Cozy Up With Kathy: A Dead Week Guest Post & Giveaway

Sunday, January 26, 2020

A Dead Week Guest Post & Giveaway

I'm happy to let Kelly Brakenhoff take over Cozy Up With Kathy today. Kelly writes the Cassandra Soto Mystery series. Dead Week is the second book in the series.

When was the last time you wrote a book review?

Before I became an author, occasionally I posted book reviews on Amazon or Goodreads if I especially loved the book. Otherwise, I didn’t really think about them.

Except I’m a huge online shopper.

When I’m shopping for gifts, clothes, or gear, I always check reviews. I want to know about quality, fit, and overall satisfaction. Say I’m deciding between two dresses. One of them has good reviews, and the other option has few or bad reviews. I will always choose the dress with better reviews.

Your opinion matters.

Most importantly, your reviews help fellow readers. For example, I’m short and my feet are kind of wide. I love it when fellow shoppers tell me that a dress is long, or that shoes fit smaller than expected.

In your review, write one or two things about you and why the book was a good fit. The next person who’s considering that book can read your review and decide if it will fit them, too. You’re saving other readers time. If you comment about why you connected to the book, someone coming along after you might buy the book because they’re looking for exactly the same experience you had.

I like to know what’s trendy.

I like to read the latest best sellers or see the movies and TV shows everyone is talking about at work. Bookstore algorithms promote books with more reviews. Media outlets are on the lookout for new trends and best sellers. Once a book has caught enough attention from readers, momentum takes over. Your opinion can influence someone else’s next “must read.”

Do you have favorite authors?

Book reviews affect more than you might guess. Has this happened to you before? A new restaurant comes to town and you’re excited to eat there the first time. There’s great food, a fun atmosphere, and you feel like your town is lucky to have a place like that. Months go by and one day you drive by and notice a closed sign in the window. I’m horrible about this myself. My family doesn’t eat out very often. I always feel bad when a place that seemed promising closes within the first year because of a lack of loyal customers.

Publishers decide whether to offer contracts to authors with large fan bases over unknown authors with few followers. Large numbers of reviews and fans can help authors get interviewed on podcasts, TV news shows, or online book clubs. If we want our favorite authors to continue writing stories year after year, we have to show our support, by buying their books, borrowing them from the library, and interacting with them on social media.

What can you do?

Professional editorial reviews can be several paragraphs long. They might include a brief summary of the book, analysis of the best features, and finish it off with an enthusiastic flourish about what kind of reader would love it, too.

Your review doesn’t have to be a master’s thesis. Just write one or two sentences from the heart about one thing that connected with you. Then write what kind of reader might like the book, too.

I keep track of books I’ve read on Goodreads.

The last review I left was for a Lynette Eason romantic suspense novel called Oath of Honor. Here’s what I wrote. “This was my first Lynette Eason book, but it certainly won't be my last! An action-packed mystery with great characters, a romantic sub-plot, and a healthy dose of suspense hooked me all the way. Can’t wait to read more about the families introduced in this series.” Short, sweet and enthusiastic. If you haven’t read her before, you should!

My favorite part of posting my library on Goodreads is that it automatically reminds me to rate and review a book once I’ve finished reading. I like thinking that I’m helping other readers and writers find their next great match. Happy reading and reviewing in 2020!

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Dead Week (A Cassandra Sato Mystery) by Kelly Brakenhoff

About Dead Week

Dead Week (A Cassandra Sato Mystery)

Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series

Setting - Nebraska

Publisher: Emerald Prairie Press (December 7, 2019)

Paperback: 322 pages

Will Dead Week kill Cassandra’s career?

VP of Student Affairs Cassandra Sato has a desk full of problems and it’s not even Thanksgiving break.

A student’s injury and a deaf advocacy project brings national media attention to underfunded Morton College.

Cassandra's new boss talks to her dead husband. Cassandra’s mentor thinks he’s a superhero in a senior citizen’s body. And Cassandra, recently moved from Hawai'i, can't crack the code of what to wear during November in Nebraska.

Is there more to the Vietnam-era story of a student's death? Cassandra's search for the long-buried truth stirs up the wrath of those who want to keep the past forgotten.

About the Author

KELLY BRAKENHOFF is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. Her first novel, Death by Dissertation, kicked off the Cassandra Sato Mystery Series. She also wrote Never Mind, first in a children’s picture book series featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. She serves on the Board of Editors for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf publication, VIEWs. The mother of four young adults and two dogs, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.

Her first mystery, Death by Dissertation, released April 22, 2019.