A Different Kind of Love Song: Rock My Stars is a story of an unlikely romance

 

Rock My Stars (Starstruck Universe)

Ellie Potts

Independently Published, 2021

ISBN-13: 979-8767487950

Ebook, 258 ppg.

Buy link

 

When I posted about my books being available for free as well as at discount prices on Smashwords for Read-an-Ebook-Week, my friend Ellie Potts let me know that her novel, Rock My Stars, was available for free through Kindle Unlimited. I grabbed a copy to read for Read-an-Ebook-Week, but it took me longer than one week to read this book. It actually took me two weeks. It was such an enjoyable story to read! I was hooked from the very beginning!

 

Rock My Stars by Ellie Potts is about a young woman named Tabby who has a HUGE crush on band member Spencer Tate of the band, Suspected Tragedy. Tabby is a music blogger, so music is her whole world! (Along with books, video games, and her best friends.) She’s been blogging about the band for years, so when she has a chance to see the band at a concert with her two best friends Walt and Danny, she jumps at the opportunity! While she is at the concert, she happens to meet her crush, along with the rest of the band, and Tabby’s world is about to change when she discovers that her crush just might turn into something more!  

 

Even though I am profoundly deaf, I was not born deaf, so I have been exposed to music in the past. So I totally get how music is such a big deal for Tabby! Music has the power of changing people’s lives, stirring up emotions, offering comfort, and leaving a lasting meaning for people. Tabby has loved music for, like, forever, and everything about music shows in her blog posts and live videos she writes and creates from the concerts that she goes to. It is this role of being a “music blogger” that turns Tabby into a media person, and she has a chance to be in that role not only to participate in Q&A sessions with the band but also to help the guys boost their presence on social media. Apparently, this is effective, because her notifications of likes and comments blow up after she posts things about the band.

 

I thought it was cool how Tabby also interacted with other bands and she got to include these other band members in her posts and videos. The other band members all treat her like she is a friend, not an outsider, and it’s just so awesome to see how everybody welcomes her and accepts her as one of their own. They all hang out together, do stuff together, and have fun together. It’s like suddenly having the biggest family ever. As Tabby observes on one occasion, after the guys in the Suspected Tragedy band all come to her defense:

 

“I freaking loved these guys so much. We were strangers when we started this journey, and now we were family. They had accepted me as part of the group. At the moment, they had me in protection bubble.” 

 

It should be noted, however, that not everyone is so welcoming and friendly with Tabby. Anika, Spencer’s ex, keeps giving Tabby a lot of grief, all which Tabby is not afraid to fight. Seamus, Spencer’s brother, has a grudge against Tabby after she physically fought back against him when he groped her, and Hector, the band’s manager, also dislikes Tabby. He even tells her this point blank, to which Tabby replies, “The feeling’s mutual.”

 

And that’s the thing I love about Tabby. Aside from two creepy weirdos she tries to avoid running into at music events, she is not easily intimidated by people. She is gutsy, bold, and defensive. She is not afraid to stand up for herself, even with Spencer, and draw the line when someone is trying to use her, hurt her, or take advantage of her. She even clobbers her best friend, Danny, after he slaps her.

 

The story line with Tabby and Danny was also interesting. I kept wondering how it was going to turn out in the end. Tabby did have a crush on Danny at the beginning of the story, but she learns about his true colors as the story unfolds. I could only shake my head over Danny telling Tabby that she was his fallback, his “safety net.” He never took her feelings seriously and then it was too late. That’s what happens when you are put on hold while the object of your heart goes chasing after someone else. People want to be the choice, not the option.

 

I also appreciated how Tabby understood all of the hard work that is required from Spencer because of his job with the band. And she makes it clear how she feels about him every time a doubter comes along saying that she’ll dump him or how Danny sees it as a “fling.” I loved how Spencer never got jealous over Tabby’s friendship with Walt. He understands that it is strictly platonic, with Tabby saying that she loves Walt like a brother. Spencer DOES get jealous of other guys, though, and Tabby has to make it clear to him that she her heart only belongs to him. Another thing I really liked about this story was how Tabby and Spencer’s relationship survives challenges. He doesn’t get rid of her when things get hard. That’s love.

 

Rock My Stars is a sweet and steamy romance that takes readers behind the scenes of the music world. The characters and the story are so well-written, and the ups and downs of a relationship that gets off to an unusual start will keep readers guessing on how everything will turn out in the end. This novel is sure to be enjoyed by readers of romance novels, as well as readers who enjoy stories about music and rock bands.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I downloaded this ebook through Kindle Unlimited. This review is entirely voluntary.   

They Sold Their Souls to the Devil: And All the Little Soldiers Fall in Line is a collection of poems reflecting on a corrupt American government as well as life and parenthood

 

 

And All the Little Soldiers Fall in Line: Poems and Tales

Andrew Buckner

Requiem Press, 2025

ISBN: 9798280508118

Ebook, 113 ppg.

Buy link

 

If there’s one thing that can be said about Andrew Buckner the poet, it’s that he is not afraid to speak the truth in his writing. Here, in his newest collection of poetry and tales, his poems speak boldly about politics, life and parenthood. The politics angle is one I have noticed many writers and publishers are avoiding, but I’m glad there are still writers out there willing to write the TRUTH about the shitshow that is our American government in their writing.

 

I enjoyed reading all of the poems as well as the tales in this book. Some of the poems really stood out for me.

 

The title poem “And All The Little Soldiers Fall In Line” stands out among them all. Reading this poem reminded me of just how lost our government is, caving in to the demands of a tyrannical president who punishes them if he doesn’t get his way. These lines especially captures that notion:

 

“and all the

little soldiers

fall in line

 

to do the

american king’s

hateful bidding” (pg. 1)

 

Hateful indeed. A LOT of the actions of our current president are examples of his war against the American people, not to mention marginalized groups he is trying to erase from this country.

 

Another poem that I liked was one that also hit home with me: “(Irretrievably) Out The Window.” This poem talks about how we exchange portions of our lives for jobs that earn money that, just as our time does, just as this part of our life does, goes “right out the window.” We work for money that disappears just like that because of mortgages, repairs, kids, medical needs, food, etc., thus making us having to work more in order to earn more money, which will disappear again. It’s a vicious cycle.

 

The poem “Sorry, Kids, Or The Final Curtain Call” is such a powerful poem. Especially this part:

 

“Sorry, kids,

we couldn’t give you a better future.

 

We voted with our hate

and not our head.” (pg. 91)

 

And All the Little Soldiers Fall in Line is a collection of poems that captures the current state of our government as well as snippets from the author’s life and his observations. They’re the kind of poems that make you think, wonder, look back and, hopefully, take action to fight for the kind of future we want our children to have.

 

Five stars.

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Going to Another Dimension? There’s an App for That: The Cryptids is a horrifying and captivating story of invasion and infestation

 

The Cryptids

Elana Gomel

Crystal Lake Publishing, 2023

Print page length: 402 ppg.

Print ISBN-13: 979-8399873015

Buy link for Kindle

 

 

There are some stories that are hard to believe unless you experience it for yourself. Some stories just have that “you had to be there” element. Like a cryptid sighting, for example. As a scientist, Sharon is not entirely sure if she believes a story about a cryptid kidnapping a man’s wife off of a beach, but she keeps an open mind about it. She also considers ALL of the possibilities of what would cause someone to think that they saw a cryptid. A REAL cryptid.

 

And if it’s real cryptids you’re after, then that’s exactly what you will get in the novel The Cryptids by Elana Gomel. In fact, the second half of this book is full of them.

 

But before the cryptid actually makes its grand appearance, Sharon does some investigating. She meets the man who claimed he saw the cryptid, which they call a thunderbird, kidnap his wife – and actually gets into a relationship with him after the days pass and everybody assumes that poor old wifey is dead. And during this time that she has this relationship with this man, Lester Choy, she meets his adopted father, Malcolm Choy. I really liked the character Malcolm Malcolm is a very level-headed and intelligent person who Sharon has a sort of kinship with because they are both intellectuals who see the bigger picture of what is happening with this cryptid business.

 

But Sharon’s relationship with Les helps her to learn that maybe he’s the reason why cryptids are suddenly roaming free on Earth now, because of something he invented.

 

Something on his quantum phone that accidentally sends Sharon plummeting into that other world.

 

After recovering from the terror and shock of being in another world, Sharon is able to ground herself and start to think logically. “She got to her feet. So here it was, the plan. She had to find Dis. How? She had no idea. But the notion that she had a goal cheered her up. And then there was the marvel and beauty of this alien wilderness, which she now allowed herself to soak up. She had fantasies of exploring Mars, Narnia, and Middle-earth as a child; now her fantasies were coming true. The land was both achingly beautiful and depressingly empty; both familiar and strange. She had left the wetlands behind and was walking toward the misty mountains. Now she was passing through the parkland, dotted with clumps of trees, many of them beginning to change color, the gorgeous wine-red, dark-rose, and gold of the foliage vivid in the bright sunlight.”

Sharon is a scientist at heart and while trying to wrap her brain around the situation she was in, she is also able to be the scientist and study her surroundings, observe and take it all in for the purpose of understanding it better. She and her former lover, Mark, share this kind of thinking, for they are both scientists. No matter how impulsively they want to turn away from and not see what there is going on in that world, they force themselves to observe, so that they can learn and understand. Still, it’s hard for her to accept seeing things like frogs with human faces and dog-faced cats.

 

As I read about Sharon’s explorations, I was very impressed with just how creative it was. The author must have worked very hard in creating this world. It is certainly well-written and very well done. I also felt she did well in creating a cryptic method of communication which Sharon must decipher when communicating with the heads on the wall in one room and the Rat-King in another room. 

 

The scene where Mark is with the king and queen was unnerving. While on one hand he is repulsed by it, it also helps him to understand better what is happening.

 

The story unfolds to the point where the grand scheme of things is revealed in all its glory, thanks to the logical thinking of our scientists. They realize that all of this is not just about the quantum phone opening a doorway for Mothmen to get through; it goes beyond this. Something is trying to conquer all of humankind. Mark witnesses for himself what would ultimately transpire if that doorway continues to exist. And having seen it myself through this part of the book, I’ll definitely pass!

 

There are things about humanity that this being fails to understand, such as the human’s capacity to be deceptive and the lingering rage of a woman scorned. These are things that cannot be erased, and certainly one of the things which definitely comes back to haunt a character later in the story.

 

The thing that both Mark and Sharon point out is that self-consciousness, self-awareness, is what makes us human. To lose this is to lose our humanity. To surrender to the whims of an evil entity is akin to surrendering to slavery. Doing so would mean for us humans that there is no self-identity, there is no autonomy. Only lives would be lived according to the rigors of another sentient being. In essence, all of humanity would be lost.

 

Yes, the being in charge of that other dimension does try to imitate life in our world, as well as copy the intricacies of animal and human behavior — perhaps in an attempt to make its world attractive to the humans in this world and easier for them to adapt to life there, but it only continues to fail in its attempts. Frogs with human faces, cannibalistic humans with wrong anatomy and creatures that are a blend of two or more animals. Even the anatomy of the Mothmen is incorrect! Whoever gave it the instruction manual for creating humans and animals on Earth must have been studying life in a different dimension because it certainly isn’t this one. 

 

The climax of this story is awesome! I could just picture the whole thing happening. It’s amazing. The whole story is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it! I absolutely loved the story’s resolution, too. My favorite quote from that part of the book: “A redeemed sinner is always more interesting than a spotless saint.” Which of the two shall make peace with what they went through remains to be seen, but at least they have a better understanding of each other, and of the world they share.

 

Reading this novel was not just escaping into the world of fiction but also exploring and learning about theories and ideas. The discussion about the noosphere (and just how much it can impact our world, especially through our dreams) gave me a lot to think about and it compelled me to explore these ideas and thoughts further online. I also liked how the mirror test is explained to readers, its fallacies in determining self-consciousness are explored, how good of a test it can be to see if a human is really indeed a human and even how the mere mention of it can allow those in certain fields of research explore its usage to gain further insight. And, finally, I also liked how, in this story, the Oneiroi (not to be confused with the mythological Oneiroi) can use dreams to interact and communicate with humans. It had me wondering just what other creatures from that dimension can do the same since the noosphere continues to exist, as well as any others the characters in this story may not know about or would expect to do so (I think the hint at the end is a pretty good indication!).

 

The Cryptids is a frightening tale of otherworldly monsters infesting our world in the first stage of a planetary takeover by something much more evil and monstrous bent on destroying humanity. Intelligently and insightfully written, it is a novel that will keep readers guessing, wondering and thinking about where the story will go next. The many surprising twists and turns offer an entertaining and captivating read, and it is a novel sure to withstand the test of time.  

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I purchased the Kindle version of this novel from Amazon and this review is completely voluntary.