A review site and a secret that won’t be a secret anymore!

A Review Site

Authors are often banned from leaving reviews on sites such as Amazon. They consider it competition. But many authors are actually avid readers and know a good book when they read it. Also the author world is extremely small and we tend to know one another. We know the new authors and the great ones.

Non-author/average readers often obtain books directly from an author or publisher as a gift or as a member of a fan club. Amazon frowns on reviews from such readers.

Amazon is trying to do the right thing and make certain that all their reviews are from legitimate purchases and are not prejudiced in any way. They are attempting to make sure that the reviews posted are not from the author, the author’s mother, or best friend.

So after a little frustration over the situation, I decided to create a site where anyone can review a book that they liked. No one has to write a long book report, just a line or two as to why they liked it. As an independent review site, it can become a reader go-to spot to find a great story. Do you love a mystery or vampire? What if another author that you happen to love says this is a great book? You’re going to read it, right?

So here it is http://reviewingthebestbooks.wordpress.com except it’s in need of reviews! This site opens the door for anyone to post a review of an e-book that they have read and loved. Any spelling and grammar mistakes in it should be minimal. Remember, there’s not a book out there that doesn’t have a few flaws. If it has more than a few, please do not post a review. It doesn’t have to the best thing you’ve read in your lifetime, just a book that you have enjoyed. You know the one that you’d tell your best friend about or recommend it to your mom or brother.

So please come over. Bookmark the page and drop a line or two about your favorites under the genre headings at the top of the page. (Find the genre and then add your review in the comments section.) And if it’s the best thing you’ve ever read – tell us in your review. If you can add the link to the ebook, you’ll make it easier on the next person to find that book.

The Secret

The story behind A Calling in Wyoming isn’t a secret because I've told it a few times. A dear friend’s son looked at me one day and asked if I’d write a romance for him. That roughly translated into will you put your matchmaking skills together and find me a super nice girl? Oh, how I wish I could find this handsome young man the perfect woman, but I don’t know too many women in that age bracket. At the time, I just laughed and said I’d see what I could do. But the idea of writing a romance, and making him the hero, played on my mind.

And lets be honest, he’s my friend’s son. Anything I wrote would have to be a sweet romance. I certainly couldn’t leave the bedroom door open. One, I don’t want to think of him in those terms and two, his

religious beliefs forbids such activity. But several things did fall into place. He is from the west and he moved with his family to the east. So dropping him into a pair of cowboy boots worked just fine. He’s also an avid reader with an inquisitive mind and always looking for answers. But that whole church/faith thing with him… I couldn’t ignore it.

When my husband and I moved to Virginia, a million years ago, we thought we were moving directly into an apartment that we had reserved. Long story short, we got here and the apartment wasn’t ready. We wound up living with a family member who was married to the minister of a small church. Just ducky! My husband was a devote catholic, and me, I’m the atheist, but we’re living in the house with them. (Yes, for all those Catholics who are wondering, I promised to raise my children to be Catholics, and no, the priest was not happy.) So I got a first-hand taste of small town churches and what everyone expects of the minister.

All of it combined and rattled around in my head until the story emerged. I wrote A Calling in Wyoming. It’s not about Christianity, it’s about choices and doing what you truly love. What if something like this happened to the real Adam? What would he do? I’m not spoiling anything - it’s a romance so I knew he’d get the girl in the end, but what happens along the way? You don’t just uproot someone. And when you’re young and making good money… Do you walk away from that? Don’t we all wish some fairy godmother is going to tap us on the shoulder and tell us what to do?

When I published the book, I sent a copy to the real Adam and asked him to read it. I saw him a few weeks later, and asked him would you take the job. He sort of smirked and walked away. Yeah, I nailed him! I was certain he’d take the job.

Here's the secret. A few weeks back or over a year after the publication of that story, he stopped by his mother’s house and informed her that he was making plans to move away. He had to take a few college classes locally to close some gaps in his education and he was headed off to a seminary. His mom had all the normal motherly reactions. As a widow, it will leave her alone in an area and she depends on him for many things. But she’s so darn proud of him that her heart is ready to burst. When she told me, I started to giggle. Yeah, I nailed him. Now if I could only find him a real girl.