Book Talk with Rebecca Rivera

Have you ever read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell ? What is that book about?? What is the point? I read umpteen pages just to get to the end and NOTHING HAPPENS! I thought I was just being picky. Or maybe I didn't get it. So I checked reviews on Goodreads and found I was not alone. There are mixed reviews on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell . Some absolutely love it, the magic, the detail, the characters, the world that Clarke created. Others had the same reaction I did. WHAT IS THE POINT? Nothing really happens in the book. There is no resolution at the end. We are still waiting to see if Strange and Norrell come out of the black cloud (in which they seem none too eager to leave). I don't know if the point is to relate to that type of person or creative who gets so involved in their work they fail to notice whether it's night or day. I enjoy that type of person. I fantasize about being that type of person. I might even dare to say that I've achieved it once or twic...

So I've finished Dream Kiss. It's been a while since I first started this series. I'm glad to reach the end. I'm excited to move on to some other great books I've found on Smashwords since first discovering the Sweet N' Sour Kisses series, including a mystery series by the same author. I'll be reading the first of the mystery series on a casual level. I have some other books I'm reading right now that I'm excited about finishing, so Cindy M. Hogan's Watched will be one that I pick up when I'm waiting at the dentist's office or something like that. (I don't know why people always pick the dentist's office. I know I won't be waiting there because I haven't been to one in over six years! I'm not advocating not going, I'm just saying I know I won't read this book at the dentist's office. Haha. Although I may read it at my husband's office while I'm waiting for him to get off work.) Wow! That was a l...

I've finally reached Dream Kiss . I don't currently remember what it was about. (Lasting impression, huh...) Ok, let me check, and I'll be right back. ... ... ... Ok. Here's what it's about. Our main character, Brooklyn Hamlin, falls for yet another guy, a dreamy, romantic piece of human that she goes physically crazy for. But when she goes on a two-week family vacation with absolutely no contact with her new boyfriend, she comes back feeling quite differently about him. I think I've said this before, but I was excited when I first started this series. The author is a Mormon from what I can tell, so she writes about teens that actually have some rules governing their lives. It's not everyone sleeping with everyone all up in these pages. Brooklyn makes her own personal rule of not kissing a boy until she turns sixteen. All of that is what intrigued me about reading these books, especially since today's YA has limits on barely anything. However, a...

One author whose style I'm enjoying is Susan Clayton-Goldner who publishes with Tirgearr Publishing based in Ireland. Tirgearr Publishing makes their ebooks available through Smashwords as well as in print from their website www.tirgearrpublishing.com . I'm reading Susan's book A Bend in the Willow , a suspense story about a woman whose five-year-old son needs a bone marrow transplant. To save her young son's life, she must return to a past she has disowned, changing her name and identity to escape from a murder she committed almost twenty years ago. I enjoy Susan's writing style. She has several other books as well that I will link below, all of which are 50% off in the Smashwords Summer Sale. (The widgets show the full price, but when you click on them they will show the sale price of 50% off.) If there is one you particularly enjoy, leave a comment below or connect with me on Twitter @BookTalkwithRR . You can also download my children's ...

What is Smashwords? Smashwords.com is a place where you can browse ebooks and find great new authors and some authors you may already know. There are almost 490,000 books published to date; over 77,000 of them are free. So if you are looking for freebies, Smashwords is a great place to check out. Creating a profile is absolutely free. You can also browse the site without a profile to get the lay of the land with zero commitment. What if you're a writer or publisher? What can Smashwords do for you? Well, Smashwords offers ebook publishing completely free. If you are comfortable on a computer and can follow directions, you can format your own novel according to their free format guide (available for download on their website) and upload your book and its cover from your computer. There is also a team available with individuals for hire if the work of formatting is not for you and you have some extra money you're willing to spend on your novel. After you publish your novel, ...

I first started on the Sweet N' Sour Kisses series, I had been looking for some teen fiction I could enjoy. Most of it just did not suit my taste. When I came across Cindy's books, they were different; there were guidelines to these teens' lives and morals at stake, and I was hooked with First Kiss. As I continued the series, I began to try other genres in between the books of this series. In the process I discovered some books I really liked or at least enjoyed the challenge of reading even if my overall opinion of said books wasn't great. Coming back to finish up this series has been a bit of a bummer. I think these books would still be great for the teen age group or those who truly enjoy teen fiction. (I have never been a true fan. It was more "wishful thinking" than anything. I just couldn't make it work. :/ ) I've found myself just kind of waiting out the events of books #2-4 so I can find out how everything turns out for Brooklyn in book #...

Brooklyn has just been humiliated by Luke stealing her first kiss in the first episode then trying to ruin her in the second episode by spreading rumors about her. After being shunned by practically the whole school, Brooklyn wants to recover from the embarrassment. She meets Riley, a sweet boy at her cousin's birthday party. She begins to experience all the feelings she had for Luke, before he kissed her without permission. As Brooklyn dates Riley, something is not right. The connection she wants to feel with him is not there, yet Riley is the perfect sweet guy. Could Brooklyn be experiencing her first rebound? And if so, how can she face dumping Riley for doing nothing wrong? I enjoyed reading Rebound Kiss by Cindy M. Hogan. I don't know if I mentioned before but one of the things I enjoy most about these books is their length. Each book is only 75-100 pages long, the perfect length for a quick read. Each story also ends with a satisfying resolution while leaving you ...

When is life ever not busy? I'm currently reading two books for review, just passed the halfway point on writing my own book, writing a chapter a week on a co-authored book all while cooking healthy meals for me and my husband every day, keeping the house clean and trying to keep up with laundry. I swear, I'm gonna change! But it's been a good week. I'm in the middle of reading Book 3 in the Sweet 'N Sour Kisses Series by Cindy M. Hogan. It's called Rebound Kiss (with a rebound boyfriend, I'm assuming). I've never actually had a rebound boyfriend. I was always head over heels with whoever I was dating, or liking, at the time. (Disclaimer: I didn't always date the people I liked. I had this thing where I felt they had to come to me and pick me  out. That led to quite a few one-sided relationships. But those are more juicy details for when we know each other better.) Before I share any more of that information, let's talk more about you...

Click me to buy on Smashwords.com! Hey, welcome back to Book Talk. Today I wanted to go a little more in depth with Stolen Kiss, Episode 2 in the Sweet 'N Sour Kisses series by Cindy Hogan. Brooklyn Hill is recovering from her first date with Luke Graham (in Episode 1, First Kiss) after he did the unexpected and turned her birthday into a nightmare. She tries to avoid him at school and at swim practice (they're both on the swim team), but he seems determined to act like they are an item. Ryker finally starts talking to her, the strong, quiet guy on their competing school's swim team. Brooklyn wants to see what might develop with him, so she has to find a way to get rid of Luke. She thinks she comes up with the perfect idea...until it backfires. But all might turn out perfectly yet when she meets Ryker at the corn maze on the swim team group outing. I loved this book just as much as First Kiss. Author Cindy Hogan kept the humor going. I don't find many books ...

Hi! My name is Rebecca Rivera, and you're reading Book Talk with Rebecca Rivera. I love reading books and talking about books. When I was a young teenager, my friends would come to me for advice on what book to read next. They would borrow books from my extensive library (extensive for a civilian), and I would make them follow my "don't bend the cover" rule and "this book better come back in the same shape it left" rule. I was an advocate for a good story, and my standards were very high. After almost fifteen years of stepping away from fiction because of some heart-twisting life events (that I may tell you about sometime, after we get to know each other), I have returned and discovered the world of books has changed a LOT while I was gone. Six years ago, I heard about this fabulous little website (it't not really little) called Smashwords.com. You may have heard of it. It's a place where anyone can publish an ebook for free. Recently, I discove...