<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Virginia Ripple&#039;s Blog &#124; One Servant&#039;s Heart</title>
	<atom:link href="http://virginiaripple.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://virginiaripple.com</link>
	<description>Discovering the life God meant for us one moment at a time</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 04:16:32 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<item>
		<title>Upon Review: Mama Lacee by Kenneth Brooks</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-mama-lacee-by-kenneth-brooks/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-mama-lacee-by-kenneth-brooks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 03:55:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Editing & Critiquing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1920's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Brooks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mama Lacee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paranormal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[racism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1802</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: <a href="http://www.bookcrash.com/">Book Crash</a>, <a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/">Book Rooster</a> and <a href="http://www.thebookplex.com/index.html">The Bookplex</a> just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my <a title="Request a Review" href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review page</a>.</p>
<p>Because I like to share the great reads I&#8217;ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:</p>
<ul>
<li>One cup &#8212; worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe</li>
<li>Two cups &#8212; it may be hot, but you&#8217;ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it</li>
<li>Three cups &#8212; it&#8217;s not my favorite, but it beats going without</li>
<li>Four cups &#8212; nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect</li>
<li>Five cups &#8212; loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes a book or story doesn&#8217;t warrant a five cup rating, but it&#8217;s so good it can&#8217;t be missed. For those I include the &#8220;Must Read&#8221; starburst in front of the cup rating. You&#8217;ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00558WZ2S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00558WZ2S&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">Mama Lacee</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00558WZ2S" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Kenneth Brooks</h2>
<p><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Four-Cup-Must-Read.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1572" alt="Four Cup Must Read" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Four-Cup-Must-Read.jpg" width="167" height="36" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00558WZ2S/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00558WZ2S&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px;" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B00558WZ2S&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20" width="116" height="160" border="0" /></a></p>
<p>Usually it&#8217;s the description that makes me want to write a review. However, this one leave a lot to be desired:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;IT&#8221;S THE TWENTIES. MAMA LACEE IS IN HER 80&#8242;S. SHE&#8217;S BEEN THE LOCAL HEALER LONGER THAN MOST PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ALIVE. SHE&#8217;S SEEN IT ALL&#8230;GOOD AND BAD&#8221;</em></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em>It&#8217;s my general rule that I won&#8217;t accept a book for review without checking the Look Inside feature on Amazon first. I&#8217;m glad I did.</em></span></strong></p>
<h3>The Good&#8230;</h3>
<p>Don&#8217;t be fooled by the less than appealing cover. The story is riveting. It&#8217;s a wonderful glimpse into a time of rampant racism and blatant abuses of power. Best of all, there&#8217;s plenty of spirituality (the author considers it paranormal activity) to intrigue those who enjoy peeking behind the veil of reality.</p>
<h3>The Not-so-good&#8230;</h3>
<p>I don&#8217;t know if it was the author&#8217;s intent or not, but there is a lot of jumping between point of view and past and present tense. At times it feels like there&#8217;s an outside narrator and then the character seems to take over the telling of a scene. It can be rather disconcerting. Also, there are some formatting issues where paragraphs look strange.</p>
<p>The biggest drawback of the entire story is the abrupt ending. I would have liked to have known what happened to the rest of the people in the story once the &#8220;bad guy&#8221; is defeated. Did they learn from what happened and become better people? And what about the business men? What did they do? What happened to those who enforce the laws? If Brooks ever decides to release an updated version of Mama Lacee, I hope he considers giving his reader a good denouement to this marvelous story.</p>
<h3>The Overall&#8230;</h3>
<p>If you can get past technical flaws in the writing and don&#8217;t mind an abrupt end, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00558WZ2S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00558WZ2S&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">Mama Lacee</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00558WZ2S" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Kenneth Brooks is a fantastic read.</p>
<p><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=virgirippl-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=B00558WZ2S" height="240" width="320" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-mama-lacee-by-kenneth-brooks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Soap Opera Gimmick</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/the-soap-opera-gimmick/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/the-soap-opera-gimmick/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:55:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General Writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bad cliff hangar endings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book endings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how not to end a story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soap opera gimmick]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[story endings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1793</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I used to love watching soap operas. It was addictive and I couldn&#8217;t figure out why. I mean, they&#8217;re often filled with bad acting and enough melodrama to make you want to hide your face in embarrassment  Why couldn&#8217;t I kick the habit? Then I figured out they have two things going for them: characters that [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1794" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 360px"><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hide-your-face.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-1794 " alt="Photo courtesy of  Lynn Kelley Author" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/hide-your-face.jpg" width="350" height="263" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo courtesy of Lynn Kelley Author</p></div>
<p>I used to love watching soap operas. It was addictive and I couldn&#8217;t figure out why. I mean, they&#8217;re often filled with bad acting and enough melodrama to make you want to hide your face in embarrassment  Why couldn&#8217;t I kick the habit? Then I figured out they have two things going for them: characters that draw you in and they always leave you hanging at the end of the show.</p>
<p>While designing characters that draw you in is a great writing technique, leaving your story hanging at the end can kill future sales. I call that the Soap Opera Gimmick because I want the story to end. Leave me with questions, but, for the love of all that&#8217;s writerly, end the story!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are a great many self-published authors using this gimmick and doing it badly. I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m not alone when I scream, &#8220;STOP IT!&#8221; Ending your book in the middle of a fight scene or just before the next big fight begins is a gimmick. It&#8217;s not good writing.</p>
<p>If you don&#8217;t believe you can finish a story and get people to buy the next book, then take a look at series writers like Erin Hunter, author of the Warrior series, or Shirley Rousseau-Murphy, author of the Joe Grey Mysteries. Consider J.K. Rowling&#8217;s success with the Harry Potter series. Each of these stories ends, but the reader is left with the need for the next book.</p>
<p>There are ways to succeed in writing a series without resorting to the Soap Opera Gimmick, so please do some work and finish the story. Your readers will thank you.</p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/the-soap-opera-gimmick/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Upon Review: Crystal Shade: Angeni, Volume 1 by István Szabó</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-crystal-shade-angeni-volume-1-by-istvan-szabo/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-crystal-shade-angeni-volume-1-by-istvan-szabo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:22:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[angels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[demons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[epic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[István SzabóX Crystal Shade: Angeni Volume 1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1775</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: <a href="http://www.bookcrash.com/">Book Crash</a>, <a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/">Book Rooster</a> and <a href="http://www.thebookplex.com/index.html">The Bookplex</a> just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my <a title="Request a Review" href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review page</a>.</p>
<p>Because I like to share the great reads I&#8217;ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:</p>
<ul>
<li>One cup &#8212; worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe</li>
<li>Two cups &#8212; it may be hot, but you&#8217;ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it</li>
<li>Three cups &#8212; it&#8217;s not my favorite, but it beats going without</li>
<li>Four cups &#8212; nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect</li>
<li>Five cups &#8212; loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes a book or story doesn&#8217;t warrant a five cup rating, but it&#8217;s so good it can&#8217;t be missed. For those I include the &#8220;Must Read&#8221; starburst in front of the cup rating. You&#8217;ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00660MU8I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00660MU8I&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">Crystal Shade: Angeni, Volume 1</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00660MU8I" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by István Szabó</h2>
<p><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1445" alt="Three Cup" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg" width="167" height="36" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00660MU8I/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00660MU8I&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px;" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B00660MU8I&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20" width="108" height="160" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00660MU8I" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> Here is the description that made me want to write this book review:</p>
<p><em><b>&#8220;Thousands of stars could tell thousands of stories.&#8221;</b></em><br />
<em>Seven year old Grace always dreamt of becoming a guardian angel; like those who guarded and guided her people and prepared to bravely fight in a dreaded mythical event, the Crystal Shade &#8211; which never came. It&#8217;s not like Grace ever wanted to see Demons. Or wants to know what evil and darkness is &#8211; things that no one ever faced on her world and as the legends says, the Crystal Shade carries within -, nor does she want to die to be reborn as a guardian. But she thinks the mysterious life of angels is so noble, a fable that it sounds exciting &#8211; until it actually happens. </em></p>
<p><em>Crystal Shade: Angeni, Volume 1 explores the early life of a young daydreaming soul who is destined to reveal the forgotten past of her home world and to seek the answer to the eternal question; what the legendary Crystal Shade really is.</em></p>
<h3>The Good&#8230;</h3>
<p>The beginning sets a great mood, making the reader want to know what the bogey in the dark is.</p>
<p>Most of the really good writing occurs near the end of the book. For example, there is some very good description of everyday animals we take for granted, which Angeni has never seen. It makes it easy to figure out what the creature is without the author having to name it.</p>
<p>Theme plays a major role in the entire book, leading to some thought provoking messages. I love stories that make me think about what I believe and what may be true. This book has a lot of passages that do that.</p>
<h3>The Not-so-good&#8230;</h3>
<p>The author warns in the description: &#8220;<b>IMPORTANT:</b> Please be advised that Crystal Shade: Angeni and its episodic release, Crystal Shade: Episodes is not a fast and easy mainstream read. You can&#8217;t quickly skim through and read it in one night, but you have to absorb the words and create the fantasy in your mind. Therefore, if you don&#8217;t like slower-paced books or non-mainstream storylines, please read the excerpt before making any purchase.&#8221;</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re looking for a book that begins with conflict or is paced faster than a snail, look somewhere else. This is an epic tale and, as the volume number indicates, will be told in more than one book. In fact, the story ends just when the conflict begins. I like to call this the Soap Opera Gimmick: end every book in the middle of a fight so the reader will buy the next one to see what happens. I don&#8217;t know about other readers, but I feel cheated when authors do this. Leave me with questions, but don&#8217;t leave me in the middle of a conflict.</p>
<p>Another complaint I have is the overuse of some words, especially the words &#8220;shy&#8221; and &#8220;cold.&#8221; It made me think of what Inigo says to Vizzini in the Princes Bride: &#8220;You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lastly, there are entire scenes that seem to be unnecessary. For instance, why does it matter to the reader what the names of the gods and goddesses are and what provinces they supposedly rule? The author spends an extrodinairy amount of time on world building, using specific names and stories to explain the placement of each province. Perhaps the information will come into play in another volume, but it was tedious in this one.</p>
<h3>The Overall&#8230;</h3>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>Take the author&#8217;s warning seriously!</strong></em></span> While I enjoy books that make me wonder about truth and reality, I also like them to balance that with action and external conflict. Crystal Shade has very little of that, which often bored me. There is plenty of action near the end, but it left me unsatisfied because the story itself didn&#8217;t end. My suggestion is this, read Crystal Shade if you enjoy long, slow tales and don&#8217;t mind a cliff hanger ending. If that&#8217;s not the type of story you like, then you&#8217;ll probably want to pass on this tale.</p>
<p><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=virgirippl-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=B00660MU8I" height="240" width="320" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-crystal-shade-angeni-volume-1-by-istvan-szabo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Secrets of the Malkin: Coming In May</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/secrets-of-the-malkin-coming-in-may/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/secrets-of-the-malkin-coming-in-may/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Author Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1745</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Upcoming release to KDP Select. The humans want to kill all felines, be they ordinary or magical. The cats want to escape somewhere far from humans. Nadine’s solitary wish is to bring peace to the two races in this post- plague world. A graduate from the loner program at the King’s Academy of Mages, Nadine [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Secrets-of-the-Malkin1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-1772" alt="Secrets-of-the-Malkin" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Secrets-of-the-Malkin1-678x1024.jpg" width="494" height="747" /></a></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Upcoming release to KDP Select.</h2>
<p>The humans want to kill all felines, be they ordinary or magical. The cats want to escape somewhere far from humans. Nadine’s solitary wish is to bring peace to the two races in this post- plague world.</p>
<p>A graduate from the loner program at the King’s Academy of Mages, Nadine discovers her job as a welfare case worker is in name only. Despondent, she trots home through the shadowed streets after work and narrowly escapes from orphaned teenagers determined to use her for target practice. Terrified and still trying to find the reason behind everything she finds herself drawn to the local Temple. She wonders if cats would be happier living on their own, but a brief conversation with a Temple Cat changes her mind. Maybe there’s a way humans and felines can live together in peace once again. But how?</p>
<p>When a co-worker suggests forgetting her concerns at a local pub, Nadine makes a surprising discovery: the answer to her worries in a story about a special cat, a true Malkin called the Baruhk Sh’Toole. Excited, Nadine asks the story-teller where she can find this legendary feline and is told she disappeared years before, taking her secrets with her. The she-cat persuades the story-teller to give her a map to the Malkin’s last known location and sets out to find the legendary cat.</p>
<p>Nadine leaves her comfortable life for an adventure to the Outer Reaches, a place where the trappers will skin a cat alive and then consider killing it. There she must silently befriend a priest and hope he knows where she can find the cat who can heal the world, but doesn’t want to be found.</p>
<p>Can a naive young social worker uncover the secrets of the Baruhk Sh’Toole and heal the widening rift between humans and cats or is Nadine doomed to be one more victim in the war?</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Sign up for my monthly newsletter to be the first to know when it&#8217;s released.<br />
(Sign up form in the sidebar to the right.)</h3>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/secrets-of-the-malkin-coming-in-may/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Upon Review: The Caves of Etretat, Book Four of Four by Matt Chatelain</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-four-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-four-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cave]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caves of Etretat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Chatelain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suspense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1693</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: <a href="http://www.bookcrash.com/">Book Crash</a>, <a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/">Book Rooster</a> and <a href="http://www.thebookplex.com/index.html">The Bookplex</a> just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my <a title="Request a Review" href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review page</a>.</p>
<p>Because I like to share the great reads I&#8217;ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:</p>
<ul>
<li>One cup &#8212; worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe</li>
<li>Two cups &#8212; it may be hot, but you&#8217;ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it</li>
<li>Three cups &#8212; it&#8217;s not my favorite, but it beats going without</li>
<li>Four cups &#8212; nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect</li>
<li>Five cups &#8212; loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes a book or story doesn&#8217;t warrant a five cup rating, but it&#8217;s so good it can&#8217;t be missed. For those I include the &#8220;Must Read&#8221; starburst in front of the cup rating. You&#8217;ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEXSEW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEXSEW&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The One Book of Etretat (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEXSEW" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEUTBM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEUTBM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Greyman (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEUTBM" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain</h2>
<p><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1445" alt="Three Cup" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg" width="167" height="36" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEUTBM/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEUTBM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px;" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B008VEUTBM&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20" width="110" height="160" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEUTBM" width="1" height="1" border="0" />I usually do not agree to read an entire series, but the sample I read of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TJ9CT2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005TJ9CT2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Caves of Etretat, Book One of Four (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005TJ9CT2" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> made me decide to give this entire four book series a chance. Here is the description of Book Four:</p>
<p><em>Ultimate Confrontation, Ultimate Answers In the previous books of the series, Paul Sirenne was changed into a fledgling immortal in the caves of Etretat, France. Based in the caves, Sirenne was preparing for an ultimate confrontation against the Greyman, the oldest immortal on earth. With countless disasters occurring everywhere and a pandemic disease killing all children in the womb, all events were converging on Sirenne. To make matters worse, Weissmuller, the immortal serial killer was continually dogging his steps. In the fourth and final novel of the series, Sirenne learns he has been selected to find the Other, the only being strong enough to defeat the Greyman. Sirenne has mastered electromagnetic flight and the ability to manifest objects and manipulate matter. Weissmuller has revealed himself and an uneasy alliance has been made. Armageddon is fast approaching, with people dying by the millions, as Sirenne tries to understand what is really going on. The unstoppable Greyman is drawing near and an ultimate confrontation seems inevitable. Everything rests on Sirenne&#8217;s final decision. Will he be able to accept the real answers behind everything? &#8216;The Greyman&#8217; ends the four-book epic adventure following Paul Sirenne, an average man unknowingly manipulated into becoming the key in the final phase of a complex conspiracy spanning millennia. Inextricably woven into history, the series re-writes everything we know in a non-stop rollercoaster of a ride where nothing is ever as it seems. The Saga&#8217;s Phenomenal Conclusion</em></p>
<h3>The Good&#8230;</h3>
<p>The first part of The Caves of Etretat, Book Four of Four: The Greyman was as exciting as book three. This one had me turning pages quickly to find out what would happen next. There were quite a few surprises, especially concerning the Abbey&#8217;s involvement in the entire mystery.</p>
<h3>The Not-so-good&#8230;</h3>
<p>Again, while I&#8217;m sure it wasn&#8217;t intended, the Americans in the story made me laugh. They were more or less caricatures of every movie I&#8217;ve seen where the military decides to go in with guns blazing because their motto seems to be &#8220;Shoot first. Ask questions later.&#8221; There were no redeeming qualities to these characters, no reason to feel they were in any way justified in their thinking. In fact, when they are wiped off the planet, I didn&#8217;t care. Not sure if that was how I was supposed to react or not.</p>
<p>The beginning of the book was very exciting, though there were a few parts that seemed unbelievable even given that we&#8217;ve been alerted to why certain things are able to happen.</p>
<p>However, I scanned most of the last of the book from the Original Dream to about halfway through Growth because the story slowed down to less than a crawl at that point. We&#8217;ve already figured out that Paul has jumped to the next level and we&#8217;ve already learned what that next level is about, so re-living the entire thing wasn&#8217;t all that interesting. I wish the author had condensed the entire last bit into one section instead of three.</p>
<h3>The Overall&#8230;</h3>
<p>If you&#8217;ve read the first three books, then it&#8217;s almost a given that you&#8217;ll want to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEUTBM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEUTBM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Greyman (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEUTBM" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain. However, beware that the entire story comes to a screeching halt near the end and continues on at a rate that mirrors those dreams we have where we run hard, but get nowhere.</p>
<p><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=virgirippl-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=B008VEUTBM" height="240" width="320" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-four-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Upon Review: The Caves of Etretat, Book Three of Four by Matt Chatelain</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-three-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-three-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cave]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caves of Etretat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Chatelain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suspense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1683</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: <a href="http://www.bookcrash.com/">Book Crash</a>, <a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/">Book Rooster</a> and <a href="http://www.thebookplex.com/index.html">The Bookplex</a> just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my <a title="Request a Review" href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review page</a>.</p>
<p>Because I like to share the great reads I&#8217;ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:</p>
<ul>
<li>One cup &#8212; worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe</li>
<li>Two cups &#8212; it may be hot, but you&#8217;ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it</li>
<li>Three cups &#8212; it&#8217;s not my favorite, but it beats going without</li>
<li>Four cups &#8212; nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect</li>
<li>Five cups &#8212; loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes a book or story doesn&#8217;t warrant a five cup rating, but it&#8217;s so good it can&#8217;t be missed. For those I include the &#8220;Must Read&#8221; starburst in front of the cup rating. You&#8217;ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEXSEW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEXSEW&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The One Book of Etretat (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEXSEW" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain</h2>
<p><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Four-Cup.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1458 alignleft" alt="Four Cup" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Four-Cup.jpg" width="167" height="36" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEXSEW/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEXSEW&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px;" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=B008VEXSEW&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20" width="111" height="160" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEXSEW" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005TJ9CT2" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><img alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0987833022" width="1" height="1" border="0" />I usually do not agree to read an entire series, but the sample I read of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TJ9CT2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005TJ9CT2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Caves of Etretat, Book One of Four (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005TJ9CT2" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> made me decide to give this entire four book series a chance. Here is the description of Book Three:</p>
<p><em>The World on the Brink of Disaster</em></p>
<p><em>In the previous books of the series, Paul Sirenne discovered a complex of hidden caves in the cliffs of Etretat, France. Chased by an immortal serial killer, and assisted by the Abbey, a thousand-year old organization, Sirenne, becoming an immortal himself, was given control of the caves, to prepare for an ultimate confrontation against the Greyman, the oldest immortal on earth. Taken by surprise, Sirenne and the complex of caves barely survived an attack by American mercenaries. </em></p>
<p><em>In Book Three, the world is in chaos. Countless disasters are occurring everywhere and a pandemic disease is killing all children in the womb. People and countries, desperate for a solution, are demanding Sirenne&#8217;s immortality cure. Sirenne knows it&#8217;s not the true answer. He must find the One Book by solving the clues laid out by Maurice Leblanc and the Abbey. Changed by his immortality, he develops new senses which give him an increasingly different perspective on everything he sees. At the same time, all events are converging on him. Weissmuller, the immortal serial killer, is circling closer and closer.</em></p>
<p><em>&#8216;The One Book of Etretat&#8217; is the third in a four-book epic adventure following Paul Sirenne, an average man unknowingly manipulated into becoming the key in the final phase of a complex conspiracy spanning millennia. Inextricably woven into history, the series re-writes everything we know in a non-stop rollercoaster of a ride where nothing is ever as it seems.</em></p>
<p><em>The Sirenne Saga Continue</em>s</p>
<h3>The Good&#8230;</h3>
<p>The Caves of Etretat, Book Three of Four: The One Book of Etretat was by far the most exciting of the four books. This one had me turning pages quickly to find out what would happen next.</p>
<p>The Weismuller Recollections make much more sense in this story and add a wonderful bit of tension. It was also interesting to see how Weismuller was able to be a step ahead of Paul Sirenne and keep out of reach of the Abbey, not to mention making me wonder at some of the coincidences that helped this character achieve his goals.</p>
<h3>The Not-so-good&#8230;</h3>
<p>Like the Weismuller Recollections in book two, the Greyman Chronicles do not seem to make sense in this part of the story. Also, if you figured out what was going on with Inspector Norton in book one, most of the recollections in this book will feel unnecessary. They are interesting, but I felt they could have been skipped altogether without harming the story.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the author runs afoul of one of my pet peeves in this book. He puts in the mouth of Father Plantagenet a saying many people attribute to the Bible: God saves them who save themselves. While this saying works well with the entirety of the Caves of Etretat books, it is <em><strong>not</strong> </em>a quote from the Bible and is, in fact, a quote most often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Someone as well versed in theology as Father Plantagenet supposedly is, would be unlikely to say something like this when his entire vocation rests upon the belief that God saves those who cannot save themselves.</p>
<p>Again, while I&#8217;m sure it wasn&#8217;t intended, the Americans in the story made me laugh. They were more or less caricatures of every movie I&#8217;ve seen where the military decides to go in with guns blazing because their motto seems to be &#8220;Shoot first. Ask questions later.&#8221; There were no redeeming qualities to these characters, no reason to feel they were in any way justified in their thinking.</p>
<h3>The Overall&#8230;</h3>
<p>While this book was a page turner, I would only recommend <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VEXSEW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B008VEXSEW&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The One Book of Etretat (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B008VEXSEW" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain if you plan to finish the entire series because it will be necessary to understand book four.</p>
<p><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=virgirippl-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=B008VEXSEW" height="240" width="320" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-three-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Upon Review: The Caves of Etretat, Book Two of Four by Matt Chatelain</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-two-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-two-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:21:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[action adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Book Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cave]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Caves of Etretat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Chatelain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mystery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[suspense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: Book Crash, Book Rooster and The Bookplex just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love to curl up with a nice, steaming cup of tea and a free book to review. In fact I subscribe to three book review sites: <a href="http://www.bookcrash.com/">Book Crash</a>, <a href="http://www.bookrooster.com/">Book Rooster</a> and <a href="http://www.thebookplex.com/index.html">The Bookplex</a> just so I can indulge in my favorite leisure activity. What&#8217;s even better is when an author contacts me for a review. If you&#8217;re an author looking for someone to review your book or short story, check out my <a title="Request a Review" href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review page</a>.</p>
<p>Because I like to share the great reads I&#8217;ve found (and warn readers of the not-so-great finds), I developed a system:</p>
<ul>
<li>One cup &#8212; worse than a cup of luke warm black pekoe</li>
<li>Two cups &#8212; it may be hot, but you&#8217;ll need plenty of sweetener just to tolerate it</li>
<li>Three cups &#8212; it&#8217;s not my favorite, but it beats going without</li>
<li>Four cups &#8212; nice and hot and only needs a smidge of sweetener to be perfect</li>
<li>Five cups &#8212; loose leaf vanilla Earl Grey, yummy</li>
</ul>
<p>Sometimes a book or story doesn&#8217;t warrant a five cup rating, but it&#8217;s so good it can&#8217;t be missed. For those I include the &#8220;Must Read&#8221; starburst in front of the cup rating. You&#8217;ll find my cup rating above the picture of the cover. Enjoy!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0987833022/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0987833022&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Four Books of Etretat: Book Two of Four (Volume 2)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0987833022" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain</h2>
<p><a href="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1445 alignleft" alt="Three Cup" src="http://virginiaripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Three-Cup1.jpg" width="167" height="36" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0987833022/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0987833022&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px;" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;ASIN=0987833022&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20" width="107" height="160" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0987833022" width="1" height="1" border="0" />I usually do not agree to read an entire series, but the sample I read of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005TJ9CT2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005TJ9CT2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Caves of Etretat, Book One of Four (The Sirenne Saga)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005TJ9CT2" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> made me decide to give this entire four book series a chance. Here is the description of Book Two:</p>
<p><em>THE SECRET OF IMMORTALITY REVEALED In &#8216;The Caves of Etretat&#8217;, Canadian bookstore owner Paul Sirenne was thrust into a quest for answers in the town of Etretat, France, on the trail of a hundred year old mystery hidden in the pages of &#8216;The Hollow Needle&#8217;, by Maurice Leblanc. Together with Leblanc&#8217;s great-granddaughter, Sirenne unearthed puzzles, codes and historical mysteries, exposing a secret war for control of a cave fortress in Etretat&#8217;s chalk cliffs. In Book Two, &#8216;The Four Books of Etretat&#8217;, Sirenne discovers the reason for the hidden war: the secret of immortality. The Abbey, a thousand-year old organization, dedicated to chasing the oldest immortal on earth, known as the Greyman, has given Sirenne control of the caves and its secrets, apparently preparing him for a confrontation with the Greyman. Unfortunately, the serial killer who killed Sirenne&#8217;s father, Weissmuller, has discovered this knowledge before Sirenne. Now an immortal and constantly dogging Sirenne&#8217;s steps, Weissmuller seems to be playing a game of his own. &#8216;THE FOUR BOOKS OF ETRETAT&#8217; is the second in a four-book epic adventure following Paul Sirenne, an average man unknowingly manipulated into becoming the key in the final phase of a complex conspiracy spanning millennia. Inextricably woven into history, the series re-writes everything we know in a non-stop rollercoaster of a ride where nothing is ever as it seems. THE SAGA CONTINUES</em></p>
<h3>The Good&#8230;</h3>
<p>The Caves of Etretat, Book Two of Four: The Four Books of Etretat was more exciting than book one and many of the dialogue issues I had with book one have been worked out in this book. I was also intrigued by the unfolding mystery of the caves.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the use of dream imagery to aid Paul Sirenne in his unraveling of the clues LeBlanc left for him to solve and I thought adding the monks and the various Watcher groups into the story added a great bit of intrigue.</p>
<h3>The Not-so-good&#8230;</h3>
<p>Although there was plenty of action in this book, there was also still a lot of tedious information to go through.</p>
<p>The biggest problem I had with the mystery of locating the books was the number of specific chess references. I suppose if you enjoy, or at least understand the game of chess, these parts would be easily absorbed, but for me, someone who knows very little about the nuances of the game, I found it difficult to wade through. In fact, it threw me out of the story and made it too easy to put the book down.</p>
<p>I was also a bit irked by Paul Sirenne&#8217;s alternating reticence and seeming egotism. Granted, the hero has been pushed into a role he doesn&#8217;t really want, so his reticence is understandable. However, there are moments when he throws of his usual persona of working with his team and begins ordering people around like some kind of &#8220;lone cowboy.&#8221; The change was confusing because it felt like he was going against his nature.</p>
<p>While I&#8217;m sure it wasn&#8217;t intended, the Americans in the story made me laugh. They were more or less caricatures of every movie I&#8217;ve seen where the military decides to go in with guns blazing because their motto seems to be &#8220;Shoot first. Ask questions later.&#8221; There were no redeeming qualities to these characters, no reason to feel they were in any way justified in their thinking.</p>
<p>I also found the Weismuller Recollections unnecessary to the story being told. They were very interesting, but they seem to have little bearing on the present day action of the main story.</p>
<h3>The Overall&#8230;</h3>
<p>While there is a lot more action and believable dialogue, I would only recommend <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0987833022/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0987833022&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=virgirippl-20">The Four Books of Etretat: Book Two of Four (Volume 2)</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0987833022" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> by Matt Chatelain if you plan to finish the entire series because it will be necessary to understand books three and four.</p>
<p><iframe style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=virgirippl-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=0987833022" height="240" width="320" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/upon-review-the-caves-of-etretat-book-two-of-four-by-matt-chatelain/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Next Big Thing Blog Hop</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Author Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apprentice Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian fantasy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journeyman Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NaNoWriMo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Patrick Stewart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Next Big Thing Blog Hop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1669</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Rules of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop Chain Engagement This is a blog chain that originates from She Writes.  Each writer answers a series of interview questions and posts them on their blog or website while also linking to five other writers.  Those writers then answer the questions, post and include links to five [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Rules of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop Chain Engagement</h2>
<p>This is a blog chain that originates from She Writes.  Each writer answers a series of interview questions and posts them on their blog or website while also linking to five other writers.  Those writers then answer the questions, post and include links to five other writers and so on and so on.  If you happen to fall short of five peeps, that is cool.  Just run with who you have.</p>
<h2>On to the interview&#8230;</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009KAM766/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B009KAM766"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=B009KAM766&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" width="106" height="160" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important;margin: 0px !important" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B009KAM766" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><b>What is the working title of your book?</b>  Following the idea of the my first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009KAM766/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B009KAM766">Apprentice Cat</a><img style="border: none !important;margin: 0px !important" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B009KAM766" width="1" height="1" border="0" />, I decided to name book 2 Journeyman Cat.</p>
<p><b>Where did the idea come from for the book?  </b>I&#8217;d already decided that there had to be at least two more books following Apprentice Cat because who would want to leave a character at just the apprentice stage? The idea for the story came from watching my daughter play and thinking about how terrible it would be if the bad guy from book 1 decided to use children in his war against humankind. From there it was just a little research and letting the muse throw plot devices in my lap until I had an outline to use for the first draft. Thanks to <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a>, I now have that first draft sitting on a virtual shelf cooling off while I throw myself into the next project.</p>
<p><b>What genre does your book fall under? </b>I categorize it as Christian fantasy, but it would easily fit in YA/NA. It&#8217;s not your typical Christian fantasy because there isn&#8217;t any overt references to God and there&#8217;s a lot of magic. Besides that, I can&#8217;t say I&#8217;ve ever read a Christian fantasy with a full cast of talking cats either. However, there are definite Christian themes running through both Apprentice Cat and Journeyman Cat.</p>
<p><b>Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?</b> That&#8217;s a good question. Obviously the cats would be CGI, but the humans? The only real person I actually thought about casting in a role was Patrick Stewart as Master Jalen.</p>
<p><b>What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?</b> Toby, a magic-wielding cat, must choose between saving his human partner or losing his father forever as he races to capture a feline terrorist determined to enslave humans.</p>
<p><b>Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?</b> It will be self-published just like Apprentice Cat, with an audio book coming out sometime after the release of the print and ebook editions.</p>
<p><b>How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?</b> Two months &#8212; and that was a lot shorter time span than for the first book. I think I&#8217;m getting faster. <img src='http://virginiaripple.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002IEUV78/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002IEUV78"><img class="alignleft" style="border: 0px" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=B002IEUV78&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" width="67" height="110" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important;margin: 0px !important" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B002IEUV78" width="1" height="1" border="0" /><b>What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  </b>Harry Potter, of course, and Erin Hunter&#8217;s Warrior series, but I&#8217;d say the greatest influence would be Mercedes Lackey&#8217;s Last Herald-Mage <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007HBGMJI/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B007HBGMJI"><img class="alignright" style="border: 0px" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=B007HBGMJI&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" width="71" height="110" border="0" /></a><img style="border: none !important;margin: 0px !important" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B007HBGMJI" width="1" height="1" border="0" />trilogy. I also patterned much of the cats interactions with humans on Joe Grey and Dulcie from the Joe Grey mysteries.</p>
<p><b>Who or what inspired you to write this book? </b>The inspiration was a long time in coming. Book 1 was originally a short story I published on <a href="http://www.writing.com/?i=1" target="_blank">writing.com</a> that grabbed the attention of some people who wanted to publish it in their magazine. The deal fell through, but I was left with a burning desire to tell the rest of the story. That was back in 2003, so when I finally decided to do this self-publishing thing for real, Apprentice Cat was the first fiction book I sat down and worked at. Journeyman Cat was the natural follow-up.</p>
<p><b>What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?  </b>If you&#8217;ve ever caught a cat staring at you with narrowed eyes and wondered if they were secretly planning to enslave you and everyone you knew, you might want to read this book. Then again, maybe not.</p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Unfortunately, by the time I got around to doing this post (which is among the last regular posts, so <a href="http://virginiaripple.com/its-2013-now-what-less-blogging-and-a-monthly-newsletter/" target="_blank">sign up for my newsletter</a> for sneak peeks and awesome specials), I wasn&#8217;t able to tag five other writers. They&#8217;d all been tagged about a dozen times already. <img src='http://virginiaripple.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </strong></span></p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>It&#8217;s 2013, now what? Less blogging and a monthly newsletter</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/its-2013-now-what-less-blogging-and-a-monthly-newsletter/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/its-2013-now-what-less-blogging-and-a-monthly-newsletter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2013 01:43:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Author Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ACX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apprentice Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[audiobook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journeyman Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monthly newsletter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Malkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1658</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Sometimes decisions are hard and sometimes you just need to wake up from a good nap and have an epiphany. That&#8217;s what happened to me today. After what feels like forever, I&#8217;ve finally decided that I&#8217;m going to throw myself into producing books and put this blogging thing on the shelf. So from here out, [...]</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sometimes decisions are hard and sometimes you just need to wake up from a good nap and have an epiphany. That&#8217;s what happened to me today.</p>
<p>After what feels like forever, I&#8217;ve finally decided that I&#8217;m going to throw myself into producing books and put this blogging thing on the shelf. <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>So from here out, I&#8217;ll be using this web site as just that: a web site.</strong></em></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>I&#8217;ll be keeping my promise to the other indies I have scheduled to do <a href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/books-in-queue/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">book reviews</span></a></strong></em></span>, and if you have a book you&#8217;d like to have me review, then by all means check out my <a href="http://virginiaripple.com/request-a-review/" target="_blank">Request a Review</a> page, but those reviews won&#8217;t be coming on any regular schedule. If you&#8217;re an author, I&#8217;m sure you can understand my reasoning behind cutting back.</p>
<p>Occasionally I&#8217;ll post updates or news or other interesting things, so don&#8217;t despair. <img src='http://virginiaripple.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  It&#8217;s just not going to be every other day or even every week.</p>
<p>For everything else,<span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/virginiarippleauthor" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">like my fan page</span></a> or follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/virginiaripple" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">twitter</span></a></strong></em></span>.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft" alt="" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=B009KAM766&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" width="106" height="160" border="0" /></p>
<h2>Here&#8217;s the great news for you, the fan/reader:</h2>
<p><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B009KAM766" width="1" height="1" border="0" />I have so many exciting things going on now that I can&#8217;t wait to tell you all about it, but there is a catch. You&#8217;ll need to sign up for my monthly newsletter if you want access to all the sneak peeks and juicy special prices for new releases.</p>
<p>To that end, let me start this first month of 2013 with an update of some of the exciting things you can look forward to if you sign up for the newsletter:</p>
<ol>
<li>I&#8217;ve contracted with someone through <a href="http://acx.com" target="_blank">ACX</a> to produce <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009KAM766/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=virgirippl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B009KAM766">Apprentice Cat</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=virgirippl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B009KAM766" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> as an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>audio book</strong></em></span>. I&#8217;ll announce when it will be available in the newsletter first.</li>
<li><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>The cover for Journeyman Cat is finished</strong></em></span>. I&#8217;ll be releasing a sneak peek later this year.</li>
<li>I&#8217;m working on <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>a novella</strong></em></span> set in the Apprentice Cat world called <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>The Malkin, featuring a character from the first book</strong></em></span>. Subscribers will be the first to know when the ebook is available and receive a special subscriber price.</li>
<li>I&#8217;ll be releasing <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>sneak peeks at first chapters and other goodies</strong></em></span>, including special reduced prices from time to time, but only to anyone who signs up to the newsletter.</li>
</ol>
<p>Get in on the great deals now by entering your email address in the <span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><strong>&#8220;Subscribe to my monthly newsletter&#8221;</strong></em></span> in the column to the right. Remember to click the subscribe button, too. <img src='http://virginiaripple.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Can&#8217;t wait to let you in on the excitement!</p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/its-2013-now-what-less-blogging-and-a-monthly-newsletter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>99 Authors, 99 Books, 99 Cents</title>
		<link>http://virginiaripple.com/1641/</link>
		<comments>http://virginiaripple.com/1641/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:00:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>vripple</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Author Updates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent Publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[99 authors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[99 cents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[99 titles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apprentice Cat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian writer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Virginia Ripple]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://virginiaripple.com/?p=1641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>These prices are available on Amazon only. For a listing of books offered and to enter to win, click here!! Be sure to pick up Apprentice Cat by yours truly for $.99 today! ***</p><p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://www.buymereadme.com"><img class=" wp-image-17 aligncenter" title="99authors blog ad" src="http://buymereadme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/99authors-blog-ad1.jpg" alt="" width="554" height="554" /></a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center">These prices are available on Amazon only.</h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center">For a listing of books offered and to enter to win, click <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="color: #3366ff"><span style="color: #3366ff;text-decoration: underline"><a href="http://www.buymereadme.com">here!!</a></span></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center"><span style="color: #0000ff"><em>Be sure to pick up Apprentice Cat by yours truly for $.99 today!</em></span></h2>
<p style="text-align: center">***</p>
<p><p> © copyright 2012 – All rights reserved </p>
<a href=”http://www.virginiaripple.com“>Virginia Ripple's Web Site</a></p>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://virginiaripple.com/1641/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
