Would you BUY or PASS? The Christmas Violin #FridayFiveChallenge

Welcome to the ‘Friday Five Challenge.’

Would you BUY or PASS if you had only a thumbnail image and five minutes to decide?

Welcome to the #FridayFiveChallenge.  The original idea comes from Rosie Amber, and you can join up at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com

The rules are laid out at the end of this post if you fancy having a go.

Here is my contribution for this week:

I’m doing well with my new ‘healthy eating’ regime (refuse to call it a diet!) and so far I’ve lost just over a stone in weight.  Of course, the festive season is creeping up on me, and I’m a sucker for a mince pie.  To try and avoid the calorie ridden variety  I typed ‘mince pie’ into the Amazon search bar and hoped to find a slimmer version.  There were plenty of recipe books (aaah!) but eventually I found this:

The Christmas Violin by Buffy Andrews

BLURB:

One Christmas. Three lives. One unforgettable story.

A widower, a grieving mother, and a homeless woman have one thing in common – a cemetery.

Willow, a concert violinist, begins each morning by playing her son the lullaby she wrote for him at his tomb. The melody enchants Peter during his daily visit to his wife’s grave. The homeless woman, who finds refuge in the cemetery, is equally drawn to the haunting music.

Like a violin concerto, the story unfolds in three movements, unexpectedly intertwining the fates of these characters.

My Analysis:

I’m not sure where the mince pie comes in, but I do love the sound of the blurb, it sounds like it could be an emotional read.  The cover is nice, although I can’t help wishing the lady had a coat on with all that snow around.

The Stats:

The Kindle price is £2.99.  There are 12 reviews on Amazon.co.uk, 11 of these are five stars.  There is a solitary one-star review that complains about the theme – death! (Clearly this reviewer didn’t read the blurb – it’s set in a cemetery for goodness sake)  The Christmas Violin is only available as eBook, and I could only find it on the UK site, not the US site.

Here is an example of a five-star review from Amazon.co.uk:

This is a wonderfully moving story about redemption. It’s as poignant as a concerto and just as memorable. I love how Andrews wove together three such seemingly disparate storylines.

Pour yourself a mug of hot cider, curl up next to the fire, and maybe make sure the tissue box is nearby. This story will grab you.

BUY or PASS?

It would be a BUY from me.  Even though it’s totally out of my reading comfort zone, I was drawn in by the blurb and the reviews.

The Christmas Violin – buy your copy.

Amazon UK

Take a look at who else has taken part in the Friday Five Challenge:

Rosie searches for The Gift Of… – https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/fridayfivechallenge-the-gift-of-rain-by-tan-twan-eng-fridayreads/

Barb let the cover choose her this week – http://barbtaub.com/2015/12/11/beats-me-claude-fridayfivechallenge-from-rosieamber-santas-little-balls/comment-page-1/#comment-140494

Cathy searched for an inspirational story – http://betweenthelinesbookblog.com/2015/12/11/fridayfivechallenge-buy-or-pass-i-am-david-by-anne-holm-histfic-ya/comment-page-1/#comment-3447

Liz searches for a little joy – https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/fridayfivechallenge-10/

What is the Friday Five Challenge?

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (thumbnails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

The Challenge is this… IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES…

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description of this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)