Sarah Scheele's Blog, page 34

REVIEW: A PROMISE TO LOVE BY SERENA B. MILLER

While I'm a little choosy about western romances these days, due to a colossal overuse and resulting quality depletion of the genre, this one was okay. Ingrid was an appealing heroine--brave and hardworking, especially when battling her hostile in-laws for possession of her step-child. Crossed with Ingrid's struggles in her new marriage were excerpts from the diary of her husband's late wife, a selfish and rather spoiled young woman. Ingrid's husband, Josh, much prefers the appearance and manners of his former wife, but married Ingrid hastily so he could gain control of his children away from their trouble-making grandparents.

The romance was pretty much nonexistent. Josh was always very rude and demeaning to her because he did not think she was pretty. I don't read books for romance, though it's a great element, so much as for characters and scene, so I was able to tolerate this because of the interesting cast of women in the story. True romance readers should be warned that this aspect might fall short. Most women would be unlikely to develop wifely affection for a man they married out of pity for his children and who constantly referred to them as a "cow" and "raw-boned." However, the heroine was a good and deserving person and the setting was pleasant. An okay read.

INSIDE THE STORY

I've spent the last 3 weeks caught up in a massive moving/spring cleaning project, all under the blistering summer heat of this great state I call home. While it's been invigorating and very satisfying (participating in a garage sale for the first time) I am a little behind in my reviews. So instead this week I'll talk about something I mentioned months back at a fun writer's meeting . . . the stories you like are about you.

Pure and simple, you like a story if you are in it somewhere. Through liking the story you tell others about yourself--and through the story the author can communicate to you how you are seen by others. Stories help us communicate who we are. Flatly, bottom line, if you're not in a story, you will find it boring. Just boring. You can't even remember it. Other stronger emotions--including hate, anger, or embarrassment--only happen if the story showed a part of you.

Stories can show your dreams and fantasies--what you wish was real. Your nightmares--what you fear. Your petty spite, envy, or unfairness towards others--you know it's a little monstrous and selfish, but it's jolly good fun to indulge it in a book. Your ideals--the characters you admire and wish you looked like or the lands you wish you could live in, the relationships you'd like to have with others, uncluttered and romantic. They can show you as the hero, the villain, a comic side character. You may admire and identify with the heroine, but all the time, honestly, you're really pretending. You're her antagonist in the story. You may be very angry at the way the story shows you--but fascinated. The story has a hold on you. Because it's about you.

Case in point--as I sorted ancient VHS tapes belonging to my grandfather and random other people who once put tapes in his home--some of them completely unwatched for decades, still in shrink-wrap--I stumbled on a tape of McLintock, starring John Wayne. And I realized "I am not in that." Because I find it so absolutely boring I forgot it ever existed until I fell out of the closet onto my face.other people seem to love McLintock. It seems to be a kind of classic.

BECAUSE THEY ARE IN IT. I don't know who they are, but they're in it.

What works do you most deeply find interesting? You return to them over and over and over. Somewhere, somehow, whether as a dream or as a reality--you're in them.

COVER REVEAL AND PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT: BELLEVERE HOUSE

The summer heat has been intense in Texas over the last few weeks. And the activity over Bellevere House has been heating up as well. Bellevere House is part of the Vintage Jane Austen series, a set of retellings set in 1930s America. VJA was the brainchild of a group of writers with nothing in common except a strong attraction to one of Jane Austen's books. Mine was Mansfield Park. And today we're announcing the project in full! (Continue reading, images below.)

Publication of the titles is planned for early next year. You can hear from my fellow authors Kelsey Bryant "Suit and Suitability," Rebekah Jones "Partiality and Presumption," Sarah Holman ""Emmaline," and Emily Ann Benedict "Perception." Be sure to check out their participation in the project, and find them on Twitter and FB. Scroll down the bottom to see their lovely covers.

Here's my cover and blurb



 Faye Powell has been playing a part for more than ten years. Living with her wealthy aunt's family in a historic Victorian mansion might sound like a dream come true for a poor country girl--but Bellevere House is filled with secrets. Faye works as an unpaid servant, an eyewitness to the extravagant frivolities of her cousins. Their swanky new friends, the Carters, ooze a European sensibility and wear complete lack of morals on their shoulders like a badge.

Spoiled young people get way out of hand when there's no one to deny them their romantic fantasies. But with WWII on the horizon and surprises around every corner, fantasy is at odds with gritty reality. And it soon turns out Faye, far from being the one who can't win, is the only one who can play the game.

Bellevere House is virtually complete and was, hands-down, the most fun thing to write I've ever done. Seriously. I've never had as much fun as with these spoiled rich hooligans and their romantic fantasies. Who knew? But I can't wait until publication for you to share the fun. In October I will offer a sneak peek of several chapters exclusively to newsletter subscribers!

REVIEW: MRS. COVINGTON'S SUNDAY SCHOOL DROPOUTS BY CONNIE MILLER PEASE

Mrs. Covington's Sunday School Dropouts was an interesting read about an older woman who tries to get back in touch with her many former Sunday School students. She and her glamorous cousin Andi visit many people in their Midwest town. The realistic setting was photographic and the book retained interest without resorting to any gimmicks or inappropriate content. There were a wide variety of characters, and incidents and surprises from Cathy's life blended with the younger people she visited to create a good impression of a small town.

I had a major gripe with this book, though--practically every character aside from Cathy and Andi was shown negatively. Every former student was stupid, in jail, immoral, rude and irreligious, or hostile. Even those who were more successful or seemed to have nice jobs were viewed with dislike. This gave the impression that Cathy's view of the students was not accurate--that she was a cranky old woman who just didn't like them--which detracted hugely from the book's inspirational message of reaching out to ex-church-goers. Getting back in touch with students was good idea for a book, but in the end I wasn't convinced about some of the situations.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

REVIEW: THE COLONEL'S LADY BY LAURA FRANTZ

Laura Frantz crafts a heartwarming story of forgiveness and romance set on the American frontier. In 1779, Roxanna Rowan runs away from her broken prospects at home to seek a new life with her father at a military fort. When she finds her father dead, circumstances force her to remain with Colonel McLinn. Romance soon blossoms between this spunky lady and the handsome officer, but is hindered by misunderstandings and war. Secrets loom around every corner--and McLinn is hiding something from her.

This book was great overall--everything Christian female readers expect in a historical, CBA read. I did get frustrated later on when the question of Abby's parentage was raised. It came late in the book and served mostly as an excuse for Roxanna to insult Colonel McLinn! But CBA readers will be enchanted by the passionate romance and thrilling adventure. A colorful supporting cast fill out the corners on an entertaining historical adventure. If there's a tiny secret place inside you--or even a big, acknowledged place--that loves Pirates of the Caribbean, this might be for you.

COVER REVEAL: ENNARA AND THE FALLEN DRUID BY ANGELA MYRON

Today I am THRILLED to announce a cover reveal for Angela Myron's middle grade fantasy book, Ennara and the Fallen Druid. If you've been intrigued by books by Orphan's Song or revel in the imaginative world-building of Patrick Carman, you'll love Angela's work. Not to speak of classics like Lloyd Alexander and up-and-coming titles like The Isle of the Lost (on which the new Disney movie Descendants is based.)

Some interesting facts about this book: It won a silver medal at the 2013 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards for best pre-teen ebook.
It was recently named a "favorite maical read" by Nickelodeon's Every Witch Way show on Wattpad.
Book two in the series, Ennara and the Book of Shadows is out, and has 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads. Book three, Ennara and the Silver Throne, is expected (hopefully) late spring 2016.I'm about a third of the way  through this book, and honestly I haven't been this interested in a fantasy book in a long time. Especially not an "invented kingdom with magical monsters and girls with long tousled hair" kind of fantasy book.  But Angela's book is different. It's slick and fun. It's got speed and energy and she holds true to all the tropes of the genre while not getting bogged down in heavy detail and out-of-control naming. It's pretty appealing. And it's most certainly fantasy. Really good fantasy. (At least, so far.)

Curious? Interested? I hope so. Here's a lovely book trailer to whet your appetite while you wait for my review--or to make you run out and get the book for yourself, whichever you prefer.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBSxW...

And after you watch that I dare you NOT to read it!

BOOK REVIEW: THE BLACK AND WHITE BALL BY OWEN ROBERTS

The Black and White Ball is a captivating animal fable for beginning readers. Owen Roberts has a splendid gift for likable anthropomorphic bird characters who echo the real personalities children see in the world around them. The Black and White Ball’s laid-back, simple style educates young readers in the bad consequences of greed and envy while keeping things light. In an imagined ancient time when currently drab birds have garish rainbow feathers, the arrogant Peacock resents the competition the other colored birds give him. He invites the other birds to a “ball” and once they are together uses the magic of a sinister spirit to strip them of their colors. But in the end, it is the Peacock himself who regrets this action the most.

The Peacock and the other birds in The Black and White Ball were charming and realistic. The storyline is simple, but not simplistic—the other birds, such as the self-dramatizing Willy Wagtail, rude Crow, and dishonest Currowang are not perfect. But they are willing to let other birds exist without taking away their color and the Peacock suffers for his greedy hostility and desire to have everything for himself. Owen Roberts deftly uses the symbolism of color—enhanced by beautiful illustrations from talented artist Linda Cowen--to present the importance of valuing the gifts and beauties of other people. While not hammered, the message is clear and an important one for children and parents to read and discuss together. A delightful story reminiscent of the Just So Stories and Aesop.

Reviewed by Sarah Scheele for Reader's Favorite. Reader's Favorite offers professional and editorial reviews for traditional and self-published authors.

CAROL AWARD

There are a lot of great books among the Carol Award finalists this year. The top 3 finalists in each of 11 categories are now being judged, final winners to be announced later this year. As a judge I'm reading some new books and have enjoyed peeking into some of the others earlier. Have you read any of these? Are there any you've "heard of" but never got around to--or would like to read?

BOOK REVIEW: ANOTHER VANISHING ACT: A NOVEL BY PAT RUSSO AND PETE CONNER

Another Vanishing Act is a whimsical and creative jaunt into the surprisingly exciting lives of senior citizens. Pete Conner and Pat Russo write with mellowness and heart, but add enough laughs to keep the story cheery and brisk. Protagonist Dan, very human and relatable if not exactly a role-model, arrives at the Excelsior apartment complex for the elderly, on the run from creditors. He rapidly becomes the bumbling and overwhelmed manager of this unofficial nursing home, harassed from dawn to midnight by grumpy residents in all states of dementia, eccentricity, and romance. But when Dan falls in with a get-rich scheme of not reporting the deaths of residents so he can collect their pensions, he soon heads on a fast-track towards mayhem, headaches, bizarre incidents, and—worst of all—betrayal of the neighbors he’s come to love.

Pete Conner and Pat Russo have scored a winner in this gentle-yet-quirky read, filled with chuckles and tension at all the right moments. Another Vanishing Act brings a mildly satirical but always kindly view of the elderly, too often overlooked in our fiction and in our daily lives. From paranoid Mrs. Zimmer and her bug phobias, to romantic, genial Mr. Carson, and evil Maggie, every character punctuates Dan’s hectic life with personality and life lessons. Beneath the zany moments and lightly macabre humor, pathos is woven deftly into the story as Dan reflects on the lonely lives of these people who’ve been abandoned by their relatives. The triumph of the Excelsior residents over their consignment to the grave—quite literally, in several cases—gives a warm and uplifting conclusion to this satisfying tale of a washed-up gambler who finds, to his surprise, he’s not such a bad guy after all.

Reviewed by Sarah Scheele for Reader's Favorite. Reader's Favorite offers professional reviews for traditional and independent authors.

TEN SECONDS OF HEART

Don't you sometimes feel like a stupid little kid, crawling around in the shadow of the giant masters? I do whenever I read the classics. They are--sometimes literally and always emotionally--huge books. The heart and memories of mankind are inside their pages, their tales of tragedy, hilarity, romance, loss, and hope. They make the bestselling and most awarded books of the last few years look like trashy rags.

But the books we have kept from our English-speaking heritage are a mixed bag. Some of Shakespeare's plays are forgotten for a reason. Scott wrote loads of tepid novels besides the three or four that made him famous. Even Jane Austen, that catty little perfectionist, had amazing flaws now and then, and as for Dickens--well, as Oscar Wilde once said so well, "that man must have a heart of stone if he can read the death of Little Nell and not laugh." Hugo, Dumas, and  Cervantes have whole books remembered only for one or two striking scenes, lost in a sea of verbiage that keeps no hold on the mind. And the oldest and deadest of them all, Homer himself, is certainly not still kept for the exhaustive and boring catalog of the ships. :P

So how do you know what to leave and what to save? What to keep and what to discard? You know those ten books you keep being asked to take a theoretical desert island? Those books are the treasure box of the classics. And everyone knows people shipwrecked on islands always seem to get tangled up with buried treasure.

It's simple actually. And very fun and easy to do. Make a list of classic books and movies based on them you haven't read or seen recently, but that you do remember. What scenes immediately jump into your mind? What characters and what did they do? What sets jump into your mind? All the other stuff, the subplots, the dialogue, it's vague now. But that moment or that person is still crystal clear.

And THAT moment or person, right there, is what the story was always really about.

That's why it holds on your mind with such clarity. That's why your brain retains it when it's letting the rest of the book/movie be replaced by new ideas. Everything else is already leaving. People often clothe their stories in extra words and plots, as they conceal their bodies with plant fibers and animal skins. But the part of the body that shows--the face, the hair, the hands--now that's real person, not clothes. And if you have any sense at all, that's what you remember. The same with the classics.

Try it! It's really fun. And you might be surprised what jumps into your mind first.