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Guest Post -- Barbara K Richarson with Three Favorite Authors You May Not Know

Three Favorite Authors You May Not Know

Writers become writers due to other writers. You can take creative writing workshops or read books on writing techniques, but really authors write because they have fallen in love with other writers’ works and want to reciprocate. We want to join the club.

In Tributary, my heroine Clair Martin loves to read. Tennyson and Rossetti are two of her favorites while she’s unwinding from hard days out herding sheep. Here are a few writers who have influenced me and made me want to join the literary throng. You may not have heard of them, which makes me glad to make the introductions!

Jon Hassler—Minnesota novelist who loves his home ground. And writes about real people in small-town situations who attempt to live good lives, mostly. A Green Journey and Dear John are companion novels which follow the senior years of Agatha McGee—the town of Staggerford’s indomitable sixth grade teacher, now retired—who finds herself in love with a tall dark stranger, who lives in Ireland. The Los Angeles Times said A Green Journey is “a novel to restore your faith in humanity.”

I reread these two novels every few years. I love them right down to the pigeons.

Elizabeth von Arnim—There is something in the great-hearted humor this author creates that soothes me down to my toes. You may have seen the movie Enchanted April. It is delightful. Read von Arnim’s book to get lost in the realistic and magical world of four weary British women who rent an Italian villa for one getaway month. The Enchanted April turns mid-life woes into transformations for all involved, even the recalcitrant husbands, which is no easy feat.

Elizabeth and her German Garden, von Arnim’s memoir of lavishing love on the sorry landscape around the grounds of her Prussian husband’s estate, is funny, fresh, irrepressibly odd and energetic. Meet her husband, “The Man of Wrath,” and marvel at how the birth of an English garden can bestow sanity on a mother of three who just wants her peonies to thrive.

Helene Hanff—I love Ms. Hanff. Yes, I loved the movie 84 Charing Cross Road. I recommend it highly. But before you see that quiet Anne Bancroft/Anthony Hopkins classic, please read the book and also Q’s Legacy. Hanff always wanted to be a writer and writers, as I testified above, need great books in order to become great writers. Q’s Legacy and 84 Charing Cross Road are non-fiction accounts of Hanff’s quest to become well-read. A scrappy New Yorker, she finds her voice and bulldozes her way into perfection with these two slim, moving volumes.

All three authors have influenced my writing. Tributary contains seeds of Hassler’s everyday reverence, bursts of von Arnim’s feisty humor, and the wry basic goodness of Hanff. You have a splendid autumn of reading ahead of you, whichever titles you choose!

And speaking of autumn, visit Barbara’s blog to get her heroine Clair Martin’s yummy recipe for Clair’s Windfall Applesauce. www.barbarakrichardson.com.

BLOG RECIPE LINK: http://www.barbarakrichardson.com/1/post/2012/08/clair-martins-windfall-applesauce.html

Barbara K. Richardson

Guest Blog for DaBooklady’s Reading Life

August 26, 2012

This is a guest post by Barbara K. Richardson of her blog Barbara K. Richardson. She is the author of "Tributory", a new book about the Mormon life of  her fictional character Clair Martin.

**If you would like to write a "Guest Post" for DaBooklady's Reading Life please refer to the "rules" under the "Guest Post" link under the header. Submit all "guest Posts" for review to readernutcase@msn.com

Note: All information is the opinion of the"Guest Post" author, unless otherwise noted. DaBookLady's Reading Life  does not guarantee or may not agree with any of the material covered in this article.

Review The Devil's Elixer Book

I cannot believe that I have not blogged in soooo long, but my life has been filled. So filled that I have not even read the books I wanted to 
read. :( 


But I did manage to finish a book, that I needed to critique.

 I got"The Devil's Elixir"  in the mail from a gal at the "The Book Report Network" to review & critique... this was a real THRILLER and anyone that knows me knows that I love THRILLERS!!!

The author Raymond Khoury, part of the "Authors on the Web" is a New York Times Bestseller author of his previous best seller, "The Templar Salvation" I will have to read that one after this one. 

The book "The Devil's Elixir"[affiliate link] was released in hardcover and
ebook editions last December. The book features the FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin, who were first introduced in the New York Times bestseller "THE LAST TEMPLAR."[affiliate link]  

My review:

I found, Khoury's book [which is actually #3 in the "Templar" series] to be one that made my skin chill because of its so "real to life" excitement and plot turns that I wasn't able to put it down. The only warning I have for other

"thriller-a-holic's" is that you should not read it at night, alone, or before bedtime. I fear that you will be "spooked" and/or have nightmares!! :)

It's truly a great thriller, Raymond gives you a little background info in the beginning from the 1700s Mexico and sets the scene switching back and forth between present day and 5 years ago when he was involved in a drug bust. 

Then he switches to the present where he receives a call from a former girlfriend who is in danger and is fearing for her life. She is being chased and doesn't know why? But she does know that she cannot go home because they broke into her house, so she has fled with her little boy. She contacts Reilly for his help. Reilly of course, comes to rescue her and her son in Southern California. The plot thickens with lots of violence, drug dealers, and thrills. 

It catches you right from the first page, fast-paced, entertaining, and action packed with his complex and interesting characters like FBI agent Sean Reilly. He manages to get entangled with the Mexican cartel taking place in Southern California and Mexico. There is the lust of a "mind blowing" drug,"The Devil's Elixir"  that comes from a plant found deep in the rain forest that Reilly races to keep out of the hands of the drug world. If it gets out it could rock the worlds very foundation in a kilter!!

I love to read thrillers that end with a twist that I didn't see coming, and Raymond's book didn't disappoint me.  But, you'll have to read it for yourself to see what I am talking about.  Sorry, I don't want to spoil the ending for you. 

Go ahead and order it today and read an excellent summer vacation thriller when you are laying on the beach; riding on a commuter train to work; camping in your RV; or just sitting in the comfy of your big easy chair at home. 

You'll be pleasantly surprised with this wonderful thrills and chills book by Raymond Khoury, "The Devil's Elixir" I highly recommend it!!

Enjoy!!

What a great place to Read!

Don't you just want to grab a book and sit on the patio here and read?

Raymond Khoury's "The Devil's Elixir"

I am starting a New Book that I got in the mail from a gal at the
 "The Book Report Network" to review...Looks like a real THRILLER and anyone that knows me knows that I love THRILLERS!!!


The author Raymond Khoury, part of the "Authors on the Web" is a New York Times Bestseller author of his previous best seller, "The Templar Salvation" I will have to read that one after this one. 


This one is called "The Devil's Elixir"[affiliate link] and was just released in hardcover and
ebook editions on December 22nd. The book features again FBI agent Sean Reilly and archaeologist Tess Chaykin, who were first introduced in the New York Times bestseller "THE LAST TEMPLAR."[affiliate link]  However, Khoury's latest novel will appeal to new readers because it stands alone.

"The Devil's Elixir"[affilate link] [Kindle Ed] is written in the first person from Reilly's point of view.
This is a historical thriller and will be enjoyed by many who love to be kept on the edges of their seats! I know I read with my throw so I can hide under it when the parts get too thrilling! lol


"The Devil's Elixir"[affilate kink]  is about the thought that there is a drug lost in Central America's Jungles capable of inducing an experience so momentous and so unsettling that it might just shake the very foundations of Western Civilization! And both sides of the law gets wind of this and both are fighting to to get their hands on it first!! Whoa.....


Raymond Khoury's million-copy-selling Templar novels, Reilly and Tess traveled the globe to unravel ancient mysteries with present-day ramifications. In 
"THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR", they find themselves dragged into a race-against the clock, against a brutal drug kingpin known as "El Brujo"-the sorcerer-and even against government authorities-to merge two divergent trails, one several hundred years old, the other as current as a heartbeat, that could drag humanity down a whirlpool of pain and destruction.




I haven't started read "The Devil's Elixir"[affiliate link] yet, but starting it this weekend and looking forward to reading read more about this intriguing thriller...so stay tuned for a review real soon...

and I will also be hosting a contest coming up this next week to win

2 e-books     

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from  "AuthorsOnTheWeb," A Division of 

TheBookReportNetwork.com I was not required to write a positive review, but to read the book and voice my own objective

 critique. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade 

Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning  the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”