In vain, womanly fashion, I won't say how many years I have been an avid reader, but it is probably more than the number of years many of the writers, whose books I read, have been writing. That of course doesn't make me an expert or a credible reviewer, but at least I'm frank when I say I am a fair-minded critic. Readers who sense what books they'll like will have their own way of judging books. Here are my ways which I call SPEED reviewing.
Story, Pace, Enjoyment, Editting and Dialogue. (I don't like the 5 star system because so many books fall into the 3.5 or 4.25 category.) I just write about those five things. Some people are big on characters as a barometer, but I include that with Story and Enjoyment.
A final word before the review - I don't call any of these "novels" although people use "book" and "novel" interchangeably and I have done that before also. But I believe a novel is something to be read over time and savored, bringing it into a classic category that is beyond that of very enjoyable books. What are your thoughts?
Book: Murder Match by Max Perkins (ebook)
The story of a muderer who finds his victims on social media and the detectives who hunt him down was enjoyable at a steady pace. Toward the end the action picked up and moved things along rapidly. Although a few punctutation marks were missed, the editting was decent and the banter between the detectives and their superiors was believable. This book had most of the elements that crime-and- detective book fans would like.
Book: Haldol and Hyacinths by Melody Moezze (to be released in August)
I received an advance copy of this book, subtitled A Bipolar Life, to read and review. As this book was professionally edited by Avery Press, the editting was top-notch. (I found one teeny error, that's all). Because the book is a memoir, the author relates true events and does so in an entertaining and clear way. The story rings true - as does the dialogue. I have trouble saying I enjoyed it because of what the author went through, but I didn't put it down for three hours until I finished.
Book: The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness by Craig Stone (ebook)
Although there are several wacky stories included in the book, the main story of self-imposed homelessness and associated problems is both humorous and poignant. It zips along at a fair pace but there were a few chapters that seemed slow. Not very heavy on dialogue, the thoughts of the MC keep the reader enjoyably occupied with British phrases and expressions. I believe Stone made up a few of his own, too. I can honestly say I didn't pay much attention to the editting, so it must have been good. This was a nice change from my usual choices.
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