I’ve been very excited to find I’ve had three new reviews of my book on Amazon.com in the last week. All three were high reviews and it’s been really nice to hear of people enjoying something I have written so much, especially as it can be quite hard going marketing the first book for an author. So many people don’t want to take a gamble on a name they’ve not heard of before.

To top it all off the second reviewee also runs an Amazon list for what he considers are the best indie authors out there and I’ve now had my book added to the list.

I’ve updated my book page here with a few small quotes from some of the awesome reviews I have but because I was so excited about them I wanted to share the three newest ones in full here.

1) 4 out of 5 stars

A beautiful adventuress, pirates, treasure, and romance, oh my! The language can be a little stilted, but the plot takes off from the first page and never lets go. Great fun! – Lisa Deckert

2) 5 out of 5 stars

“With Proud Humility” by Jess Mountifield revives swashbuckling adventure stories.

This is a good story told very well. Author Mountifield sets a new standard on adventure stories and crafts characters like they are people we know. This is a nonstop high seas adventure with a powerful female leading character.

This book achieves a level of quality that earn a 5 star rating. Buy this book and get ready for a tale with pirates, lost maps, a hidden treasure horde, danger and intrigue. This is one of the books you won’t want to put down. This would be one author to follow for future books as well. – Patrick Donnell

3) 4 out of 5 stars

Here I thought I was getting a nice thrill ride, sword, pirates, explosions. A good old fashioned pirate adventure, if you will. The author managed to tuck in a perfectly good romance as well. You know, a good one, without the bodice ripping and creative genitalia metaphors.

Though the dialogue may seem somewhat stilted to some. It is set in the colonial era and is a period piece. The author did a very good job keeping the dialogue in that period. Not only that, but she took a female lead character and made her a powerful, wily and fully capable force to be reckoned with in an era when women, even certain levels of nobilty, were seen as little more than property and means to an heir. The way Marie gamed the Victorian/Colonial era societal structure was both inventive and thouroughly satisfying.

I honestly don’t know why this book would be billed as a romance, all good stories will have an element of romance to them, that that’s what Jess Mountifield has turned out: A Good Story.

But, Mike? Seems like you loved it, why only 4 stars?

Well, I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s plain to see that the author was in Marie’s head. She is a well defined and whole character, very compelling and very believable in that way. I only wish she would’ve gotten into some of the other character’s minds that way. Some of the secondary characters almost seem like set dressing at times. Mountifield tells the story in a limited 3rd person view. To this reader at least, it would have be better served as told through a 1st person view point. That would’ve solved a lot of the issues with lack of knowledge of Marie’s adversaries and allies motivations.

The sticking point: Marie is an avid poker player, this reader is not. To someone that enjoys playing cards in a competitive manner, the level of detail and strategy put into the card games in the novel would be an added bonus, to me it was tedious at times. I only wish the author would’ve put the same level of detail into some of the battles in the book. The end was open enough to suspect a sequel or possible series. I’d look for it based on this work.

Overall, a good read, and highly recommended. – Mike Jordan

All three reviews made me smile in their own way and while they each have the odd point of critisism, considering it’s my first book and I am hoping to address some of those problems in later books, I’m just pleased I managed to entertain a bunch of people with something I wrote. It’s also amazing that my characters were so well grasped by the readers, especially Marie. I love my characters and for me writing is very much just me telling their stories so I’m very glad I managed to portray her well.

If this has finally enticed you to actually check out my book you can download the kindle version from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and for the 40% free sample and as many other formats as exist you can also get at Smashwords.

Don’t have a kindle or ereader I hear you cry, well no worries! You can get the kindle app for your computer, almost all smart phones, iphone, ipad, you can even get the epub format from Smashwords and transfer it into your itunes library to read on an ipod!

And the really best part is it costs less than a starbucks coffee!