The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan Book Tour, Guest Post & Giveaway!

Oct 24, 2022

Narrated very well by Emily Ellet

Book Details:

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan; Narrated by Emily Ellet
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 336 pages
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Publisher: CamCat Books
Release date: Nov 15, 2022
Tour dates: Oct 25 to Nov 14, 2022
Content Rating: PG. The book is clean, profanity is used 3 times a few other milder cuss words are used, no sexual content or violent graphic scenes, etc.

Book Description:

Cracked doesn’t always mean broken.

Grieving her mother’s death, Mari Lennox travels to Kyoto, Japan to take photographs of Yanagi Inn for a client. As she explores the inn and its grounds, her camera captures striking images, uncovering layers of mystery shrouding the old resort—including an overgrown, secret garden on a forbidden island. But then eerie weeping no one else in the inn seems to hear starts keeping her awake at night.

​Despite the warnings of the staff, Mari searches the deep recesses of the old building to discover the source of the ghostly sound, only to realize that her own family’s history is tied to the inn, its mysterious, forlorn garden . . . and the secrets it holds.
Add to Goodreads ~
BUY THE BOOK: ​CamCat BooksAmazon  ~  B&N ~ IndieBound ~ Bookshop

Review By LAWonder10:

At the beginning of this audiobook, I was uncertain as to where the story “was going”. The main person seemed a little “mental”. But after she leaves her home and sister, her time in Japan starts adding intrigue and mystery to the story. The suspense increases with a surprise ending.

It is really a good book if the reader/listener will bear a few mystifying pages while the author is building the foundation.

The characters are well-developed and the scenes are easily visualized. The Title and Cover image are very well chosen.

The Narrator, Emily Ellet, did a very good job in the narration of the book. There were a few errors but very slight and not distracting.

I offer a Four Stars rating for this boook

*This book gifted me with no pressure to post a positive review. This is my honest review.

Guest Post:

How to Avoid Filtering By Amber A. Logan

When I first started writing, I received a lot of feedback that I had too much filtering. It took me a long time to figure out what “filtering” was, but when it finally clicked in my brain, it stuck with me. Filtering is a way of adding distance between your point-of-view (POV) character and the reader. While it can be done purposefully, it is usually an unintentional problem and makes the reading experience less immersive for the reader. It is referred to as “filtering” because the author is filtering what the POV character sees/hears/feels/thinks through an additional layer of narrative.
For example:

She watched the rain splatter the hot sidewalk, sending up wisps of steam.

vs.

The rain splattered the hot sidewalk, sending up wisps of steam.

While there isn’t anything wrong with the first sentence, the use of “she watched” is adding another level of distance between the reader and the POV character. Filtering means we’re looking at the character, not through their eyes. If this were a film, in the first example we’d see a shot of a woman looking through a window at the rain. In the second, we’d have a shot of the rainy sidewalk itself as if we were seeing through the woman’s eyes.

Common words which signal this kind of filtering include: saw, heard, felt, tasted, smelled, noticed, watched, etc. But it doesn’t have to be a physical verb in order to be filtering; this is what took me so long to figure out. Thoughts can be even more tricky because they aren’t as obvious, and they aren’t always problematic (not that filtering in general is problematic—it’s just something to be conscious of so it isn’t overdone). But consider the difference between these three sentences:
She wondered how her sister had managed to lie for some many years.

vs.

How had her sister managed to lie for so many years?

Vs.

How did Lydia manage to lie for so many years?

In the first example, we have filtering (“she wondered”), so the reader is being told that the character is wondering about her sister. In the second example, we are getting what is called “free indirect speech” where the thought is still somewhat filtered through the authorial voice (we get “her sister”), but we are presented with the actual thought without dialogue tags or italics.

In the third example, we just get the thought straight from the POV character’s mind (“Lydia” instead of “her sister”) and it is in italics to show it was a thought.

So consider removing introductions like “She saw” or “She heard,” and try playing around with the 2nd and 3rd styles of presenting thoughts in order to reduce the sense of distance between the POV character and the reader.

Meet the Author:

Amber A. Logan is a university instructor, freelance editor, and author of speculative fiction living in Kansas with her husband and two children—Fox and Willow. In addition to her degrees in Psychology, Liberal Arts, and International Relations, Amber holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

Connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads

Meet the Narrator:

Emily Ellet is a SAG/AFTRA actor, singer, and audiobook narrator based in New York City. She has recorded over 200 audiobooks in every conceivable genre. She is a MAC Award-nominated and critically praised cabaret singer and the winner of the 2017 MetroStar Talent Challenge cabaret competition at the Metropolitan Room in New York City. She has also appeared off-Broadway, on cruise ships, and at regional theaters across the country.

~ Facebook ~ Website

The Tour Schedule :

Oct 25 – Rockin’ Book Reviews – audiobook review / guest post / giveaway
Oct 25 – She Just Loves Books – audiobook review / giveaway
Oct 26 – Viviana MacKade – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 26 – JB’s Bookworms with Brandy Mulder – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 27 – Sadie’s Spotlight – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Oct 28 – Just Another Mother With Books – book spotlight
Oct 28 – Jennareadstuff – book review / giveaway
Oct 28 – Stephanie Jane – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 31 – Paws.Read.Repeat – book review / giveaway
Oct 31 – Books for Books – book spotlight
Nov 1 – Mysweetenedlifebychix – audiobook review / giveaway
Nov 1 – Leanne bookstagram – book review / giveaway
Nov 2 – Liese’s Blog – book spotlight
Nov 3 –  @bookqueenbee – audiobook review
Nov 3 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Nov 3 – Novels Alive – book review / giveaway
Nov 4 – Amy’s Booket List – audiobook review / giveaway
Nov 4 – Booking With Janelle – audiobook review / author interview / giveaway
Nov 4– 
The Page Ladies book review 
Nov 7 – Cover Lover Book Review – book review / guest post / giveaway
Nov 7 – Literary Flits – audiobook review / giveaway
Nov 8 – Olio by Marilyn – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Nov 8 – Olio by Marilyn – book review / giveaway
Nov 9 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
Nov 10 – Deborah-Zenha Adams – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Nov 10 – @shangread_la – book review / giveaway
Nov 10 – Pause for Tales – book review / giveaway
Nov 11 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book review / giveaway
Nov 14 – Bound 4 Escape – audiobook review / giveaway
Nov 14 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Nov 14 – Splashes of Joy – audiobook review / giveaway
Nov 14 – @onecreativeartist – book review

Giveaway Details:

Win a physical copy of The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn (2 winners) (the USA only) (ends Nov 21)

To Enter the Giveaway click on the Rafflecopter link below:

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn Book Tour Giveaway

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Please note that I only recommend authors and books that I  approve of and  I always have my readers’ best interest at heart. 

Any book or audio that is gifted me is done with no pressure to post a positive review.  The review I give is my honest opinion! 

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