I Read a Book Once

Review – How Not to Murder Your Grumpy by Carol E. Wyer (5/5)

2013-08-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

By Kayla West

Okay, must start this review out by saying that How Not to Murder Your Grumpy by Carol E. Wyer cracked me up when I first saw the title. Well…actually, I was more confused at first. I thought grumpy meant grandpa, and I originally thought the book was actually about murder. However, when I read an excerpt from it, I immediately knew I had to read this. Because it is not, in fact, about real murder and grandpas, it is about GOMs (Grumpy Old Men a.k.a Husbands) and wives who just want them out of their hair. It is about finding something to do in the retirement age.

I realized, though, that this book doesn't just have to apply to older people. It can apply to us younger generations as well. There are so many activities to be done around the world, so many interesting and wonderful things that can spice up life. In fact, this book gave me several ideas on things I might want to do in the near future. Things like hunting for sapphires and diamonds, or extreme ironing (something my cousin just recently started), or even putting together the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle (It is called Double Respect and has approximately 32,256 pieces…all half an inch in size.) No, I am not crazy…I just really like puzzles.

Along with informing the reader about things that we can do, there are also anecdotes, jokes, and the occasional fun fact. For me, this book went very quickly and I quite enjoyed it. From A to Z, Carol Wyer has included an activity for everyone. And I mean everyone…

Although, I would like to point out to Mrs. Wyer that Quidditch has actually become a real thing in the ‘muggle’ world. It was established as a real-live sport in 2005 in Middlebury, Vermont, and one of these days I vow to join a team.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves an interesting and entertaining read.

5 out of 5 stars.

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About the Reviewer: Kayla West is an avid reader who tends to read a little too much for her own good. By day she is a home healthcare worker and by night, or late afternoon, she is the lead character in any good story that can truly spark her imagination. She loves to read fantasy and historical fiction, but is ready and willing to have an open mind about any type of work. Books by unknown authors, or at least unknown to her, are her very favorites to read, because she believes that those stories, the unknown stories, are sometimes where the magic truly happens. To learn more about Kayla, visit her blog at attackofthebookworms.blogspot.com.

Mailbox Monday – July 22, 2013

2013-07-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme started by Marcia at Mailbox Monday in which bloggers can ramble on about the books they received/bought/stole over a given week. Each month a new blogger hosts the meme, and this month it’s Tasha at Book Obsessed.

--- The Books ---

Title: Harkness

Author: Michael Bigham

Publisher: Muskrat Press

Genre(s): mystery/crime, historical fiction

About the Book: Harkness isn't your typical Western sheriff. Cowboy boots make his arches ache, he's got a serious case of horse-phobia, and his faithful companion, Addison, is a wiener dog. It's 1952 in the Oregon High Desert, and until now, the worst crime Harkness has had to contend with is two cowboys playing quickdraw in an alley behind a bar. His easygoing life explodes when a star-crossed teenage couple disappears, sparking an investigation that threatens to expose the slimy underbelly the lurks beneath his small town, Barnesville.

Relevant Links: author webpage

Title: The Narrows

Author: Michael Connelly

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Genre(s): mystery/crime

About the Book: FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years, the one that tells her the serial killer “the Poet” has surfaced. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too--from the widow of an old friend. Her husband's death seems natural, but his ties to the hunt for the Poet make Bosch dig deep. Bosch soon joins forces with Rachel, at odds with the FBI and squarely in the path of the Poet, who will lead them on a wicked ride out of the heat, through the narrows of evil, and into a darkness all his own.

Relevant Links: author webpage, Wikipedia page

Title: Losing Touch

Author: Christian A. Larsen

Publisher: Post Mortem Press

Genre(s): horror, sci-fi

About the Book: Morgan Dunsmore feels like everything is out of reach - a paying job, a healthy marriage, and even a good bowel movement. Complicated by his wife's recent back surgery, Morgan tries to protect his wife and kids from his anxieties, not to mention their financial burdens, but that just pushes them away even further. And in the middle of it all, he starts to lose his tangibility. He may be able to walk through walls, but that ability comes with a price. He has to learn not just how to control it, but how to use it without anyone finding out. And the temptations are endless. When he succumbs to the first, the rest begin to fall like dominos.

Relevant Links: Smashwords page

Title: You Cannot Find Peace Until You Find All the Pieces

Author: Marie Maiden

Publisher: lulu.com

Genre(s): religion, self-help, christianity

About the Book: You Cannot Find Peace Until You Find All The Piecestells the story of how God through Jesus Christ transformed the author’s life and gave her the strength to overcome a less than desirable childhood, the regrets of becoming a teen mother, anger, immaturity, poor decision making and a really bad attitude.

Relevant Links: author Goodreads profile

Title: Plan X

Author: Rory Tate

Publisher: CreateSpace

Genre(s): thriller

About the Book: It should have been simple, this finding the next-of-kin. But for Officer Cody Byrne the explosion that injures the Shakespeare professor is more than suspicious. So begins the unraveling of a man's life, a man's secrets, his loves and birthright, as Cody follows his trail to Washington, DC, then London, trying to glean something of his shadowed past from the Renaissance documents he left behind. It begins in Montana, but soon takes her on a global journey, as well as a psychological one as she struggles with her own PTSD and the family she hardly knows.

Relevant Links: author webpage

Title: Roberts Ridge

Author: Malcolm McPherson

Publisher: Dell

Genre(s): military

About the Book:

Afghanistan

, March 2002. In the early morning darkness on a frigid mountaintop, a U.S. soldier is stranded, alone, surrounded by fanatical al Qaeda fighters. For the man’s fellow Navy SEALs, and for waiting teams of Army Rangers, there was only one rule now: leave no one behind. In this gripping you-are-there account–based on stunning eyewitness testimony and painstaking research–journalist Malcolm MacPherson thrusts us into a drama of rescue, tragedy, and valor in a place that would be known as ROBERTS RIDGE.

Relevant Links: publisher profile

Title: The ‘Geisters

Author: David Nickle

Publisher: Chizine Publications

Genre(s): horror

About the Book: When Ann LeSage was a little girl, she had an invisible friend—a poltergeist, that spoke to her with flying knives and howling winds. She called it the Insect. And with a little professional help, she contained it. And the nightmare was over, at least for a time. But the nightmare never truly ended. As Ann grew from girl into young woman, the Insect grew with her. It became more than terrifying. It became a thing of murder. Now, as she embarks on a new life married to successful young lawyer, Ann believes that she finally has the Insect under control. But there are others vying to take that control away from her. They are the ’Geisters. And in pursuing their own perverse dream, they risk spawning the most terrible nightmare of all.

Relevant Links: author blog

Title: Run

Author: Alan Porter

Publisher: Eyelevel Books

Genre(s): horror

About the Book: Daniel Ang lives to run, so when a freak accident leaves him in a wheelchair, he thinks his life is over. He fights against his injury, against the creatures that did this to him, and against life itself. What he doesn’t realize is that the real enemy is not out there at all. It’s inside him, and crippling his body is only the beginning. Run is a story of one man’s descent into madness as he loses everything he once held dear. Forced to return time and again to the abandoned farm at the center of his nightmares, his life spirals out of control and begins to threaten everyone with whom he comes into contact.

Relevant Links: author profile

Title: Murdock Tackles Taos

Author: Robert J. Ray

Publisher: Camel Press

Genre(s): mystery/crime

About the Book: Weary but wise private-eye Matt Murdock is back, and he has met his match--a vital and attractive writer and cop's daughter, Helene Steinbeck. Helene is hiking in the hills of Taoswhen she happens upon the corpse of a young woman downed by an arrow. Murdock appears on the horizon just in time to prevent a team of archers from using Helene as target practice. Murdock has been scouring Angel Mountainand vicinity for evidence that will help him discover the whereabouts of Barbi Bellini, the missing daughter of a friend.

Relevant Links: author blog

Title: In His Stead

Author: Judith Sanders

Publisher: IronWord Press

Genre(s): literary fiction, military

About the Book: Retired Army Ranger Thomas Lane once burned for the taste of gunpowder and the thrill of the battle. But as he struggles to cope with his own PTSD and the death of his eldest son, killed by an IED in

Afghanistan

, Lane learns that the beast called war demands more. Now the National Guard is calling on Lane’s youngest son to serve. Consumed with sorrow, Lane knows he will do anything to save his child—even if it means going in his place, a pursuit unheard of since the Civil War when slaves were sent in place of their masters.

Relevant Links: author Goodreads blog

And now that we’ve shown you ours, it’s time to show us yours. What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review – Murdock Tales Taos by Robert J. Ray (5/5)

2013-07-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the Murdock Tackles Taos blog tour managed by Partners in Crime Tours. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page. For more on John Lansing and his work, visit his webpage at murdockmysteries.blogspot.com.]

Click here for the Amazon listing

At first glance, Murdock Tackles Taos by Robert J. Ray seemed like every other murder mystery I have ever read. There is a crime that is committed or a body that is found and someone attempts to figure out what happened before the perpetrator can strike again. However, what actually forced my hand in picking up this book to read it was a line in the description provided with the story. A girl had been found in the hills of Taos with an arrow sticking out of her back. Now, obviously, this isn’t the exact line, but you get the gist. It got me wondering…why was she shot with an arrow? Why was she left in the hills of Taos? Who could have done this and what exactly is their agenda? So…I endeavored to find out the whole story…

In Murdock Tackles Taos, the sixth installment in the Matt Murdock Mystery Series (whew! Try to say that five times fast), we once again meet private eye Matt Murdock. He is searching high and low for a friend’s daughter who has been missing for some time. While scouring for evidence concerning her disappearance, he comes across a hiker named Helene Steinbeck who is currently being targeted as a human dart board for some archers down wind. After saving her life from a deadly arrow-tipped fate, and causing the potential killers some well-deserved harm, he finds the cause of the archers targeting Helene. She had come across the body of a dead girl with an arrow in her back.

After much deliberation, Steinbeck and Murdock rightly deduce that there has to be a connection between the girl and the archers. Could they have killed her? If so, who are they and why did they do it? Could this be a human game of cat and mouse?

Robert J. Ray

Murdock and Steinbeck come across potential suspects in the case when they stumble upon a cult who believes that the weak are fair prey. On top of that, the leader of this group has a gigantic pull with the rich community who believe that money can solve anything. Can the two sleuths give the dead girl the justice she deserves, or will the cult and their benefactors push the crime back into the shadows?

And can Murdock find his friend’s daughter, or will her disappearance be permanent?

I absolutely loved this book. To me it had a different feel to it than some others of the same genre. It was faster paced than most, and told three different perspectives on the story. Helene’s, Murdock’s, and a third whose identity you will have to find out for yourself.

I give this a GIGANTIC 5 out of 5.

Recommended for people who love the thrill of the chase, and the feeling of catching the bad guy in the act.

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Review – Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore (5/5)

2013-06-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the Chocolates for Breakfast blog tour managed by TLC Book Tours. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page.]

By Kayla West

Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore is a book after my own heart and soul. I chose it, mainly because it stood for something so completely different than what I read, and because of the title. The title is intriguing and sucks you in (or at least it did me) to the story at hand—a story of the link between childhood and adulthood, that moment every teenager reaches where they are in limbo between both of those worlds. Not quite in one, but not quite part of the other.

Chocolates for Breakfast stars a young woman named Courtney in this very dilemma. She is still on the very outskirts of childhood, still has some of the same values, some of the same innocence and morality, but is not quite into adulthood. It doesn't help that her parents seem to even forget she exists in the midst of their own very busy lives. It seems that Courtney has had to raise herself for quite some time. Her only reprieve from this lonely life of hers is her best friend and Scaisbrooke roommate, Janet Parker. At times, though, Janet is more of a burden than a relief.

Her mother, being informed of Courtney's attitude and subconscious reaction to her dismal life at Scaisbrooke, gives Courtney a choice. She can stay there, or she can move in with her mother and go to school in Beverly Hills. Courtney does not have to give the choice a second thought and immediately takes the latter.

However, the latter does not necessarily mean the better.

Courtney is infinitely changed throughout the chapters of this novel. She faces rejection, poverty, fantasy, lust, and sorrow. She tries to capture sophistication, all the while still trying to fit into her own skin. She grows from a timid girl looking for love, to a woman who has not one but two affairs. She ultimately is just trying to survive and play the part she believes she was born to play.

This book was a phenomenal read. It was poetic, obscure, terrifying, and exhilarating all rolled into one. Each character had their own voice, had their own way of being that was enchanting. I was so mesmerized by the world Pamela Moore created and will undoubtedly search high and low for her other works.

I recommend this work to all of you out there who long to have a scandalously wonderful experience.

5 out of 5 stars.

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Interview - Michael Bigham, Author of Harkness

2013-06-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Interview by Jonathan Wilhoit

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Michael Bigham, author of the debut novel Harkness. It’s a mystery novel set in 1952 on the Oregon High Desert, and after leafing through his book, it’s definitely one that I want to read. But before diving into the text, I thought it might be fun to talk to the author himself and learn a little bit more about his book.

Michael has been gracious enough to accept my interview invitation and joins me here today. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Michael.

MB: Thanks for having me. I appreciate you taking the time to interview me.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Q1) First, the basics. Tell the folks a little about yourself.

Michael Bigham

MB: I grew up in a small timber and cattle town in Central Oregon, Prineville. It’s off the beaten track, almost lost in time. While attending the University of Oregon, I spent my summers fighting range fires for the BLM at a guard station 50 miles up the Paulina Valley. We had no phone, no television, no radio, just a reel to reel tape recorder filled with Hank Williams tunes. There I fell in love with the high desert and that’s stayed with me ever since. After college, I drifted into police work and eventually made it my career. My other passion has always been writing and after retiring from police work, I went back to school and got an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College.

Q2) And now on to your book, Harkness. Give us the spiel.

MB: My protagonist, Sheriff Matt Harkness isn’t your typical Western sheriff. Cowboy boots make his arches ache, he’s scared of horses, drives an old battered pickup he’s named Hoopie and his faithful companion is a wiener dog named Addison. Life in the small town of Barnesville has been easy-going for Matthew until a star-crossed teen-aged couple disappears. Harkness is the keeper of secrets in his little town, but to solve this crime, he must decide which secrets to keep and which to expose. One secret involves Judge Barnes, the county’s most powerful man. But Harkness has a secret of his own: he’s in love with the Judge’s wife. How much is Harkenss willing to risk to catch the bad guy?

Q3) Harknessbegins with a quote from Shakespeare’s Richard III. Why did you choose this passage, and how does it tie into your novel?

MB: Great question. The quote reflects on Harkness himself. He’s a man borne of violence, physically abused as a child and tempered by battle in the jungles of New Guinea during World War II. The quote refers to a warrior who now capers in a lady’s bedchamber. In the opening scene, we find Harkness in bed with another man’s wife. He’s put aside the violent part of himself for a brief moment.

Q4) Sheriff Harkness strikes me as… well, a character. How did you come up with him, and how did he develop as you wrote his story?

MB: Harkness was based to some degree on my father. As with Harkness, my dad was from a dirt-poor Irish family and left home when he was thirteen to find his way in the world. He also fought in New Guinea during the War. That’s not to say that Harkness is exactly like my father. There are many more unresolved issues with Harkness, the dichotomy of his love for another man’s wife versus his inability to commit, his sense of justice and the passion and anger that lie just below the surface.

Q5) Harknessis set in 1952. Why did you choose to go the historical fiction route rather than a contemporary setting?

MB: I find the era fascinating. A lot was happening then: Korea, flying saucers, the hunt for Communists and the beginnings of social change. Competing forces were working to shape our society. There was almost a casual racism that existed then that I wanted to explore. Central Oregon was almost completely white. Native Americans were confined to the Warm Springs Reservation. Barnestown, like many towns west of the Mississippi, had enacted a sundown law. A person of color could not spend the night in the city limits. I wondered what would happen if an African American man stumbled into town during the murder investigation of a young white girl. After World War II, attitudes started to slowly shift. Women and people of color had been given a taste of another life, one where they had the opportunity to break out of their traditional roles. That shift is still in progress, but it started then.

Q6) I loved how you included a lot of classic literature in your fiction—Shakespeare, Browning, etc. (I was an English major, after all). What are some other classic authors that you particularly enjoy or helped to inspire your work?

Click here for the Amazon listing

MB: I’m rereading Anna Karenia at the moment. Tolstoy was a master at the omniscient point of view and I’m looking for tips. Shakespeare has wonderful plots and exquisite language. Believe it or not, I’m looking at Verne and H.G. Wells for inspiration for the sequel to Harkness.

Q7) What is the central theme of Harkness? Or, phrased a different way, if there is any one thing you would like the reader to walk away with after having read this book, what is it?

MB: Harkness as a man finds himself increasingly uncomfortable with the status quo. His best friend, an elderly doctor, is a holocaust survivor, the only Jew for 100 miles. Many local folks would drive 35 miles to another town rather than have him do their doctoring. I mentioned the African American man, Thomas Stewart, stumbling into town during a murder investigation. Harkness knows that Stewart isn’t involved in the murder and has to overstep his authority to protect him. Harkness also stumbles on two prominent gay men who are in the closet. How does he handle their secrets? Also, his lover, Kate Barnes, wants to be a cop. Women weren’t really accepted into police work until the mid to late 70s. I was curious how he would handle all this. It would be easier for him to react with intolerance and bias, but he struggles to accept what most of that era wouldn’t.

Q8) What’s next for Sheriff Harkness and Michael Bigham?

I’m working hard on the next book in the Harkess series, Thunderhead. Seven months have passed since the end of the last book. Harkness is on the wagon, but just barely, locals report flying saucers over Grizzly Mountain, the FBI comes to town looking for commie sympathizers and someone is murdered in a log grinder at a local lumber mill. Harkness has to haul what is left of the poor soul to Doc Silverman’s office in buckets.

And that’s that. Thank you so much, Michael, for speaking with us. It’s been a real treat to talk with you. Take care, and good luck with your next project.

My pleasure. You’ve got a knack for asking relevant questions. Thanks for having me.

If you would like to find out more about Michael or his work, you can visit him at michaelbigham.com.

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About the Reviewer: He makes a living in the world of corporate IT, but he gets his jollies through the nirvana of armchair literary criticism. Blame it on a liberal arts education and liberal quantities of whiskey. It's a dangerous combination, one that has resulted in a blog called I Read a Book Once, where Jonathan can express his cantankerous inner literary critic to the fullest extent. When not reading, writing, or getting his geek on (i.e. working), he mostly hunkers down in the bunker with his redhot smokin' wife and tries to survive the hurricane that is his half-crazed toddler.

Review - Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy Edited by Michael Knost (5/5)

2013-06-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

[The following entry is part of The Writer's Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour being organized by Tomorrow Comes Media. For more information on the book and the tour, see the tour page.]

By Jessica Veter

Click here for the Amazon listing

For the hurried, harried writers among you, two words: Read It.

For those of you requiring more convincing, pray continue:

The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasyis a collection of essays and interviews by some of the biggest names in these genres (Neil Gaiman, James Gunn, Orson Scott Card, Nisi Shawl, Elizabeth Bear, and more). They cover a myriad of topics from defining subgenre, novel structure, rhetoric (come on! ANY book making knowledgeable use of the word ‘rhetoric’ deserves space on your bookshelf), the purpose of aliens, worldbuilding and so much more. Also included are two roundtable discussions with short story editors and novel editors.

Remember the thousands of dollars you (well, me) spent on university writing courses? Here’s the entire lot condensed into one bargain-basement priced book... minus the annoying classmate who thought using gerunds made his work literary.

What’s refreshing about the Workshop is the concentration on Science Fiction and Fantasy, genres which I still admit to writing while mumbling under my breath, taking a sip of tea and avoiding eye contact. For years, in those same university courses, I was told they were ‘subliterary’ and it was recommended that I try my hand at some ‘real’ writing (direct quote: “You have a way with words; it’s a shame they’re being wasted on this kind of stuff”). And here they are: celebrated, bragged about, dissected, inspected and accepted. Moreover, the focus is on writing as a Craft which must be practised, practised and practised in order to get it right. Next time you’re banging your head against your keyboard trying to get a recalcitrant character to do as she’s told, remember that Pamela Sargent has the same problem, too. Somehow, it makes the whole painful exercise that much easier to bear. Dear writer, you are not alone.

The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasyis not off-limits to writers of ‘other’ genres. Writing is writing, and the same rules apply pretty much across the board. Whether your antagonist is an alien from Tau Ceti VI, or a serial murderer, or your high school nemesis, they must still have a recognisable (to your reader) motivation.

Informative, engaging and interesting, The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy is a wonderful tool for writers interested in perfecting their craft (who among us is not?). I’ve also come away with a ‘recommended reading’ list which will carry me right through the summer.

Five stars: Alpha Centauri, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Mizar and Alcor.

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About the Reviewer: Jessica Veter is a novelist raised in rural Ontario. Having escaped to Toronto, she spent the 90’s over-educating herself at York University and then the University of Toronto. Once she accepted that there were never going to be any job listings in The Globe and Mail headed “Medievalist Wanted”, Jessica went to Japan. There, she met her husband and they lived in England before returning to Canada with a son and a greyhound. Now in rural Flamborough, Jessica and her husband raise 3 boys, 6 chickens and are owned by 1 dog. You are welcome to visit her at www.jessicaveter.com.

Review - Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay (5/5)

2013-06-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the Sight Reading blog tour managed by TLC Book Tours. The book reviewed was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page. For more on Daphne Kalotay and her work, visit her website, daphnekalotay.com.]

By Olga Godim

Click here for the Amazon listing

Despite being a bit slow and somewhat ponderous, this novel was among the most powerful I’ve read recently. Its prose is eloquent and luminous; its descriptions lyrical, emphasized by the symbolism on both visual and musical planes. The only flaw I can pinpoint is too much musical vernacular, which is basically incomprehensible to anyone but a musician, although I must admit: there is a glossary at the back. Anyway, it is a minor flaw, pardonable in a book about classical music. I would’ve given it 5 stars for the quality of writing and the deep emotional involvement, if I didn’t dislike one of the protagonists so much. As it is, I had no choice but to drop a star from the rating.

The gist of the plot is fairly banal. At the start of the novel Nicholas, a supremely talented composer, is married to Hazel. They move to Boston, so he can work at the Boston Conservatory, and he falls in love with an ambitious young violinist Remy, one of his students. He divorces Hazel and marries Remy. Then the author follows the three main characters through the next 20 years of their lives.

Fortunately, the plot is not the focus of this tale. The author concentrates on the characters – Hazel, Nicholas, and Remy – and makes us, the readers, privy to their innermost thoughts, shames, and revelations. We witness their interplays, fret about their mistakes, celebrate their triumphs.

Among the three, Hazel is my heroine. Loyal and kind, with the unerring sense of beauty, she is extremely fragile. It takes her ten years to come to terms with her husband’s betrayal. Drowning in her loneliness, she feels misplaced among couples, ashamed of her “singledom”.

"It was that her aloneness felt like an element of her personality--as if her singledom were a character trait and not simply a situation beyond her control."

She constantly doubts herself, and my heart ached for her. As I read, I wanted to ease her distress, to cheer her up. I understood her misery and her occasional spite towards Remy. I was glad, when Hazel found contentment towards the end of the novel, although her second marriage felt more a compromise than a love match. How realistic and unfair that Hazel, the most delicate of the three, has been given the least number of pages by the author.

Unlike Hazel, Nicholas is happy with himself most of the time. Generous and charming, he is loved and admired by everyone: your typical absent-minded genius. Imbued with more musical talent than a man can handle, he is often confused in his human interactions. He is absorbed in his music but forgets birthdays and anniversaries. He doesn’t even notice, when his wife cheats on him. His deficiency in the social sphere counterbalances his huge talent, makes him human. He might’ve achieved even more as a musician, if he had a better wife, a woman dedicated to him, instead of a narcissistic, high-maintenance bitch like Remy.

Daphne Kalotay

And that brings me to Remy, my least favorite character and perhaps the most complex. She is the one who grabs the highest number of pages for herself. The lynchpin of the story, she is also the source of everyone’s suffering. The novel revolves around her, and she doesn’t deserve it.

While Nicholas’s self-centeredness stems from his overflowing talent, Remy’s egotism comes from the opposite end of the spectrum. Her refrain is ‘Not enough!’ It’s not enough for her to be an orchestra member, even in the most prestigious orchestra. She wants to be a star, even though she doesn’t have that elusive divine spark intrinsic to the stars. Frustrated by her inability to achieve stardom, she wants Nicholas as her consolation prize. It is not enough for her to be his friend and student. She wants to be his new wife. His existing wife and daughter are just a minor inconvenience for her.

Although Remy is not intentionally cruel, and the author probably didn’t want to portray her as a predator, Remy is a piece of art, and like any piece of art, she is open to interpretations.

In my interpretation, I see her as a brazen barracuda who gobbles up everyone in her path, men and women alike, but even that is not enough for her. Her occasional pangs of guilt, the author’s attempt to make Remy more sympathetic, feel unconvincing. Remy has no trouble in shrugging them off and ruthlessly reaching for whatever she craves next. Compassion and empathy are not her forte. Vanity and self-pity are.

I understand Remy’s perpetual dissatisfaction, I do. She is a gifted artist, and like any artist, she yearns for recognition and self-expression. She perceives her own mediocrity, and it chafes at her. Granted, it’s harder to be a mediocre artist than a mediocre plumber, but in my view, an insufficient gift doesn’t excuse immorality. And Remy’s morals are basically flexible, biased towards herself.

As I read the book, I came to really deplore her, but I suppose my disgust is the highest compliment to the writer. After all, I saw Remy as a living woman. She stirred my hostility. She made me worry about Nicholas, as if he were alive too, and not a creature of words and paragraphs. I turned the pages and wondered: why men always fall for such sluts? I resisted Remy’s allure and her vulnerability. I cursed her petty vindictiveness. She commanded an entire range of my emotions. No reader can ask for more.

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About the Reviewer - Olga Godim is a writer and journalist from Vancouver,

Canada

. Her articles appear regularly in local newspapers, but her passion is fiction. Her short stories have been published in several internet magazines, including Lorelei Signal, Sorcerous Signals, Aoife’s Kiss, Silver Blade, and other publications. In her free time, she writes novels, collects toy monkeys, and posts book reviews on GoodReads. Her first novel, Lost and Found in Russia, has just been released from Eternal Press.

Review – Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingslover (4/5)

2013-06-14T15:59:00.001-07:00

[The following review is part of the Flight Behavior blog tour managed by TLC Book Tours. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page. For more on Barbara Kingslover and her work, visit her website, http://www.kingsolver.com.]

By Ryan St. Onge

Click here for the Amazon listing

I love the opportunities that writing a blog gives me as a reader. I didn't get into it for the free books and I most certainly do not take the few books I get for granted, but it's always nice for me, living overseas, to get an opportunity to read a hardcopy (as opposed to a Kindle version) of a book that I would otherwise have to wait years to get here in Taiwan. Case in point: Flight Behavior. Since reading The Poisonwood Bible a couple of years ago, I have been extremely keen to delve into Barbara Kingsolver's catalog. Alas, the gods of access have conspired against me until recently when I got the opportunity to participate in the blog tour for Kingsolver's most recent novel. As an avid reader and a fan of Barbara Kingsolver, I couldn't be more appreciative to the good people at TLC Book Tours.

So, anyway...

Flight Behavior answers the proverbial question: If a butterfly flaps its wings in rural Tennessee do unhappy housewives fly the coop? Dellarobia Turnbow is the aforementioned unhappy housewife on the cusp of throwing it all away. Married early and suffering from a severe case of seven-year itch, she accidentally stumbles upon the new and alarmingly inappropriate winter roost of the bulk of North America's monarch butterflies on a stretch of undeveloped land behind her home. To make matters worse. the land, which is owned by her overbearing father-in-law, is set to be sold to an irresponsible logging company (in literature, is there any other kind?) in order to save the family farm. But the arrival of a scientific research team determined to study the butterflies causes a deep divide not only among the citizens of Feathertown but also within the Turnbow family itself.

What ensues is a litany of local conflicts that act as a microcosm for the growing divide within American society. Democrat vs. Republican. Science vs. religion. Rural vs. urban. Rich vs. poor. It's a veritable cornucopia of Man vs. Man conflicts and that is even before we get into all the man vs. nature and man vs. himself subtexts. In true Kingsolver fashion (or at least from the perspective of someone who has read The Poisonwood Bible) these divides are examined with a maturity and clarity that is rare among contemporary writers. Rather than simply taking a specific side and hammering her own opinion home, Kingsolver relishes in the role of devil's advocate and gives a fair shake to every side of the coin (well, except the media. Kingsolver saves all a special vehemence just for them). The end result is a rational, open dialog between sides that are not used to rational, open dialogs.

In true Richard Russo style, Kingsolver seems to thrive in telling stories that occur in small, tightly-knit communities. In the Poisonwood Bible, the Price family are living in a small village in the middle of the

Congo

, far removed from the workings of the modern world. In Flight Behavior she maintains the same sort of isolation by setting the narrative in a small, deeply religious Tennessee town that sees the bare minimum of outsiders. It would seem that Kingsolver enjoys crafting narratives with closed systems.

Barbara Kingslover

But one must examine her motivations for maintaining such pristine character cultures. In using small, closed communities, Kingsolver is able to limit the input/output of her characters and introduce specific environmental stresses to her story in an attempt to forecast specific reactions among her carefully constructed characters. Like the lepidopterists that inhabit the laboratories of Flight Behavior, Kingsolver approaches her narratives with the mindful deliberation of a scientist, ensuring that no outside contaminants will sully her instruments prior to the data read out.

And this is the reason for Kingsolver's success. In approaching a narrative in much the same way in which a scientist might approach a problem, Kingsolver is able to do away with outside contaminants and get to the root of an issue. I have heard more than a few people complain to me about the way in which Kingsolver crafts her characters. They are often one-dimensional personalities. That many of her characters can be reduced to single issues (he is a climate change denier) or single character traits (she is an uneducated racist). That may be true, but in Kingsolver's world (as opposed to the previously mentioned Richard Russo), stereotypes are a Kingsolver-esque narrative necessity in that they highlight the very real divides that plague our own communities. But Kingsolver fleshes out the stereotypes and makes it difficult to take specific sides along the way.

But let's not let all this analysis get in the way of a good story. As in real life, there is an ambiguity in everything that occurs in this narrative. Despite the absolutes in which the characters speak, events happen and the characters are forced to compromise their expectations and morals. And just like real life, nobody gets exactly what they want. Make no mistake, Flight Behavior is not a quick moving narrative. Rather, it simmers like a rump roast in a hot country kitchen. And considering the immediacy of many of its environmental themes, Flight Behaviorbehaves itself by not moving any faster than it should. No more than one would expect if it were propelled entirely on the strength of a butterfly's wings.

Four stars.

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About the Reviewer: Ryan is a Canadian citizen lost somewhere in Asia, which is a terrible place to be lost if you like reading English books. He gets by via second hand book stores and his Kindle. If given the choice (though he rarely is) he prefers literary fiction and non-fiction. Oh yeah... and zombies. Ryan has been an avid reader of zombie lore for over 20 years. That's either awesome or utterly sad. You can choose. And if you want to see what else Ryan has been reading, you can visit his personal blog, Reading in Taiwan.

Review - Mercy Row by Harry Hallman (4/5)

2013-06-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the Mercy Row blog tour being organized by Sage’s Blog Tours. For a list of blogs on the tour, see the tour page. For more information about the author and the book, check out mercyrow.com]

By Amanda Amaya

I was drawn to Mercy Row 1) because my husband is Italian and 2) he is from the greater Philly area. And because I love historical fiction.

I was sucked into this book from the first page. Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

Click here for the Amazon listing
Mercy Row is a novel set in 1920s and 19302 Philadelphia. It is the story of the rise of a North Philadelphia crime family that was also responsible for building the homes and factories that make up this blue-collar area of the city. Despite the violent trials and tribulations caused by rival gangs from South Philadelphia and Chicago, Jacob Byrne and Franklin Garrett, with the help of the Irish immigrants who settled in the Kensington area, build a formidable Irish mob.

This legal and criminal enterprise kept North Philadelphia free from the mafia for two generations. Jacob's and Franklin's organization was built on the blood of those who opposed them, the sweat of the laborers who built North Philly and the tears of the wives and mothers whose loved ones were lost in the struggle.

The first thing that struck me when reading Mercy Row, was the incredible violence and plethora of foul language. That isn’t a problem from me, as I read zombie books and I’m from the Northeast, where “curse” words are part of the everyday vernacular. I could see how it could put off some readers, so that’s why I mention it. But what else do you expect from a book about this time period?

Regardless, I was quickly sucked into the world of Jacob, Frank and their associates. I loved the loyalty and friendship between these two. Also, Mr. Hallman’s depiction of these “gangs” is reminiscent of “Boardwalk Empire.” He doesn’t depict the day by day activities of the gangs, just enough info for the reader to get a feel for the characters of Jacob and Frank and how they operated. And the action is relentless. Tommy guns, speakeasies, dames, corruption all feature prominently.

Harry Hallman

Using a somewhat unorthodox structure, the plot and setting of Mercy Row jump forward a decade about halfway through the book. Not too many books (or authors) can do this and keep the flow and overall tone of the book alive, but Mr. Hallman does both.

It is fascinating to see how the gang transitions from bootlegging to other enterprises with the repeal of prohibition, and it is touching to see Jacob soften with regard to his family. He is still ruthless when it comes to protecting that family, but the entire concept of “Mercy Row” is about the love he has for his daughter.

I also adored Harry Hallman’s depiction of Philly. I kept on reading quotes to my husband to get his take on the descriptions of people and places. Eventually, I’m going to have to get him to read it as well. I know he’ll find particularly interesting the entire scene in Oxford, Pennsylvania. Years ago the town was described to me exactly as Mr. Hallman has written. Nearly word for word. And that right there takes talent.

Overall a quick, entertaining read. It gives an amusing account of this city in the early part of the 20^th century. I do hope we hear more of Jacob and Frank and their exploits in the future. Four stars.

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About the Reviewer: Amanda was born in Texas, moved to Pittsburgh for 25 years, and now she’s back in the Lone Star State. She has been a nurse for a decade. She loves to read and will usually read anything. She prefers to focus on self-published authors and may consider writing herself one day. She is also a newlywed and a mom. You can check out her work at the examiner.com and on her blog The Eclectic Bookworm.

Review – The Devil’s Necktie by John Lansing (5/5)

2013-06-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of The Devil’s Necktie blog tour managed by Partners in Crime Tours. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page.]

By Kayla West

Click here for the Amazon listing

It usually takes me until about halfway through a book for me to truly know what I think of it. However, in the case of The Devil's Necktie by John Lansing, it only took me the first chapter. This book was exquisitely written and stimulated my imagination. It's characters were well fleshed out and the situation in the book was life-like. I felt as if it could have actually happened. Before I go on, let me give you a small snippet of what this book is about.

Jack Bertolino is the main character in The Devil's Necktie. He is a retired cop and lives alone in his loft in Marina del Rey. His life may not be perfect, but as stated in the first chapter of the book, 'he [is] at ease.' He can grill all he wants, drink as much wine as he wants, watch the planes fly into LAX till his heart's content... Yes, he is very at ease.

However, that ease and contentment does not last for long.

Jack suddenly gets a call from an old informant named Mia. He got to know Mia when she was helping him years ago put away the head of a Colombian drug cell, Manuel Alvarez. Mia is beautiful, smart, and brings back a whole lot of memories and feelings Jack has not experienced in a long time. He is surprised to find that she is in the neighborhood and agrees to meet her at her current, and temporary, place of residence.

Upon seeing him, Mia informs Jack that she is being hunted. Someone is out to get her, and she wants Jack to help her disappear. Jack instantly agrees, knowing that he would do anything to keep her safe. He gets a gut feeling that he might have spoken too soon, and sadly, that feeling is correct.

John Lansing

Jack leaves Mia's side. He heads toward home, but something occurs that causes him to turn back just to check on her. Something is desperately wrong, and when he searches the house for her he finds her strung up and dead in the bathroom. The devil's necktie is her downfall.

Jack must fight throughout this entire novel against people who think he killed Mia and those that want him broken because of her death. He delves into his own past as a cop and revisits old enemies, trying to find out more about Mia's past as he does so. Can he find her killer(s), or will he eventually give up and let them win?

As I said before, this book is an amazing read. It is wonderfully written, and I look forward to future works by this author. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who loves thrillers and suspense for this is truly one of the best I have ever read.

5 out of 5 stars.

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Review - The Wonder Bread Summer by Jessica Anya Blau (5/5)

2013-06-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the The Wonderbread Summer blog tour managed by TLC Book Tours. The book reviewed was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tourpage. For more on Jessica Anya Blau and her work, visit her website, www.jessicaanyablau.com.]

By Jessica Veter

It was advice I received from an author who, when asked how he improved his own writing skills, said that he never read anything in the genre in which he wrote. It was too easy, he said, to turn out photocopies of what had already been written.

So when I read the blurb of Jessica Anya Blau’s The Wonder Bread Summer, I figured this would take me as far from my chosen genre as anything else I’d read in the last six months. But when I began squirming on page 1, I began to wonder if I, at 42, was too young (too old??) to read this kind of thing. But read it I did, and squirm, and shake the book as if it were the shoulders of the protagonist, all the while yelling: “What are you thinking, young lady!?”

In short, I adored it.

The Wonder Bread Summer is about Allie, 20-years-old and testing the waters of adulthood. Like any of us, she makes some bad choices. Me, I went door-to-door selling environmental awareness; Allie, however, works in a shop which is a front for a drug dealer. Not having been paid her wages, Allie takes what she’s owed in the form of a bread bag full of cocaine. Now, a hit man named Vice Versa is after her and she’s trying out one bad decision after another.

A dishonest surfer, a porn producer confined to a wheelchair, his driver and a famous musician are all part of what it takes to get Allie sorted in the end. Blau tells her story with energy, wit and a delightful black humour that had me laughing out loud (in between cringing). Sure, I wanted to give Allie a smack, but mostly I was cheering her on, willing her to come to the end of the book in one piece and with her spirit intact.

A surprising, rollicking read. Take this one to the cottage this summer, fill it with sand, leave sangria stains on the cover and linger over every word. Then give it to your best friend.

No hesitation. 5 stars.

About the Author: Jessica Anya Blau is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, and John Hopkins University. She is the author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and Drinking Closer to Home. Her short stories have won or been nominated for many awards. She now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Personally, I think it’s a shame she left Toronto.

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Interview & Giveaway with Chris Craft, Author of the O.P.E.N. Routine

2013-06-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

[The following interview is part of the O.P.E.N. Routine blog tour. For a full list of tour participants, check out the tour page. To enter the giveaway, see the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post.]

Interview by Jonathan Wilhoit

Click here for the Amazon listing

Today I have with me Chris Craft, CVO (Chief Visionary Officer) of Nao Media and Consulting, a digital marketing and design agency based out of Atlanta, Georgia and author of the forthcoming book, O.P.E.N. Routine: Four Components to Personal Branding Excellence. It’s a book Chris is uniquely qualified to write, since he and his team specialize in the personal branding and social media representation that form the cornerstone of theO.P.E.N. Routine.

I’ve worked with him some in the past and have always been impressed with the depth of his knowledge and his passion for what he does. He’s been kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his book and the personal branding credo he lives by.

Hi Chris, thanks so much for speaking with me. How’s life treating you?

CC: Hi Jon, thanks for giving me some light on your stage. I really appreciate it. Life is like a box of Cracker Jacks. The prize inside is often a mystery my friend. I’m keeping quite busy though.

And now that we have all the warm fuzzies out of the way, let’s dive into these questions.

CC: Let’s do it.

Q1) Tell the good folks at home a little bit about yourself and your book.

CC: I’m a proud Texan, husband, and father in the order of accomplishment. Yes, being a Texan is an accomplishment! I’m also a lover of business, books, and business books incidentally. I also love people and networking. All that mixed together leads to the reason of me writing my first book, O.P.E.N. Routine. In brief, the book is about my story as a person and entrepreneur. My goal is for the reader to embrace that they have a brand and story that matters. From there, the book is written with action in mind. I describe how to seize opportunities, find and follow your passion, leverage education, and network so you can reach personal branding excellence.

Q2) Why did you decide to write O.P.E.N. Routine—I mean, other than the chance for fame and fortune beyond your wildest dreams?

CC: Honestly, it was a challenge and quite therapeutic. I mention in the book that it’s a personal manifesto. I’m open about my history in the book, but I know my future also hinges on my practicing of what I preach. I’m not looking to get rich off the book itself. It’s the content inside of the book that’s of real value.

Q3) So, what exactly is personal branding? And at the beginning of your book, you say that it is a “personal manifesto.” How so?

CC: Personal branding is everything. It’s how your hair looks leaving the house. It’s how you treat the bagger at the grocery story. It’s how you handle wins. It’s how you handle adversity. It’s a mashup of how you present yourself, impose your will, react, influence, and promote your presence. It’s how other people perceive you. I answered the second question in the previous answer.

Q4) Personal branding makes a lot of sense for celebrities, high-climbing business people, and other folks out there basking in the limelight. But what about your average lay-person? How do the principles of personal branding apply to them?

CC: The only difference between a celebrity and a your “average” lay person is that the celebrity works or presents their work in front of more eyeballs. Everyone (save hermits) have public human interactions on a daily basis. The point is to be cognizant of how your acts and decisions in public and private determine how others perceive you.

Q5) One interesting thing I noticed in your book is that there are several sections that call for readers to engage with you personally—sending you e-mails, hitting you up on Twitter, etc. Number one, do you really answer all of those emails? And number two, what spurred your desire to connect with your readers on this level?

CC: Oh yes. I definitely answer all the emails and tweets personally. I’m big on engagement. As I mentioned earlier, my passion is the fourth component of the O.P.E.N. Routine – networking. My brand is rooted in how I engage with my readers. My desire to connect with my readers comes from wanting to build strong relationships and promote increase in every interaction I have. My music industry experience has a lot to do with this. Music is a very personal and engaging medium.

Chris Craft

Q6) The first tenant of your O.P.E.N Routine is Opportunity. In the book you talk a lot about the random nature of opportunity. But is there any way for the folks out there to better position themselves to take advantage of that random opportunity—or indeed, to increase the frequency that opportunity knocks on the door?

CC: It’s a volume game; so the answer lies in the fourth component, networking. If you don’t get outside of the four walls of your business or home, then you won’t increase your frequency of attempts as far as seizing opportunities. I don’t even like to think of opportunity as knocking because that often puts people in a passive mind state. You have to be active. You can’t leave things up to chance.

Q7) The next tenet is Passion, and I totally get where you’re going with that. You have to be passionate about a business if you’re going to devote the energy to make it succeed. But what about people like, I dunno, yours truly, whose passion (reading books and pontificating about them like a wannabe college professor) ain’t all that lucrative? How can we harness that passion for our personal brands and success?

CC: To be clear, success and excellence in some passions don’t always lead to great financial gain. In fact, being rich is a very personal feeling or status. You have to define what success means to you. If you’re doing what feels right to you on a regular basis, then you’re harnessing your passion. My advice is for people to start with the end in mind. Know where you want to end up. Whether you hit your goal, go beyond it, or fall short, just go for it as hard as you can. If there’s another level of success that you want to reach but you’re struggling getting there, you might have to break out of your comfort zone to reach that point.

Q8) Then there’s Education. A great point you make is that education doesn’t only happen in the classroom. Can you elaborate on that for everyone else?

CC: Education or learning happens in almost every event in our lives. It’s our job to pull the jewel out of these events. Many people try to fully depend on their college education in their careers. The problem with that strategy is that you might run the risk of not being well rounded or mature enough for what you want to accomplish. Also, learning should be used to support your passion. You should seek knowledge inside and outside the classroom that’ll help you attain success in your passion.

Q9) And finally there’s Networking, the final letter in the acronym soup that brought the two of us together. What’s the most important thing about networking you want your readers to understand?

CC: I want my readers to know that old school networking still matters! Looking people in the eyes when speaking to them, listening well, and having a confident handshake still matters! We can’t always hide behind our social media avatars. At some point you’re going to have to be a rock star in person.

Q10) In closing, are there any final thoughts you’d like to leave your readers list? Any kernels of wisdom you can bestow upon them before you kick them out the door of the airplane and into the wide blue yonder?

CC: Smile in the face of adversity… no matter how hard it is to do. Triumphing over adversity and turmoil makes for a great story.

Couldn’t have said it better myself, sir. And that about does it. Thanks again for taking my questions, and thanks for sharing your manifesto with the world.

CC: Thanks for the support my friend.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the O.P.E.N. Routine, head on over to http://openroutine.com. And for more about Chris and his company, Nao Media and Consulting, visit http://naoisnow.com.

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The Giveaway - Chris is giving away a signed copy his book, O.P.E.N. Routine. Sign up using the Rafflecopter widget below. You all know the drill, right?

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Review - Birthdays of a Princess by Helga Zeiner

2013-06-05T21:41:00.001-07:00

[The following review is part of the Birthdays of a Princess blog tour managed by Partners in Crime Tours. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page.]

By Amanda Amaya

Birthdays of Princess is billed as a psychological thriller. Add “emotional” and “disturbing” to that epithet, and you’re getting even warmer. Here is the synopsis:

Click here for the Amazon listing
Almost from age one, Tiara has been a star of the American Child Beauty Circuit. When she grows too old to win anymore, her mother leaves Texas and returns to Vancouver. Tiara is twelve years old, she refuses to attend school or interact with other children, becoming more and more reclusive. Her relationship with her mother deteriorates and they become estranged.

One morning, three years later, Tiara’s mother is shocked to find her daughter the subject of a big story on the morning news. A violent assault has just occurred at a local coffee shop and it seems Tiara is the perpetrator. The brutal and seemingly unprovoked assault lands her in the Burnaby Secure Youth Centre for a court ordered psychological assessment.

When the police investigate the incident they begin to slowly unravel her confused and dark childhood. They discover her history as a child beauty queen star, managed by her mother and aunt while living in Texas. It also becomes increasingly apparent that explicit photos of Tiara were taken and posted to many internet sites The photos seem to capture Tiara over many years and lead the detectives to wonder whether she is the victim rather than the perpetrator.

Tiara herself cannot provide any insight. She has buried the memories of her childhood deep in her sub-consciousness, and even if she could remember, she is deeply traumatized and unresponsive. Any attempts by the authorities to probe result in more withdrawal and unexplained expressions of grief and anger.

Carefully guided by the adolescent forensic psychiatrist in charge at the Secure Youth Centre, she begins to write a journal, anchoring her memories on her birthdays as she remembers them. At the same time, her mother tries to explain the past from her own perspective, insisting she only wanted the best for her daughter and refusing to acknowledge any responsibility at all for what Tiara has experienced. It becomes very obvious that Tiara has been greatly damaged by her childhood.

Slowly the two story-lines merge until they arrive at the moment when mother and daughter recall the trauma that eventually leads to the attack. Tiara begins to understand the horrific nature of her abnormal childhood. She allows the psychiatrist to read the notes in her journal, subconsciously guiding him toward the truth.

But the truth is not clear cut. Tiara is guilty of aggravated assault. Even the detectives can't find motive to explain her action, which means the judicial system has no choice but to keep her locked up as a dangerous juvenile criminal. Tiara remembers much of her past but she has no idea why she stabbed a strange woman in a coffee shop. Her mental isolation doesn't allow her to confront this important question. Only the psychiatrist, with the assistance of the detectives who keep digging in the past, might be able to unlock the secret buried in her soul.

And they are successful, but in a way they never expected. When Tia remembers all that had happened and what had motivated her to attack another human being, the final answer, the solution to the puzzle, surprises them all.

I need to clarify that I usually steer clear of this subject matter. I am still dealing with lingering PTSD as a result of my own sexual assault(s) in high school. There is a term that we survivors use for things that cause us to have a flashback or nightmares. We call them triggers. And I do want to stress that this book is one major trigger for anyone who has suffered any kind of sexual assault or exploitation. That said, it is right on the money regarding PTSD type symptoms. For that reason, I kept on reading. I wanted to see if the portrayal of Tiara’s symptoms was accurate.

This book starts with the assault that she commits, a heinous crime where she stabbed a woman repeatedly in the face, dislodging an eyeball and putting her in a coma. The story then slowly weaves back and forth between Tiara’s journal entries while in custody and the investigation from the law enforcement point of view. It also peeks in on her mother and her memories and issues.

Helga Zeiner

To help the psychiatrist treating her understand why she committed a gruesome assault, Tiara starts writing down memories, starting with her birthdays. She starts an entry for each of her birthdays and often the months leading up to it.

Through this technique, she is able to remember. Remember a lot. And the memories aren’t pretty. I found this quote to be 100% accurate: “I have turned on a tap and now the memories are gushing out under enormous pressure.” That is almost exactly how I described it. I went 8 years with ignoring the memories and hoping they would just go away.

Through these memories, the reader realizes just how disturbing Tiara’s childhood was. Absolutely heinous crimes were committed against this poor girl. You almost feel that she is justified in committing her crime, once you learn the identity of her victim.

Many emotions rolled through me while reading this book. Sadness, anger, frustration, despair. I already didn’t like pagents and I can’t stand to see the tiny little outfits young cheerleaders and dancers wear. Birthdays of a Princess solidified the fact that my child will never, ever be in a pagent. Ever.

This book is a bit of a mystery and thriller in addition to the issues regarding sexual assault. I read it in two days. It kept me drawn in and the character of Tiara is so real.

I give Birthdays of a Princess book three stars. I’m sure those who haven’t had similar experiences might find this book informative, and it accurately portrays what survivors go through. But if you can’t stomach lurid details it might be wise to skip it.

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Review - Gated by Matt Drabble (4/5)

2013-06-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

A thriller to the last page…

Click here for the Amazon listing

To overcome their loss they up stick and move to Eden Gardens, a US gated community that offers "Heaven on Earth and Twice as Nice". The people are warm and friendly and welcome them with open arms. The town is a beautiful throwback to a bygone age, where the sun always shines and the sky's always blue.

As they settle into their new perfect lives, the circle is complete when Emily falls pregnant. The town is perfect, the weather is perfect and their lives are perfect. But are the stares from their neighbours a little too intense, is the town a little too interested in their happy news, and is Edenall that it seems.

They are about to find out that paradise comes at a cost, and when you sign a lease, you should always check the fine print.

“Heaven on earth and twice as nice”. Right. I absolutely love this concept. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Michael and Emily are seeking a change of scenery after the devastating loss of their child. They decide to move halfway across the world to have a fresh start. Michael finds an ad for a gated community in the United Statescalled “Eden”. On the website, it is absolutely gorgeous. There are lush rolling hills, beautiful houses, and nearly everything is self contained in the walls of the community.

Matt Drabble

They are welcomed with enthusiasm at the entrance to the community by Casper Christian, the town manager and descendant from the original Christian family that founded the town. From day one, everyone is friendly and welcoming. Maybe they are a little too welcoming. From their mansion which is fully furnished, to the quaint town square, to the tram that covers the community, there is really no reason to leave the community. As they settle in to their new life, Michael and Emily cannot believe their good fortune. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming, they begin to relax. Eventually Emily gets pregnant again and life seems so perfect.

But then things seem to be a little “off”. Suddenly people know way too much about Emily’s pregnancy. Neighbors start to disappear. Emily finds a journal of the previous occupants of their home and the mystery builds. As Michael, a writer of horror fiction, starts to put the pieces together with another person that is “new” to the town, the truth is finally uncovered.

I love the way this author provides tantalizing glimpses of the history of the town and their intentions, but in small enough bites to keep the reader turning the page. When building up to the scorching conclusion, this book is a page turner. An absolute thriller that keeps the reader engaged to the very last page.

I give this book a 4 star rating because of the way it is written, the concept and the creativity employed by the author throughout the book to keep the reader interested.

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Review & Giveaway - The Son of Rage and Love by Thomas Raymond (4/5)

2013-06-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

[See the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post for giveaway entry and rules]

By Jonathan Wilhoit

Click here for the Amazon listing

I feel bad that it’s taken me this long to get around to reading and reviewing The Son of Rage and Love. Thomas Raymond has been a saint for putting up with me for so long. I think he sent me the book in June of last year? Somewhere around there, at any rate. And then I read it in January some time. Now it’s June, and I’m finally getting around to reviewing it. Let it not be said that I don’t follow up on my promises. Timing though… that’s a little suspect. But The Son of Rage and Love is one of those books that needs to be reviewed.

And why is that? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The story is told from the perspective of twelve year-old Daniel, the youngest son of chart-topping pop artist Maya. He used to run, jump, play, build, and “imaginer” just about everything, but now he’s a prisoner of his mother’s fame, mindless videogames, and an Aderol fog. His only other sibling is his older sister, who is being groomed to follow in his mother’s footsteps. And then there’s his uncle Travis, a retired soldier and outdoorsman whom Daniel writes to on a regular basis and who acts as a foil (albeit a removed one) for Daniel’s materially-obsessed family. When his mother is off doing her whole celebrity thing, Daniel’s grandmother rules the roost with an iron fist. Matter of fact, “iron fist” is putting it mildly.

“The housekeepers, who are terrified of Grandmother, follow her commands like starched grey robots. They make sure things move according her precise routine, or else. If they see anyone trying to upset the order of things, it’s as if Grandmother saw it herself. From their eyes to her microprocessor. It doesn’t matter that the housekeepers speak almost no English. They communicate on some secret wireless frequency. Puppets without strings.

In an attempt to rehab her vapid public image (though, a well-deserved image), Daniel’s mother jets off to Haiti to perform some “charity work” and, in the process, jumps on the “celebrity-searching-for-meaning-and-public-addulation (but really more public adulation than anything)” band wagon and adopts a Haitian orphan. His name is Jean-Maurice, a thirteen-year old boy, and he is like nothing Daniel has ever experienced.

“He lives in the present tense. He is not restless; he’s just alive. Not sedated. And he’s shifty. He is relaxed, in a shifty way. Relaxed, in constant motion.”

And that unbridled, unsedated alien turns the family’s world upside down.

Raymond tackles a lot of poignant themes in this slim volume--the over-medication and over-diagnosis of ADHD, sedation of a generation through video games, vapidity of the popular cult of celebrity, materialism, victimization of youth and innocence as part of the Hollywood machine, and even childhood mental illness. I could go on and on about the thematic component’s of Raymond’s novel. All of it is good stuff, and (in this reviewer’s opinion) hits the nail on the head. But honestly, the thing that sets his writing apart is that it’s… well, it’s good freaking writing.

Thomas Raymond

Raymond brilliantly crafts the perspective of a mentally troubled adolescent, a boy at once disturbingly deluded and startlingly insightful. It’s a combination not all that uncommon in reality, for isn’t that the way of brilliance? There’s almost always some price to be paid. Where a mind excels in one area, it often atrophies in another. But instead of me dithering on, let’s start quoting the good shit and you’ll see what I mean.

“That’s another way they control you. Electronic hypnosis, really. They know you’ll do anything for a little more PlayStation or Xbox time, or another hour in front of the TV. You’ll pick up your room, you’ll finish that homework, and you’ll keep quiet about it. They know you will, but I doubt they know exactly why. Grandmother and her minions do not know that the TV and games are my escape form the pink pill fog. My only escape from the smothering dullness of the life they expect me to live. They don’t know it, but I see this artificial escape as my real life. Endless electronic mazes, power-ups, and fantasy adventures. Shapeshifting warriors, monsters, and parallel worlds. That’s where I am in control. That’s my life. The escape sustains my life. And like anyone, I protect my life.”

And then there’s his description of his grandmother.

“Grandmother works through a furniture catalog with fury, the paper tearing at the staples with each page she turns. Her hands have shape-shifted into iron claws powered by hydraulic hoses. Her face is dented like an old trash can. I can tell she’s not really looking at any of the pages, but the shopping reflex is automatic. Like my mom, Grandmother shops like a shark swims. You can’t stop or you might die. It doesn’t matter if she needs something or not. The purchase itself is nourishment. It’s like a race that no one ever wins. She competes with the neighbors and the people in the magazines and the remoras and most especially with her old friends who are still stuck in Iowa. Anything they have, she needs a better one, and she makes sure they hear about it.”

See what I mean about the writing being damn good? I only have two complaints. And really, at this point I’m pretty sure I’m biologically incapable of writing a review without at least one gripe. The first is that the “twist” near the end was a bit telegraphed. Or maybe I’m just that smart? I doubt that, but it’s kind of nice to think so. At any rate, I saw the gag coming about fifty pages into the book, which made the eventual bang more of a whimper… but that usually happens to me, so it’s not that big of a deal.

The second complaint is harder to explain, but I’m going to try anyway. Perhaps you’ve picked up on it from all the quoted passages above, but the tone of most of the novel is so freaking nihilistic. It’s the story of a boy trapped within the prison of wealth and fame, a wild heart imprisoned by over-civilization. And part of the reason it seems so nihilistic is that all of the characters (except for Daniel) are so entrenched in their every day ruts that they don’t show any desire to change their condition. For the most part, they are static characters. And so the happy ending that eventually comes about (if you consider that a spoiler, sorrynotsorry) seems a bit incongruous because it requires the Author-God to waylay a couple intractable characters a thunderbolt of epiphany all at the same time. Or mostly at the same time. Not necessarily bad, but just… incongruous. Does that make any damn sense at all?

Regardless of my literary ramblings, Raymond has put up a damn fine novel. The Son of Rage and Love is poignant, timely, and written by a man who understands how handle a good theme—with subtle, loving care most of the time and a sledgehammer at just the right moment. I give it four out of five stars.

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The Giveaway: Thomas Raymond has been gracious enough to offer up a paperback copy of The Son of Rage and Love to one lucky winner. The physical copy is only available for U.S.residents, but if you live in a foreign country, you can still win an electronic copy. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

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Review & Giveaway - Crimson and Cream by C. M. Skiera (3/5)

2013-06-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

[For giveaway entry and rules, see the Giveaway section at the bottom of this review]

By Jessica Veter

“Hounded by watchmen, trolls, goblins, and a relentless bounty hunter, thirteen-year-old Jetsam dreams of the day he’ll no longer have to run for his life. A victim of circumstance burdened with an interminable unlucky streak, each sunrise ushers in more difficulty for the resilient adolescent. An avalanche of life-changing events forces him to boldly decide his future.”

C.M. Skiera’s got it right with the ‘victim of circumstance’, but I would argue vehemently with the ‘boldly decid[ing] his future’ bit.

On their thirteenth birthday, Jetsam and his twin Flotsam go looking for adventure, and that’s about the only decision they make for themselves. After a foray into a forbidden garden and a near escape, the boys begin a series of reactions to whatever confronts them. Not that their exploits aren’t brave and daring (they take on a troll, of all things) but there is rather the feeling that the story is carrying them along rather than the other way around.

But what do we expect from a thirteen-year-old? I have no argument with the way Jetsam is flung from one misadventure to the next. It’s much more believable than stories in which very young protagonists take up a cause and keep it under tight control throughout three hundred pages.

However, I found myself wondering if the author, too, was being flung from one adventure to the next by the story. I found there was a lack of forward momentum and spent the first half of the book wondering what the point of it all was if every time Jetsam stuck his head out the door the same troll pursued him through the same caverns? And when I reached the halfway point and an entirely new set of characters appeared, I despaired that any of it was ever going to get somewhere.

And now you’re wondering why I kept reading: busy woman, loads of books, spring in the garden. Why keep reading?

I liked the trolls. Specifically, I liked the way C.M. Skiera wrote about a handful of boys getting one better on a troll, and I liked that I believed it. No way would a group of starveling kids knock a troll down, slash it up with their bare hands or get in a lucky shot with a stone, and Skiera knows that. Instead, he crafted believable scenes and believable reactions so I kept reading.

Good thing, too, because about halfway through the book (this is the problem with ebooks... one simply cannot say on page 61%) the brand new characters show up and the story gets interesting. Jetsam falls in with a group of adventurers. Their quest? They are hunting a dragon. Enter Quixote, Sancho et al.

And Skiera hits his stride.

The adventurers are interesting, their dynamics are complex, their back stories questionable and their motives uneasy. The problem for Skiera is that I became so engaged with Sir Prentice and his lot that the less interesting plight of Jetsam fell by the wayside. It wasn’t Jetsam’s fault, particularly, but the arc of the orphaned boy is so stereotyped in the fantasy genre that there are seldom surprises.

Let’s go back in time, C.M. Skiera, and let’s say you asked me to Beta Crimson and Cream and said: “What do you think?” Well, I think the story began when Jetsam fell into that river, and Sir Prentice pulled him out. On about page 61%.

Three stars for Crimson and Cream, a first novel by an author who shows promise. One for trolls, one for realism, and one for Sir Prentice and the boys.

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The Giveaway: This 'un is a giveaway in the purest sense of the word. No fancy-schmancy rafflecopter widget, no crossing your fingers and hoping lady luck shines upon you. C.M. Skiera is giving away an electronic copy of his book to anyone who comments on this blog. Just leave an e-mail and we'll get you the coupon code to download your own copy. Do it. You know you want to.

Review - All the Summer Girls by Meg Donohue (2/5)

2013-05-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the All the Summer Girls blog tour managed by TLC Book Tours. The book reviewed was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page. For more on Meg Donohue and her work, visit her website, www.megdonohue.com.]

By Olga Godim

Click here for the Amazon listing

To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t enamored of this book. Its plot is simple.

Three twenty-nine-year-old women, best friends since kindergarten, are at the crossroads in their lives. In Philadelphia, Kate discovers that she is pregnant. Her revelation occurs on the same day her boyfriend dumps her. Despite her successful career as a lawyer, she wallows in gloom and loneliness; understandably so. She doesn’t know how to go on with her life.

In New York, Vanessa is a stay-at-home mom of her two-year-old daughter, but her husband committed indiscretion – kissed another woman. Nothing worse happened, and he apologized, but Vanessa can’t forgive him. She wallows in gloom and loneliness. She doesn’t know how to go on with her life. Should she divorce him? Should she go back to work?

In San Francisco, Dani is a drunk and a druggy. She just lost her latest job – 12th in seven years. She wallows in gloom and loneliness, with no money, no home, and no one to care for her. She doesn’t know how to go on with her life.

All three decide to meet for the Fourth of July weekend in their favorite summer spot, Avalon, NJ, where they were happy as children. Perhaps the familiar and beloved beach town will rejuvenate their lives and rekindle their friendships?

Throughout the length of the novel, the friends talk a lot, dig into their souls to dredge out old lies, and contemplate their past mistakes. And that’s all. Nothing else happens across 260 pages, although the author provides her readers with plenty of small, inconsequential details. Atmosphere – yes: brooding and hazy, palpable like the summer heat. Action – no. I don’t consider driving a car or drinking beer an action.

There is one more prominent character in this tale – Kate’s twin brother Colin. Colin has been dead for eight years. He died from a drug overdose the last summer they spent together in Avalon, and all three friends have been carrying guilt over his death ever since. Instead of the three living women, the dead Colin seems to be the protagonist of the story. Everything revolves around him. He is the only one in the novel allotted any action by the author, the only colorful personage in the entire book. He did stupid things, repeatedly and unrepentantly, until he died. Even after his death, he is affecting everyone who had ever loved him.

Meg Donohue

Kate, Vanessa and Dani are perpetually rehashing his death in their recurring mournful recollections. Their three lives seem on pause, trapped by Colin-related secrets and regrets. Because of their story-wise immobility, the friends, though alive, seem unreal and shadowy in contrast with Colin, dead but ubiquitous. Frankly, the Mobius strip of the women’s mental process, repeatedly punctuating the same groove of Colin’s tragic demise, made the story dead-ended and frustrating, just like Colin himself had been.

How long can one dwell on a death that happened many years ago, I wonder? In my experience, people tend to forget, even if they feel guilty. Especially if they feel guilty. Most people I know re-write history in their heads to absolve themselves of any past wrongdoings. Psychologically, we’re not wired to carry guilt for long. In this respect, the novel feels ultimately untrue.

Another facet of this book that had me gnashing my teeth was grammatical: the constant juggling of tenses. The story is told in the present tense, which I dislike but wouldn’t hold against the author. Unfortunately, every page or so, all the POV characters – Kate, Vanessa, and Dani – slide into retrospection, and the narrative switches to the past tense.

The tense-fluctuating technique becomes confusing fast. Eventually, the entire book feels like a memory clip. Anything of interest happened exclusively in the past. In the present, there is only a frame, a skeleton of a story, and not a very alluring one at that.

Two stars.

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About the Reviewer - Olga Godim is a writer and journalist from Vancouver,

Canada

Review - The Man in the Box by Andrew Toy (1/5)

2013-05-28T06:17:00.001-07:00

[The following entry is part of The Man in the Box blog tour being organized by Tomorrow Comes Media. For more information on the book and the tour, see the tour page.]

By Jessica Veter

Click here for the Amazon listing

Mid-life crisis has hit Robbie hard. Not only is he completely incapable of connecting with his teen-aged children, he’s also just been laid off from his job of 11 years. A bad situation turns weird when, having broken into his former company in order to steal their client list, he jumps into a cardboard box to hide from night security. Somehow, the box transports him to another world, Reveloin, where a beleaguered people welcome him as if he is Arthur returned from Avalon. Reveloin, haunted by ghosts which attack its people at night, and patrolled by hunters who collect people for the ghosts by day, is a land at war. The only way for the land to be restored is for the rightful king, Robbie himself, to travel to the ocean, cross the water and claim his throne. Robbie, with no memory of who he is or where he comes from, puts his trust in the beautiful and tragic Sacerdui, and follows her into the wilderness.

Robbie spends the novel flipping back and forth between this world and Reveloin. In this world, he’s unemployed, unhappy and out of touch with his wife, children and father, so he spends as much time as possible trying to figure out how to get back to Reveloin. In Reveloin, where he conveniently has no memory of reality, he is the most important person in the world, has adventures and is crushing on the mysterious Sacerdui. It’s the fantasy of anyone who’s ever felt misunderstood and out of place.

That the travel from one world to the next requires a particular box is interesting, and the way Robbie spends most of his time in the real world lugging his box around with him and hiding it from his wife is sweetly naïve. And, face it, even adults have times in their lives when they’d rather visit fantasy land than face another day of ‘ho-hum’.

But I feel the book is the victim of ‘easy-outs’ and poor editing. What could be easier than Robbie falling for Sacerdui while conveniently not remembering that he has a wife? Moral quandary solved! But, it felt like a cop-out. Imagine if Robbie had tried to figure out how to have his cake and eat it, too. It would make Robbie a ‘real’ character the audience could connect to and it would raise the stakes in the novel.

Andrew Toy

Also, a good part of the way into the book, it is unexpectedly revealed that the wife is dying of cancer and could keel over any time (good thing Robbie already has Sacerdui lined up in Reveloin). As a plot point, the wife’s illness forces the audience (and, one would hope, the protagonist) to consider priorities, but as the illness is never referred to before chapter 16, it comes across as something the author thought up as he was writing (it’s called ‘writing by the seat of your pants’. Creativity works like this for many writers. In a novel, however, those ‘seat of the pants’ moments need to be blended smoothly into the flow of the story in subsequent drafts).

Those drafts are also good for ferreting out incorrectly used words. Your father cannot stand ‘anonymously’ in your kitchen unless you’ve never met him before; there’s no way a 50-foot-long centipede can trample the ground ‘inconspicuously’ (also a centipede does not have thorax); and being ‘famished with anticipation’... besides being ungrammatical, is it even possible? I see errors like this more and more as new publishing options become available for authors, and would argue that writing the story is only half the work of creating a novel. Editing is the other half.

It’s a shame, because the premise of the novel is interesting, and the issues raised in it (family, relationships, loyalty, illness and death) are pervasive. But The Man in the Box leaves so many questions unanswered that the novel ends unsatisfactorily. Why the box? How does it happen? Why does it happen for some people and not for others? What happened to Reveloin? Will Robbie be arrested for break and entry, trespassing and theft? None of these questions are answered, and it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Great title, decent premise, but that’s not enough for me. One star.

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Review: The End Was Not the End edited by Joshua H. Leet (4/5)

2013-05-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of Seventh Star Press Anthologies blog tour managed by Tomorrow Comes Media. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page.]

By Kayla West

The End Was Not the End: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Tales (What a title, huh?) edited by Joshua H. Leet, is an anthology of stories having to do with desolate wastelands and fallen lands. Each has to do with what happens before the hero or heroine savse all civilization. A very interesting concept, I might add, and one that made me desperately want to read this. There are eleven stories in all, so I thought I might give a line or two explaining giving my reviews of each seperate story. Then, at the end, I will give my rating for the collaboration as a whole.

The Halls of War by DeeDee Davies - Wonderful start. Very reminiscent of the mythological world of the gods.

Blood and Fire by Desmond Reddick - Two different POVs. Confused me slighly when going from one POV to the other, but overall very well-written.

Make Way for Utopia by Scott M. Sandridge - Loved this immensely. Whimsical, magical, heartbreaking. Amazing tale.

The Twenty Year Plan by Jay Wilburn - An unknown force stalking its prey. A group sent to explore the wide world. An ending you wouldn't believe.

Nightmares and Dragonscapes by Mandi M. Lynch- A girl destined to save what was once thought to be lost. Beautiful.

The Stone Sword by Magda Knight - Very, very sad story. The heroine is so strong considering her circumstances, and I loved her for that strength from the beginning.

In the Hills Beyond Twilight by William Ransom - The ending to this one surprised me. It was intriguing and strange, and I couldn't help but enjoy it.

Blade of Fire by Steven S. Long - I feel that this particular one could be much more than a mere story. I feel that this is the prequel to a book I would definitely read.

Waist Deep by Bill Blume - This story, to me, is the most unusual out of all the tales. There are really no words that can describe how much I liked it.

Ben by Darra L. Hofman- The main character's inward conflict about not wanting to turn into the people he once knew was so real. This story had a strong emotional element to it, along with the physical journey the character must take.

Story's End by Nathen Gallagher - A very appropriate ending. This gave me a ray of hope, as if all the other characters in all the other stories really did suffer what they did for a reason. To bring humanity back to what it once was.

Overall, I loved this. It brought me to different worlds and experiences, different characters and situations. The introduction by Joseph Leet was just as powerful as the stories themselves, and I recommend that anybody who reads this anthology should read it first. The stories themselves were unique in their own ways.

I have to give this a 4 out of 5, and must shout from the rooftops that it is a breathtaking read.

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Review & Giveaway- It Never Was You by William E. Thomas (4/5)

2013-05-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

[The following review is part of the It Never Was You blog tour. For a full list of host blogs for the tour, see the tour page. To enter the giveaway, see the Rafflecopter widget below.]

By Amanda Amaya

It Never Was You is book 2 in the Cypress Branches Trilogy, following Pegasus Falling (which I had the privilege of reviewing a couple months ago). As before, William E. Thomas does an excellent job in hijacking emotions. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

Click here for the Amazon listing
Harry Williamson is an ex-merchant seaman, a successful businessman and a loving family man. When he disappears from a ferry in the middle of the Irish Sea, his grieving family are left with more questions than answers.

Who on earth is Mary Robinson?
Why did Harry leave her a small fortune in his will?
Had he been unfaithful to his beloved late wife, Lesley?

As they delve into his past, they discover he’s been harbouring a secret which threatens to tear apart the very fabric of their family history. What unfolds is the heartbreaking story of a quiet, middle class merchant seaman and his unexpected, tragic relationship with a beautiful and exuberant waitress from the Liverpool docks as they struggle to reconcile their feelings for each other with the ever changing attitudes of post-war Britain.

The follow up to the acclaimed Pegasus Falling, It Never Was You continues Thomas's epic and panoramic saga of how ordinary people coped with some of the most extraordinary and devastating events of the 20th century.

I read the first book, Pegasus Falling in a few days. The characters, the writing and the emotion packed into that book absolutely enthralled me. The Cypress Branches series was billed as a “trilogy”, so I expected book two to pick up where book one ended.

Not so. This book starts in modern day as Harry’s children are attempting to figure out what led to the death of their father and why he bequeathed part of his estate to a woman they have never heard of before. Then there is a jump to the past when Harry is a merchant seaman during WWII. Harry rescues three other seamen before collapsing and nearly dying in the frigid water. You learn just enough about two of the rescued seamen to hate them.

Then the character of Mary is introduced. Her ordeal is tragic. I had always heard about the class divisions in the U.K., but this book illustrates it perfectly. Mary meets Harry, and the love story begins. But can their passion for one another survive the class differences so prevalent during this time period?

Hampering their efforts to maintain a solid relationship, Harry is scheduled to be out at sea for a long period of time.

During one particularly long voyage, Harry meets Lesley, who was prominently featured in book one of the trilogy. They seem perfect for each other. Of the same class and education, they get along famously and begin an affair. But when their ship docks, they agree to part as friends.

Reuniting with Mary, they both visit the hometowns of the other party and their class differences stand out starkly. And here is where the emotion comes in.

While visiting Harry’s parents, Mary learns of a particular harrowing ordeal in her fiancé’s past. This ordeal also featured someone prominent in her past as well. Up until this time, she had no idea that this person was known to the both of them. This information sets in motion complete chaos in their relationship.

Mary and Harry don’t effectively discuss the common piece to both of their pasts. Harry makes assumptions and ends up hurting Mary very deeply. Mary makes assumptions as to Harry’s desires and makes the decision to effectively cut off ties. The end of the book leaves more questions unanswered.

William E. Thomas

The way It Never Was You was written, you already know some pieces to the puzzle. You know that one of the prominent characters from the first book eventually met and married Harry but it is unknown how their relationship evolved. Hopefully this mystery is answered in the next book.

The strong emotion that featured prominently in the first book is back. Again, Mr. Thomas had me crying toward the end of this book. My only criticisms are again with the language. As an America, I am not accustomed to reading dialogue that features English accents. Mary’s “scuse” vernacular was very difficult to follow at times. I could decipher most of the slang and the idioms used, but it was difficult at first.

I enjoyed learning about a place in the world that I don’t know much about. I knew there were class differences that plague virtually every society since the dawn of time, including my own family, but I didn’t know how dramatic the differences were until I started reading about Mary and Harry.

I give this book a rating of 4 stars. It is unlike any other “historical fiction” type novels out there as it weaves in elements from the first book without it being a continuation of the story featured in the first. I love how known characters from the first book pop up in the second. I also loved seeing another dimension to a featured character from the first book.

You do not have to read Pegasus Falling to enjoy this book. It can stand alone as its own novel. But I do recommend reading the prequel in order to get familiar with Mr. Thomas' the writing style and to fully understand the characters that show up in the second installment.

As for the third installment, I’m waiting with bated breath.

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