Sandy Berman's Blog: Wannabe read

I couldn't believe it…and I am still reeling. I won a bronze medal for my novel Klara with a K from the National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

The novel won in the historical fiction category.

Yeah!!!

My debut novel Klara with a K has been getting great reviews. Please go to my website sandybermanauthor.com to view some of them.

Even though I only have one fan...I would like to send holiday tidings to everyone on Goodreads.

May 2015 be a great year!!

I finally received my Kirkus review after ten long weeks of waiting…and it was good. I was very excited so I want to share it with the two people who actually read my blog.

KIRKUS REVIEW

After a concentration camp survivor attracts the romantic interest of two men, she makes discoveries about life, love and forgiveness in this debut novel.

As a Jew in Nazi Germany, Klara Werner not only loses her mother, father and brother to the camps, but also her sense of identity. After she’s dragged from a pile of concentration camp corpses by the besotted Sgt. Sam Rosstein, she wakes up in an American hospital and discovers that she’s also caught the eye of her attending physician, Dr. Thomas Compton. Sam pays her regular visits at her bedside, and eventually Klara opens up to him completely. She reveals that she wasn’t a political prisoner as her uniform indicated, but the former love slave to an influential Nazi, who promised he would free her family in exchange for sexual favors. However, Thomas isn’t about to let Klara go to his Jewish rival, Sam; instead, he arranges to have the soldier abruptly shipped out and then steals his goodbye letter to Klara. Feeling abandoned, Klara agrees to marry Thomas, who doesn’t realize she’s Jewish. They return to Thomas’ Evangelical Christian home in the Southern United States, where Klara discovers she’s pregnant with Sam’s child. Will Klara be able to keep up the pretense of being a Christian in her new home? And how will Sam react when he discovers that the love of his life has married another man? The story’s dramatic possibilities are hampered by its tendency to tell rather than show its characters’ feelings: “How far have I fallen! Me, the once-proper young lady of respected Jewish Berliners….I am contemplating the loveless seduction of a man who has been nothing but kind to me.” However, Berman does convincingly convey the agony of a young woman treated horribly by circumstance. Klara’s callous but ultimately sensible adaptation to the world around her makes her a captivating protagonist. Overall, the author refuses to demonize any of her principal characters, and successfully portrays the heartbreak of living in a world where evil exists.

A successful historical novel about the redemptive power of remaining true to oneself, no matter what the cost.

Thanks for looking!

To all of the winners of my give-away I hope you have received your books. If for any reason you haven't please let me know. Would also like to hear from you in the form of a review.

Thanks for entering and reading Klara with a K

I would like to thank all of the readers out there that entered to win a copy of Klara with a K. Unfortunately, I cannot give away books to all of you. To the ten of you who did win…the envelopes are already addressed and you should receive your copies next week.

If you didn't win…I hope you will still read Klara and write a review!!

Thanks again for entering.

If you are self publishing with Create Space make sure you make all the corrections before the book is published and made available on Amazon. If you don't, and make additional corrections then your book is marked as out of stock.

This was extremely frustrating. I received a great review in the local press and couldn't capitalize on the sales because the book was not available for over a week.

I will not be making that same mistake again.

I am now starting month two of my marketing strategy for Klara with a K.
I am a little shy of selling 100 books.
I know...not the next blockbuster but they are selling.

I keep getting good feedback from my readers and I am looking forward to receiving my review from Kirkus.

Hopefully, I will want to post it. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have also been asked to speak at a book club and Klara is also being reviewed in our local Jewish press.

I'll keep my few fans posted.

Thanks

I am looking for some innovative ways to market my book. If anyone has any suggestion I would love to hear them.

I don't know about the rest of you, but so far marketing seems harder than the actual writing.

Who new?

Please enter my free giveaway for a copy of Klara with a K.

Hope you win.