Book Reviews – Page 4 – Jean's Writing

Need a good read for the weekend?

Published on November 12, 2015November 11, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell5 Comments

Well, I’ve got two for you!

First up, I received an advance copy of this book and boy am I glad.

The Knowing by Ninie Hammon is a hold on to your seat, gripping story that will give you nightmares.

She is the author of one of my all time favorite books, The Memorie Closet. Her new release The Knowing is just as amazing. Can’t wait for the next one.

Page one and I was hooked! Ripped from the headlines, this book is every parents nightmare, Shooter on campus of elementary school. The impact of the shooting on the characters will give any reader pause. Lives are changed as everyone searches for answers.

I’m not a big believer in angels or demons and so I rarely read books on the subject. But, I could not put down The Knowing. The writing and her ability to weave a remarkable story, kept me reading. Move over Stephen King there’s a new bestseller in town.

Congrats! To Ninie Hammon, she hit this one out of the park.

My next recommendation is-

Take Off Your Pants – Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker.

If you are like me, you’ve more “how to” books than you’ll ever read. But this is one you must add to your library. She makes planning your book simple.

Don’t like to outline? No problem.

Prefer to write by the seat of your pants? No problem.

This book gives a plan for combining the best of both writers.

Plus, Ms. Hawker explains “character arc” in terms even a kid can understand. For the first time ever, I “got it.”

This book changed my entire thought process on mapping out a book.

If you’ve had trouble with outlines and characters, I recommend you read Take off Your Pants!

So there you have it, two books for your weekend reading pleasure.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think, read any good books lately? And please join me @jeancogdell on Twitter and jean.cogdell on Facebook!
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PS:

Coming soon! My children’s book Tryouts for Ben!

Do You Want Best Beach Read Ever?

Published on July 31, 2015July 27, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell9 Comments

Last week I took a much needed R & R. I enjoyed fun in the sun with the love of my life, and our wonderful family. Throw in good food, great books and I could not have asked for a better time.

Which brings me to this blog.

I’m having book withdrawal.

Withdrawal isn’t the right word.

Hmm, haunted is more like it.

Yes, I’m being haunted by Go Set a Watchman.

Have you ever read a book so good the words stayed with you long after the last paragraph?

I’ve started several books since I read Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, but I’ve finished none. Because, not one of them measured up to the high bar set by Ms. Lee. So haunted is a good word.

If you ever doubted the importance of a good editor, and what an editor can do for a writer, this book should set those doubts to rest.

It’s my understanding that when Ms. Lee first submitted Go Set A Watchman, her editor felt the book was too raw and real for the current time. However, her editor recognized a tiny gold nugget in the novel. She asked Ms. Lee to write more about one small passage, and believe me it is small. Her editor felt the time was ripe for a champion, but it could not be a young woman. So to To Kill A Mockingbird was born.

Let me say I love Go Set A Watchman! The prose of Ms. Lee transported me back to a time and place, that for some, might be as hard to imagine as frontiers visited on a Star Trek episode.

However, for those of us who lived it, we know she revealed the truth of how people lived, thought, spoke and often treated each other. Truth is not always pretty, it does not always set us free, but without it we live a lie. I find it sad that as far as we have grown as a people, there are still some who today live, think and say things that keep them ensconced in the old South.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful book out of concern or fear for the loss of a hero. To make Atticus Finch a crusader or a villain is to short change both the character and the author. He was simply a man of his time. Flesh, blood and human filled with flaws, fears and ambition. Atticus, like so many of us strived to just get along, to just get by in the world in which he lived.

Ms. Lee pulled back the curtain and revealed there was no great and powerful Oz, only a man. With Scout we watch the Godlike awe of her father crumble and fall away to reveal a mere mortal, flesh and blood man. We feel her heartache and love as she comes of age and comes to grip with life as it is not as she wishes it was.

Ms. Lee wrote some hard truths, but unlike a lot of writers she did it in real-time, not hindsight. What a wonderful gift to us, her readers.

I hope readers will embrace this beautiful literary prose with open arms.

In Go Set A Watchman, Ms. Lee held up a mirror and revealed life as she saw it and ask the question what do you see.

I will cherish and reread this book many times. I’m sad there are not more books hidden in her attic.

From one Daughter of the South who loved Go Set A Watchman.

5 plus Star Review!

Breaking News – No 5 Star Recommendation Today

Published on June 12, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell6 Comments

Sorry everyone! No book review today.

This week has been crazy.

Spent two days in bed. Someone should’ve warned me picking up magic markers could throw out my back. Weird….

Plus this week has have been filled with nail-biting, exciting Little League playoff games. Let me tell you – the Texas Rangers have nothing, and I mean nothing on these pint-sized eleven year old kids. Each game was a thrill to watch them play their hearts out and win.

Last night we cinched 2nd place. Two more games to go. Hope my nerves can take it.

And this week we also celebrated our youngest grandson’s 8th birthday!

The two days I spent laying flat on my aching back, I started a couple of books but they couldn’t hold my attention. The rest of the week there just wasn’t enough time nor energy. Family comes first, and is a big priority for me. So unfortunately, I’m without a book recommendation.

What’s in your kindle?

Y’all know I love to read, so send me your best recommendations for the coming week.

Y’all know that I love comments, almost as much as I love clicks.

So after you pass my post on to your Facebook and Twitter pals leave me a comment and a book recommendation.

If you’re not already, please follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!

Free 5 Star Thriller

Published on June 5, 2015June 2, 2015 by Jean M. Cogdell1 Comment

It’s Friday Review Time

I downloaded Sara’s Game (The Sara Winthrop Thriller Series Book 1) by Ernie Lindsey last week and read it in one day. As the reviews promised this is a grab you and not let go thriller.

To enjoy this book all you must do is, sit back, and suspend belief for one lazy summer afternoon.

But, isn’t that just plain ole good fiction? I mean when was the last time you attended a Quiddich match at Texas Stadium?

Or fell in love with a vampire, or watched a drop dead spy hang from a helicopter as he killed the villain?

And one thing I think we can all agree on is that no Werewolf and human should mate.

So it shouldn’t be that hard to believe a mom would move heaven and earth, fight the devil himself, thwart the police and defeat a sociopath to save her three children.

Yes, good fiction can allow the reader suspend logic for a few hours and believe the unbelievable. And Mr. Lindsey did that for me.

Let’s face it, what could be more terrifying than a missing child?

Maybe three missing children and a missing husband… .

I enjoyed this fast, quick read and left the logical side of my brain at the door and went along for harrowing ride where for once the heroine defeats the psycho.

So if you’re looking for a book to read as you curl up pool side this Saturday download Sara’s Game while it’s FREE.

(926 customer reviews)