Book

Poetry Review: “All Made of Longing” by Ruth Osman

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Rating: 4 stars

Headline: A strong poetry debut which speaks highly of where Osman will take her creative talents next

Review:

There are few mediums that can transport a reader quite so rapidly as poetry. From snappy two liners to elongated stanza blocks, when done right there is something quite magical about the romanticism of the free flowing word and its ability to convey a fresh presentative on the world we live in.

Marking her poetry collection debut, Ruth Osman brings readers to the sunny landscapes of the Caribbean in her new publication All Made of Longing. Spread over sixty four pages, Osman’s poetry draws heavily on the symbolism of tropical surroundings, with an acknowledgement of the human interactions that have come to influence nature (much to our peril).

In All Made of Longing, Osman experiments with different approaches to tempo, pace, presentation and, most significantly, tone. A number of the poems draw on the poet’s heritage and its links to slavery and the slave trade; while they are not always a pleasant read, they are an important read all the same. They suggest sorrow and an ongoing struggle felt by the descendants ever since. As a British reader in the twenty-first century, they serve as an important reminder to the past.

Within this collection, a personal favourite of mine is the short and sweet “Deluge”, a four line stanza that offers a somewhat tongue-in-cheek warning to those who mock the power of Mother Nature. The use of blue monotone illustrations at the header of each chapter is also a nice touch to break up the collection, each a representation of ta tree’s growth, and the ongoing circle of life contained within.

Reading All Made of Longing you would not expect this to be the work of a debut poet, it is a strong opening collection and speaks highly of where Osman will take her creative talents next.

AEB Reviews

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Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “All Made of Longing” by Ruth Osman

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Book Review: “Guide to Understanding the News and Understanding the World” by Nick Simoneschi

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Rating: 1 star

Headline: Nick Simoneschi’s guide lacks clarity, identity, and engaging writing

Review:

It only takes a minute, the right author and a dash of luck to make a story go viral. By mid morning, that seemingly biennial news article could not only have become the talk of the office, but the driving force behind behind an entire brand, a new cult or even a shifting force within History itself. Recent years has seen the rapid adoption and expansion of instant media, but can everything we read be trusted?

Written by Law graduate and financial strategic advisor Nick Simoneschi, Guide to Understanding the News and Understanding the World is a non-fiction guide which aims to educate and warn against the perils of believing news coverage at face value. The book is split into seven chapters, covering topics such as “global news”, “environmental news” and “fact-checking”. It is formatted in an essay-type construct, with no additional imagery. Simoneschi refers to the reader as “students” throughout.

While on the cover it seems apparent what Simoneschi is trying to achieve, in reality this is a book that lacks identity. In doing so, more often than not it turns into a soap box for the author to express his views on how news content should be presented. Chapter three, “news literacy for children”, becomes bogged down in arguments for changing the school curriculum, yet it is not clear who Simoneschi is directing this argument to. Parents? Students? Teachers? The intended readership of this title is not apparent enough to know for sure.

The writing itself makes for a very clunky read, with over repetition of key essay buzz words (in the duration of the book’s 81 pages, the word “furthermore” is used 33 times, “conclusion”, 30, and “student” an eye-watering 249 times). The lack of author credentials and general introduction on why the world needs this book right now is also an area which needed presenting in the opening pages of the book. Otherwise it looks like just another opinionated piece anyone could have written.

In a market saturated with other books claiming to be the “definitive guide”, Guide to Understanding the News and Understanding the World does little to shake up the establishment, or offer new insight to a fresh readership base. An experienced book editor would have identified the mistakes immediately and worked with the author to improve the writing quality, to make it a more engaging and inclusive read for its intended audience. Instead, the content repeats over itself, to the point where Simoneschi’s guidance unfortunately becomes too bland to consume in a meaningful way. This book could have been better disseminated as a series of short online blog posts.

AEB Reviews

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Book Review: “The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Cheesemaking” by Kendall Roy

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Rating: 4 stars

Headline: The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Cheesemaking is a helpful, well-pitched guide for novice cheesemakers, young and old

Review:

Can I just say, I love cheese. It is both simple and extravagant, it’s non-fussy (preparation time for a meal of cheese and crackers? 30 seconds) and, above all, it goes with absolutely everything. There are over 1800 types of cheese, and one of the crying shames of mortality is that there is every chance I will not be able to try them all before the next world beckons. Hopefully that next world also has cheese.

Kendall Roy must be cut of the same cloth as myself. The American writer, based in California, is the author behind the new publication The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Cheesemaking. Spanning 78 pages, this short guide covers everything any budding cheesemaker would need to know to start crafting their own cheese recipe at home. Starting with the origins of cheesemaking, the guide goes on to cover some basic recipes, including essential kitchen ingredients and utensils. The book covers ten different cheese recipes for popular classics, including cheddar, feta and Swiss cheese and is bookended by common mistakes to avoid, and plenty of references should budding readers want to learn more.

A fun book, the tone of voice in The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Cheesemaking is nicely pitched, with the guidance offered at the right level for novice cheesemakers. The recipes are clear (for my fellow readers outside America, an FYI that the ingredient measurement are provided in cup units), and the detail provided on segments such as “essential kitchen equipment” comes from someone who has been there and got the apron. You can tell the guidance is coming from someone with a deep understanding of the craft. It would have been good to have included more imagery (sadly there are none, and in places it does feel lacking for it, especially as an aide memoir for the recipes). There are also no page numbers, which can make it slightly more challenging to when referencing between different sections.

The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Cheesemaking is a good book for newcomers to the cheesemaking industry, and while Roy makes no slight of the patience needed to produce a good lump of cheese, she is also clear on the rewards it can bring. Namely, cheese.

AEB Reviews

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Fiction Review: “A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue” by Mary Carroll Moore

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Rating: 3 stars

Headline: The story of one woman’s mission to rebuild relationships and clear her name

Review:

When the opportunity arose to review Mary Carroll Moore’s The Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue I thought I was picking up a non-fiction title (having missed the small inclusion of “a novel” in the thumbnail’s footer). After realising my mistake I decided to continue reading, hooked by a dramatic opening scene featuring protagonist and indie rockstar, Red Nelson.

Shortly after crashing a stolen plane we learn of Red’s predicament. Framed for a violent attack she didn’t commit by the real perpetrator, longstanding criminal Billy Cotton, Red turns to her search and rescue pilot step sister, Kate Fisher and her daughter, Molly, for help. Their challenge is twofold, proving Red’s innocence and locking up Billy for good. However, as family tensions heat up and physical injuries take hold, it quickly becomes apparent there can only be one winner in this epic battle of cat and mouse and, when it comes to defeat, Billy is not a man used to losing…

The premise of this book is interesting, playing against the relationships of blended female generations who are linked by the same patriarchal figurehead. Personalities are distinct between the core characters and Moore does a great job in building tension and raising stakes within action sequences.

In A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue there is a lack of strong subplots to keep driving the underlying story of Red evading capture. The need of an additional storyline during the middle lull was particularly needed after the sudden appearance of Billy (an event that occurs earlier in the story than most comparative titles would normally address). This, as well as perhaps a few too many characters within the story, some of which appearing sporadically as means to unlock elements of the plot and little else.

A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue is worthwhile a read for those who enjoy stories featuring intergenerational relationships. Moore’s talent as an author shows in the writing quality and scene setting which are well executed throughout. However, in this case, it is the pacing of the story itself that would make me more prescriptive with the type of reader I recommend this title to.

AEB Reviews

Links:

Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue” by Mary Carroll Moore

Purchase Link: “A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue” by Mary Carroll Moore (Amazon)

Author Website: Mary Carroll Moore | Author and Artist

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Poetry Review: “How to Monetize Despair” by Lisa Mottolo

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Rating: 5 stars

Headline: How to Monetize Despair: I don’t know how Mottolo does it, she just does.

Review:

Before I have even turned the opening page of How to Monetize Despair I somewhat know this is going to have me hooked. With an intriguing choice of title and dramatic cover imagery, Lisa Mottolo’s poetry collection is one which marks itself as bold and unapologetic from the get go. Those of a sensitive disposition should step aside now.

In just under a hundred pages, this collection provides readers with an assortment of stanza-led poetry and monologue segments, divided into three segments but overall covering the key milestones of grief, from the initial shock trauma to forming new pathways in life. In one poem titled “We Only Speak Well of the Dead”, Mottolo inserts feelings love and compassion expressed in the wording against a title backdrop of dry humour (in this case, the observation that so often death blesses one’s legacy with a celebrated status which the deceased are unable to appreciate). It is a slightly twisted view of the world, but one which feels clever and, like much of Mottolo’s poetry, one you need to read for yourself to truly appreciate.

The monologue excepts of writing are monolithic, taking up to a page with the author intentionally leaving the copy as one lump of solid text. It forces the reader to tackle the content in one go, or else face losing their place in the text altogether, however once you adopt the differing approach to reading you are greatly rewarded with beautiful imagery and ideas on the meaning of life that for better or worse will haunt you long after you have finished reading.

How to Monetize Despair makes for a strangely captivating read. It is hard to put into words how Mottolo does it, she just does. In truth the only way to fully understand this poetry collection is to read it for yourself, do that and then we can talk.

AEB Reviews

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Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “How to Monetize Despair” by Lisa Mottolo

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Book Review: “The Glass Angel” by Christina Foxwell

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Rating: 3 Stars

Headline: Merging fiction and memoir, Foxwell’s self-help guide is insightful in places but muddled in others

Review:

The Glass Angel is a book of three Acts. In the first, author Christina Foxwell presents a fictional tale of a glass angel who experiences hardship after she damages her wings in a storm. Immediately following this comes Foxwell’s revelation that the glass angel in her short story is a metaphor for her own traumatic experiences growing up in a strict Cristian community during South African Apartheid, including her abusive marriages and challenge of being a single mother. The third and final act introduces self-betterment activities for readers including how to turn negative “moth thoughts” into positive “butterfly thoughts”.

This book pitches itself as an informative self-help guide, yet the opening third, with fictional tales of fantasy and magic, is bewildering (pun not intended). My honest thoughts while reading this section were why is this story here and why am I reading it? A short story through and through, “The Story of Alchemy and Transformation” reads like a bolted-on piece of copy which should have been published separately. Compare this to the autobiographical element of this book, which contains by far the best content for its ability to draw at raw emotion, and it is easy to identify where Foxwell’s skills truly lie.

While some chapters could have been tightened with the assistance of a professional editor, others were desperately lacking. So much more could have been expanded on Foxwell’s personal relationships with friends, her domestic servant and even the church. This would have come into its own in helping highlight the fallout that came following the separation with her first husband, the protection and safety those secondary relationships offered. It impacts on the rest of the book; you almost feel cheated when areas are skipped over in haste, almost as if Foxwell would rather not dwell on certain topics and move swiftly onto the author/reader exercises towards the end of the book. As a result, there is a sense of lacklustre to complete the activities on the reader’s part, like being hurried into the giftshop of a tourist attraction thirty minutes before close.

The age old phrase goes “write what you know about” and in this instance Foxwell would have done so better by herself and readers to have sold us a hard-hitting memoir of her triumph over adversity, not a self-help guide.

AEB Reviews

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Book Review: “Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar” by Cherie Magnus

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Rating: 1 star

Headline: In attempting to drive home a serious message about climate change, this short story feels a bit flat

Review:

Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar by Cherie Magnus is a short fantasy, following the adventures of an unnamed narrator as they race across America to save the world from the perils of forest fires and climate change. Their quest is supported by a cast of comrades living and dead, notably including former American president Abraham Lincoln and the Russian-American composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.

As far as plotting is concerned, this is not a particularly well thought-through book. The overall premise of Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar is somewhat questionable and the triggering incident is not introduced until about halfway through the story. This comes after a succession of scenes where characters talk about their past achievements while trying to comprehend modern technology in the 21st Century. Only when a spiritual figure appears to inform Rachmanioff and Lincoln they are to compose and write the lyrics for a song to save the planet does the story start to develop a sense of pace. It is a plot that is never fully realised, at least not in a way that provides a satisfactory conclusion.

The first person narrator’s statement in the opening lines that they had a dream they met Lincoln and Rachmaninoff rather sets the tone for the rest of the book. The dream statement is touched upon several times in the story, yet there is no moment of “and then I woke up”, leaving readers to guess for themselves the blurred lines between what could be reality and what could be a dream sequence. Is the whole story a work of character imagination?

The book has a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes and the overuse of unnecessary adverbs becomes very grating, very quickly. There is also a strange subplot in the story where Destiny, a music student, and Lincoln strike up a flirtatious relationship. This part may have been intended as comedy but instead it feels more uncomfortable than funny.

The intended climate change message of Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar is lost in its poor execution. It is not to a high enough standard to recommend it to other readers, even if the historical research is commendable.

AEB Reviews

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Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar” by Cherie Magnus

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Book Review: “The Golden Apple” by Mika Mathews

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Rating: 2 stars

Headline: With too much head-hopping and an overuse of confusing metaphors, The Golden Apple missed the mark for me

Review:

The Golden Apple by Mika Mathews is the second book in the young adult, Fantasy, series “Oaths of Dante”. The story follows on from The Silver Coin with the protagonist, Dante, awakening to find himself transformed into a wolf. Seeking out the famed golden apple to restore peace and balance to the world’s magic is no small task, but accompanied by a gang of accomplices and the magic of Gaia pulsing through his veins, Dante is ready to tackle the next challenge in this thrilling quest.

There are likeable elements of this book. The personality traits of each wolf character certainly help to make the story more colourful; Dante’s sexuality and the character of Cypress (as just two examples) adds needed diversity into the story in a way which is reflective of the wider world we all live in. More of this, please!

The Golden Apple‘s biggest weakness is in its execution of narrative voice. The book is written in third person omniscient (as a reader we see everything taking place at any given time, as if were were a god-like figure). The story’s primary focus is on Dante and his hunt for the golden apple, yet there is so much head hopping it soon becomes incredibly hard to form a relationship with any of the characters. Really the author should have tackled this book in close third person, focusing specifically on Dante’s inner dialogue, feelings and reactions, and blocking out those of all others.

There are also a number of expressions didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Expressions such as “unbearably beautiful laughter” and “Gaia’s majesty flowed through her…subtly and with great love”. There are a lot of them throughout the book and in the vast majority of cases they come across as one liners that may have sounded good in the author’s head but less so for readers.

In truth this book may have been better if it had been merged with either the first or third book in the “Oaths of Dante” series. At only 121 pages long the word count is a bit slim for the expectations of this genre. With strict editing (ideally from an experienced professional) The Golden Apple could shine as a secondary plot of a bigger story arc, however right now it is not something I will be rushing to read again.

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Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “The Golden Apple” by Mika Mathews

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Two book launches in 48 hours: Bournemouth Writing Festival and Swindon Literary Festival

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Following official PR, I am now able to share with you details of two writing competitions I won, and their associated launch events. And, eek! They were both an absolute blast!

Bournemouth Writing Festival

At the Bournemouth Writing Festival, I won in the fiction category for my piece of flash fiction, “How the Dressmaker of Bournemouth Feeds her Family”.

Boy, did Bournemouth pack a punch! As well as receiving free tickets to attend some interesting talks held by the festival, there was also a Sunday evening showcase and awards presentation.

Photo credit: Solid Imagery

There was a weird knotty feeling in the pit my stomach watching people read copies of the book, and it was only later that evening, when boyfriend Ben pretty much forced me to sit down and listen to him read my story, that I noted what I’d written was actually pretty good.

After the showcase, we made a toast to my success with a glass of prosecco and a McDonald’s in the hotel room. It was wonderful.

It was a truly delightful weekend (and that was before I got a mention in this glowing 5 star review!)

A lovely sunny weekend, spent on the English south coast.

Swindon Literary Festival

The launch of Swindon Writers III came with a packed-out library venue, much to everyone’s surprise. Boyfriend Ben was unfortunately not feeling well on the night but I sent him a message to reassure him that I had more than enough attendees to keep me company.

Words were said by the editors and extracts read from the publication. To know my short story, “Bee Kind”, had been selected to sit alongside them in the book meant a lot.

A close up of some of the audience, featuring the back of my head

Two book launches, two reasons to celebrate and a very happy author in between. As I say to people, prizes and publication aren’t the sole reason why we do what we do, but it damn well helps.

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Head over to my publishing credits page to find out where you can purchase either book

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Book Review: “Places We Left Behind” by Jennifer Lang

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Rating: 4 stars

Headline: Places We Left Behind relates the complex relationships of those who dwell in the greys of religion

Review:

Places We Left Behind is the autobiography of Jewish-American author Jennifer Lang. Skipping swiftly over the first eighteen years of her life, the book picks up Lang’s story in Israel, meeting the charming Frenchman Phillippe for the first time. What follows is a 140 page rollercoaster as Lang navigates the tricky line between the religious faith and living a seemingly ordinary existence as an American citizen, culminating in Lang having to make a significant decision, one which will affect the very core of what it means to be a Jewish woman in the twenty-first century.

This book has many likeable qualities, not least Lang’s ability in capturing emotion in a way that is both direct and to the point. Where many authors would skirt over details or shy away from exposing themselves to the reader, Places We Left Behind makes it clear that no matter the romanticism, no relationship is smooth sailing. Even those grounded in a mutual connection of faith and religion can so easily hit turbulence. Lang’s words demonstrate these challenges, placed alongside those who do not fully understand what it means to hold religion as a cornerstone of family life.

Lang’s memoir is dotted in places with poetic excerpts, possibly to add emphasis. Within Places We Left Behind, these were a somewhat distracting, especially after reading long spells of traditional prose formatted in conventional paragraphs. It might be others enjoy the sudden change, but personally it does not hold enough significance versus if they had been written in conventional prose instead.

Places We Left Behind is a interesting memoir for anyone living within, or wanting to better understand, day-to-day Judaism. For those who see faith as black or white, purist believer or not, Places We Left Behind shows us the complex relationships of those who dwell in the grey.

AEB Reviews

Links:

Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “Places We Left Behind” by Jennifer Lang

Purchase Link: “Places We Left Behind” by Jennifer Lang (Amazon)

Author website: israelwriterstudio.com

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