Review Group discussion

This is a general group. In joining this group you have agreed TO REVIEW ANY ALLOCATED BOOK within the set 12 week limit.
If you don’t agree to that tell me now so that I can find another member who will do so.
There is no genre filtering.

If you are only willing to review your own preferred genres then sorry, but you’re better off finding a group that specialises in your preference, or joining one of the 18+ groups or a ‘clean’ review round. In this general group you might be asked to review fiction/non-fiction, adults’/children’s books, a religious text, BDSM, or anything in between. Allocation is entirely random and there will NOT be any rearranging of the listing to accommodate genre preference. The ONLY circumstance in which you may duck out of giving a review is if YOU provide a stand-in reviewer.

Let’s be honest here – we don’t all like the same things but we all want reviews. The only way this group can function is if we trust each other to behave honourably. And it IS perfectly possible to give a fair-minded review of a text that does not coincide with our normal choice of reading matter. If you need a few hints/tips, please see this thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Your group moderator will be
Hock

Member Links
1. Allie Creswell https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
2. D.E. Haggerty https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
3.Fred McKibben https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
4.Jackie Ley https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
5.Penny Ross https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
6. Peter Jason Payne https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
7. Montgomery Mahaffey https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
8. Meriel Brooke https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
9.Noel Coughlan https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
10. Beth Camp https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Book Links
1.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
3.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
4. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
5. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
6.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
7.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
8.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
9. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
10. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Please let me know if you have reviewed, or been reviewed by anyone else in the group.

Ready Steady Go!


GROUP 49 - moderator
Hock Tjoa
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...


START DATE: 27th sept 2014

END DATE: 20 th December 2014

start 27-Sep-14
end 20-Dec-14
R1 end 18-Oct-14
R2 end 08-Nov-14
R3 end 29-Nov-14
R4 end 20-Dec-14


As AUTHORS you send your book file to:

G49-01__ Allie Cresswell
Beth Camp for round 1
Noel Coughlan for round 2
Meriel Brooke for round 3
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 4

G49-02__ D.E. Haggerty
Allie Cresswell for round 1
Beth Camp for round 2
Noel Coughlan for round 3
Meriel Brooke for round 4

G49-03__ Fred McKribben
D.E. Haggerty for round 1
Allie Cresswell for round 2
Beth Camp for round 3
Noel Coughlan for round 4

G49-04__ Jackie Ley
Fred McKribben for round 1
D.E. Haggerty for round 2
Allie Cresswell for round 3
Beth Camp for round 4

G49-05__ Penny Ross
Jackie Ley for round 1
Fred McKribben for round 2
D.E. Haggerty for round 3
Allie Cresswell for round 4

G49-06__ Peter Jason Payne
Penny Ross for round 1
Jackie Ley for round 2
Fred McKribben for round 3
D.E. Haggerty for round 4

G49-07__ Montgomery Mahaffey
Peter Jason Payne for round 1
Penny Ross for round 2
Jackie Ley for round 3
Fred McKribben for round 4

G49-08__ Meriel Brooke
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 1
Peter Jason Payne for round 2
Penny Ross for round 3
Jackie Ley for round 4

G49-09__ Noel Coughlan
Meriel Brooke for round 1
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 2
Peter Jason Payne for round 3
Penny Ross for round 4

G49-10__ Beth Camp
Noel Coughlan for round 1
Meriel Brooke for round 2
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 3
Peter Jason Payne for round 4

As REVIEWERS you will receive books for review from:

G49-01__ Allie Cresswell
D.E. Haggerty for round 1
Fred McKribben for round 2
Jackie Ley for round 3
Penny Ross for round 4

G49-02__ D.E. Haggerty
Fred McKribben for round 1
Jackie Ley for round 2
Penny Ross for round 3
Peter Jason Payne for round 4

G49-03__ Fred McKribben
Jackie Ley for round 1
Penny Ross for round 2
Peter Jason Payne for round 3
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 4

G49-04__ Jackie Ley
Penny Ross for round 1
Peter Jason Payne for round 2
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 3
Meriel Brooke for round 4

G49-05__ Penny Ross
Peter Jason Payne for round 1
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 2
Meriel Brooke for round 3
Noel Coughlan for round 4

G49-06__ Peter Jason Payne
Montgomery Mahaffey for round 1
Meriel Brooke for round 2
Noel Coughlan for round 3
Beth Camp for round 4

G49-07__ Montgomery Mahaffey
Meriel Brooke for round 1
Noel Coughlan for round 2
Beth Camp for round 3
Allie Cresswell for round 4

G49-08__ Meriel Brooke
Noel Coughlan for round 1
Beth Camp for round 2
Allie Cresswell for round 3
D.E. Haggerty for round 4

G49-09__ Noel Coughlan
Beth Camp for round 1
Allie Cresswell for round 2
D.E. Haggerty for round 3
Fred McKribben for round 4

G49-10__ Beth Camp
Allie Cresswell for round 1
D.E. Haggerty for round 2
Fred McKribben for round 3
Jackie Ley for round 4



Please remember the commitment you are making to your fellow group members. If you don’t think you can manage to do 4 book reviews between these dates please let me know now. I will find someone else for this group and you will be able to choose a later group that will be more suitable for you. If you pull out after the start date for any reason it is the other members who will be faced with the problem of finding a replacement, or missing out on reviews, through no fault of their own. Please don’t ask the moderators to chase after replacements as we just don’t have the time.

It is the responsibility of the author to get their book to their reviewer in a format the reviewer can manage. There are no set dates for the start of each round. You can each work at your own pace, within the limits of the round deadlines. All reviews must be posted by xx.

When you have posted your review on GR please post a link to your review in this thread.

All reviews must be posted to GR, Amazon .com and Amazon.co.uk.

Postings to any other sites are by agreement by both author and reviewer.

If I’ve missed something that results in you being asked to review someone who has already reviewed you, please let me know asap.

You have the next week to exchange your book files. My advice is to use PM to give email addresses to each other (save the chance of spammers getting your addies from this open forum). I'll stay with you for the next week to answer your questions then Hock will take over as your group moderator. Happy reviewing, everyone :)

Welcome everyone.

I'd like to start things off with a couple of quotations from "What is a review and how do I write one?" (Message under the "Advice" section from one of our Founders in April):

The big difference in the Review Group is that we are not choosing the books we review so we need to be even more professional in our approach to writing reviews. Often the book will be right outside our normal genre choice, may even be outside our comfort zone when it comes to subjects covered. As this is the case it is vital that reviews are totally objective. What do I mean by that? Rate it on the quality of the writing, not the topic per se. It would be terribly unfair to chop a star or two off the rating purely because it’s not a book you would normally read. You know the deal you’re making when you sign up.

...
If you are finding it difficult to write an objective review, try looking at the novel under these headings:

CHARACTERS:
STORY:
PACE AND STRUCTURE:
USE OF LANGUAGE:
NARRATIVE VOICE:
DIALOGUE:
SETTINGS:
THEMES:

I encourage you to address direct questions to an individual via PM and more general questions to the group on this thread.

Round 1 reviews due October 18, subsequent rounds at three week intervals. Please remember that you must post a link on this thread to your review after posting your review.

Thanks!

Posting a link to my review of Dena Haggerty's LIFE DISCARDED https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (my Round 2 read). Good to be a part of Group 49.

Beth

Thank you Beth.

Here is my round one review of DE Haggerty's Life Discarded.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Allie!

My review for An Impossible Marriage

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

http://www.amazon.com/review/RMMNKTEY...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RPP2IU...

Hi Peter, Thank you for your thoughtful review.

Would you also post it on Amazon.co.uk please, because Amazon .com and .co.uk are separate.

Thanks

Meriel
x

I'm a bit confused as to how the schedule works. Could anyone elucidate for me? Ahh!

M

What are , you confused about, Montgomery? The timings? Basically you can read through your assigned books as quick as you like, but there are milestones in place to ensure that you get through the four books in the life of the group, which is 12 weeks. You can send a shout-out for the books you will be reviewing either one by one as you are ready for them, or all at once at the beginning, but mainly you'll find that people contact you. Likewise you can contact all the people who will be reviewing your book in one swoop, or one at a time as the rounds progress. Hope this helps.

My second book has just been published on Amazon Kindle, Sweet Mungo.ASIN: B00N5UAOBC.

Love to get feedback

'Mungo', An unusual name for an unusual boy. Growing up in England, at a time when homosexuality was illegal and rarely discussed. Mungo's looks are so arresting that sometimes his beauty spells danger. Abused by his father; seduced by a teacher; sodomised by a gang of roughs... Not the best upbringing. But there is hope, close friends like Amy and Tom who are willing to be there for him. Hilary, who starts as an enemy and then becomes a friend and who is maybe destined to be something much more...

Mungo loves music and singing in a choir. He eventually decides to join the theatre, becoming an accomplished actor. But his sexuality remains confused, even the prospect of marriage and parenthood offers him no solace. Will he find himself or is he destined to live a life of lies?

The story of Mungo is perhaps the story of every young child who ever grew up with troubles and nightmares. Or perhaps it’s the story of every young adolescent who ever questioned their sexuality. Or perhaps it’s the story of every man and woman who has ever questioned whether they will find success, their place in the world, and most importantly of all... contentment.

To read Sweet Mungo is to be transported to a world of both harshness and hope, a world of pain and pleasure, and most importantly, a world that allows you to get to know and to care for Sweet Mungo.

Montgomery wrote: "I'm a bit confused as to how the schedule works. Could anyone elucidate for me? Ahh!

M"

This is from message 2 above.
R1 end 18-Oct-14
R2 end 08-Nov-14
R3 end 29-Nov-14
R4 end 20-Dec-14

What each author has to do is also detailed there.
What each reviewer is detailed there.

Montgomery's duties as reviewer here
G49-07__ Montgomery Mahaffey
Meriel Brooke for round 1
Noel Coughlan for round 2
Beth Camp for round 3
Allie Cresswell for round 4

It is every author's responsibility to get his or her book to the reviewers (four per author).

Best wishes,

Great, I get it now. Thank you!

My review of Ella Bandita:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2U8KC8L...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R218JF...

Thank you very much for your review, Montgomery, but please could you also post it on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Ta
Meriel Brooke

Meriel wrote: "Thank you very much for your review, Montgomery, but please could you also post it on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Ta
Meriel Brooke"

Remember also to post a link to the Goodreads review!

Thanks so much Meriel!

Meriel Brooke My review of A Bright Power Rising:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
http://www.amazon.com/review/R27483RD...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R325GO...#

My review of Beth's Years of Stone. Excellent Work!

Goodreads
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Beth, I can't get through to you via email. I've almost finished Noel's enjoyable novel and plan on reading yours next, as soon as you send it to me. PDf, epub or mobi are fine.

Cheers

Thank you so much, Peter, for this note. I sent it this morning via the titans e-mail you sent me earlier. Sorry for the delay. I do have excuses but . . . they are all tedious! Best, Beth

Thanks -
Montgomery review of Meriel,
Meriel review of Noel,
Noel review of Beth.

I hope I've got everyone so far.
Everybody else, round 1 (or first review) deadline Oct. 18.

Here is the link to my round two review of Fred's book The Salt Castle. I have also posted this on to Amazon UK and US.
An exciting read, Fred! Thank you.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Allie.

Allie wrote: "Here is the link to my round two review of Fred's book The Salt Castle. I have also posted this on to Amazon UK and US.
An exciting read, Fred! Thank you.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

Thanks Allie.

My review of Jackie Ley's book The Angels of the Jardin Massey. Very nice read, Jackie.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3EOHMC4...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RZHA7X...

Thanks Fred.

My review of Stolen Spirits, by Penny Ross is available at:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Crikey Fred! You're getting through these books at a rate of knots!

Allie wrote: "Crikey Fred! You're getting through these books at a rate of knots!"

I had some extra time last week.

Thanks Fred.

You now have as many done as Allie--2.

For mere mortals, Round 1 deadline is Oct. 18.

My review of Tiger In A Cage. Nicely written.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Noel.

Reviews in for Meriel Brooke and Noel Coughan. Both very good books and enjoyable to read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Montgomery!

For my reviewers: please scroll to the bottom of this message for a link, or feel free to ignore it. It's voluntary.

Still reading Noel's book, which is very challenging (in a good way). It may be awhile before I finish it. (By the way, great job, Noel. Your book sort of reminds me of Game of Thrones).

For my reviewers: I wrote a prequel "chapter" to The Zombie Gospel. Please check it out if you want to, and let me know if I should add it to an appendix in the book. I'm not writing a sequel to The Zombie Gospel, so this prequel will be the only insight the reader gets on the origins of the Lazarus virus. For my reviewers, you can read it here and send me a thumbs up or thumbs down email if you want to:

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Thanks, and have a great day! :)

My round 1 review of 'Stolen Spirits' by Penny Ross

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks Noel, Montgomery, and Jackie.

Meriel has posted her review of my book Tiger in a Cage on Goodreads and Amazon but her Internet is patchy so she hasn't been able to register the reviews here.

In port today so can post my reviews of Allie's lovely book:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2IDNXEI...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1YE2C...

My round 1 review of The Salt Castle by Fred McKibben:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R63XHE90...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just in time :-)

Thanks D. E.

Yes, we need only two more Round 1 reviews to come in. I will PM reminders Monday if they don't show up by then.

My review of Gay & Genderqueer Speculative Fiction, a compelling read by Peter Jason Payne.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Genderqueer-Spe...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genderqueer-S...

My review of Allie Cresswell's TIGER IN A CAGE is on:

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Cage-Alli...

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Cage-Al...

Thanks Penny and Beth. Round 1 all done.

Only four reviews outstanding in Round2 and the deadline is Nov. 8.

Keep this up guys!

Thanks D. E., I was out of town this weekend and just had a chance to look at it.

My review of Life Discarded

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Discarded-...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member...

Thanks Noel--your Round 3 review!

My review of Years of Stone

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...

http://www.amazon.com/Years-Stone-Boo...