Last week my blog was about five book bloggers I follow. I promised to highlight more such book reviewers in the coming weeks. Today’s blog post is about five other online book reviewers.
As with last week’s list, I selected these five in random order. I hope at least one of them will appeal to you enough that you’ll start following it.
LizGauffreau.com
At https://lizgauffreau.com/, you will find book reviews as well as a variety of other blog posts and information. Liz is a writer and blogger who lives in New Hampshire. As you can tell from her blog topics, she’s not a full-time book review blogger. I’ve included her on this list, though, because she sometimes reviews fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Her website is well-organized. You can click on her blog posts by month, or you can click on her Fiction Book Reviews, her Nonfiction Book Reviews, or her Poetry Reviews.
Here’s the link to one of her recent book reviews: #bookreview: Village Teacher – Elizabeth Gauffreau (lizgauffreau.com), in which she reviewed Village Teacher, by neihtn (Nguyen Trong Hien).
If you’re a fan of short stories, here’s a head’s up. Two of Liz’s short stories will be in the new anthology, Distant Flickers: Stories of Identity and Loss. It’s set for release on October 1. Look for it wherever you buy your books. If your local independent bookstore and public library haven’t ordered copies, ask them to consider doing so.
Smorgasbord Blog Magazine
As you can guess from the name, Smorgasbord Blog Magazine is an online magazine that covers just about everything. It also covers just about everything very well.
Sally Cronin is the powerhouse behind this online magazine. I marvel at the variety of topics Sally tackles. She not only reviews books. She also reviews music and does excellent posts about popular music from different decades. She also has a post once a week that offers four or five cartoons. As you can see, there’s something for everyone in Smorgasbord Blog Magazine.
You’re reading this, though, because my post today is supposed to be about book bloggers. Here’s the link to one of Sally’s recent book reviews: Smorgasbord Book Reviews – #Historical #1920s Jazz Baby by Beem Weeks , in which she reviewed Jazz Baby, by Beem Weeks.
Sally blogs from Ireland. Her almost daily blog posts are always entertaining.
Amorina Rose’s Blog
Barbara Strickland is the voice behind Amorina Rose’s Blog. Barbara’s website address is https://brstrickland.com/. She is an author as well as a blogger. Through her website you can access her blog archives.
May, June, and July Chilling with Books Corner 2022, being real and finding inspiration – Barbara Strickland – Author & Blogger (brstrickland.com) is a good example of one of her blogs about books and other things, such as movies she’d been watching. In it, she also reviews the historical novel, The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle, by Jennifer Ryan.
Barbara is of Italian and Australian ancestry. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree with TESOL (English as a Second Language) qualifications. She’s had a varied career and enjoys music, dance, art, and literature. She’s in the editing stages of her second novel.
Linda’s Book Obsession
Linda Zagon is the book reviewer behind Linda’s Book Obcession. She is a retired teacher with a massive book collection, including signed first editions.
Reviewing books is Linda’s hobby. She is a Top Reviewer on NetGalley and has also reviewed books on Facebook, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Twitter (as @peachyteach), Amazon (as teachlz) and BookBrowse.
You can find her current and past book reviews on her website, https://lindasbookobsession.blog/. She has been known to blog twice in one day about two different books.
Go to her website and click on her September 22, 2022 blog post in which she gives a rave review of The Child Between Us, by Alison Ragsdale.
Portobello Book Blog
Joanne is passionate about books, and it shows in her book reviews on https://portobellobookblog.com/. She especially likes contemporary fiction and historical fiction but also enjoys a good love story, according to the bio on her website.
There, you can easily scroll down through a list of her recent blog posts. Each one includes an opening paragraph or two from the post. Just click on “more” if you want to continue reading one of them. You can also click on any of give option at the top of her landing page. One of them is “Book Reviews, A to Z.” That will give you a drop-down menu where you can click on her book reviews from any year back to 2015 and get a list of the books she reviewed that year in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names. You can tell by the lengthy lists that Joanne is a voracious reader.
Her site also includes author interviews.
Go to Joanne’s website, https://portobellobookblog.com/, and I suggest you click on her September 20, 2022 blog post in which she reviewed The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston. I suggest you click on that one because through it you can read the first chapter of Ashley Poston’s novel. What can beat that in a book review?
Since my last blog post
Last week I mentioned that I’d run into a bit of a roadblock on the cover I wanted for the cover of the e-book I’m working on. I was discouraged, but things opened up this past week. I was contacted by the son of the deceased artist whose painting I wanted for the book cover. He couldn’t have been more accommodating! What a relief! I literally cried tears of joy after talking to him.
I’m still formatting my local history newspaper column articles for that book, Harrisburg, Did You Know? – Book 1. I’ll keep you posted as I reach publication.
Until my next blog post
I hope you have a good book to read and an enjoyable hobby.
Find the good in the coming week. I’ll look for you back here next Monday. Please tell your friends about my blog.
Don’t forget the courageous people of Ukraine and the grieving people of Uvalde.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 
Those are wonderful blogs and wonderful suggestions which I really appreciate. I am glad to hear you have resolved the dilemma of the cover for your book, fabulous news indeed. And I hope that the history book continues to move forward. You have good discipline and also motivation, and although you, as we are all, distracted by “things to do”, you stick to the plan and keep your eye on the goal. That is how things finally, in this complicated life, get done. We’ve finally broken the summer and autumn has come with rains and although not as cool as it should be, the temperatures have dropped about ten degrees and we are all grateful for that. Wishing you all the best and productive and creative days ahead with blessings and peace.
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Thanks for your lovely comment, Francis. Yes, I am thrilled about the book cover! One more (hopefully) small hurdle to clear before I’m free to use the painting. It’s part of a mural the artist did for the new Town Hall in Harrisburg. The artist’s son doesn’t know what the agreement was between his mother and the Town government, so next I’ll need to pursue that. Hoping not to run into any governmental red tape! All is good, though. I’m sure it will work out nicely by the time I finish formatting the articles. I participated in a free two-day writing sprint online over the weekend. It was very beneficial in that it forced me to focus on one of my historical short stories that was too heavy in backstory and needed my attention. I was able to delete a lot of the backstory info dump and added more dialogue and improved on the narrative with a net word count gain of 1,000 words. I’m feeling very good about most of my projects today — which is always a great way to start a new week. All the best to you. We’re watching Hurricane Ian and preparing for heavy rain across North Carolina on Saturday and Sunday. Glad I don’t live in Tampa! Have a great week, my friend.
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Thank you Janet. Well it certainly looks like you’re making good progress with the cover and with the book. Marvellous. Reference the image from the artist that you want for your book, well, I’m no lawyer but I know that even after the work is sold the artist retains the rights to the image, so being that the artist is deceased, the rights may have gone to an heir and they can give you written permission to use the image, regardless of who owns the actual work. I don’t know, just a thought…
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Oh, I didn’t make it clear. Last week I got an enthusiastic permission over the phone from the artist’s son. He’s sending me his written permission. He doesn’t know what arrangement his mother made with the Town government, so he recommended that I get that in writing as well. Thanks for your input as an artist. I very much value your perspective on the matter. The artist’s son said all he wanted in return is to get to purchase the book. He couldn’t have been nicer. He said he was thrilled for a piece of his mother’s work to be used on the cover so it could be enjoyed by a wider audience. All that said, though, yes, you are absolutely correct that the permission has to be given in writing. Thanks again for making sure I’m looking out for the legal aspects.
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Janet! I really appreciate your including me on your list of book bloggers, as well as giving a shout-out to the upcoming Distant Flickers anthology.
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I follow Barbara, I will have to check out the rest. Congratulations on your cover!
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Thank you, Diane! I’m super-excited about the book cover. Now, I just have to finish formatting the articles. It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks!
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You’re welcome, Liz. I was happy to include you. I don’t have a large following, but maybe one of my readers will purchase Distant Flickers. I was glad the timing worked out so I could mention the anthology.
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Splendid! I am sure the cover will be fabulous! And yes, it’s always a good idea to have all the legal aspects clear but you won’t have any trouble because the Town does not own the rights to the image and after all of it is a public art work who says you cannot photograph it… wishing you a lovely day.
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Thanks, again!
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You’re welcome.
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I hope you have more. These are some good blogs to follow.
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I do have more, Barbara. Perhaps in next week’s blog post.
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