Someone She Always Has Known

Title: Someone She Always Has Known

Author: Georgia Blue
Publisher: Create Space
Medium: Kindle

Amazon Synopsis:
Eleanor is a beautiful, brilliant feminist who rarely doubts herself but frequently doubts others. Callie is a passive free spirit who strives to make everyone happy. Jodie is shy, obsessive compulsive who longs to remain in her sheltered world. Together, the three childhood friends help one another navigate that exciting yet overwhelming time – college. Set in the early 1990s, during a time when VCRs, cassette tapes, and floppy drives seemed like technological marvels, the girls attend BYOB parties, engage in pranks, contend with weird roommates and demanding professors, fall in love, and suffer heartaches. By graduation, each friend has left behind the girl who started college and become someone she always has known.

The love of my life knows just a little bit about everything to be dangerous. He studies and reads and philosophizes about every subject under the sun. Lately he has been listening to authors and linguist interviews in the morning on You Tube. I’m in the other room getting ready for work and sometimes part of it sinks in (must be the hum of the blow dryer or the heat of the curling iron or the crap they put in make-up). This morning I was listening to him listen to an interview with Noam Chomsky, and thinking about my review for Someone She Always Has Known.

We started to discuss a book by a guy (David Foster Wallace) who gave this really awesome commencement address at Kenyon College Class of 2005 (something I listened to him listen to the other morning while getting ready for work), called Infinite Jest. It’s a long book – 1100 pages. I pulled my philosophy out of my ear and said something that I felt was witty about the title of the book being about in line with the length of the book and maybe the author planned it that way. Without Google, I cannot recall what the book was about, but then the love of my life reminded me that Infinite Jest is also part of a scene in Hamlet. 

Ah, yes, high school is coming back to me slightly. I do recall reading Hamlet. I could not recall the infinite jest part – thank goodness for Google! I did what every good employee does, arrived at work and immediately found and read the scene. 
I need to stop talking about listening to people listen and get to how this ties in with Someone She Always Has Known before you totally glaze over and click over to the People of Wal-Mart website. During our conversation this morning about Noam Chomsky and the commencement speech guy (it’s called This is Water in case you are interested), I started thinking about one of the characters in the book that I never really related to until just that moment. I don’t think she was supposed to be the main one you rooted for or were supposed to love as a reader. She’s in every college, she’s in every workplace, and you probably know about three people who totally make up this one character.

She’s the main one! She’s the Hamlet, the Infinite Jest, the Noam Chomsky, DFW, the read between the lines, if you will, character that this book totally revolves around and dammit, she’s the one I should have started pulling for at the beginning of Someone She Always Has Known, but she annoyed the crap out of me. Shame on me! She is the one I loved the most at the end, because her character arched more than the others. She could totally walk away from the pages in the book and stand on her own.

Someone She Always Has Known is a coming of age story revolving around three friends and their time at college. Its set in the early 1990’s a time when I was playing Navy Sailor and missed out on that part of college, but I had barracks, which is the same thing, only a little different. The early 90’s were pretty revolutionary in and of themselves even without all of the college stuff. Someone She Always Has Known discusses the ups and downs of being out on your own for the first time, while still having constraints and rules - a trial run, if you will, for being a real grown up. It delves into deep issues and problems that probably plague young folks heading off to college (or the military or a job or simply out on their own) every year. It’s about friendship and learning to find yourself – something that in many ways is equally as important as getting good grades – in order to succeed in college and subsequently, in life.

Someone She Always Has Known was well written, well edited and while it’s not Shakespeare it’s a great book for the young lady struggling through those first painful months at college or the middle aged woman who wants to go back in time to reminisce and wonder what she could have done different and did she arc in life.

And really, what’s not to love about an author name Georgia Blue!!

Georgia Blue

Dear Indie Author,

I think it's so amazing that you are out there writing and publishing books!  You are doing what so many people only wish they could do.  You are taking a huge step and a huge chance at putting that labor of love out there for all the world to see.  The world needs more brave people like yourselves.

I started this blog almost a year and a half ago because of you.  I have read some really great books over the last year or so, and there are so many that I want to get to.  My inbox had over 260 queries when I hired bribed begged the love of my life to organize it into something that I could mange.  You see, I work a full time job and reading is not my only hobby.  I was overwhelmed and really did not know where to start.

After my inbox was organized I found a lot of interesting things out about many author's who send review requests.  I have been called sir. I have been asked to read books that are clearly not even close to the genre's I love to read. In many cases, I have been told more about the author's life than the life of the book. Part of this leads me to believe that no forethought was put into many of these review requests. Requesting a book review and adding my email to some big blanket campaign to elicit reviews while hoping that X hits the spot and I say yes isn't the way to go about things. Let me ask you a question.  Would you care that I base my review of your book based on simply on its cover? Let me answer that for you.  No. 

This has prompted me to rethink my review policy. I hope these changes will not only bring further credibility to my blog, but also increase your work's legitimacy. Review policy changes:

• Please take the time before sending a review request to actually read my Review Policy.
• Spend a couple of minutes clicking around my blog and find out who I am and if I am an appropriate reviewer for your work.
• Tell me ABOUT THE BOOK.
• Please send a .mobi (or other Kindle compatible) file of the book.

I still cannot promise that I will review your book, but this will give me an easier time of sorting through the submissions and finding that hidden gem. If you want to follow my blog or me on Twitter and perhaps friend me on Facebook, please do so. Keeping in touch through these channels will help you discover exactly when your review is completed. I also post the reviews to these places along with Goodreads.  

Again, thank you for continuing to tear down the walls of literary convention through your writing and self-publishing. You are the reason why I started writing book reviews, and will be the reason I continue to do so.  

With Warmest Regards,

Ravenous Reader

Leaving Standing Still

Title: Leaving Standing Still
Author: D.E. Hancox
Publisher: Create Space
Medium: Kindle

Goodreads Synopsis:
Lucas Jameson just relocated to the Alabama Gulf Coast. He thought work would consume most of his time, until he met Beth Asher. Now he must balance his career with his embrace of true love. Follow his journey as he flashes back to the events leading to a life changing moment.

I never really give much thought while reading a book about the author. Let me rephrase that. A well-written book should not be decided by just seeing who the author is alone. Obviously, that's come into light in the news recently with JK Rowling. From what I understand (please correct me if I am wrong), she wrote a book under a pen name and it flopped wasn't a number one on the NY Times Bestseller list instantly. Then, her real name was 'leaked' and the book sold bunches of copies. So, are we, the sheeple, that shallow to believe that just because an author who wrote some very amazing books (of which I read every single one) is always going to write very amazing books? 

Leaving Standing Still is a romance, written from the male perspective -- happens all the time out there in book land. What I likes best about this book was that it was actually written by a dude! And he got it right! AND he put real feelings into print which shows what sometimes women don't know or forget that men have hearts and feelings. Unlike us wimmins who wear their emotions like the flashing neon of Piccadilly Circus, men are a bit more subtle about it. 

It was refreshing to read a different perspective on a coming of age love story. It was a unique read seeing that guys have BFF's and they are insecure and want alone time. Lucas and Beth are many young couples out there. They have real jobs, real issues, real emotions and feelings. There is conflict in their lives and not everything is peachy. 

D.E. Hancox should be commended for well-written first novel! I hope his wife makes him write more!

D.E. Hancox