—- Leo Tolstoy
I must admit it, I caught a bit of the actress and the Prince fever last week and taped the Royal Wedding. After watching Rachel Zane finally marry Mike on "Suits" several weeks ago, didn’t I just have to watch Rachel Meghan Markel get married to her real live Prince Harry? After all, I watched Harry grow up through these years without his beloved mother, and kept hoping he would find his perfect princess (or duchess in this case).
So we spent Sunday in true British fashion as we watched the wedding (a day after the fact but no less romantic) and feasted on scones and tea. Arthur agreed to play into my fantasy (hopefully Meghan’s prince will be as wonderful to her) and baked dried cherry scones that we covered in clotted cream and homemade raspberry jam, and he baked chive scones topped with pickled cucumber and gravlax. Watching the actors mix with the royalty as the bride and groom exchanged their vows was definitely the thing that fairy tales are made of, and I think the world definitely needed to have a front row seat in a fairy tale at this time.
Rather than dampen my mood with talk of murder and mayhem and the rainy weather this week, I want to take some time to thank you all and ask for some help. I started this madderlyreview.com blog in January 2014 with about ten readers (thanks family) and have watched it grow with readers from all over the world. My initial plan was to have an interactive blog with space for your creativity. Readers would send in reviews of their favorite (or least favorite) books, and they would be featured on our guest reviews page. That worked for a while but began to taper off after a bit, and I miss your reviews.
I am not a fan of all genres and can’t fairly review them. For example, I am not interested in fantasy fiction and found myself writing negatively about fantasy books that were recommended to me. I decided to just avoid the genres that I don’t prefer, but that leaves a void in certain areas. That is where you come in. I really need some of you to send me reviews (long or short) of the books that you are reading. It will give you an opportunity to share your thoughts and writing with people everywhere and help make this a more well rounded blog. If you click under "SUBMIT A REVIEW" on our page and put your information in the proper space (name, email, title, author) and your review (you can cut and paste if you like), we will happily share it. Make sure that you include your name so we can give you credit.
People have asked again why my reviews are mostly positive and question if I ever read books that I don’t like at all. The answer is a resounding yes. There are times that I read three books in a week without finding much positive to say. As I have stated before though, I won’t write primarily negative reviews because someone put his/her heart and soul (and a slew of hours) into the book that I am not enjoying. I will not recommend it, but I won’t destroy it either. I only feature the books that I feel comfortable recommending.
I had also hoped that my blog and reviews would encourage comments and discussion (there is a place to click for comments next to everything I write) but you all seem more comfortable emailing rather than commenting. Don’t get me wrong, I love your emails...even those written in different languages (thank you google translate) but would love to have you share your thoughts on my open forum if you feel comfortable.
Also, those of you who would like a reminder email each time a new review or blog is added can click on "CONTACT" and just type your email address and the word "update" click submit. We will add you to our list of subscribers. As an added bonus, each time we add 50 new subscribers we draw a name and send the lucky winner an Amazon gift card as a thank you. Please give us a shout out on your social media sites too, so our readership can grow.
This week’s book, Fatal Odds, was written by John Dobbyn, an author who always puts his heart and soul on every page of his novels. You can certainly see his passion surrounding the world of the illicit trade of exotic and endangered species of wild animals, as he weaves his legal thriller around this horrifying topic. Definitely a thought provoking read.
As always a complete review of this book follows my blog.
Happy reading,
- Beverly