Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 59

Ten Questions from Tara: Interview with Mary Rowen

Tara: Welcome. You’re here to promote Leaving the Beach, a women's fiction. Tell me, please, what was the inspiration behind this story? How did it come to you?

For those wondering, here's the BLURB for Leaving the Beach. Mary is going to tell us more about it below.

Written with heart and keen observation about the day-to-day struggles of a “functioning bulimic,” Leaving the Beach explores the power of fantasy, then shoves it up against harsh reality until something has to give in this women’s novel set on the sandy beaches of Winthrop, Massachusetts.

Meet Erin Reardon, a lonely bulimic woman who believes she’s fated to save grunge music superstar Lenny Weir. Forget the fact that Lenny reportedly killed himself several years earlier; Erin’s not the only fan to believe his death was a hoax, a last-ditch effort by the drug-addled musician to reclaim his privacy. And Erin has felt a special bond with Lenny for years. So when she gets picked up hitchhiking by a mysterious man who resembles Lenny physically, she makes some quick assumptions. After all, he has extensive knowledge of the music industry, there’s a guitar in his trunk, and he has issues with drugs. She’s finally about to fulfill her destiny…

Mary: Thank you, Tara, for having me! The short answer is that Leaving the Beach is about a bulimic woman who’s obsessed with music, and I’m a huge music fan who was bulimic for fifteen years. So I really wanted to write a story that featured a character with an eating disorder. However, I don’t consider Leaving the Beach to be an “issue” story, as the eating disorder is only part of the character’s personality. There’s a longer answer too, and if you’re interested, feel free to check out my blog post about the night the story was conceived. It’s a little sad and a little romantic.

Tara: We focus a lot on heroines here on Book Babe. Tell me what makes your heroine strong.

Mary: Erin Reardon, my heroine, needs to find her inner strength; this is one of the story’s main themes. We see glimpses of it in almost every chapter, but her fears and insecurities are very powerful too.
Tara: Inner strength is so important, more important than physical. Do you see any of yourself in her?

Mary: Yes, because of my history with eating disorders and passion for music. But Erin isn’t me. Her life and adventures are all hers.
Tara: What makes her sexy?

Mary: At the beginning of the story, Erin doesn’t feel sexy, physically or otherwise. Again, that’s all about her insecurities. As the story progresses, however, her sexuality becomes more apparent to the people around her. She’s an attractive, curvy woman, but none of that matters until she begins to feel more confident in herself.

Steven Van Zandt, from Wiki CommonsTara: What kind of research did you do when you penned this novel? Did anything surprising come up in your search?

Mary: Well, since most of the story is set in Winthrop, Massachusetts—a town where I lived for about ten years after college—I did a lot of research on it. I was very surprised to learn that Sylvia Plath had once lived there, as did Little Steven (Steven Van Zandt, the actor and musician).

Tara: 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? 
Mary: Honestly, when I started it, I hoped it’d be a compelling story about a woman faced with many challenges who overcomes at least some of them. But as I was writing, I also realized that it might be helpful to people with eating disorders. And some people have told me it’s taught them a lot about bulimia. So I guess maybe people will take different things from it.
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?

Mary: That’s a tough question because the hero is…well, let me just say that he’s hard to define. Certainly he’s very flawed, but he’s sweet at the core. I guess he’s a combination of people I’ve known. The heroine is drawn to him initially because of his kindness, and later because she finds out he’s a musician. She’s a sucker for musicians.
Tara: Your book takes place in Winthrop, MA. If I were a tourist, what would you recommend I see in this town?

Mary: Winthrop, Massachusetts is a unique and terrific little town for a bunch of reasons. To me, the most amazing thing is that it’s surrounded by ocean on three sides and right outside Boston, but you can still buy a home there for a reasonable price. In the book, I speculate on how the people of Winthrop work hard to keep the yuppies out, because they don’t want to be priced out of their homes. It’s also not the easiest place in the world to access because of its location. If you go there, you should definitely check out the beaches. They’re beautiful in an urban way, and because the town is right next to Logan Airport, planes are often flying right over you—sometimes you feel like you can reach up and touch them—as you soak up the sun.

Tara: Oooh. What lovely pictures. I love planes and lighthouses. Sounds perfect to me. For some reason I never pictured Mass as having a beach. Too far north, maybe? Very cool. Now, a more personal question. What’s the one thing you hope to accomplish before you die? Your main goal?
Mary: Oh wow. Major shift in the conversation! My main goal—and I know this is a cliché—is to be a good person. To try and change things for the better, even if it’s only in the smallest way. In my case, that means trying to be the best wife, parent, daughter, sister, friend, and co-worker I can be to the people I’m so lucky to have in my life.

Tara: I’m a dog mom, so I always ask this. Do you have pets? If so, tell me about them and do provide pictures.
Mary: Yes! I’m a crazy animal lover. As soon as I was old enough to get my own apartment, I got a cat, and haven’t been without at least one pet since then.
Currently, my family has a dog named Spencer and two cats, Mac and Jack. Sadly, Mac is sick these days, with heart and kidney disease. He’s sixteen-and-a-half years old and still very feisty, but the vet has warned us that his health concerns are quite serious, and he probably won’t be with us much longer. So we’re just thankful for each day that he wakes us up howling for breakfast. Our younger cat is named Jack and he’s sweet, adorable, and feisty as well. He has only one eye—it had to be removed before we got him because he was rescued in an alley with a terrible infection—but he gets around just fine and doesn’t seem to know that he’s any different than two-eyed cats.
Spencer the dog is the newest addition to our family. We got him last spring, after he’d been a stray in the woods of South Carolina for at least a year, so he’s got a lot of wild in him. However, he’s calming down, and we’ve worked with a couple of trainers who’ve helped us understand his fears. He’s still quite shy around people he doesn’t know, but he loves our family, and he’s super playful with other dogs. He’s also a crazy fast runner. We feel blessed to have such great animals in our lives. Thank you again for having me as a guest on your blog!
Tara: I've enjoyed having you. I hope your cat surprises the heck out of everybody and lives a lot longer than anyone expects. I know how hard it is to watch a pet be sick and not be able to do anything.
***
Mary Rowen is a Boston area mom with a wonderful family
that allows her time to write almost every day.
Leaving the Beach, although pure fiction, certainly
draws on some personal experience. As the tagline states,
it’s “a novel of obsession and music,” and
rock music has always been a driving force in Rowen’s
life. She was also bulimic for over fifteen years, and
really wanted to write a story with a bulimic main
character. Eating disorders are so complicated—and
dangerous—and she hopes Leaving the Beach
might encourage people suffering from them to seek
help. Visit Mary at: http://maryrowen.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/maryjrowen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Rowen-Author/128709923953918

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leaving-the-beach-mary-rowen/1119007571?ean=2940149282685
Links: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20961021-leaving-the-beach?from_search=true

Refuse To Forget: A Personalization of War's Devastation

Although Refuse to Forget by John Bishop is the story of 14 year old Harry Butler, I read it because I wanted to know more about Lady Hester who Harry followed to do ambulance duty in Belgium during World War I.  Was Lady Hester a courageous feminist or a thoughtless fool?  In the novel, she is widely regarded as a fool.  I had to ask myself how I felt about her actions.
                                                 

  
I believe that there are just wars, but all the World War I novels that I’ve ever read have depicted it as a senseless waste that destroyed lives.  The Maisie Dobbs novel,   Birds of a Feather which I reviewed on The Unmasked Persona’s Reviews here  dealt with the concerted effort to denigrate people who were opposed to the war.  In Refuse to Forget, adolescent protagonist Harry Butler literally didn’t know any better. Due to the tide of wartime propaganda, he seemed to sincerely believe that anyone who didn't participate in the war was an inferior human being.

In my view, Lady Hester’s effort could have been motivated very differently.   Her ambulance can be seen as rescuing the victims of the war.  Quakers, whose faith is opposed to wars in general, have been involved in this sort of war service. Find out more in the Wikipedia article, The Friends' Ambulance Unit.  It’s important to point out, however, that the FAS was officially sanctioned while Lady Hester’s ambulance wasn’t sanctioned at all.  It’s clear to me that the reason why Lady Hester didn’t get official support was because of attitudes toward women during this period.   Feminism is definitely a sub-theme in this book.

I consider Refuse to Forget to be a sad commentary on World War I and the society that perpetuated it.  It is well-written and well-characterized.  I just wish that a woman like Lady Hester had been born into an environment where she could have accomplished something significant.  Perhaps John Bishop intends to tell his readers that World War I wasted the potential of both the men and women of that generation.  For me, he was preaching to the choir.  Yet I appreciated his message. 

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
                                    
                                          

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Élan Duchamps

Book: Soul Cutter
Author: Lexa Cain
Heroine: Élan Duchamps

In the beginning of the novel, Soul Cutter, Élan Duchamps has everything in her life under control, and that’s just the way she likes it. With a group of high school friends, she secretly records fake mediums and psychics who trick their customers and steal their money. There’s nothing Élan hates more than people who take advantage of the weak and gullible. 
Tough beyond her years, Élan’s upbringing featured an absent father, a mother who abandoned her for Hollywood dreams, and a doting but addled grandma, all shaded by a tragic secret Élan hides from everyone:
Once, she trusted someone, and he almost killed her.
Now, no one can pass the walls she’s built around herself.
Life rarely goes as planned, and Élan finds herself in Egypt, facing something she never believed existed—a real supernatural killer. Although she’s terrified, she’s determined to save people from this deadly threat no matter what. But in order to do it, she’ll have to join forces with a guy who’s as used to being in control as she is.  Worse, she’ll have to learn to trust him, which for her is even harder than fighting a seven-foot, saber-wielding killer.
Élan is strong, sexy heroine because she never backs down from a challenge and because under her prickly exterior, she’s kind, protective, and brave. To discover how she outwits not just one killer but hundreds of them, and to see if she can pry her scarred heart open to let in a man who’d give his life for her, read Soul Cutter.

Blurb: The Soul Cutter is hunting again.
Seventeen-year-old Élan spends her free time videoing psychic scams and outing them online. Skepticism makes life safe—all the ghosts Élan encounters are fakes. When her estranged mother disappears from a film shoot in Egypt, Élan puts her medium-busting activities on hold and joins the search.
In Egypt, the superstitious film crew sucks at finding her mom. When a hotel guest is killed, whispers start—the locals think their legendary Soul Cutter has come back from the dead. Élan's only ally is Ramsey, a film-crew intern, but he’s arrogant, stubborn—and hiding dangerous secrets.
When Élan discovers the Soul Cutter is no scam, she finds herself locked in a deadly battle against a supernatural killer with more than her mother’s life at stake.
Élan's fighting for her very soul.  BUY LINKS:
BARNES & NOBLE: http://ibty.in/e060b50KOBO: http://ibty.in/f193d27SMASHWORDS: http://ibty.in/f7f1cba
MUSEITUP PUBLISHING: http://ibty.in/7f5945f

Kindred Spirits by Beth Ciotta & Cynthia Valero

I cannot resist books with airplanes on the covers, especially old ones. And while I normally resist time travel stories, because it's so...unexplainable, I decided to give this one a go when I discovered it was featuring a woman barn stormer in the twenties. 

Problem is, there is very little flying. I was aware this was a romantic story, but there's more sex than flying, and I don't mean sex as in the act itself, but obsession with it. The hero is constantly thinking of getting in Grace's pants; Grace is just thinking of sex period, of getting it out of her system, Izzy wants to have sex with Rufus, and every woman in the book wants to have sex with Rufus, from random waitresses, to Izzy's friends. Frankly, the story made it seem like we're all sex-crazed women who throw ourselves at random good-looking men.

It got annoying. Another pet peeve of mine is virgin heroines and super-experienced man-whore heroes. UGH. Though it was nice to see the tables turned on this dude.

However, the story is funny. The banter between these dead siblings/ghosts, alive or dead, is funny. I chuckled a lot in the beginning. Then halfway through the humor started slowing down, the sex obsession started going nuts, and I began to get frustrated. I also loathed Izzy, and that didn't help matters because she's a main player.

But while I feel it took way too long to get to the bottom of Izzy's issue, at the same time I enjoyed the 1923 setting--the clothes, the lingo, the cars. The authors did a great job on that.

For those wondering, the story is about three ghosts haunting a house in the present. They can't pass over  until they figure out what's holding each one here. Rufus, the assistant of the owner of the house, ends up time traveling back to 1923 to help the flapper girl, Izzy, fix her issue. Izzy has a friend named Grace, a barn-storming pilot, who ties into the mess somehow and thus, the sex-obsessed love triangle is born, but whether Rufus beds one of the women or not, if anyone falls in love, how is it going to work? Rufus is from the future... I don't need to say more.

As for aviation, Grace flies a Curtis Jenny and one can glean a few facts from that--the dope on the plane that cows love, etc--but I was disappointed by little actual flying there was in comparison to the other stuff in the story. People looking for a romance though, with some humor and some flappers and speakeasies, won't be disappointed. I especially liked the ending and would love to see a novel told from Grace's POV about her...new living situation and how she adjusts.

I received this via Netgalley.

Darkness Before Dawn: A WWII Romance Promo Blitz

Darkness Before Dawn - PROMO Blitz By Kellie Wallace
Historical FictionDate Published: 7/17/2013



In June 1940, Germany bombed the Island of Guernsey, bringing World War II to the Channel Islands. With her home in the midst of war, jazz singer Catherine La Mar must adapt to change. Within days, the island is overun. Resistance cells start to emerge, hindering the German forces. Catherine’s life is inevitably changed when childhood friend Thomas Potter is linked as the ringleader to one of the Island’s biggest cells.
The people she once knew are no longer who they seem to be. But nothing could prepare her for when she meets Nazi officer Captain Max Engel. Her view on the war forever changes when she is given a chance for love and new beginnings. For once in her mundane life she unveils her true self, as Max teaches her how to truly live. Their love puts a strain on Catherine’s family, risking the lives her sisters and friends. As the war intensifies and divides the people on Guernsey, Max and Catherine must decide if their love is really worth risking it all?

EXCERPT
Plush greenery cushioned Catherine’s as she trudged through the knee-length grass towards the cliff face. A violent wind came up from the sea whipping at her dress and hair. Brightly coloured daisies and narcissi flowers dotted the swaying plain.A sense of ease and sovereignty came over her as she stood in the wind, moving gently against its brunt. German tankers tarnished the vast ocean in front of her. Seagulls and kestrels sang in the air, catching the passing wind like dancers.She always loved coming here to revel in nature’s beauty, believing nothing will ever change it. With the occupation taking force, it seems inevitable the world she knew will never be the same again.Visiting the cliff tops on her own was risk, but as headstrong as she might be, Catherine wanted a release, to see a part of Guernsey not yet touched by the Reich. She slunk pastGerman patrols on her way, blending into the environment like a chameleon.As she stared out into blue azure of the ocean, movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. A young man teetered on the edge of the cliff, peering over the brink. Without a second thought, she ran towards him, slowing her pace when he saw her approach. His eyes wide with fear.“I’ll do it,” he warned, his body stiff as though he was still deciding to jump. The wind grew stronger and the man appeared to be using all of his strength to stay upright.“Are you alright, sir?” she asked calmly.His hair was blown high on top of his head and the wind already made its mark upon his skin. “No . . .”“Did you lose something?” Catherine said carefully. “Has someone fallen off the cliff?”“I don’t want . . . I don’t want this,” he cried.“Don’t want what?”The man stole a quick glance towards the tankers dotting the ocean horizon and turned back to Catherine. “I don’t want them,” he yelled, pointing towards the sea. “I don’t want to be ruled by those murderers!”Catherine now understood the catalyst to the man’s distress. No one on Guernsey wanted an occupation by the Germans. Half the population had fled in terror.Catherine took another step closer, wary of the fear in his brown eyes as she did so. She reached out her hand until they were inches apart. “What’s your name?”“Ben.”“Ben, what about you with come with me and grab a nice piece of cake at the cake shop? How does that sound?”The young man shook his head furiously. “No, they will be there! They have taken over everything!”“No, they won’t be,” Catherine said slowly. “It will only be you and me.”Ben looked behind him to the crashing waves below, his body limp in defeat. He let out a sigh and turned towards her. “Okay,I will come with you.” He reached for her hand, when another voice broke through the defiant wind.“What’s going on here?”Catherine glanced over her should to see a young German officer standing behind them, bracing against the wind.Ben’s eyes widened at the sight and he started to back up towards the edge of the cliff. “No, no, no,” he mumbled, slipping on the lip of the cliff.Heart pounding, Catherine stretched out her hand to the distressed youth. “Ben! Please, come with me,” she ordered, ignoring the figure behind her.Ben shook his head, his hands outstretched as though seeking redemption from above. “I’m sorry. I cannot do it,” he said. “Not with him around.” Ben’s swollen eyes glanced atCatherine once more, before turning into the wind, and jumping off the cliff.“Nooo!” Her body flashed hot then cold as she fell to her knees in the damp grass, her hand stretched outright, grasping nothing but thin air. She felt the officer brush past her as he poked his head over the cliff.The man’s body lay crucified on the rocks, blood speckling the blue ocean water.Catherine ignored the tugging on her arm as the German officer hauled her to her feet. Violently, she pushed him away.“Get off me!” she screamed, regaining her footing. He was close now, close enough she could see the lines of youth etched in his face.“What is your name?” he asked calmly.“Catherine La Mar.” She almost spat her name at him.The officer dipped his head in a polite greeting as if what happened meant nothing to him. “May I see your papers?” he asked, bringing out his hand.Catherine sucked in a breath of indignation and pulled her papers, which consisted of an identity card and birth certificate from a pocket in her dress. She watched him as he scanned them over. It was the first time she managed to have a good look at him.It was his eyes that caught her breath, standing out in contrast to his dull uniform. They were the same shade of the sea, crashing and spitting below them. His straw-coloured hair was slicked under his visor cap. He was the perfect example of Hitler’s Aryan race.The officer handed her papers back to her. She wanted a fight; wanted anything to contest him. “Why didn’t you stop him?” she asked.
About the Author Kellie Wallace
Born in Sydney, Australia Kellie Wallace developed a love for the written word early in life, recalling her earliest memory when she was three years old. Her father used to read to her when she was a child, establishing a deep love and respect for books. Kellie wrote a bit in high school, most memorably her first fantasy book called Giblin the Conquer, an X Files fan fiction and a military fiction.After finishing high school, Kellie moved to the sunny Northern Beaches from the Central Coast and carved a successful career in the media/advertising industry writing for numerous Sydney based publications.An aspiring novelist, Kellie fulfilled a dream in 2008 having her first book All She Ever Wanted published by Zeus Publications at the age of 22 years old.In 2013, Kellie released her newest catalogue of books, Darkness before Dawn and Skylark. In her spare time she loves to write, game and draw. Her first crime fiction novel To lean of falling men will be out in April 2014, along with EarthWalker (out now!) and dystopian Edge of Tomorrow (August 2014).She currently resides in Sydney with her husband.
Author LinksWebsite | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr

Giveaway
Copy of Darkness before Dawn
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The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier

"We are the Amazons. We are the killers of beasts and men. Wild ourselves, we inhabit the wild places. Freedom courses in our blood, and death whispers at the tip of our arrows. We fear nothing; fear runs from us. Try to stop us, and you will feel our rage."


A very enjoyable, fast-paced, interesting read. I was not disappointed with this one. The modern-day stories follows a woman who once had a "deranged" grandmother who left behind a mysterious notebook full of scribbles and the lots of rambling about Amazons. Diana would like to believe the Amazons really existed, but evidence and scholars say otherwise... Frankly, I'd like to continue believing they really existed, so I found Diana's running all over Europe to prove they lived and finding all their bracelets as went absolutely fascinating.

Her meeting the sexy and mysterious Nick doesn't hurt either. Sometimes you want them to get together; sometimes you don't. Just like the heroine. Very well done.

In her story, there's much confusion and I don't mean that in a bad way. She's confused, and we're confused. It just somehow worked for me. Normally I loathe not having clear answers, not knowing who's bad and good or who's after who, but this story was told in such a manner that it had me hooked and dying with suspense, unable to sleep even. It seems three different groups are after Diana and/or her knowledge, all for different reasons, one group being, quite possibly, Amazons. 

In between rushing to museums, escaping thieves and bombs, and bit by bit, piecing together the mystery of the Amazons and Diana's granny, readers are treated to a historical what-if story that takes some of the mythology writings and gives them new twists. We meet the Amazons, learn their origins, why they came to be complete with the misunderstandings. The historical tale rewrites the Amazons and even the Helen of Troy  story as we have learned them, making them new and interesting.

I love Myrina and her romance with Paris. I appreciated--and maybe I'm the only one who saw this--how the story showed us not everyone is meant for marriage and there is nothing wrong with that. For some reason, this bit of the story impacted me. It was still a wonderful romance though. I love that this book gave us great romance complete with development and very little sexual details. THIS is the real deal. THIS is love.

And I loved the different forms of strength I saw in the different women. It's not all about sword-fighting. 

Long review short: I loved this book, both the past and present stories. I was riveted, intrigued, I bit my lip, gasped, screamed, "OH no!", I smiled, laughed, Googled things--heck, I even looked for my own bracelet. LOL 

BEST AMAZON BOOK I'VE READ.

"To me there is only one God, unnamed presence we'll never understand. Everything else is human politics. It was human beings who wrote the holy books, and human beings who made all the rules and rituals. In other words, it is human beings who turn life into hell....I try to live the spirit of God, but not by the rules, because rules are made by man, and man is nothing but a fatally conceited flea on the mammoth of Creation."

I received this via Netgalley. Quotes may be altered in the final version.

Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards by Kit Brennan

Lola Montez…a woman who is reputed to have been a spy, a dancer, and seductress. This is not the first story I’ve read that was inspired by her. Though I enjoyed this historical romp laced with humor and gasp-out-loud moments, if I were to compare this to An Invitation to Dance by Marion Urch , I’d find it sorely lacking.

It’s not that it’s not entertaining—it is, and I even learned stuff from it about the situation in Spain during this time and the Royal house and Prime Minister… The problem is I never grew terribly fond of this version of Lola. She’s funny, witty, but I fail to see how she’s independent or strong. She does one stupid thing after another. She is capable of getting herself out of bad scrapes, but she gets herself into them in the first place. I mean, seriously, after all she’s been through—having those she loves murdered, being robbed, stalked, etc, how dumb do you have to be to set yourself up with a crap-ton of publicity and make yourself a huge public spectacle, all the while using a name that your would-be killer knows? And you know he’s alive… How dumb do you have to be?

And she does nothing remarkable, unless you consider the fact she manages learn fluent Spanish in just three weeks. (Really?) She just sleeps with men and dances. And runs away from things. Though I did feel bad for her when everyone was so intent on blaming her for the mission’s failure. It wasn’t her fault.

My other complaint is that her characterization was somewhat off at times. Lola is feisty, I’ll give her that, but she lets some horrid woman and her daughter just waltz into her room and take her dresses and jewelry…and yet just days later, this same Lola challenges Dumas to a duel? Sometimes she’s the spunky Lola we expect; other times it’s like WHERE THE HECK IS LOLA?

But it wasn’t all bad. The Royal family, especially Aunt Carlota, were exceptionally amusing and there were many LOL moments throughout the story. These moments kept me reading even when at times I grew tired of Lola’s bad decisions and just wanted the story to end. It was also interesting learning about a dance called the Tarantuala. Overall, it was also very fast-paced with conspiracies, theater life, masked balls, fine horses, tickling mustaches, politics, executions… I think I’d have loved it if I had liked Lola more.

I plan to read book two, because I do feel this heroine has potential. If she can just stand on her own two feet a while, without depending on a man, and wise up a bit, I can see this series doing great things.

They’re all rogering their relatives, I thought, with each others’ blessing!

The ability to barefacedly throw an accusation back at your accuser seems a necessary skill for the Spanish of either sex. If you’re good enough at it, you can make the other forget what the initial injury or accusation was in sheer dumbfoundedness at your yapping arrogant tenacity.

I bought this on Amazon.

Rhinoceros Summer: The Maturation of a Teen Photographer in Africa

It occurred to me that the central character of Rhinoceros Summer by Jamie Thornton starts off as the mirror image of the central character of another book that I reviewed last year on The Unmasked Persona’s Reviews.  Lydia Gibbs, the aspiring teen photographer in Rhinoceros Summer thinks that going to Africa will be a tremendous career-making opportunity.    Jazz Hooper, the grief stricken teen with no aspirations in The See Through Leopard by Sibel Hodge, resents being uprooted by her father and hates going to Africa.  See my See Through Leopard Review.  Neither girl found what they expected there, but their experiences in Africa were life-changing.                                              
                                          


My main criticism of The See Through Leopard about overt didacticism doesn’t hold true for Rhinoceros Summer.  There are certainly ideas in this novel, but no long speeches.  There are thoughts from the characters that give us their perspectives.  Since there are multiple perspectives, I don’t feel that the author is preaching at me. 
As the novel opens, Lydia the preacher’s daughter, is working at a Christian supply store.   I wondered at that point whether this book could be considered Christian fiction.  Although Lydia’s parents are portrayed sympathetically, their beliefs are not the only ones that are portrayed in a positive light.  So I wouldn’t consider Rhinoceros Summer Christian fiction.  At one point Lydia gets what she considers a surprising African viewpoint on Christian missionaries. 
In The See Through Leopard, Jazz works in a wildlife sanctuary.  She encounters the views of hunters indirectly.  Lydia photographs safaris, so she deals with how hunters think about their activities on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the events of Rhinoceros Summer show me that Jamie Thornton is definitely not sympathetic toward hunters, and does have positive feelings toward those who want to preserve animal species.  It seems to me that Jamie Thornton’s approach has more impact.
I also wanted to comment on the romance aspect in this book.  This is not an ideal relationship.  The characters have flaws, but I also thought they matured over the course of the novel as a result of their experiences.
There is a figure who is mentioned as having been an inspiration to one of the characters.  Reference is made to Ernest Haeckel’s drawings of wildlife, but there is also a remark made by another character about his being in accord with Nazi attitudes.  According to the article about Ernest Haeckel on Wikipedia , he was a pre-Nazi advocate of their doctrines.  It seemed to me that Jamie Thornton was showing us that historical personages who are highly regarded by individuals in our own time may not conform to contemporary standards.  

The complexity with which Jamie Thornton approaches her themes, her characters and the African milieu is what makes Rhinoceros Summer an excellent piece of fiction.

I received this e-book for free from the author through a Booklikes giveaway.

She Likes it Rough #Giveaway & Review

Can daring adventures with an adrenaline junkie give a daydreaming pushover the courage she needs in order to make her life count for something?

When a freak fast-food accident almost kills scaredy-cat Lisa Flyte, she decides it's time to get a backbone and really start living life! But how is a shrinking violet like Lisa supposed to get assertive all of a sudden after a lifetime of watching from the couch?

Jack Hawkins, that's how. When Lisa finds out that the outdoor extremist from her MBA classes needs a clueless urbanite to test his top-secret line of adventure gear for beginners, she gets the most outlandish idea of her life: she will be his undercover test dummy if he helps her become brave on their adventures in the wild. 
They strike a deal. But can Lisa use her outdoor moxie to become the alpha hero of her everyday life? Will she find the grit to pursue a career she really wants or the nerve to stand up to her bullying family?

And will she get gutsy enough to go after Jack? He's a man who's not afraid of anything...except maybe of falling for Lisa.


***
My Review:
This story did indeed have its funny spots, as I'd hoped. I literally laughed out loud when Lisa tore Jack's pants off by accident on a mountain..and there were others spots that had me cracking up.

What I liked the most about this story though is the theme about bravery. Frankly, I felt Lisa was brave all along--and stupid at times--even before she began this adventure quest. You don't have to throw yourself out of airplanes to be brave. Facing the public after what they all read about her, trying to live her life, even approaching others like Jack and Heya takes some bravery. But the heroine has to realize that and see she had a brave girl in her all along. 

Between her and Jack, we see different kinds of cowardism and how easy it is to point out another's flaw whilst ignoring your own.

There were some things I didn't like though. 

-I rarely say this, but I think this story could have been improved with the hero's POV in it. It was impossible to tell what was going on with Jack, what he thought, felt, intended. Impossible. 

-The heroine is supposed to be 34 but comes across as a teenager. I mean, who thinks it's cool when a man kicks your door down?

-Her family is so evil and mean and they came across as OTT. I just couldn't buy into that. Every single person in your family lives to ridicule and say horrid things to you? Every single person? And greedy to boot? Every single one?

-The book was filled with metaphors referring to movies or TV or people I've never heard of. While I don't live under a rock, I haven't seen every movie in existence and there were a ton that I had no clue what they referred to, such as:

I want to be cool, when what I want to do is scream and jump like Fran does when Scott tells her he wants to do dance with her at the Pan Pacifics.

Donna Reed's bathroom is hardly the best place to prepare for diving into shark-infested waters. Who is Donna Reed?

Like the bond that develops between Nicholas Cage and Shirley MacLaine in Guarding Tess.

I stare and swallow like Anna Paquin winning her Oscar.

...hugging the dog like Diane Keaton hugs Warren Beatty toward the end of Reds.

And the heroine doesn't even watch any movies, so what gives? Is it just assumed we'll know what she's talking about? While I know who some of the above-mentioned famous people are, I haven't seen all their movies so these metaphors just left me irritated.

And what's with the unprotected sex? There's brave and there's stupid. They have random sex twice and suddenly decide to use protection the third time.

I received this from Reading Addiction Virtual Tours.
***

GVR Corcillo’s debut chick lit novel, She Likes It Rough, was awarded Best Indie Book of 2013 by the Rebecca’s Reads Choice Awards. The romantic comedy also took first place in the Humor category. RebeccasReads.com established the awards program to pay tribute to authors who are self-published or have had their books published by a subsidy publisher, small press, university press, or independent book publisher. 
With her Ivy League education, white trash sensibility, and pop culture savvy, GVR Corcillo delights in writing chick lit about characters who try not to trip as they valiantly march to their own bongo beat.
She didn't start writing right away. First, she worked in a greenhouse, a supermarket, a movie theatre, a potpourri-stuffing factory, an electrical fixtures plant, a book warehouse, a metal-perforating factory, a video store, several movie studios, a children's museum, a radio station, and a bar. She also taught high school in Watts and South Central Los Angeles.
But none of these fit the bill for what she always wanted to be when she grew up - a writer. So, she won some writing contests, hit the New York Times Bestsellers List with her first short story, and got a screenplay produced.
Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, lives in North Hollywood with her husband Ron, a television comedy writer. They are both New York Giants fans. 

Website: http://gvrcorcillo.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/gvrcorcillothewriterTwitter: https://twitter.com/gvrcorcilloBlog: http://thingsthatmakemegommmrrh.blogspot.comGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17619507-she-likes-it-rough
BUY LINKSBarnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/she-likes-it-rough-gvr-corcillo/1118002901?ean=2940045549387Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/392831




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Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Bluebell Kildare

Book: The Light Who Shines
Author: Lilo Abernathy
Heroine: Bluebell Kildare (a.k.a. Blue)

Bluebell Kildare lives in a society where prejudice and hate runs rampant between three different breeds of humans (Norms, Gifted, and Vampires). Orphaned by the death of her parents at the hands of Dark Vampires, rejected by her grandparents because of her magical heritage, Blue is accustomed to going it alone. After all, she survived bullying, hate, fear, and ostracism in the orphanage, yet still managed to maintain her moral compass.
As an Inspector in the Homicide Unit of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, Blue fights for interbreed peace every day. She believes in this job with all her lonely soul. She both chases down those who perpetrate hate crimes against the supernatural breeds and stops those who use their powers to hurt innocents. Blue fights for what is right regardless of who is in the wrong!

Sometimes a deceptively soft nature can cover a spine of steel, and make no mistake, Blue has such a spine. She faces down a hate mob to apprehend a perpetrator who left an innocent bleeding and fighting for his life. She enters the fray with full knowledge of the danger to herself, and even when the hostile mob turns against her, she refuses to allow the deed to go unpunished. Later, she willingly sacrifices everything, even at the price of unbearable pain and on the point of death, to keep a dangerous power out of the clutches of a madman, for fear of the destruction it would cause in his hands. Blue has courage in spades!

This heroine also has a secret. She harbors a love for frilly lingerie, and she has plenty of it. Nevertheless, she covers it up with her standard work uniform and keeps it hidden by her discerning tastes. While she dearly wants to be loved, she is only willing to share this part of herself with the right person. Does the right person come along? Perhaps he has been here all the while. Regardless of what the different factions of humans believe about her, Blue knows her own self-worth and this makes her strong and sexy!

Excerpt

Jack’s eyes flick to Varg and then back to my face. He says in a grim tone, “You may not have been hurt, but another minute or two and you could have been dead.”

I lift up my chin and respond steadily, “All in the line of duty, Jack. I did what was right, and if you know me at all you should never expect less.”

I holster my gun and walk, head held high, back to my car with Varg trailing behind me and Jack watching my back.

 When Paranormal Investigation Bureau agent Bluebell Kildare (a.k.a. Blue) arrives at the scene of the crime it's obvious the grotesquely damaged body of the deceased teenage boy was caused by far more than a simple hit and run. Using her innate sixth sense, she uncovers a powerful magical artifact nearby. She soon discovers it acts as a key to an ancient Grimiore that was instrumental in the creation of the Vampire breed and still holds the power to unravel the boundaries between Earth and the Plan of Fire.

Blue and her clever wolf Varg follow a trail that starts at the Cock and Bull Tap and leads all through the town of Crimson Hollow. Between being sidelined by a stalker who sticks to the shadows, and chasing a suspect who vanishes in thin air, the case is getting complicated. If that isn't enough, Dark Vampire activity hits a record high and hate crimes are increasing. However, it's her growing feelings for Jack Tanner, her magnetic Daylight Vampire boss, that just might undo her.

While Blue searches for clues to nail the perpetrator, it seems someone else is conducting a search of their own. Who will find whom first?

Danger lurks in every corner and Blue needs all her focus in this increasingly dangerous game or she risks ending up the next victim.

Buy it on Barnes & Noble or Smashwords or Amazon.