Friday Five Challenge ~ Buy or Pass ~ Emerald Buddha by Russell Blake

Rosie Amber’s Friday Five Challenge, involves taking only five minutes to choose a book cover which appeals instantly. So take a few minutes, grab yourself a coffee…..and have a browse.

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really 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?

My Friday Five 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 for this book, and any other details.

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

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

Feeling a little lazy this week, I looked at Amazon’s recommendations and this cover stood out for me…

The book description reads…

Drake, Allie, and Spencer reunite in Emerald Buddha, the second Drake Ramsey adventure – a quest to locate the lost treasure of the Khmer Empire, secreted away in a hidden temple somewhere in Myanmar. But nothing is as it seems, and their archaeological expedition soon turns deadly when desperate factions target them in order to safeguard a secret that could topple the U.S. government.

Yes, it’s the second of a series. I’ve done it again. The description is succinct, I suppose if you’ve read the first one it would be enough. It tells me it’s an adventure book with probably lots of action. Maybe a ‘Indiana Jones’ type of story. 

The kindle edition is £4.44 which is quite pricey. There are only three reviews on Amazon UK – two 5* and one 3*. On Amazon US there are twenty-eight reviews with an average of 4.1*, 50% are 5* reviews and 18% at 4*. The most positive helpful review, from someone who has reviewed lots of books, states…

Emerald Buddha is a great continuation of Drake Ramsey’s adventures. Not only are Allie and Spencer back, there are two new quirky characters that had me laughing non-stop. My favorite was Uncle Pete. He was just the right amount of wrong.

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Russell Blake’s books. Each series has its own feel, so I know what to expect when I buy the next one. With Drake Ramsey, I know I’m gonna have fun.

I’ve read Russell Blake before too, and really enjoyed his books. It is the second book though so, on that basis…

Will I BUY or PASS? ~ I’ll PASS but again, I’ll get the first book, see how it goes, and will most probably end up with this one too. 

If you’d like to enter next week’s challenge, and the more the merrier, check out Rosie’s blog to read about the Friday Five Challenge.

More Friday Five Challenge choices

Barb found a Little Witch (and a fabulous letter)

Shelley chose a non fiction ‘how to’ book 

Liz searched for the Far East and found a book set in India

Rosie went for the No1 Ladies Detective Agency