Classic Movie Mondays ~ "The Mad Miss Manton"

 

If you've read my previous blog posts, you know how much I love Bette Davis movies. And while she is my all-time favorite, my second is the dramatic Barbara Stanwyck. 

Turner Classic Movies showed a string of Stanwyck's movies, so I put the DVR to work and recorded some I hadn't seen. 

The Mad Miss Manton was the first one I watched, and I loved it! Even though I like Stanwyck for her dramatic acting, she also nails this comedy role. 

The movie is a romantic comedy/ murder mystery. Stanwyck's character Melsa Manton a quirky lady with a group of ride or die friends that work together trying to solve a murder.

Melsa is out walking her dogs when she someone she knows come running from an empty home. She calls to him as he runs from the house, but he doesn't answer and jumps in his car and drives away.

Curious, Melsa enters the house and finds a dead body lying on the floor. She rushes out to call the police and when they show up; the body is gone.

Now, the police don't believe Melsa. Why? Because she's a quirky lady, and she calls police for trivial matters, like helping her sick dog. And she's known as a prankster. 

The police lieutenant doesn't believe her and scolds her for calling and wasting his time.

So, what does Melsa do? She calls in her "ride or die" group of ladies, and they get to work solving the mystery. 

This leads to many comical situations and her run-in with her love interest and editor of the newspaper, Peter Ames, played by Henry Fonda. 

The love/hate relationship between the two moves the story forward and also creates some funny scenes. 

In the end, with the help of her friends and Peter, Melsa solves the mystery. I won't spoil the ending by revealing the murderer. 

But, I will share one of my favorite scenes. 

Melsa and her friends find another dead body. She calls the police, but again, they don't believe her. so, what does this group of ladies do? Drop the dead body off the newspaper editor's office- Peter Ames.

The crazy antics and fun characters in the movie had me laughing out loud at times. I recommend watching this one, and I'd watch it again. 

Next week, don't be surprised if my post is another Barabar Stanwyck movie! 

 

Alfred C. Bogeyman A Spooky Little Story for All Ages

I've written two YA books in the scary/ spooky genre: Ally Ally Oxen Free and Alfred C. Bogeyman. Both books are just a little scary with a little humor woven in. Now Ally Ally has sold well and gotten quite a few reviews. The story also won a LitPick award.  Alfred C. hasn't gotten as much love.

Alfred C. was first published by Fire and Ice Books, and then when rights reverted back to me, I got a new cover and self-published on Kindle. I think anyone who likes Ally Ally would love this little story. Here are a few reviews and excerpt, and I hope you'll check it out on Kindle. I'll include the one not-so-good review too, so you get a range of reviews. :)

An Excerpt:

Adrian stood in front of the old, ramshackle house. The green mailbox door hung off its hinges on one side. Some of the letters were missing, but he could still make out the last name—Bogeyman.  The memories of that October twenty years earlier when he and his friends joined forces and stood up against the boogieman made him smile. But now that he was older, he had to go back and see for himself. Was Alfred still there? And if so, was he really a boogieman or did he and his friends have overactive imaginations. He chuckled as he thought back to the night during fall break when it all began.

Reviews

Jocelyn Sanchez rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-books

This was a very cute and fun story. I really enjoyed reading it and having a few laughs with Ralph, Sean, and Adrian.

This short story is about three children named Ralph, Sean, and Adrian who believe that the boogieman is scaring Adrian's little brother Sam. Adrian is the brave one in the group, Ralph is the brains, while Sean is afraid of everything. Feeling the need to protect his little brother Adrian and the boys go on a mission to find the boogieman and teach him a lesson. They come up with a plan to use Sean's dog Socks to track down the boogieman and scare him. I don't want to give too much away but I'll say I really liked the ending of the story and really enjoyed reading about Sean, Adrian, and Ralph. It was a really good read! 

Sep 28, 2012Jenny Twist rated it it was amazing

Adrian is the man of the house now so it’s his job to protect his little brother. When the bogeyman starts coming to the house every night and frightening Sam to death he decides to deal with it. Together he, his two friends and Socks the dog set off to find the bogeyman and give him a taste of his own medicine.

A delightful story which takes you straight back to those dreadful childhood fears which had to be tackled alone because no grown-up ever believed you.

Ms Allman has once again come up with a new twist on an old theme – and done it in an entertaining and superbly well-written way. Very satisfying.

Oct 23, 2012Christina (Ensconced in Lit) rated it it was ok

Shelves: author-request

I was asked to read this short story by the author. This does not bias my review.

Alfred C. Bogeyman by M. Allman is a short story about a group of boys ready to defeat the scary boogieman that is giving one of their younger brothers' nightmares.

The boys are likeable and it's a quick read. That said, I wanted a little more substance. I know it's harder to get more in a shorter story, but you can really pack a punch in a smaller space if done right. I wanted a bigger twist, or set of twists to unfold. The story has a good frame and can be reworked to really pop.

As it is now, I can see how this could be enjoyable to grade school boys especially around Halloween time. That said, in its current state, this story was not for me. 

A Link to student reviews on LitPick

Happy Reading!

LitPick Interview Next Week

Wow! It's almost March! And time for my LitPick interview "Six Minutes with an Author." The interview is scheduled for March 2nd. It will be posted on the LitPick site and LitPick on Facebook.

I have two YA stories on LitPick with reviews.

Ally Ally Oxen Free is  short story about a little boy with a strange hobby. It's just a little creepy and a fun story for all ages.

It received a five star review by a LitPick reviewer.

Alfred C. Bogeyman is about three boys and a dog on a mission to give this boogieman a taste of his own medicine.

It's a fun story that is a little bit scary, while being a fun read.

This short story has two 4 star reviews on Litpick











I'll post links to my LitPick interview next week on my Facebook page.

Happy Reading!

What's Better Than A Review of Your Book? An Email!

I've got a couple of good emails in the new year...

Flashes of Fiction Volume 1 is quite popular so far this year, and I just received a new Amazon review last night. I'm always happy to see a new review, but even better than that, I received an email from the reviewer. He sent me a little note to stay he enjoyed my book and left a review.  He said he was off to buy Flashes of Fiction Volume 2.  I think it is wonderful when a reader reaches out to me. I absolutely love it!

Litpick sent me a Twitter message Saturday inviting me to do Six Minutes with an Author, which I gladly accepted.  I'll post a link here when my interview is up at the Litpick site. The interview will also be posted on Litpick's Facebook page.

I'm still working on new release for the 2015. One is Flashes of Fiction Volume 4. I'll post more about that after I get it all put together and ready for release later this month.

Happy Reading!

LitPick 5 Star Review for Ally Ally Oxen Free

I received an email informing me of my Five Star Book Review Award from LitPick. The book is the Kindle short  "Ally Ally Oxen Free, " which is also available on audible and iTunes. Here is the review and the link to it on LitPick.

When summer comes everybody seems to be doing something cool, except for Tom (he thinks it is cool, nobody else does). He is friends with Mr.Duke who owns a grocery store. Next to the store is a vacant lot. Mr.Duke is allowing Tom to do an archaeological dig in the lot. When he first finds something he is confused about what it is, but when he figures it out he realizes it is very important.

Opinion: 

I really like this book because of how it leads up to the ending. But, also I think this book is good because of the character Tom. He stands up for Nancy when she is teased and almost doesn’t care that the other kids think his summer will be bad. What’s better than a good character is some suspense. I really like a book with suspense, and this book has it. So overall this is a really good book. I would recommend it to anybody.

Happy Reading! 

Why Yes...I Do Google Myself

I do. I Google my name, sometimes, but I do Google my book titles to see if anything new pops up. And, sometimes it does. There were reviews out there I didn't know existed, and they were a pleasant surprise.

I loved this one by a ten year old who read Alfred C. Bogeyman. The review is one LitPick

Fire and Ice Books

The book starts off with a boy named Adrian who hears his brother Sam screaming from in his room and remembers that his brother is being scared by the boogeyman.  He and his friends go on a search to find the boogeyman’s house. When they find it the house, they know they will have to come back and defeat the bogeyman. Will they succeed?  Read to find out!

 Opinion: 

This was a great book! It was about a kid who stands up for his brother. I like that Adrian does that for Sam. It is very kind to do that for anyone especially someone related to you. It had a lot of suspense; I like that in a book. I hope you find this book is as good as I did!

This review made my day. This is story is intended for younger readers, but it is also a fun read for adults. After finding this review, I also found this review from Bubblews

This was a very cute, fun, short story. I really enjoyed reading it and having a few laughs with Ralph, Sean, and Adrian. 

This short story is about three children named Ralph, Sean, and Adrian who believe that the boogieman is scaring Adrian's little brother Sam. Adrian is the brave one in the group, Ralph is the brains, while Sean is afraid of everything. Feeling the need to protect his little brother Adrian and the boys go on a mission to find the boogieman and teach him a lesson. 

They come up with a plan to use Sean's dog Socks to track down the boogieman and scare him. I don't want to give too much away but I'll say I really liked the ending of the story and really enjoyed reading about Sean, Adrian, and Ralph. It was a really good read! Especially if you're looking for a short story.

5 stars!!!

The good news is, I didn't find any bad reviews. Shew! 

Happy Reading!