Gambler’s Luck: A Review of Man on the Isle of Jura
All writers are gamblers at heart, risking body and soul, blood and guts in each work by taking giant leaps of language, feeling and imagination in an effort to connect with readers. Part of that connection occurs when you get reviews of your work, which happen to be exceedingly difficult these days in the world of Indie authors. You may labor on a book for years, pitch it to an agent or small press editor and wait (sometimes for months) for a positive response that never comes. Luckily, on a bright, sunny day, and that’s part of being a gambler, you happen to find the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble (as well as other outlets for Indie authors) where you can produce an ebook and paperback on your own (like a rolling stone, a complete unknown). Perhaps the gamble will pay off and you’ll find those elusive readers who pick up happily on your offerings. The odds, though, are really, really long: you’re up against 300,000 other like-minded, ambitious Indie authors who also publish on those websites each year. Hard to get traction, visibility, or—magically, reviews. Every review, whether good, bad or indifferent, is like winning the lottery: it counts, and has meaning.
For a while, I thought there wasn’t a prayer in hell that my recent work of fiction, Man on the Isle of Jura, would ever get any reviews (even one!). But I got lucky: Bonnie DeMoss at Historical Novels Review Magazine picked up on the novel, liked it and reviewed it, posting her review on Amazon, Goodreads, the Historical Review Magazine and her blog site. I wrote to her and asked if she might want to share some of her thoughts about reviewing, the types of historical fiction she enjoys, and common trends in the genre.
Here’s what she said:
Q. Can you tell me a little about yourself?
A. I’m Bonnie DeMoss and I am a blogger at Bonnie Reads and Writes. I also do book reviews for Historical Novels Review Magazine, blog tours, and for various publishers via Netgalley and other sites. I post a selection of these reviews on my blog. In addition, I have a weekly feature on my blog called “Self-Published Saturday,” where I share reviews of books by self-published authors. I am very interested in doing what I can to help self-published and Indie authors promote their books.
Q. What kinds of books are you reading now? Any favorite genres, for example?
A. My favorite genre is historical fiction, and that's what I'm reading at the moment. I am currently reading Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington Books), which will be published in October. It is the first book in a historical cozy mystery series set in the home of Agatha Christie. The protagonist is Christie’s fictional housekeeper, Phyllida Bright. Of course, historical cozy mysteries continue to be very popular with readers.
Q. You mentioned that historical fiction is your favorite genre. Are there any particular periods in history that seem to attract reader attention? The ones that are most popular?
A. As far as historical settings, the most popular setting for historical fiction in my opinion appears to be World War II. In fact, there is so much World War II fiction being offered right now that I often pass it by unless there is a new or different approach that I haven’t seen before. For example, I recently reviewed the fantastic A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver (Minotaur Books), which is about a female safe-cracking thief turned spy during World War II.
Q. Any other trends that you’ve spotted?
A. Another trend I’ve started to see and which I enjoy very much is the combination of historical fiction and magical realism (adding a magical or fantasy aspect to the real world). Of course, Man on the Isle of Jura is a good example of that. It also includes time travel. My favorite thing to read in the world is a combination of time travel and historical fiction, which is what led me to select Man on the Isle of Jura when I was choosing books to review for Historical Novels Review Magazine. At the time, I had not read the first book in the series, but the time travel aspect popped out for me, and I read it as a standalone. The magical realism was an added surprise and worked well in the story.
Q. How do you go about selecting books to review? And what are you trying to accomplish in your reviews?
A. My review process is very simple. I do a short synopsis, and then I write a couple of paragraphs about how the book made me feel as a reader. I am always a reader first. I see reviews sometimes that appear to be geared towards writing professionals, but I want to convey the experience of the book to other book lovers who just want to cozy up to a great story. The readers are choosing their next book while scrolling through millions of offerings on Amazon and elsewhere. After I’ve shared my experience, they will decide if the book appeals to them.
Q. Anything else you’d like to share with readers?
A. I’d like to invite everyone to my blog,, where I share my book reviews, and occasionally a photo, poem or story of my own. I’m also @BonnieReads777 on Twitter and Instagram.