Friday 31 March 2017

Review - Initiation - An exotic life of rich experiences

Date read: 31 March 2017

Category I reckon: Memoir with sexiness

My rating: 5*

Buy link: on Amazon





It's been a while but I finally have a book worthy of sharing with you all.

I had seen this book advertised for ages, yet somehow hadn't purchased it. No idea why.

This book is a memoir of a young boy from Malaya, who grew up in the 1960s.

Obviously, being gay back then was a much harsher reality to deal with.
But Yoong (Young) was fortunate enough to find an environment which supported and nurtured him.

Through his experiences he goes from shy "sissy boy" to experienced gorgeous man.
btw the author refers to himself as a sissy boy many times; this is not my own wording.

Despite the cover promising sultry sex from cover to cover, it actually contains an endearing tale.
We follow Young from birth to the end of his time in UAE with his first host family, with trips to Italy and France also thrown in.

I have been left in awe. The author has experienced some wonderful things. It's exotic and exiting, and the stuff of dreams. Only it's a true story.


It was very brave of the author to write so candidly about some very personal experiences, but I'm very glad he did.

I urge you to read this. It could be a bit of an eye opener.

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Writing Tips - Image is Everything?


I just read a book (Book Marketing is Dead by Derek Murphy).
In it he talks about the importance of the author bio, amongst other things.

Just in case he raised a very good point I set about rewriting mine.
The image at the top of this post is my new mini me bio.
And I've updated all my social media bios to reflect my new mission statement.

But it got me wondering.
How important is this?
Has anyone ever really looked at anyone's bio before buying a book?

I don't think I've ever done so.
  • Personally, I'm initially drawn by a book's cover. It has to stand out in a sea of other books as I trawl through Amazon. 
  • Then I read the synopsis; is the story something I'm looking for?
  • And I will glance at the reviews, taking them with a pinch of salt. If there's a good spread across the board then fine. But if there's only 5* reviews I start to get suspicious and if they're all 1* clearly I won't go near it. 

I know a lot of readers who utilise the 'look inside' option, which will give you a clear indication if you like the writer's style before finally pushing that 'buy' button.

I've followed my own book buying principles to create what I hope are attractive books.

We're all different, I know. And there's no such thing as pleasing everyone.

Some people, when looking for romance novels, love a rippled torso on the front, but for some this is a turnoff.
Some love seeing a handsome face, and again, some are totally put off by this.

It's a narrow tightrope we authors have to traverse.
It is not enough to have a good book. You have to make the cover & blurb appealing enough for readers to even reach the wonders you've written.

So, what do you look for when selecting books to read?


Always in love and light,
TL

(btw you can view my full author bio and book selection on Amazon)


Wednesday 1 March 2017

Voting is open now (meet the book boys)


Please feel free to pop along to my Facebook page to vote for the sexiest book boy.

Scroll through the (meet the book boy) posts on my blog here to read an intro from each guy, then visit my fb page to click on the corresponding icon displayed next to your sexy choice.

They're all really lovely guys, and I'd vote for them all.
But the choice is yours.

And it's just a bit of fun.

There's a permanent book page on  my blog here so you can always see the details of them all.

Love and light,
TL