What Amazon says

In this thoughtful novel set on a sun-baked island, Adrian Hartman, the charismatic director of the Serendipity holiday community, is responsible for ensuring the perfect mindful break, with personal growth and inner peace guaranteed. People return year after year to bare their souls. For some, Adrian IS Serendipity.

But Adrian disappears, and with him goes the serenity of his staff and guests, who are bewildered without their leader. The hostility of the local villagers is beginning to boil over. Is their anger justified or are the visitors, each in a different way, just paranoid?

As romance turns sour and conflict threatens the stability of both communities, everyone has to find their own way to survive. This evocative story explores the decisions of adults who still need to come of age, the effect of well-intentioned tourism on a traditional community, and the real meaning of getting away from it all.

My review

I listened to the audio book of The Infinity Pool narrated by Jack Wynters. I enjoyed the readers voice interpretation of this novel and thought his tones suited the subject matter of the book very well.

The Infinity Pool is beautifully written and compelling and I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable read. It is about a vacation camp on a remote island where mainly British people go to recuperate from their stressful jobs and to take various courses aimed at developing them as people.

The camp leader is a charismatic man named Adrian, who is a bit of a womanizer but who is very good at helping other people rediscover the good in their lives and re-energize. As a result, Adrian is popular with the guests, many of whom come specifically to take his courses.

The book starts with Adrian feeling slightly disgruntled with his life and role at the camp and looking for a way to reignite his enthusiasm and vigor. He meets a young local girl and sets out to woo her as he finds her company gives him a new lease on youth.

His relationship with the girl ends and his very modern and cavalier attitude offends the locals who live in a nearby village. It is the last straw in an already strained relationship and a group of young men from the village set out to cause disruption at the camp and among the guests. At times, their actions are outright hostile and even criminal.

This is not a run of the mill mystery, it has a heavy focus on characterization and the development of selected characters in the book as they go through a period/s at the camp and undergo a healing process which allows them to move on from their pasts and change as people.

I enjoyed this story and was happy with the ending except for one small thread which wasn’t tied up for me. Other readers may not think that and it isn’t significant, just a small niggle for me.

Purchase The Infinity Pool by Jessica Norrie

This week’s prompt is rather different: Show us a photo (or photos) you took that you’re most proud of. Tell us about it (them).

I love taking pictures of water. There is something very intriguing to me about watching water move; either boiling and raging as rapids or during a storm or rippling in a wind or even still as glass on a windless day. Here are a few of my favourite pictures:

Click on the link below to discover which photos other blog-hoppers are proud of.

Rules:

1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Today, I am delighted to welcome author, John W. Howell, to Roberta Writes with his amazing new book. Take it away, John.

Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Robbie, and for helping me launch Eternal Road – The final stop. With all yu have to do with kids and your accounting practice, blogging, and writing terrific books, I’m happy you could take the time to host on the book tour. Speaking of the book, let me describe it. Eternal Road is the story of two people finding their way through the selection process leading to the place where one will spend eternity. Yes, it is true. They both have passed away. James Wainwright just died in an auto accident. Samantha Tourneau died seventeen years before. Sam is James’s guide to help him decide where to spend eternity. This is not your usual thriller or paranormal romance. It is a piece of fiction that is a combination of inspiration, adventure, time travel, sci-fi, a touch of erotica, and a dash of spiritual. In short, it is a lot of things, but hopefully, a story that will make you happy to have read it.

It is now available on Amazon in paper and Kindle. The Kindle edition is introductory priced at 99¢ until October 15th

Here are the universal links

Kindle Universal link  mybook.to/EternalRoad

Paper universal link mybook.to/Eternalroadpaper

The blurb.

James Wainwright picks up a hitchhiker and discovers two things 1. The woman he picks up is his childhood sweetheart, only Seventeen years older. 2. He is no longer of this world.

James began a road trip alone in his 1956 Oldsmobile. He stops for a hitchhiker only to discover she is his childhood sweetheart, Sam, who disappeared seventeen years before. James learns from Sam falling asleep miles back caused him to perish in a one-car accident. He also comes to understand that Sam was taken and murdered all those years ago, and now she has come back to help him find his eternal home.

The pair visit a number of times and places and are witness to a number of historical events. The rules dictate that they do no harm to the time continuum. Trying to be careful, they inadvertently come to the attention of Lucifer, who would love to have their souls as his subjects. They also find a threat to human survival and desperately need to put in place the fix necessary to save humankind.

The question becomes, will James find his eternal home in grace or lose the battle with Satan for his immortal soul and the future of human life with it? If you like time-travel, adventure, mystery, justice, and the supernatural, this story is for you.

An Excerpt

The sun burns James’s face, and his back hurts from spending too much time lying on it. He tries to move his arm, but a body weighs it down. The realization stuns him into wakefulness. Sam sleeps on his arm. James rolls toward her and touches her face, which radiates warmth. He thanks God that she is still Sam and then looks her over. She lies totally naked from head to foot, and the sight makes him blush. She stirs in a deep sleep. He lays back and, for the first time, notices that he’s not wearing anything either. Something must have happened when they fell into whatever it was that brought them here. Perturbed, James looks around as much as he can without disturbing Sam. Desert surrounds them, with not much else but cacti and a couple of low hills.

“Uhhh, James.”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Sam covers her eyes with her arm. “Where are we?”

“In a desert.”

Sam squints. “How did that happen?”

“I’m not sure, but I have a bit of bad news.”

“Only a bit? That’s not such a problem.”

“We have no clothes.”

Sam sits up quickly and covers her breasts with her arms. “No clothes? Did you look at me while I slept?”

“Only a little.”

“How little?”

“Well, your breasts are beautiful.”

“James.”

“Okay, so I stared.”

“You just laid there leering at me while I was defenseless.”

“No, I—wait a minute. I’m naked too. I didn’t leer either. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Sam stares at him. “Stand up.”

James frowns. “Why?”

“So I can leer at you, and then we’ll be equal.”

James sighs and stands, in full view of his companion. “Will that do it?”

She takes her time looking him up and down. “Yes.”

The corners of her mouth lift in the beginnings of a smile. She orders him to turn around, and he sighs again but complies. “You can sit down again.”

“Satisfied?”

“Yes. You have a lovely body.” Sam chuckles. “I can’t help but think of Adam and Eve right now.”

“I worried sick about you. Do you feel okay?”

“Yes. Come closer and hold me for a minute. That was quite a ride.”

James sits beside her and wraps his arm around her shoulders. Gently, he pulls her toward him. Then he raises his hand to her hair and strokes. “What happened to us?”

“I would say old Lucifer summoned us. Probably, we’re on the outskirts of Las Vegas.”

The Trailer

John’s bio

John is an award-winning author who, after an extensive business career, began writing full time in 2012. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. He has written five other books that are on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. The paperback versions are also available in the Indie Lector store

John lives in Lakeway, Texas, with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.

Contact John

Blog Fiction Favorites, http://johnwhowell.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/john.howell.98229241

Twitter –https://www.twitter.com/HowellWave

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). 

Champagne Castle Hotel is in the Drakensburg is in KwaZulu Natal. The Drakensburg is a range of beautiful mountains with lovely hiking trails. These are photographs of some of the doors.

What Amazon says

Erin Mason, divorced and with two teenage sons, finds her world begins to fall apart when she undergoes what is termed a “life event”, and is diagnosed with cancer. Not too far away somebody else, Alan Beaumont, is also suffering a similar fate. Their paths slowly come together in this inspiring and humorous tale which is partly based on actual events, and shows how love can flourish in the most unlikely of circumstances.

My review

I listened to the audio book of A Rather unusual Romance narrated by Wendy Anne Darling. Right up front I must say that I really enjoy Wendy Darling’s reading style which is perfectly suited to this particular book. I listen to enough audio books to know that the reader’s voice and style can ruin a book, but Wendy Darling’s narration really added to my enjoyment of this excellent story.

Erin Mason has a busy but ordinary life. She is a ward clerk in a busy hospital ward that specialises in care of the elderly and, right up front, she proves herself to be patient, firm and kind as she deals with the patients and her work colleagues. Erin is a single mother to her twin teenage boys after their father, her husband at the time, leaves her for another woman with whom he’s been having an affair.

The relationship between Erin and her boys clearly indicates the type of person she is as they are caring and reasonably considerate towards their mother all the way through the book. It was heart warming to know that her children, Kevin in particular, were capable of expressing their love through looking after Erin and preparing meals for her when she became ill.

I quickly came to be ambivalent towards Erin’s ex-husband, Chris, who not only had an affair and treated her quite badly when their marriage broke up, but behaves selfishly and self centredly when he becomes aware of her involvement with Alan.

Alan is a kindly and decent man who has also been through a divorce following his wife leaving him for another man. He is left to bring up his daughter, Matilda, on his own and she is a testimony to his excellence as a father.

Alan is diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the same time as Erin and ends up being her neighbour in the lead lined hospital rooms during their simultaneous treatment with radiation.

The author’s understanding of thyroid cancer, its treatment and pitfalls are quite apparent in this book and found it all very interesting having had a few encounters with breast cancer and its treatment in my own family.

This is a compelling book . The author probes into the anxiety and psychology of each of Alan and Erin as they go through the processes of suspecting something is wrong with them, diagnosis of their conditions, treatment, and finally its aftermath.

I enjoyed the positivity the author portrayed while telling this story and the fact that the characters found happiness and love in the most unexpected place and circumstances. The author also delves into the difficulties of introducing a new relationship into two existing families and the complexities of dealing with teenage angsts, rejection and concerns in such circumstances.

On the whole, I thought this was an excellent book, well written and full of the best of humanity.

Purchase A Rather Unusual Romance

The vintage music books lay in a neat pile on top of her old vinyl records. Reaching out, he picked one up and looked at it. The paper was slightly yellow from age.

I can’t believe she’s still got these books, he thinks. I remember how pleased she was when she found them in an antique shop in Greymont. I’d just passed my Grade 4 practical music exam and she was hopeful I would learn to play some of the songs.

He’d started music lessons at four years old and had learned to read music fluently before he could read. He remember his mother telling him that he had initially struggled to learn the alphabet and to read because it was like learning a second language for him.

She had done everything she could to encourage him with his music. Listening to him practice every morning before she went to work and taking him to lessons in the afternoons when she got home were built into her long list of daily activities. He’d been having three hour-long lessons a week before elected to give up music; one for singing, one for theory, and one for practical piano.

When he’d reached high school and decided to stop playing the piano, his mother had hidden her disappointment and allowed him to do so without an argument. She’d accepted that music was something that no longer interested her tall, academic son. He was not a creative and she couldn’t live her life through him. She let it go and he’d pursued maths, science and IT.

He’d been grateful for her understanding, especially as he knew she would have loved an opportunity to learn to play when she was a girl. One day she’d told him that a next-door-neighbour had started teaching her when she was nine years old. Her family had moved a few months later and she’d never had another chance to learn.

He turned the page of the top book and it opened to ‘My Favourite Things’ from ‘The Sound of Music’.

Mother’s favourite song. She always said she wanted me to play it at her funeral one day. Of course, she didn’t expect to die of a stroke just before her fiftieth birthday. Didn’t know that her blood pressure was a ticking time bomb due to years of work-induced chronic stress.

A tear slipped down his cheek and plopped onto the page.

I can’t play it at her funeral myself but I can see that it is played. This song and Morning has Broken will definitely be included in the order of service at her memorial.

This piece was written for Suzanne Burke’s weekly challenge. You can join in here: https://sooozburkeauthor.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/fiction-in-a-flash-challenge-week-18-new-image-prompt-join-in-the-fun-iartg-asmsg-writingcommunity-pursoot/

Here are the specifics for this week’s contest:

1. Seasons are changing. The Theme is a funny haiku (or, more technically accurate, a senryu) about seasonal change. Spring, fall, summer, winter, autumn; whatever.
2. From Wikipedia about senryu, regarding Length: “three lines with 17 morae (or “on”, often translated as syllables, but see the article on onji for distinctions).” We’re also fine with the ole 5-7-5.
3. Dude; this poetry form does NOT Rhyme.
4. I dunno what might be racy about nature, so a G-rating is preferable.
5. Just MAKE US LAUGH. Mother Nature needs to slap your wrists with climbing roses as she holds her vinèd sides in laughter.

Autumn leaves

Leaves, leaves everywhere

I’ll persuade hubby to rake

Where’s my lingerie?

You can join in here: https://chelowens.com/2020/09/19/the-a-mused-poetry-contest-9-19-9-25-2020/

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). 

McCaig’s Tower, also known as McCaig’s Folly, is a prominent tower on Battery Hill overlooking the town of Oban in Argyll, Scotland. It is built of Bonawe granite taken from the quarries across Airds Bay, on Loch Etive, from Muckairn, with a circumference of about 200 metres with two-tiers of 94 lancet arches. It is a Grade B Listed historic monument. The structure was commissioned, at a cost of £5,000 sterling, by the wealthy, philanthropic banker, John Stuart McCaig. It was never finished as John McCaig died before his vision was completed and the £1,000 per annum he left in his will for the completion of the structure was challenged in court by his family.

You can join in Thursday’s doors here: https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/thursday-doors-september-17-2020/

What Amazon says

2019 KCT RRBC Runner-Up Silver Award Winner

The year is 1970, and the story follows the two soldiers – impressionable Detroit teenagers – during their long night in a Listening Post (‘LP’), some 200 meters beyond the bunker line of the new firebase. Their assignment as a “human early warning system”, is to listen for enemy activity and forewarn the base of any potential dangers. As they were new to the “Iron Triangle” and its reputation, little did they know that units before them lost dozens of soldiers in this nightly high-risk task and referred to those assigned as “bait for the enemy” and “sacrificial lambs”.

Sitting in the pitch black tropical jungle – with visibility at less than two feet – John’s imagination takes hold throughout the agonizing night, and at times, transports him back to some of his most vivid childhood memories – innocent, but equally terrifying at the time.

As kids, we instinctively run as fast as we can to escape imaginary or perceived danger, but as soldiers, men are trained to conquer their fears and develop the confidence to stand their ground and fight. Running is not an option.

My review

I have recently learned a lot more about the war in Vietnam so when I saw this book I grabbed the opportunity to read about the experiences of a veteran. I was not disappointed. When Can I Stop Running is an account of one night in the lives of two American soldiers, Polack and L.G. in the jungle outside of the base camp.

The pair are assigned to Listening Patrol which entails hiding in the jungle all night and acting as a human warning system for any unusual activity from the enemy. The reader quickly realises that this is not a popular duty among the men and the descriptions of the heavy and dense blackness of night in the jungle make it obvious as to why. It is awful to imagine being in such complete blackness, where you can’t see anything, and waiting and listening for the sounds of enemy soldiers all night long.

Polack and L.G. have some unpleasant experiences during the night, including a group of enemy soldiers stopping for a meal not far from their chosen hiding spot and being attacked by apes with rocks.

The experiences of the two soldiers is alternated with flashbacks, by Polack, to his childhood when he faced something that frightened him. These flashback’s ranged from when Polack was a young lad of eight years old attending holiday camp to an encounter with some neighbourhood witches a few years before he joined the army and was posted to Vietnam.

The two different perspectives, those of the child and teenage Polack, who uses flight as his saving grace when faced with something scary, and Polack the young adult soldier who cannot run and has to face his fears is poignant and striking.

I enjoyed this thought provoking book and would recommend it to people who like to read books about human drama, courage and the life of a soldier.

Purchase When Can I Stop Running?

Tell us what you love the most about your work(s) in progress.

I am currently participating in a horror anthology called Spellbound, featuring 27 stories from 16 authors. This is the third horror anthology in the Box Under the Bed series, compiled by Dan Alatorre, that I have been involved with and I really do enjoy it.

There are a few reasons I like participating in anthologies:

Firstly, I enjoy writing short stories from time-to-time. Short stories require a different writing approach to a book as you have much less time to flesh out your characters and develop your plot. I enjoy the challenge of writing short stories and, as horror and supernatural are my favourite genres, that is also a big plus for me. I also like short stories because your can write and finish one in a week. That makes a nice change from the twelve to eighteen months I need to write a book.

Secondly, I enjoy engaging with a group of other writers to create an anthology and I also enjoy assisting with some of the editing and proofreading of the stories. I have found that I learn an awful lot from carefully reading other peoples work with a sharp editing and proof reading eye. I have started to pick up filter words and word echoes and other writing faux pas in other people’s writing. This has made me more aware of these writing technique errors and I try to avoid them as I write now rather than having to do a huge editing exercise at the end of a book.

Thirdly, I believe that I benefit from being part of an anthology and being exposed to a wider readership. If sixteen authors all participate in a book and they all have readers of their books, short stories, blogs and social media, you are bound to meet some new readers. Some of these readers are likely to enjoy at least one of my stories and that puts my name on their radar for the future.

I have two short stories in Spellbound, one is called Death Is About Choices and has a historical supernatural steer, while the other, Glass Mountain, is pure horror [in my opinion]. I know that both these stories have a common theme of fear of death. In both stories, the young main characters are put in a situation where death is likely, even expected. I have en deavoured to delve a little bit into the psychology of impending death in a young person [teenager]. I wonder if any readers will pick up on this common theme.

I created the following adverts and GIF for this new book.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

You can read what other writers think about this topic here: https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/9d01aa2882b34bc48e9f863de558fc2f