Location: United States
Member Since:
Nov. 22, 2010
Author Erin Rose
Where to find Author Erin Rose online
Website: http://authorerinrose.com
Author Erin Rose's favorite authors on Smashwords
Delilah Fawkes
Latest book:
Sworn to Him, Part 7: Heat (A Billionaire Baby/Marriage of Convenience Romance).
Published October 26, 2016.
Published October 26, 2016.
Smashwords book reviews by Author Erin Rose
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A Second Chance
on May 02, 2011
When I started reading Second Chance, my first thought was “here we go, another cancer book, another life after death novel” Ho-hum I have read it all before. How is this book going to be any different? It’s not. There are hundreds of books on the market regarding cancer patients, both who have survived, and those who lost their battle. Of those cancer patients that have survived, there are some who faced a near-death experience, but not all of them “saw” the other side. Then, there are us readers. Those who believe that it is possible for someone to cross over, meet their maker, and then return. Others have nothing of the sort running around inside their brain. Stories like “Second Chance” are really going to ask you whether or not you believe in situations such as these. Before I go any further, I do not want there to be any confusion. We have all seen incidents in the past where fellow writers are seen chit-chatting on social media sites and their personal website and a few days later up pops a book review and someone has to make a comment regarding fellow writers doing such thing. Yes, I know Nicole, the author. No, I do not know her personally. Meaning, I don’t hang out with her outside of the internet world. Although, I would. She seems really sweet and we seem to have a lot in common. Would I consider her a friend? Yes. A co-worker sums it up well too and fellow writer. Nicole is not asking me for a review. I made the choice to do it after I purchased my copy. I support my fellow writers and when she announced its launch, I knew I had to read the final product having followed along on the journey to submission. I saw others were passing along reviews and I thought it would be helpful to her if I did one as well. I am not being paid. I am not being forced to be nice or to act like I like something. These thoughts and words are my own. Now that these things are out of the way, I have to admit I am torn over this story. While I loved the story itself, the characters, and the plot, I felt the story lacked a little something more. I know firsthand how hard it can be to say everything you want to say without overloading an ebook short story, but I wish there was more. Maybe not so much more length in plot but more depth or volume to the characters and story itself. I almost felt as if the author was playing it safe, and I know she is a much better writer than she is letting us see. This has nothing to do with the story itself, or even grammar. I don’t want to scare anyone away from purchasing this book. We meet Annabelle, losing her battle with cancer. There are her parents, the loving husband, and their children. I would have loved a bit more detail to the back stories provided and more in-depth detail to the current events. There were times I could sense what Annabelle was feeling, and the pain everyone else was going through, but little else. When I read a story, no matter how short or long, I want it descriptive so I can transfer myself into the world of the words I am reading. I want to touch, smell, and even taste whatever is going in within the pages of the book. (I hope that makes sense.) Having said all of that, I do give Nicole 5 stars because the story is captivating and beautiful. It will pull at your heart (be sure to grab a tissue when you sit down to read), and I can see some people turning their life around after reading it. Life is too short. Don’t wait until you are handed your death sentence before you start making changes. Make your changes now. I believe everyone deserves a Second Chance. Having watched so many people around me lose their battle with cancer, I can only wish one of them would have been given a second chance. I am also thinking it would be nice to read about Annabelle and what she does with her second chance in life. I really recommend this book to anyone, not just those who are connected to cancer somehow, but to everyone because there are lessons to be learned from stories like this.
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Temperature: Dead and Rising
on June 05, 2011
At first I was a little leery of reading a book that had so much going on. I am glad I actually took the time to sit down and absorb it. This is not your typical Dawn of the Dead zombie movie, there is a bit of a twist. Comical in nature, the book takes on the feel of the DD counterpart, Shaun of the Dead. It is not dense and that over the top, so you can stop right there with that thinking. SD defiantly is a preference of taste. A creepy sarcastic comedy. Is there such a genre? If not, there is now. The book opens in a morgue, with Sally. Although we know from the descriptions where she is, or where some of us might think she is, Sally doesn’t seem to really understand the full effect as to what has happened. She is cold, nude, and has no memory of event that led her into the box of steel. Bo has come to rescue her, and let it be known she is going through an Awakening for the undead. While trying to grasp the concept that others are not extremely happy with her presence, Sally is forced to deal with being undead, and never being able to go home or be seen my friends and family. She was in a terrible car accident with her friends, who were all killed, just as Sally was. The rival clan, The Church, want Sally. They want to dominate her to use her powers to control the world of the undead. Sally has been given a gift. The powers that be have chosen her to be the one given the magical gift to raise the dead (known as a Slaver). Once they rise, she has total control over them. This is a huge responsibility for someone brand new to the world of the undead. It touches on some comedy within the horror of the undead storyline. Imagine finding out your dead, but not. You have to change your appearance, your life, the food you eat and the clothing you wear. Bo left her to take care of things on her own, along with a bag of money. So what is the one thing a woman will do first? Shop. Off to the drug store for basic necessitates. Deodorant? Yes. Toothpaste. Check. Tampons? Oh, crap. Why would she need those? Who has time to think about these things when an army of undead are chasing after you? You are just going to have to read this story to find out.
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Spoon-fed Addiction
on June 22, 2011
I am a huge fan of “dear diary” type stories. When I first decided to take on this book review, I had read a few paragraphs of the story and started to dread it. What else could someone possibly say about the life of a drug deal who has obviously cracked? I put the Nook aside and decided to save it for another day. Having said it before, I will always give a book my best shot. No matter how much it does not entertain me I will at least try especially when the author contacted me for a review. Once I finished up school for the summer, I decided to give it a go. I scanned back through the first chapter to refresh my memory. I then sat up the whole night finishing the book. Meet Adiran, messed up druggie extraordinaire. Typical, and yes, rather cliché. But how else can you describe the main character from a drug addicted novella? You wanted to love Adiran, but you hated him for messing up his life. You wanted him to be loved, to have love, and get out of this train wreck of a life he was living. You wanted to know he was going to clean up his life. That doesn’t happen. There is no fairytale love story hidden within these pages. Instead, the pages are littered with drug use, drug deals, sex, crimes, and death. After death, there is revenge which does nothing more than create more death and an ending that leaves your ripping out your hair, screaming “I WANT MORE!” It can possibly end just like that. What happened to…… You will get sucked in. You will find yourself full of emotions and right when you think you have the story all figured out…………..it ends. I am thrilled with the emotional roller coaster ride Silvano Williams took me on. Now I sit here, pounding away at the keyboard wondering….will there be more? When can I find out what happens to Adiran? Do the police catch up with him? Does he overdose? Spend the rest of his life in prison? Or, maybe he falls in love while on the run and heads to Mexico…. Hey, a girl can dream (or in this case make up the ending to a story not written)
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Boscutti's Don Simpson (Novel)
on Sep. 09, 2011
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Steve Buscemi was an author instead of an actor? I have. I wondered if his speaking voice would carry through to his writing voice and what that would “sound” like. The book would read something like: Stop. She wore red. Wait. Come back. I like red. Red is pretty. It goes with her hair. End. Just very cut and dry, short stop sentences. No real description because it’s obvious what’s going on. I was given a chance to read a book by Stefano Boscutti called Boscutti’s Don Simpson (Novel). Up to this point I had never heard of Mr. Boscutti, but as with all books I will read anything once. I was a little worried when I first started this book. I felt like I was starting to read a screenplay with the first line “Fade up live version of JIMI HENDRIX’S psychedelic ‘Are You Experienced?’ under flashes of ‘Dangerous Minds’ movie poster with MICHELLE PFEIFFER……” And what’s up with those caps? Every famous person mentioned in this novel is done in all caps. Now, I have read many novels in my 36 years of life but I can honestly say I have never read a novel where there were caps for people’s names. Nor have I read a novel where it feels like you are reading an autobiography turned screenplay. I have now. And I was greedy in absorbing every word of it. Fade to black. Don Simpson, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Simpson) 1943-1996, was the film producer responsible for such hit movies as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and The Rock. You may know his partners name, Jerry Bruckheimer, more than you might know Simpson. I am not sure why that is. I have seen these movies over and over again, and Simpson was never a name that stood out for me. This is not a biography. It’s not even a memoir. It’s purely a work of fiction. I have one word for it: Brilliant. Or in this case it would be BRILLIANT! Descriptive, but short and to the point. It’s not long. It’s not all drawn out. It’s right to the point. So where does Steve Buscemi fit in to all of this? He’s in my head. As I read this novel I found myself reading it as if the voice was Buscemi because I guess my brain was telling me that’s how Simpson would sound if he were telling his story out loud. Or, if this were happy hour story time, the voice reading to us would be Buscemi. It is what it is, I have no other explanation. Sometimes my brain has a mind of its own. Boscutti picks the novel up the day that Don Simpson went into cardiac arrest for combined drug intoxication. Ouch. What follows is Simpson “speaking” at the beginning of every chapter and then the rest of the chapter is the “story” of the events in Simpson’s life. You get the sense that this is one of those stories that he’s “telling” or remembering in his head as his life fades away. He is alone and there is nothing anyone can do to save him. Stories unfold about drug addiction, alcohol, sex addiction, S&M sex fetish, plenty of foul words, prostitution, and a behind the scenes look of the movie business. Is it fact or fiction? It makes you wonder. Every time another star is mentioned I start thinking back to that time period and wondering, “Did this really happen”? Do I remember this? No. Ok. Well, maybe it DID happen? Is it live? Or is it Memorex? Oh, poo. You know I just had to say it. Its so cliché, its perfect. Once you get through the 100 and some chapters, don’t worry, they are short and to the point, you reach the Authors Note. Because I have never read a story written like this I really wanted to find out more. This is what Boscutti has to say “I’m fairly excitable, brisk-talking person. So, if that’s how I communicate with words coming out of my mouth, that’s how I am going to communicate with my words coming out of my fingers onto the keyboard. I tend to have short sentences, pretty abrupt. Some may call it jarring. I’ll chop out unnecessary words to speed up the text, to accelerate the story. ………chops intro and outro to speed up the story……favor words that can do the job in two syllables rather than three…..avoid literary-type words…..I don’t want to write typical stories that live in books, that live and die on the page. I want to liberate my stories. I want to electrify them. I want to give them life. “ Why suddenly do I feel like giving the finger to half the literary agents I know? I have written like this. Not a full- fledged novel, but rather some web posts and had people bash me for calling myself a writer, well, really I was just a blogger, and telling me I had so style. Really? Well, maybe in this day and age there really is no style. While this was supposed to be a book review, I fear it has turned into more of an author review. But when a novel is good, the author is good and I feel Boscutti’s writing style with Buscemi voice deserves to be noted. I wonder if he needs an apprentice. I could use a short sentenced mentor. Well done, Maestro. Well done. Now, readers, go! I mean RUN! Well, I guess we don’t run in the virtual world but just click on over to the website of your choice where you get your books and get this book. While you are there, check out some of his others, I know I will. I think Elvis will be entering the building since Simpson just checked out. ©2011 Chrystal Mahan