I like to read different genres of books, fiction, children’s fiction and non fiction. If the blurb grabs me then I’ll want to read it.
*I am not currently accepting any review requests.*
If you would like me to review a book for you please email me in the first instance at fromfirstpagetolast@outlook.com. You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram as @JanetEmson.
If I don’t respond within 1 week then it is unlikely I will be able to review the book in question. (Though it is always possible that I will think I’ve answered and realise when I go to look for a response that I’ve actually only answered in my head).
I cannot promise a review deadline but will honour all review requests I accept. Please let me know if you have a preferred timeframe for reviews to be published and I will aim to review within that time. If I decide that a book isn’t for me I will let you know. I won’t review a book I did not finish as I don’t think it’s fair to offer my thoughts on something I’ve not seen through to the end.
From First Page to Last 
Dear Janet,
I’ve seen your tweets and read your blog with interest. Would you be interested in reviewing my new novel, Public Battles, Private Wars? I’ll detail the ‘blurb’ below and if you are please do get in touch (laura@laura-wilkinson.co.uk) and I can mail over a MOBI or a PDF. Thanks for reading this far.
Blurb: Yorkshire 1983.
Miner’s wife Mandy is stuck in a rut. Her future looks set and she wants more. But Mandy can’t do anything other than bake and raise her four children. Husband Rob is a good looking drinker, content to spend his days in the small town where they live.
When a childhood friend – beautiful, clever Ruth – and her Falklands war hero husband, Dan, return to town, their homecoming is shrouded in mystery. Mandy looks to Ruth for inspiration, but Ruth isn’t all she appears.
Conflict with the Coal Board turns into war and the men come out on strike. A way of life is threatened. Mandy abandons dreams of liberation from the kitchen sink, joins a support group and discovers her calling. But as her public persona grows, relationships are pushed to the brink, and Mandy finds out who her true friends are.
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Hi Janet,
Here’s the opening from my short story ANNABELLE, available in e-book format:
“My father was a painter,” Annabelle had said—was it at the second session or the third?—“and my mother would pose for him.”
Annabelle remembered watching her father paint in the cold, clear light filtering into his studio. He used canvas and oils the way God had used clay, creating life from inanimate objects. The walls of the house were hung with his paintings—those his agent could not convince him to release—and everywhere Annabelle looked, her mother’s dark eyes would follow her, glowing on the canvas.
Sometimes, after a long session in the studio, her mother would be pale and weak, barely able to stand, so colorless that one would think her a ghost. The portraits, by contrast, were pulsing with life. Annabelle had feared that her father was drawing the very lifeblood from her mother, leaving behind an empty shell.
And yet, her mother gloried in the attention, willingly changing herself into any figure her husband desired, just to be able to stand there, caught by his passion, while he painted.
His work sold quite well in galleries across the country, but even if it had not, her father would have continued to paint, and her mother to pose.
And Annabelle-the-child would be standing, somewhere just outside their line of sight, watching. And waiting.
*****
Intrigued by Annabelle’s story? I’d be happy to provide you with the e-book format you desire in exchange for your review. (For more information, visit my ANNABELLE page at http://www.nancychristie.com/annabelle.shtml. )
Let me know if you are interested!
Nancy Christie
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Hi Nancy, thanks for your message. I’ll get back to you on Twitter if that’s ok.
Janet
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Hi Janet,
Would you like to review an advance copy of my novel ‘Ignoring Gravity’?
‘Ignoring Gravity’ is the story of Rose Haldane’s own ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ television programme. Rose is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the same as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it. Ignoring Gravity connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feels so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…
If you’d like to know more, drop me an e-mail or watch the book trailer at http://youtu.be/dGJnw-7qaa4
Thanks,
Sandra
http://www.sandradanby.com/
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Hi Sandra,
Thanks for getting in touch and asking me to review your novel. I’ll get in touch by email but it may take me a few days 🙂
Best,
Janet
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Dear Janet,
Would you would kindly consider reviewing my first novel, ‘A Woman’s Choice’? It was published for Kindle on Amazon, in July last year.
Set in the vibrancy of early twentieth century New York, the story follows the young emigrant Clara and the people she meets on the way, through tenement living and sweatshop labour to success. But as the horror of World War One in Europe threatens to engulf America, Clara learns that personal lives cannot be lived apart from public events, and finds that the people she has loved, and who love her, are not always what they seem.
All the incidents in ‘A Woman’s Choice’ are based on what really happened: to many thousands of emigrant families, and in particular to women born in poverty, striving to establish an independent life from adverse circumstances. I’ve used a popular genre to try and tell their story.
If you want to know more about the book, please see my web site,
http://www.anniethomasbooks.com
or see the cover and sample on Amazon,
Amazon/AWomansChoice
If it sounds of interest to you hen I can send you an Amazon gift voucher for the download. Of course I understand that the review would be objective and independent.
with best wishes,
Annie Thomas
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Hi Annie,
Thanks very much for asking me to review your book. Do you have an email address I can contact you on?
Thanks
Janet
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hello Janet,
My email address is annie@aniethomasbooks.com.
Thank you for getting back to me.
annie
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And I’ll try again with the email address!
annie@anniethomasbooks.com – please ignore the earlier one – typo.
annie
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Dear Janet,
Have just read your review policy and see that you are on maternity leave – so is it a good time to mention you on the Huff Post as you may get a lot of book review requests?! Warm wishes Hattie
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Hi Hattie, that’s not a problem, if I can’t fit in a review for some reason I’ll just have to say no :-), apologies for the delay in responding.
Best Janet
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Great, thanks for that, Janet. On the same note – would you have any time to review my debut novel Cinema Lumiere? Let me know if you do, and I will send you the short blurb to see if it appeals. Warm wishes Hattie.
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Hi Janet ~ I’ve just read that you’re due to go onto maternity leave so I will say congratulations first of all! I wondered if you would be interested in reading my book Round and Round? It’s only a novella, 36K words, and the genre is light-ish romance with a little paranormal in the form of a guardian angel. Here’s the link in case you would like to look at it, anyway – I can send a mobi copy.
I do hope you can find the time, but I do understand how inundated book bloggers are!
Many thanks,
Terry
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Thanks Terry. I’ll take a look at my TBR schedule and get back to you if that’s ok.
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Hi Janet!
Congrats on the new addition to the family!
I really like your blog and I wanted to see if you would be willing to participate in my upcoming blog tour in December. My chick lit ebook One Day This Will All Make Sense will be released on Amazon on November 17, 2014.
Blurb:
Emma—Swedish, 27, HR professional by day and writer by night—thought she had found the security she’d been looking for ever since arriving in L.A. when she was offered her new job. But adjusting to America’s corporate world and it’s politics turned out to be more difficult than she imagined. Just a few months after starting her new job she is fired under traumatic circumstances. Now she must try to find a way maintain hope and strength even as all her attempts to put her life back together seem to be in vain. Will she have to leave the city she has come to love?
My email is: katie.shahin@gmail.com
I look forward to hearing from you!
Katie
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Thanks for your message. I’m on hold for new requests at the moment but I’ll take a look at my schedule in the New Year if that’s ok 🙂
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Hi Janet. I’m preparing a book blogger contact list and would love to add you to it. Can you please e-mail me? Thanks.
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Hi, I certainly will. Thanks.
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Hi Janet
Hope the work/children balance is settling (if it ever does).
I have my debut novel due out in January 2016 with Yolk Publishing – Blood and Roses, the story of Margaret of Anjou, lots of stuff at http://www.catherinehokin.com or I can send a cover and blurb/description if this is of interest. A review would be wonderful but I appreciate it’s a big time ask so I am also setting out my stall for a blog tour stop. I should have the confirmed launch date this week but it will be w/c 11th or 18th Jan. Happy to do the heavy lifting – article whatever is needed – I currently have 8 bloggers involved and it’s a mix of approaches/reviews/blog styles which is great.
If you think it might be interesting, let me know (we follow each other on twitter and I’m also at c.hokin@hotmail.co.uk) – if you are swamped, I totally get it.
Thanks
Catherine
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I am a Publishing student at Edinburgh Napier University. We are republishing David Lindsay’s forgotten classic sci-fi novel, A Journey to Arcturus. It’s set to be released in May as a limited edition print book and a free e-book. I realise you’re not currently accepting review requests, but perhaps you’re schedule will be more flexibly in May?
The novel follows one man’s intergalactic journey through space. It is a sprawling pilgrimage where interactions with alien life-forms lead to philosophical questions of morality, faith, life, death, gender relations, and what it means to be human.
We’re looking for help to get the word out about it, and would appreciate, if you could mention it, either on your blog as a review or elsewhere.
Let me know if I can give you any more information or help out in any way.
Thank you for your time!
Ruth Nicolson
Here’s a link to our media pages if you’re interested:https://twitter.com/ArcturusVoyage and https://www.facebook.com/avoyagetoarcturus.
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Thanks for your message. I hope the project went well. Sorry for not responding sooner but my review requests are still on hold. Do let me know how the project went.
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Hi Janet — Thanks so much for re-Tweeting Kerry Parsons’ Tweet about the interview and excerpt of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades she posted on her blog today. It’s really wonderful how supportive the blogging community is of small-press and indie authors. I see you’re not accepting new books for reviews right now but when you are, if you’d like a digital review copy of the #MeToo novel, just let me know!
Best,
S.M. Stevens
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My pleasure, always happy to share when I can 🙂
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Hello Janet,
My name is Jes D.A., and I’m the Content Marketing Coordinator at Scribendi, the world leader in online editing and proofreading.
I just wanted to let you know that we featured From First Page to Last in an article listing 20 of the best book-related blogs from around the web. We launched the article in April 2015, and it has been very popular, earning the top spot in Google’s search results for the keyword “book blogs.”
We updated the list for 2020 and are now resharing it to let people know about the additions.
Should you wish to share it with your own following, you can find the article here: https://fromfirstpagetolast.wordpress.com/review-policy/#respond. In any case, thank you for your time, and have a great day!
Best,
Jes D.A., Content Marketing Coordinator & Senior Editor
Scribendi – Editing and Proofreading Services for English Documents
Fast, Affordable, Professional
405 Riverview Dr., Suite 304
Chatham, ON N7M 0N3 Canada
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Hi Jes, Thanks so much for your message and of course for including my blog in your article. I’m honoured to feature along side so many other great book sites. I’ll be sure to share on line. Thanks, Janet
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