Echoes of Winter - Giveaway!

Echoes of Winter – Review.

Echoes of Winter is an extraordinarily realistic tale of what wolves endure to survive. It comes across as though it was written to inspire the next generation whilst aiming to build a keen understanding of the trials they must go through. Not only does it involve wolves as we cross paths with Cougars, Bears, Lynx’s and many more animals. Echoes of Winter crosses the boundaries of reality with fantasy and opens the mind to a world of wonder whilst staying true to each animals characteristics. I’ve never crossed a book that wraps you up so much into the world of your characters where you love some, and love to hate others. This debut novel has it all, and its author Dominique Goodall has every right to be proud of the world she has endeavoured to create.

As we turn the pages we are greeted with a young wolf by the name of Convel, as he returns to his pack having brought winter upon them with his song. It is within his mind that he is born to lead, and lead he shall. Tensions build with his birth pack and he takes the challenge with the Alpha, his father, and wins. After winning over the Alpha, he decides to leave in search of his own pack rather than lead the one he had claimed. What lies in wait for this young wolf waits to be seen within the pages that will hold your attention long after you’ve turned that very last page. It is guaranteed to leave you desperately wanting more. He is the novice within the wolf world but carries with him everything that is needed to run his own pack – will he succeed?

Not only do we follow the tale of Convel, but we also cross paths with Siltin, the Cougar that goes out of her way to control everything and everyone within what she sees as her own territory. She is the character that every novel should contain, the one character you just love to hate but are gripped by her behaviour. The more you read about her, the more you want to understand her behaviour, the more you want to dig deeper to the roots of her reasoning. She is the one character that is willing to kill one of her own just to weave her spiteful thinking into those that follow her, will this be her downfall?

But wait, there is yet more. There is yet another character worthy of mention. A young she-wolf wandering for that place that calls to her, one place that will become her home. Singer is the young she-wolf that travels not alone as she sets out to find the pack where she belongs. Her story is one of heartbreak, and you can’t help but fall in love with her and feel sorry for what she has had to endure in the past. But the past, as we learn, cannot be held onto while danger waits the lives of those she walks with, and of those she will come to cross. She is strong, yet vulnerable to her own emotions as she is pulled ever onwards to a fight that she knows nothing of. She can’t explain the calling she feels within only that she knows her presence will be needed in order to tip the scales in favour of the hand that deserves it.

Truly it has taken an imagination of a grand scale to write such an engrossing story that holds you right to the very end. How the author was able to keep track of so many characters whilst throwing in some unexpected twists is beyond my current state of comprehension, and deserves some noted credit and attention on its own. I’m sure that it was of no easy task in the long run, or at least it would have a challenge for many authors out there.

You can see with clarity the level of understanding this author has of how her characters would behave in the wild and has strived to keep that reality within her story of imagination and well defined descriptions. To turn the page and read the detail was to jump straight in and be right there as the events unfolded. This is a must read for anyone who holds a spark of interest in wolves of animals as a whole, from the young to the young at heart – this one is one that should fill shelves everywhere. I can only hope that the next book in the series holds the same level of imagination and keeps you as captive as each page of this one has. That very fact waits to be seen, with great interest might I add.

Rating - 5 stars out of 5!

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Farewell My Friend

Farewell My Friend.

Like a breath in the wind, the spirit carries you,
A memory to hold, and a smile so true,
You entered my life a small ball of fur,
So soft and sweet, yet scared and shy,
When we came to see you, you hid under a car,
Only for a hand to take you and place you in my arms,

It was there in that moment that I knew you were meant for me,
But it wasn't set in stone that day,
No we had to go and talk it over, but not for long,
For the following day arrived and the decision made,
And that afternoon you were wearing your small blue collar,
With pride in your heart you never wanted it off, never struggled against it,

With your half white face, and tear-drop markings,
You marked my heart for life.
That first week you were uncertain, but the bond was there.
Not a whimper you made, no cry you shed.
You knew you were home, no longer the shed,
Your name was already set, and held just for you.

It's meaning - of light, and that's what you were.
The light of my life, the shadow of my heart,
But 10 years on it was time for you to depart,
With words shared between you and me, on Christmas day,
You stayed strong for as long as you could,
But the day came when you had to go,

You chose not to spend your last hour with me,
You knew it would hurt me even more to see you go,
Your last breath was of your own accord,
Surrounded by the people and things you loved most,
But now a hole you have left in me,
But rest my friend, for now you are free.

No more pain to feel,
No more tears you shed,
You are needed elsewhere now,
But I won't ever forget the love you gave,
Or the trust you bestowed to me,
And with tears I must say, farewell my friend.

Jennifer Don © 2013

Dedicated to the finest four legged friend anyone could ever hope to share their life with. Life doesn't feel right without you at my side. I'm going to miss your cuddles every night and your cheeky fun filled face each time I come home. God bless you Lucy, my angel, my friend. Always in my heart xxxx

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Ameria's Next Author - Guest Post

Well, I have a surprise for you all. This week, I have a very special guest post by one of the contestants of America’s Next Author. Please give your attention to Dominique Goodall as she tells you what she is doing right now.

Dominique Goodall says…

For the past two weeks (and a few days) I’ve been involved in a huge competition which makes use of your skills in social media as well as writing. I used a piece which involves characters from my upcoming book, Echoes of Winter but in a different setting where magic flows and wolves can fly. (But only if they have wings, of course!)

It’s been an interesting thing to do – I’ve asked people for honest reviews and mostly the feedback has been amazing! Short stories aren’t my forte but this one seems to have appealed to people for some reason. Some people didn’t think the pacing was too fast, or that I told rather than showed the reader what was happening/in the scenery. Some people believed that this was part of a larger piece (which it isn’t, but I do plan another short ‘instalment’ to finish the story.)

Other people are fascinated by the ideas represented in the story. Two friends, close enough to call themselves sisters, are torn apart by the depression of one and her failure to care about the responsibilities she has. What made people even more interested was that these weren’t humans – these were wolves and yet they had emotions like those everyone feels.

Relying on other people to review and vote is a patchy business and yet I’ve managed to remain in the top ten for the last week and a half! I’ve had a lot of support from friends and writing groups, who often go and hit the tweet button. The reviews count as well, as I prefer honest reviews. If you love it, write that and more importantly…tell me why! If you hate it, again – I want to know why you hate it.
An author can only progress with the constructive criticism of the type I’ve received, so thank you to everyone who HAS reviewed it.

Interested in reading yourself? Does this synopsis sound like something you could enjoy?
‘When winter springs a challenging blizzard onto a pack besieged with doubt? What will happen to the wolves that have been chased from their home, have lost their Alpha male and are watching their Alpha female die? Well, if Kamduis has anything to do with it, she’ll have a lot to do with it! Read on for this tale which mentions the wolf goddess Luna, winged wolves and betrayal between two sisters who have no real bond but the love in their hearts and the song which joins them together as pack.’
If so, then take a look here!
http://www.ebookmall.com/author/dom-goodall



Dominique Goodall is the author of the soon to be released Echoes of Winter, book one in the Seasons of the Wolf series and a self-confessed wolf addict. She has currently been published in two anthologies by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing and is currently working on getting herself better known by sending in manuscripts for as many different anthologies as she possibly can.
As much as she loves to admit it, she never will be able to count her wolf stuff- there’s nothing left for her to be truly able to collect without her own home.

She can be friended on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/WaterSinger
Her author page on Facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominique-Goodall-author/250907358312446
The page for Echoes of Winter is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Echoes-of-Winter/355235744499607
Her twitter name is: https://twitter.com/#!/DomGoodall
And her blog can be found here: http://dominiquegoodall.wordpress.com/
And the trailer for her book is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kix63EXBW50&feature=plcp
There you have it folks, head on over and read the short story and let her know your thoughts on it.

The Last Post

Well it’s finally here. The last posting for the Virtual Blog Tour, organised by Tasha Turner and her helpers, is finally here. It has been a long and gruelling 16 weeks but we arrived here all the better for it. Well, perhaps that would be true if I managed the last two posts, but I had to back out for those two weeks. However this post isn’t about that. This post is about the experience gained over the tour. It’s about the fun and new found friendships. Yes there were hard times and tough moments but the less said on those the better for everyone I think.

For many, this was the first tour they had ever participated in. Very few knew what to expect from it and many were left asking – What did I just get myself into?

Yes there were doubts throughout the tour, but through those doubts many realisations were made. From the start you could see the friendships forming, you could see a small community growing and each were willing to support each other through it.  From the very first task we were taught how to see things from the perspective of the reader, from the perspective of our target audience’s. Not easy I can assure you, but certainly helpful.

16 weeks, 16 posts – that’s quite a feat isn’t it? Can you imagine the amount of planning it took to build this tour? No, neither can I. But from a participant’s side it has shown me that if you work together and help each other, you make better progress through the harder parts. 17 assignments were presented to us over the weeks, 16 of them were posts for the tour and one was the short bio of ourselves that we added to each post as it was sent to our hosts for that given week.

But what was learnt from the tour? I don’t know about the other participants, what they learned could be so different from me that you may never have guessed we were all in the same tour. My own experience can be referred to as being on a rollercoaster where the highs outweighed all the lows.

When I signed up for the tour experience, I was nervous and scared. I was excited by the prospect of what could come from it. I looked forward to the experience of doing something that I had never done before. To checking off one more item on a long list of things to undertake. But let’s face it – Blog Tours didn’t stand a chance of my list before this one. That’s a good sign. It means I’m up for others in the future, depending on the context of the tour of course.

I struggled, I wavered and I threw in the towel when life became too much to cope with. Yes, I gave up but I didn’t lose anything from giving up, quite the opposite in fact. So what, I didn’t complete all 16 weeks of the tour. It doesn’t make me a failure. I’ll never see it that way. 13 half decent posts, not including this one, with hours spent on each post is what I have to show for my time on this tour. What they don’t tell you is how important those 13 posts have come to be. They don’t show you the time spent behind the scene’s trying to word it just right and still not managing to do so. They don’t show you what writers in general go through on a daily basis. Nor do they show you the dedicated level of restraint and control that professional bloggers develop as they maintain a high standard of postings for those that follow what they do.

I’m not one them, a professional blogger is not what I want to be. But blogging is necessary. So is interaction and FEEDBACK. Feedback is important. Not only does it help the blogger make better what they have, but it helps those that are reading over it to see how they too can improve upon themselves. But that’s for another time.

This tour has shown me that anything is possible when you put your mind to it – so long as you don’t become too absorbed in stress and conflict. Easier said than done and seemingly contradictive of my own predicament that saw me miss the last two posts, I’ll grant you that. However, at the same time it has made me realise that I am not alone and every fall is followed with a steady climb back up.

I didn’t survive the entire 16 weeks, but for the 13 weeks I posted faithfully and on time where possible. I posted with love and admiration for my guests and wished everyone the best. I posted because I cared and I was learning all the way through. This post marks my 14^th of the tour and I’m proud to be able to join everyone for this very last post of what has been an amazing tour experience. If I were to list everything I learned over the tour then I’d need a second posting, perhaps even a third just to make sure everything was there.

I’ve learned just how important it is to tailor to your market audience and grab their attention the best you can. I’ve learned how important your pitches are, whether on Facebook, twitter or somewhere else. If it stands out – then you’ll get the hits you’ve been looking for. Short and snappy tends to work. Invite your audience in with questions; invite them to discuss your post. Invite them to ask you question. Interact with your audience and you will grow from strength to strength. I’ve learned just how supportive others can be, and I’ve learned that no matter what you do, you are never alone in your experience. You are never alone in your growth. Someone, somewhere is standing facing the same or similar to you. Never be blind to your own struggles, reach out to those around you and you will get the help you need. Always ask questions and listen to what’s being said. It is from this – asking and listening, that you will find your answers and your way forwards.

This… is what I’ve learned from this tour. 16 weeks of asking questions, 14 weeks of finding my answers. 16 weeks of understanding the support that was always there and 14 weeks of standing strong. 16 long weeks with 16 guest posts and 16 host blogs, of which only 14 weeks did I find my feet. I may not have lasted the entire tour like others have. I may have backed down due to stress for the previous two weeks. But, I did not fail. I am not a causality of the mighty pen. I am writer. I am a survivor in my own rights. I… will always be here.

Would I take part in another tour knowing what know now?

Of course I would. We learn from experience. To learn we must step into the shadows of the unknown and brave the adventure that we have never travelled before. We must boldly go, where we have gone before. Yes, we’ll hit walls. Yes, we’ll panic and cringe. But we will survive. We will live fight another day. Giving in, throwing the towel in does not make you a failure. It makes you stronger.

To Tasha Turner, her staff and fellow participants, I must thank each of you. It has been a long journey of ups and down, a journey of tears and journey of wit. But we have grown together, we have laughed together and we have struggled together. But we have had each other. So raise your glasses and let’s toast to our hosts, to our guests and our organizers. Without each other, this tour would never have been as successful as it has come to be. Some said it would never work; it would never last because it wasn’t done as other tours had been done. But each of you proved that wrong and each of you, whether you lasted the 16 weeks or not, should be proud. Take what you have learned and let it build. You are not the same person you were 16 weeks ago. Together we have grown and together have shared in an amazing experience that was worth participating in.

Without many of you, I would never have lasted as long as I did. I only wish that could I have managed those two missing assignments but real life proved to be too difficult to balance for those two weeks. I know you all understand this and I look forward to working with you all in the future. Many, many thanks to each of you!

Can you relate to what I’ve mentioned about the tour?

Have I missed an aspect that deserves some attention?

If I have, please leave a comment and let us know. Others will gain from what you have to say.

Until the next post, or tour, live life for the experience. Live for the fun of learning something new and never be too afraid to step into the unknown. 

About Jennifer Don

Jennifer spent many years without daring to lift a pen, without writing a word that wasn’t forced. But 2008 arrived and with it, her love of writing. She began with poetry which quenched her thirst to begin with but soon that wasn’t enough to satisfy her. 2011 arrived with a dream to write her first novel – Awakening, which is on-going. November saw her attempt her first NaNoWriMo, and so Timber Varden was born, with the bulk of it being written within that month. Now she finds herself aiming to re-write that draft and turn it into her first published novel.

Contact

While she aims to work through the edits needed, updates on her progress can be found on here -http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferDon
To find out more with regards to her other projects, then check out her blog here - http://thoughtsgowild.blogspot.co.uk/
And should you wish to follow her on Twitter, or ask her any questions please see here -https://twitter.com/#!/Voice_Of_Spirit

You can also add and follow Jennifer over on Goodreads. You will find that link here – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6155054.Jennifer_Don

Jennifer will be more than happy to answer any questions you have for her. You can contact her at any of the links posted above. Or email her at authorjenniferdon@hotmail.co.uk

In My Dreams - A Review

It's time to post a post that hasn't been done on this blog for a long long time. It's time for a book review. Doing one, is like being back at school trying to remember all the key points and factors that we're meant to refer back to, but in reality do we ever do what we were taught in school? I can't remember one factor from the rest, but that doesn't matter. Personal book reviews and reviews for authors don't fall into such strict routines. They don't look for the same thing over and over again. They want honesty.... your honesty. That's all that matters.

So on to the Review. The following is something that is close to my heart. Not only is it paranormal based but it highlights aspects of the real world for many that people dismiss. In My dreams - highlights aspects of our dreams that can help us in reality albeit not based as they are within this book. It also shows an author who is acceptant of the world around them and isn't afraid to approach that bridge and stand comfortably on it. So for me that is extra bonus points for this Indie Author. You see, I've always held a special connection to those that pass before us. It's what keeps me going when I myself am not writing. The afterlife for many is unthinkable, but place it within a book and it's all the rage! Kudos to those that do! It's for this very reason also that the bulk of my work is based within this theme.

In My Dreams by Cameo Renae, is a Young Adult Paranormal Novel.

Elizabeth Hayes, better known as Liz to her friends and family, suffers a fate worse than death. She is held tightly by her dreams, dreams that are visions of foresight. Dreams that reveal events that have yet to happen. She doesn't know that they will when she has them, but from her past experiences she knows not to dismiss them.

When the life of her friends, and herself are endangered, she must remember the way out that her dreams revealed to her. But she doesn't just rely on her dreams. She has Michael to help her. Her friend since childhood, and boyfriend of 4 years would never let harm befall her if he could help it.

But what happens when Liz wakes from a dream so real? When she wakes to her phone ringing, the caller on the other end gives her some bad news that she finds very hard to accept. Another dream of hers has come to pass, and reality breaks before eyes. She now finds herself in danger and must trust her dreams even more.

In My Dreams is a heart-breaking tale bound by love and compassion, wrapped in forgiveness and sorrow. From the moment you turn that first page, you will be left grasping tightly as you yearn to know what will happen. In a world where love is stronger than you can imagine, the lives of those affected will be changed forever - and with it your perception of your own reality.

Cameo Renae has done a wonderful job in creating fluent characters that you could trust and bond with. Characters that you can connect with from the start, is a hard thing for writers to portray but Cameo managed it with apparent ease. Such ease to the reader is hard for the writer. Credit given where credit is due. This is one writer to keep your eyes open for in the future!

In My Dreams keeps you turning through the pages waiting to see what happens next. It has you firmly locked upon its pages as you pray for Liz to survive, but the question is... does she? For that answer you'll need to go and read the book to find out!

I give this one 5 out of 5!