Author: Stephanie

Update 1/23/2020: Recently, a comment has been left by the daughter of the author of this book revealing some information about the events within the book and acts committed by the author that make it so that I can no longer condone the reading of this work. I have since been in contact with her to discuss this information and what actions to take regarding this review and any others for works by Frank Mares that have appeared on The Writer’s Scrap Bin. For this reason, I have removed all links to the Amazon page for the purchase of this book and to the author’s blog. However, this review will remain live so that readers can see the daughter’s account in the comments section below. Comments have been closed for this post so that the young woman cannot be harassed for telling her side of the story through this blog.

Disclaimer: As with The Spirits Control Your Love Life, Soul Mates: A Psychic Love Affair by Frank Mares does not necessarily reflect the views or belief system of The Writer’s Scrap Bin, its authors, or its readers. Reincarnation and similar supernatural/spiritual concepts drive the book and traditional religious belief systems are questioned. If you take offense to any of these topics and/or otherwise wish to avoid them, proceed with caution.

I’m going to start off this hectic week with a review of a new, fun, and emotional book by an author I have previously discussed on this blog, Frank Mares. The novel, Soul Mates: A Psychic Love Affair, is the second book in Mares’s 50 Shades of Psychic Love series and the sequel to The Spirits Control Your Love Life.

Mares classifies Soul Mates as “paranormal” instead of “nonfiction” and most of the names have been changed but, overall, it’s a supposedly-true account of Mares’s own experiences with love and the spirit world; he only altered the genre and names for liability reasons and because, admittedly, a lot of the content seems outlandish.

Soul Mates: A Psychic Love Affair fills in some of the holes left by The Spirits Control Your Love Life, including Mares’s (known as Nick in the book) relationship with a woman he truly loves named Megan and their constant cycling in and out of each other’s lives. Even when both have married and started their families, Nick and Megan can’t manage to stay away from each other permanently. Little does Nick realize (until later in the book), the spirits have choreographed this dance for them and they’re about to kick things up a notch.

Mares starts us off with a seemingly-unrelated love affair between a cowboy named William and the female owner of a saloon, Kate, whom William has nicknamed “Willow.” We then return to Nick’s middle-of-the-road single days at the Tiki apartments, which we received a glimpse of in Mares’s first book. In addition to following Nick’s on-again, off-again relationship with Megan, we watch Nick’s second marriage to Karol take form, evolve into a family and business partnership, and, finally, unravel. All the while, Megan lingers in the background, sometimes as a part of Nick’s life and sometimes only in Nick’s mind.

What do the spirits have in store for Nick? What does Megan have to do with it? And how does the concept of “soul mates” play into this tangled web?

Soul Mates is an emotional rollercoaster that shows us that even the accidents and coincidences in our lives are well-planned; the good and the bad are all for our spiritual growth and it’s up to us to make it out the other side stronger. I found myself much more quickly engaged with this book than The Spirits Control Your Love Life, especially since Mares manages to maintain the same quirky and humorous narrative voice that he established in the first book. More importantly, I became very emotionally invested in Nick, Megan, and even the side characters, which made the read much more enjoyable.

As with the first book, Mares addresses the good, the bad, and the ugly of everything, including himself. He’s not shy to call himself (a.k.a. Nick) a pig for being so focused on women’s looks and he admits when he’s done something wrong or, some might say, kind of creepy. His brutal honesty makes me laugh out loud, and it’s one of the reasons his writing style keeps me engaged. Mares’s all-encompassing approach also makes sure that nothing is left out, and so I felt I was getting as complete a story as I could possibly get. There were even some notes from people like Megan and references to books by other psychics, which made me feel as though I was getting a well-rounded view of Nick’s relationships and the spirit/psychic world.

Unfortunately, his unfiltered thoughts did lead to one (incredibly minor) aspect of Soul Mates which bothered me. Nick shows empathy toward Karol in regards to her migraines but, in some passages, the narrative tone makes it sound as though Karol’s migraines are a strain on him and his lifestyle. Mind you, Karol grows to be a real witch and I don’t approve of how she handles their marriage, but I am also a migraineur and I took personal offense to this tone. Of course, I just had my worst migraine attack in months this last Friday, so I might be touchy about the subject. Either way, migraineurs should try and bear with him because the rest is worth reading.

In a way, I feel as though I were experiencing two separate books. The first half reads more like the first book, an exploration into the spirit world and how it affects our everyday lives. The second half sustains this theme—enhances it, in fact, as Nick’s choices are more directly dictated by his spirit guides—but I felt a turn toward a more psychic romance/detective novel atmosphere. The latter half is where I would say the “outlandish” content comes in, but the book continues to be entertaining and compelling nonetheless. I have the compulsion to say that these halves could have been separate books, and yet they are so intricately entwined and inseparable that I cannot think of any logical way to split them.

The earlier chapters include a brief summary of the first book. I was a bit relieved to have had this section. I had read so many books and short stories since I read The Spirits Control Your Love Life that I couldn’t remember many crucial details; Mares’s summary helped to refresh my memory. This summary also makes it possible that a new reader could come into this book without having read the first one, although I highly recommend reading Mares’s first book if you’re interested in the spirit world and reincarnation.

In particular, Mares presents an interesting take on the “soul mates” concept which, in hindsight, seems obvious. A prominent theory is that groups of souls travel through each life together with the relationships changing each time. Mares addresses this theory and explains that soul mates are not the stereotypical, perfect romantic partner. Instead, they are the other members of our soul groups, the group which we deliberately chose to stay with during each life. I personally prefer this definition of “soul mates” and find that Mares explains it very well through his psychic readings with Brenda and his father.

I am captivated by the love/spirit connection which Mares emphasizes in his books. However, he repeatedly touches upon a concept in Soul Mates which captured my attention even better than his love stories: his psychic visions about economic issues in the U.S. I’ve found psychic books about love and relationships to be a dime a dozen; one about a psychic’s personal insights into our economic future, well, that’s a diamond in the ruff. The fact that Mares has a strong background in investment makes me even more interested in his economic views when coupled with his intuition. I want him to continue with 50 Shades of Psychic Love but I still thought it worth pointing out that Mares has a variety of observations to share with the world.

I came across several proofreading errors in my copy. Mostly the errors include missing words, repeated words/phrases, unnecessary hyphens, missing or misused punctuation, and switching between “Brian” and “Bryan” as the spelling of Nick’s son’s name. Overall, these mistakes do not detract from the book. However, they become distracting after a while.

My favorite line from this book reads “while it is fulfilling to do so, writing a book for the most part is a money losing venture.” While this is often the case, I think that Mares has hit the mark with Soul Mates. At 290+ pages, it’s a long read. However, it is also entertaining, heart-wrenching, and spiritually stimulating.

A lot of the content seems out there and, in truth, I’m still trying to sort out how much of it I believe. I label myself a “skeptical believer,” meaning I’m very open to the paranormal but I still take everything with a huge grain of salt, so it takes more than you’d expect to make me fully believe. Nevertheless, I’ve found a kindred spirit in Mares because he validates many of my beliefs in this book. Maybe I believe him, maybe I don’t. All I know is that I agree with Mares on one thing: everything happens for a reason.

Due to recent information that has come to light since the publication of this review, all information regarding the sale of this book has been removed.

Warning: Blackmail (Skeleton Key #1) by Anna James Watson is erotica and thus rated X. Proceed only if you are 18 years of age or older and are comfortable with this genre and the topics it entails.

I have a special announcement regarding one of the first books I ever reviewed on The Writer’s Scrap Bin, Anna James Watson’s Blackmail (Skeleton Key #1). About a month ago (I am so behind the times!) the novel was re-released with a brand new, beautiful cover on Amazon. It’s the same book that I fell in love with but with an even more gorgeous, professional cover.

Book cover changes are common in the publishing industry (look at how many there are for Harry Potter). It’s even easier to make these changes with e-books, one of the advantages of self-publishing and small-press publishing online. However, they’re still a reason to celebrate, especially when the cover is as stunning as this one (simple but stunning).

Join me in congratulating Watson on the re-release of Blackmail and wish her luck on the rest of the Skeleton Key series.

If you want to check out Watson’s erotic novel, you can find it in Kindle and paperback format on Amazon.  Be sure to check out my review of the book and also follow Anna James Watson on her various social media accounts, all of which you can find listed on her Twitter account under @annajameswatson.

Have any exciting news about indie-published books? About your own works? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or drop a line in the comments below and I’ll put your news in a future post.

 

Warning: Is She the One? by Bob Boog contains some foul language, discussions of nudity and sex, and issues encountered by mixed-race couples. If you have problems with such topics or otherwise wish to avoid them, proceed with caution.

 

As promised, my post today is more upbeat and not as sad as yesterday’s post about my cat dying. Today I’m bringing you another book review, this time of a romantic comedy. Admittedly, I don’t often enter the romance area of literature, not even romantic comedy (although I have been known to, on a rare occasion, dabble in erotica). However, I made an exception to review Is She the One?: A Partly True Romantic Comedy by Bob Boog.

As “a partly true romantic comedy” indicates, this book follows a (probably) partly-fictionalized version of Bob Boog as he attempts to find “the one” and settle down into married life. Bob is a 27-year-old real estate agent living in Valencia. Young with a good job and living in a fairly-populated area, finding “the one” shouldn’t be too hard, right? Even with all these marks in his favor, it’s still harder than you might think. However, Bob’s luck is about to turn around.

A psychic at an open house informs Bob that he’s about to meet the love of his life, his future wife. According to the psychic, she’s a dark-haired beauty who doesn’t care about the material things and has the strength of a tiger. Within a year, the psychic claims, he will meet her. To Bob, it’s too good to be true. After all, “the one” which she has described matches his tastes almost exactly; his future wife even fits his “Goldilocks rule” (i.e. no more blondes). However, the psychic gives him two very important pieces of advice that he must follow in order to meet this woman: he must be proactive in finding her and he must make himself worthy of whom he is looking for.

The next 136 pages takes the reader on Bob’s adventures leading to him meeting his future wife. He goes through multiple serious relationships, each one ending for one reason or another, goes to bars with his friend Joel and sleeps around, and, finally, meets a woman that he might want to keep around: Roxanne. She’s a feisty, direct, no-bullshit Guatemalan immigrant who knows what she wants and how to get it. They become good friends, they like each other’s families, and—for the most part—they get along well. The only problem: is she “the one” for Bob? And is he “the one” for her?

Boog’s work is a quick, funny read that you won’t want to put down until you’ve finished reading it. The end result is no real mystery, but the journey kept me engaged and enthralled enough that I wanted to know what becomes of Bob and Roxanne. Boog’s writing style is simplistic, easy enough for any reader to follow, but also masterful enough to be comedic on purpose. (Trust me, it’s easy to make a reader laugh by accident; it’s not as easy to make them laugh when you want them to.) He does use foul language but it’s to the work’s benefit; it adds an extra layer of humor and a more realistic feel to the narrative without throwing in cussing unnecessarily, which often bogs down one’s writing.

The memoir feel of Boog’s writing blurs the line between fact and fiction so that, to be honest, I don’t know what made this romantic comedy “partly” true. I would have liked to understand better what, if any, of this actually happened but, in a way, it’s best that I don’t know. I mean, the best part of “partly true” stories is the mystery and the lack of boundaries between fact and fiction, right? In the end, it doesn’t matter if any of it was true. I felt a connection to Bob and Roxanne (although my connection to Roxanne was much stronger) and I cared about how their story ended, and that’s all that matters.

I went back and forth on my feelings towards Bob. Sometimes I thought he was a perfectly nice guy, sometimes I thought he was a self-centered jerk, and other times I just thought that he was average, that he was, well, just human. I think that Bob at the end of the book is a more grown-up version of Bob in the beginning, and that’s one of this work’s greatest strengths. Most of the characters grow and flesh out, whether it’s because they actually change, as Bob does, or because Boog slowly exposes us to the defining features of their lives, as he does with Roxanne.

Joel, though…he’s a jerk from start to finish, and jerk is the mild version of the word I want to use. Still, he serves as comic relief and a foil to Bob, so his rather two-dimensional personality didn’t bother me. (I was giddy when I found out that big playboy Joel who comes to work with a hangover is actually a Star Trek and Star Wars fanboy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fangirl for many things, but there’s just something about learning that a jerk like that is secretly geeky that makes me laugh.)

The interactions between Bob and Roxanne are, by far, the glue that holds the book together. While I really appreciated seeing Bob’s efforts in between seeing the psychic and meeting Roxanne, I also feel that the book really starts once he and Roxanne meet at a nightclub. Their day-to-day life together is so sweet, so real, and so funny that I would kill to have a relationship that good. Sure, they had their fights and disagreements, but who doesn’t? It just shows that they’re human and that they don’t hide their feelings from each other.

As a romance novel, the book is a little cliché. I didn’t exactly see anything groundbreaking for what I’ve heard about the genre, although I really appreciate that Boog skips out on a lot of the melodrama and the guys speaking poetically. That’s part of the reason why I usually avoid romance novels; it’s too cheesy, too worn-out, too unrealistic. Boog, fortunately, side-steps that issue all together. That’s not to say that the book is without its own cheesy moments. At times, the book grows a little too preachy in regards to how love should be and how to tell if someone is “the one.” Still, I expect those sorts of things from the genre and, after rolling my eyes, I was able to move on without getting caught up on it. Mind you, the questions which Boog raises about romantic love are important; I just wish that they hadn’t been overtly stated so often.

All in all, Is She the One? is a good read for singles looking for “the one,” or even readers in committed relationships who don’t know how to tell if they’re with “the one.” The book isn’t necessarily a cerebral read, with the exception of the number “40” being used often, which is a literary device indicating a lot of something (think 40 days and 40 nights from the Bible). Even if that was just a happy coincidence based on facts, I found myself smiling at it. However, this book doesn’t need to be cerebral. It does its job—telling the story of a man finding true love—very well. More importantly, it caught and kept my attention immediately, and I’m very eager to see where Boog’s next book takes us.

Speaking of which, Is She the One? also includes a preview of Boog’s next romantic comedy, Love Isn’t Easy. Almost immediately there’s a tie-in with a loose end from Is She the One?, one which I found especially amusing, and so you’ll want to make sure you read that sneak peek as well.

Right now, the Kindle version is not up on Amazon. I will let you know when it is available, or you can go to Bob Boog’s website, www.3funnybooks.com, and watch for when he posts the link to it there. While you’re there, be sure to check out his other books based on his experience as a real estate agent. Boog also writes songs (can also be found under Robert Boog) as a hobby, songs which you can find at www.i-songz.com and www.reverbnation.com/boog4.

Do you know of any books I should review? Want your work reviewed on this blog? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com with your suggestions or message me on Fiverr.