Tag: debut author

Ever heard of “Shepherd-explore,discover, read”?

On By lsmooreIn News, Uncategorized2 Comments

The best way I can describe it is – a book discovery site that focuses on promoting currently active authors, their books, and books they recommend. I found it through a discussion thread on the Author’s Guild website.

Shepherd asked me to write five short book reviews – any book, any genre, older titles welcome. They only asked that the novels I chose were similar to BridgeKeeper, comps if you will. In exchange for publishing my reviews, they posted my book along side the others with buttons to purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.org. My recommendation page includes links to my website and the BK book trailer. Pretty sweet.

These are the five novels I reviewed – good comps for BridgeKeeper.

It’s an interesting way to shop for books. You can search my name, L.S.Moore, or BridgeKeeper, or any of the five books I recommended. Of course, you can search more generally for any title, author, genre or age group. The books aren’t ranked or limited to new titles, or best sellers. They’re presented with reviews by authors who love them. Each authors page has a catchy title that defines their theme. It was a relief to be able to include older books in my list. New release comps for BK are hard to find!

The founder’s name is Ben Fox. He describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur who loves to read.” Here’s a podcast interview with Ben on Writerscast – the voice of writing with David Wilk. Ben says that what he’s trying to do is re-create, online, the experience of wandering through your favorite book store. You won’t find New York Times or Kirkus reviews – just short, personal thoughts from authors about books they love.

Check out Shepherd and let me know what you think.

Bookstagram Reviewer and Book Seller – Alyssa @thestackling, Reviews BridgeKeeper

On By lsmooreIn Interviews & ReviewsLeave a comment

“I am actually speechless.”

“I am actually speechless.

You guys… I was not expecting this to be grab-me-by-the-collar-and-refuse-to-let-me-go AMAZING. This was one of those cases where an unknown author reached out to me and offered me a book for review, which I say “no” to 99% of the time. I did some research before accepting, but I still wasn’t expecting to be blown away.

I. Am. Blown. Away.

The hook that got me here was an author writing YA Fantasy with male protagonists and a story revolving around brotherhood. I want to see more of that (done well and without toxic undertones) for my boys, so I read this with guarded hope and it far surpassed my expectations.

Yes, we have brother MCs, yes they share an incredibly close bond, yes there’s action and fighting scenes, but ALSO we have sensitive navigation of masculinity and two very non-toxic protagonists who are using new powers they don’t yet understand to bring an abusive man to justice. There’s also ghosts, cemeteries, complex family dynamics, and hints of a much deeper supernatural world to come.

This book left a door definitively open for more to come, and I am telling you, I WILL BE WAITING ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT! This was a bit more thriller/mystery (some intense scenes had me skimming ahead to make sure everyone was going to be okay) than I usually pick up, but I think that’s exactly what will make my reluctant reader love this when he’s a bit older. I LOVED these characters and the world @lsmooreya is building for them. Their voices are so well-developed and authentic— I could see my boys in these brothers, but more to the point, they became real to me and I was completely invested in their journey. Seriously, if they made a tv show out of this I would not be surprised.

TWs in the comments, but seriously, please consider this a rave review. I’m stunned! This was stunning.”

My thanks to The Story Center’s Local Author Fair!

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I had a great time in the Young Adult room rubbing elbows with fellow local authors and fans! The lovely staff at Mid Continent Public Library made us all feel like NYT best-selling authors. We had a nice crowd of book-lovers, and the afternoon flew by. Many happy teens will have ghost stories under their trees on Christmas morning!