Tag: Sara Kjeldsen

Female Gunslingers Once Upon A Time In the West

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I love, and I want to promote. This is another one of those. I recently read “When Cottonfields Burn” Paperback – by Sara Flower Kjeldsen. Below I am giving an overview of the two formats for the book.

  • Paperback –  Publisher : Independently published (October 29, 2023), ASIN : B0CM1KZSGM, ISBN-13 :  979-8865779650, 173 pages, Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.5 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.39 x 9 inches, it cost $11.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – Publisher : Independently published (October 28, 2023), ASIN : B0CM1PDNN8, 175 pages. It is currently 2.99 on Amazon.com and free with Kindle Unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The title and author and a picture of burning cottonfields.
Front cover of  When Cottonfields Burn. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

A seasoned female outlaw.

Two young partners who stick with their leader no matter what.

Lydia is an outlaw who steals for a living. When she discovers that her daughter has been kidnapped by her ex-master, she and her two partners, Crow and Tyke, ride south to save the young girl. When she runs into her old friend, Mary, who was once an outlaw but is now settled down on a farm, she can’t resist forcefully bringing her along. After the shock wears off from being kidnapped, Mary pledges to help Lydia get her daughter back. The group rides to Arkansas where a battle on a cotton plantation awaits – and many unsavoury characters along the way.

When Cotton Fields Burn is a tale of adventure, betrayal, revenge, redemption, and unbreakable bonds between people who love each other.

This is my five-star review for When Cottonfields Burn by Sara Flower Kjeldsen

Gunfights for Freedom

I should say I read the paperback version of this book. This gripping and captivating story takes place at the end of the 19th century. Lydia a former slave and an outlaw discovers that her daughter has been kidnapped and illegally made into a slave by her former slave master. Lydia and her young companions Tyke and Crow assemble a team with the goal of freeing her daughter. I can add that illegal slavery was a practice that was prevalent after the civil war, and I did not know anything about it before reading this book. Therefore, I looked it up and I read more about it. I learned something about another dark chapter of history.

This book features a few characters from the first book in the series, The Broken & Foolish, which is also a great book. I was already familiar with these characters, especially Mary, but they were introduced well enough in this book. You can read this book without reading the first book. I can add that Lydia (and Mary) are both very skilled gunslingers and so are their companions. The book features a lot of violence and shootouts, many people die, but it is a Western after all, a somewhat feminist Western.

There are many intense and exciting situations. The story is fast paced but the character development is thorough, and it is easy to empathize with Lydia, Mary and the other protagonists. I think the book highlighted the fact that for many African Americans the end of slavery was not really the end of it, as I had thought. It brings attention to the evils of injustice and racism in the 19th century. At the same time, it is a hopeful book and an inspiration for standing up for yourself when you are being mistreated and justice is not coming to your aid. I highly recommend this captivating, fun, and fast paced book.

Photo of Sara Flower Kjeldsen and the text of the Amazon description of the book.
Back cover of  When Cottonfields Burn. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the kindle version of the book.

About Sara Flower Kjeldsen

Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books.

To read my review for the first book in the series; The Broken and the Foolish Click Here.

A Female Psychopathic Killer

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are other types of books I love and want to promote. This book is an intriguing thriller about a beautiful female psychopathic killer by the name Marie, and it is told from her perspective. It is both creepy and amusing at the same time as well as unique and definitely a page turner. I guess you can say it is lighthearted horror but above all a good story. The author, Sara Flower Kjeldsen, has expertise in psychology, which makes the story more realistic.

  • Paperback –  Independently published (April 29, 2020), ASIN ‏ : ‎ B087SD51PT, ISBN-13 : 979-8621061050, 96 pages, Item Weight : 5.4 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.24 x 9 inches, it cost $15.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – January 30, 2020, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B084D88547, 98 pages. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon.com and free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
On the left, a partial picture of a young beautiful woman in a red dress holding a large knife. On the right the title, author name, the text “She is not supposed to feel guilt” and a police car.
Front cover of  Marie. Click on the picture to buy the paperback version (Amazon US) of the book.

Amazon Description of Marie

Marie has always been a violent girl. She has no remorse for those she kills. Once she takes out her husband, she will have everything she has ever wanted. That is until the pool boy gets in her way. After she kills him, something strange happens. Psychopaths aren’t supposed to feel guilt. She doesn’t care about anyone. So why is her latest victim haunting her dreams? Marie is the story of a stunning young woman who is forced to face her own heartlessness.

My Amazon Review of Marie

Is she going to kill him? That depends. Did he see her face?

Marie is a psychopath. Her range of emotions is limited. She feels no compassion, no love, she has no conscience, she is fearless, selfish and greedy, and she feels superior to people with normal feelings, which she considers to be stupid, weak and irritating. In addition, she has a sadistic streak. She is a proud beautiful trophy wife with a boring normal but rich husband. He is in love, but she is using him, the great manipulator that she is. She hides her inner craziness very skillfully and fools everyone. One day Brad, the pool boy catches her drowning a bunny rabbit in the pool for her own amusement after finding a paper with her plot to murder her husband. He realizes she is mentally sick and offers to find her a psychiatrist at the college where he studies. Well, what do you think will happen to Brad?

The author has expertise in psychology, so this is a realistic depiction of a female psychopath, but what makes it even more interesting is that the story is told from the perspective of Marie. Usually, you don’t get to be inside the head of the psychopath, the focus is on the victims, for example, as in the movie No Country for Old Men (Anton Chigurh). The story is both creepy and amusing at the same time. Marie is undoubtedly evil, but she is funny and clever. Can a psychopath be cured? Perhaps not in a conventional sense but strange things can happen. I loved this story. It was very engaging, fast-paced, entertaining and full of surprises. I highly recommend this page turner.

Photo of the author and a description of the book
Back cover of  Marie. Click on the picture to buy the paperback version (Amazon US) of the book.

About the author Sara Kjeldsen

Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books. This is her blog.

An Epic Western Featuring a Female Gunslinger

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I recently read “The Broken And The Foolish” Paperback – by Sara Kjeldsen. It was a book that I loved and therefore want to promote. Naturally I rated it five stars. I should mention that in my review below I am referencing the movie “Once upon a Time in the West”. That is because I saw some similarities between the stories. They are both suspenseful revenge stories and the main characters are both traumatized gunslingers and both stories are epic. However, they are completely different stories otherwise. This story is from a feminine perspective.

Picture of a young woman with a forest in the background.
Front cover of  The Broken And The Foolish. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

Some outlaws kill for the rush.

Mary just wants to survive.

Fed up with the saloon life and her abusive boss, Mary flees in the middle of the night to travel the open road, nearly losing her life several times as she encounters bullies, seasoned outlaws, and natural predators. She also meets a few people – and animals – who make their mark on her heart in ways she never imagined.

There were many female outlaws who existed in America’s Old West. This is Mary’s story.

This is my Amazon review of The Broken And The Foolish by Sara Kjeldsen

Once Upon a Time in the West Life Was Cruel To One Woman and She Fought Back Hard

To help her family avoid the cruel fate of starvation Mary takes a job as a so-called saloon girl and so begins her journey into hell. Her boss Max is an evil and cruel man but one day she escapes, and she kills a man in the process. As an outlaw she encounters several evil bullies who try to take advantage of her, and she must kill again. Her life is not only misery. She enjoys the beautiful nature in the Ozarks. Then she discovers that Max has killed her sister and mother just to get back at her and so begins her quest for revenge. The story may seem simple enough so far, but life throws her a few curve balls that I did not expect. There’s romance, betrayal, shoot-outs, and more cruel bullies. It seems like she is not getting any breaks, but she is a survivor and a great gunslinger who knows how to take care of herself.

One section of the book, related to a medicine woman, or so-called witch, might be uncomfortable to some readers, but I thought the implicit commentary on society, religion, philosophy was brilliant and powerful, and it forced me to think about the issue(s) in a way I have not done before. Mary is no angel, but she is not a bad person either. Life was cruel to her, and she did not always make the best decisions trying to survive. She is a killer, and she seeks revenge, but all the men she kills are bad guys, and she makes sense as a desperate and traumatized female outlaw. My thoughts went to Harmonica in “Once Upon a Time in the West”. He was an outlaw and a sad, traumatized, perhaps even pitiful soul whose purpose in life was revenge, and yet he is probably the most iconic character in the history of Wild West movies. I saw a number of parallels between Harmonica and Mary. Max would then correspond to Frank. Don’t get me wrong, it is a totally different story.

This book is suspenseful, dramatic, romantic, emotional, cruel, sad, beautiful, and action packed. It has everything you want in a western, but the main character is a woman. I think you can say it is a feminist perspective. Everyone may not be ready for that, but I thought it was a great book. This book certainly made an impression on me. I highly recommend it.

Photo of Sara Flower Kjeldsen and the text of the Amazon description of the book.
Back cover of  The Broken And The Foolish. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the kindle version of the book.

I am also adding another review of a short story by Sara Kjeldsen that I recently read. It was an intense and fun quick read called Eve and Adam. I rated it five stars. I should mention that I got the story on kindle as part of free one day promotion that she had. I wrote a review, but Amazon is taking its jolly time to post it, so I am not including a link to my review right now. I will update later.

  • Paperback –  September 16, 2015, ISBN-10 : 1517362385, ISBN-13 : 978-1517362386, 72 pages, Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.84 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.15 x 9.02 inches, it cost $9.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – September 17, 2015, ASIN : B015IN12TG, 37 pages. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Title, author name and a bunch of balloons on a blue background.
Front cover of  Eve & Adam. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

Adam meets Eve, a girl who lives in a cult village, on the afternoon he plans to kill himself. Her whimsical charm pulls him away from his suicidal ideations, but he soon learns that she holds a world of darkness that rivals his own. They long to escape their suppressive backgrounds, but there are people in Adam’s town who already have other plans for him.

Eve & Adam is the story of two young free thinkers and the harmful outcomes of prejudice and hate.

This is my Amazon review of Eve & Adam by Sara Kjeldsen

Two Outcasts from Two Oppressive Worlds

Eve lives in a cult village that she is trying to escape. She is unhappy with the backwards religious beliefs and an arranged marriage she is being forced into. She meets Adam a suicidal young man who finds the intolerance of the people in the town he lives in insufferable. Other than their oppression they don’t seem to have a lot in common. Together they try to escape their respective situations, but this turns out to be quite difficult and dangerous.

I read the kindle version. It was a quick one (or two) hour intense read that made my evening. The dialogue was captivating and enlightening. The story was suspenseful and unpredictable and there was something interesting and unexpected happening on essentially every page. Despite being tragic the story was very enjoyable and entertaining, and when I was done it left me pondering on life and the role of belief systems in our various cultures. I highly recommend this short story.

About the Author

Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books https://saraflower.ca/my-published-books/

The Powerful Voice Of A Story Teller

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I recently read Voice Of A Story Teller Paperback – by Sara Kjeldsen. It was a book that I loved and therefore I want to promote it.

  • Paperback –  September 29, 2020, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08KB137YM, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8690747237, 91 pages, Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.21 x 9 inches, it cost $4.65 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com. 
  • Kindle – September 25, 2020, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08K5Q3J7L, 66 pages. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com. 
Mountainous landscape in darkness and a starry sky.
Front cover of  Voice Of A Story Teller. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

A troubled war survivor named Barak becomes obsessed with a beloved story teller named Almaz. Though she is beautiful and charming, Barak is convinced that she is a fake and has the power to start wars. He can’t seem to control his violent thoughts toward her and they worsen every time she runs into him. Will Almaz be able to help Barak heal with her words, or will he act on his urges?

My Amazon Review of Voice Of A Story Teller

The Story of a Lonely Mind Darkened by Pain

This story takes place in a somewhat dystopian future. The narrator, Barak, lost his friends in a terrible war, something that deeply traumatized him. He feels forgotten by his society and he becomes obsessed with a charming storyteller Almaz whom he feels is arrogant and is stealing everyone’s attention away from what he thinks is important. His bitterness, self-pity, envy and anger result in him hating Almaz. We are following his dark thoughts, which leads him to commit dark acts, which in turn result in an intriguing tale with interesting consequences.

I hesitate to call Barak a protagonist, which is why I call him “the narrator”. You can understand him and feel sorry for him even though you disagree with his thinking and his ghastly actions. Culpability, being responsible, karma, still apply even when you are hurting, a truth that your self-pity may overshadow. The Abel and Cain story comes to mind, and I was also relating it to the confessions of the demon in Clive Barker’s Mr. B Gone. I guess the author used her expertise in therapy to make Barak’s dark character possible to understand, even relatable, at the same time as the story teaches us readers something.

This book is very well written, compelling and imaginative. It is full of interesting twists and surprises, wow moments, and may even be shocking at times. It is a book you want to think about after you are done reading it. The book also demonstrates the value of storytelling. Stories are powerful and they stay with us long after the storyteller is gone. It is certainly a page turner and I highly recommend it.

The Amazon description of the book on black background. The author's picture is in the upper left corner.
Back cover of  Voice Of A Story Teller. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the kindle version of the book.

About the Author

Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books

She and The Wolf

This blog is primarily about Leonbergers, especially our late Leonberger Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, which was his full name. I also review Leonberger books and sometimes I promote books that I love and this post is one of those. This time I am reviewing She & The Wolf: A Flash Fiction Collection Paperback – August 19, 2018 by Sara Kjeldsen. This paperback is 46 pages, ISBN 978-1719801263, item weight 2.88 ounces, dimensions 6 x 0.12 x 9 inches. You can buy it from Amazon, as a paperback or e-Book. The paperback version is currently $9.99 on Amazon. The Kindle version is $3.99 or free if you are part of Kindle Unlimited.

This book is a fascinating collection of historical fiction and fantasy short stories. I wrote a review on Amazon, which can be found here (Beautiful Stories That Will Stay With You), as well as on my social media.

This is a photo of the front cover of the book She & The Wolf by Sara Kljeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon location for She & The Wolf.
Front cover of the book She & The Wolf by Sara Kljeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon location for She & The Wolf.

Below I am posting my Amazon review for She & The Wolf a flash fiction collection.

Beautiful Stories That Will Stay With You

This book is a collection of 15 short stories mostly about women but also men living during dramatic times in the past, or more recently, as well as people and creatures living in imaginary worlds. The American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars are examples of historic settings in the book. She & the Wolf, the last story, is an example of an imaginary setting. The focus of the stories isn’t so much the time or the location, or even the events. The stories are about the emotions of the characters living through complicated and extreme experiences. The emotions are often dark, there’s depression, hostility, loss, tragedy, and death, but also hope, compassion and reconciliation (Pacific Ocean, 1814).

The stories are intriguing, poetic and above all beautiful. The characters are fascinating, and they are quite relatable despite their extreme situations. You really feel for them and with them. It’s a book that leaves you with feelings and thoughts about our existence. I highly recommend this unique collection of short stories.

Photo of the back cover of the book She and The Wolf by Sara Kjeldsen.
Back cover of the book She and The Wolf by Sara Kjeldsen.

Review of The Pup and The Pianist

As you know this blog is primarily about Leonbergers and Leonberger books but sometimes I write a review for a book or story that I find to be exceptional and therefore want to promote. Today, well it is after midnight so yesterday, I read a really fun and intriguing adventure novella by Sara Kjeldsen called “The Pup and The Pianist”. I wrote an Amazon review for it, and it showed up pretty quickly. It was a real page turner and therefore I would like to promote it. I bought the paperback version since I prefer that over Kindle. The Pup and The Pianist paperback version currently cost $12.99 on Amazon.com and is 86 pages. The kindle version cost $4.99 and is 70 pages. It was released January 5, 2018. The paper version is 6 x 0.22 x 9 inches, it weighs 5 ounces, and the ISBN number is 978-1976819599.  The ASIN number for the Kindle Edition is B078TMT9KX.

Photo of the front cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the paperback version.
The front cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the paperback version.

Below is my review of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. I also shared on my social media. Click here to go to my review.

War, Loss, Friendship and Captivating Adventure

This is a beautifully written and fast paced novella. Right from the start you are thrown into the Napoleonic wars as seen through the eyes of a young “powder monkey” on a British warship. A lot happens after that.

As I read it, I was reminded of when I read Treasure Island as a kid. That was a long time ago back in my native country of Sweden. I had the same feelings of anticipation and adventure all while the descriptions stimulated my imagination. However, the author of this book added another dimension represented by the emotions and thoughts that comes with a complicated and unlikely friendship, a friendship that developed despite initial extreme hostility, and compelled by the human instincts for companionship and survival. At the same time this novella is also a statement on the senselessness and cruelty of war. A side note: at least six million people died in the six Napoleonic wars.

The scenic descriptions were vivid and beautiful, the character development was excellent, the dialog was well crafted and realistic, and the story was truly captivating and unique. It was a true page turner, which is one reason I read this novella in one sitting this afternoon. Sara Kjeldsen is a truly gifted author and I highly recommend this novella.

Photo of the back cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the Kindle version.
The back cover of The Pup and The Pianist by Sara Kjeldsen. Click on the image to go to the Amazon.com page for the Kindle version.

Sara Kjeldsen is from Canada so her main market is likely Canada. Click here to go to the paper version on Canadian Amazon and click here to go to the Kindle version on Canadian Amazon.