Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.
When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review by Midwest Book Review:
Life on Grayson Island
E. R. Champion
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781432765798
Reviewer: Charline Ratcliff
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I asked to review “Life on Grayson Island” by E.R. Champion, but having found it listed in the “Humor” section, I did expect it to be funny. It was funny…just not as much as I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure there are those who will find this book hilarious, but unfortunately, I am not one of those people.
The premise of “Life on Grayson Island” is this: Brent Williams has just recently moved to Grayson Island in lieu of completely retiring from the police force. However, Grayson Island is a private island, which means that all of the standard infractions that would normally cause some form of citation, ticket or even an arrest do not apply to the “natives” of Grayson Island. Needless to say, most of the training and experience that Williams acquired during his stint as Lieutenant for the Department of Defense cannot be applied in his new position as “Special” Policeman of Grayson Island.
Grayson Island is also a crazy island. The people who live there are extremely wealthy and amazingly eccentric. Opinions are provided on an over-the-top regular basis to be made into the island rules for the non-natives to live by, and each resident seems to have their own reality that doesn’t mesh with anyone else’s. In summary, two hundred and eight pages of inane antics by the mainly over forty crowd and the question you have to ask yourself is: how long can Brent Williams and his wife deal with the idiocy before they decide enough is enough and move back to a more “normal” part of the country?
All in all, “Life on Grayson Island” was a decent read. To be fair, the book did manage to hold my attention/keep me occupied on the two-hour flight from Oakland to Phoenix. “Life on Grayson Island” was well-written, and due in part to the craziness of today’s society, the characters were totally believable. At times, there was a little too much innuendo/cynicism for my taste, but I do understand that’s kind of the premise of the book.
Self Publishing Advisor 