All Beautiful Things: Amazon Book Review

Wow, overcast skies and a slight misty rain, makes for one of those awe-struck beautiful mornings. Happy Spring to my readers, writers, movers and shakers! Since my last visit, I’ve been putting in hours as a great grandma, working on writing projects, scouring for gigs, attending seminars, teleconferences, and reading an assortment of books:) which brings me to today’s Friday post.

If you haven’t read “All Beautiful Things”, a plot centered around the Beauty and the Beast fan tale by Nicki Salcedo, I don’t think your book collection is complete. Here’s the review that I posted on Amazon.com:

When I read a book for review, I’m usually conscious of my personal taste for story telling. The ability to keep the reader turning the page and the overall feeling of satisfying a hunger that burns in the belly of the reader is a plus. Redundancy, predictability and failure to persuade the reader can detract from a book’s praises.

In All Beautiful Things, the author writes a horrific attack scene that immediately horrifies and draws the reader in and sets the tone for a roller coaster ride of expectancy. The wonderful pace of Imagery moves the story from beginning to end.

There are a few predictions that played itself out that was not a surprise to this reviewer, but still so few that it didn’t detract from the overall expertly written and nicely applied attention to detail the author conveys.

The protagonist is Ava Camden, a rich African-American socialite in Atlanta who is brutally attacked and left for dead. Only she lives and her life is a constant reminder of her ordeal because of the deep scars in her face sustained from the knife the perpetrator welded in the attack.
Ashamed, angry and embarrassed by her disfigurement, Ava refuses to ever have her picture taken. She becomes withdrawn and spends her time working in a shelter amongst people who she feels doesn’t judge her.
When Ava’s white attacker who is serving ten years for the crime against her is released after only seven years and promptly disappears, the brother of the accused attacker sets out to find him, along with the answers to the mystery surrounding Ava Camden’s attack.

All Beautiful Things is a well crafted story that will keep readers intrigued until the end. I enjoyed reading it.

You can see the review here- http://www.amazon.com/review/R2LJ1FGQQTUQPN.

Nicki on Goodreads- url
https://www.goodreads.com/nickisalcedo

Have you read All Beautiful Things yet? Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Clara54’s Author Spotlight…

In 2011, I received a Christian Romance Novel for review by Yvonne Randle of http://www.lovingrelationships.biz. The book was enjoyable, informative and a supportive resource for victims of relationship abuse and domestic violence. Yvonne and I reconnected recently and were in talks about her reasons for penning “Loving Relationships” from a Christian perspective as opposed to other genres.

Truth be told, I am a believer in God, a participant in daily prayer and a faith follower – all connected to living right. But, I’ve read only a handful of books in the Christian genre. It will be a pleasure to have Yvonne Randle join us on Friday as she talks about her latest works in the Christian romance.

In other news, you guys know by now that I operate 3 blogs, as well as work on projects that will supplement my retirement income:) My business brand, Authentic Woman Networks is making great efforts and strides in bringing women together worldwide and readership has increased to over 1000 pageviews/day…I am truly blessed! Recently, I opened an empowerment apparel shop for women to purchase empowerment t-shirts in solidarity of women stepping out in voice and in ownership of their power, all over the world. Please take a moment to show your support for women to use their voice and make a difference.

Visit the shop and purchase an authentic woman tee shirt for yourself and for the strong women in your life at http://www.cafepress.com/AuthenticWomanApparel for a great cause.

Also: Short Story contests are trending. If you’re stuck writing your novel (like me) why not enter a few short stories and keep writing, until you get the ‘feel’ for your book? Here are some contests to consider.

Writing Tomorrow Magazine
Flavorwire Magazine
Kenyon Review
Women Who Write 2013 International Poetry & Short Prose Contest.

What are you guys working on? See you on Friday!

An Interview With Romance Novelist- Kwana M. Jackson

I recently read the steamy romance novel, Through The Lens and knew I had to talk with the author about her new, saucy release. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Kwana Jackson to Clara’s writer’s forum.

Kwana, welcome. I really enjoyed reading Through The Lens, your new release. Before we get to your novel, please share a bit about yourself.

Thank you so much for having me here today. It’s a great honor. I’m a born and raised New Yorker and former fashion designer, mother of teen twins and am now a full timed writer.

Please share some of your prior works.

I’m proud to say that Through The Lens is my first publish work. That said it’s the first of a 3 book series out from Crimson Romance. My next work, still set in the creative romance world will be out at the end of May and just in time for summer beach reading.

What led you to the romance genre?

I’ve always been a fan of woman’s fiction and romance. Some of my favorite authors, and these are just a few, have been: Jackie Collins, Terry Milan, Helen Fielding and Danielle Steele. Being a New York city kid I’d read romances on my long train commutes to and from high school.

Readers of Through The Lens will get swept away to some exotic island to live vicariously through your protagonists and some steamy makeout sessions…were you concerned at all about how women of a certain age might react or was age demographic not a factor?

LOL. Oh now what would you consider women of a certain age? Really, I’d love to know in the comments what readers think that certain age is . I think that would be a fun survey. I happily give the credit of my love of romance to my mother and my grandmother who always seemed to have a new romance novel around the house and these were not the tamest of books either. I think women of any age (as long as it’s a legal age) could enjoy Through The Lens.

What advice would you give the millennial who might have a passion for writing the romance, but, fear rebuttal or embarrassment ?

I do understand some having that fear, I sure did. It seems romance is, sadly an easy genre to make fun of, despite the fact that it’s been documented that it’s the best selling genre in the industry. This gives me great pause and makes me wonder why is it so singled out and put down when others are not. Could it be because it’s a genre primarily dominated by women for women. I don’t know, but still it’s something t be considered. That said, I don’t know what to tell folks besides follow your passion and do what speaks to you. You can’t work to please everyone, only yourself. As for me, I try and do the best work that I can each time and write a story. One that in the end makes my heart feel good and if I can make another person happy with that story then I’m done my job twice over.

Would you ever use a pseudonym?

That’s funny. K.M. Jackson actually is my pseudonym, but I’m horrible at secret keeping and in this Google day what’s a secret anyway? It all comes out in the wash so I kept my long standing Kwana.com website figuring folks would somehow marry the two.

Tell us about your next project and where readers can grab a copy of Through The Lens.

As I said Through The Lens if the first in my Creative Hearts series for Crimson Romance. My next in the series which is tentatively titled: Still Life will be out at the end of May. It’s the story of Samara, a bad girl New York socialite and artist with a dark past who falls for her new neighbor, Mark Thorn who has an equally dark past that he’d rather keep secret. I can’t wait for everyone to meet the two of them.
As for where you can find Through The Lens it’s available in ebook and in print at all your favorite e-tailers:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iTunes
And I can be found on my website http://www.kwana.com
On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KmJacksonAuthor
And on twitter https://twitter.com/KwanaWrites

I really appreciate having you here, Kwana. Thanks for sharing your ‘romance’ author insights with us.

Thank you so much once again for having me.

I’ve read many romance novels. Through The Lens did not disappoint the romantic in me:) Have you written a romantic short story or novel? Please share your experiences with us on the forum.