I want to thank Artsy Ally for pointing out a typo on page 15 in my new release East Van Saturday Night - Four Short Stories and a Novella (EVSN). It has since been corrected on all digital platforms and in paperback. Unfortunately, if you purchased the book in either form before September 28, 2018, you’ve got one with the error in it and maybe a few others that have yet to be discovered.

 Artsy Ally, a.k.a. Ally Robertson, is content producer and social media director of Access Television, a non-profit organization that airs “community stories from Vancouver, BC, with a focus on marginalized voices. Produced by volunteers and neighbours.”

 I reached out to her to see if she’d be interested in reviewing the above mentioned new release.

 The response was interesting.

 Robertson asked for a digital copy and said she would “hand it off to someone who may read and review it. If they decide to do a review, we will have you come into the studio for a short interview.”

That sounded encouraging, and I sent an e-pub version immediately. The following day I received her response.

She began by saying “Your stories have merit and I enjoyed the memories they stirred in me. I really enjoyed the chapters with Chris’s attempt at crossing Canada. ... I found East Van Saturday Night to be more like a one story novella with chapters, as the stories are of the same character.”

Robertson then proceeded to tell me she too was a self-published author “at the moment,” and she would “highly recommend you have people proofread your work before you publish. I am trying not to be highly critical, but as a former book publisher who published over 60 authors, I have some experienced suggestions for you. I found there were some issues with the book I just couldn’t overlook.”

Robertson said the book contained “plenty of grammatical errors” as well as “simple spelling mistakes.” Other issues she “just couldn’t overlook” included “un-announced dialogue switching” and “proper scene changes” which the book “desperately needs.”

Her suggestion was to have “a good proofreader go over it and you re-edit.”

I have an incredibly thick skin. I look at constructive criticism as a way to improve my writing. Accordingly, I sent the following response to Artsy.

Dear Ally,

No offence taken, in fact, thank you for your suggestions.

Scene changes can also be indicated by adding an additional blank line space, which I prefer over asterisks. However, I realize this style works better in print than in digital as the formatting may diminish it or eliminate the space altogether. I plan to take your suggestion and revise the manuscript inserting asterisks to indicate scene changes.

When errors are pointed out, I fix them and upload the corrected manuscript to all my digital and print publishing platforms. New readers will find one less mistake, though unfortunately, that doesn’t help those who have purchased my book with the typo.

When I write, I have two computer programs (Grammarly and ProWritingAid) filter the work. After a minimum of three revisions, I send the manuscript to three beta readers. Despite this rather thorough process errors are still overlooked.

Excuses and expenses aside, I will endeavour to do better.

Rod

Robertson replied saying I might be able to “find a student willing to do it (proofread) for $1.00 per page.” She was lucky enough to have her novel, Epic Crazy Love “go through 3 editors and a proofreader long before I re-published it myself.”

So now that you’ve got context let’s draw some conclusions.

Apparently, Robertson doesn’t think three beta readers, two computer editing/grammar programs and the author have the editing prowess of a student paid a dollar a page. Maybe she’s right.

More importantly, though, I’m interested in how well her novel is doing considering it went “through 3 editors and a proofreader” before it was self-published.

Epic Crazy Love was published in April 2017. Here’s the blurb accompanying the book.

Can two reunited soul mates conquer deceit, begrudged malice, extortion, multiple mental and physical traumas and maintain an intense, lasting, abiding love?

To date, Epic Crazy Love has one, five-star review. Here are its rankings on Amazon.

• #18011 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Westerns
• #27965 in Books > Romance > Western
• #159502 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary
• #3,393,001 overall on Amazon’s Paid in Kindle Store

“I did love the story (East Van Saturday Night) itself,” Robertson writes, “but reading it, it was difficult to overlook all of the little things that threw me off as a reader. Paying someone to proofread will really kick it up a notch and make your work great.”

Or maybe not.

But here’s the kicker, Artsy Ally, didn’t pass along my book to the reviewer saying, “Due to the adult content I don’t think it’s a good match for us to review for you, I don’t think it would be something Susan would enjoy reading so I won’t pass it along.”

Add censor to Robertson’s list of accomplishments.

Some days...

Stay calm. Be brave. Watch for the signs.

Access Television https://www.facebook.com/ACCESSCOMMUNITYTV/

Ally Robertson

http://ArtzyAlly.com

Epic Crazy Love

https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Crazy-Love-Ally-Robertson/dp/1770650717/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538433910&sr=1-2&keywords=crazy+epic+love

Author Amazon Page https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Book two in the Muses series brings us Navy Seal, Hunter, and the psychologist, Callie. He is sent to her after a rough mission, but he has no interest in talking and getting his head examined by an "old man". When he discovers that his doctor is a beautiful female he still doesn’t want to talk about how his mission went wrong but he does want to go out on a date. Callie holds out strongly and stubbornly, but Hunter draws her in and when she discovers he is her Guardian it makes it even harder to resist his charm. As they grow closer, the Kronos Worshipers single Callie out as their next victim and it is up to Hunter to keep her safe. I enjoyed their story. The Order of Kronos is a bit weak for the bad guys. The members are part of a big oil conglomerate and yet they have to brain wash someone in order to make him fanatical enough to murder without question. They need to be more ruthless and aggressive. They come off as a bit passive compared to the strong protagonists in the story. Other than that, I enjoyed book two as much as book one. Looking forward to reading about Reed next.

Biltmore is an enormous Gilded Age estate in North Carolina. It was built on the orders of George Washington Vanderbilt II in the 1880s-90s as a summer retreat and became the largest private home in America. Biltmore is situated on a plot of land to match, over 10 square miles, the bulk of which is forest and now a National Park.  The house itself, astonishingly, remains in private hands. How this came to pass makes for an entertaining bit of history.

I hadn't known much about the origins of Biltmore or its role in the early environmental movement and was impressed. Kiernan veers away from the story of the house to dwell on Vanderbilt family drama, but its to be expected. Not many people just want to hear about stone korbels and inspiration for plasterwork. The Biltmore Vanderbilts lived interesting lives, Edith (George's wife) in particular with her involvement in an Arts & Crafts cottage industry around the estate. The other family members, especially where it seemed Kiernan had to fill gaps of information with speculation such as with Cornelia Vanderbilt (the original heiress), was less interesting. Thanks to this book, Biltmore and its gardens and the park surrounding it have risen above the 'cottages' of Rhode Island as a must-visit for me.

The fact that Biltmore, such a white elephant from the beginning, survived intact through a century as destructive as the last one is remarkable.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Lisa Kessler in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

I'm completely in love with this series, and I'm waiting anxiously for each and every book in this series. The second book in this series takes the story further, by introducing a new Guardian, Hunter, but also by making the villains more evil and scarier, maybe even a little bit deranged.

Hunter is an interesting choice for a Guardian. I like how his military career was portrayed and how it played into his role as a Guardian. I also liked the fact that he didn't have the same gift as Nate, so I'm assuming each Guardian will have different gifts. I'm also assuming that their gifts are somehow tied to what the Muse they're protecting.

Callie was a great heroine. I like how she dedicates herself to working with military men and women, to help them heal from traumas from being in war zones. The thing I liked most about her is that she's not perfect, she has a little bit of a wildness in her, due to her Muse, that she tries a lot to keep under control.

I liked Callie and Hunter together, they make a great team, and I liked the little glimpse into Mel and Nate's future. The pacing was great, and there were a few developments in the overall story, that of some really deranged people trying to keep the Muses from opening up the Theater of the Muses, that I'm very curious to see how it will play out in the future books.

All in all, a great book and one that any urban fantasy lover should add to their TBR piles.

Legend of Love by Lisa Kessler is the second book in the Muse Chronicles series. If I were to make a comparison with the previous book. I would have to say this my favourite.

What the story is about.

Legend of Love is Callie O’Connor’s story. Callie is a woman of adventure, but when the muse epic poetry came alive within her, her life was never the same. To escape the effects of what her muse does to her she moved across the country and took a job as a civilian psychologist for the Navy while leading her sister muses in their quest to reopen the Theatre of the Muses. She is determined to stay single and made a pact to remain dateless and single until the theatre was completed. However, she never counted on meeting Hunter Armstrong, a Navy Seal, who is determined to break down her barriers and do his best to protect her from the evil at hand.

The Story

The story picked up from where book one left off. The threat to the muses is not over. Instead of weakening, it intensified. The Order of the Titans are determined to put an end the inspiration of this generation, that means killing the muses, and Callie is on their radar.

The story began on a strong note and maintained that pace to the end. We learn more about The Order of the Titans. Based on their actions, I would say they are fanatics, which makes them deadly. However, I found them to be inefficient in their quest to kill the muses.

The theme that intrigued me most about this series was how Greek mythology was incorporated with present day events. The intensity of the action scenes kept me glued to the pages. My eagerness to discover how the events would unfold kept me turning the pages.

I loved how the romance unfolded. Callie and Hunters’ connection was instantaneous, which I expected due to the legend surrounding the guardian and his muse. However, the romance developed at a pace that was befitting the characters. I appreciated their attempts at getting to know each other before rushing into the carnal aspect of their relationship.

There was a particular scene which I found emotional. Reading that scene made me feel sad but placed a smile on my face.

The Characters
Character development was well executed. Callie’s past is riddled with secrets and as a result, she is scared to get close to Hunter. She believes she would cause heartbreak for any man she gets close to and so getting involved with Hunter was out of the question.

Hunter is a troubled soul. He joined the military to help his family. However, his duty to his country prevented him from sharing in important events in their lives. Added to that, he is struggling with the guilt of leaving behind a team member during his last deployment. Meeting Callie would bring changes to his life in ways he never anticipated.

I loved Callie and Hunter together. He helped her to move past her fears and seize her destiny. With Hunter, she learnt she need not fear who she had become. She helped him to see that he need not feel guilty about his family or his friend.

Conclusion/Recommendation
I thought this was a great addition to the series. I can’t wait to see what next the author has in store for this series.