Solstice Blessings.
Monday Musing – 22/06/2020
Review of Better Than Capitalism by Samy Barnat.
This book is full of sobering facts about what we as humans are doing to our planet. The information contained in this book offers plenty of advice, compelling arguments, but also hope. Hope stemming from the actions we can take to heal our economic, ecological, political and health crises.
The author uses clear and concise language so that he book is easy to read – everyone should be able to access this information. There are plenty of hyperlinks to help you understand why this action must be taken. The topics being discussed are controversial, but we need to address these issues regardless of how uncomfortable we feel.
If you want to look into what we can do now to save ourselves and the earth, then this book is a must.
Review of Our Time by Savanna Malveaux.
I reviewed this book for the author via Reedsy, link can be found here: https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/our-time-savanna-malveaux
Our Time is set in Atlanta and tells many different stories. Leah, a successful family lawyer, has decided she wants to leave Law behind and start her own business – as a Madam, running a high end Escort Agency. Her business venture is far from the norm and she decides she will test it out whilst on a mini break with her girlfriends. Leah’s friends love her idea and cannot wait until they reach their destination.
Cue the first of many erotic scenarios.
This genre is not exactly new to me, but it is one I don’t read that often. I am always sceptical about books that come under the erotic fiction genre, not because of the amount of sex that you read about, but because the action can often overtake the plot.
Our Time is a little heavy on the sex scenes, but I do feel they are necessary. They tell of each of Leah’s clients, their needs – and often these needs are highly complex – the exact nature of what they want. These parts read really well, in the format of emails they outlined everything that each client wanted, and then Leah’s response. I found that while the action in the sex department was quite intense, it did not swallow the plot up.
I feel that each character was believable – many of them had been too afraid to reach out and grab their fantasies before Leah had opened her business up, this came across really well and certainly did not read like an ex rated movie script. I could see why they wanted to engage Leah’s services and some of them were quite bashful about what it is that wanted.
My favourite client of Leah’s was a lawyer named Lisa. She needed a stand in boyfriend for a trip back home to her folks. I loved how the energy flowed between Lisa and Tony, and her whole family were very relatable.
I wanted to like Leah a whole lot more than I did. She clearly had issues and how she dealt with them were very in keeping with what had happened to her. For me, she lacked depth.
On the whole this book will appeal to lovers of Erotica and BDSM genres. It does have a lot of sex scenes in, but it is an erotic novel so it is to be expected. This book will definitely appeal to the readers of the Erotic fiction genre.
I will give it three stars as it was a fun book to read. ***
Monday Motivation.
Choose Love.
These past few weeks have been fuelled by fear, it’s been really difficult to be led by anything else. But it’s time to let go of that fear and to choose love. To trust in the universe once again.
Monday Musings. 20/04/2020.
I’ve racked my brains all day for something uplifting and inspiring to say to you all. I have nothing. I’m struggling emotionally and I’m finding lockdown is triggering me.
From me and Storm I hope you all have a wonderful week and give yourself the time and space you need to just be.
Review of A Forged Affair by MaryAnn Clark
I started reading this book aware that it is part of a series, but it is easy to read as a standalone book. To begin with I found the pace of the storyline quite slow, the author’s illuminative writing allowed me to picture the area of France that the book is set in, but at first I felt swamped by this.
Sticking with the story I found that after I had the first chapter under my belt the storyline opened up a lot more, the characters started to flow a lot more freely and I began to get a feel for them.
At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the protagonist, she came across as cocky. I soon learnt that this showing off that Niki was doing was a mask to hide her pain, and that warmed me to her.
Niki’s relationship with Didier was uncomplicated at first, her desire to help him out was really endearing. Her need to stand up to the bullies on his behalf really won me over. Her relationship with Luc was really complicated and this had me very frustrated right the way through the book. That said, the complications were as a result of her pain and therefore quite understandable.
During the first chapter, when I felt the story was slow, I was really certain I was not going to enjoy this book. After about the third or fourth chapter I found that the emotions of all concerned had got me gripped, I have to admit that this did surprise me.
The author has carefully woven a rather surprising story of love, friendships, heartache and an utterly independent woman who you will find endearing but frustratingly stubborn at the same time.
Her descriptive account of the area really helps to set the scene for this story. The characters are both likeable and believable, although some of the background characters lacked dimension at times. That said, this did not take anything away from the storyline, nor did it interfere with the flow of the story.
I found this book enjoyable and thought provoking. Niki’s character caused me to ponder what it would be like for a young female to be travelling around France and then to dive headfirst into a friendship with a man she has just met.
I enjoyed the author’s writing style, her knowledge about the area of France that the book is set in and the activities that the characters are involved in comes across very well. I would definitely recommend this book to family and friends.
Beauty in our surroundings.
Like many people I’m struggling with Lockdown. I don’t usually go out much, but now that I can’t I feel really trapped. I know there are a lot of people feeling exactly the same way.
I’m blessed to have such beautiful surroundings in my neighbourhood and it’s certainly helped to soothe my jangled nerves.
Finding beauty in the places we have around us can help alleviate some of the stress that we feel. Mother Nature always soothes my soul.
Happy Easter.
