THE BOOK REVIEW PROJECT
01/06/2019 Volume 1, Issue 7
WHAT’S INSIDE Must See Bloggers ..... 2 Anne .......................... 3 The Wanderer ............ 4 DIY on YouTube ........ 4 The Breadwinner...…..5 Swimming in Puddles 6 TGD Update............... 6
WHERE TO REVIEW Reviews are a critical factor in the success of any book. For readers, reviews are a powerful buying tool, for authors, reviews are the main source of reader feedback to improve their craft. Reviews are also important because they increase a novels visibility to others and when good writers make sales they can afford to start writing new projects. Yay! More books. Leaving a book review is easy and doesn’t take a lot off your time. There are many places to write book reviews, but the best options to support authors are the places where readers hang out. Online book sellers such as Amazon, Play Books, Booktopia, Barnes & Noble as well as The Book Depositry. These sites generally require a minimum spend be-
fore you are allowed to review but surely you are buying books if you care enough to review them. I hope so anyway. You could also put feedback up on your own platform for your friends and family to see and of course review sites such as Goodreads, LitHub and Bookbub are great options as well if you are cash poor but still want to shout about an amazing read.
HAVE YOU MET ZARINA MACHA? Featured Blogger: This up and coming influencer started 'thezarinamachablog' in 2017, a platform where she regularly writes her opinions on a range of topics including feminism, psychology,Game of Thrones, movies, religion, relationships and much more. This can be found in the 'Blog' section of this website. Macha also started a music site later that year to share her new releases and where she reviews the work of musical artists and has also written a few music-related posts. Macha's debut EP 'Fire' is available on a range of digital streaming platforms including Spotify and iTunes. She continues to grow as a musician and I hope you will all join me in supporting an incredible artist..
“One is the victim of cruelty, the other creates it. One character lives in the concrete jungle of London, the other in the suburban town of Bletchfield. Both novellas are in one binding, echoing the dark horrors within.”
TWO BOOKS IN ONE!! I really enjoyed reading Zarina’s debut work, two short stories that address adolescent mental illness and the pressure of modern society on our young people. We aren’t raising children to live in a world like we grew up in ourselves, we are trying to raise them to exist in a world we can’t even fathom yet and the divide between parents and children is widening every day. The main characters both make terrible choices in both novellas and the way the author explores this is raw and powerful. The desire for normal is an emotion I myself can strongly relate to as a reader and if darker themes is something you crave in a book I encourage you to find this one on Amazon. I would not recommend any one under the age of twelve reads either of these, the expletive violence and intimate scenes that have been portrayed might be a tad too adult for that age demographic.
novels making it a read you just 2
can’t put down.
Zarina
was
born
North
London,
in and
studied at The Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. She identifies
as
Indian
Tanzanian
and
descent;
raised in Tanzania this aspiring
novelist
has
wanted to be a fiction writer since around five years old which extended to a love of writing
A DIARY STYLE COMING OF AGE Arc Review of Anne *Warning Spoilers* My rating: 5 stars This UK author has published, before Anne, a dual novella Every Last Psycho and a poetry book Art is a Waste of Time. I was offered the opportunity
music by adolescence.
To find out more you can check out Zarina’s social pages at: zaridoesmusic.co.uk/ zarinamacha.co.uk/
this month to be an ARC reviewer of her latest release and the following is
instagram.com/
my stream of consciousness thoughts about the story as I read it. Told from
zarinamacha/
the diary style perspective of a reasonably intelligent and introspective teen-
twitter.com/
age girl struggling with her sexuality and PTSD due to witnessing years of her mother’s infidelity and subsequent abuse at the hand of her alcoholic yet
zarinamacha
devoutly religious father. The character development that Macha has crafted was surprisingly accurate for this type of mental illness and the reader is
If you know of a blogger
emotionally invested in the story from very early in the novel. The work ex-
who
plores a number of important themes that impact todays youths and was, in
working
my opinion, a very much needed book for today’s young people. Anne deliv-
changing the stigma of
ers a raw and honest message to readers which highlights the effects of dis-
mental health through
crimination, mental illness, domestic violence and race issues which in this
creative works I’d love
increasingly digital world are the real-world problems we need to discuss
to hear about them.
and not just “scroll past” in our news feeds. I would definitely recommend this book to any who enjoy stories about high schoolers and LGBTIQ representation, or anyone who enjoys reading about navigating adolescence. I work in mental health and any book that addresses this or is diversity inclusive will always be a special read to me. Anne was an easy character to like, and I liked the ending, because I was left with a conclusion to all the heart break that Anne had dealt with.
is
proactively towards
You can send a link for the site you’d like to see featured via the email links found on the back page of this publication.
3
DIY ON YOUTUBE This month’s channel is produced by Auston Longton of LA, California.
A GUT WRENCHING POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL I read Volume One after binge watching season four of Z-Nation so I was looking for a book to wash away to bad taste in my mouth. The Wanderer Chronicles was fit for that purpose. The motley characters are endearing, the plot was punchy and just gruesome enough. This suspenseful and perilous little tale appears to set up for a
Longton’s debut album sorbet is available on Amazon and iTunes.
worthy post-apocalyptic series. Volume Two will
follow
on from the ending of Volume
One,
taking
place
weeks after the first book. Currently TBC and Lauren Hadfield will be designing
In addition to creating incredible music this emerging American artist also writes poetry and already self-published two books: •
Auston The Awful
•
Red Herrings
To find out more you can follow him at https:// www.youtube.com/ channel/ UCKHeh4EXfD1BxkveSaRG5gw
4
http://www.sarahaddisonfox.co
Set in the year 1924, the book follows the MC, Pasha, who is sixteen and a struggling immigrant from Russia. I won’t spoil the book with his tragic back story but when the book starts he is living with his mum and mentally unstable little sister working for a street gang to support them. Things
Morgan Tru Blum
Half Mermaid, half Igneous, she and her Miraculous husband share their home with two magical cats and two magical
/
dogs. When not exploring Voiler look bleak but here’s the twist guys. This book is a fantasy and our young hero is soon flung into an incredible world of magic tucked away in good old Central Park. Written in 3POV (Which is my favourite format) This book had everything, great characters, accurate historic setting and a
and chilling with the Fae Morgan paints, acts, sings, and cooks. Check out her illustrations and other Breadwinner content on her Instagram: morgan_true_blum_art.
Crafting romance as unique as you are, because sometimes your first kiss won’t be perfect.
I have said it many times, books that celebrate diversity are a particular favourite of mine and should be a priority for writers, thank you Sarah this book is now on my To Be Recommended List. In hiding for year a newly branded Irrelevant has been cut off from everything she knows, banished to live in the old city she journeys through the wasteland and meets a bitter, paranoid, and possibly crazy may...
YA romance writer Sarah Addison-Fox is a beautiful soul who uses her art to reach out to the broken, the lost and the damaged. People like herself who identify as misfits. She has written four similar series that are diverse character inclusive Illuminate The Allegiant Series The Stormers Series
who may just be right about
You can find out more
everything. For fans of The
about this author and her
Hunger Games and Divergent
upcoming work over on
comes an action-packed love
her webpage
story celebrating Autism and
sarahmaddisonfox.com
Neuro Divergence that you won't want to put down.
5
STILL GROWING UPDATE Saturday July 20th is the official launch date for the second instalment in The Girl Diaries Series. I will be selling signed copies of my debut novel Awkward Honesty at the Cobb and Co Farmers Markets in Toowoomba on launch day and you can also grab the newly released second instalment from me on the day, I am not doing pre-order sales this time so it will just be first in first served. I will be giving away some awesome book swag to shoppers so make sure you stop in to see me! I will be available between 9am and 1pm in the kids activity tent.
DEBUT AUSTRALIAN SELF-HELP Following the story of a young but jaded man and his mentor, who seek to reinvent their lives through combat sport. Their inspirational journey incorporates the wisdom of learning to be disciplined and how to start recognizing opportunities in life that we have been missing because we ignore our own intuition.
Feel free directly submit your book reviews: info@authormathomas.com.au steamscene2018@gmail.com admin@steamscenecafe.com.au Stalk our social media pages and website for more regular bookish content! https://twitter.com/MATHOMA90218903 https://www.facebook.com/riss.thomas.988 https://wordpress.com/view/itsrthomas.wordpress.com https://www.instagram.com/author_mathomas/ https://www.authormathomas.com.au https://www.patreon.com/Author_MAThomas https://authorthomas.tumblr.com/