Game of Thrones

August 28, 2013

Dear Readers,

Two book reviews for you today. I hope you find them helpful.

1. A Storm of Swords (Book #3) by George R.R. Martin:

Mayhem, treachery, betrayal, and death, lots of death, dead dead dead….everywhere! End of review. One more book to go and I will have finished the boxed set I so foolishly bought. It's been excruciating.

2. A Feast for Crows (Book #4) by George R. R. Martin:

Finally I’ve slogged through nearly 4000 pages of mayhem, treachery, betrayal, and death. Thank goodness it’s over…but wait, there’s more. Book five? I don’t think so, I bought the first four in a boxed set, and I persevered until I finished the last page.

When I set the book down I reflected on the series as a whole, and I realized I couldn’t think of one incident in the entire four book set where the author made me feel good about anything. I don’t want to beat this donkey to death, but there is no one to like, and there is not one character I can latch onto as a hero or heroine. I don’t want to be part of their fellowship; I don’t want to get involved in their lives on any level, and there doesn’t seem to be any goal beyond surviving another horrifying twenty-four hour period.

Every time I find a character I might be able to like, or pity or care about. They die, or get maimed or turn out to have a poisonous side, one which makes them no better than anyone of the dozens of disreputable, treacherous, disloyal, villainous, heinous….characters that populate every volume.

Man’s inhumanity to his fellow man and woman, is front and center at all times. Not only do these characters kill and maim, they feel thoroughly entitled to do so, and without any compunction.

So why did I read all four books? Why would I subject myself to 4000 pages of misery? Since I can’t answer those questions, I can only assume I need professional help. Was I hoping at some point Mr. Martin would bring me some joy, that the last stale cookie in the box would be sweet and fresh?

Fool me once, twice, three, four and no more. Thank you very much, I appreciate that you put a lot into these books Mr. Martin, but I’m so depressed now that I don’t think I could endure another. Besides how can there be enough people left in the ravaged kingdoms, to plant, harvest and produce food. Seems to me, winter is coming and there are only killers, connivers and villains left.

I’m headed out to find a good comedy to cleanse my palate, bring back my joy and remind me that the sun will come up tomorrow. 

     Thanks for reading, tomorrow chapter four in my fiction story with Coren, Ramsey and Able.

 

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com where you can find information on Casual Lies – A Triple Crown Adventure

Review of The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker

August 6, 2013

Dear Readers,

I’ve been reading more than writing lately. Can’t seem to inspire myself to sit down and be creative, so I read, and the only writing I do is for reviews. To that end I have added several reviews to Goodreads and Amazon.

A review of Ted Dekker’s The Bride Collector is included today.

I picked up a copy of Ted Dekker’s The Bride Collector because it was a hard copy, and it was on sale for $6.98. I love a bargain, almost as much as I like a good read, and as stories go this one was ok. It was a cross between a thriller and a mystery, and with a little romance thrown in. Unfortunately the characters’ weren't entirely believable for me, not enough to stop reading the book, but enough that it didn’t sit well with me either.

Quite frankly I think Mr. Dekker should have taken the story into the realm of science fiction, or even fantasy and embraced it wholeheartedly. The character of Paradise was crafted to be special but flawed, and she was, but she could have been so much more. If Paradise’s talents had transcended the bounds of normalcy, then for me, the story would have jelled, become more believable and a really good read. After all, as sci-fi and fantasy readers, aren’t we asked to suspend our believe system so we can enjoy the fertile imagination of the author?

Other reviews have referred to Mr. Dekker as an author of Christian fiction, something I wasn’t aware of, and in my opinion this book is definitely not Christian fiction. There are references to god and to religion, but I didn’t think spiritual awareness was a main driver in this book.

I would buy another Ted Dekker book…if it was on sale.

Thank you for reading and I will be taking a look at the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, another Breeders Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series race.

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

Hidden Order: A Thiller, by author Brad Thor

July 28, 2013

Dear Readers, 

I’m not sure when I first became an avid reader and my mother is no longer here to tell me how it came about. I do recall spending hours scanning the Funk and Wagnall’s dictionary when there wasn’t anything else available. The well-used bookshelf in our home also included a complete set of encyclopedias, National Geographic magazines, picture books of all sorts, and various novels my mother had collected over the years. I cherished a beautifully illustrated, four book set of Alice in Wonderland, and lingered over the full color illustrations, my imagination fully engaged.

 Dr. Seuss books, every one, I can’t possibly pick a favorite. Charlottes’ Web was so powerful, though I know its coming, even today I cry over the death of Charlotte. Among the novels my mother collected I found the Old Man and the Sea, I fell in love with Don Quixote, and through the reading of both, I learned to embrace the impossible dream.  I wept for Buck, in Call of the Wild; my youthful outrage at the cruelty of men, knew no bounds. My Friend Flicka, Black Beauty and let’s not forget Old Yeller, the biggest tear jerker of all time, and one I can’t bear to read again—it’s just too painful.  

My sister and I would walk three miles to the library and max out our library cards, trudging home with ten books each, clutched in our arms. I was never happier than when I wandered through the library, seeking out exciting adventures, and I knew where they lay— captured within the pages of all those books. The words were color and life to me, reading wasn’t an escape, it was a reward, and I rewarded myself frequently from as far back as I can remember.    

My latest reward has been Brad Thor’s; Hidden Order: A Thriller. I’d never read this author before, and I chose this title because so many people said it was a novel, though attached to a series, that could stand alone. Here is my review; 

 “It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible.” – David Brin

 

Power beyond measure? That is without a doubt the most terrifying of thoughts. Why is it that so often the intentions of a few, which start out cloaked in good,  and espoused to benefit the many, turn out when the layers are peeled back, to reveal exactly the opposite? 

With all the scandals currently fouling the already poisonous atmosphere of our Nation’s Capital, I get where Mr. Thor was going. If you’re going to write this kind of book, you are going to have to tip toe around in the politics. 

Very interesting insight into the workings of the Federal Reserve, and at times I almost felt this was an entertaining text book, one that went off to visit murder and intrigue. 

It’s always hard to fill in the back story without the narration beginning to sound like a history lesson. When I become aware this is happening, I start mentally urging the author to hurry it up, tell it faster, get back to the action, in other words I get bogged down, it frustrates me and detracts from my pleasure.   

There were so many characters; I found I wasn’t invested with any of them. This could probably be cured by reading the other books in the series. With the recurring protagonist theme of a series, it would give me the insight about the lead characters that I didn’t get in the quick overview the author accorded each in this book. 

With my few criticisms aligned all in a row, it sounds as though I didn’t enjoy the book, but I did, and I fully intend to start the series from the beginning when I get a chance. 

       Next up another Breeders’ Cup “Win and Your In” challenge event, the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen. Yikes…don’t try to say that after you’ve been to the dentist. 

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

Casual Lies-A Triple Crown Adventure

Bill O'Reilly plugs Bad Monkey

July 25, 2013

Dear Readers,

         I was sitting in front of the TV at 4:55 pm yesterday, anxiously awaiting The Bill O’Reilly show to come on the air. I had seen his talking points rant, from a few days before, and was curious to see his approach in handling the avalanche of comments from all over the world. Bill continued to boldly support his talking points and seemed more self assured than ever, if that is possible.

        Thankfully we’re all entitled to our opinions and accorded the right by our constitution to voice them. The part of the show that I found most entertaining was his offering up suggestions for vacation beach reads. To that end he recommended Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen. Bill did voice a cautionary tone due to graphic content, but he certainly gave the book a huge thumb up. Wow, I thought, how do I get a shout out by Bill O’Reilly?  I can only imagine how big a jump in sales an endorsement like that would generate.

        I suspect, the only way he will ever see my book, would be if I attended one of his Bolder & Fresher shows, got a seat in the front row and threw a copy on the stage at his feet. Of course that would probably result in me leaving the venue in handcuffs. Anybody think I should try sending him a copy instead?  The mail room clerk would surely enjoy it.

For those of you who didn’t see it, here is my review of Bad Monkey; 

"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt."--Erma Bombeck

I would add to Erma Bombeck's quote; "there's a thin line between funny and ghastly." Carl Hiaasen doesn't carefully balance between satire and black humor in the opening paragraphs of this book, he jumps feet first into a situational comedy. The character of James Mayberry is so well crafted by the author, that his arrogance, and shamelessness, combine with a bold audacity, and leaves no doubt in the readers mind as to his true nature.

  What should be shockingly abhorrent to the reader, is rendered skillfully by Hiaasen into a macabre, cynical sort of humor. The reader is left to experience both laughter and discomfort simultaneously.

  The writing is first rate; however, I did find it distracting when every reference to the Mayberry character included both his first and last name. I think after this character was introduced, further reference could have been on a first name basis. A very small criticism on the whole.

  I liked that the protagonist, Andrew Yancy isn't perfect, in fact far from it. For me this made the character more believable, and I found him colorful besides.

  I thoroughly enjoyed Bad Monkey and I will be looking for another book by this author, in fact I just might fire up Google and search out his newspaper column.

I end this review with another quote. "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."-E.E. Cummings

  The time I spent reading Bad Monkey was not time misspent. 

        I’m on the last chapter of Brad Thor’s latest thriller; Hidden Order. I will make an effort to get a review written sometime tomorrow. 

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

Casual Lies-A Triple Crown Adventure

Review of A Wanted Man by Lee Child

July 20, 2013

Dear Readers,

       Maybe it is because it’s been a really hot July, or I’m just looking for an excuse to put off until tomorrow all those things I talked about before, the ones that I should’ve been doing as early as yesterday. I did walk Nigel, many times, and I did go to the farmer’s market this week, and I did read another book. A Wanted Man by Lee Child, and if you read my review on Goodreads of another Lee Child book I reviewed, you will know how much I like his writing. Here’s my review for those of you who would like to know my opinion of this book.

“A Wanted Man, by Lee Child”     

I want the first line of a novel to grab me by the throat, shake me and leave me gasping for more. This doesn’t happen often, nor did it in this novel by one of my favorite author’s. In A Wanted Man, Lee Child doesn’t really grab my attention until page three; I know that’s hardly a stretch. But let me tell you at that point he paints a vivid picture with his words.

Large, intimidating, and scruffy, Reacher is trying to hitch a ride, and has a strip of silver duct tape pasted across his freshly broken nose. The visual of the splintered fingernail picking at the edge of the tape, the sound of the fractured nose as it clicked and ground…cringe worthy!

Now I’m there, the author has my attention; I want to know how Reacher broke his nose, why is his fingernail splintered. Then the ride begins. Lots of riding around in the middle pages, but in usual Reacher fashion, there is always a big finale.

I was not disappointed, and as I have come to expect, the writing was tight and the sentences structured well. My eyes flow easily through the paragraphs, the images bold and clear in my mind. As long as Mr. Child writes them, I’m eager to read them. I hope he can keep them coming. Eventually I suppose Jack Reacher has to age and grow too old to go on, perhaps at that point the author could pull out Son of Reacher. Wait…maybe daughter of Reacher. Reacher Cleans Up Assisted Living?

Take care,
Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

Review of Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey

July 18, 2013

Dear Readers,

I know I should be writing a short story for my next book. I know I could be cleaning the garage or walking Nigel. There is so much I should be doing, planting the impatiens that I bought two weeks ago. Paying the P.G. & E. bill could be high on my agenda, if I looked at it. I would probably enjoy preparing a presentation on Raphael for my art appreciation group. But no, I am not and have not done any of these things. Instead I read Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen. It was great and I have written a review for anyone who might like to read it.

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”—Erma Bombeck

I might add to Erma Bombeck’s quote; there’s a thin line between funny and ghastly. Carl Hiaasen doesn’t carefully balance between satire and black humor in the opening paragraphs of this book, he jumps feet first into a situational comedy. The character of James Mayberry is so well crafted by the author that his arrogance, and shamelessness, combine with a bold audacity to leave no doubt in the readers mind as to his true nature.

What should be shockingly abhorrent to the reader, is rendered skillfully by Hiaasen into a macabre, cynical sort of humor. The reader is left to experience both laughter and discomfort simultaneously.

The writing is first rate; however, I did find it distracting when every reference to the Mayberry character included both his first and last name. I think after the character was introduced, further reference could have been with his first name only. This is a very small criticism on the whole.

I liked that the protagonist, Andrew Yancy isn’t perfect, in fact far from it. For me that makes the character more believable, and I found him colorful besides.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I will be looking for another book by this author, in fact I just might fire up Google and search out his newspaper column.

I end this review with another quote. “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”—E.E. Cummings

The time I spent reading Bad Monkey was not time misspent.

                                                       ***

I’ll be back to the 2013 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series in the next blog post.

On another note that’s important to me, the memoir is being picked by more book clubs and I am having a great deal of fun being included in their meetings.

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

Goodreads Book Review

July 10, 2013

Dear Readers,

     Today I need to fulfill an obligation, and that obligation is to share a review with you on a book I recently completed.

     If you haven’t checked out Goodreads, you should. I have an author’s page and I have been navigating around the site, gathering new friends. It’s sort of like Facebook, only it is specifically for people who love reading books of every kind.

     You are invited to participate in, or create discussion groups on all sorts of book related subjects. You can search lists of books, including those that are listed under specific genres or topics, ie Memoirs written by women, or by sports figures…the list goes on. If you don’t see the one you like, you can create your own, then wait and see what other people think or like. I could go on and on, but it would be simpler if you checked it out yourself.

    Another area they have is free giveaways, where authors make copies of their book available for people to win. The authors are doing this in hopes they’ll draw attention and get reviews on their books.

    Some authors get together with groups and offer to let you read their book for free in exchange for which you are required to write a review and post it on Goodreads, Amazon, and a blog if you have one.

    I had a title offered to me as a RFR, Read for Review; Brian, His Granddad and the Cup of Ages. I have read it and here is the review;

I received "Brian, His Granddad & the Cup of Ages," free as a book for review.  

My mother told me, many years ago, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Sounds simple, unfortunately it’s easier said than done. And so I have made it my practice not to write reviews on books I don’t like. 

It’s not that I disliked this book. In fact it was cute; my main issue was how often I found myself realizing how closely the characters, and some of the plot, mimicked another story and its characters which had already been written by someone else. 

I think it was Ernest Hemingway who said, “Every writer has three good stories in him, and he keeps re-telling them until the reader no longer wants to read them.” I’m not sure those are the exact words, but you get the idea.  

It's obvious the reading public is not tired of reading stories about wizards and witches. I know I'm not. Since there are so many offerings out there, it has to be difficult for any author to be completely original and not sound like they’re mimicking something they’ve personally read and enjoyed.  

So I think it’s important for the author to make an even greater effort to separate their protagonists’ and antagonists personalities from those of such a popular series as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Books. Other critiques of this work have made the same comment about the characters. So I’m not alone in this.

The voice of this author is sweet, and I think he is writing to the right age group. However, he needs to find a fresh way to tell his story. I have rated the book two stars, which is defined by the review process as being “it was OK.” This rating does not reflect a dislike of the work, it was OK. In my book, OK is OK, not bad. One star or no stars would reflect an active dislike, something I did not feel while reading this book. 

The book needs to be reworked and I think if the author does this, the under nine audience will embrace it with alacrity.  

My thanks to the author for the opportunity to read his work, I know what it takes, and I can hear his passion for writing in his words. I know we will see more from this author, and I will look forward to reading what he comes up with next. 

    All righty then, there you have it. Tomorrow I will take a look at the 2013 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.” The May 25^th running of the Gran Premio 25 de Mayo is next on my agenda.   

Take care,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com

 

Memoir Receives "Readers' Favorite - FIVE STAR - Review"

July 7, 2013

Dear Readers,

      The excitement just keeps coming my way, be still my heart. On second thought, the best things in my life have happened when it's beating triple time.

      You may have noticed a silver medallion on the upper right hand corner of the blog. Moments before I left for the track on Thursday I checked my email, only to find a notification from Readers’ Favorite, that my memoir about Casual Lies had received a coveted five star rating.

     I have included the review, I am thrilled and wanted to share this with everybody who wants to read it.

READERS’ FAVORITE – FIVE STAR – RECIPIENT
Reviewed by Christine Nguyen for Readers' Favorite

"Casual Lies: A Triple Crown Adventure" is a memoir about one woman’s journey to realize her ultimate dream of racing a horse in the Kentucky Derby, one of the most famous horse races in the world. Shelley and her husband Jim are racehorse trainers that buy young yearling colts to train them and sell them at a higher price. She goes to Lexington, Kentucky, and fate brings her face to face with the horse she will purchase, naming him Casual Lies and Stanley, the latter a stable name for the colt. Stanley makes Shelley’s dreams of going to the Kentucky Derby come true.

Author Shelley Lee Riley draws you in with her descriptions of Stanley’s mischievous, rambunctious personality and has cute nicknames for him, such as “muskrat,” “my ugly duckling,” “giant chipmunk,” and “fuzzy haired heathen” that makes you fall head over heels in love with Stanley. Stanley is just so lovable that you will be enchanted and delighted by his rise to success in the horse racing circuit. The reader is not only thoroughly entertained, but also educated on the basics of training and racing horses and how the whole process works. Riley also has inspirational quotes like “What price can you put on a dream, hoping the dream will come true?” that really strike a chord about destiny and dreams. The book is utterly endearing and inspirational, inspiring readers to reach for dreams they thought were out of their realm. A definite feel good read that will have you chuckling at Stanley’s many antics and finish with your heart warmed. The best part is that the author is able to vividly recapture all her moments with Stanley so that the readers can feel the emotions and bond Riley and Stanley had. A must read for everyone that loves horses, believes in destiny, and making your dreams come true.

     Thank you for sharing this thrilling time with me, and tomorrow I will include another look at the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.  

    If you are interested in a signed paperback copy of the book, “Casual Lies – A Triple Crown Adventure,” contact me via the link below. If you want to purchase directly from Amazon, or want the ebook edition, there is a link to Amazon on my website, just click on the shopping cart and it will take you directly to Amazon. 

Take care everyone,

Shelley Riley

www.shelleyriley.com