99¢ BOOK OF THE WEEK

 

FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend

‘til Aug. 31 at

 

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

 

Matthew and Raminder are young, idealistic and in love.

As soon as they can they plan to leave behind the small town and small minds of Pitt Landing. They will embrace life and experience the world, maybe even change it.

Man plans, God laughs. Raminder’s father has a stroke and her commitment to her family means she must postpone her plans and stay in Pitt Lake. It’s just the opposite for Matt. A family tragedy leaves irreconcilable differences between him and his father and forces him to leave.

They promise to reunite, but life happens.

Twelve years later, Matt is an acclaimed war correspondent. He’s seen it all and it’s left him with post-traumatic stress, a gastric ulcer, and an enlarged liver. He’s never been back to Pitt Landing though the memory of Raminder and their love has more than once kept him sane.

He’s at his desk in the newsroom, recuperating from his last assignment and current hangover and reading a letter from his father, the first contact they’ve had in over a decade. It talks about a legendary lost gold mine, a map leading to it, and proof in a safety deposit box back in Pitt Lake. He’s sent it to Matt in case something happens to him and cautions his son to keep it a secret.

Matt is about to dismiss the letter when the telephone rings. It’s Raminder telling him his father has disappeared somewhere in the wilderness that surrounds Pitt Lake.

Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to a dying town on the edge of the wilderness.

The forest is waiting.

 

 

★★★★ FOREST...neatly encapsulates the battleground of humanity’s greed for natural resources versus the cost to the environment... a compelling story, studded with evocative detail and under laid by a very real question – definitely worth the read.

- Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews

 

 

★★★★ Definitely worth reading!

“Intriguing story about a man's quest. Searching for a father, gold, peace of mind, love”
- e.memelink, reader review

 

 

★★★★★ Wow! A very well written mystery, suspense book.

 Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great foreign film adventure movie, or mini TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.
- Tony Parsons, reader review

 

 

★★★★★ A search for true love and meaning in life

I truly enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it. If you are looking for something meaningful, you'll certainly get a lot of true love, trust, relationships, friendship, childhood memories, and a lot more in this excellent book.

 

 

★★★★★ A fantastic nature adventure. The author has a great writing style that is easy to read and very enjoyable.

- Jack Anderson

 

 

★★★★ A strong character driven novel

“… a snapshot into so many lives and somehow the author was able to create a believable story behind all this was spot on. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a deep character driven novel.”

 

 

★★★★ “The author did a wonderful job of pulling me in and caring about these people. This is the second book I have read of Rod Raglin. Both times I have been impressed with his work. I'm happy I came across this one.”

- Bryan Fagan, author of Dempsey’s Grill

 

WATCH THE VIDEO TRAILER AT 

https://animoto.com/play/LvULq5Q5pYF0mobUKwOTVg

FREE E-BOOK - June 22 -26

FOREST - Love, Loss, Legend

Go to https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

 

Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to a dying town on the edge of the wilderness.

 

 

Matthew and Raminder are young, idealistic and in love.

As soon as they can they plan to leave behind the small town and small minds of Pitt Landing. They will embrace life and experience the world, maybe even change it.

Man plans, God laughs. Raminder’s father has a stroke and her commitment to her family means she must postpone her plans and stay in Pitt Lake. It’s just the opposite for Matt. A family tragedy leaves irreconcilable differences between him and his father and forces him to leave.

They promise to reunite, but life happens.

Twelve years later, Matt is an acclaimed war correspondent. He’s seen it all and it’s left him with post-traumatic stress, a gastric ulcer, and an enlarged liver. He’s never been back to Pitt Landing though the memory of Raminder and their love has more than once kept him sane.

He’s at his desk in the newsroom, recuperating from his last assignment and current hangover and reading a letter from his father, the first contact they’ve had in over a decade. It talks about a legendary lost gold mine, a map leading to it, and proof in a safety deposit box back in Pitt Lake. He’s sent it to Matt in case something happens to him and cautions his son to keep it a secret.

Matt is about to dismiss the letter when the telephone rings. It’s Raminder telling him his father has disappeared somewhere in the wilderness that surrounds Pitt Lake.

Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to a dying town on the edge of the wilderness.

The forest is waiting.

 

 

"A compelling story...definitely worth the read"
"A compelling story layered over with a much stranger story of forest myths peering through from the shadows. FOREST...neatly encapsulates the battleground of humanity's greed for natural resources versus the cost to the environment...This is a compelling story, studded with evocative detail and underlaid by a very real question - definitely worth the read."
- 4 STARS, Reader's Favorites Book Reviews

"...pure reading delight."
"The plot is something Stephen King might think up if he wanted to write something only slightly scary for a change."
"...well balanced between the mysterious, the romantic, the scary and the reassuring."
"I hope you get a professional publisher to pick up this book and give it the attention it deserves."
- FIVE STARS, C. Widmann, Goodreads review

 

A strong character driven novel

“I would recommend it to anyone looking for a deep character driven novel.”

 

A fantastic nature adventure

“…a fantastic read. The author has a great writing style that is easy to read and very enjoyable.”

 

“If you are looking for something meaningful, you'll certainly get a lot of true love, trust, relationships, friendship, childhood memories, and a lot more in this excellent book.”

 

★★★★★ Wow, a very well written mystery, suspense book.

 “Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great foreign film adventure movie, or mini TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.”
- Tony Parsons, reader review

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

https://animoto.com/play/LvULq5Q5pYF0mobUKwOTVg

 

 

 

FREE E-BOOK

 

FOREST - Love, Loss, Legend

 

Free 'til January 19, 2021 at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

Matt Bennett grew up in a dying town on the edge of the rainforest on the west coast of Canada. He knows the dark secrets behind that impenetrable wall of green where species can come to life, thrive and die without anyone except God ever knowing they ever existed. Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home. The Forest is waiting.

 

 

As soon as they can they plan to leave behind the small town and small minds of Pitt Landing. They will embrace life and experience the world, maybe even change it.

 

Man plans, God laughs.

 

Raminder’s father has a stroke and her commitment to her family means she must postpone her plans and stay in Pitt Lake. It’s just the opposite for Matt. A family tragedy leaves irreconcilable differences between him and his father and forces him to leave. They promise to reunite, but life happens.

 

Twelve years later, Matt is an acclaimed war correspondent. He’s seen it all and it’s left him with post-traumatic stress, a gastric ulcer, and an enlarged liver. He’s never been back to Pitt Landing though the memory of Raminder and their love has more than once kept him sane.

 

He’s at his desk in the newsroom, recuperating from his last assignment and current hangover and reading a letter from his father, the first contact they’ve had in over a decade. It talks about a legendary lost gold mine, a map leading to it, and proof in a safety deposit box back in Pitt Lake. He’s sent it to Matt in case something happens to him and cautions his son to keep it a secret.

 

Matt is about to dismiss the letter when the telephone rings. It’s Raminder telling him his father has disappeared somewhere in the wilderness that surrounds Pitt Lake.

 

Lost gold, lost love and lost hope compels Matt to return home to Pitt Landing, a dying town on the edge of the rainforest on the west coast of Canada. Will he find any of these, or does something else await him?

 

Free 'til January 19, 2021 at

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

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Like lickin’ honey off a thorn tree

When MsWas sent out the email offering free copies of The Sasquatch Murder, I knew I had to have one. About six months ago, a new coffee shop opened about a block from my house. It’s called Coffee for Sasquatch. I had visions of reading the book under the giant wall sculpture of Sasquatch, as if she’s reading over my shoulder. That didn’t quite happen, but I am writing this review while drinking coffee and glancing up at Big Sassy herself.

I’m not quite sure how to talk about this book. It’s not good. Style and tone are all over the place. Some passages were clearly added to pad out the word count, much like a high school book report adding a lot of completely and ridiculously and superfluously long adverbs to get to the end of that second or third page. It’s full of clichés; one of the characters is literally described as speaking in old-timey clichés, and Hee-Haw-Howdy, does he ever (see: this review's title). The dialogue is painful and commits one of the cardinal sins of fiction: the characters narrate out loud to each other what they’re doing, while they’re doing it. It’s got some cringe-inducing, Mickey-Rooney-in-Breakfast-at-Tiffany’s-level racism in dealing with the few non-white, non-American, completely disposable characters. Much of what happens is preposterous and unbelievable and just plain wrong.

It’s the kind of book I’d like to crucify by channeling the gods and goddesses of Pajiba snark and filth, past and present. Up until about a third of my way through, that’s what I was planning, and then a few things happened. I looked up the publisher and saw that it’s mostly for self-publishing, which made sense. I read the author blurb, and he’s had about six different careers. I can 100% identify with that. I’m in my early-mid-40’s (shut up, it’s a thing) and trying to become a real writer like I always wanted but was too afraid. I get it.

And I also realized that I’d accepted the book for what it was, not what I thought it should be. It didn’t get better. Good god, no. But I started to have fun reading it. He’s terrible with people and dialogue. It's a murder without a murder, let alone mystery, and (a love story) without romance. But it somehow turned into so-bad-it’s-funny instead of so-bad-it’s-painful. His descriptions of the Pacific Northwest landscape are good enough that if he paid as much attention to everything else through a few (dozen) rewrites, he might have a decent novel. No. I take that back. It'd still be terrible and probably not as fun.

I freely admit that the free copy may have influenced my review. If I’d bought this book, it would probably be in shreds at the bottom of my recycle bin right now. Sasquatch deserves better. I can’t exactly recommend it, but I’ve read far worse this year.

(This review was original published as part of Cannonball Read 10. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)