Tag Archives: Fiction

Review & First Chapter: Maggie’s Turn by Deanna Lynn Sletten

by

About the book, Maggie’s Turn

Maggie's Turn

Maggie Harrison is a devoted wife and mother, always putting the needs of her family ahead of her own. Then, one day, without planning to, she drives away, leaving behind an indifferent husband and two sulking teenagers. Maggie goes off on a quest of self-exploration, enjoying adventures, meeting new people, and rediscovering her passions. For the first time in years, she dreams about what she wants out of life, and she realizes that her deteriorating marriage can no longer continue as it is. Can she and Andrew repair their floundering relationship, or is their marriage over?

Andrew Harrison likes his life to be in perfect order. He enjoys his work and status in the community, leaving Maggie to take care of everything at home. He knows his marriage isn’t perfect, but after twenty-three years and two kids, whose marriage is? When Maggie leaves without a word, he is forced to start paying more attention to his home life and his almost grown children, and he begins to do a little self-exploration of his own. Slowly, he begins to understand what drove Maggie away, and how important she is in his life. Is it too late to resolve their differences and save their marriage? Or will Andrew lose Maggie forever

Buy a copy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About the author, Deanna Lynn Sletten

Deanna Lynn Sletten

Deanna Lynn Sletten writes women’s fiction and romance novels that dig deeply into the lives of the characters, giving the reader an in-depth look into their hearts and souls. She has also written one middle-grade novel that takes you on the adventure of a lifetime.

Deanna’s romance novel, Memories, was a semifinalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Books of 2012. Her novel, Sara’s Promise, was a semifinalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Books of 2013 and a finalist in the 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Deanna is married and has two grown children. When not writing, she enjoys walking the wooded trails around her northern Minnesota home with her beautiful Australian Shepherd or relaxing in the boat on the lake in the summer.

Her latest book is the contemporary women’s fiction, Maggie’s Turn.

Connect with Deanna

Website: Deanna Lynn Sletten, author
Facebook: Deanna Lynn Sletten
Twitter: @deannalsletten

My Thoughts

I jumped at the chance to read Deanna Lynn Sletten’s novel Maggie’s Turn because it’s so rare to find a story about an adult woman that doesn’t begin with her involvement with either a murder attempt or a torrid affair, and I’m glad I did, because in many ways, I feel this book was written just for me.

Okay, I don’t have Maggie’s two kids (mine all have four feet and fur), and my husband works from home, so when he says he has to work late, that just means I bring him a mug of soup, but I know all too well how it feels to find yourself in the middle of a marriage that’s happy on the surface, but leaves you somewhat diminished.

I also know what it’s like to want to run away from home. “Let’s blow off life and go traipsing around Europe,” I often wistfully tease my closest girlfriends. “Or teach improv in a progressive school in Colorado.” They know it’s mostly a joke, but there’s always the possibility. (As it is, I run off to Baja Sur, Mexico, a couple of times a year.)

Deanna Lynn Stetten makes it clear, however, that Maggie is not a victim of any kind. We see that her life, in the beginning of the novel, is the result of choices, both made and unmade, and opinions both spoken and not.

Likewise, we are privileged to see Maggie, not rescued by a man (although she does meet at least one very interesting man), but rescued by herself.

There’s an old adage, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t no one is.” I’ve learned through many of the people I’ve interviewed that being happy isn’t enough. You have to put yourself first, as a whole person. You have to acknowledge that ‘mother’ and ‘wife’ (and daughter, sister, friend, volunteer, writer, artist, whatever) are not your whole self, but that each role you play is one aspect of your life. Then you have to model this for others – you can’t teach fulfillment and self-esteem, but you can demonstrate them.

In Maggie’s Turn, we see what happens when Mama – Maggie – ain’t happy, even if the root of that unhappiness is somewhat indefinable, but we also get to see what happens when she is.

More to the point, we see this through richly drawn characters who feel as much like aspects of ourselves as they do real people. Maggie, especially, is so real, so vivid, but so is her husband, her children, and people like “Wild Bill” whom she meets on her journey.

As I said, I’m not a soccer mom with two kids, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t made choices that sometimes put family before fulfillment in my own life. Maggie’s Turn was a well-written, entertaining, novel, but it was also an object lesson in finding, if not happiness, then at least contentment.

Well done, Ms. Sletten. Well done.

Goes well with A latte laced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and a slice of freshly baked pumpkin bread.

Read the first chapter of Maggie’s Turn

It had not been a good morning at the Harrison household. At least not for Maggie. Her nineteen-year-old son, Kyle, had slept in late, which meant he was late showering and would be late to one of the four college courses he was intent upon failing. Because he was running behind, her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kaia, was late getting ready for school, which meant Maggie’s husband, Andrew, had to rush to shower for work. And, of course, Maggie had to rush too since she was always the last person to use the bathroom.

Kaia was pouting and stomping around, because she’d wanted to get to school early to “hang” with her friends. Kyle rolled his eyes as he went out the door to his rusted pickup truck, mumbling that it really didn’t matter if he made it to class or not. And Andrew ran through his schedule with Maggie as he rushed out the door to work.

“Remember, I have a seven o’clock meeting tonight, so make sure dinner is on time so I’m not late,” he instructed Maggie and was gone a second later.

All Maggie had time for was one long sigh as she slipped a light sweater over her head, pulled on khaki pants, and grabbed her short, red wool jacket and purse, then ran out the door, hoping Kaia wouldn’t be late for school.

Click to continue reading the first chapter of MAGGIE’S TURN

Review: The Sowing by K. Makansi

by

About the book, The Sowing:

The Sowing

Remy Alexander was born into the elite meritocracy of the Okarian Sector. From an early age, she and her friends were programmed for intellectual and physical superiority through specialized dietary regimes administered by the Okarian Agricultural Consortium. But when her older sister Tai was murdered in a brutal classroom massacre, her parents began to suspect foul play. They fled the Sector, taking their surviving daughter underground to join the nascent Resistance movement. But now, three years later, Remy’s former schoolgirl crush, Valerian Orleán, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. As Remy and her friends race to unravel the mystery behind her sister’s murder, Vale is haunted by the memory of his friendship with Remy and is determined to find out why she disappeared. As the Resistance begins to fight back against the Sector, and Vale and Remy search for the answers to their own questions, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together—or tear everything apart.

In this science-fiction dystopia, the mother-daughter writing team of Kristina, Amira, and Elena Makansi immerses readers in the post-apocalyptic world of the Okarian Sector where romance, friendship, adventure, and betrayal will decide the fate of a budding nation.

Buy a copy from Amazon.

About the author, K. Makansi:

K. Makansi is the pen name for the mother-daughter writing team of:

Kristina Blank Makansi:

Kristina Blank Makansi

Born and raised in Southern Illinois, Kristina has a B.A. in Government from University of Texas at Austin and a M.A.T. from the College of New Jersey and an opinion on everything. She has worked as a copywriter, marketing coordinator, web and collateral designer, editor, and publisher. In 2010, she co-founded Blank Slate Press, an award-winning small press focusing on debut authors in the greater St. Louis area, and in 2013, she co-founded Treehouse Publishing Group, an author services company assisting both traditionally and self-published authors. In addition to The Seeds Trilogy, she is hard at work revising her historical fiction, Oracles of Delphi, set in ancient Greece.

Amira K. Makansi:

Amira Makansi

Amira graduated with honors in three years from the University of Chicago where she earned a BA in History and was a team leader and officer for UChicago Mock Trial. She has served as an assistant editor and has read and evaluated Blank Slate Press submissions since the press was founded. She is an avid reader and blogger who also has a passion for food, wine, and photography. She has worked at wineries in Oregon and France and is approaching fluency in French. Along with working part-time for BSP, she works for a wine distributorship in St. Louis. In addition to The Seeds Trilogy, she reviews books and blogs about writing, food and wine at The Z-axis.

Elena Makansi:

Elena Makansi

Elena is a senior at Oberlin College where she is focusing on Environmental Studies especially as it relates to her passion–food justice. She’s also studied studio art and drawing and has had her work featured in several college publications. While in high school, she won numerous writing and poetry awards, was awarded a scholarship to attend the Washington University Summer Writing Institute and attended the Iowa Young Writers Studio. She also won a scholarship to represent her mideast cohort as the “resident” blogger during her study abroad in Amman, Jordan. She and Amira backpacked through Europe together and share a passion for cooking, baking–and, yes, eating. Elena maintains a Tumblr and a blog, Citizen Fiddlehead, about food and other topics.

My Thoughts:

Here’s the thing about The Sowing: technically, because it takes place in an ‘advanced’ society that is not our own (though it bears some strong similarities), this novel is science fiction. At the same time, however, it’s a novel about social justice, and a warning about GMO foods – something particularly timely as we fight to change labeling and live in a world where companies like Monsanto are increasingly in control of what we eat and how it grows. Aside from that, it’s also a mystery/thriller, because we follow Remy’s journey to discover the truth behind her dead sister, who is one of the victims of a mass shooting in the book’s opening chapters.

More than that, though, The Sowing is a novel about family, responsibility, growing up, and the choices we all make when we try to balance the need to be part of a community with the equally great need to be true to ourselves. For this reason, it’s incredibly fitting that the story opens on a university campus, and that much of it returns to that – and similar – settings.

K. Makansi is really three authors, but the women behind the pen name write with a cohesive voice. There is never a time when you wonder who wrote which part, or how the work was divided. Maybe that’s just because this is a mother-daughter-daughter team, or maybe it’s just because they’re just that good. Either way, I found the language really accessible even when the science was at the forefront of the story.

I also found all the characters very well drawn and easy to relate to. Remy, of course, is the main POV character, and she’s incredibly well drawn – hopeful, smart, loving, but also bitter and confused. But even the characters on the “other side” are somewhat sympathetic, Vale especially, and remind us that those on the “wrong” side of an issue don’t see their side as wrong.

I will confess that I was a little confused by some of the unusual names the authors chose to use, and one in particular – Soren – kept pulling me out of the story because a friend of mine has a partner with that name, but I got used to them, and, over the course of reading the novel, came to appreciate that it wasn’t populated by Bills and Bobs and Marys and Alices.

The Sowing is part of a trilogy, which seems appropriate: a triumvirate of women writing a trilogy about seeds and growth and change. I definitely plan to read all three novels in this series.

Goes well with A hearty sandwich with avocado, sprouts, tomato and Muenster cheese on freshly-baked multi-grain bread, and a glass of water with a twist of lemon or lime.

TLC Book Tours

Review: The Alligator Man by James Sheehan

by

About the book, The Alligator Man:

The Alligator Man

Kevin Wylie’s crooked boss wants to run him out of town, and Kevin’s long-time girlfriend is ready to take a hike. He decides that now is the time to leave Miami, visit his father, who he hasn’t seen in 28 years, and get some answers. Heading back to his hometown, he doesn’t realize that he and his dad will become embroiled in a murder case.

The victim, one of the richest and most-hated corporate criminals in America has been dubbed The Alligator Man since pieces of his clothing were found in a local swamp. Billy Fuller had every reason in the world to want Johnson dead and all the evidence leads right to his doorstep. But legendary trial lawyer Tom Wylie believes in Billy and he and his son reunite to fight the courtroom battle for Billy’s life.

The Alligator Man is a story of greed, anger, love, redemption and two powerful trial attorneys who fight to the end– and risk everything–for the truth.

Get your copy from Amazon.

About the author, James Sheehan:

James Sheehan

James Sheehan was born and raised in New York City, the fourth child of Jack Sheehan and Mary (Tobin) Sheehan. There would eventually be six children. He moved to Florida in 1974 to attend law school and became a lawyer in 1977.

He was a trial lawyer for thirty plus years. Prior to that time, he worked at various jobs: paper boy, shoeshine boy, iron worker, stock proofer, grocery boy, dishwasher, short order cook, and restaurant manager.

Presently, he is a law professor at Stetson University College of Law and the Director of the Tampa Law Center.

James currently resides in St. Petersburg, Florida near his two sons, his 5 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. James youngest daughter, Sarah, lives in New York City.

Connect with James:

Website: James Sheehan, Author
Facebook: James Sheehan, Author
Twitter: @James_Sheehan_

My Thoughts:

I’ve been reading James Sheehan’s work for a couple of years now, after being introduced to it when his publisher sent me one of his novels asking if I’d review it. I said sure, and now they send almost everything new that he writes, although The Alligator Man actually came to me via TLC Book Tours first. Apparently the Universe REALLY wanted me to read this book, because the copy from his publisher showed up a few days later.

The Universe was not wrong. The Alligator Man is a legal thriller that merges Sheehan’s consistently solid writing style with an entirely new set of characters, and I enjoyed it immensely. (Translation: this is NOT one of his Jack Tobin novels. It’s a one-off with new characters.)

Sheehan’s own experience as a Florida resident and as a law professor and director of the Tampa (Florida) Law Center serve him well for the ‘a’ plot of the book – the story of Kevin Wylie and his father Tom and their attempt to prove Billy Fuller’s innocence. The courtroom scenes pop the way few such scenes ever do, and the language feels authentic.

The ‘b’ plot – the reforming of the father/son relationship between Kevin and Tom – is well drawn, but not quite as compelling. I’ve read reviews referring to these scenes as ‘wooden.’ I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ll confess that I felt like there wasn’t quite enough depth in those parts of the novel. Maybe that’s natural masculine reserve, or maybe it’s just my own perception.

This issue in no way impacted my engagement with the novel as a whole.

In any case, if you like legal thrillers, if you like courtroom drama, if you (like me) spent many hours of your lifetime glued to episodes of Law & Order, but wanted to go deeper, you will (like me) thoroughly enjoy The Alligator Man.

TLC Book Tours

This review is part of a virtual book tour organized by TLC Book Tours. For the rest of the tour stops, follow this link.

Review: Weak at the Knees by Jo Kessel – Enter to Win a Gift Basket

by

Weak-at-the-Knees-banner

About the book, Weak at the Knees:

Weak at the Knees

“We got so busy living life that we forgot to live our dreams.”

Danni Lewis has been playing it safe for twenty-six years, but her sheltered existence is making her feel old ahead of time. When a sudden death plunges her into a spiral of grief, she throws caution to the wind and runs away to France in search of a new beginning.

The moment ski instructor Olivier du Pape enters her shattered world she falls hard, in more ways than one.

Their mutual desire is as powerful and seductive as the mountains around them. His dark gypsy looks and piercing blue eyes are irresistible.

Only she must resist, because he has a wife – and she’d made a pact to never get involved with a married man.
But how do you choose between keeping your word and being true to your soul?

Weak at the Knees is Jo Kessel’s debut novel in the new adult, contemporary romance genre – a story of love and loss set between London and the heart of the French Alps.

Buy a copy from Amazon.

About the author, Jo Kessel:

Jo Kessel

Jo Kessel is a journalist in the UK, working for the BBC and reporting and presenting for ITV on holiday, consumer and current affairs programs. She writes for several national newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Guardian, and the Express, and was the anonymous author of the Independent’s hit column: “Diary of a Primary School Mum.”

When Jo was ten years old she wrote a short story about losing a loved one. Her mother and big sister were so moved by the tale that it made them cry. Having reduced them to tears she vowed that the next time she wrote a story it would make them smile instead. Happily she succeeded and with this success grew an addiction for wanting to reach out and touch people with words.

P.S Jo’s pretty certain one of her daughters has inherited this gene.

Other books by Jo Kessel include Lover in Law.

Connect with Jo:

Website: JoKessel.com
Facebook: Jo Kessel
Twitter: @jo_kessel
Goodreads: Jo Kessel

My Thoughts:

Jo Kessel’s novel Weak at the Knees is a breezy sexy romp with some deep self-examination mixed in. Written in first person (something many authors struggle to pull off, but Kessel handles amazingly well) this is Danni’s story, and she tells it in a such a fashion that I felt as though I was sitting on a couch, drinking wine, and chatting with an old friend.

Danni has been in an exclusive long-term relationship with Hugo (whom she’d maybe chuck in favor of Hugh Grant if given the opportunity, but whom she recognizes would be seen as Hugh Grant by a significant sector of the world’s population (namely American women) just because he’s British. Technically un-married, they live together, and have a very old-married-couple lifestyle.

Enter Olivier, the sexy French ski instructor. He’s hot. He’s willing. He’s French. But he’s also married, and so the rest of the novel is a balance of desire vs. responsibility, possibility vs. practicality, and all of the other life-choices that become so much more intense when they involve matters of the heart as well as matters of bedroom heat.

Kessel has drawn her character’s well. If Danni is like a best friend giving you a couch cushion confessional, then Hugo and Olivier as seen in her eyes are not merely the relationship equivalents of the angel and devil sitting on her shoulders, but real, dimensional men with thoughts and feelings of their own.

While this book isn’t really a comedy, it has many of the comic elements that come from life. Situations have both a funny and a tragic side, and Kessel shows us both.

Weak at the Knees is a fast read, incredibly enjoyable, and far more complex than the cover blurb implies. Read it. You won’t be sorry.

Goes well with hot tea, Milano cookies, and a comfy sofa.

This Book is Part of a Giveaway!

Pump Up Your Book and Jo Kessel are giving away a $100 Amazon Gift Card & a French Gift Basket that includes a whole lot of goodies associated with the book, including a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a famous wine from the Rhône wine region of southeastern France!

Terms & Conditions:

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $100 Amazon Gift Card and one winner will be chosen to win the gift basket.
  • This giveaway begins October 7 and ends January 18.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, January 20, 2014.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Enter to Win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Buying In by Laura Hemphill

by

About the book, Buying In:

Buying In

Bright, ambitious Sophie Landgraf has landed a job as a Wall Street analyst. The small-town girl finally has her ticket to the American elite, but she doesn’t realize the toll it will take—on her boyfriend, on her family, and on her. It isn’t long before Sophie is floundering in this male-dominated world, and things are about to get worse.

With the financial crisis looming, Sophie becomes embroiled in a multi-billion-dollar merger that could make or break her career. The problem? Three men at the top of their game, each with very different reasons for advancing the merger. Now Sophie doesn’t know who to trust—or how far she’ll go to get ahead.

Set inside the high-stakes world of finance, Manhattan’s after-hours clubs, and factories in the Midwest and India, this is the high-powered, heartfelt story of a young woman finding her footing on Wall Street as it crumbles beneath her. Written by an industry veteran, Buying In tackles what it means to be a woman in a man’s world, and how to survive in big business without sacrificing who you are.

Buy a copy at Amazon

About the author, Laura Hemphill:

Laura Hemphill

After graduating from Yale in 2003, Laura Hemphill spent seven years on Wall Street, at Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, and hedge fund Dune Capital. She left finance to write Buying In. Her writing has appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek and on NewYorker.com. Laura lives with her husband and daughter in Manhattan, where she’s working on her second novel.

Connect with Laura:

Website: Buying In: the Book
Twitter: @HemphillLaura

My Thoughts:

Buying In rides the edge of being contemporary women’s fiction and falling into the recently coined category, “New Adult,” largely because the main Point of View character, Sophie is a recent college graduate on her first real job, struggling to swim in a high-stakes, high stress environment.

While I’ve never worked in the same part of the financial industry Sophie has, I spent more than half my life in the real estate finance industry as a loan officer, loan processor, and underwriter, for local brokers and for corporate bankers, so I’ve had a taste of what was happening in 2007-09 – the period this book covers – during the great financial collapse.

My own experience made me more likely to empathize with Sophie, but while I enjoyed the novel as a whole, there were times when I found Sophie a little unlikeable. I wanted to accost her in the bathroom and shake some sense into her, and suggest she grow a spine. I also found myself tempted to skip ahead to the other characters’ POV chapters, especially those of Vishu, her Delhi-born colleague, and Ethan, her boss, although once Sophie hit it off with client “Hutch,” and her trajectory began an upwards trend, I became more interested in her story. (Vishu’s story, specifically, is really touching.)

A lot of this novel gets bogged down by financial details that could cause the average reader’s eyes to glaze a bit, and some of the characters in the non-work areas of Sophie’s life feel a bit one-dimensional – SPOILER ALERT: she breaks up with her boyfriend, and because we barely know him, we don’t feel the impact we should – but overall, Buying In is readable, and I think the author has done really well with her first novel.

Unlike Sophie, I had almost twenty years of industry experience when I saw the credit crisis coming, and I was smart enough to bail out when I had the chance. Sophie’s choices may not always have been ones I agree with, but they did make for interesting conflict, both within herself and with others, and by the novel’s somewhat abrupt ending, I had the sense that she would, ultimately, figure out who she was, and get what she wanted.

Goes well with Chinese chicken salad eaten at one’s desk, and a bottle of water.

TLC Book Tours

This review is based on the NetGalley uncorrected proof of the novel, provided courtesy of TLC Book Tours. For the complete list of tour stops, click here.

Book Excerpt: Upir and the Monster Gang by Sharron Thornton & Raymond Thornton

by

Upir & the Monster Gang

About the Series, Upir and the Monster Gang, by Sharron & Raymond Thornton:

Upir and the Monster Gang Cover

Coming from a long line of highly respected vampires, Upir knew that going to Neewollah, the Monster Mausoleum, would help him live up to his family’s reputation, but he never anticipated the terrifying turn his stay there would take. Upon entering, Upir befriends several strange creatures and their nights soon become treacherous when they have to dodge flying skulls whose hollow eye sockets shimmer with bright blue lights, avoid huge plants with tongue-like tentacles that devour young monsters, and run from a mad scientist who loves to use the monster students in his experiments. Most of all, they try to stay away from Muriel, an ill-tempered, nasty gorgon girl with slithering snakes for hair. She is the leader of three cantankerous monsters that follow her every command. Her group is bent on destroying Upir and his gang.

Without warning the young monsters find themselves entangled in a plot to destroy the Monster race. Will they escape the clutches of this horrifying villain and alert the Monster world, or will they become his loyal soldiers?

Read an Excerpt from Upir and the Monster Gang:

The Welcoming Committee

“Yeah, you kid!” A monster with an enormous bumpy head, bulbous nose and winged ears pointed at the vampire. A single tooth protruded from the troll’s lower lip as he gaped at Upir.

A wolf-boy, his grin revealing sharp pointy teeth, was with the group. His eyes had a hungry look to them.

Upir swallowed and tried to sound calm. “Yeah, what do you want?” he asked.

A green goblin boy, a skateboard under one arm, shoved his way between the other two and glared at Upir. “We’re the welcoming committee around here,” he said sarcastically.

Upir doubted that. “Okay,” he said slowly.

The goblin boy pointed up at the troll. “He’s Groks. I’m Gordon.” He tilted his head at the wolf boy. “And that’s Raff.”

Raff sneered, “What’s your name?”

Without thinking, Upir said his whole name. “Upir Amarande.”

“Yooper! Yooper!” Groks laughed, slobber spilling down his chin. “What kinda stupid name–”

“Move it!” A girl with dozens of slithering snakes for hair came forward as the other three monsters stepped aside. The gorgon stood before Upir, her breath smelled of swamp water; the snakes on her head hissed and stretched toward him. “What did you say your name was?”

Upir told her.

“Amarande, huh?” She looked Upir up and down and smiled, “Well look what we’ve got here boys, a little monster royalty in our midst.”

Upir started to shake his head, but before he could speak, the gorgon stuck out her hand. “Glad to have you aboard,” she said.

Upir shook her hand as he asked, “Aboard?”

Groks groaned. “Muriel, we don’t need a vamp–”

“Shut up, troll!” She turned back to Upir. “My gang,” she said as her head tilted toward the monsters behind her. “We plan on running this place, and I’m inviting you to join.”

Upir smiled. “Serious?” he asked. He didn’t like the fact that, once again, he’d been befriended because of his name. But to run with the in-crowd, he could deal with that. “Thanks,” he said.

“What’s going on!” a voice screamed behind them. The kids turned. The
hunchback lumbered toward them, his hump weighing him down to the floor. “What are you kids doing in the hall? It’s almost lights out. Get to your rooms!” Turning to his hump he mumbled, “Hugo always has to chase kids all over the place.”

Muriel lowered her gaze and innocently said, “We’re going now, Mr. Hugo.” Turning to her gang she growled, “Let’s go!” She slapped Upir on the arm as she brushed past him. “Welcome to my gang, Amarande. See ya around.”

“Yeah, see ya around,” Groks said hitting Upir on the back so hard that he stumbled into the wall.

Raff snickered and Gordon hooted. Muriel called out another “Shut up!” before they were out of sight.

Upir pushed open the creaky door and entered a dark, stone-like cave.

Jagged pieces of rock, some crooked as bad teeth, protruded from the ceiling and floor. Nestled in an alcove was a bunk bed made of heavily-polished dragon bones. On one wall rested a long narrow desk of stone and against the other wall sat a black coffin, just his size. The room smelled like the dust of ages past. And although there was no window, a strange light emanated across the ceiling. Looking around the room, Upir noticed a ghost hovering above the top bunk. The floating boy wore a long transparent shroud; a green woolen scarf was slung around his neck. A long chain, wrapped around his waist, clinked as it drifted lazily
in the air. Upir saw the rock wall through the boy’s glowing form.

The ghost boy smiled making his blue eyes look bluer and his plain face look mischievous. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Gusty,”

Upir smiled back. “I’m Upir,” he replied, glad he hadn’t offered his last name. He knew everyone would find out soon enough. But until then, maybe he’d have a chance to make friends on his own.

Gusty moved, seeping in and out of form like a genie near the mouth of its bottle. Upir blinked a few times, not sure the boy was really there.

“Yeah, he’s really there,” said another boy who emerged from a pile of blankets on the bottom bunk. He stood up, his rumpled flannel shirt and jeans hung limply from his stick frame. “Gusty likes to show off,” he said. The boy’s head was a carved hollow pumpkin. Light flowed through the triangular holes; the yellowish rays reflected across the room like searchlights. The grin on his face was cheerful. “I’m Payne,” he said to Upir. “Welcome to Neewollah.”

A Message from the Authors, Sharron Thornton & Raymond Thornton:

Upir and the Monster Gang

We’re on our way to be published! My name is Sharron Thornton and I wrote a children’s novel entitled Upir and the Monster Gang. The book has 60 full page, full colored illustrations which were done by my son, Raymond Thornton. We have chosen to use an online, crowdfunding site called Kickstarter to begin this amazing venture.
Beginning October 1st and running through November 16th we are doing a pre-launch, first edition sale of our book. Attached to this email is a link to our Kickstarter page. There you can watch our video and see some of the Upir and the Monster Gang products we have listed. One of the great things about Kickstarter is that it’s like a grassroots campaign that spreads and then builds momentum.

After the Kickstarter we have marketing and distribution lined up to take Upir and the Monster Gang to the next level, but we need your help getting it started. Please share our Kickstarter page with your family and friends on your email lists, social media and any other networks you may have and then ask them to share it also.
http://kck.st/19jvVMG.

Connect with Sharron and/or Raymond:

Web: UpirAndTheMonsterGang.com
Facebook: Upir and the Monster Gang
Twitter (Sharron): @SharronThornton
Twitter (Raymond): @RaymondThornton

Review: Painted Hands by Jennifer Zobair

by

Painted Hands

About the book (from the author’s website):
Muslim bad girl Zainab Mir and her best friend Amra Abbas have thwarted proposal-slinging aunties and cultural expectations to succeed in their high-powered careers in Boston. What they didn’t count on? The unlikely men who shatter their friendship, including a childhood friend who turns out to be more traditional than he let on, and a right-wing politico with career-threatening secrets of his own. When the personal and the geopolitical collide, and a controversial prayer service leads to violence, Zainab and Amra must figure out what they’re willing to risk for their principles, their friendship, and love.

Buy from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts:
When I was in high school I read everything Allen Drury had written up to that point. Many of them had written before I was even born, so they were a bit dated, but they gave me a love of political fiction that remains to this day, and probably explains my lingering obsession with The West Wing as well. It is this love that was the main reason I accepted TLC’s offer to read and review Jennifer Zobair’s first novel Painted Hands.

I started reading the book a few days ago, and I’ll confess to being a bit worried that I’d have to read a ton of neo-con propaganda when I noticed the bit about the lead character, Zainab, working for a Republican politician. My fears were quickly quelled, but I didn’t have a chance to really absorb the book until yesterday, when I planted myself at my kitchen table with a pot of coffee, one too many English muffins, and NPR playing on the radio. (In fact it was a program featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about why having a single story is a bad thing – and it was the perfect complement to Zobair’s book.)

The practical upshot of all this: Painted Hands is one of the best books I’ve read all year. All of the women – Zainab, and her best friend Amra, especially, but also Rukan – feel like the sort of women you might run into if you live and work in a major city. They are three-dimensional, and may share common religious roots, but are distinctly different women, as they should be. Amra’s anglo friend/colleague Hayden is as well-developed as the others, and her story, too, is compelling. Likewise, the men in the story are all fully-formed. Chase, the right-wing radio personality and Mateen, the childhood crush turned potential love interest are complex, each with their own desires and flaws.

On the NPR show this morning, the creators of Toy Story said that one of the first rules of storytelling is to make the reader/viewer care. Jennifer Zobair did this with every character she created. Even with the characters I didn’t like, I still wanted to know what their story was, and whether it would end well.

Jennifer Zobair

More than just making me care about her characters, however, Zobair’s writing let me glimpse a culture other than my own. Spending my formative years with just my mother, and growing up in a liberal family where the ultimate dinner table whining would be an accusatory, “But MOM! He made a Sexist Statement!!!” the whole notion of HAVING to get married is as foreign to me as putting cheddar cheese on pizza was the first time I encountered it in California, and I’ve never had to live with proscriptions against any kind of clothing or makeup (except blue eyeshadow, but that really should be illegal in most cases anyway).

In Painted Hands, however, we get to see the way Islam is practiced in a variety of American families, and what it means to have one foot in the modern world and another in a conservative religious tradition. As someone who wasn’t raised in any particular religion (we are culturally Catholic, attended the UU church on and off, and, as an adult, my Baptist husband met me half-way and we’re Episcopalian), getting a peek into any spiritual practice is fascinating to me.

I’m very fortunate to have a circle of friends and acquaintances from many countries, cultures, and religions; for those who don’t, or even if they do, Painted Hands is an excellent introduction to Muslim-American culture, wrapped in a great story.

Goes well with… a really good korma (I like chicken, but vegetarian is good) and iced mint tea.

Connect with Jennifer Zobair:
Web: JenniferZobair.com
Twitter: @jazobair

TLC Book Tours

Review: Saving Gracie, by Jill Teitelman

by

Saving Gracie
Jill Teitelman

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
“Why didn’t I ask where the Women’s Lib train was going before I jumped on?” Ruth Kooperman wants to know. Saving Gracie is the story of her rocky journey from carefree East Village poet to last-minute mother to single suburban mom. (I’m pretty sure God didn’t expect me to deal with menopause and toilet training at the same time.”) And when demonic middle-age mortality threatens to steal her dearest friend, dark female humor to the rescue. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll laugh again. This memoir-like tale covers all the bases: late-life motherhood and dating, single parenting, marriage, divorce and the humorous side of even the darkest times.

My Thoughts:

When I was offered a copy of Saving Gracie to review, I jumped at the chance because the description seemed like something I’d really enjoy. I was not wrong. In fact, I’m incredibly glad to have been introduced to Ms. Teitelman’s writing, because if she writes anything else in this wonderful voice, I HAVE to read it.

Saving Gracie is at once a sort of late-bloomer’s coming-of-age story and a romance. The first part is the internal development of the novel’s protagonist (and first-person narrator) Ruth Kooperman. At the beginning of the story, Ruth is fiercely independent, child-free (and approaching an age at which childbirth is unwise if not impossible) and single, prone to bad choices in men. Through the course of the novel we watch her grow into motherhood, into stable relationships, and finally, into a relatively sane, relatively stable woman.

But that’s just part of the story. It’s also a romance. Or really, three romances. It’s a romance between Ruth and the two men who occupy her heart during the course of the novel, Jake, with whom she has a child, but not a marriage, and Marty, whom she marries. It’s a romance between Ruth and her son Joey. And finally, most importantly, it’s a romance of sisterhood between Ruth and Gracie – one of the sane mothers she meets while checking out a school for Joey.

Like Ruth, Gracie has a wicked sense of humor. But she’s also got a twenty-plus-year-old marriage (to Max, who seems like a great person, and who I wish I had as a neighbor), and, in many ways, represents what Ruth would have been if she’d ever found the nice (rich) Jewish boy her parents wished she would.

The friendship between Ruth and Gracie doesn’t even begin until a third of the book is over, but its impact is still strong, and really, we need that much setup – and that much growth from Ruth – before either we (or Ruth) are ready for Gracie’s arrival. We need Ruth to be open for a new kind of friendship.

Despite a poignant ending, I thoroughly enjoyed Saving Gracie. I thought the characters were all very real, and, having grown up on the east coast (though I’m Italian and not Jewish), I could hear the cadences of their speech in my head, even though there’s no dialect written into the dialogue.

Saving Gracie is the kind of novel that you live inside while you’re reading it. When I would pull myself away to do something mundane like eat or let the dogs out, I found myself wishing I was in Boston in winter, instead of Texas where it’s 80 degrees in December.

Put plainly: this book is amazing, and everyone should go read it, now.

Goes well with bagels, cream cheese, and a cup of mushroom soup.

Review: The Sparrow and the Hawk by Meg Lacey

by

The Sparrow and the Hawk
by Meg Lacey

Product Description (from Amazon.com):
Jillie Harte, code name the Sparrow, a documentary film maker is an agent for the NAS (Normal, Abnormal, Strange) Agency. Her assignment-find The Carmaletta Choker before it falls into the wrong hands and destroys the world. Franklin Doherty and associates are suspected of having the choker, and they are definitely the wrong hands! To get close to Franklin, Jillie is producing a film on “Decoration, Fashion and Accessories Throughout History,” featuring his antique collection. Her assignment is complicated by Griff Ryland, her new, hot cameraman, who is also looking for the necklace. Griff is an enigma. Is he friend or foe? And why is she so distracted by his “pure sex on a stick” appeal? Like the Sparrow, Griff, aka the Hawk, needs to retrieve the choker. It disappeared from his dimension years before, and his job is to bring it back. Since he can shapeshift into a hawk or a mountain lion at a moment’s notice, Griff feels certain of success. But he doesn’t bargain for a sassy, sexy redhead-and for his overwhelming urge to settle their differences in bed. Now Griff and Jillie must not only overcome the deadly dark forces who want the choker, but they must also face their developing relationship. And they thought saving the world from evil and chaos was hard!!!!

My Thoughts:

When I received the ARC of The Sparrow and the Hawk, the latest novel from Meg Lacey, I was already excited. I’d been asked to review it, and was already in love with the story just from the description.

Reading it only cemented my love for this genre-blurring adventure. It’s a paranormal romance, but it’s also an urban fantasy, a black comedy, and a mystery/thriller with a dash of horror. It’s fast-paced, funny, and completely absorbing, and the only flaw is that it’s BOOK ONE in an intended trilogy, so while the core story is wrapped up, there are enough dangling threads to leave readers like me knotted up in frustration and anticipation.

Let’s talk about the main characters: Jillie is an unconventional heroine. Sure, she works for the NAS (Normal, Abnormal, Strange) agency, but she’s also very real – and flawed. She’s a little impulsive and she acts like she has something to prove – as if she’s not working for her own fulfillment but to please her dead mother. Then there’s Griff, whose back story unfolds more slowly. We, the reader, know he’s a shapeshifter, but Jillie does not, though she does know (as do we all) that he’s sex on a stick. (A note about Lacey’s world building here: I like that Griff’s shapeshifting comes at a cost – he has to expend real energy in order to do it, which means it’s not an instant fix to every problem.)

The other characters, sinister Declan, flamboyant Franklin, and Nigel (who seems to run hot and cold) as well as the women (Perdita, especially) are all vivid, as well. Franklin’s house really caught my attention, reminding me of a cross between the Winchester Mystery House and the game board from Clue. (When Jillie makes an offhand remark about the game of Clue, I felt vindicated.) And Franklin himself is a character I would have liked to know better. When we meet him is mostly-dark, but I think seeing his progression – descent, even – would make an interesting pre-quel.

Lacey knows how to set a scene. From Franklin’s house to the Arizona desert to a sort of otherspace within each where the walls between normal and strange completely crumble, there is always a sense of place. You can’t always track the journey from point A to point B, but you always know what each point looks and feels like.

Bottom line? I loved this novel. I’m looking forward to a time when my review queue is a little thinner so I can re-read it. I CANNOT WAIT for the next in the series.

Goes well with…hot tea and a chocolate chip muffin.

Review: Morgan Hall, by Bo Briar

by

Morgan Hall
by Bo Briar

Product Description/Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Love never dies, and revenge never sleeps in Morgan Hall…

Morgan Hall, a desolate country estate, has been in Lady Christie Morgan’s family for almost 400 years. A family cursed by eternal tragedy, and now Christie is the last Morgan.

Apparitions appear, sparking a chain of horrifying occurrences involving Christie and the two men who love her: Anthony Longfield-Lothian and Tristan Ely.

A saga of mystery and sordid family history weaves intrigue for the passionate love triangle. Past and present war as the secrets of three aristocratic families unfold – resurfacing in a spine-chilling mystery of passion and lust, ghostly happenings, and blood-curdling murders.
Emotions run high as their world spins wildly out of control. Are they all cursed to repeat the grizzly past? Does sweet revenge claim its prize?
Morgan Hall.

My Thoughts:
There are times when a gothic thriller is the perfect thing to read, and I was lucky enough to read the bulk of Bo Briar’s modern gothic Morgan Hall on a murky, moody, rainy August morning that perfectly complimented the book.

Why do I call it a “modern” gothic? Because while Morgan Hall has all the requisite elements of a classic gothic – huge old manor houses with disturbing histories and some disrepair, orphan heiresses with tragic pasts, unrequited love, stormy weather, ghostly apparitions, and creepy housekeepers, it’s actually set in a time not too far removed from today, and the characters all have cars, computers, and cell phones (not that the latter ever work reliably). In fact, about the only thing missing is someone hiding behind a billowing curtain.

But don’t assume that I mention this because I didn’t like the book. In fact, I enjoyed it immensely. Sure, Christie Morgan’s behavior was often frustrating to my feminist sensibilities, and true, I didn’t quite buy the instant-love between Christie and Tristan (the best friend of Christie’s lifelong friend and ‘kissing’ cousin Anthony), but when an author is spinning a good story, the willing reader overlooks minor things like that, just as the good audience member engages in willful suspension of disbelief when watching Harry Potter and friends soar around on broomsticks to play Quidditch.

And make no mistake, Bo Briar spins a good story. Her descriptions of place, whether she’s talking about the afore-mentioned manor houses (one of which was a castle) or just describing modern London or a pub in York, are so vivid that when she wrote about gusts of wind or rainwater puddling in the street, I found myself looking outside to see if my weather was the same. I felt like I was walking through the corridors of the titular Morgan Hall with Christie Morgan.

As well, Briar knows how to set a tone. In my “I finished this book” tweet, I mentioned that Morgan Hall is wonderfully moody, but what I didn’t say was that, while reading the first part of the novel late at night, I had to insist that my husband come to bed RIGHT NOW because her writing worked with my over-active imagination to give me goosebumps.

I read across many genres. I love science fiction and contemporary literature, but I also love good mysteries. While I don’t read a lot of gothic fiction, when I do, I always enjoy the pleasantly shivery feeling of being just a little bit scared. Briar’s book gave me that feeling – I put aside my disbelief in some of the plot elements (like Christie, Andrew and Tristan all having inherited big old houses, or the three of them platonically sharing a bed) but was involved enough in the story to worry when Tristan turned out to be less – and more – than he seemed, and to worry for Christie when we learned what jeopardy she was in.

There are perfect times and places for gothic fiction. I was lucky enough to read Morgan Hall over a late August night and a rainy August morning, but even if you read this in the bright sunshine of a happy summer day, I think you’ll find this tale both compelling and just scary enough to make the hair rise on your arms.

Goes well with shepherds pie and a tall glass of hard cider.