Friday, June 1, 2012

Book Review: So Far Away

by: Meg Mitchell Moore

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:
Thirteen-year-old Natalie Gallagher is trying to escape: from her parents' ugly divorce, and from the vicious cyber-bullying of her former best friend. She discovers a dusty old diary in her family's basement and is inspired to unlock its secrets.

Kathleen Lynch, an archivist at the Massachusetts State Archives, has her own painful secrets: she's a widow estranged from her only daughter. Natalie's research brings her to Kathleen, who in Natalie sees traces of the daughter she has lost.

What could the life of an Irish immigrant domestic servant from the 1920s teach them both? In the pages of the diary, they will learn that their fears and frustrations are timeless.

So Far Away is an affecting story of mothers and daughters and how solace can be found in the most unlikely places.


I'm officially a fan of Meg Mitchell Moore. She weaves tales that put you on the emotional roller coaster with her vivid characters.

There are lots of people in this story, but only two main characters whose perspectives we get. As the synopsis states, Nat is a very sad character, getting bullied (not just cyber) while her parents are going through a divorce. Kathleen has been a widower for many years. Her young adult daughter has been missing for a few years, since she ran away. Kathleen is a very sad character as well. She really wants to help Natalie; to have a second chance to do the right thing.

The cyber aspect makes bullying so much worse than when we were kids. I could have screamed when her mother found out about it and her solution? Taking Nat's phone and computer away. Way to punish the victim, MOM!

How does this resolve itself? You'll have to read. I will say I think Meg does a great job keeping her stories realistic.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Book Review: The Vampire's Witch

by: Kiki Howell

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:
The Willows is a resort town run by vampires, werewolves and witches. Here, their true identities are kept secret from humans, and intimate relations between the individual clans are strictly forbidden.

When it becomes known that the vampire Amberlyn has fallen in love with the werewolf Kane, the tedious line of their co-existence has been crossed. Caught in the crossfire of this revelation, Drake, the vampire clan leader and Amberlyn’s maker, is killed along with an innocent witch. These deaths spark a series of horrific events leading to an all out War In The Willows.

Unexpected close encounters, bodies ripe with need, and situations beyond their control lead to forbidden relationships. Now three vampires, a witch, a werewolf and a human must ride along the edges of the rules. They will attempt once unthinkable romantic entanglements despite all those who oppose their relationships, while fighting for their lives as well.

With the Willows full of violence and bloodshed, meetings and magic amiss, will the clans ever be able to find peace among them again? Or, will this war destroy the Willows?

In Book 1, Amberlyn’s vampire brother, Isaac, always one to kick ass first and deal with the consequences later, kidnaps a witch, Winter. He intends to find out what type of retaliation the witch clan is planning against the vampires and werewolves. In doing so, he finds so much more then he bargained for.


This is the first adult book I've read by Kiki Howell. And it was delicious! Good plot, great characters and sexy enough to raise the temperature in my house about 20 degrees. Isaac is a vampire who wants to avoid the brewing war. So he kidnaps a witch and brings her to his home. Turns out she majorly has the hots for him and won't take no for an answer.

It's a very fast read, only about 50 pages. But it's a real page turner!


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Book Spotlight: The Delphi Bloodline

by: Donna Del Oro

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Synopsis:
Athena Butler is the modern-day descendant of an ancient bloodline of gifted clairvoyants. She’s trying to live a “normal” life as an artist, but with the disappearance of her mother and other notable psychics, she finds herself dragged into danger. She, too, is a target.

Kas Skoros, the son of a psychic, is a Guardian, one of a secret society whose task is protecting the Delphi bloodline. He rushes to rescue Athena and uncover the mastermind behind the kidnapping plot.

Athena and Kas stay one step ahead with Athena’s psychic abilities and Kas’s training in law enforcement. When they seek refuge at the Skoros compound in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the FBI convinces them that the only way to stop the kidnappers and trap the mastermind is for Athena to offer herself as bait.


About the Author:
Donna Del Oro spent her childhood in two places, Silicon Valley, CA and the countryside of East Texas, as her father tried several job opportunities. Finally settling in Silicon Valley, she grew up in a bilingual, bicultural world--Spanish on her mother's side and English on her father's. Comfortable in both worlds, she decided upon retiring from teaching to write about her Hispanic side. Four women's fiction books resulted and a series about professional singers, their careers and love lives. Retired and devoting much of her abundant free time to exercise, writing, singing and her grandson, Donna has finally reached a point in life that totally satisfies her. Life is good and she has no complaints, just a lot of gratitude for her many blessings.

Excerpt:
Chapter One


Pyramid Valley, Nevada

Thursday AM

Athena Butler’s eyes blinked open and she sat up.

Coming back from The Flow was always jolting. Emerging from the stream of spirits was like a water skier lurching out of the water, pulled by a strong, invisible force. The mind caught up later to the body as if it required a rough snap to break free.

Likewise, to go there was like jumping out of a plane and feeling the air rush to your face, your limbs weightless and wobbly. Most of the time, it was a joy to enter this world of unseen spirits. Athena welcomed her visits, especially at night when she found herself invariably alone.

When she was a child, she’d often emerge from The Flow with a fearful whimper and a cry. She’d wept and wanted to stay in The Flow. Now, at twenty-six, Athena had grown accustomed to her mental flights. They were no longer fear-inducing for she understood their purpose. But her exits were still mind-wrenching and she often lay in bed, disoriented.

This morning, fear clutched her heart and she could barely breathe. With a trembling hand, she reached for her phone. Breathless, she raked her other hand through her hair and kicked her legs over the side of the bed. She punched her mother’s mobile numbers. It was nine o’clock East Coast time.

“Thank God, Mama! Where are you?”

“I’m in Baltimore, near the--.”

“Mama, I had a dream about you. A Flow Dream. The spirits—they want me to warn you! Whatever you’re doing right now, get off the streets. Go home and lock the door. Call the police!”

Her heart felt like a ticking bomb in her chest. Athena could barely speak. But her mother knew her and understood her Flow dreams. They were seldom wrong though sometimes a little off in timing. Today, a threat was imminent. She knew it.

“Slow down, Thena. Take a deep breath and tell me slowly about your dream. I don’t doubt you but we must be able to interpret it correctly. You know how these Flow Dreams are. Sometimes the symbolism is strange and difficult to interpret.”

“Okay--just go home and lock the door. Now, Mama!”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Book Review: Dark Cell

by: Samantha Curtin

Available at Amazon

Synopsis:
After being wrongly imprisoned for the murder of two Gorgan children, a Crizenian by the name of Ness is broken out by two teenage boys. The boys then embark on a fantastical journey full of magic, suspense and corruption to prove Ness' innocence.

This is the first published work by my friend Samantha Curtin. I was excited to read this, because I follow her blog and she's a good writer. If you check out her blog, she writes about numerous topics from an Anthropological perspective. She's one smart cookie!

She is a good story teller, and her characters are lively. I really liked the boy whose uncle was housing Ness. He was smart, but more importantly he cared about doing the right thing. That was lacking by everyone else in the world Sam created.

The story captured my imagination and I had to read from beginning to the end. I cared about the boys and Ness, and hated the world he was trapped in. I thought it was a great view of our own modern legal system, where real justice is hard to find.

There is room for improvement. I think Sam needs to slow down and add more details. Especially in the courtroom scene, it moved entirely too fast for the importance of what was going on.

Also, you'll find some typos but not too many considering she published this on her own.

All that being said, I think it was entertaining and I can't wait to read her next story. She has raw talent that I look forward to watching it improve.


Monday, May 28, 2012

Guest Blog: Unintended Consequences

Guest Blog by: S. Evan Townsend

I'm a fairly straight-forward writer. I don't weave in complex subplots or subtle motivations for my characters. My heroes are generally good and my villains may think they are doing good but they either use poor methods or have bad motivations.

So sometimes I am amazed at what readers see in my book that I didn't mean to be there. I really think this is projecting their experiences on my writing, which is not a bad thing. Each of us sees something slightly different when we gaze upon the Mona Lisa. Me, I still haven't figured out what's so great about it. But people see different things than I intended. Again, this isn't bad, and art is supposed to mean different things to different people.

For example, in my latest novel, Rock Killer, a company called Space Resources, Inc. (SRI), mines asteroids for the resources a crowded planet needs without degrading Earth's environment. One of my main characters, Alex Chun, works in a job where he's gone from Earth for six months mining asteroids, comes home for two weeks, then leaves again for space. He's married so he only sees his wife during those two weeks on Earth. One reader asked me, "Why does he leave his wife in preference for Space Resources, Inc.?" There is a scene early in the novel where his wife asks why he doesn't quit his job and stay on Earth permanently:

"You could quit SRI," Kirsten speculated. "Join my life full time. You've met most of my friends and get along with most of them. You have enough money in your SRI account we could both retire."

Alex shook his head. "I can't. I mean, I can, but I won't. I owe SRI. They took me and educated me and gave me a job–and kept educating me."

Alex doesn't leave his wife, as in divorce her. They are both very much in love. But he does not quit and he goes off to the asteroid belt to mine another asteroid. He's like the whalers and sailors of old, doing his job, his duty, even though it takes him away from his wife whom he loves. The modern equivalent would be the military personnel who get deployed to Afghanistan for a year.

But I never thought about Alex making a choice between his wife, Kirsten, and his job. Kirsten is independent enough that she doesn't need a man around full time. Their marriage works for them. But this reader saw conflict where I didn't mean for there to be any. Which may tell us more about her than about me.

One reason I love to write is so I can share things with readers, sneak in stuff while they are being entertained. But it's the stuff my readers sneak in that I never intended that is interesting to me.

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