As you may or may not have surmised my interaction in other folks wonderful blogs has been fairly
Penny Watson (c) PennyWatson
minimal of late, for reasons you are all probably aware of and so, I have just been dipping in and out and sometimes I miss things, like this beautiful little FREEEEEEEEE TO DOWNLOAD vignette of a story from the delightfully Tiara Adorned, Cocktail Loving. Lumberjacky Aficionado PENNY WATSON over on her blog Penny Romance.
Cabin in the woods (c) PennyWatson
Hannah Watson decides to take a sabbatical at Christmas away from her family and friends in deepest snowy Vermont to complete a project she is under pressure to get handed in on January First. Deciding to go snowshoeing for the first time ever she gets stuck as the weather closes in and thinks she has broken her ankle, cold wet, alone and feeling completely miserable on Christmas Eve. Rescue is at hand in the form of bearded Lumberjack hunk, David Green who, after loading up his chopped wood for his cabin, is about to drive away when he spots Hannah and comes to her rescue.
As it turns out David is a famous children's author with writers block and coincidentally Hannah is an illustrator for children's books, awe isn't that lovely.....
Well as it happens, yes it was. Just 17 pages on a word document of smart, easy reading with a dialogue as crisp as the snow falling outside the cabin. A little schmaltzy but not out of place at all in this story where the two with similar problems, find each other and collaborate to bring each other out of their predicaments, I found it totally sweet, engaging and romantic and for a short Christmassy story, totally loved it
You can download your very own FREE COPY of this delightful little tale over on Penny's blog HERE
Firstly, I have to declare; I know the author. Secondly, I don't think I have ever read a paranormal love story before, so there that's out of the way and maybe I should say, thirdly, I didn't think after reading the first three or four chapters that I would finish my first paranormal love story.
Well as it turns out I did have one or two problems and it took me longer to read than I normally take to read a book, but I think that was purely because the first few chapters were a bit on the slow side. I used a phrase while reviewing another book once and it applies to this one as well, it was this; "What we ended up with was a book that began with a forgettable stroll around the park, jumped over the railing onto the running track and into a gentle jog and then burst into a sprint as the story progressed." I think this sums up Incorporeal quite well as and unless I go back and read the first few chapters again, I couldn't tell you much about what was going on. I'm not putting all of that on the author, remember, this is my first paranormal love story, so it was, in all likelihood down to me adjusting to the different genre...
SOME SPOILERS
But from about chapter 4 on, I was hooked. It turned out to be a well written story and probably things that I missed at the beginning were made clearer to me as the book progressed. Sara Wise slogs away in an office by day and writes paranormal love stories by night. Ever since she was a girl she has had the ability to see and communicate with spirits from the other side. Sometimes good experiences sometimes bad. Her mother never understood, her father did. her father was the buffer between her and her mother and when he dies her life falls apart and her mother puts her in an orphanage......
Usually ghosts turn up, ask her to pass on a message, she never does, and then they disappear, Nathan on the other hand had turned up two months ago and had steadfastly refused to move on saying that he was not permitted to...
Sara dreamt of Nathan but couldn't see him and while she didn't like the thought of not being able to get rid of a ghost she was becoming used to him being around. It was doubly annoying that Nathan would not tell her anything about himself, to begin with. But, as time passed she discovers that he has been dead for over 500 years. His family were wealthy Jewish merchants in Spain but the king and Queen of Spain wanted their wealth and their ships and so arranged for the family to be killed by Inquisitors. Nathan had not 'crossed over' as he was not present when the family were murdered and he had blamed himself for not being there to protect them. He had eventually escaped on a ship to England, the birth place of his mother also from a wealthy family, but who had ostracised their daughter for marrying a Jew, where he later died.
What Nathan hadn't told Sara was that he was not permitted to move on as he had been placed there in that house with her as her Guardian to try and protect her from something or someone, he didn't know what, that would place her life in danger, nor could he tell her, even if he knew, when this danger would manifest itself. Well that's all I can tell you about the story without actually spoiling the book for you.
What I can tell you is that the story did have substance to it, well if you can believe in ghosts - and why not - we largely suspend our belief in almost anything when we are reading a work of fiction or watching a movie - so do so here and you will find a love story with a bit of suspense and a bit of 'murder, death, kill' thrown in for good measure. A single woman who finds love with an incorporeal man who becomes corporeal, but can it, and does it last, or are there shades of the Ghost and Mrs Muir?
The syntax flowed along and there was no problems with this, and as I mentioned earlier once I got past the first couple of chapters it kept me entertained and ready to turn the page. The Love Scenes seemed well written without being over the top and I didn't feel uncomfortable reading them and they didn't take up all of the book.
There was a couple of minor inconsistencies and I found it, at first, hard to believe that in the modern age Sara didn't have an actual phone in her home, only a mobile but then I thought about a friend of mine who relies solely on a mobile and doesn't have a land line either but has a USB toggle for wi-fi, so not all that inconsistent there I suppose! There was a couple of blank pages between the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next, and when this happens you at first think that your Kindle has suddenly shut down, but as I say, only a couple of these so not a major problem. All in all I'm glad I kept reading it.
Editing for Kindle: 4 out 5
Reading Enjoyment: 4 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
No of Pages: 185 estimated
Chapters: 22
I haven't gotten round to this book in my TBR pile yet, but thought it worth pointing out that the author, who also happens to be a Chef and my friend, John Malik, is having a bit of a promotion on Amazon at the moment and giving it away for
FREE
Now how cool is that?
You can download it to your Kindle, PC, Phone or Tablet by clicking here for Amazon UK or here for Amazon USA
You can also follow John at his blog here or on twitter @chefjohnmalik
