Lisa

Life has been full of surprises for Lisa Binion. After a escaping death in an almost fatal car wreck, she was supposed to be paralyzed for the rest of her life. The nurses were shocked when she unexpectedly walked out of her room one day. Once a spider liked her so much that it tried to make its home in her ear. The memories of the day this spider lived in her ear still make her shudder. Then there was the morning she walked into her kitchen to find a baby bird perched on top of a Cream of Wheat tin on the back of her stove. How this bird made it past her eight cats without being eaten is still a mystery. She is excited to see what surprises life brings her way next, but she really hopes that it isn't another ear-loving spider. Lisa has been fiction writing editor for websites such as BellaOnline and The News in Books. As her popularity continued to grow, she decided it was time to start her own website, Lisa's Writopia. You can keep up with Lisa on her pages on Facebook and on her website. Her first book, Softly and Tenderly, was published in January 2016. It is available on Amazon.

Book Reviews, Cozies, cozy mystery, Fiction Writing, Mystery, New Words Learned, Women Sleuths, Words

Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery – a Review

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Alene Baron, a vegan, owns and runs the Whipped and Sipped Café. Her cookies and confections are known all over Chicago. The coronavirus pandemic has changed things for everyone. Her business has suffered because of it and her employees are frustrated. A café once filled with customers has turned into one that mostly handles take-out orders. On top of that, there’s this homeless man who hangs around outside of her café bothering her customers who still visit for the yummy treats they can get there.

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Book Reviews, Books for Young People, Fantasy, Fiction Writing, New Words Learned, Words

Princess Adele’s Dragon – a Review

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𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝐴𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑒’𝑠 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛, a thrilling fantasy book for young readers, takes place during medieval times. The kingdom of Valdoria has been under threat from a fearsome dragon for the past six years. Princess Adele is understandably upset when her brother, King Robert, sees no other way to appease the dragon than to sacrifice a child. Risking death and not wanting an innocent child to needlessly lose his life, she sets out to save her kingdom from this terrifying creature.

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Fiction Writing, Guest Posts, Life's Adventures

Challenges I Faced as an American Living in Japan – Guest Post by Lea O’Harra

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I first arrived in Japan in the spring of ’84 to take up a job I had got while completing my doctorate on 18th century English literature at Edinburgh University. I had been hired as a “Guest Professor of English” by a new university located in a fishing village in northern Shikoku. Shikoku is one of Japan’s four main islands, but it is also the smallest, the most rural and, at that time – before the construction of bridges linking it to Honshu and Kyushu – the most remote.

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Book Reviews, Fiction Writing, Literary Fiction, Memoirs, New Words Learned, Words

The Imaginary Life of Abigail Jones – a Review

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𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑙 𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 is a captivating read, and the things that took place in Abigail’s life made me look forward to turning each page. The author’s vivid descriptions of seemingly insignificant details brought them to vibrant life.

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Book Reviews, Fiction Writing, ghost fiction, New Words Learned, Psychological Thriller, Suspense/Thrillers, Words

The Children on the Hill – a Review

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Most people know something about 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛 by Mary Shelley. They might not have read the book, but still they know at least one thing about the story: it’s about a monster made by a human, a mad scientist. But who is the real monster? Is it Frankenstein? Or is it the mad scientist?

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