"Souls of Darkness" - Eleanor T. Beaty (Novel Publicity Blog Tour)

 BLURB
"Alex's life is turned upside down after his father's sudden death. An old pamphlet found in his father's belongings leads Alex and his mother, Charlotte, to a remote Polynesian island. His mother longs for a place untouched by past memories, and Alex hopes the trip will help her to heal. Their arrival on the island elicits an eerie episode of déjà vu for Alex, and he begins to wonder about the pamphlet and his father's past. Why did he have it? Had he been there before? Alex senses something is off with the island. Progress is unwelcome by the inhabitants. A local girl reveals the history of the island and its dark spirits. She warns him to never be caught outside after dark, but Alex finds it all hard to believe... Until inexplicable and terrifying events begin to unfold. While digging for information, Alex finds his presence on the haunted island is not by chance. Rangur, the most evil of souls, aims to use him to acquire great power. There's only one way Alex can stop him and for that he must uncover his father's past connection to the island."


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eleanor T. Beaty is a Young Adult Paranormal author, her most recent novel “Veiled Mist” released on July 9, 2012.

A worldly person, Eleanor was born in beautiful Brazil and spent much of her childhood in several places (Argentina, Switzerland, and the US to name a few). She holds a BA in English Literature and is published in both Brazil and Turkey.

Eleanor loves spirituality and magic – both have allowed her to gain a strong grip on life and enjoy what it has to offer. She believes that everything has a reason and understanding those reasons help us deal with the difficult moments. Eleanor currently enjoys life with her husband in Brazil. You can find out more about her and her other books on her website.

You can find Eleanor T Beaty in all the usual places: her website, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are a few great places to start. You can buy Souls of Darkness in ebook, and inpaperback. If you liked Fallen Ruler or Veiled Mist and want more, you can find a list of her other works here.

REVIEW

We have this tendency to believe that those who talk to invisible things (at least invisible to us) are in need of some heavy duty medication, if not some time in a small room with padded walls.  Yet individuals talking and working with/around things invisible to others are found in literature and myth throughout the ages.  Whether they are talking to sprites, faeries, spirits, the deceased, whatever....they are generally eyed through a lens of skepticism and doubt.

Where does that leave a teenage boy who is suddenly seeing and hearing things, given that his life is awkward enough simply because he is a teenage boy?

Soft Scrub with Bleach Cleanser

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
"Soft Scrub with Bleach Cleanser cleans and starts disinfecting on contact, killing 99.9% of household germs.*  This powerful formula is tough on stains and gentle on surfaces, so it's easy to achieve a sparkling, scratch-free shine on most surfaces.  

*Leave product on surface for 3 minutes."

REVIEW
Cleaners that do what they claim are hard to come by.  Do they actually knock out the stains without damaging the surface?  Do they really kill 99.9% of germs?  Will it be worth my money?

The Good
The good about this product is that it is worth its cost and then some!  Okay, so it may seem odd that there is a review of cleaner on a blog that does mostly book reviews, but a few products, most of which are baby related.  This product just impressed me that much!

A little background: my kitchen sink was grubby.  I don't like grub.  Try as I might, the brown stains were just barely lifting when my trusty scrubby and I tackled it with all our combined might.  My kitchen sink is porcelain, and it actually isn't mine - it belongs to my in-laws, so it especially bothered me that it was stained.  I originally bought the Soft Scrub to scrub out my bathtub, which is growing a ring due to the muddy antics of my one-year old, but upon getting frustrated at the sink, I spied the Scrub under the sink and decided to give it a try.

I wish I had a before and after picture.

I didn't realize it was going to work so danged well!

I really wish I had a before and after picture.

Let's just say my husband said "holy...." and didn't finish the phrase when I showed him the sink.

Soft Scrub with Bleach Cleanser works amazingly well!  Now, I expected it to soften the stains so scrubbing them would be easier, maybe to lift them a little bit since there was bleach.  I did not expect it to completely annihilate the stains...which is what happened!!  After leaving the product on my sick for the required amount of time, I returned to scrub the sink and was pleasantly surprised to see a nice, sparkling white sink!

I'm not a chemist.  Chemistry is not my favorite portion of science (I'm partial to biology).  I don't understand the chemical stuff that happened.  What I know is that my grubby sink is nice and white.  It's neighboring sink is nice and white.  The toilet I subsequently dumped this product into is almost nice and white (there is still a bit of stubborn limification that I need to get rid of, but for the most part it is completely clean).

It is amazing what clean sinks can do for a momma's mood.  : )

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
Um.....it is toxic.  That may seem obvious, but in a house with a toddler present who likes to stuff everything into his mouth, a toxic chemical is a bad thing (this kid keeps figuring out the safety latches that go on the sink doors...for now we've got one on it he has not defeated...yet).

It didn't work quite as magically in the bathroom sink as it did everywhere else.  It removed most of the grub, but the stuff left behind is more oily in nature.  Not sure how in the heck that happened or where it came from, but some elbow grease will be required to get rid of those stains.

Overall
Overall I wish this product could be used on more surfaces, and that it came in a larger container.  Seriously, I love it!  Anything that could get rid of those nasty brown stains in my kitchen sink and make the sink sparkly white with no more elbow grease required from me than that used to spread it around the sink gets high marks!  LOVE IT!!!  Sure, it is poisonous, but that is kind of a given "duh!"  I'll buy this again, and recommend that you do as well for your kitchen/toilet/sink needs!

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this product a 9.