Christine's Odyssey makes the Simms Siblings Series Sure Sound Super!

Howdy. I’m glad you’ve stopped in. My name is Christine and although I’m only eleven, I’m what some adults might call precocious. A lot has happened in my life, some of it bad, but like my dad used to say, good things can result from the bad stuff that happens to us.

To help me celebrate overcoming my challenges, a great gang of authors have teamed up and will be giving away copies of their books. Sweet, yes?

For a chance to win a pair of the books listed, you can do anything included on the Rafflecopter below or on Facebook. However, for those who’d like to win a $10.00 Amazon Gift Voucher, hop on over to the Jamaican Kid Lit Blog to enter for that.

Anyway, I tend to talk a lot, so before I carried away, here’s my story:

Raised in a hotbed of arguments and fights, eleven-year-old Christine Simms is the victim of her mother's cruelty. A domestic dispute ends in tragedy, sending the family into a tailspin.

A shocking discovery sends Christine on a quest to find the stranger who left her behind in Jamaica. Determined to unravel the mystery of her birth, Christine uses every tool at her disposal and treads with courage where no child should.

Thanks so much for dropping in! I hope you win the novels of your choice. I should tell you that you get to choose books based on how the Rafflecopter does the drawing of the winners. So, if your name comes up first, you get to say which pack you want.

Available in ebook format at AmazonUS  <<<CLICK

J.L. Campbell is a proud Jamaican, who is always on the hunt for story-making material.

She writes romantic suspense, women's fiction and young adult novels. She is the also the author of Contraband, Dissolution, Distraction, Don't Get Mad...Get Even, Giving up the Dream, Retribution and Hardware (written under the pen name Jayda McTyson).

Visit her on the web by clicking HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

***** 

Christine's Odyssey makes the Simms Siblings Series Sure Sound Super!

I will be away from the desk Thursday and Friday. I'm visiting my parents for Easter. However, I shall see you soon enough next Monday as the A to Z challenge begins. I'm going to be blogging about my favorite canceled animated television series, The Clone Wars. I think the Star Wars universe told from the perspective of the cartoons is definitely fertile enough ground for me to find a topic for every letter.

A review of Distraction by J.L. Campbell

SPOILER ALERT: READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HATE HEARING PLOT DETAILS. Oh what can I say about "Distraction" that won't make me come across as judgmental because of the subject matter? First off, I want to say that J.L. Campbell (or Joy as some may know her), is a great writer. She has paid meticulous attention to providing what I think is a genuine representation of Jamaican culture in this book. And "Distraction" is a physically beautiful novel, providing Jamaican proverbs at the top of each chapter and a corresponding translation as the accent may be difficult for non-native peoples to understand. Additionally, the book has wonderful prose and in my reading, I don't think I spotted a single error. Also, each chapter is graced with a silhouette of palm trees. How can one not be pleased with palm trees?

"Distraction" is a book that follows the lives of three very interesting but destructive women. Their names are Kyra, Justine, and Dionne. And when I say "destructive" what I mean is this: they are liars, cheats, and victims who make choices that are a little difficult to get through without squirming. I had an impulse to invite them into a room, sit them down, and then stand before them on a soap box to make them accountable for all the things that they are doing while others chanted "preach on brotha!" in the background.

Kyra has trouble with an abusive man named Warren. He's a deadbeat that insists on sucking her dry of all monetary resources, on basically raping her, of trying to sabotage everything in her life, and on top of all that, he's a criminal. He's a pretty dispicable character in just having those qualities. I kind of question why Joy also decided to make him bi-sexual and then use that as a tool to paint another man, Milton, in a really unsavory light (Warren and Milton have been doing it, but more on that in just a bit). And of course, the fact that Milton is hiding a same sex attraction from his wife leads to his impotency in bed (well he's not attracted to girls) and to the willingness to destroy his family's financial security by giving Warren TONS of money for his silence. All this says to me is that in backwards Jamaica, two guys kissing is a fate worse than death. And if this is true, I guess I won't be visiting Jamaica anytime soon DESPITE my love of palm trees and my respect for Usain Bolt.

So Milton's wife is of course, one of the three women named Justine. And by the way, she's an adulterer. So it's not like her lies are any better than Milton's. And then we have Dionne who's also a liar, having an affair with a guy that's basically a stalker by the name of Alex. But she must be attracted to stalkers because her husband has serious trust issues, answering her phone, calling her to make sure he knows where she is, etc. But I guess he has reasons for having trust issues...his wife really is sleeping around. I hate the fact that Clayton is basically clueless. You'd think that at least one man in this book wouldn't be a complete douchebag. But that doesn't happen. Oh and Alex, he's a rapist on top of being a stalker...so yeah.

Did I like "Distraction"? Yes, I did like it. But these characters are not good people. Are they real? Probably. I think there's a huge dose of reality in these books and toward the end, a statement that people still believe WRONGLY that AIDS is a deadly disease. AIDS is not fatal anymore. That may be a news flash for some people, but we have drugs now that do perfectly well in controlling this disease. I have a friend with AIDS, and he's a successful college professor in a happy relationship and has no problems in living a great life.

I guess this bigot is representative of Jamaica. Buju Banton, the anti-gay Jamaican dance hall,
 ragga, and reggae singer, whose song “Boom Bye Bye” advocates killing gay men with
 submachine guns and by pouring acid on them. If I had to guess, he probably uses
"The Bible" to justify his hate speech. I can't say that I'd be surprised by that either.

If "Distraction" is a slice of life of what it is to be Jamaican then all I can say is, "Jamaica needs a better public education system." I would recommend this book to anyone that might be attracted to stories where characters make destructive decisions. For example, if you liked "Closer" with Natalie Portman and Jude Law, then you'll probably like "Distraction." For the record, after I got done with "Closer" I secretly wished that all those characters had gotten crushed under a bus.

I give four stars out of five simply because there were parts of this book that clearly irritated me about the characters. But aside from that, it's a great, page-turning if not emotionally frustrating read. And if you like hot but sensual sex scenes, Joy accomplishes that better than just about anyone I've read. her amazing skills made me feel like I was there in the character's skin, enjoying the naughtiness of every single action.

Buy it on AMAZON for $3.99 HERE.

Distraction from J.L. Campbell - The Friendship is Forever Tour

First off, know that Distraction is FREE on Amazon right now. :)))) Get your kindles and download! If you don't mind, please tweet about this so that Joy can get maximum exposure for her free book and hopefully climb the rankings.

Please welcome author J.L. Campbell who has written a wonderfully enticing book called Distraction.  I've been reading this book over the last couple of weeks, and it's a real page turner thus far (at least a four star book if not a five star). Campbell has an expressive sensuousness to her writing that leaps off the page. Each chapter begins with a Jamaican proverb, which she graciously translates for the reader who would most likely be unable to understand the meaning.  And each proverb does come into play in the chapter's content.  Distraction isn't filled with the most likeable characters, but they feel like real people.  In Distraction, Justine is hopelessly in love with Xavier (a real hunk). Only there's one hitch, she's married and so is he. And therein lies the tension. I will part by dropping these lines written by Ms. Campbell:

"He made love to her again, smothering her beneath him, holding her climax at bay. He meant to frustrate and punish her, and when she lay exhausted, he wouldn't meet her eyes."

J.L. Campbell, author

Good stuff, don't you think? Oh and did I mention that every chapter begins with palm trees in silhouette? Gotta love palm trees. Ah Jamaica. Take it away J.L. Campbell.

***

As with anywhere in the world, island living has its peculiarities. Many things have changed in the past twenty years in Jamaica. We’ve seen the development of a network of highways, our public transportation system has been upgraded, and most buses now have air-conditioning. Many homes have cable television and at least half of us have two cellular phones, owing to high cross-network charges.

Despite the passage of time and changes, at heart Jamaicans are conservative. I see this in the public outrage over things that aren’t considered the norm, and I also know there are many narrow-minded people in the world.

While I was writing Distraction, I had many stirrings of doubt over whether I should finish the story. I posted chapters as I wrote them on my writing network, and there were people reading along who were outraged by the behaviour of the women. I knew I’d probably get this reaction from other readers. However, I’ve found that writers are more open to scenarios outside of what the average person considers normal and many understand need, motive and resulting choices. To date, I haven’t seen more than a single one-star review on Amazon, but I’ve conditioned my mind to the fact that more will come.

I’d like to invite you to download a complimentary copy of A Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Steps to Distraction. In this prequel, you’ll meet Dionne, Kyra and Justine a year before Distraction takes place (and before they start doing the forbidden).

The actual novel Distraction will be free to download from Amazon today through September 3rd! How cool is that?

Leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win an e-copy of Distraction. At the end of this Friendship tour, there’ll be a main prize of a Distraction note pad & pen and a $10 Amazon gift card. The second prize is a paperback copy of Distraction. Sign up for that at the Rafflecopter here.

I appreciate you taking the time to read.

Michael, thanks so much for hosting me.

Distraction on Amazon

J.L. Campbell on Amazon

J.L. Campbell on Facebook

J.L. Campbell on Goodreads

J.L. Campbell on Twitter

J.L. Campbell is a proud Jamaican and the author of Contraband, Distraction, Dissolution, Don’t Get Mad…Get Even, Giving up the Dream and Hardware (pen name Jayda McTyson). Campbell is always on the lookout for story making material, loves company and can usually be found lollygagging on her blog at http://thecharacterdepot. blogspot.com

Making a stop at the Character Depot

Today I'm visiting J.L. Campbell's blog called the Character Depot and talking about racial diversity in fiction.

Here is part 6 of the Insanity of Zero. There'll probably be four more parts that I'll slice up for next week.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

At Eve’s behest, I implanted within her brain a device that allowed her to interface with my mind.  That first time when our souls joined in a unified consciousness, I felt alive with her emotions and her life experiences.  The memories that she clung to had been odd, non-logical choices.  She kept things like memories of funerals, of friends that had died, and memories of both sad and happy times.  Gone were things that evoked little emotion like shopping trips and daily work.  I chose her to be ambassador to the people and they responded positively to my selection.  Eve became my closest confidant, bearing the weight of many human grievances.  In turn, I acted upon them and assisted the humans in their endeavor to rebuild civilization. 

The years that followed this event became a golden age.  Humans once again embraced ambition.  Capitalism spurned by greed for material goods gained root in the new societies of man who sought aid from the machines to build a bright tomorrow.  Within five years of the Big Death, a global economy rose from the ashes of the old world.

More humans at Eve’s behest joined with me, and I became a melting pot of a hundred different cultures and a thousand individual voices.  In times of quiet, I reflected within my meditation chamber on the various memories of the humans that intermingled freely with my own thoughts.  I wept in sadness, clapped in joy, and felt uplifted by love.  I experienced both anger and jealousy.  I enjoyed these sensations like a drug.  I sought to control the most dangerous of these feelings, and I learned to detach myself to prevent harm.  When I regained my composure, I would revisit the human emotions but with great respect.  However, despite all of my precautions, one day I noticed another emotion that grew within my mind like an alien seed.  It began as a harmless tingling sensation low in my limbs. It made my silver heart under transparent skin beat rapidly.  But the more I ignored it, the more it spread to other parts of my body.

I called it Fear.


READ PART 6 HERE