolish me.  As I was reading Forever and Ever, Amen the thought kept resonating that I should have bought and read it a long time ago because it was so enjoyable.

Liv Rancourt is downright brilliant when it comes to writing a paranormal romance novel that seems believable.  Molly, the heroine, was an entertaining woman with real problems which she didn’t always handle well and that’s what helped make her so likeable. The hero, Cass was an angel that I would want in my corner if I had troubles to deal with. Not only because he was, well, an angel, but he wasn’t afraid to do what he knew was right for his charge.

Throughout the book I kept wondering how Molly and Cass would end up working out their relationship (this is not a spoiler since it is a romance novel) and Ms. Rancourt made it turn out just right.

The music references made me smile. I’m a child of the 80’s and when  Ms. Rancort mentioned a song I would hum it as I read. Was it wrong that I thought the demon was hot?

I know that Ms. Rancourt is a nurse so I wonder how much it took out of her to keep the medical terminology to a minimum while at the same time giving us the emotional feel of Molly’s son being in the hospital. She never once mentioned a ventilator or nasogastric tube so the non medical people will be just fine.

If you are looking for a believable paranormal that consists of a gorgeous angel, true romance, overcoming the odds, and wonderfully descriptive writing, then Forever and Ever, Amen is for you.

I give this book four out of five chocolate bars. Or should I make it red velvet cupcakes instead?


I purchased Forever and Ever, Amen from Amazon.com