The Northern Witch's Book Blog

So What!  Stories or Whatever! By G.J. Griffiths 2 out of 5 Synopsis STORIES FROM THE CLASSROOM! HOW DO THEY SURVIVE? WHETHER STUDENT, TEACHER OR PARENT THEY WILL HAVE YOU LAUGHING OR CRYING! Waterloo Road or Grange Hill meet Gervase Phinn - well maybe! Whether you love this book or hate it you will have to admit that the stories about its characters will stay in your memory for a long time. With over twenty years teaching experience behind him, G J Griffiths has brought to the reader some of the stories about the children he taught, in this amusing and often poignant book. Parents, teachers, pupils and students will all recognise the characters and their tales. All through the book we are made aware of the joys and disappointments experienced by their teachers, Mr Jeffrey and his colleagues. With the ever-present controversy about changing the education system (again!) this is a timely illustration of what is to be found in the classrooms of the contemporary High School....

Good morning people! So I have been sitting on something very exciting for the past month.  If you all look to the photo to your left, it might give a little clue.  And no, it's not to do with the new lamp I picked up for my new house (although I got a little giddy about that also). I have indeed joined the ranks of writers that have their work published in print. I confess that I put my reserved Britishness aside and did a few inelegant jumps around the living room when my copy came... ( Link to The Shadow Rises ) I have put off hard copies for a while, even though, as I am sure most writers would agree, I wanted nothing more than to see a physical copy.  To have it in my bookshelf, to be able to pick it up.  It seems to make it all that more real. Why did I put them off?  To answer that, I have to also confess that after a year in the indie publishing world, there is so much still to learn. When I first published The Shadow Rises, I researched poss...

Blood Tithe (Blood Tithe #1) By Glenn J. Soucy 2 out of 5 Synopsis At age five, Jeremy is playing with his friend in the woods, outside of a military base in Maine. He falls through an old World War II tunnel, which is half flooded with both water and chemicals from long forgotten scientific experiments. Jeremy is rescued, but his body is forever altered. Soon he discovers that he can gather energy from living things. But his new abilities come with a price... Review Jeremy is your average five year old child, until a freak accident that should have killed him, gives him certain powers. The young boy has to face the fear and distrust of his family, as well as the threat of his nightmares becoming real. On paper this is just my type of thing and I really wanted to like this book, if not love it. But this is one of those awkward moments when the author is a lovely chap, and I can't offer him a better review. Don't get me wrong, the writing is very strong, and I can u...

Author Interview:  Matthew R. Bell About 6 weeks ago, I got to review the debut work from Matthew R. Bell.   Fear of God got 4 out of 5, an impressive rating for any new author. (The review is  here , if you wish to nosey) Unfortunately, as well as being a talented writer, Matthew turned out to be a nice chap as well (some people have all the luck).  So I couldn't help resist claiming his first interview too! I hope you enjoy the insight into one of our promising new authors.  Please note, that no bribes or blackmail was used in obtaining it. Congratulations on the release of your first book, where did you come up with the idea for Fear of God? I first came up the idea when I was 15. I am not ashamed to admit it, but back then I was terrified of events like that in books and films. Of a character being thrown into this horrible situation, losing friends and family, and really it was my worst nightmare. So when I was thinking about it, I really wante...

Cast of Stones (The Staff and The Sword #1) by Patrick W. Carr 5 out of 5 Synopsis An Epic Medieval Saga Fantasy Readers  Will Love  In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom. Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom's dynasty is near an end and a new king must be selected. As tension and danger mount, Errol must leave behind his drunkenness and grief, learn to fight, and come to know his God in order to survive a journey to discover his destiny. Review Errol Stone, the village drunk, suddenly finds himself embroiled in an adventure he could never have imagin...

Broken at Love By Lyla Payne 3 out of 5 Synopsis When a knee injury ends twenty-year-old Quinn Rowland’s pro tennis career, he’s not only dumped by his hot Russian girlfriend but ordered to attend college by his disinterested billionaire father. A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure. College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think. But what if the more is something darker than a game of toying with emotions and breaking hearts? Quinn and Emilie might be falling for each other, but there are secrets he’s not ready to tell—and lifestyle changes he’s reluctant to make. S...

Fear of God (Trials of Strength #1) Matthew R. Bell 4 out of 5 Synopsis Lucas Bishop covets his normal, predictable life. So when his father is rushed to hospital and he comes home to his mother lying in a pool of blood, he doesn't think things can get much worse.  He's wrong.  People in the small out of the way town of Greystone have changed. Friends, families, strangers. All start to butcher one another, their sanity and recognition gone and in its place is the desperate need to kill. Thrust into this world with a group survivors, they will have to navigate it, trapped in town, with no help on the way.  The goal is easy. Survive and escape, but with an enigmatic force behind the towns change, Lucas and the survivors will have to unravel the mystery, all the while staying alive.  The big question isn't whether you can survive.  It's what are you willing to give up to do it?