Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 49

Christina Courtenay Talks About Her "Mixed-Up" Heroine #Giveaway

My favorite author has a new book out!!!! I'm very excited about it and cannot wait to read my copy, but some other books are a wee late for their reviews...so while I postpone it just a week or two--something to look forward to, eh?--she's agreed to guest on Book Babe today.

As always, please extend a very warm welcome to Christina Courtenay. She's also giving away a signed paperback copy. Giveaway is open worldwide. Merely leave your email address in a comment and even better, take a moment to share with us, what's your "mix"?

Being a child of mixed parentage isn’t usually a problem these days. The world is becoming a melting pot and in all enlightened countries our race shouldn’t matter. I’m a ‘mixed up kid’ myself, being half Swedish and half English, and although it’s often made me wonder where I actually belong, it’s never bothered me much or made any difference to my life.

Zarmina Miller, the heroine of my new novel Monsoon Mists is of mixed race too – she’s ‘Eurasian’ as they called it in the 18th century, half English and half Indian. Her father actually married her mother (lots of foreigners just took Indian women as mistresses without bothering to make the unions legal), but she’s still regarded as a half-caste by the Indians. And although at that time foreigners in India weren’t too bothered about this, she still feels she doesn’t quite belong.

More than half the children baptised in Calcutta, for example, in the late 18th century were Eurasian and illegitimate, but most of them were cherished nonetheless. Foreigners who came to India weren’t heartless brutes (well, not most of them anyway!) and at least a third of wills found from that time have bequests to Indian mistresses and their children, showing how much the men cared even if they weren’t married. Racial intolerance was something that came later, during the Victorian era, and many men were proud of their offspring, helping their sons to have careers.
The fate of girls was slightly more difficult though. They could be sent to England to go to school, but usually always returned to India afterwards. As my heroine discovers, she doesn’t fit into English society and although she is beautiful, her beauty is ‘exotic’ and stands out among the pale English girls.

Having been ‘sold’ into marriage – her take on it, her father saw it as a good match – by her father to a much older man when she was only seventeen, Zar has had to become tough to survive. Is it any wonder she’s happy to be a rich widow, able to decide her own destiny? She’s determined never to marry again and be anyone’s property, and she wants control over her life and the business she helps run. So the last thing she needs is to meet a man she can’t resist ... Jamie Kinross.

Can she trust him? And would he ever marry someone like her? That’s what she has to find out ...

***
Sometimes the most precious things cannot be bought …

It’s 1759 and Jamie Kinross has travelled far to escape his troubled existence – from the pine forests of Sweden to the bustling streets of India.

Jamie starts a new life as a gem trader, but when his mentor’s family are kidnapped as part of a criminal plot, he vows to save them and embarks on a dangerous mission to the city of Surat, carrying the stolen talisman of an Indian Rajah.

There he encounters Zarmina Miller. She is rich and beautiful, but her infamous haughtiness has earned her a nickname: “The Ice Widow”. Jamie is instantly tempted by the challenge she presents.

When it becomes clear that Zarmina’s step-son is involved in the plot Jamie begins to see another side to her – a dark past to rival his own and a heart just waiting to be thawed. But is it too late?
***
http://christinacourtenay.com/ https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts https://twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay Buy links:-Paperback – http://www.amazon.com/Monsoon-Mists-Christina-Courtenay/dp/1781891672/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407063075&sr=8-1&keywords=monsoon+mistsKindle - http://www.amazon.com/Monsoon-Mists-Choc-Kinross-Book-ebook/dp/B00LI7J1C2/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1407063075&sr=8-1&keywords=monsoon+mists

Soaring Home Isn't Just a Book, But a Tribute to Early Aviation

"I'm not meant to be here, in this small town. I want to do something, set a record, go places no woman has ever gone."

If you were to look at the aviation industry as if it were a human being, growing and aging like one, then Soaring Home takes us back to when aviation was just learning to toddle on its chubby little legs. WWI has just ended. Planes are up there, but they're solely for military use or very short flights--barn storming. Long distance hasn't been done yet, but the Wright brothers have done their thing and Glenn Curtiss is struggling to create what will be the aviation industry.

While we follow this spunky heroine, Darcy, as she learns to fly and dreams of making the transatlantic flight (as does the hero), the book name drops some of the most fascinating names in aviation history.
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Curtiss has moved on from bicycle and motorcycle racing and is now manufacturing airplanes. One failed factory doesn't stop him. He opens another. This fascinating and amazing man is mentioned in the book because the hero, Jack, works for him, flies his planes--in the beginning. GC not only helped birth the aviation industry as we know it, but made the first long-distance flight in the States and created the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company, commonly known now as Curtiss Wright. He's also famous for having created the Jenny, a common airplane flown by the Army during WWI. To list this man's accomplishments would take all day and not leave much space for the review of this book itself!

              Lena Pearl Neff CurtissSomething that stood out as interesting to me was that he taught women to fly, and this was when even the hero of the book balks at such a thing. Perhaps he even taught his own wife, as this photo from Wiki Commons rather attests to.

MarjorieAnd brought to my attention for the first time ever, Marjorie Stinson is mentioned. After getting a license in the Wright school, she opened her own school in San Antonio, TX. (She was also the only women to be accepted into the U.S. Army Reserve Corps in 1915. She trained men for WWI and garnered the nickname 'The Flying Schoolmarm'.)

KatherineShe recruited her sister Katherine as an instructor also. Katherine was only the fourth woman in America to receive a pilot's license. Her love of aviation was inspired by her ascent in a hot-air balloon. She not only was the first woman to perform in Japan and China, but also the first to fly for the U.S. Post Office.

Again, I could go on and on about these ladies, but I digress...I should also add that these people were merely mentioned, did not actually have roles in the story itself. The story itself is about Darcy and Jack--both fictional. Darcy wants to fly and Jack can teach her, but Darcy is constantly waylaid by her demanding family. (I really don't see why she should care for her sister's kids when it's her sister who keeps getting knocked up, but things were different back then.) Even Jack doesn't like the idea of women flying.

While I liked how persistent Darcy is, at the same time she also began to come across as nagging. Three-fourths into the story she began getting on my nerves. I felt like she was pushing Jack into the transatlantic flight, that it was all about her, not him achieving his dream, 'cause he didn't seem to want it as much as her. Do I understand it, her desire to make history? Yes, I do, very much, but at the same time it's obvious she's totally not prepared and has no patience. I can't get into too much detail about this without spoilers.

The book is filled with aviation stuff, from rudders to over-oiled engines, to the importance of NOT grabbing your yoke for balance, just all kinds of things as these two prepare for this transatlantic flight that may never happen...and at the same time they both resist their love for each other. Her because she knows he won't let his wife fly and she doesn't want to be under a man's thumb and he because he's just not the marrying type...

Though a Christian fiction, the book doesn't tend to be really religious. There's merely some spots here and there in which the heroine is upset that the hero doesn't go to church and in which it's thought that "God wants me to do this; God wants me to do that". Though only mentioned about three or four times, I didn't care for the anti-drinking message. For the millionth time, what is the deal with alcohol? Plenty of darned good people (who may even go to church!) enjoy a drink after a hard day's work...and they deserve it!

Wasn't too keen on the ending much at all.

I received this via Paperback Swap.

Ella Clah: The TV Pilot That Should Have Made It

Normally, an unproduced TV pilot script wouldn't be available for review.  I purchased this one on Amazon.  It's based on a series of mystery novels by Aimee and David Thurlo.  I found out that the pilot is available as a book when I recently checked The Aimee and David Thurlo Website in order to cite a title correctly in my review of Manroot on this blog.

I also received some sad news from the Thurlo website. Aimee Thurlo died this past February.   I first saw the name Aimee Thurlo when I picked up her Harlequin Intrigue Spirit Warrior back in the 1990's and was amazed to see aspects of Navajo culture in a romance.   After that, I read every single one of her Intrigues and never condemned the entire romance genre out of hand again. Since I am a mystery reader, I later followed the Ella Clah series whose covers finally revealed that Aimee Thurlo's husband David had been her co-writer.  The Ella Clah books center on a Navajo FBI agent who returned to the reservation and joined the Navajo Tribal Police.  I also read the cozier Sister Agatha series about a New Mexico nun who rides a Harley. 

I decided to read and review the Ella Clah pilot script in memory of Aimee Thurlo though it was actually authored by well-known TV writer and producer Lee Goldberg in collaboration with William Rabkin. 

                                                      


When I was active in the fandom for the Highlander TV series, I learned from staff writers Gillian Horvath (who blogs at Athena TV) and 
Because there are more limitations in writing for television than there are in writing novels, the Ella Clah in the script could not be exactly the same as the one that the Thurlos created. For budget reasons Goldberg and Rabkin created an alternate lifepath for Ella Clah.  She remained an FBI agent based in Albuquerque.  Yet the pilot script does involve a case that required a visit to the Navajo Reservation.  Her parents and brother are part of the plot. It becomes clear in the course of the narrative that the conflicts within her family had motivated her to make a life for herself elsewhere. Yet I found the final scene between Ella and her mother rather touching.  I also liked the relationship that Ella developed with her Latino FBI partner and the background that was developed for him.

There are story lines included for episodes of the proposed series.  The story line I liked most was the one dealing with a Navajo woman activist whose organization's offices were burned.

I was excited that Goldberg and Rabkin had approached the Native American actress Irene Bedard about playing the role of Ella Clah.  She agreed in principle to play the role at the time, but that was more than a dozen years ago.  If an Ella Clah series went into production now, I'd imagine that it would appear on a cable channel.   As Aimee and David Thurlo pointed out in the foreward that they wrote for this book edition of the pilot script, "If Longmire can make it, can Ella really be far behind?" They were referring to an A&E series based on mystery novels by Craig Johnson whose protagonist has a Native American sidekick played by Lou Diamond Phillips.  I would like to think that Ella Clah could have a successful run on TNT, Lifetime or Hallmark. 

                                           



                                                                                                   

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview With Debbi Mack

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote RIPTIDE, a Sam McRae mystery. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this series? How did it come to you?
Readers, here's the 411 on Riptide.
Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae’s stay in Ocean City for the annual Maryland bar association convention turns into a busman's holiday when her best friend Jamila is arrested for a murder she didn’t commit. All signs point to a frame, but Jamila’s local counsel must plea bargain, placing a permanent stain on the ambitious attorney’s spotless record, unless Sam and the private investigator on the case find evidence to clear her. Sam has her work cut out for her, given that the victim is the stepson of a local wealthy entrepreneur and poultry producer and no one will talk to her, including the investigator hired on the case. Even Jamila appears to be withholding information. Meanwhile, Sam's running from mysterious pursuers and comes under police scrutiny when another murder takes place.

With the clock ticking down to the convention and preliminary hearing, Sam must uncover secrets, lies, and fraud to find the real killer. At what cost will that knowledge come for Sam?

Debbi: The Sam McRae mystery series was inspired to a great extent by my experiences as a practicing attorney. I’d always wanted to write a private eye novel. However, by the time I started my first novel, I wanted to find a way to distinguish my protagonist from other hard-boiled female detectives. It seemed logical to use what I knew, so I chose to write about a female lawyer/sleuth, who solves mysteries related to her cases.
Tara: I love that you were a lawyer. We need more women in law. I'd love for you to share some stories about that one of these days.

We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine(s) strong.
Debbi: Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae is staunch defender of the underdog. Initially, she lived in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, a ghetto at the time. She was orphaned at the age of nine and moved in with her cousin in Maryland afterward. So Sam is no stranger to the system or life’s misfortunes. She can be a bit sarcastic, but she’s basically a softie for people in need.

Tara: Do you see any of yourself in her?

Debbi: Only to a certain extent. I think writers put a little of themselves in all the characters they create. Sam is like me in questioning authority. However, unlike me, Sam puts up with a lot of really horrible stuff and keeps going, anyway.Tara: What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search?

Debbi: The research I did for RIPTIDE confirmed much of what I suspected about the poultry industry on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. I also researched the history of race relations there, and was surprised at how segregated that area of Maryland was, as recently as the late 1960s.

Tara: Poultry? That's a surprising answer. And I have to agree with you. It's surprising how long segregation went on.

What would you like readers to gain from reading your book? Is there a strong moral? Do you hope they will laugh, learn something, ponder a point?

Debbi: One of the themes running through the book is the importance of friendship. Sam has to figure out a way to exonerate her best friend, Jamila, of a murder she didn’t commit. The fact that Jamila is black and both of them are from out-of-town makes her job difficult. Jamila is also holding back information that could complicate the case. Eventually, Sam almost has to wring the truth from her friend.

The other themes include race relations on the Eastern Shore, small-town corruption, and the poultry industry’s practices vis-a-vis hiring illegal aliens, animal abuse, ecologically unsound farming practices, and related issues. Tara: Now let’s talk about your hero. What draws the heroine to him? Is he based on a real man in your life by any chance?

Debbi: There isn’t a prominent hero in this book. However, Sam does end up relying upon a male private eye, who lends her aid in finding information. He’s a continuing character in the series, who seems to want to be more than friends with Sam. However, because Sam is wary of mixing business and pleasure, she has resisted the temptation to get deeply involved with him over the course of four novels.
Nonetheless, she is drawn to him, because he’s been a good friend, is smart and capable, and treats her with respect. This has created more sexual tension between them as the series has progressed.The private eye isn’t based upon anyone I know. He’s an amalgam of what I see as ideal traits in a man for someone like Sam.
Tara: I really like that answer. It's always refreshing to discover a book in which the heroine doesn't really need a man or isn't hanging all over or pinin for one. LOL

Your book takes place in Ocean City, MD. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town/country? 
Debbi: If you go to Ocean City, be sure to hit the boardwalk and stop by Thrasher’s for French fries. If you’re into ice cream, Dumser’s Dairy has the best ice cream and sundaes in that area.
From Ocean City, it’s a quick drive to Assateague Island, where you can see the wild ponies, take nature walks or camp on the beach.
Also, if you’re into shopping, there are outlet malls up the Coastal Highway in Delaware. There is no sales tax in Delaware, which makes the outlets a popular destination.
 Tara: Oh, I'm very into shopping!! LOL Thanks for the tip.

A more personal question. What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?

To travel to as many places as I can. Especially outside the U.S. My dream would be to travel around the world and write about it. However, seeing all 50 states would be pretty awesome.

Tara: That really sounds like a good plan.

I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.

Debbi: We have three cats at this point. I love cats. Two of them, Marnie and Tweek, are brother and sister. Marnie looks a bit like a tortie crossed with a Siamese. Tweek is all black. The third is named Moze, and he’s a black-and-white domestic cat.

I’ve made a video called “Meet Our Cats”






Debbi, thanks so much for sharing that with us. I wish you the best of luck with your series. Do keep us posted.
Readers, you can nab her book for yourselves...

Can Love Really Take Flight in this Classic Aviation Movie from 1937?

I came across this old movie whilst browsing Amazon Prime movie selections. When I saw the words "champion aviatrix" and "flight records", I had to immediately watch it. This combines my love of aviation, women pilots, and classic black-and-white movies. It stars Bruce Cabot and Beatrice Roberts.

The plot:
She's a flight attendant who flies on the side. He's a hotshot airline pilot (American Airlines!) who keeps nattering about a flight from LA to Manila (quite a feat back then). She loves him. He doesn't realize she's alive. When she passes up an incredible opportunity to stay near him, her heart is broken when HE abandons her and their potential flight to pursue a career in Hollywood, with the latest starlet danging off his arm.

She then goes on to become the champion aviatrix mentioned above.

I liked this. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but I was entertained and I enjoyed seeing the old airplanes even though the picture is really quite awful at times--fuzzy and dark.

The heroine had some great retorts and holds her own most of the time, but in the end I was disappointed with her. She very quickly goes from champion aviatrix to relinquishing all control and becoming a mere flight attendant again. All the hero has to do is say, "Fetch me some coffee." I was VERY disappointed in this.

But let's keep in mind, this was 1937...and while I would have liked to have seen her have more backbone than that and accomplish the feat in question on HER own, without letting him take the reins...well, whatever.

I also wish they'd make the hero more likable, though he does something in the end that redeemed him in my eyes.

If you're like me and you can't resist a woman pilot movie, no matter just how much flying she does, this is a nice way to while away 70 minutes.

Shocking Secrets and Surprise Bursts of Humor Save the Ship of Brides from Sinking

I'm a huge fan of Jojo Moyes and until now have never been on the fence with what to rate her work. This one is a tough one though. I liked half; I disliked half. I found myself impatient to know what happened in the end, to each and every one of the girls, yet at the same time, I found myself skimming the "man" parts--the captain's tale, Nicol's story, this guy and that guy. They bored me, and I didn't care about their lives.

This story doesn't really let the reader get to know the heroines, and there are four, at least not until the very end. It felt almost like each of the heroines was being held back from us, preventing the reader from being in anyone's head, heart, or experiencing their full range of emotions, and I prefer to be completely one with the character, so this method of not letting us know who these women really are until the last 15% doesn't work well for me.

And why, oh why, did there even have to be a dog if it's going to end like that??????

But I was fascinated by the story itself, by the fact all these brides are shoved together on an aircraft carrier for six weeks, by the fact that the captain pushed aircraft overboard, appalled by the behavior of some drunken seamen, even more shocked at the unfortunate "Not Wanted Don't Comes". Can't imagine how embarrassing that is...

Even more mind boggling was the fact that many of these women on the ship were leaving everything (Australia) and everyone they'd ever known to go to a country (England) they'd never been before to be with men they'd married yet barely knew, and some of them are eight months pregnant and their husbands are about to lay eyes on women whom were young, thin beauties last they saw them..for their few days or weeks of marriage. It's crazy how rashly people acted during the war. And we see with some of these women that rashness comes back to bite them.

There was a lot of sadness in this story, as well as a lot of women overcoming all kinds of problems. My favorite character had to be Frances. She intrigued me the most though the book took too long to really let me "in there". In her story, we see how very quick people are to judge based on so little data and how important it is to know the full story.

And amid all the sadness, secrets, harassment, betrayals, and worrying who'll get the next "Not Wanted Don't Come", there are surprise bursts of humor, which in my opinion, kept this book afloat.

"Call that a storm? That was a piss and a fart in a teacup."

"Yes, sir. He had hold of her round the--round the back of the bilge pump."

So I liked some, didn't like some. Not my favorite by Moyes, but I still consider her a top-notch writer.

I received this via Netgalley.

Q & A with Paula Margulies. What Makes Her Pocahontas Story Special?

Please welcome Ms. Margulies today as she answers a few questions and shares with us her novel about a fascinating historical woman...Pocahontas. Find out what makes her book different from the others.

Tara: First of all, Why did you write this book? Why Pocahontas?
Paula: I’ve always been fascinated with the story of Pocahontas, and since so much of her history has been told to us by English explorers like John Smith, I decided that retelling her story, from her perspective, might make for an interesting read.
Tara: What makes this book about Pocahontas different from the others that exist?
Paula: There are a number of differing versions of the history of that time, and much of what we know about Pocahontas comes from the writing of John Smith and the other colonists, who reported on what they found in the new land when they returned to England. Favorite Daughter, Part One is based on my research on works about her by Native Americans, many of whom tell a darker tale than the English history. Also, there aren’t many fictional works about that time from a Native American perspective, and the majority of those that do exist are written for young adults. Favorite Daughter, Part One is written for adults and focuses on Pocahontas’s coming of age into womanhood and becoming a wife and mother, in addition to her work as a representative of her tribe and, eventually, as a celebrity in England (that part of her story will be covered in Part Two).
Tara: Are you of Native American heritage?
Paula: No, both of my parents are of Italian descent. But my father, Douglas Roccaforte, loved Native American history and was a collector of American Indian artifacts, so I grew up with a deep appreciation of Native American culture and history.
Tara: What writers inspire/have influenced you?
Paula: So many authors inspire me that it’s hard to choose! I’ve always been a huge fan of the Southern gothic – William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are my all-time favorite writers. As a graduate student in English Literature, I studied Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Bellow, Doctorow, Didion, Heller, and Pynchon. Recent authors whose stories have haunted me, stunned me, or made me weep: Sherman Alexie, Ha Jin, Vikram Seth, David Mitchell, Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich, Jane Smiley, Jane Hamilton, Sena Jeter Naslund, Anna Quindlen, and Elizabeth Berg.

Tara: When you're not writing, what kinds of activities do you enjoy?
Paula: When I’m not working on my publicity business or teaching classes, I enjoy yoga, meditation, reading, and writing. In the summer, I try to go to as many local Native American pow wows as I can (there are quite a few here in the San Diego area), and I’ve been known to enjoy an Indian taco (or two) on occasion.

Tara: What are the words you live by?
Paula: Less is more (except when we’re talking about Indian tacos). ☺

Set in the time of the Jamestown settlement and the English explorer John Smith, Favorite Daughter, Part One recounts the story of Chief Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, as she prepares to take her place as one of our nation's earliest leading women. Pocahontas invites readers to experience her native world when strangers appear on the shores near her village. From forging a relationship with the charismatic Smith, to experiencing love for the first time and creating a role for herself in her father’s plans for peace, this young girl takes us on a poignant and harrowing journey through the turbulent events of her life. Eventually betrayed by all of the men she loves, Pocahontas matures into a heroine of tremendous nobility, courage, and heart.

Told in first person, in a voice brimming with compassion and wisdom, Favorite Daughter, Part One provides a compelling look at the early days of one of the most remarkable legends in American history.

Editor’s Choice Award Winner, 21st Annual San Diego State University Writers’ Conference.
***


Paula Margulies is the owner of Paula Margulies Communications, a public relations firm for authors and artists. She has received numerous awards for her essays and works of fiction, including her historical novel, Favorite Daughter, Part One, her first novel, Coyote Heart, and her short story collection, Face Value: Collected Stories. She has been awarded artist residencies at Caldera, Red Cinder Artist Colony, the Vermont Studio Center, and Centrum. Margulies resides in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit www.paulamargulies.com.

For more information on the author or Favorite Daughter, Part One, please visit www.paulamargulies.com

A Young Girl Longs to Escape Polygamy and Abuse in #Yefon: The Red Necklace #Giveaway

A powerful, emotional tale of ambition and courage by Cameroonian-born Sahndra Fon Dufe, the Common Wealth of Nations recognized author of 'Dear momma'. (2004)

Yefon: The RedNecklace (YRN) is the first book of the YEFON trilogy series. It will have you wrapped up with emotions you didn’t know you had!

Young tribal girl, Yefon Labam, knows she’s different.

During the 1950s, in her Central African village, women are uneducated and are expected to either work on a farm or be one of many wives, but Yefon dares for more—she wants to learn how to read, even if looking at a book could mean her death. Although everyone thinks she’s an abomination, including her mother and sisters, her father knows she’s destined for greater things.

When he is murdered, Yefon clings to the gift he gave her for inspiration—a red necklace. She soon comes to realize that the necklace is no ordinary ornament, but a talisman crafted by the spirits. Yefon walks a dangerous path that could lead to her freedom…or her death.

THE TRILOGY BEGINS.....

5% from the sales of EACH copy of YEFON hardcover novel is going to one of the following charities:

LOURDES COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
BUI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS ( MamaVerla Project)
WORLD LITERARY CRUSCADE
TERRERAI TRENT's TINOGONA FOUNDATION (http://www.tinogona.org/)


***************MY REVIEW************
I liked this heroine very much and also appreciated the peek into another culture and their ways. There's polygamy, child abuse (though it's acceptable in this time and place, among these people), and lots of details about the tribe's cultures, customs, mannerisms, and clothing (or lack of it.) Born in 1940, Yefon guides us through the fifties from her childhood to womanhood and the period in her life when she began wanting more from life. Not content to be a man's first, second, or third wife, nor to stay at home where she's beaten for every imagined slight, Yefon dreams of going to the city, of making something of herself. She just doesn't know what.

One of the most interesting things to me was how her Albino sister was looked upon. Other villagers even wanted to sacrifice her. I love how Yefon is quick to come to the rescue, even though her sister never helps her. It goes to show that one can be a better person, despite what they are surrounded by.
There is one major downside though, and that is the narrative. I don't mind the first-person narrative, not at all. It is completely appropriate for this story, but it's all telling/no showing and at times I found myself drifting or getting bored.




Buy the book from..... Author's Website     Amazon.co.uk     Amazon.com     Barnes and Noble    





Actress/ Writer/ Producer/ Humanitarian/ CEO
Cameroonian-born author, actress, humanitarian and business mogul Sahndra Fon Dufe is the young CEO of African Pictures International, and the co-founder of Gifted Minds Africa Foundation.

She works at exposing the history, culture, and truth about Africa, women and the spirit within. The remarkable actress has been featured in numerous feature films, and commercials, and presently lives in Los Angeles with her hunk of a man, a closet full of shoes and too many vintage clothes.

Sahndra spends her spare time perfecting her craft and soul-searching, on a journey to regain wholeness and cure the spirit. She also hunts for Egyptian artifacts, pieces which have captivated her imagination since childhood.
Author's Website/ Book Website/ Facebook/ Twitter/ Goodreads/



The children's book is coming soon!









I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.

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Manroot: A Novel of Rights and Wrongs

Manroot by Anne Steinberg is not a new work.  According to the About The Author notes, it was Steinberg's debut novel originally published with acclaim in the UK in 1994.  I am reviewing a 2014 edition of this novel.  I received it as a gift from the author in return for an honest review.

                                                         


The cover has been praised as being atmospheric.  It is indeed, but if this cover had been the only thing I knew about Manroot before I read it , I would have assumed that the book took place in the vicinity of some haunted Louisiana bayou. I would have been wrong.  The events of Manroot take place in the Ozarks over the course of a thirty year period beginning in 1939.  Steinberg fast forwards from the 1940's to the 1960's which allows her to display social change and radical differences in values.  That's why I shelved it on Goodreads as historical fiction.  It isn't historical in the sense of dealing directly with major historical events, but it does describe the way people lived and thought in two distinct eras.

Others have shelved and reviewed this book as a romance.  When I look at the predominant content of Manroot, I don't have that impression.  There was a brief romantic interlude which reminded me very much of the similar interlude that took place between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but the consequences were much worse for Manroot's protagonist Katherine  Sheahan.  She was a despised "half-breed" who was already stigmatized before she fell in love with a married man.

From the perspective of 21st century readers, it is difficult to understand how Katherine managed to pick herself up and go on with her life after the terrible events that transpire in the town where she had her short-lived romance.  We wonder why she isn't angry or paralyzed by trauma.  The answer is that both responses would have been luxuries in her situation, and Katherine was a survivor. Survival mattered more to her than justice.  She was also a gifted healer who was fully capable of healing herself. 

I agree with those reviewers who really liked the herbalism aspect, but it's not a source of high drama.  No one wanted to draw and quarter Katherine for providing an alternative to the treatments of medical doctors.  In fact, her skills in this area are the main reason why she was accepted.  I especially enjoyed seeing the increased interest in her herbalism in the 1960's.

The source of Katherine's herbal knowledge was her Navajo grandmother who isn't really shown in the novel, but she may have been like the Navajo herbalist elders of the Plant Watchers Society in the Aimee and David Thurlo mystery, Plant Them Deep.

 The trouble is that Katherine's behavior is contrary to the beliefs of traditional Navajos.  Those who have read Tony Hillerman and the Thurlos are aware that traditional Navajos avoid contact with the spirits of the dead who are called chindi.  Find out more by following the link I provided to the Wikipedia article on the subject.  Let's just say that avoidance isn't Katherine's strategy.  It seems likely that this could be offensive to some Navajo readers, but spirits provide the paranormal aspect of the novel.  The paranormal content doesn't become dominant until fairly late in Manroot.

Skeptics who are determined to find an alternative explanation for the resolution of this novel can probably find one.  Yet if we accept Katherine's version, then it raises a number of questions.  Should we judge actions by their consequences, or are there actions that are always wrong regardless of their context?  Could Katherine have deceived herself into thinking her actions were justified?  Are those who considered Katherine insane correct?  I leave these matters up to the individual reader.

This book is full of both darkness and light.  I found it absorbing, well-written and troubling.  I don't recommend Manroot to people who prefer comfortable reading that doesn't ask disturbing questions.  I do recommend it to people who like their fiction to be memorable.

                                             
                                                                                

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours Book Blast: Lies Told In Silence by M.K. Tod #Giveaway

Publication Date: June 29, 2014
Tod Publishing
Formats: eBook, Paperback

Genre: Historical Fiction



In 1914 Paris half the city expects war while the other half scoffs at the possibility.

With knowledge gained from his role at the War Department, Henri Noisette fears that Germany may soon attack Paris. He therefore sends his wife, mother and two younger children to Beaufort, a small village in northern France. By late 1914, instead of a safe haven, Beaufort is less than twenty miles from the front.

As war unfolds, Henri’s daughter, Helene, grows up quickly and in 1917 falls in love with Edward Jamieson, a young Canadian soldier.

The novel examines love and loss, duty and sacrifice and the unexpected consequence of lies.
Praise for Lies Told in Silence‘Dramatically depicts the horror and heartbreak of war, while also celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.’ - SHARON KAY PENMAN author of A King’s Ransom

'An intricate, well-researched novel of life forever changed by WWI yet still sweet with the tender innocence of the age.’ - DONNA RUSSO MORIN author of The King’s Agent

‘M.K. Tod is a powerful new voice in the historical fiction genre.’ - AMY BRUNO Historical fiction blogger at Passages to the Past

‘An absorbing and rewarding historical read .. depicting the ruinous impact of war on human lives across the generations.’ - MARGARET EVANS PORTER author of The Proposal

‘A compelling read right up to its taut page-turning ending.’ - RICHARD LEE founder of the Historical Novel Society
Buy the Book



Amazon UK
About the AuthorM.K. Tod has enjoyed a passion for historical novels that began in her early teenage years immersed in the stories of Rosemary Sutcliff, Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer. During her twenties, armed with Mathematics and Computer Science degrees, she embarked on a career in technology and consulting continuing to read historical fiction in the tiny snippets of time available to working women with children to raise.

In 2004, she moved to Hong Kong with her husband and no job. To keep busy Mary decided to research her grandfather’s part in the Great War. What began as an effort to understand her grandparents’ lives blossomed into a full time occupation as a writer. Her debut novel is UNRAVELLED: Two wars, Two affairs. One Marriage. LIES TOLD IN SILENCE, her second novel, is set in WWI France and tells the story of Helene Noisette who featured in Unravelled. Mary has an active blog - www.awriterofhistory.com - which discusses all aspects of historical fiction and includes author and reader interviews. Additionally, she is a book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. Mary lives in Toronto where she is happily married with two adult children.

Connect with M.K. Tod on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Lies Told in Silence Blog Tour & Book Blast Schedule

Monday, July 28
Review at Unshelfish
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Book Blast at Our Wolves Den

Tuesday, July 29
Review at Just One More Chapter
Book Blast at Book Babe
Book Blast at A Book Geek
Book Blast at Mel's Shelves

Wednesday, July 30
Review at Bookish
Guest Post at Just One More Chapter
Book Blast at Passages to the Past

Thursday, July 31
Book Blast at Royalty Free Fiction

Friday, August 1
Book Blast at Back Porchervations
Book Blast at So Many Books, So Little Time

Saturday, August 2
Book Blast at Mythical Books

Monday, August 4
Review & Guest Post at A Bookish Affair
Book Blast at Historical Tapestry

Tuesday, August 5
Book Blast at Layered Pages
Book Blast at Princess of Eboli
Book Blast at What Is That Book About

Wednesday, August 6
Book Blast at Literary Chanteuse
Book Blast at Caroline Wilson Writes

Thursday, August 7
Review at The Book Binder's Daughter
Book Blast at Kinx's Book Nook

Friday, August 8
Book Blast at The Maiden's Court

Monday, August 11
Review at Dianne Ascroft Blog
Book Blast at Svetlana's Reads and Views

Tuesday, August 12
Book Blast at Book Nerd
Book Blast at The Bookworm

Wednesday, August 13
Review at The Writing Desk

Thursday, August 14
Book Blast at Words and Peace
Book Blast at CelticLady's Reviews

Friday, August 15
Review at Lost in Books
Book Blast at The Mad Reviewer

Sunday, August 17
Book Blast at Brooke Blogs

Monday, August 18
Review at The Librarian Fatale
Review at Historical Fiction Notebook

Giveaway
To win a copy of M.K. Tod's Lies Told In Silence please complete the Rafflecopter giveaway form below. Giveaway is open internationally!

Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on August 18th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
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