MY 5 Stars for Images of Broken Light by Michael Di Leo

For me, this was one of the best nostalgic books I’ve ever read. You know how there’s always questions like : Where were you when you heard JFK died? Where were you when you heard Princess Diana died? Well, Images of Broken Light is about Where were you when heard John Lennon died? As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, I remember exactly when and where my 12 year-old self was and the shock the world went into. This book brings that all back, as we read about 3 fictional John Lennon fans in 3 different stages of life a few days prior to the murder and forward. 
If you are nostalgic for the time period 1960s-1980 this book really brings you back. Anyone 45 -55 will completely “get” this book and I even recommend it for the younger crowds as well. Well done!
You can see my review on Goodreads. 

A 5 Star Children's book NOAH AND LOGAN LEARN TO CARE FOR THEIR PETS by Benjamin K.M. Kellogg

My 5 Star review for this pet care book is on Goodreads. I was very intrigued by Mr. Kellogg's Noah and Logan's children series as I feel children's books are incredibly important. I feel children need to be read to at early stages as they'll both learn and bond with the reader and with books. It's a wonderful gift to be able to write for children. And to read with them. 
I chose NOAH AND LOGAN LEARN TO CARE FOR THEIR PETS because here in the Meyer household we have a rescue cat, Chloe who we all adore and take care of. I have had several pet cats in my lifetime starting from early childhood, so pet care and respect for animals is a great and noble subject. Taught young, it will stay with your child forever. 

My 5 of 5 Stars Goodreads Review ....Teaching children how to take proper care of their pets is one of the most important ways to teach your child love and responsibility for animals. I feel the author covered all the bases. If you are looking an easy explainable pet care book for small children ages 2 to 6 this book by author Benjamin K.M. Kellogg is perfect!

My 5 Star Review on THE WRONG HOUSE TO BURGLE by Glenn McGoldrick

Lisa Diaz Meyer on AMAZON says.... 5 out of 5 Stars ....Excellent writing, moved quickly and got the point across in good time and style. If you like irony, as I do, you will enjoy The Wrong House to Burgle.

I don't like to give away plots in my reviews, I feel like they are spoilers, so I leave that to the professional reviewers. THE WRONG HOUSE TO BURGLE is a short story by Glenn McGoldrick. Let's just say the quick concept here is watch out who you rob, they may just be as bad as you or possibly worse. As a short story writer myself, I have to give a thumbs up to Mr. McGoldrick for having a swiftly moving beginning, middle and end in such a small amount of reading material. 

My 5 Star Review of THE MANNEQUINS by Elyse Salpeter on Goodreads

I finished this book in two days, about a week ago and the villain is still on my brain. If you don't know it, I love a good horror villain. The Preacher totally CREEPED ME out and that is a hard feat to accomplish. I long for a book to give me that chill or scare factor. Is that a dare??? Maybe. 
For now, THE MANNEQUINS bad guy will have to do...

GOODREADS REVIEW 5 Stars from Lisa Diaz Meyer
5 stars for creepiness and concept, likable characters and enjoyable read!

Literary Titan's 5 STAR Review of ALL ROADS SHATTERED by Lisa Diaz Meyer

All Roads Shattered by Lisa Meyer is the third book in the All Roads collection. This collection of dark fiction stories and poems begins with The Outposts III, which satisfyingly continues with the story of Georgia and Mitchell who we have been following through both books one and two. As we left them in book two to come to terms with their new life together, in this collection, Lisa picks up with the journey the two still must endure.

Then there is a three-part story in the form of People of Gods, a haunting selection of 12 pieces of poetry in the section titled Fragments, two further extended stories in the section The Enduring and finally, to end the collection, three small but perfectly formed short and simple stories which pack a huge punch in the section of The Oddities!

The Oddities features three ‘out there’ stories with Preacher, Crooks, and Helge. In a word, wow is what springs to mind when reading through each of them!

With Preacher, I never saw it coming at all, but the conclusion was oh so satisfying! Crooks was a great concept and equally mesmerizing. However, Helge had to be the most disturbing story of them all! I had, in fact, become so captivated by the last three stories that I wasn’t expecting the book to end when it did.

Helge produced some near awful visions in my mind as I read through, think Jack the Ripper style, back streets of grey and misty London; enough to give you nightmares. Yet, it was a tremendous and thoroughly satisfying end to a superb collection.

Having read both the first and second books in the collection, a part of me would have thought that perhaps by now Lisa may have run out of steam. After all, All Roads Home and All Roads Destined were for me, both 5 star reads. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

When you have read all three books, you may begin to feel that Lisa has a stronger connection to the futuristic sci-fi genre. This is perhaps because it is always the more extensive of stores and at the very beginning of each collection, with a continuation throughout the three.

However, in All Roads Shattered, the story I found the most compelling and atmospheric was Dinner with Myles. This was a story which I didn’t want to leave and could easily imagine Lisa writing a book based on this genre; such was it handled so well.

The ending to this story was, yet again, superbly accomplished by Lisa, as all her short stories have been throughout. However, I would still love for her to write a prequel to this one! Neil and Myles are wonderfully drawn, and complex characters and I could very well imagine them as partners working on crimes and investigating mysteries!

The great thing about reading Lisa Meyer’s collections is that each one gets better as you go along. That is particularly hard to achieve for many writers of such collections, but the All Roads Shattered collection is perhaps the most extensive and best written one yet.

It almost feels as though Lisa’s confidence has grown with each outing and this is therefore reflected in the intensity and broader scope of her writing. Her stories seem to expand and take on a deeper meaning in their unique genres in this collection, and I believe her writing style almost borders along the lines of perfection this time.

If you only manage to read one story, then Dinner with Myles should be that one. I can guarantee you that once you’ve sampled this nearly perfect piece of prose, you will feel compelled to read on.

Literary Titan's 5 Star Review of ALL ROADS DESTINED by Lisa Diaz Meyer

All Roads Destined by Lisa Diaz Meyer is the second book in the All Roads Trilogy. Consisting of a collection of dark fiction stories and poems, the book is divided into sections including one story in four parts, four shorter stories and a selection of poems to finish off with. I would strongly recommend reading Lisa’s first collection, All Roads Home, as the four-part story in this collection continues from a story in the first book, charting the characters activities since we last read about them in book one.

Slightly different than the format of her first collection, All Roads Destined leads with a prologue and then three parts of one short story, alternating in each chapter with Mitchell, Gerard, and Georgia.

The Building, The Alpha Post, The People’s Government and Notas Territory are all chapters of a story which cleverly links back to the first book and includes the character of Georgia, whom we discovered was being held as the subject of scientist’s aim for cancer immune females.

Previously, Georgia finally escaped the people who were working on her as an experiment and now has her baby Sylvie with her as well as her partner Mitchell, equaling her own little family. However, there’s still a way to go and escaping her captor’s clutches was only the first part of this journey.

Immediately dark at the first-page of the prologue, with a superbly built up tension permeating the very start of this book, we begin with Georgia once again, though we know very little about the mass confusion that is happening at this moment in time.

The flip between narratives in this story is an excellent way at holding your interest long enough and succeeds at explaining a little about the primary doctor, Dr. Gerard, who worked on Georgia for many years. This is one short story which is experimental in structure, but fascinating to read!

The middle section of the collection is titled The Enduring, and it is here where perhaps my favorite story of the book is, called The Crone. So simplistic in its action but so stylish in its deliverance, this is the story that highlights how easy it is to conjure up any one of Lisa’s characters instantly. However, here the prose also excels. With Harret and the returned Berkstadt left to live out their remaining time together in their beautiful kingdom, this was a thoroughly satisfying and complete short story.

Finally, Lisa has included a selection of poems in the section titled The Fragments. Personally, I found these poems more satisfying than those in the first collection.

I enjoyed the poetry section even more as I’m very selective about poems and won’t automatically reach for a book of poetry when purchasing my preferred books. So, to have it included in a collection such as this encourages you to read it, seeing as you’ve read the stories, and its addition opens your eyes to something new and different.

Ultimately, The Fragments serves as an entirely satisfactory ending to yet again, a beautiful collection.

Pages: 217 | ASIN: B01M0DVEO1

Literary Titan's 5 Star Review of ALL ROADS HOME by Lisa Diaz Meyer

All Roads Home by Lisa Diaz Meyer is a fictional short story collection. Covering several genres, the book is divided into six parts titled The Outposts, The Enduring, The Oddities, The Particulars, The Fragments and The Play Versions. With each section and story being utterly unique, this book really is a mixed bag of offerings. Nowhere is this more obvious than, besides the four sections of short stories all varying greatly in their genre, the collection also consists of a part of poetry and The Play Versions which really are that: five of the stories in the collection written in play format!

The first section of the collection deals with a world that is hard hitting. In the story titled The Safe Room, this links back to the previous short story in its representation of women, cancer, and childbearing. With such stark descriptive passages of the cloning and curing process detailed, this section hits upon the more awkward of subjects that aren’t always spoke about comfortably.

Dealing with religion verse science, this section may be quite an eye-opener, considering its placing at the very start of the collection, but its subject matter does indeed turn the tables making you question just who, if anybody, has such a right at this stage.

The Enduring section starts off with a story which is most certainly that – enduring for its characters. What begins as a heartfelt story of a mother’s struggles quickly turns itself on its head when the story ends. However, nothing physical has changed, her situation remains dire, but she has found peace in her heart and mind and can now approach her situation from a more positive perspective. This story emphasizes Lisa’s ability to change tact and emotion in just a few short pages and sums up the book in its entirety.

All of Lisa’s characters, though only with the reader briefly, are very easy at catching our attention and therefore it’s easy to recognize their plight and see the story from their point of view. That Lisa can create such emotions in her readers through characters that appear fleetingly is a wonderful achievement.

For me, The Enduring was a favorite section. Packed full of emotions, there is one story where the action begins, plays out and ends in a matter of just two short pages! If you’re not too sure whether this selection of stories is for you, I urge you to read The Christmas Break first. Immediately this highlights Lisa’s fluidity in prose as well as her ability to create a fascinating collection of characters, and all within a few short sentences.

With superb powers of observation, a beautiful and haunting writing style on many of the pages, alongside an ability to push topic boundaries (Hitler and Jesus at a dinner party, need I say more!) this is truly a collection you must read for yourself.

If Lisa is this good at creating such an enthralling collection of short stories, I can only imagine what she would be like with a full-length fictional novel!

Pages: 280 | ASIN: B00WVWFL86