Book Reviews, Books, Diane Solomon author, Uncategorized

Goodreads Giveaway! Win “Eva,” Diane’s new novel

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Enter the Goodreads Giveaway to win Diane’s new novel, “Eva”

ENTER HERE

Release date: Jul 15, 2023
 
100 ebooks will be won of Diane’s new romantic suspense novel, “Eva.” A love story with a supernatural twist…
 
A novel full of heart, suspense, romance, and inspiration. For readers who love thoughtful women’s fiction from Barbara Delinsky, Kristin Hannah, or Patti Callahan Henry, or authors of magical realism such as Sarah Addison Allen, Menna van Praag, or Emily Colin.

ENTER HERE

Eva possesses a unique and powerful gift. But is it a curse?

Best-Selling Author Review: “I was captivated by Eva’s story and riveted to the end. Diane is a beautiful writer who has captured the essence of Eva’s unearthing of her true self. A story that is timeless. Bravo!” FROM: Laurie Seymour, M.A., twice #1 international best-selling author, host of Wisdom Talk Radio, Exec Coach, Founder/CEO of The Baca Institute.

Beta Reader review: “This book grabs you by the heart and doesn’t let go!”

~ For readers who enjoy Sarah Addison Allen, Emily Colin, Barbara Delinsky, or Kristin Hannah.

 

#romanticsuspense #bookgiveaweay #magicalrealism #healingtouch# healinghands #energyhealing #Goodreads #DianeSolomon #paranormalnovel #women’sfiction

Books, Diane Solomon author

New novel, “Eva,” to be published July 15th!

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“Eva,” Diane’s new contemporary women’s novel,  a deep love story with a paranormal twist, due out July 15th.

Pre-order on Amazon now! 99c for a month!   Click here

Eva possesses a unique and powerful gift. But is it a curse?

She plays down her beauty, to avoid attention. But it doesn’t work. She has a magnetic quality, a calm, a power of which she is unaware.

Never having known her father and having lost her mother when she was young, Eva believes she’s better off alone. She only connects deeply with animals, they are her first love. But another great love is on the horizon, along with other life-changing discoveries.

When they learn of her gift, the media jackals gather, and Eva is forced into the limelight she’s avoided all her life. Facing challenges at every turn, including her own inner demons, she must fight to protect, even embrace, her newfound ability.

But someone wants her dead.

Best-Selling Author Review : “I was captivated by Eva’s story and riveted to the end. Diane is a beautiful writer who has captured the essence of Eva’s unearthing of her true self. A story that is timeless. Bravo!” Laurie Seymour, M.A., twice a #1 international best-selling author, host of Wisdom Talk Radio, Executive Coach, international speaker and Founder/CEO of The Baca Institute.

Beta Reader review: “This book grabs you by the heart and doesn’t let go!”

~ For readers who are enchanted by the magical realism of Sarah Addison Allen or Emily Colin, or inspired by the thoughtful women’s fiction of Barbara Delinsky or Kristin Hannah.

Books, Diane Solomon author

Magical realism in my new novel, “EVA.”

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“Eva” to be published July 20!

What is Magic Realism?

Magical realism is a newish book genre, growing in popularity, that incorporates the paranormal in a very realistic way.  The author builds a real world for the reader, with magical or paranormal aspects that are treated as perfectly normal. So the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred.

What fun, right?

My new novel, Eva,  incorporates elements of magical realism. Here’s a quick summary of the plot (without giving it all away!) :

Eva’s newfound ability might be a gift. Or a curse.

Never having known her father and having lost her mother when she was young, Eva believes she’s better off alone. She only connects deeply with animals. When, at age 26, she discovers that she can heal them, just through her touch, at first she’s amazed and thrilled.

But things change when she begins to heal humans as well. Soon, journalists start hounding her relentlessly. Next, her wealthy, manipulative father surfaces, with just one goal: to profit from her ability. Even the magnetic Michael, to whom she’s powerfully drawn, wants more from her than she’s willing to give.

Just as Eva’s beginning to open her heart to Michael, she’s accused online of being a “blasphemer” and “scam artist,” and hand-delivered death threats confirm someone wants to kill her. Forced into the limelight she’s avoided all of her life and facing challenges at every turn, Eva must fight to protect her newfound ability while also doing the most difficult thing of all: staying alive.

Eva offers a passionate love story, full of dark conflict and reversals, with the theme of our universal yearning for connection. Plus, it is loaded with heart. The reader will come away moved and satisfied.

Here are a few of the authors who write in the magical realism genre: Sarah Addison Allen, Menna van Praag, Emily Colin, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez,  Angela Carter, Aimee Bender, and many more.

Read more about Magical Realism

 

Articles, Diane Solomon author, Uncategorized

Why do so few men read books written by women?

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Women read male authors, but few men read female authors. Can you believe this, in 2023?

Research shows that for women authors, only about 19% of their readers are men and 81% are women. But for male authors? 55% are men and 45% are women. 

This may help to explain why so many women authors use initials instead of their given names, so their gender is not immediately revealed. Sadly.

This might simply be a perception problem. It turns out that once men have read a book by a woman, they tend to like it as well or better than a book by a man. In Goodreads, the average rating men give to books by a woman is 3.9 out of 5; for books by men, it’s 3.8.

But men just don’t PICK UP a book by a woman as often.

Is it just a perception problem? “That’s a chick’s book,” I can hear a guy say with a degree of derision. There is certainly that piece. But perhaps there is a real, natural divide, that we can’t get away from. Men don’t want to watch “chick flicks” and they don’t want to read a “chick’s book.” Because it’s about love, family, relationships, and about communicating deeply and sharing emotions. That’s not really their thing. (For most men, anyway.) Just as I don’t particularly want to watch macho, testosterone adventures, at least not all the time! And as for gratuitous violence, I can truly do without it. So maybe there’s a natural division.

Comments? I’d love to know what you think.

        *        *       *

The Guardian published a very good article about this very conundrum, and it covers the research data:

GUARDIAN ARTICLE: Why do so few men read books by women?

By MA Sieghart  (a woman)

“No matter if it is Austen or Atwood, the Brontës or Booker winners, data shows men are reluctant to read women – and this has real world implications.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/09/why-do-so-few-men-read-books-by-women

 

ALSO, the Literary Gender Gap: another recent article: https://lithub.com/why-are-so-many-men-still-resistant-to-reading-women/   

Why Are So Many Men Still Resistant to Reading Women?

“Maybe the men assumed that novels by women weren’t as good, but how could they tell if they weren’t even reading them?”

 

 

Books, Diane Solomon author, Fiction, Uncategorized

What book did you fall in love with as a child?

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Do you remember the first book you passionately loved? I sure do. It was “101 Dalmatians” by the wonderful Dodie Smith, that I first read when I was about seven or eight. My dad was a librarian, and he brought it home for me. I fell so in love with it that I wouldn’t give it back! He kept telling me it had to be returned, that I couldn’t keep it. So I started copying it. No, not with a copy machine, but by hand!! I was determined to write out every single page of that book so that I had it forever.

And so it began. I raced home from school every day and sat scrunched over my little desk, writing out the book, word for word. I got to page forty-five, before my dad found a way to take pity on me. He told his boss at the library what his little daughter was doing, and she finally gifted me the copy.

The pictures are of the original book, published in 1957, which I’ve had more than fifty years. It’s been moved around the planet about twenty times in countless moves: from Alberta to California, to Oregon, to England, to Pennsylvania, to Colorado and Connecticut. To New Hampshire. It’s lost his spine, and it’s a bit worse for wear. But I still read it. And still love it.

Dodie Smith, what a great writer.

Leave me a comment about your favorite childhood book – I’d love to know! A friend from high school came on to Facebook to respond on my post, saying her mad fav was “The Witch of Blackbird Pond,” so now I have to go read that! I still love kids’ books…

 

Books, Diane Solomon author, Fiction, Uncategorized

New novel… 1st draft, 2nd draft, 3rd draft!

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Regarding my new novel, “Eva,” I am in editing mode, and watching it get better and better and better. It would be pretty awful if it didn’t!  Sometimes you can edit yourself into a standstill, a land of second-guessing and insecurity. I am trying not to do that!

Here is the rough back cover BLURB:

“Eva has beauty she plays down, to avoid attention. But it doesn’t work. People are invariably drawn to her. She has a magnetic quality, a calm, a power she is unaware she has. She wants to be left alone to look after animals; they are her first love.

Another love is on the horizon, though. Along with life-changing discoveries. She discovers a father she doesn’t know, a new family she doesn’t trust, and that someone wants to kill her.
 
She discovers the most shocking and inspiring discovery of all:  She possesses a powerful gift that others do not have. But is it a gift? Or a curse?”
 
*       *       *
 
This is a rough cover, just to inspire me as I wrote. And not even sure of the title yet. Remains to be seen.
 
I will post the first couple of chapters soon!
 

 

Books, Diane Solomon author, Fiction, Uncategorized

I am finishing up a new novel!

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I am finishing up a new novel! It is from an idea I first dreamed up twenty five years ago… good things (I hope) come to those who wait, and wait and wait!
 
BACK COVER: “Eva has beauty she plays down, to avoid attention. But it doesn’t work. People are invariably drawn to her. She has a magnetic quality, a calm, a power she is unaware she has. She wants to be left alone to look after animals; they are her first love.
Another love is on the horizon, though. Along with life-changing discoveries. She discovers a father she doesn’t know, a new family she doesn’t trust, and that someone wants to kill her.
She discovers she possesses a powerful ability that others do not have. Is it a gift? Or a curse?”
 
This is a rough cover, just to inspire me as I wrote. And not even sure of the title yet. Remains to be seen.
 
I will post the first couple of chapters soon!
 
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