FIRST REVIEWS

Reviews are important to writers and good reviews are I think a validation of sorts. You have made a reader happy, someone you don’t know and never will has appreciated the hours days and weeks you spent creating a work of fiction. It would be nice of course if good reviews led to strong sales but I suspect its only celebs who write for money. For the rest of us, it’s the enthusiasm of the ecstatic reader that we work towards.

I contacted nine bookbloggers . . . some of whom I have received reviews from previously . . . and so far five have agreed to review PARALLEL LINES for me. I have copied and pasted the three I have received so far, below:

Books Laid Bare gave it four stars and said this:

Again the author packs this book with more content than you could shake a stick at, there is love, hate, retribution, add all this is on top of the fact that Kiri is juggling career and family issues that are quite simply bizarre and you have a book that you cannot take your eyes off.
 

I worried for Kiri, for the sorrow that seemed to permeate her words, the fact that after everything she had been through she still didn’t seem to be 100% happy, I’m not sure if she actually knows the meaning of the word.
She revelled in her work, no matter its complexity, intensity or location but personal issues and relationships had always been her Achilles heel and now in her forties, she gave little sign that her reticence was going to change.
Again the author served up a book that left nothing behind, it was cleverly embellished and intensely detailed – in some cases had maybe a little too much detail but I do like the fact that the author left nothing to chance, he left little open for interpretation and while this is not a bad thing, in my case I would have liked to us my imagination a little more, I liked the picture that the author drew, I just wanted to be able to colour it in on my own. But then again with the obvious vision he had for his characters I can imagine that it would have been difficult for him to let Kiri out of his grasp for too long.
 

At the risk of repeating myself I would say that this is an author that has and eye for detail and a vocabulary that knows no boundaries, no subject matter is safe and all aspects of life either imaginary or creative are woven with ease through a story that will certainly hold your attention right up until the last page

Books Laid Bare is an adult book site and Carol, the lady who runs it, very kindly offered to read both of my other novels and she gave them all four stars.

Then Megan who blogs as Published Moments sent me an e mail which said:

Hi,

Just to let you know, I have read Parallel Lines and thought it was absolutely brilliant! I couldn't put it down!

The link for my review is here - it goes live at 1pm on the 3rd January: http://publishedmoments.co.uk/parallel-lines-scott-beaven/ 

Thank you again for the opportunity provided in reading this. Well done for making such a brilliant book! I'm looking forward to your future releases and will definitely be reading Kiri's story prior to Parallel Lines!

. . . and this is her 4* review:

Not having read the two previous books in Kiri's tale written by Scott Beaven, I didn't really know what to expect. I often find that reading a series from the last book never really works, but in this case I am wrong! Beaven has written a story that I can imagine would follow on from prior novels, but if you didn't know it was part of a series then you wouldn't know from reading it either!

Beaven has truly surprised me with this book, at first I didn't think I was going to get on with it but I am so glad I persevered. The story gripped me and I couldn't put it down! Kiri really does have an interesting story to tell, and Beaven writes it in an incredibly way that keeps you wanting more!

My only downside with 'Parallel Lines' was the writing style of Beaven. It may appeal to some but for me, at times, it felt like a 'bullet-pointed' story. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though! I love how the ending is open...this doesn't appeal to a lot of people, I know. But Beaven built Kiri's character up so well that you just write your own ending to Kiri's life...and it works!

For a self-published author, Beaven really has written a fantastic novel that gets you hooked and doesn't let you go - something that some of the more successful authors out there still haven't got the hang of!

Dear Clare Diston who blogs as 50AYear and has a near-identical taste in books as me put this up on Goodreads:

In this book Kikarin (aka Kiri) is now in her forties. She has had many relationships and several marriages, including one to an older man who died, and another to a man who treated her terribly and, in this novel, seems to be out for revenge because she crippled him during their last encounter. As the book opens Kiri is struggling to balance a new relationship and the joint purchase of a holiday home in Italy, a new job at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and a branch of her family in Canada who are plotting a terrorist act.

Kiri’s voice dominates throughout the novel, and you can certainly see that the years and woes have left her jaded. She comes across as always a little emotionally disconnected from everything, including the people she is close to and the more extreme things she goes through. This makes her genuine enthusiasm – particularly about her work at the gallery, or the Italian ‘priest’s house’ – even more pronounced. Kiri seems to be someone who is struggling to recover from old wounds, and she is certainly holding herself back from the risk of making new ones.

Beaven does a good line in contrasting the more mundane aspects of everyday life (angry neighbours, the practicalities of taking holiday from work) with sequences of really rip-roaring action. The story flows quite realistically – insofar as it seems a little random, a little chaotic, not always completely in Kiri’s control – and then suddenly huge, life-changing events will appear and really throw Kiri a curveball. As well as the terrorism subplot, there is also the general threat of Kiri’s past coming back to haunt her, and a very surprising and page-turning chapter set in Italy.

This is a well-written, often surprising book that weaves together realism and action really well, and will certainly keep you gripped right to the final page.

“Most people see the world through themselves; we go in and out of each other’s minds.”

So far so good.