Laura Freeman's Blog, page 28

Plain Jane by Fern Michaels

Plain Jane by Fern Michaels 2001 

[image error]Jane Lewis is studying for her senior finals and walks from the library with homecoming queen Connie Bryan. They are stopped by six men and Connie is raped by three of them. Jane is held down and hit. She tries to convince Connie to go to the police and puts her clothing in a bag, but Connie doesn’t want her fiance Todd to find out and have it ruin her wedding plans. Connie kills herself two days before graduation.

Jane becomes a psychiatrist and has a patient, Brian Ramsey, who reminds her of the rape. She has kept the bag for 12 years but never did anything about it. She starts a relationship with Mike Sorensen, another psychiatrist who remains impersonal with his patients while she becomes personally invested. This also causes her guilt and pain when she fails them.

Jane spends time with her godparents Trixie and Fred who write novels and start to train K-9 dogs. They took over raising Jane because her mother was self-centered and called Jane, Plain Jane. She never got over the hurt and hates her mother.

In addition, she takes on another doctor’s patients including Betty, whose boyfriend was Brian but doesn’t know how to treat her after she was raped. She kills herself after recognizing one of her rapist in a drug store.

The story has several genres with the elements of a mystery – who raped the two women, a romance with Jane and Mike’s relationship going up and down like a rollercoaster ride, two ghosts, and plenty of dogs.

Fern Michaels is a popular author. I read some of her earlier books. I liked this one until the end. I demand logic in my stories, and Jane never takes the evidence of Connie’s rape to the police until the very end. I know the heroine is supposed to try to solve the mystery herself, but Jane invites the six men from the rape to her home and tries to get them to confess. That made no sense at all.

There is plenty of emotional drama, but for a psychiatrist, Jane can’t deal with her own problems let alone others. Michaels tries to explain her choices, but I grew weary of the excuses.

If I was writing the story, I would have taken her in a different direction. That is one thing a writer can take from others’ stories. Writers can be given the same premise or story idea but they can take the characters on a path that ends somewhere else.

More book reviews at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Plain Jane by Fern Michaels 2001 First Draft

[image error]Jane Lewis is studying for her senior finals and walks from the library with homecoming queen Connie Bryan. They are stopped by six men and Connie is raped by three of them. Jane is held down and hit. She tries to convince Connie to go to the police and puts her clothing in a bag, but Connie doesn’t want her fiance Todd to find out and have it ruin her wedding plans. Connie kills herself two days before graduation.

Jane becomes a psychiatrist and has a patient, Brian Ramsey, who reminds her of the rape. She has kept the bag for 12 years but never did anything about it. She starts a relationship with Mike Sorensen, another psychiatrist who remains impersonal with his patients while she becomes personally invested. This also causes her guilt and pain when she fails them.

Jane spends time with her godparents Trixie and Fred who write novels and start to train K-9 dogs. They took over raising Jane because her mother was self-centered and called Jane, Plain Jane. She never got over the hurt and hates her mother.

In addition, she takes on another doctor’s patients including Betty, whose boyfriend was Brian but doesn’t know how to treat her after she was raped. She kills herself after recognizing one of her rapist in a drug store.

The story has several genres with the elements of a mystery – who raped the two women, a romance with Jane and Mike’s relationship going up and down like a rollercoaster ride, two ghosts, and plenty of dogs.

Fern Michaels is a popular author. I read some of her earlier books. I liked this one until the end. I demand logic in my stories, and Jane never takes the evidence of Connie’s rape to the police until the very end. I know the heroine is supposed to try to solve the mystery herself, but Jane invites the six men from the rape to her home and tries to get them to confess. That made no sense at all.

There is plenty of emotional drama, but for a psychiatrist, Jane can’t deal with her own problems let alone others. Michaels tries to explain her choices, but I grew weary of the excuses.

If I was writing the story, I would have taken her in a different direction. That is one thing a writer can take from others’ stories. Writers can be given the same premise or story idea but they can take the characters on a path that ends somewhere else.

More book reviews at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Black Rose by Nora Roberts

Black Rose by Nora Roberts 2005 A Jove Book

[image error]This is the second book in the Garden Trilogy and focuses on the romance between Roz, owner of Harper Manor, and genealogist Mitch Carlisle. She is independent and was burned by husband number two, Bryce, who is stirring up trouble by opening a charge account in her name and doing things to others but putting the blame on her. He wants money to go away but she refuses.

We learn more about Mitch and his life. He was an alcoholic but has turned his life around and spends more and more time at Harper Manor as he tries to uncover the secret behind the Harper Bride ghost, a woman named Amelia who loves children but warns Roz that all men are liars. She becomes more violent in this book, but they also learn more about her.

Roberts limits her point of view in this book mostly between Roz and Mitch. I don’t know if that was the reason or the fact the Roz and Mitch are already mature, stable personalities and there wasn’t much conflict or tension in this story, but it didn’t have the punch that most of Roberts stories has.

Some writers shy away from mature characters because they don’t seem to be as interesting as someone younger, who hasn’t figured out what they want in life. Roberts characters are usually in their late twenties or early thirties and have some bad past experience they must resolve before they can go forward in love.

Roz has some of that, but Mitch did not. He was perfect so what was she waiting for? Writers have to be careful not to make their heroes too perfect and then too boring.

I like the character of Hayley, and she will be the focus in the last book.

More reviews are at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares 2001 Delacorte Press

[image error]Four friends, Lena, Bridget, Tibby and Carmen were born within 17 days of each other and have been best friends for 15 years. This is the first summer they will spend apart.

Carmen, who bought a pair of used jeans for $3.49 gives them to Tibby who tries them on and, miraculously, they fit perfectly on each of the girls. They decide to send the magic jeans to each other over the summer.

Each girl discovers a flaw about herself during the summer and grows up because of their individual experiences. The reader can relate to at least one.

Tibby is working at Wallman’s for the summer and has to wear a hideous smock. She wants to create a documentary about losers. Through an accident at the store, she meets Bailey, who transforms her perspective on life.

Carmen goes to visit her dad and finds out he’s getting married and has two perfect stepchildren, a house, and not much time for her. She has to work through her anger.

Bridget is a jock who lost her mother to suicide a few years ago. She is reckless and obsessed with reaching her target, whether it’s winning a soccer game or seducing a man.

Lena and her sister Effie visit their grandparents in Greece, and Lena buries herself in painting and ignores the young man everyone wants her to meet.

Brashares does an excellent job making us care about each of the characters, and they face their problems the way you would expect teenagers to act and react.

Sometimes the point of views were cluttered, and I thought she could have spent more time on each one before switching to another.

I remember seeing the movie a long time ago but Lena’s story was changed in it. She spent more time with the boy, Kostos. I think reading the book helps with understanding the story better than the movie, but it had beautiful scenery.

If you’re writing about teens or about character development, this is a good book to read. Brashares shows the flaw, the childish reaction, and then the mature outlook on the problem with a friend’s help.

More reviews can be found at authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts

Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts 2004 A Jove Book

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The story begins in 1892 when Amelia Conner, mistress to Reginald Harper, loses her child during childbirth and goes mad.

Forward to 2001 When Stella Rothchild is waiting for her husband Kevin to return from a business trip. Her two young sons Gavin, 6, and Luke, 4, are fighting when she hears about a plane crash and knows her husband is dead.

Three years later she moves to Tennessee where her father and stepmother live and has a job at Harper House where Roz owns a flower/plant nursery. She hires Stella as manager. Stella and her boys move into Roz’s large house and they begin to see the ghost of Amelia.

Organized and meticulous Stella butts head with spur of the moment Logan, the landscaper who never has time for paperwork. Opposites attract but Stella never planned on remarrying after losing Kevin. It sets up the tug of war of romance that plays out in this book.

Roz hires Dr. Mitchell Carnegie to study her genealogy and figure out who the ghost is and why she’s haunting the house. This is the romance in the second book of the trilogy.

To add to the mix, a  pregnant Hayley Phillips shows up on Roz’s doorstep. She’s a distant cousin and needs a job. Roz’s shy son, Harper, falls for Hayley and will be the romance in the third book in the trilogy.

For anyone who loves gardening or wants to learn more about it, this book provides plenty of information. Fiction books just like non-fiction require research.

It’s knowing the setting, including the history, architecture, seasons, food and more to make it realistic for the reader and ring true for anyone who lives in that area.

Roberts excels at adding facts and describing routine tasks, whether its grafting a plant or castrating a bull in her stories. Writers need that same accuracy in details. Don’t skip research in your writing.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Pudd’nhead Wilson

Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain 1894 and reprinted in 1964 American Publishing Company

[image error]I like to read a classic every once in awhile and study it for deeper meaning than what a teenager or college student might find.

I read Pudd’nhead Wilson many years ago and only remember that he used fingerprints to prove the guilt of a killer and the switching of a slave child with a white child. I should claim spoiler alert, but there is more to the book than that.

Wilson arrives in Dawson’s Landing, Missouri in 1830 and his irony causes him to be dubbed “Pudd’nhead” by the townsfolk. The name makes it impossible for him to pursue his career as a lawyer but he makes do with accounting and surveying. He also keeps busy collecting fingerprints.

Roxanna is a slave of Percy Driscoll. Percy’s wife and Roxanna have babies on Feb 1. The wife dies and Roxanna raises both boys. They both have blond hair and blue eyes. Twain explains that Roxanna is 1/16 Negro but she is still a slave even though she doesn’t look black. This fact is glossed over since the book was written in the 19th century, but it is a topic of discussion relevant to today.

How much black blood makes someone black? I am supposed to be German, but my DNA test showed very little German DNA left in me. The majority was English, Irish, and Swedish. Does that mean I’m not German? I don’t know. Is our DNA more important than culture? We can adopt cultures, but our DNA determines our inheritance of genetic traits.

This book emphasizes that topic. Even though Tom Driscoll is 100 percent white, he was raised as a slave. At the end of the book, Tom doesn’t fit in the white or the slave world. The nature versus nurture debate begins.

Then Twain presents the slave child, Chambers, who is raised white with a good education and spoiled lifestyle. He has a mean streak and isn’t humbled when Roxanna tells him she is his mother. He even sells his mother down the river to raise money to pay his gambling debts. Roxanna escapes her vicious slave owner and pressures Chambers to get the money to buy her freedom. He attempts to steal it, and kills his uncle, who took him in after his father died. He’s glad when the murder is pinned on someone else.

Another question is how did Roxanna end up 1/16 white? Twain provides a father, Colonel Essex, and she is proud of the blood flowing through Chambers, but this doesn’t face the darker question of rape and incest among white owners and slaves. For Roxanna to be 1/16 white, she would have had white fathers back through four generations. Usually the white father was a male in the household who raped the house slaves. This is another topic to debate.

The final pages are dedicated to the argument that although Chambers was guilty of murder, he was also a slave, and those who were collecting debts against Percy’s property, wanted payment by selling Chambers instead of letting him rot in jail. Ironically, he was sold down the river.

Slavery is an ugly part of our history. Some ignore it, some distort it, but an honest look needs to be made of it and lessons learned. The book may offend some, but in the context that it was written by someone who witnessed slavery, it should be read for a better understanding of how people thought and behaved during those times and the impact it has on our lives today.

More book reviews can be found at authorfreeman.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

Birthright by Nora Roberts

Birthright by Nora Roberts 2003 A Jove Book

[image error]Writers can learn to write better by studying good authors. In this book, Roberts shows how to layer plots from simple to complex. The story begins with a woman, Suzanne, at the mall with 3-year-old Doug and baby Jessica to visit Santa. She only turns her back for a minute when Doug falls from Santa’s lap and cries, but Jessica is gone.

This is a one line plot – baby kidnapped. The baby could be killed and police seek the killer or the baby returns home years later, but in this story, Callie is an archaeologist called to a dig when a developer discovers a four-thousand-year-old bone. Her face appears on television and Suzanne recognizes her as Jessica.

After Suzanne confronts her with her suspicions, Callie goes home and discovers her parents privately adopted her. This is the basic first level.

Roberts chose Callie’s occupation to show her personality and give her motivation that she needed to dig into her own past the same way she dug into the past through the bones and artifacts in her work. This is a good way to explain why someone pursues a goal even when people start getting murdered in the story. It’s why mysteries have a detective or nosy reporter. The hero needs motivation to risk life and limb.

Callie also wants to know who sold her and if they did the same to other families. Each confrontation with parents, is written to show the pain of fractured relationships. Roberts shows both families and their struggle with trying to redefine family.

In addition Roberts adds other relationship problems. Callie fell in love and married Jake Graystone, who is also working on the dig. When she thought he cheated on her, she divorced him. They fight constantly, but Jake is determined to win her back by offering friendship. Roberts is an expert at slowly taking the relationship from heated first encounter and showing both sides as they begin to reconcile.

Roberts also adds a new relationship between Doug and Callie’s lawyer, Lana. The reader watches as Doug, who was damaged by Callie’s kidnapping, grows out of his painful past and reconciles with his now divorced parents and new love.

Roberts builds dangerous tension by killing the developer, blowing up a trailer, burning down Lana’s law office, killing a digger, and nearly poisoning Callie to up the stakes as Callie and her friends/family come closer to the truth.

Some writers stop too early with a simple plot and one or two obstacles in the path of the hero reaching the goal. Roberts layers one thing on top of another but ties it all together so that nothing feels frivolous. If your stories seem too simple, this is a good example of how to add complexity.

More book reviews are at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

 

My brother Sam is dead

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier 1974 Scholastic Book Services

[image error]This is an American Revolutionary story, but it was not what I expected. It isn’t about the Patriots beating the British and creating a new democracy. This is about a family In Reddington, Connecticut. Eliphalet is a loyalist to the British crown. He and his wife, Susannah own and run a tavern. They have two sons, Sam, 15, and Tim, 11

Sam, who is a student at Yale, takes his father’s gun and joins the Continental Army under General Benedict Arnold. Sam argues with his father, who disagrees with his decision, and we see Tim struggle with who to side with.

Tim’s loyalty is tested several times. Sam’s girlfriend, Betsy, writes to him and shares the news with Tim. The Patriots interrogate Elphalet about his gun, which Sam took and cut him when they don’t believe him. When Tim and his father take cattle to market to sell, Cow-boys attack them. They take his father and Tim returns home alone. He becomes a man as he takes on more responsibilities.

The British march into town and kill some of the Patriots. Then General Arnold comes to town with Sam.

The story shows both sides of the war and shows that both were guilty of abuse and atrocities. The outcome of the story wasn’t what I expected, and I won’t reveal it.

The book is a great teaching tool about war and the cost of it to ordinary people and families. It also raises the question of whether war is the answer to political problems. I recommend this for students and adults.

For more book reviews go to authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Find Me at Willoughby Close

Find Me at Willoughby Close by Kate Hewitt 2017 Tule Publishing Group

[image error]This is a women’s literature story more than a romance and is a good example of the emotional turmoil a woman experiences as her world falls apart when she discovers her husband has lied to her.

Harriet Lang finds out her husband, Richard, has been making long phone calls in the middle of the night to his 26-year-old attractive assistant, Meghan. She is the mother of three, Mallory, 11, William, 9, and Chloe, 6. She lives in the perfect world of the upper class and her children are enrolled in all sorts of programs while she chairs several committees.

Richard tells her they are broke. He lost his job six months ago, and they are going to lose their big, beautiful home. He said he didn’t sleep with Meghan but kissed her and has been confiding in her all these months. He stays in London looking for a job while Harriet moves her family to a rental at Willoughby Close. Her landlady is elderly Lady Stokely. She sells their expensive belongings for a fraction of what they’re worth and cancels all the classes her children belong to except for one each.

Her old friends abandon her, but she begins to make new ones as does Mallory. Everyone is angry, tearful, and unsure of the future. Hewitt treats her characters realistically. Harriet helps Lady Stokely who has cancer and in doing so focuses on someone else’s problems. She recognizes that she and Richard drifted apart as they were caught up in wealth and impressing others. As she simplifies her life, she appreciates other things in life.

When Richard and Harriet meet to talk things out, he tells her all the things he didn’t like about her, and she is furious and hurt. His confiding in Meghan hurts more than the kissing, and he says he is still friends with her, unwilling to break all ties with her. Harriet files for legal separation.

When Richard takes the children to his parents for a holiday, Harriet visits her parents, who she hasn’t seen in years and realizes how badly she’s ignored them and has been ashamed because they aren’t rich but live simply. Her fathr teaches her that life changes and people can grow from the experience. She goes on a date and kisses the man, but it’s not the same as Richard.

Richard is drunk after learning she went on a date and sleeps on her couch. He realizes how Harriet feels about Meghan’s friendship and breaks it off. They spend more time together as a family. She gets several part time jobs, and he finally is offered a hedge job that pays a lot of money but has a lot of risks like the job he lost. He takes her to the mansion she always talked about in the past. She tells him she doesn’t want it. She’s changed. She wants him to teach, but he’s angry. He had to prove he was still good enough to get the job he lost but will he realize that’s not what Harriet wants anymore?

The writer resolves the story, but this is the type of problem that can have different solutions. It should reflect real life where some people reconcile, others separate amicably, and others have fractured relationships that never quite heal.

More book reviews can be found at www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts

Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts 2002 A Jove Book

[image error]Roberts wrote a trilogy about three brothers, Cameron, Ethan, and Phillip, taking in a 10 year old named Seth, who like them had been abused and needed a family. Readers wanted a story about Seth and Roberts delivers with this book that has Seth returning home, an accomplished artist, but running from a dark secret.

Back home, he reunites with his brothers, their wives, and their children in the small town on Chesapeake Bay. Roberts shows how to write a sequel and tie it to the previous story or stories in this case. Not only does she share details from the original three tales to satisfy the reader, she adds a ghost with a twist from the original books.

The villain, Gloria DeLauter, has been blackmailing Seth for years, and when she realizes his new girlfriend is rich, she sets her stakes higher. A villain that is a real threat increases the tension. Gloria is a good example of how to write someone who causes plenty of trouble for not only the hero but the heroine. Roberts also leaves the door open for her to return.

The love story between Seth and Dru is fast and furious. Seth falls for her at first sight, but doesn’t think about marriage until half way through the book. Dru had a privileged and perfect life but discovers her fiance was cheating on her. She left the spotlight of the rich and famous and found joy owning her own flower shop and little house without servants. But her bruised heart takes a long time to heal even under Seth’s skilled hands. Then Gloria makes Seth think sending Dru away with lies will keep her safe.

There were plenty of characters introduced in this story to write more books about, but none of them had the tortured past so the love interests will have to bring some serious baggage with them. The love of the Quinn family shines through this novel and makes everyone want to be a Quinn. That is Roberts’ gift. She brings her characters alive and they live in your minds and hearts long after you close the book.

For more book reviews, go to http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

 

 

Home Again, Home Again

Home Again, Home Again by Susan Rogers Cooper 1997 Avon Books

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The story begins with an average family of Willis Pugh, his wife, E.J. their son, Graham, 9, and daughters Megan and Bessie, both 6.

Willis doesn’t come home from rock climbing and E.J. begins to worry. She reacts like any normal wife, getting angry at Willis, suspecting him of an affair, and questioning her behavior. This is a series and E.J has solved murders before. Bessie’s parents were murdered and they adopted her. Her next door neighbor is a detective. She finds his car abandoned on the road heading home, and a body in the morgue turns out to be someone else. She learns Willis has visited the preacher and a counselor in the last month. Family and friends gather to search for him. She receives a phone call from him that is cut off.

Cooper switches to Willis’s point of view and we see what has happened to him. He is going through a mid-life crisis. His 40th birthday is on Saturday and he wanted to climb Enchanted Rock, which seemed to speak to him. His car breaks down on the way home, and he gets a ride with Tater. When Rogene calls him on the CB to tell Tater her husband, Calvin, is beating her, Tater turns around, taking Willis with him. Willis discovers Calvin’s body in the trailer and has to help figure out who killed him in order to escape from his captors.

Cooper provides a fast-paced story with plenty of twists and turns as the reader tries to solve the murder along with the main characters. For anyone who enjoys mysteries with a normal, middle-class detective, these books will appeal to you.

For more book reviews, go to authorfreeman.wordpress.com