Monsterland

Inside the Book

Title: MONSTERLAND
Author: Michael Okon
Publisher: Wordfire Press
Pages: 232
Genre: Monsters

BOOK BLURB:

Welcome to Monsterland—the scariest place on Earth.

The last couple years of high school have not been fun for Wyatt Baldwin. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He’s not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either. An on-going debate with his best friends Howard Drucker and Melvin over which monster is superior has gotten stale. He’d much rather spend his days with beautiful and popular Jade. However, she’s dating the brash high-school quarterback Nolan, and Wyatt thinks he doesn’t stand a chance.

But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can rock out with vampires at Vampire Village, be chased by actual werewolves on the Werewolf River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville.

With real werewolves, vampires and zombies as the main attractions, what could possibly go wrong?

Meet the Author

Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with a degree in English, and then later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling is his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.

Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children.

His latest book is Monsterland.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

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My Review

Mosterland was an entertaining read filled with all sorts of monsters like vampires and Werewolves. The idea of a park where people can interact with these monsters reminded me a lot of the Jurassic Park movies. It was an entirely new and different take on them which kept to book fun and not boring. Wyatt Baldwin was definitely my favorite character. I would love for there to be a Monsterland 2!

5-Minute Bible 100 Stories & 100 Songs By Stephen Elkins

Book Description

Curl up with your little one, and discover 100 of the greatest Bible stories.

From Moses’ encounter with the burning bush and Jonah’s trip to Nineveh to Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son and the last supper, 5 Minute Bible: 100 Stories and Songs will make an eternal difference by revealing God’s amazing love. With biblical truths and life-action applications, your child will take these biblical teachings to heart, and the adorable illustrations and song lyrics will help make these five minutes the best part of the day.

Set aside five minutes to discover the Bible with your child—and start today!

My Review

5-Minute Bible 100 Stories & 100 Songs By Stephen Elkins was a very cute children's first bible with short bible stories that were perfectly written and edited for young children. The pictures were perfect for young children as each one fit the story perfectly, was cute, and well drawn!

Awoke (The Want Series) by K.T. Conte

​Katya must decide whether she values the simple and easy life she created for herself over the complex and difficult world now asking her to stand and fight. ​ Book Details: Book Title:  Awoke (The Want Series) by K.T. Conte Category: YA Fiction;  324 pages Genre:  Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Publisher:   SugarCane Publishing Release date:  October 2017 Format available for review:  print & ebook (mobi, ePub, PDF) Will ship print books to:  Internationally Tour dates: Sept 25 to Oct 27, 2017 Content Rating: PG-13 (mainly bad language) Book Description: ​Katya leads a normal life any teenager would be envious of – popular, pretty and dating the high school elite. Not she enjoys the spotlight, mind you. She wants everyone to believe she is normal. But when Katya sees the real reason behind the earthquakes plaguing everyone in Boston, the truth rattles and shatters the perfect normal illusion Katya created for herself. An ability to see unearthly creatures and manipulate waves of life energy labels her as anything but normal. And it’s an ability that attracts unwanted and dangerous attention. She reluctantly finds herself in the company of Gregor, a handsome member of an international spirit military team called the Kyrios. Her simple decision to help thrusts Katya in a world of the undead spirits, betrayal and a perpetual battle between undead monsters and the wardens that keep them in their place. Katya must decide whether she values the simple and easy life she created for herself over the complex and difficult world now asking her to stand and fight. Buy the Book: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound iTunes ~ Kobo ~ Bookshout Add to Goodreads ​ ​Meet the Author: ​K.T. Conte is a lover of books, people and all things wild and crazy. She received her B.A. in English from Boston College and her law degree from Suffolk University Law School. While she has and continues to be a licensed attorney, her first love has always been books from the tender age of 2. Originally from Massachusetts, K.T. currently lives in New York City with the monsters in the closet, her husband Everett, a couple of building fairies and her dog, Champ. ​Connect with the Author:  Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter My Review Awoke (The Want Series) by K.T. Conte was a well-written book with a strong female character as the main character. I quickly found that Katya became my favorite character right from the beginning and she stayed me favorite character throughout the whole book. The author did a wonderful job in making Katya seem just like a real person with her desire to have a good life and been seen as normal even if she was not normal. I really enjoyed watching her grow as a character through out the pages of this book!

Perspective in Action

Using a fun and accessible graphic novel format, Perspective in Action features 33 easy-to-follow demonstrations to teach artists the major discoveries in perspective. 

Perspective is a fundamental element in the development of art and for understanding spatial relationships, but it is an underserved topic in the world of art instruction. Author and artist David Chelsea takes readers through the major perspective-related developments in history, teaching them how to re-create these same experiments by leading artists in all fields (including drawing, painting, and sculpture). Covering a wide-range of mediums (pen and ink, paint, chalk, digital art, woodwork, and more), Perspective in Action gives readers a more hands-on approach to perspective, as opposed to the usual theoretical presentations found in other books.



Perspective in Action was a great book for learning to improve my drawing ability. I am very much a novice and some of it went over my head, but what I did understand will help to improve my art quite a bit. I found the author to be talented at not only art, but also at teaching through writing!

Summer on Earth

Inside the Book

Title: SUMMER ON EARTH
Author: Peter Thompson
Publisher: Persnickety Press
Pages: 293
Genre: Sci-fi / Middle Grade

BOOK BLURB:

The night that eleven-year-old Grady Johnson looked out his window and wished upon a shooting star, his life changed forever.

Grady, his Ma, and younger sister Luanne are having a hard summer. Dad has died and the family isn’t the same. Though Ma is trying her best, Grady knows they don’t have enough money to get by.

The shooting star he saw was a space craft plunging to Earth, and landing at the back of their farm. Extraterrestrial engineer Ralwil Turth has one goal, to fix his power drive and go back home. But things don’t go as planned. Stuck in human form, he gets to know Grady and his family as he works on their farm. He starts to learn about what it means to be human, and the exotic charms of this planet like the taste of potatoes, and how amazing bugs are.

Ralwil grows to care for Grady and his family. On a trip to town, he realizes that money is what matters to humans, and is the cause of the family’s trouble. That night, he uses his technology to combine a twenty-dollar bill with an oak twig. Over the next week this grows to a towering tree, every leaf a twenty-dollar bill. This, Ralwil is sure, will solve all the family’s problems.

But the family’s wealth raises suspicion in this small town, and this soon leads to more trouble. With the family’s fate, and Ralwil’s life, on the line, Grady has to find the courage to help his family and save his friend.

Summer on Earth blends humor, adventure and poignancy to create an unforgettable story about finding home.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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Meet the Author

Peter Thompson grew up in Illinois, and lives near Chicago. He remembers how excited he was when the first astronaut stepped on to the moon. He has had an appreciation of space, and all its possibilities ever since. His love of children’s books developed while reading to his three sons. His first novel, Living Proof, was a thriller published by Berkeley Books. Summer on Earth is his first book for younger readers. It will be released in August of this year.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER

My Review

Summer on Earth was an awesome book about the love of family, the need for courage, and the power of a friend(human or not). I loved how Ralwil literally made a tree of money to help Grady and his family, but how the families wealth then brought them more problems. The reason I liked this part is because it felt real I have seen too many books where a character instantly becomes wealthy and no one questions it. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and it would be a must read for those in elementary and middle school. 

A YEAR IN THE COMPANY OF FREAKS

Book Details:

Book Title:  A Year in the Company of Freaks by Teresa Neumann
Category:  Adult Fiction,   515 pages
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Publisher:   All's Well House
Release date:  Dec 21, 2015
Format available for review:  print & ebook (gifted Kindle copy)
Will ship print books to:  USA & Canada only
Tour dates: Sept 11 to 29, 2017
Content Rating: PG + M (Little violence and profanity, no f-words, no sex, but some drug use)

Book Description:

It's 1972 and a seismic clash-of-cultures is rattling northern California. In the redneck town of Trinity Springs, rumors of hippies migrating up from San Francisco have residents bracing for an invasion. When Italian-American hometown boy and Berkeley graduate Sid Jackson is busted for growing pot on his deceased parents' farm, locals suspect the assault has begun. Will a crazy deferral program devised by the sheriff keep Sid out of prison? Or will a house full of eccentric strangers, a passionate love interest, and demons from his past be his undoing?

A "disarmingly appealing" tale of discrimination, transformation and restoration, Freaks is bursting with intrigue, drama, comic relief and romance. Reviewers agree this five-star, coming-of-age classic "very much reflects the attitude and mood of the times."

Praise for A Year in the Company of Freaks:

“This coming of age story will draw the reader right in. Teresa Neumann demonstrates how much she values relationships in her writing … a precious skill. I held my breath all the way through to the final few pages. Five stars!” — The San Francisco Book Review

“As it relates to the complicated clash of culture and counterculture, Freaks acts as an authentic, strongly Seventies book. Northern California works as a strong presence in the novel that is vivid and omnipresent, but never overwhelming. Sure to intrigue and entertain, Freaks will have its digs in you before you realize how involved you’ve become.” — The Manhattan Book Review

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Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Add to Goodreads
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About the Author:

Author of highly-acclaimed "A Year in the Company of Freaks," Teresa was raised in a large Midwest family and now lives in Oregon. She is also the author of "Bianca's Vineyard," and its sequel, "Domenico's Table." Both books are based on the true stories of her husband's Italian family in Tuscany. In addition to enjoying family, writing, reading, meeting her readers, wine tasting, traveling, and all things Italian, Teresa loves playing the fiddle with other musicians.
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Connect with the Author:  Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

The Black Market Concierge: Sanction Busting, Smuggling & Spying for America

Book Details:

Book Title: The Black Market Concierge: Sanction Busting, Smuggling & Spying for America
Author: Barry Oberholzer
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction, 177 pages
Genre:  Memoir
Publisher:   Amazon
Release date:  November 2016
Format available for review:  print & ebook (gifted Kindle copy, PDF)
Will ship print books to:  USA & Canada only
Tour dates: Sept 25 to Oct 13, 2017
Content Rating: PG (Violence)

Book Description:
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Barry Oberholzer’s secret life as a confidential informant, infiltrating international organized crime syndicates and sanction-busting activity hit headlines in 2012. Oberholzer reported an array of vital intelligence to the CIA and multiple intelligence agencies across the world. For years, he has worked across the Middle East and behind the scenes as a confidential informant making connections, extracting valuable intelligence, and facing off against America's greatest enemy at every turn.

In The Black Market Concierge, he opens a window into his double life as an informant; informing on the role of key players including major corporations, crime syndicates, politicians and government officials in high-value international smuggling operations.

After exposing corruption at the highest levels of government in South Africa, he is ready to give a no holds barred account of what it is like to live the life of a high-level, confidential informant.

​His memoir is a searingly honest account of a boy aviation enthusiast who cascaded into the world of international espionage and how it ultimately sent him in search of salvation in his devout Christian faith. It is a testimony that will move even the most cold hearted.

​Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Add to Goodreads

Watch the trailer:

Meet the Author: 

​Born in Houston, Texas, a former professional rugby player and current CrossFit and Ironman athlete, Barry is the founder of TerrorMate app and is a counter-terrorism and intelligence expert. Formerly Barry served as a confidential informant for Department of Homeland Security, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Belgium Customs Intelligence and HM Revenue & Customs Intelligence in the United Kingdom.
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One of his most impactful successes was in his identification of Iranian sanction busting syndicates who smuggled US manufactured aircraft and parts to Iran which led to the arrests of several prominent international businessmen. He also had numerous successes in major illicit cigarette seizures in Europe.

​Connect with the Author:  Website  ~  Twitter