How Book Reviews Changed My Mind
When I first got published, I needed to get professional reviews to place on the book cover or as editorial reviews as one might see accompanying a book on Amazon. These paid reviews highlight certain aspects of a book, especially for librarians and other professionals in the bookselling world. It can be expensive, first-time authors wonder what's the point to them. However, one day my mind was changed and I have been a proponent of the paid professional book review ever since.
For the first time, after my second book was published, I looked for it on the internet using my cell phone. Usually, I sit at my desk to browse the internet and seek out marketing ideas, etc. But, looking at my books via my cell phone opened up a new world for me, that of the internet and my place in it as an author. Some people may say, well, duh, where have you been? Okay, point taken, but here I am on the internet reaching out to others I have never met, something only the internet can provide.
So, when I work on my website, get a newspaper interview, or check on reviews, I make sure to browse the internet for these using my cell phone. My books are slowly getting around. While I am known in my local area here in California, out in the world of the internet, I am a small voice in a digital wilderness where millions of authors compete for readers. That is why paying professionals to review, to edit, to offer feedback on small potatoes authors like myself is worth it. Maybe reading the following review by Book Review Directory will show you what I mean. They have offered their viewpoint of my book, A Place Called The Way. It is a point of view I appreciate. To read what others think of my work, not just praise, but that they truly got the story I was conveying to readers, is truly satisfying.
From Book Review Directory:
A Place Called the Way is the third installment in Corrine Ardoin’s Pine Valley series and delves deeper into the story of the people that settled in the fictional town of Pine Valley. It depicts the challenges of living and growing up in rural America in the 1950s, as the characters navigate around issues of class, race, and gender in order to establish a life for themselves and their families, one that is filled with love, meaning, and purpose.
It is not overstating it to say that the scope of this book is massive. It is perhaps necessary to read the first two books in the series to fully appreciate the extent of the story being told here. In addition, whether by accident or design, the use of flashbacks and a non-linear timeline, alongside multiple character points of view, added an extra layer of complexity to the plotting which subsequently had a knock-on effect on pacing and characterization.
The interruptions to the present timeline in order to explain something that happened in the past sometimes affected the forward momentum of the narrative. The shift of perspective from one character to another in a seemingly random fashion resulted in some loss of distinction between character voices, something that is so fundamental in character-driven books like these where individual arcs and journeys are essential threads to the wider story tapestry that the author is trying to weave.
Fortunately, the story was strong enough to carry the weight of any misstep. A Place Called the Way is historical fiction steeped in realism, brimming with easily recognizable issues and themes relevant to the reader’s of today. Human follies, suffering, and transformation are timeless. Regardless of period, setting, or geography, tales of love, lust, betrayal, and the limitless capacity one person has to hurt another resonates with all of us.
For example, the book often comes back to the exploration of what it means to be a woman living in a society whose views on gender roles are so limiting and restrictive. Conversely, there is also an equal exploration of the effects of certain types of masculinity and how it can have far-reaching effects all the way up to maturity and adulthood. Some of the scenes are graphic and harrowing, and it is worth noting that some readers might prefer a trigger warning.
However, in not shying away from discussing difficult subjects such as race, sexuality, gender, and self-harm, the book opens the way for healthy discussion and discourse. Rather than being gratuitous and exploitative, the powerfully emotive chapters of the last part of the book are fundamental to reaching the conclusion of this evocative story.
At its core, A Place Called the Way is a multi-generational study and examination of humanity in all its glory and frailty, bringing to mind classics like The Joy Luck Club and One Hundred Years of Solitude. With the stroke of a pen, the author exposes the murkiness behind the façade we present to the world and the struggles underneath the surface that threatens to pull us under. Riveting, with a raw quality that is deeply affecting, it will surely have readers rapidly turning pages to find out what happens next.
A Place Called The Way
For the first time, after my second book was published, I looked for it on the internet using my cell phone. Usually, I sit at my desk to browse the internet and seek out marketing ideas, etc. But, looking at my books via my cell phone opened up a new world for me, that of the internet and my place in it as an author. Some people may say, well, duh, where have you been? Okay, point taken, but here I am on the internet reaching out to others I have never met, something only the internet can provide.
So, when I work on my website, get a newspaper interview, or check on reviews, I make sure to browse the internet for these using my cell phone. My books are slowly getting around. While I am known in my local area here in California, out in the world of the internet, I am a small voice in a digital wilderness where millions of authors compete for readers. That is why paying professionals to review, to edit, to offer feedback on small potatoes authors like myself is worth it. Maybe reading the following review by Book Review Directory will show you what I mean. They have offered their viewpoint of my book, A Place Called The Way. It is a point of view I appreciate. To read what others think of my work, not just praise, but that they truly got the story I was conveying to readers, is truly satisfying.
From Book Review Directory:
A Place Called the Way is the third installment in Corrine Ardoin’s Pine Valley series and delves deeper into the story of the people that settled in the fictional town of Pine Valley. It depicts the challenges of living and growing up in rural America in the 1950s, as the characters navigate around issues of class, race, and gender in order to establish a life for themselves and their families, one that is filled with love, meaning, and purpose.
It is not overstating it to say that the scope of this book is massive. It is perhaps necessary to read the first two books in the series to fully appreciate the extent of the story being told here. In addition, whether by accident or design, the use of flashbacks and a non-linear timeline, alongside multiple character points of view, added an extra layer of complexity to the plotting which subsequently had a knock-on effect on pacing and characterization.
The interruptions to the present timeline in order to explain something that happened in the past sometimes affected the forward momentum of the narrative. The shift of perspective from one character to another in a seemingly random fashion resulted in some loss of distinction between character voices, something that is so fundamental in character-driven books like these where individual arcs and journeys are essential threads to the wider story tapestry that the author is trying to weave.
Fortunately, the story was strong enough to carry the weight of any misstep. A Place Called the Way is historical fiction steeped in realism, brimming with easily recognizable issues and themes relevant to the reader’s of today. Human follies, suffering, and transformation are timeless. Regardless of period, setting, or geography, tales of love, lust, betrayal, and the limitless capacity one person has to hurt another resonates with all of us.
For example, the book often comes back to the exploration of what it means to be a woman living in a society whose views on gender roles are so limiting and restrictive. Conversely, there is also an equal exploration of the effects of certain types of masculinity and how it can have far-reaching effects all the way up to maturity and adulthood. Some of the scenes are graphic and harrowing, and it is worth noting that some readers might prefer a trigger warning.
However, in not shying away from discussing difficult subjects such as race, sexuality, gender, and self-harm, the book opens the way for healthy discussion and discourse. Rather than being gratuitous and exploitative, the powerfully emotive chapters of the last part of the book are fundamental to reaching the conclusion of this evocative story.
At its core, A Place Called the Way is a multi-generational study and examination of humanity in all its glory and frailty, bringing to mind classics like The Joy Luck Club and One Hundred Years of Solitude. With the stroke of a pen, the author exposes the murkiness behind the façade we present to the world and the struggles underneath the surface that threatens to pull us under. Riveting, with a raw quality that is deeply affecting, it will surely have readers rapidly turning pages to find out what happens next.
A Place Called The Way
No comments have been added yet.
