Buzzfest and Book Review

https://www.theindieauthorhive.com/for-readers-2

I can't access it because I'm on a laptop (or because I'm using Chrome, or because I'm in the United States... not really sure). But somewhere on the Indie Author Hive, there's supposed to be a thing to click to access the current Buzzfest. Lots of free or discounted ebooks in every genre. 

(If you might participate as an author one day, this is a good time to check if you can see the "named tabs" or "menu." Because you must be able to view these now to take part. And I, well, can't. 😬)

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BOOK REVIEW

LORD OF THE FLIES

As Netflix recently released a new 4-episode "limited series" of this classic book, I figured it was high time I read it! It's the 8th most frequently banned and challenged book in U.S. history. My favorite main character in the book doesn't actually have his real name in the story. (In the Netflix adaptation, he gets the name Nicky. And Ralph has a redeeming quality when he finally uses that name, thus treating the character with respect. But that's not in the book.) 

The book starts by referring to characters as "the fair boy" and "the fat boy." The fair boy gives his name, Ralph, early on. "I don't care what they call me, so long as they don't call me what they used to call me at school." This quote is the first clue that this character is going to have a bad time, because all he had to do was never reveal this, but like a trusting fool, he tells Ralph they called him Piggy. When Jack calls him Fatty, Ralph corrects him and says the real name is Piggy, initiating the first betrayal among the boys in the book. “Kids’ names,” said Merridew. “Why should I be Jack? I’m Merridew.” The same character who wishes to have the adult-like respect of being known by a surname is unwilling to address "Piggy" by his proper name, or even inquire as to what it is. This shows, early on, that neither Jack nor Ralph can be a trustworthy, dignified leader.

(I mean, imagine if there was an actual world leader who called someone Piggy? It's inconceivable! Oh... never mind. 🤦🏽 https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c70j210g4e7o )

Jack desires to be the leader because of his position in the choir, which makes up a fair portion of the boys stranded on the island by the plane crash. And if singing ability were a survival skill, he probably would have been named chief. If intelligence mattered to the boys, Piggy might well have become chief and gotten his real name used. But Ralph is attractive, still, sizable, and can blow the conch well, so he is elected chief by the boys. And Jack is made the leader of the hunters. 

Words like "wacco, wizard, and smashing" had me checking for meanings, and are apparently British slang from the time of this book. In Chapter Four, the boys' primary argument takes hold. Is it more important to hunt, or to keep the signal fire burning so smoke might be seen and result in a rescue? Not being proficient in survival skills, the first successful hunt results in the boys roasting themselves more than the meat. 

It takes until Chapter Five for Ralph to realize that, even though Piggy is overweight, he's intelligent. It's not the primary lesson of the book, but it does say something about this miniature society that they don't know that weight is not linked to IQ. But, that's also the chapter where Ralph has to instruct the boys not to poop on the food. (Don't 💩 where you eat. -- The popular expression isn't from this book, but it may as well be, because the boys haven't figured it out.)

The book is set in the 1950's, and Piggy believes people will be traveling to Mars and back in a year or two. (Spoiler from 2026... not quite yet.) 

In the book, Piggy asks if they're humans, animals, or savages. As the story unfolds, the boys do seem to go through a cycle of those choices. In chapter eight, they find a maternal pig who is feeding her young. Now, any decent hunter knows that taking out this creature will disrupt the population. If the boys had to survive on this island for years, they would run out of pigs early on because no one considered the breeding requirements to replenish the wild pig population. This doesn't come up in the book, but it was offensive to me. Roger hunting by shoving a spear up the rectum of a pig is also disturbing. 

It's in Chapter Eight that the flies find Simon. The head of the pig is left on a stick as an offering, and its rotting flesh is being fed on by flies. This is from where the title comes. And then, in Chapter Nine, the breakdown of society, rules, and order really comes to a climax. Jack forms his own tribe to take control. Themes like fear of others, herd mentality, and cruelty take hold of the story, overshadowing the themes and ideas of survival and cooperation. 

This review is my honest and unbiased opinion. It took me a while to get through this book, as I didn't especially enjoy it. The pacing, perhaps, didn't especially grip me in the first eight chapters. (Honestly, I fell asleep reading it more than once.) I'd only recommend it to someone who wants to get through a list of classic books, or who wants to understand how a society can break down so easily, and that a "utopia" is not a universally agreed-upon set of ideals. I enjoy YA books, I enjoy horror considerably, but this just didn't thrill me. I'm not sure if it's realistic fiction, as I'd rather wish it weren't, but in the current political climate of the United States in 2026, there are grown-ups who seem to be acting out parts of this book. If only the world could have a similar ending to the book's. 

The big triggers for this book are centered on violence. The setting was difficult for me to picture, as it was unclear what was literal and what was metaphorical. Keeping the signal fire lit was the biggest obstacle in the book, which was mainly an obstacle because the boys just didn't prioritize their own survival; thus, the way the book ends is a bit facetious. It should be a cautionary tale for society. 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1744031420

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  I'm grateful for follows!  https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features!

March Down the TBR Pile 📚💙 and #bookreview Moving Fear by D.L. Hammons

Back in 2017, at the former location of this blog, I took part in a regularly-scheduled bloghop called "Down the TBR hole." The objective was to highlight books the blogger intended to read, highlight books the blogger intended to purchase, and/or highlight the fact that we have huge piles of books we intend to read (to-be-read= TBR) but fail to make the time to do so (hilariously, by spending time making a list rather than reading). I used it for the buying purpose, as my Amazon wishlist (https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/ZRW0Y5LGHMN9) grows out of control and I forget why I intended to buy certain books!


[My "Price "wishing" for: $ (US 💵💰)" section is because I'm cheap lately as income has decreased significantly over the last five years, and is in NO WAY a reflection of the value I know books have, but rather the 💸 lack of my own funds.]

1. TITLE: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4rYKiWQ
   Interested because: YA Native American friendship paranormal story
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


2. TITLE: The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4bhDcpd
   Interested because: Diverse book by debut author
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


3. TITLE: After the Fall by Kate Hart
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4b7PDDS
   Interested because: YA with complicated relationships
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


4. TITLE: None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3P5WRAU
   Interested because: LGBTQIA+ YA Story of Intersex Teen Identity and Self-Acceptance
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


5. TITLE: The Last Labyrinth by Gwendolyn Womack
   LINK: https://amzn.to/47MQQzw
   Interested because: speculative fiction
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


6. TITLE: Ruthless Kingdom by Cathrina Constantine
   LINK: https://amzn.to/47wuSkc
   Interested because: A 400-page high fantasy looks interesting.
   Price "wishing" for: $3.99 (US 💵💰)


7. TITLE: The Secret Winners Club by Donna Galanti
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4bJA9Yc
   Interested because: Read a blog post about this 300 page MG book. Sounds cool.
   Price "wishing" for: $2.99 (US 💵💰)


8. TITLE: First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts - IWSG Anthology
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4dmiAP8
   Interested because: IWSG
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased


9. TITLE: The Last God by Jean Davis
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3P7P4CO
   Interested because: god-like beings, violent battle between gods
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased


10. TITLE: Things Fall Apart (African Trilogy, Book 1) by Chinua Achebe
    LINK: https://amzn.to/47z0hCB
    Interested because: Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.
    Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased

Moving Fear by D.L. Hammons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has been my great privilege and pleasure to read this book. It's a heart-pounding adventure full of mysteries and horror. There's some tragedy, a very light budding romance, lots of chills, plenty of haunting, a good dose of thrills and action, many plot twists, felt unpredictable (I'm usually pretty good at guessing the "whodonit" but not this time), very entertaining, a strong author’s voice (reminds me of Christoper Pike), and a bit of diversity.

The Prelude may seem unconnected at first, but by Chapter 36, the reader knows for sure it was not. The second prelude also comes back around.
The main character, Knox, is a teenage boy, so this is technically a YA mystery horror. Knox chapters are in first person, from his point of view, other chapters are third person point of view. (Chase Knox, he opted to go by his middle name after his father remarried.) I like that he has done some light writing, nothing he's shared or published, but that he has put pen to page.
Travis, a teenage boy in a black wheelchair with fire-engine red spokes, is a social butterfly. Lindsey (the scholarly one) and Jadie (the popular one) are identical twin sisters. There's a retired 74-year-old grandmother who seems fairly active with her career.
Lewis is a pretty interesting character, as his "negative trait" and his big secret are so perfectly opposite of each other.
The dad is in the Navy, which is why they move around so often. (I never knew there were landlocked naval bases, or Navy officers living off-base so far from the coast, such as in Oklahoma. Honestly, I never thought about it.)
I really enjoyed the character arc of Brad "Tug" Dempsey, who is only a minor character yet gets fully fleshed out.
It's great how Brodie is described as beautiful, yet that's not what's interesting about her, it's her toughness and her mind that make her special.
Wilfred was a surprising character, in the end, and such a twist.
Chapter Fourteen reminded me of a scene in the original Ghostbusters movie, with the books. I loved in Chapter 19 when Knox and Lewis discussed the metric system. And I loved the incorporation of the theory of the multiverse. Lewis reminded me of Sam and Dean in the show Supernatural, hitting the books and the Internet to find out about the lore. Chapter 24 mentions the television show Monk (the defective detective), which I like.
The revelation about Lewis' dad in Chapter Twenty-Five amused me.
Chapter Forty-Eight ends with a huge twist that was the exact opposite of what I expected.
What was written on the balloon in chapter fifty-one? That's the only unresolved question for me.

The title makes sense, and I like the cover with the boxes (one black one, words on duct tape).
Triggers - Chapter 9 has vomiting, there's a scene where someone has a firearm while at a school (but not for the usual headline-news reasons), there is some animal death, and demon possession.

The theme is about not underestimating people. I felt most connected to the Lewis character, and would like to live in his basement, please.

I've been a fan of this author for many years, having followed his blog and taken part in several of the same online social groups, but we do not know each other. I am thanked at the end for supporting the Kickstarter for this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.


View all my reviews

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Status for the website

Book Launch Talk #IWSG

InsecureWritersSupportGroup.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: PJ Colando, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Natalie Aguirre!

March 4 question - What elements do you include in your book launch? Or what do you have in mind for your future book launch? Or what advice do you have to offer to others planning to launch a book?

I don't know that I'm as good at launching books as I could be. For Fractions of Existence, I did multiple book blog tours. I did one book blog tour for Proof of Existence (only on blogs of blogger friends). I certainly reached a larger audience with the tours on sites of people I didn't know. 

Neither resulted in many sales. I spent more than I earned. For Proof of Existence, I also used an AllAuthor promotion. This got me a fair amount of exposure on Twitter (yup, back then, before it was sold and changed names). Below is an example of an email promo they sent me. Also, the link to my AllAuthor site. 

 
https://jlennidorner.allauthor.com My AllAuthor profile

Email promo screenshot ^

I recently bought this book. And, as this is the current topic, I read and reviewed it.


https://amzn.to/4qKi2Ws - The Snowball Book Launch: How To Create A Huge Buzz And Massive Pre-Order Sales Before You Release Your Self-Published Book Kindle Edition by Ray Brehm

The Snowball Book Launch: How To Create A Huge Buzz And Massive Pre-Order Sales Before You Release Your Self-Published Book by Ray Brehm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did enjoy this book overall, though it feels geared much more toward entrepreneurs who will self-publish a nonfiction book in their field of expertise, rather than toward fiction authors. However, I shall try some of the suggestions that could benefit my own author brand.

This book had been on my Amazon wishlist, and it was at a reasonable price, so I bought it. Book releases are the subject of discussion for the IWSG's March 2026 prompt, so it was the perfect time to read and review this, to my mind.

In the introduction, it talks about a book being the "primary engine of your business," which feels true for all authors, but it speaks more to how this book applies mainly to people who will publish nonfiction primarily. I would absolutely recommend this book to people who want to be an authority on a nonfiction topic. Typically, when I read reference books like this, they're aimed more at fiction authors.

By part III, it becomes fast-paced. The book is slightly complex, it's informative, and has a very strong author’s voice by someone who is clearly an authority on selling and marketing.

"The people who download your book for free are generally not as likely to buy anything from you later." This excerpt is the exact opposite of the advice of nearly every marketing book and program aimed at fiction writers, who are told that a free book gets readers hooked and encourages them to come back to buy your higher-priced fiction books later.

The book has multiple sections discussing what being a "bestseller" means, if anything at all. That such a title is no guarantee that an author will generate an income from writing. It also mentions that the average author sells fewer than 200 books. (The four books I have on Amazon have more sales than that, so I must be above average, and that news makes me feel good about myself. Thanks, Ray!)

I read the entire book because it definitely builds, and you have to get to the end to get all the information! But, in the VIII section, where it talks about "lead magnet is more valuable than your book," that really didn't speak to me as a fiction author. And the major problem solved in my reference book about writing book reviews is, well, how to write a book review, and there's not really a cross-promotion to go with that. (I mean, if a fellow author bought one of my fiction books, and then used my reference guide on writing book reviews to review one of my fiction books, yes, that would be a dream come true. But I'm pretty sure that's not what this Snowball book means.)

The edition of this book I bought came with a link to get another book from the author for free. Part of the marketing plan laid out in the book is to hook customers and keep them coming back for more, so this makes sense. (The catch, of course, is getting that free book means agreeing to daily emails.)

I enjoyed the "Five Interview Questions" the most. The book talks about KDP Rocket, which no longer exists, and is now Publisher Rocket, which is twice the price.

I do like the cover with the snowball and the orange-and-white lettering, and the title makes sense.

Something I question, though it may just have changed, is that my BookBub link is bookbub DOT com/authors/j-lenni-dorner, which does not use the word "partners," which part V suggests it would if I have an author account, which I'm pretty certain that I do.

The section on "Update KDP with new categories" needs some updating, as there have been changes. However, I have attempted to follow the instructions for my reference book about writing book reviews, as there is no actual specific category for books on that topic, despite there being several such books for sale.

As a self-published author, I found this book relevant, though it doesn't feel especially aimed at writers focused primarily on selling fiction books. The book mentioned Pixels, but not as a unit of a digital image, there's a whole chapter on Pixel Linking but I still don't understand it. (I did a search and learned there's a plugin, but it slows down websites, so I'm not sure it would help me.)

This book is probably part of a series, as the author mentions some other books, but most books about selling contain mentions intended to sell more books or classes or whatnot.
This book is in the category Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Electronic Publishing -- which feels accurate.

View all my Goodreads reviews

🤔

In following along with the book's instructions, I edited the categories for my book about Book Reviews:

Obviously, those ranks could be better. 😔

Here I learned that Amazon now allows authors to pick THREE categories!

The book suggests picking the "non-classifiable" category and then contacting help. (The exact method has changed since the book came out, but still, I found the general area.)


And then I sent my message with suggestions for other categories my book should be in.
There currently is no category specifically for books (regular or ebooks) about book writing bookreviews. There are, however, many books on the subject. Mine is still the only one I found aimed directly at authors (though really, anyone can use it to write a review). 



BuckBooks is now DigitalBookToday. (A site mentioned in the book.) But promotions have rating restrictions, as shown in the screenshot above.
https://booksends.com/advertise.php BookSends is also mentioned, but for my category, I need to earn one more review and then spend $40. 😧 That's more of an investment than I'm willing to make for this.
But, the next time I put Fractions of Existence on sale, I could see spending the $35 to promote it there.
PLEASE check out part two of this in tomorrow's post! I'll be focusing my efforts on Fractions of Existence. 

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I was emailed by BookBub about their new "author websites." 
A free custom domain for the first year ($15 per year after)
$9.99 per month

https://authorwebsites.bookbub.com/pricing

I didn't sign up, but I thought others might be interested.

And they have this article, which also may interest you this month:

https://insights.bookbub.com/do-bookbub-ads-work-tips-successful-advertisers

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https://diversebooks.networkforgood.com/projects/296556-native-writing-match

"Fewer than two percent of children’s to YA books published in the United States depict Native and Indigenous characters. In part because of this program, that number has increased to nearly three percent."

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  BookBub author profile— I'd be grateful if you'd follow me.
 #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features!


My THEME REVEAL post is coming this Friday!

A lifetime of engaging with language and the written word – including reading books, writing, and learning languages – could be one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp and delay or prevent dementia, according to a new study. -- https://www.sciencealert.com/simple-lifelong-habits-can-cut-your-alzheimers-risk-by-38-study-finds 

The Author Blog #BookReview 📚💙

Book Review:

The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors  https://amzn.to/465WlZo

by: Anne R. Allen

I love this excerpt:

The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors by Anne R. Allen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was enjoyable to me as an author with a blog because it reaffirmed that I'm doing something right and gave me a bit of inspiration for an upcoming post. I'm glad to see that Anne R. Allen is still blogging. While there are other reference books on blogging, this one is specific to authors, which matters because we need to offer content to readers, rather than monetized commercial blogs that hope to get something from visitors. I had this book on my TBR pile for some time and am glad I finally made time to read it. I do enjoy a good writer's reference book. The author seems to be an authority on the subject.

Alexa has been shut down. Twitter is now X. These minor points are the annoyances of every reference writer in modern times who hopes to educate on any topic related to the ever-evolving Internet.

I was pleased to find the Insecure Writer's Support Group mentioned. I have been part of that group for years. And I adore that Chapter 21 mentions blog hops.

Blogs need to interest people who you don't already know - that's a great tip in this book. Telling people to use the "alt" attributes in images is such a kind and smart tip given in the book. (When the Photobucket site changed, so many old posts lost images. Without the "alt," it simply shows an empty box, instead of words describing what image was once there. It's also used for vision-impaired readers.) I'd add a note about pasting from a program, such as Word, into a webpage or blog —use Ctrl+Shift+C or "Paste as plain text" to solve the pesky formatting problems mentioned in Chapter 16.

I agree that pop-ups are evil and make enemies. I despise the latest trend where one comments on a blog post, then a pop-up asks to subscribe or something, and in hidden text there's a "continue reading" icon to click to finish submitting your comment.

Chapter 18 is my hero! I'm subscribed to dozens of author newsletters. Google conveniently dumps them into a folder I usually ignore. I'd rather read an actual book than spend six hours reading emails about whatever an author has cobbled together for a newsletter. I only open three on a rare basis.

Having moved from WordPress self-hosted to Blogger, I miss Tumblr's ability to back up my blog to their site. Granted, that's not what Tumblr is supposed to be for, but that automatic backup feature was nice. This book reminded me that I haven't updated that in over a year.

A social-media executor in the event you pass away- that's a brilliant idea near the end of this book. This book is definitely beneficial to authors who are publishing, or writing to publish, in today's Internet Age.

View all my reviews

As the book suggested, I'm reviewing my author blogging stats:

"Hitting 1,500 means you have established a baseline of content that is attracting readers. 1,500 monthly views is generally considered good for an author blog." - Google
I had no idea I was popular in Singapore! 

Some odd referral sites. A real estate site, the BBC, four retail shops... Well, whatever gets you here, I guess!

Yes, the first 10 pages of a Google search resulted in hits for me.

Back to my area of expertise! Blog hops. The A to Z Challenge is an INTERNATIONAL blog hop that has been successful for over a decade. 

The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors  https://amzn.to/465WlZo by: Anne R. Allen
I recommend it. 

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  I'm grateful for follows!  https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. 

Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

April The International April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog Hop 

May 4 -9 Reflections (bonus blog hop)

Best Gift for A Writer #IWSG

InsecureWritersSupportGroup.com

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today:

Dec 3 question - As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received?

As a writer, the best gift is a review. 

I believe in the value of reviews so much that I wrote a book about how to easily write them!
Writing Book Reviews As An Author: Inspiration To Make It Easier - https://amzn.to/3MDhEKQ

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  BookBub author profile— I'd be grateful if you'd follow me.
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features: 

Nov 19- Dream Destination - J

Dec 3- Books Make Great Gifts month - Ronel  Dec 18- Keith Richards 🎂 - John

Jan 7- International Creativity Month - Arlee Jan 21- National Be On-Purpose Month - J

Feb 4- Women's Role in History Month - Csenge Feb 18- Fondue Month - Jayden

Down the TBR Hole and a book review

Back in 2017, at the former location of this blog, I took part in a regularly-scheduled bloghop called "Down the TBR hole." The objective was to highlight books the blogger intended to read, highlight books the blogger intended to purchase, and/or highlight the fact that we have huge piles of books we intend to read (to-be-read= TBR) but fail to make the time to do so (hilariously, by spending time making a list rather than reading). I used it for the buying purpose, as my Amazon wishlist (https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/ZRW0Y5LGHMN9) grows out of control and I forget why I intended to buy certain books!


[My "Price "wishing" for: $ (US 💵💰)" section is because I'm cheap lately as income has decreased significantly over the last five years, and is in NO WAY a reflection of the value I know books have, but rather the 💸 lack of my own funds.]

1. TITLE: The Gilded Ones
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3IuRuIG
   Interested because: SFF, 422 pages, reminds me of the Red Queen (Aveyard) series.
   Price "wishing" for: $4 (US 💵💰)
2. TITLE: Echoes of the Ascended: Crown of Defiance (Elysian Realms Book 1)
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4pz4fCE
   Interested because: Local Author, UF, 487 pages, sounds like a musical version of my Existence series
   Price "wishing" for: $3 (US 💵💰)
3. TITLE: The Invitation (1) (Kepler62) Hardcover
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4pTbPIH
   Interested because: SF, 128, Reminds me of Ender's Game, fully illustrated, looks beautiful, sounds hopeful
   Price "wishing" for: $8 (US 💵💰)
4. TITLE: Because No One Noticed
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4nkMOV0
   Interested because: A fav author, 271 pages, YA, school shooting heartwrenching story
   Price "wishing" for: $3 (US 💵💰)
5. TITLE: The Starving Planet
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3IBfPfR
   Interested because: Eco thriller, crime, 407 pages, "contribute to the planting of trees in biodiverse forests" - purchase makes a difference
   Price "wishing" for: PURCHASED
6. TITLE: THE POWER OF TOUCH: A STORY OF REDEEMING LOVE
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4mqDzRJ
   Interested because: Romance, a fav author, 29 pages,
   Price "wishing" for: $ PURCHASED (US 💵💰)
7. TITLE: PRICK: A Taggart McGill Mystery
   LINK: https://amzn.to/46HblN0
   Interested because: mystery, 338 pages, Author friend
   Price "wishing" for: $3 (US 💵💰)
8. TITLE: The Cat Who Saved Books: A Captivating Fantasy Novel with a Feline Twist, Embark on a Magical Adventure to Save the Books!
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4nLKqq5
   Interested because: UF, 207 pages, (I freaking hate descriptions in titles, and really hate that this one drew me in), Books and cats -- two of the best nouns ever!
   Price "wishing" for: $2 (US 💵💰)
9. TITLE: Rattlesnake
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4gApmk5
   Interested because: SFF, 290 pages, a fav author, inherited a ghost with a problem
   Price "wishing" for: $3 (US 💵💰)
10. TITLE: Wielder's Prize (Wielder's Storm Book 1)
    LINK: https://amzn.to/4pvVCZv
    Interested because: IWSG author, Pirate action, 287 pages,
    Price "wishing" for: $3 PURCHASED (US 💵💰) {The actual price matched my wish, so... 🛒🛍️}

This has been productive! And resulted in some purchases.

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GOODREADS
THE POWER OF TOUCH: A STORY OF REDEEMING LOVE by Pat Garcia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Trigger Warning- suicide. Love the observation that people can be so inattentive and distant. Aniyah is a forty-two-year-old plus-sized woman with dark-brown skin; Gianluca has been in an explosion and is now deaf (Diverse Book!) and has wavy black hair. Two different sign languages mentioned, love that!
"He needed a friend to talk to, and she decided to be that friend." I absolutely love this about Aniyah.
Gianluca has never touched a woman he wasn't taking to bed, which results in a funny moment (though how sad is it that we live in such a world- that scene holds up a mirror to our society).
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who appreciates music, cares about the deaf community, or wants an uplifting story full of heart.

View all my reviews

Still can't leave reviews on Amazon. 😒

Did not find the book on BookBub or StoryGraph.

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  BookBub author profile— I'd be grateful if you'd follow me.
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features: 

Sept 17- Condiment Month - J

Oct 8- Family History Month - Csenge Oct 22- Eat Better, Eat Together Month - John

Nov 5- Gaming - Jayden Nov 19- Dream Destination - J

Dec 3- Books Make Great Gifts month - Ronel  Dec 18- Keith Richards 🎂 - John

Jan 7- International Creativity Month - Arlee Jan 21- National Be On-Purpose Month - J

Feb 4- Women's Role in History Month - Csenge Feb 18- Fondue Month - Jayden