Teri M. Brown's Blog, page 33

Book Review: Wild Land

Wild Land by Rebecca Hodge is a contemporary suspense that will have you gripping your seat and praying for Kat Jamison and those in her care.

Kat heads to the Blue Ridge Mountains to get away for a while. She needs to make a big decision about the return of her breast cancer. Does she continue to fight, as her daughter wants her to do, or does she allow the cancer to take her life, as she believes she wants to do.

Within moments of her arrival, her peaceful, alone time is transformed by two dogs, and two families staying nearby. Add a drought and a summer lightning storm, and Kat's survival is in question long before she intended - as is the survival of others now in her care.
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This book made me think about life, living it fully, and what I would do if faced with a battle. Definitely a great read.

Book Review: Poster Girls

​Poster Girls by Meredith Ritchie tells a delightful story about a group of "Rosie the Riveters" working in a bullet factory in Charlotte, NC during WWII. The story comes from two points of view - Maggie and Clara.

Both women are married to soldiers, have moved to Charlotte from other areas, and love books - enough to start a friendship. However, others aren't quite as keen to see this relationship, since Maggie is a white woman of privilege and Clara is a poor, black woman.

These two women are strong and fight for themselves and for one another. I enjoy how Ritchie shows how, despite her good intentions, Maggie often 'gets it wrong.' I also love how she shows that Clara, who interprets life through a lens of racism, also gets it wrong. Most importantly, I love how the two characters persevere despite it all.
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If you love a good historical fiction, especially one that makes you think about issues we face today, then, this is the book for you.

Book Review: I Meant to Tell You

I Meant to Tell You by Fran Hawthorne is a contemporary women's fiction with some forays into the history surrounding the demonstrations during the Vietnam War era. More importantly, it is about a woman named Miranda who must come to terms with her past - both the past she has tried to keep secret and the past that has been kept secret from her.

Hawthorne made me think about what I would do to keep my mistakes hidden from others or what others might do if they found out about my skeletons. She also made me consider how I would handle learning about someone else's secrets - especially if those secrets were meaningful to me.
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Can love survive the past? And when is it okay to tell a few white lies to gloss over the details of the past? I Meant To Tell You may just have the answers.

Book Review: Death's Pale Flag

'sd;s​Death's Pale Flag by Gary Simonds is a psychological thriller that had me from page one. The main character, Ryan, is a brain surgeon, so some of the medical stuff really hit home with me as my husband and I navigate his brain cancer diagnosis. However, I found what he does as a trauma neurosurgeon amazing. And because Simonds is a neurosurgeon, it is very accurate!

But the story isn't about a run-of-the-mill neurosurgeon and his patients. Instead, it is about Ryan, a highly educated man who begins to see ghosts - some from long ago and some far more recent. Why are they contacting him? What will his coworkers and family think? Are they real or is he cracking up?
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I loved this story and was sad to see it end. Simonds did a magnificent job with character development. Definitely a must-read, even if psychological thriller is not usually on your TBR!

Book Review: Time to Write

Time to Write by Emily Winslow is an awesome author craft book written by someone who is an author and professor teaching writing. Over the years, Winslow taught many different classes and finally decided to put them all together into a book.

What I loved about this craft book is that it is less about what you must do and more about things you should keep in mind when writing. She doesn't say "Write your book this way," but instead suggests you think about things like the difference between plot and structure, consider what tense you are using and why, and figure out how to find your writing tribe. What's more, this book is perfect for beginners or for authors who've written several books already. Regardless of where you are, you'll get something from her lessons.

For me, the best lesson was on daydreaming. I've always hated to admit that I don't write every day. I feel so undisciplined. However, Winslow suggests that daydreaming is part of the writing process as you imagine characters, scenes, plot ideas, twists, and more. With this in mind, I do write every day - just not necessarily words on the page!
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This is a must-read for anyone who writes or is considering it!

Book Review: The Word Dancer

The Word Dancer by Stephanie Edwards is a story about Maribelle, a teacher from Nashville who decides to use her sign language skills in an extremely rural area of Appalachia. I connected with Stephanie because my third novel is also set in Appalachia, and despite the nearly 80 year difference in setting, little had changed when it came to accepting help from strangers.
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Edwards did a great job incorporating sign language and characters with hearing impairment, as well as helping us see the prejudices against those who communicate differently than the average population. Without a doubt, I was routing for Maribelle to get through to the parents of these children - as well as to others in the community.
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Then, just to make things a bit more interesting, she gave us a love interest - or two, a granny woman, and an overbearing mother. What more could you ask for in a story?

Book Review: The Bravest Soldiers

​The Bravest Soldiers by Elaine Schroller was an amazing historical fiction with a dash of romance. It is set in WWII in Australia and has been winning awards - as it should!

For those who know Schroller's work, we meet Sophie in book one of The Immense Sky Saga. She was a nurse in WWI in France but when the war ended, she emigrated to Australia with her new husband, adopted son, and step-son. The Bravest Soldiers is what happens to Sophie as a mom during WWII.

Sophie is one of those "do it all" ladies who sees a need and fills it. But what happens when the needs are those you cannot fill and the fear of loss is almost too immense? Schroller helps us see that bravery doesn't just happen on the front line of a war. In fact, the bravest soldiers are often the women who are left behind to keep things running despite the stress and worry.
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This is a must-read, and I can't wait to get my hands on Book #1 - Dare Not to Tell - as well as the next novel in this series!

Book Review: Chasing My Twenties

Chasing My Twenties is a debut novel written by Author Amanda Berube. I've had the opportunity to meet with Amanda, and I love her devotion to writing and her drive!

Chasing My Twenties is definitely a 4 Chili Pepper book - lots of sex, language, and pot. Because these make me uncomfortable, I wanted others to know about these elements before choosing to read.

Despite my discomfort, Amanda did a great job with character development. Lucy has a checkered past and gets a chance in her early twenties to move to a new place and begin a new life. She uses what she's learned along the way to become the person she's always wanted to be. And she shows this to us in a series of journal entries!
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Berube, like Lucy, writes in journals daily and has been a writer since she was old enough to tell a story. I've heard her next installment has some interesting and unexpected twists. If you enjoy a good story with a lot of heat, then this just might be for you.

Book Review: Out of the Darkness

​It is interesting that I read Out of the Darkness by Rich LaMonica shortly after finishing Damn the Valley and on Veteran's Day. This novel follows a fictional soldier, Bull, who is fighting in Afghanistan. We meet each of his team members and several enablers (those who help the team) along the way and discover who they were before they joined the military, what happened during this tour, and the consequences when the tour was over.
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Although this is a fictional story, LaMonica uses these characters to help others understand the realities of war - and what soldiers face even when the bullets stop flying. My big takeaway is that our soldiers need and deserve better mental health services, and we, as a people, need to do everything in our power to support them, both while they are fighting and when they return home.

Book Review: Damn the Valley

Damn the Valley by William Yeske was a tough read because it detailed the tour of 2 Fury into Afghanistan. Half of the team was wounded or killed. Those who survived now live with the consequences of what they did and saw while protecting our country.

Yeske was one of the members of the team and, though not an author, believed that the story, one the media barely mentioned, needed to be told. Why? So others would know of the sacrifices made and that these sacrifices would not be in vain.
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I learned a lot about the military and the war in Afghanistan. If you are looking for clarity about what it was like for soldiers, then this is a must-read.