Social Media Tags

For a long time, I wanted to re-brand Inksoaked Page, not because it needs a change but for it to expand to the other sides of the social media sphere. It took a bit longer than I wanted to (life, motherhood, career) but I needed to put this as a priority if I truly wanted this to be a major aspect of my life. 

During my small break from school (small in an understatement), I really took the time to focus on what I want my brand to be and what I want to come out of all this. Fame is definitely not one of the aspects, but I do want to grow a community of writers in my world. Although, I do have friends that write stories they do not have the same passion and drive I do about it. They like it and I love it, they do it when they want to and I do it because it wakes up my soul. Now, this is not an insult to my friends, I love them with all my heart but I need to find a community where they share the same feelings towards writing, especially when it comes to the good, bad and ugly. 

So I started to branch in different social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and even Youtube. 

So come and join me in this adventure, and grow with me. 


Instagram

Twitter

Youtube

😊

Thank you, guys, for the support, love, and friendships!

Book Review: The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder by Emmanuella Hristova

The Day My Kisses Tasted Like Disorder by Emmanuella Hristova

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Synopsis:  It is a short collection of poems that explores a tumultuous year of love, heartbreak and unimaginable loss. It documents the birth and death of a relationship, and the death of my sister. Each poem is an emotional time-stamp that plunges the reader into the depths of my feelings as they burgeon and wane. The book reads like a diary and chronicles the boundaries of the things that we all feel: passion, heartache, and pain that gives way to hope. 

Want to feel the raw intensity of a woman trying to find herself through the throngs of trauma, passion, and suffering, then this book is for you. Emmanuella Hristova pens gut-wrenching poems in the style of entries in a journal to allow the readers into her world. When she sent an email asking if I wanted to read it I was a bit hesitant, I mean I studied prose mostly but I said sure why not?  It did help a bit that her nickname is my daughter's nickname Emmy. Yet it wasn't the sheer coincidence that happened it was the work that sucked me in. It was as if I was peeking through a stained glass window that was covered in agony and light. You're automatically pulled into this work and you want the voice to find her way to happiness, to escape the hands of the men who harmed her and the grief she experiences with the death of a family member. 

However, the work is not just detailing trauma and suffering, you get poems that remind yourself of when you first fall in love. These reminded me of any relationship I  have been, the honeymoon stage, where every new thing is wonderful and what could go wrong? Well, Emmanuella eventually takes off those rose-colored glasses and shows you. I enjoyed reading this work, and it was not a long read which is great for a person like who doesn't read poetry often. I give this book a 4.5-star rating and hope that others enjoy this piece as well. 

Emmanuella thank you for writing such an intimate revealing piece of work and allowing me to peek inside your world. 

 I recommend this book for any reader of poetry, heartbreak, and growth. 

The book can be purchased at Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Book Review: Colour Me Father: An Open Letter To My Son by Paolo Hewitt

Colour Me Father: An Open Letter To My Son by Paolo Hewitt

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Synopsis: On August 21st 2015 at 10.30 pm in an Archway hospital, my son Rafi Supino Arif came into my life. It was of course a momentous occasion, filled with all kinds of emotions. But as he started to grow, one thought kept repeating itself in my mind. Would I write about him or the experience of raising a son? The answer was always no. There was no handle for me to grab onto so I put it to one side. Until his first birthday. It was there that Rafi first heard applause and the look on his face hit something inside of me. Within a week I had begun writing Colour Me Father. 

One of the first memoirs I read this year and it intrigued me right from the first page. The book is written as a long letter from the author to his son Rafi. What wows me is the intimate insight into the father-son dynamic that Paolo writes with. The stylizing of the writing although not my favorite fits perfectly with this story.  As the story progressed we learn more about Paolo's background, his relationships with other people in Rafi's life, and just the growth of Paolo turning into a father. Not everything is sunshine and roses (as a parent I know this) but it is raw and real. The shining star of this is that right, the rawness, and reality of the story. 

Memoirs have a boxy sense to them, here we are pulled into the world and becoming a new parent right along with Paolo. So what stopped this from being a five star in my book. While the whole story is written in as an epistolary, the length of it was a bit too long. At the time I felt driven a bit away from the story as there is nothing to break the story so it is continuous. You can't exactly just stop it or you will lose your place. Other than that the story is a great piece of work. One of my favorite lines is towards the end of the novel 

"And you, my darling young son, will look up at me - and you will smile" 

 I recommend this book for any reader of Memoirs and Family Dynamics 

This book can be purchased at Paolo's personal website

Book Review: Pricked by Winter Renshaw

Pricked by Winter Renshaw

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Synopsis: All I wanted was a tattoo.What I got was a broody, enigmatic demigod with an electrifying touch and a mysterious past.We were night and day in every way possible, not an ounce of anything in common, and yet, I wanted him in the worst way.It didn't matter that he was emotionally unavailable or that he was exactly the kind of man who would give my father a coronary should I dare to bring him home. It didn't matter that his heart was wrapped in barbed wire or that he made me promise never to fall for him.None of it mattered because he was the most perfectly imperfect, beautifully tortured soul I'd ever known, and I was besotted, addicted to all the thrilling and wondrous ways he made me feel when we were together.They say a single moment can change the entire trajectory of your life. But looking back, I never could have imagined all the ways my world would change the moment it collided with his.I learned too late that he kept his past a secret for a reason.

Pricked was a great premise of a novel, first, we meet two very different people. Madden, the owner of a tattoo shop is seen as broody and struggling to succeed in his life. Then here comes Socialite Brighton an unhappy, wealthy, young lady who wants a tattoo in an act of rebelling. While don't get me wrong the story had its high points, the chemistry between the two is strong, and you want to root for them. Yet, I could not get passed the bits of cliches in this novel. 

First, their names which are to me just signified too much. Then it was their financial status, I had to pause when I read how there was absolutely nothing in Madden's mother's fridge and shake my head, then to see how rich Brighton was. Lastly, I couldn't connect to Brighton and I felt at her age (22) she could have just done something more than mope. I could be a bit too harsh but these things kept popping up within the book that just made it unrealistic for me. Some of the good points come in the secondary characters such as Devanie who was just the right amount sass, and power this book needed. Thanks to her the book was able to move forward for me. While I wasn't a big fan of it doesn't mean you can't be!

 I recommend this book for any reader of Romance stories/Opposite Attract 

Book Review: Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle

Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Synopsis: Attempted murder, that's how sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte's engagement starts. It seems like the only thing she has in common with Prince Young of Vires is their mutual discontent. When her kingdom's attacked, Charlotte's parents renegotiate her hand in marriage to a handsome stranger with a sinister plan. With the people, Charlotte loves dying around her, and her kingdom's future at stake, the only person she can turn to is the prince she betrayed. But, should she save her kingdom or her heart? One must fall.

Just that alone drove me into this story with an intrigued and open mind. As I opened the PDF to do this ARC Review my jaw dropped at the length of pages, but as I began to read the two hundred pages didn't daunt me anymore. Instead, I was driven into a world of fantasy that had so many twist and turns, you had to keep turning the pages. The story starts out with what you would expect of a fairytale-esque story, a young girl is off to be wed to a young man that she simply does not love. Yet Chenelle takes what is expected and flips it into such a creative whirlwind of drama. 

Princess Charlotte does not just whine about she does not want to marry Prince Young. She takes drastic actions against Prince Young from attacking his carriage upon arriving at the castle and forgoing a hunger strike. She will do anything to escape this marriage. While you get to know Princess Charlotte and Prince Young, it is Minseo who steals the show. Brittni, I need Minseo to have a standalone novel just saying. I mean I won't say any spoilers (the end is insane), I will say I understand Princess Charlotte, I understand. I stated that the book is a bit long but the read is quick and breezy, three chapters in and you will not be able to put it down!

What stopped this from being a 5 out of 5? I am not a fan of multiple first points of view stories, but Brittni attempted a great deal at making it flow. However, I do believe that it pulled away from something that could have been stronger. Maybe if it focused on Charlotte's point of view and may be switched to Young then it would have been more powerful. We could have developed a deeper relationship with the characters. 

 I recommend this book for any reader of Young Adult Fantasy/Young Adult Romance. 

The book can be purchased at Barnes & Noble or Amazon

Enjoy and View the trailer below