Just received this five star review on Amazon.  I had to share.

"I loved this book. Kept me wanting to see what happened! I love Ghost stories especially about the old West, Could imagine this actually happening."

Okay. It's official. I'm a Sara Gruen fan. Water for Elephants was perfect in my book.  From the very first page I had to know what was happening. I cared about the characters. Plot points unfolded exactly as they should. Everything, everything intrigued me. What a world these characters lived in. Redlighting. Who knew? I borrowed this book but now I have to buy it. 

Hi there.  Thought I'd share the three reviews I have received about my book "Distorted."  

Tania is in my writers club and Jessica and Autumn I do not know.  All three readers won my book in a giveaway.

Tania says: Loved the last story best. Talk about what in the world was going on in her head that day. Kudos to the strange, crazed imagination of Roberta Smith. Book for anyone who loves short stories in the fashion of Poe...but modern and completely amazing. 

Jessica says: This book is made up of a few short stories that entertain and surprise - not ghost stories, more like short thrillers. The theme of the entire book is a little on the dark side, which made it fun because you got to escape reality for a few minutes at a time. The entire thing is only 79 pages which makes it a quick read, and the chapters are each around 20-or-so pages which provides frequent stopping points as each story is completely unrelated to the last. 

I enjoyed the first story, Bed of Thorns, the most. A rich woman getting caught up in crime - can't go wrong. The second story, In His Shoes, provides my favorite quote from the book: "Yes, my thought was uncomplicated: You hurt someone, you shouldn't be out to do it again. If sophistication meant believing that was wrong, okay, I'd be a simpleton." 

There are a few distracting typos, and I found the second to last story a little too strange. These stories aren't so scary that they will keep you up at night, so feel free to read in bed! It's a good book for Halloween-time, or any time you want to get your mind off of something for a little while. 

Autumn says: This book was a quick and easy read. I would recommend it for those looking for scary, psychological, and creepy stories.

I vacillated on how many stars to give this book. Four stars? The story idea is great and if it isn’t a true story, it sure comes off as one. The dialogue is top notch. 

Two stars? I got lost. I had to ask myself several times, where am I now? Why can’t the author at least make the setting clear each time the character goes back and forth in time?  What year is it when we are in the present? How old is this character now? She was born in 1964, but when we are in the present some of the things mentioned don’t sound like today. The ending is meant to be a cliffhanger so you’ll read the next book. Okay. But the type of cliffhanger isn’t fair. This book should have told us who she is really seeing in the end. That would be the cliffhanger. This ending irritated me. The characters aren’t likeable. The main character is extremely selfish and disrespectful, even when far beyond her teenage years. Ah, wait. She does have redeeming qualities. She wants to work. She wants to be productive. She wants to conquer her mental illness, and the illness she has is major. Conquering it can’t be an easy feat. Finally, the book needs to be edited by a pro. There are misspelled words, wrong words, formatting errors and odd tense choices throughout.

Back to four stars?  In some ways this book is brilliant, and it is always interesting. If the storytelling is irritating and lacks clarity it is because it is mimicking the predicament of its main character. Everything is through her eyes and since she is off, the storytelling has to be off. In the end it works.

So I split the difference and gave the book three stars.  It won’t be for everyone, but for readers fascinated by mental illness and how a person copes, this book is perfect.  It certainly is unique. I’m glad I read it.

At first I thought I was going to love this book.  The setting, Ms. Locke's ability to paint pictures with her words, and the story were great. But as I read on, the enormous amount of detail on every page and the over abundance of characters made the read tedious. I started to be glad Ms. Locke repeated herself so I could keep everybody straight. I still liked the book, but was disappointed that what started out so wonderful, sort of fizzled.  

I thought this book was amazing. I must admit that I know the author, but I wouldn't call this book amazing if I didn't think it was.

Special is the true story of the up-and-down relationship of author Michael Raff and his first true love, a young woman named Jill Adams. It's the story of how they came to fall in love, how they coped with their differences in age and lifestyle, and ultimately how Jill's belief that she would die young played out. It is a simple yet multifaceted story of boy meets girl, girl is too young for them to be together, girl grows up and then love blooms. There are many obstacles to their love which they must overcome, and they do. The complexity of the story is in the details and in Michael's honest exposure of his strengths and weaknesses as he grows into manhood.

It is never a secret that Jill dies as she predicted, but it is a secret exactly when and how it happens. By then we've come to know Jill. Losing her may not hurt us the same way it hurts Michael. After all, we've been primed for it while he lived through it, hoping and praying her prediction wouldn't come to pass. But her death does affect us. It makes us think about how we can't always stop something from happening even though we are warned. Why is that? It makes us think about how life goes on and good things are still in store even in the aftermath of tragedy. Thank goodness.

But on second thought, I don't know what it will make you think or feel exactly. We're all different. But I bet it will haunt you at least some, give you pause, and make you wonder about life.

I know I'm going to think about Jill from time to time. Such a brief life. Such a shining star. Such an emotional relationship between her and Michael that happened so many years ago. It is touching that Michael would write this book. I'm glad he did and I'm glad I read it.