Meeting the Queen of African Romance- Kiru Taye

I have temporarily transplanted myself from Ghana to the UK to complete my masters degree. One advantage of being on the island is that I get to meet people I've been in contact with for years. One said person is the awesome Kiru Taye. I have the greatest respect for this award winning author and call her a friend. Our friendship was cemented this weekend as talked about: writing, reading, world issues,life; laughed, and had a fantastic time.

What more could I do but sweep all the books of hers I could carry into my arms and have a picture taken?


Long write Kiru Taye, the queen of African Romance!

Check out her books here. You'll fall in love with her work, too. 

The Book Reviewers Antithesis of Mikey (From Life Cereal) #bookreviews

I went through my Amazon reviews and noticed that my ratings were mostly fours and fives. Hmmm. I had a couple of threes, but no twos and no ones. There's only one reason for me liking so many books.

Please forgive me for any copyright infringements.

I'm the antithesis of Mikey.

You know from the old Life cereal commercial. That boy was finicky. (But the cereal is delicious).

It turns out I'm the same way with food that I am with books. What I like I like, and I tend to enjoy almost everything. My friend made some stew once and she said it needed salt when she tasted it. I had been shoveling it in and told her it taste fine. She shook her head and told me, "You think everything tastes good."

That's not true. I ate at a pastry shop once and couldn't take more than two bites of the food (I hate wasting food). When I told my friend (the same stew maker) she wasn't surprised. She told me that another friend couldn't finish either and had to take antacids after eating there because the food was so bad. 

Anyway, a book has to be really bad for me to rate it low, and usually if it's that bad I won't waste my time finishing it (like that horrible wash my mouth with the whole bottle of Coke pastry).

I realize that people may think I'm trying to appease authors with my reviews. It's not true. It's just that the bad books are like boiled carrots (gagging) and brussel sprouts to me. They don't even make it into my mouth (or head - I'm sure you get the point).

What about you? Do you like most books or are you more of a Mikey?

3 Key Elements to Crappy #Book #Blurbs

Image from Bing.com

I’m not being mean when I say I’ve seen some horrible book blurbs out there. Mostly by self published indie authors. If a blurb isn’t good, then what’s the indication that the book will be? Um... I figure none.

When I’m cruising Twitter or FB and a tweet catches my attention I’ll click on the link to see where it takes me. I’m adventurous like that. After a glance at the cover I head down to the blurb. There are three things that will make me leave the page without considering a purchase.

1. There is a mistake in the blurb. Just one misplaced letter, and I won’t even contemplate reading the book. Come on. If the editor or individual can’t catch a mistake in a short blurb, which is everyone’s first impression of the book, what are the chances I’ll go through the book without gritting my teeth making corrections in my head?

2. The story sounds good, in theory, but the blurb isn’t appealing enough to make me dive in. The blurb tells it straight without adding any verve or intrigue.

3. The blurb makes no sense. The kind of writing where you question what you know about English and have to look it up. There are no typos, but the English isn’t sound so there’s no hope. 

The lesson? Spend some time on the blurb. As the experts say, its one of the two things that will draw a reader to buy a book.

Is there anything else about a blurb that makes you stay away from a book?

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Book Lovers' Buffet - Book Sale! Book Sale!

Introducing the BookLovers’ Buffet. Load up, you won’t gain a pound!

The Buffet’s “Bouquet of Books” sale will be open May 1-3. More than 175 ebooks, all reduced in price to just 99 cents. Save in categories such as Young Adult, Contemporary, Paranormal, Suspense, Erotic Romance, and more!

PLUS, visit the website to win gift cards to your choice of online retailers. $400 in gift cards up for grabs!

Titles from popular authors such as:

•              Gemma Halliday
•              Angie Fox
•              Jenna Bennett
•              Amanda Brice
•              Jennette Marie Powell
•              Clover Autrey
•              Carly Carson
•              E. Ayers
•             Genevieve Jourdin
•             CJ Lyons
•             Renee Pace
•             Sophia Knightley
•             Tori Scott
•             Meredith Bond
•             Emily Ryan-Davis
•             Anthea Lawson
•             Diana Layne
•             Lindsey Brookes
•            Gina Robinson
•             McKenna Chase

And many, many more!

Hosted by Indie Romance Ink.

  

Click here for cool video www.bookloversbuffet.net

What makes a romance novel bad?

Becoming a writer has expanded my line of questioning when it comes to reading. I used to read just for the love of reading, but now I have added an educational element to my reading. I recently read a very bad book, which shall remain nameless. Let me just say that for me to think a book is bad, it has to be really really really bad. As I was reading it and praying it would get better, I wondered what made the book so bad. I’ll tell you what made it bad.

1. I never got into the characters – the writer told the story of at least six people and I didn’t get to relate to any of them, not even the main protagonist because the writer didn’t stay with him long enough to explore him

2. There were grammatical errors all over the place – enough said about that

3. The plot was weak. The story didn’t flow. I kept having to go back in the book to find out who did what when

4. The timeline was off – I spent a lot of time questioning if what was done could have happened when it was happening

5. It was a suspense novel of sorts, but the writer told us who the killer was at the beginning of the book so there was no real suspense

6. The overuse of clichés - I love a good cliché as much as the next person, but just like wearing too much jewelry, you have to take at least one piece off before leaving the house

7. The romance in the story didn't make sense. There was a connection between the two characters, but it wasn't developed and it didn't draw me into their love story

8.The GMCs (goals, motivations, and conflicts) weren't clear. In the end you never really found out why the murder had taken place or honestly, the purpose of the book

And that’s all I can think about for the bad book session.

What makes a book bad for you? I want to know.

Reading is exciting (yahoooooo!)

I have owned books since forever. My parents were both teachers and they knew the importance of reading so they passed this gift on to their children. Both my brother and I were avid readers as children (different genres though) all because of the importance my parents (especially my mother placed on it).

   I remember piles of books (we were a little spoiled) which were all thoroughly read and loved. I thank my parents for encouraging their children to read.  I encourage all parents to buy your child an interesting book to help start cultivating the habit of reading. I’ve already started it with my niece- spoiling her silly with books.