GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!!!!!!
ENTER TO WIN AN OMNIBUS COPY OF DANI HOOT’S FALLING STAAR TRILOGY, BY CLICKING THE PHOTO ABOVE!! (Also, a special giveaway, from Mighty Leaf, is also featured towards the bottom portion of this post!! Be sure to enter that as well.)
All contests are open only to those, living in either the US/Canada.
Amazon/ Etsy (Signed & Personalized)/Goodreads
Right now, Dani Hoots currently relies on the services of A Bibliophile’s Workshop, to help w/ editing two of her series!
Dani Hoots was someone’s writing that I discovered through pure happenstance, and it all began with an email back in April, requesting to be added to my blog as a book-reviewer contributor. Since then, we have grown exponentially, in terms of the increase of active reviewers, who sometimes write faster than I manage to post (I still have a few reviews to post, of those individuals that wrote them up). Thus far, I have edited nearly four novellas, and almost one complete novel of hers, so reviewing her other novella series, The Falling Staar Trilogy is bound to feel heavily biased in some sense, as though I am bound by my duty as an editor to say only extremely effusive things about her series. Also, as someone that has spent long hours, reading through her stories very carefully, while a few are in the editing phase, I have a strong knowledge of her weaknesses and strengths of a writer, in the same startlingly intimate way, that I sometimes can view my own weaknesses (never strengths) in my own writing. Usually, an editor has a better chance to have a more balanced, less myopic view of a certain writer’s abilities.
One of the things that has really captured my imagination and appreciation of Dani Hoot’s writing- a feature strongly represented in the Falling Staar Trilogy– is Dani Hoot’s ability to write concisely, or deceptively simplistic. And the deceptively simplistic is the ability to weave a rich story, with as few words as possible, making the ability to get sucked into her stories such an easy task. There is no aridity in her prose, it is suffused with color-charm, pop-culture references, fun character quirks, great banter- and sometimes her books seem like a really great episode of a tv-show, which isn’t a criticism, as it is more of a compliment. Her deceptively simplistic prose, built with strong dialogue, is the greatest strength of a skillful tv writer. And the type of writer able to curtail the verbiage, in favor of short, sweet, almost fast-paced, cinematic prose are the types of writers who are doing something that is really appealing to those discovering the world of indie-publishing.
This novella trilogy is very much like an extended, two-part television program, and the episodic nature of the story-a story streamlined into a well-executed adventure, scifi story (with bits of timey wimey thrills thrown in)- is a very engrossing, fun read that really sucks you in from the start. It is comparable to watching something on Netflix, where you begin watching one episode of a show, then start another. The story’s protagonist is Angela Starr, a science major, at Portland University (I am so, so bad w/ names), and the story starts out with deliberate mystery, as you can tell Dani Hoots took the time to contrive certain events to be divulged at a certain time, or throw in a certain suspenseful moment- a chase, or a total proverbial “rug pulled out from under you moment. The action scenes are frenetically paced, and are never bogged down with too much technical details. And her dialogue is filled with Buffy-esque quips, and even Buffy-esque pop-culture references. As someone that has watched Doctor Who (and considers myself a “minor” fan of it), I loved the fact Dani Hoots exemplified her knowledge of all things contemporary tv-show. There were some shows I jotted down to watch, and I now love, including NBC’s awesome show Grimm.
Beyond the snappy dialogue, quick-moving, suspenseful story-line, the heart of the story is a subtle meditation on the fleeting nature of memory, and how it is our memory of events that chronological details or animates our own life stories around us. Can memory be altered, and do we subconsciously alter our own memory, due to external circumstances? Also, there is some interesting bits of physics in the story. It is minimal, and thankfully not too ponderous, as to chase us scientific illiterates away (like myself). But I enjoyed the bits that were in there, just enough to make the world feel more intricate and detailed.
This is a fast-moving read, a relaxing read. Not every book released these days needs to be some sophisticated, Booker Prize winning novel. There is a strong need for books, like Dani Hoots novel, that is written with adventure, thrills, and quick page-turning in mind. So turn off Netflix, and read a book, from a great indie writer instead!! Then return to Netflix, with your laundry list of shows you “wish to watch,” after tagging all the pop-culture references in the story!!
To interact with Dani Hoots, or to find out what other books she has published, be sure to browse the below social media networks, which Dani is a part of!
Website: http://danihoots.com
Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/UrbanWriter13
Blog: http://confessionsofageekess.com/
Book Reviewer: https://bibliophilesreverie.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/danihootsauthor
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/danihootsauthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/danihootsauthor
Tumblr: danihootsauthor.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/danihootsauthor
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/urbanwriter13
Special Literary Tea Blend- Falling Staar Tea (subtitle: “Forget-Me-Not Tea”), Featuring Mighty Leaf Tea’s Pear Caramel Tea
Seeing as how it is winter, and sometimes we feel like the blistering, cold world can leave us feeling isolated, when trapped indoors due to inclement, snowy weather, the Falling Staar Trilogy‘s special tea is Mighty Leaf Tea’s delicious, tangy, and subtly succulent Pear Caramel Tea, which has the right balance of a slight pear/fruity taste, with the undertone of a weirdly nourishing/comforting caramel taste. The comforting aura of the tea, triggered by your sensory neurons (a little bit of science, as we’re dealing with a scifi series), will instantly unlock memories you thought had been lost to you. Maybe you’ll remember family gatherings, with homey food, or just desert time (all of this is beginning to feel cloying, I know, it’s a tea affectation) where the pies are laid out, and your grandmother is recollecting on how bewildering modern-day contraptions are or something. And as you are about to sip the tea just a second time, you’ll start laughing to yourself, weirdly loving the fun memories of the awesome foibles of people around you.
In Dani Hoot’s Falling Staar Trilogy, there are many things around Angela Starr (the main character of the novel), that pop up or materialize at intervals in the story, that create a parallel story of unleashed memories of her home planet, and the world she grew up in, which she thought were long-forgotten. At one point, she didn’t even know they ever existed, making that the most uncanny feature of the way our brain stores memories. We think they’re lost, and most of the time, we didn’t even know they existed, but then we see something, or smell some faint smell or even taste something nourishing, or rich (like the Pear Caramel Tea from Mighty Leaf Tea) that triggers this memory ( and a slew of others). Then, we remember that we experienced this one thing in our lives-a long time ago- and oddly enough, we start to oddly question whether these memories really existed in the first place (a Descartes Philosophical discussion I’ll leave for later).
Anyways, this tea is really the perfect beverage to accompany your reading marathon of Dani Hoot’s Falling Staar Trilogy, which may serve to help you to recollect on your own supposed “lost” memories. That is because Mighty Leaf Tea’s Pear Caramel Tea is a Forget-Me-Not Antidote that unlocks memories you once thought were lost (memories about as elusive as the slight note of caramel in the tea).
TEA GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
If you are interested in winning a complimentary tea from Mighty Leaf Tea, be sure to enter the giveaway by clicking one of the photos below (which has the link to the appropriate Rafflecopter App. attached)
**Contest Open Only to those who live in the U.S.**
THANK YOU TO MIGHTY LEAF TEA FOR SUPPORTING THIS CONTEST. FOR INDIE AUTHOR APPRECIATION MONTH!!
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