JD

Always fun to read these. This one is a bit unique as it is technically a bit of a cliffhanger/lead in. So it looks like the next book is the same couple.

3.5⚜️

I love this book! It is funny and approachable and the author is incredibly relatable. It's an easy Self Help book to enjoy unlike many that you have to force yourself to finish.

I recommend it to a lot of other Entrepreneurial Women!

3.5

Not really all that informative for authors. It doesn't really go into the heart of why something works which is because this is all based on a computer analyzing these books.

Yes, it found high scores consecutively. But this also kind of reminds me of these statistics that randomly line up. Like the number of people drowning correlates to nick cage films.

The computer can give you similarities and correlation but that doesn't necessarily mean it's actionable advice for writing or even all that helpful for readers.

Also, the style of this is overly dense. Super long paragraphs offering very little for so very many words.

To boil it down. The computer says write what you know and have themes of human closeness, have a plot with good conflict, have a style, have male or female leads that take charge. Nothing real groundbreaking.

This book is everything I wanted! Killer Mermaids, Check. Bisexual and Gay character, Check. Disabled yet very capable and intelligent characters, Check and Check.

Not to mention this just hits my own worse fears of being closed in my water or underground. So anything with those themes makes me super uncomfortable.

I felt like all the characters were real and fleshed out which is impressive for a large cast like this one. I liked the science and the twist at the end. Moreover, I enjoyed the themes of the book. You look at and question our conservation efforts and how we treat the planet, you look at the dangerous lines between curiosity and stupidity, and you question the need for understanding over revenge.

I enjoyed the style as well. You get quotes from the characters, news clippings, and blogs at the beginning of some of the chapters. Which adds to the mockumentary vibes.

It was just a book that made me happy. I'm excited to read more from Mira/Seanan soon!

I usually absolutely love darcy coates books! Craven manor is one of my new favorite books. This however missed the mark for me and seemed to drag on and on.

And for once the ending fell kinda flat and a bit saccharine rather than sweet.

She definitely has better haunted house stories that I prefer and to be very fair this is the first time I've had a miss with her work.

I'd much more recommend Craven manor or carrow haunt instead!

The author is already dead. Is it because of an exorcism gone wrong? Because of Jack's reckless behavior, his drug use? No matter the answer, the ride you take to get there is exciting and unnerving.

This is a book that should have so many more eyes on it than it does! Some of my least favorite troupes are in this book but are done well! Unreliable Narrator, Unlikeable main character, Found manuscript, an “editor” as a second narrator are all present here but are perfectly crafted together!

This is what I wanted House of Leaves to be in the way of style. Every piece builds on the other. There is no fluff here. Not a single scene that could be removed without affecting the story. Which is super rare to see anymore.

And I can honestly say that there were parts of this that gave me the creeps, hardcore! Which is hard to do.

I was pleasantly surprised at the main character's back story. That was nuanced and felt incredibly real. It was peppered into the book in stages, no info dumps here. You see those layers fit together as you start to get why Jack is the way he is. The author didn't take any shortcuts with Jack's psychology.

And while there is a bit of body horror here, it isn't gratuitous. It all has a purpose and it isn't described to a point of nauseous! It also isn't in every scene.

I do wonder if the author uses the Save the Cat beats to outline or edit his work? Because this fits perfectly into the mold and he is a screenwriter as well. Either way, though the story was structured to perfection and edited to be immersive and creepy.

The bottom line is read this book. It is one of my new favorite horror novels.

And for any other Whovians out there, I especially challenge you to this read. The nods to Doctor Who are subtle, except for one part where Jack actually brings up Doctor Who. But if you look under the hood I think you will see some inspiration that was uniquely taken and molded into a different kind of monster.

This tale would make the Grimm brothers proud.

First off all the things I love about this book. The characters though young are completely compelling. The layers and the depth of the character coming out more and more in subtle and beautiful ways. The writing is spectacular and reminiscent of gothic literature and horror.

The book description is completely dead on. And what I went in expecting, which was a super f-ed up fairytale retelling, was completely delivered. Perhaps a bit too well.

That's where my warning comes in. I'm fine with horror, gore, and even creepy kids. But, there are tons of child deaths in this, some more experienced than others. Which if you think about even the Disney Peter Pan some kids were bound to get sick, eaten, or mortally wounded. And given the victorian times that was probably pretty likely for a lot of the “lost” children anyway. But, that doesn't make it any less difficult to read and experience through the narrator Jaime.

I still really like this book. You can't deny simply good and strong writing with artful subtlety in your villain. It was a well crafted and designed novel and gives you a painful but creative view of this old fairytale. And the style of prose is very similar to older victorian classics which I enjoyed quite a bit!

Just go in realizing it's going to be a heart squeezer!

It was narrated in the 1st person.

4⚜️

I liked the book but I didn't love it. This book is written with the idea that you work a 9-5 job. I don't, I work for myself and set my own hours. So what I wanted was not only my chronotype but also the best possible schedule for my type.

Instead, he gives the ideal schedule for a Wolf (in my case) if they work 9-5 and have kids and a spouse. All things that are irrelevant to me. He mentions briefly in one portion that a Wolf would ideally go to bed at 1 am and be up at 9 am. Yet in the book he has us getting up at 7 am and going to bed at 12 am.

I get that most people have more normal jobs, though maybe not with the virus, he could have presented schedules for people that set their own hours in some section. He didn't.

I am going to use the ideal (9am waking, 1am sleep) and shift the schedule he has in the book to that.

The book has a lot of value and interesting points about cycles and metabolism. I think it was very helpful in many regards. Some of the things that are included seem a bit over the top like when to fall in love or when to go to the bathroom, but others are helpful. Like when to make big purchases.

As a practitioner of magick aka a Witch, I see the issue of people going over the top with this kind of book and scheduling their lives to a minute detail instead of using it as a general guideline. So be careful with becoming obsessive.

Also, keep in mind that you may only read 1/4 the book unless you want to learn more about others in your life. Or to make sure you only date others with the same type as you. Especially as a Wolf being in a relationship with a Lion or anyone else would be a problem to some degree. I agree with that from experience. Still I think it was very interesting a good read provided you don't take it too far!

Overall a good book. There were some interesting theories that definitely ring true. It has actionable steps and small bits of storytelling that break up the material.

The author had adhd so the book is succinct, lol. More than anything it was confirming for me and a self employed adhd woman that success can occur even after plenty of failure.

It's a good starting point.

I feel like this is mostly helpful for those that are medicated or under Dr. Amen's care.
Most of us can't afford his brain scans, and I don't want to be medicated. So if you're in the same boat as me it basically says to take high does of omegas like most of his books do.

This is a good book and very informative. Almost too informative. I would have liked to see less talk on the science, not none but less. It got dry pretty fast.

The exercises are sound and lovely. The book in all is very approachable. I loved that you can access the recorded versions for free on the site.

Overall, I think I wanted more mindful conversational tone than deeply scientific left brained research.

Still recommend to those new to Somatic!

Keep hoping some of these go into practical exercises and tips. You get a few good tips here and the standard majority just covering equipment. Then more than HALF the book is a different book on making money online.
Save your time, get the Kevin Anderson book. Skip this.
Edit: looked at also by this author and it all makes sense. He writes super short ebooks as his Hustle on random topics it seems. These are like blog posts stock full with seo words and common semse. I guess more power to you. They are on KU so you're only out your time.

Another wonderful romantic suspense. I had a flop for my first book of the year and Heather Graham's books are such a safe place. Whenever I hit a slump her books are perfect for me to get back at it. And I love it with these I can finish it in a night easily like a nice movie.

Can I give this 10 stars or 59? I highlighted the shit out of this book, there were so many quotes that I will return to in times of struggle. Writing can be a hard path, creativity is a stubborn mistress after all. This books has practical no BS advice to keep you going! Absolutely should be required reading for every aspiring author!

This is mostly anecdotal. If you've done any reading on executive functions or productivity in general it's about the same advice.

I was hoping for more clear directions or exercises to try. Types of organization that works for others with adhd. Instead, it's mostly stories of people being successful and finding what works for them.

Also, it seems more geared to extrovert adhd people than introverts. It's heavily focused on support people in your life. Which for an introverted solopreneur that's not helpful.

If you're looking for stories to relate to you may find some of that here though.

Just as good as the others. I love that this was directly connected to Haunted Destiny. These are always fun to read and easy!

You can't argue with success, but I think this won't work for everyone

He even says it himself there's a bit of luck here. And the 2020 update basically says 60% of what he originally recommended is out of date or didn't actually bring him sales.

I think he got really lucky with his covers and getting other items from fiverr as well. There's some gold on there but a lot of scanners as well. And one that point you can get away with less polished covers in nonfiction than fiction.
He did very well with the way he went, can't argue that! But some of that feels like the time he published and some really kinda was luck and determination! Which is great for him!

I think this book proves there's many paths to success for self publishing! But more of less with updates the biggest thing that works for him is paid ads. And he shares his affiliate link to Mark Dawson's ad course. I already planned on investing in that course so nothing here really blew my mind. But it is at least motivational.

This book gave me what I wanted and didn't find in House of leaves. And obsession over a film that shouldn't exist.

It was a unique ghost story that is very character driven. I enjoyed the indepth characters that struggle with life and raising autistic children that aren't “normal” I thought Lois was somewhat unlikeable yet very understandable. And frankly I found it refreshing to have a family dealing with autism represented in a way that felt very genuine!

The first half is fairly slow. And there's a ton of stuff only a film critic turned author would think was necessary to add in. Most of the film history not being directly relevant to the story. But it make you work for it a bit. And there was just enough of flashes forward to keep you intrigued.

The ending I think felt more or less right for the characters involved. No one acted unlike themselves. And it was wrapped pretty neatly. And I can't think of any other way it could have played out better.

Overall the characters, the unique borderline script style really worked for me. It was different, and while sitting through some of the history for me got a bit old I liked it all the same. It made it feel like you were sitting with a film critic and she was telling it all fresh. It felt more real. Which is what I'm looking for with more unusual narrative books like this!

Re-visted this to refresh on his tips for dictation. What I love is this is short and actionable, my favorite kind.
Definitely, worth the read!

I'd give this 10 stars if I could. Even though what I learned was that the “wrong way” that I wrote my first manuscript at age 16 was probably best. So, I'm going to try doing what I naturally did again!
News we just need permission to be us!

Just to be clear this is NOT Paranormal Romance and it reads much more like a YA book. So just know that going in. The “Romance” is not developed or focused on, it just slightly drives the plot forward.

It is very slow in the whole first 60% of the book and has some big cliched information dumps of telling not showing.

Listen it was her first fiction novel. I'm sure she gets better, but after reading the 2nd book in the series I'm done. I will always love her Non-fiction work but this is not up my alley for Fiction.

First. The rating for Uniqueness is 5/5, Enjoyment 1/5, and overall a 3/5. The Summary also is not in my opinion entirely correct and is an unreliable narration much like the commentary by Johnny Truant himself in the novel. The summary provided is a half-truth at best.

So I will provide my summary of the book here to provide a better context of the journey you would have to undertake to read the book.

This book is the Blair Witch Project of Novels. It is put together by the main character/commentator/first editor of the project Johnny Truant that “finds” or rather is pointed to a trunk filled with notes, pages, and commentary on a movie that doesn't exist put together by a man that is found dead in his shut-in apartment. This starts Johnny down a rabbit hole of compiling, sorting, and trying to verify the work he has inherited (so to speak). The Movie in question, which is analyzed and commentated on in an academic style, is one that no one can agree on is real or fake about the House that is bigger on the inside. Here is where the other summary enters on an American Family trying to adapt to rural living that stumbles into a riddle, a changing house. Of course, the movie doesn't exist to Johnny's knowledge. Nonetheless, we are taken through the journey of Johnny as he puts together the papers and tries to form the book as we read through pages of academic critique, Johnny's musings, and struggles, and step by step breakdowns of the Movie. And we start to see what this Movie, this House, does to people that look too close.

Now at least you have a better idea of what the story is. It is a fragmented story of multiple people, thrown together like a college thesis. A college thesis plus a journal of the drunk student writing the paper.

I don't love this book like I thought I would but I don't hate it either. I'd never read it again though.
As others say it is not an easy read. Though a pro tip after trying and failing many times over the last 12 years to read the damn thing, the ebook proved to save me. The ebook does away with a lot of the annoying mirror pages and upside-down text. Though you'll still have one or few word pages to flip through.

It didn't meet my expectations of a Haunted House or even a Horror novel though plenty is terrifying about the book. And you do have to become a bit obsessed to finish the damn thing. Turning page after page hoping some clarity is found on the next, never really getting that satisfaction either.

Mark Danielewski is a good writer, a strong creator of prose, which he very purposely chooses to suck at in certain places, knowingly enhancing the unnerving sensation in those portions. Everything in this book seems like an artistic choice. An Art project to be sure.

“For some reason, you will no longer be the person you believed you once were. You'll detect slow and subtle shifts going on all around you, more importantly, shifts in you. Worse, you'll realize it's always been shifting, like a shimmer of sorts, a vast shimmer, only dark like a room. But you won't understand why or how.”
― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

But the real question is, is it worth the read? Worth the trudging through unnecessary pages on the science of Echos? Yes and no. It is worth it to read an experimental styled book, that is creative to the Nth degree. And it's a cult classic, so are you a “true” horror fan if you haven't? It's not worth it for everyone is what I'd say and if you are good at skimming that will help you a lot as the Echo pages did not add anything to the story!

The bit that I do enjoy is for one a better understanding of something that has inspired a lot of other fiction works and projects. And if you enjoy the metaphor digging and between the lines analyzation of literary works you can have a field day at what Mark was trying to convey with this convoluted Debut. I believe it is an amazing and weird commentary to be sure, one that leaves you wanting like most true mysteries in life.

I do believe that this book would have been stronger if a lot of the weird fat had been cut and more meat had been added to the main stories. But it wouldn't be House of Leaves if they had done that.

If you can persevere through the jumbled made up scholars discussing sound acoustics and other impertinent information I think it's worth the struggle if for no other reason to say you did it.

And if you enjoy the book or just like the idea and can't make it through the book. Check out the Podcast Tanis. Which in my opinion takes the best ideas and vibes of House and Leaves and makes it enjoyable. It is its own story but there are key elements that are very familiar.

Happy hunting, good luck, and don't lose your mind trying to find sense in these pages.