Review: Fire Angels

Have you ever wondered about World War I, or how was the life of peoples, almost hundred years before now? If yes, then Joseph Richardson's "Fire Angels" is the book for you. In his debut novel Joseph, who himself is a former Army veteran of the Korean War did spectacular job of portraying the time period of 1920's and WWI. The book has lot of substantial issues to disclose to its readers.

Fire Angels is a Historical fiction which will take its readers on a journey, back in time in 1917. It is a story from a small rural town 'walako' in Florida. The story begins just before America’s declaration to fight against Germany in WWI. Story evolves around main character David Cooper and his wife Sara. How David had to leave Sara and his new born baby, to fight for his nation. How Sara struggles through her life while waiting for her husband David to come home, back from war.

Readers will see devastation of war, like friends dying; through the eyes of David cooper. Some of this story is conveyed with letters conversed. Book also gives special emphasis on changes in society, how war changes people and their thinking. How war increase prejudice and hatred within peoples. This book is every bit engaging and fascinating as any highly acclaimed piece of literature. Book further explores how black peoples suffered social injustice, and how some peoples who claim to be patriot or some sort of war heroes, with intention of their personal gain. Now David not only has his own prejudice to fight but he also must battle political corruption in his town.

"Fire Angels" is a gripping story; it will absorb you into the era long lost and will show you true meaning of War. The writing style of Joseph Richardson will occupy his readers mind into the story right from first page. Book is well paced and will definitely keep you hooked for hours. The title "Fire Angels" is justifiable and its reason is revealed at almost end of the book. There were some formatting issues with eBook copy, but were easily ignorable and they could have been isolated issues.

This book not just has a great plot but the execution of the plot is also great which made it one of the best books I ever read. There is great bit of detailing of the old days, for example I learned to start a war aircraft, isn't that cool? This book is a deserving candidate for 5 out of 5 stars.

Review: So There

Did you ever fall in love..? Can you still recall that first time you ever voiced your feelings..? Or the feel when you are in relationship which is much more than friendship..? That fluttering of heart, uncertainty, anticipation, curiosity, and Fun is at the core of William O. Wing's fanciful romantic comedy novel, "...So There". This book is author’s biography; book is filled with authors rich memories coupled with his imagination which make this one of the best and most interesting story.

As the main protagonist as well as the story's narrator "William O." is just Eleven years old kid, he uses lot's of "kidspeak" and to understand it you will have to read "Kid's Dictionary", which is written at the beginning of the book. The best example would be, "Best … Better … Much Better … Far Better … Bestest." and you can use it like this, “When it came to smooching, Sonja was best, but Kathy was better, Brighty was much better, Bebe was far better, however, Carmen was the bestest smoocher in the universe"

"In everyone’s life there shall be a moment or two when time stands still and we see our lives move in slow motion for just a fraction of a second, and this telling moment may be good or bad … but it will be one that we shall never forget", and this is exactly what happened with William O, when he first met "Carmen Maria". Carmen is a new girl on the block, and when William sees her for the first time, he falls his head over hills for her. They soon become friends then family friends and before they know it they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Book covers various aspects of daily life of protagonists like their visits to Quacker Park, wills dinner at Carmen’s house, all the while they get to know each other. There's Dance, Will’s sleepover and then there’s Football match.

This story is about two 11 year olds, facing various adventures of their lifetime at the same time, they are going through soon-to-be-teens syndrome, which makes them attract towards each other. Some dialogues might sound too much forward for a eleven years kid, but if you ignore that, then this book is filled with lots of Fun rides. This book falls under the category of, "it's the journey, not the destination" books, which means it’s not like mystery novel where you solve the case and done it’s about how the life was lived. Through this book author gives message to Living lives to the fullest, which is what life is all about. Being happy, healthy and head over heels in love with the person that you plan to spend the rest of your life with … It’s called true love. And what can be better than this.

On concluding notes, I would like to share that, I really enjoyed reading this book. Reading this book was a fun filled experience. With definite character set and fluid writing style this book scores 4 out of 5.

Review: Launch Out Into The Deep

"Launch Out Into The Deep" by Acacia Slaton Beumer, not only has a beautiful cover-art but also a deep insightful message for everyone. The Book is divided into 28 chapters which spans across 180 pages. Easy going language of the author makes this book a smooth read. Each chapter has at least one Poem (Each one is as good as the other) here's few verse lines from "Introduction" of the Book "Launch Out Into the Deep"

Fear not my child, for I am near.
I will wipe away every tear.

may not come when you want Him to,
but He’s the Lord Almighty, He knows what to do.

Look towards the horizon and you will see,
your path through the storm to your destiny.

Each Chapter in this book represents a Personal experience of author, with "The Supreme Power". Now this might sound pretty heavy but actually it's not, on the contrary almost each encounter/event is very practical and could happen with anyone. Each chapter teaches its readers a moral, which will help them to strengthen their will power, overcome depression, and will bring their life more close to spiritual enlightenment.

Acacia once said, "As we walk through this journey of life, we are going to have regrets and make countless errors. The issue is not the number of times we’ve made mistakes, or the number of times we’ve failed, but the lessons learned." So to learn few of these lessons without having to make a mistake you can read this book.

Although this book is heavily emphasized on Christian beliefs it will help anyone looking for answers. Let's look at a situation, in today’s world, where everyone specially teenagers are exposed to certain temptations, be it Alcohol, drugs, sex, greed anything.. this book will guide them to protect their virtue.

Few beautiful lines from the book which will emphasis this point:

Temptations come and temptations go;
if I resist the bait I will stand tall and grow.
If I fall prey to temptations then shame greets me;
an unwanted guest here to humiliate me.

Even the most prolific writer of all time Professor Issac Asimov once said, “The Saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."

Critically, the book is well written and stick to the point of being a road for upliftment of human soul, but somewhere along the lines author forgot to consider non-Christian readers, which makes all preaching of "The Savior" little hard to get used to. But that doesn't mean this book isn't for non-Christian readers, because no matter what you believe or if you believe, everyone makes a mistake and this book will help them to learn from those mistakes

"only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." - John Powell

So to conclude, this is a great book & as a reader I learned lot of good things from it. A sure contender for 4 Out of 5 stars.

Review: Armando’s daughter

Armando’s daughter by R.J.Blute is a fictional novel depicting time period of late Sixties. Author himself was a teenager in late sixties and so is his protagonist, Armando’s daughter, Cassandra and now this might be my pure speculative instinct speaking but this must be the reason why this novel came into being. Writing style of R.J.Blute is good but can improve a lot with small tweaks.

One way to describe the main character, Cassandra is to tell you, she is Funny & have trait of acting stupidly or rashly and not just that she is way too much sarcastic, so no matter what reader think about this book but he/she is going to learn few great comeback lines of all time. The name Armando got that weight which without telling let readers know he's Don and would be something like good old Godfather, and that's exactly who he is a Sicilian Mafia. His contribution in the novel is not likely to arouse any controversy because he surely is an interesting character. Similarly Grandmother of Cassandra, Nonna, she is brainsick or to be more polite she is affected with insanity. There were times when I couldn't put finger on who is suppose to be brutal Grandma or Armando.

Cassandra’s mom's boyfriend is making indecent advances towards Cassandra so to get rid of him she sought professional help of her father Armando. Now the question is How would Armando punish him? Or would he? What would Cassandra do on her own? etc.. Fairly detailed, this book is 320 pages of entertainment, except for dialogs; they were way too much accented for my liking few lines here and there is one thing & on every page is exactly opposite. With a sigh, i told myself "Calmati" (calm down) and completed this book within a week.

Here’s a good example of dialogs, where Armando is talking with Eddie

 “Relax Eddie, will ya. I’m wit my muddah and daughter, fer Christsakes. Just get me a table, my legs are botherin me. And fer Christsakes, do not stick us by da shitters!”

This book is what you call average, nothing too flashy (except funny & gritty) nothing too feeble (except some highly accented dialogs). This book excels on point of having a good Plot to build a strong story but lacks on point of actually building it. So with that this book is 3 out of 5 stars.