Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 83

Encourage the TV Networks to Bring Back Bomb Girls

Earlier this year, I talked about a TV show on Reelz called Bomb Girls. WWII, women in a bomb factory, love, scandal, secrets, everything! I appreciated this show because it featured women exploring their newfound independence during the war. There was also a side story of how the Italians were treated. 

I'm sad to say that after two seasons, it's not being renewed, but a blog and a group called Save Bomb Girls is attempting to revive it. Here's what you can do, if interested:

Will you have a part in victory? Bomb Girls needs YOU to help pitch the show to other networks and show them just how much of an asset Bomb Girls would be among their 2014/15 lineup.

Fan efforts may be rewarded, because everyone who enters the Victory Garden Contest gets the chance to win a Bomb Girls Season 1 DVD, 2 scripts signed by the creators, novel ‘Beware this Boy’ signed by author Maureen Jennings and an official Bomb Girls gym bag.

See http://www.savebombgirls.com or visit the FB page for more details.

The Unfinished Symphony of African Women: A Guest Post from Lucia Mann

Please welcome Lucia Mann, an author who has overcome some of the worst living conditions a woman should ever face and not only survived, but transferred her pain from her soul to the page and in turn, to us, so that we may know about the African woman's unfinished symphony. She wishes to talk to you today about the plight of women in Africa.

The difficulties women face is Africa is a subject that is dear to my heart. I wrote three books outlining the traumatic hardships of these women, including my own hardship - I was a modern-day slave kept on a sugar refinery against my will. I wrote about this in Beside an Ocean of Sorrow, my first book.

African women face enormous challenges that affect their well-being and health. Their life expectancy is only 41 years - HIV/AIDS is a contributing factor in the poverty of these wretched women, but without them Africa's economy would be in deep trouble. Women work two-thirds of Africa's labor - they work sometimes 18 hours a day and produce 70 percent of food.

African women own not 1 percent of communal property. Only MEN are allowed to own land.
One in six women will become victims of gender violence.
Women, never men, walk 5 miles a day to fetch water.
I was witness to most of the hardships as I was raised in a Zulu Kraal.

Rented Silence (2nd book) has all the answers to how I have so much knowledge about the women of Africa - I'm one of them.
Blurb:
A Witch Doctor's Power and His Ancient Tribal Ways Cruelly Collide with the Force and Authority of Modern Africa.
While the tale of South Africa in the wake of World War II is riveting, violent, and cruel, it also is brimming with stories of kindness, compassion, and courage. Africa's Unfinished Symphony highlights commanding characters who not only bring haunting racial clashes to life but also convey the intense conflicts that existed between archaic customs and modern influences. You will be captivated as you follow the convoluted path of Farida of the ancients battling to become Bertha of the modern world. But are the outcomes of her struggles the best results for her and her beloved Africa? This book will immerse you in historic African themes that will jolt you out of complacency and into compassion.

About the Author:
Lucia Mann is a former British journalist and the author of two previous African-set novels devoted to slavery and racial prejudice, Beside an Ocean of Sorrow and Rented Silence (CBC Book Award winner). Born in British Colonial South Africa in the wake of WWII, Mann saw and felt firsthand the pain and suffering of those who were treated as inferior because of the color of their skin. She currently resides in British Columbia, Canada, where she is fine-tuning her next novel, The Smoldering Fire of the Unforgiving.

Visit www.LuciaMann.com for more information on how you can help alleviate the scourge of modern-day slavery.

The Outcasts by Kathleen Kent

I love strong women in books, and when I saw this cover and read the blurb, I thought, "Heck yea."

While I didn't hate this story, I'm a tad disappointed. I thought I was getting some kinda gun-slinging woman outlaw, but truth is, she only actually wields a gun once at the end and she's really just a cold, heartless whore--made that way by men. There's something a bit crazy about her, to be honest, and I'm not referring to her seizures.

The story alternates between her and Nate, a new Texas Ranger. Nate is a good ole boy from Oklahoma and...well, dull as a doorknob. Through him, however, we follow two other Texas Rangers--I thought they were total A-holes. Because I really truly disliked his comrades and the things they did and found Nate just a dullard, I started to skip his parts around twenty percent. I'm all about women. I don't like male narrators.

It's the woman's story I was fascinated with. She's been institutionalized and you could say made nuts by the experience. She's been betrayed by the very men who should have loved her. She's in love with a serial killer and willingly allowing herself to be used. She's manipulative, conniving, and vengeful...and has a fascination with geometry as well as the occasional seizure.

There's a treasure hunt and she has to use people to get information. She is fascinating whether you like her or not. Why she's attracted to the killer I never quite understood though.

Long review short: I really enjoyed the historical side of this. Everything from the horses, to the hurdy gurdy girls, to the whorehouses, to the former Southern plantation owners adjusting to their new lives...was very well done and totally transported me into the past. I could picture it all so well. The descriptions were superb. I also appreciated how things tied together in the end. I couldn't predict everything. I didn't like the Texas Rangers and I was bored with about half of the book. Too must testosterone in their scenes. But that's just me. But that being said, loved how a tone of darkness was intertwined with a western.

I got this via Netgalley.

My Ever-Growing TBR Pile 9/14/2013

I'm excited about this last week's "finds".

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd nabbed my interest on Netgalley. At first I thought, "aviation!" Upon closer inspection it promises to be an interesting historical fiction following the life of two women, one of them for certain a real woman in history. It's at the moment on my wishlist. It releases in 2014. *Blurb is long, sorry.*


Hetty Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.
This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.
***
The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki was spotted on Edelweiss. On my wishlist with a 2014 release. It's another historical about a real-life woman.
A riveting historical novel about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the cunning wife of Benedict Arnold and mastermind behind America’s most infamous act of treason.Everyone knows Benedict Arnold—the infamous Revolutionary War General who betrayed America and fled to the British as history’s most notorious turncoat. Many know Arnold’s co-conspirator, Major John André, who was apprehended with Arnold’s documents in his boots and hung at the orders of General George Washington. But few know of the integral third character in the plot; a charming and cunning young woman, who not only contributed to the betrayal but orchestrated it.

Socialite Peggy Shippen is half Benedict Arnold’s age when she seduces the war hero during his stint as Military Commander of Philadelphia. Blinded by his young bride’s beauty and wit, Arnold does not realize that she harbors a secret: loyalty to the British. Nor does he know that she hides a past romance with the handsome British spy John Andrews;. Peggy watches as her husband, crippled from battle wounds and in debt from years of service to the colonies, grows ever more disillusioned with his hero, Washington, and the American cause. Together with her former lover and her disaffected husband, Peggy hatches the plot to deliver West Point to the British and, in exchange, win fame and fortune for herself and Arnold.

Told from the perspective of Peggy’s maid, whose faith in the new nation inspires her to intervene in her mistress’s affairs even when it could cost her everything, The Traitor’s Wife brings these infamous figures to life, illuminating the sordid details and the love triangle that nearly destroyed the American fight for freedom.

***
Beneath a Smuggler's Moon by Sandra Dubay was free on Amazon. The cover is dull, but the blurb caught my attention. I one time watched a movie on TCM that had a funny, similar plot, so I'm intrigued.
Faced the the prospect of becoming a servant in the home of her social-climbing step-brother and his wife, Jane Evans strikes out on her own after the death of her mother. She becomes the companion of Lady Minerva McAllister who hires her never suspecting that she is secretly the scandalous Lady J___ authoress of books lampooning the follies of high society in Victorian London.

But Lady Minerva has skeletons in her own family closet, most notably her nephew, Adam McAllister, the notorious Earl of Briarcliff. Three times married, two of Lord Briarcliff's wives met tragic ends and the third, packed off back to Paris after being exposed as a bigamous fortune-hunter, was considered by many to have been fortunate to escape with her life.

As Jane travels with Lady Minerva to sinister Briarcliff Castle on the edge of the Irish Sea, she plans to cast the enigmatic earl as the subject of her latest book. Instead she finds herself mesmerized by his dark and brooding charm. But even as the attraction between grows they are both endangered by the plots that swirl about the earl for a jealous, unscrupulous man will stop at nothing, not even murder, to dispose of the earl and steal his title and estate and a scorned woman from the earl's past will do anything to thwart the passion that blossoms between the earl and Jane---a passion born BENEATH A SMUGGLER'S MOON.

***
Also a freebie, Doll of Dawson by Holly Dutch made it on my kindle. 
More than forty years after the Klondike gold rush, Helen—a young reporter for an Alaskan publication is determined to interview an aging, former dancehall girl to secure her place as a professional journalist.

Though the elderly woman's story of survival seems closely guarded, the memories of friendship and betrayal remain sharp within her mind.

As a new bride struggling to maintain the image of perfection from high society Minneapolis, Mae recounts the last gold rush expedition that promised to make thousands of men rich—including her husband Arthur, if only they could withstand the cold and treachery of the Chilkoot Trail, and of each other. Mae recalls several colourful characters including heroes, scoundrels, prostitutes—even an exotic bird!

However, when greed and corruption set in, Mae's husband leaves her stranded in Dawson City to fend for herself. It's then that she became the town's beloved "Doll of Dawson", melting the coldest hearts, and finding wealth beyond gold.

Based on the true events of a woman who lived in Dawson, Yukon at the time of the Klondike gold rush named Mae Field, and the actual article written four decades later entitled The Doll of Dawson by Helen Berg.


***
Spotted on Netgalley and couldn't resist as it has a woman fighter pilot in the Navy. Show of Force by A.J. Quinn.


It should have been simple, but life has a way of getting complicated.

When correspondent Tate McKenna broke her own rules and took navy pilot Lieutenant Commander Evan Kane home from an embassy dinner in Bahrain, she knew all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. Long, unpredictable work hours. Extended absences. The dangers inherent in their jobs. Yet after being with Evan once, it was inconceivable she wouldn’t be with her again.

When they finally have a chance to get things right, danger follows them home from Afghanistan. Now, Tate and Evan must stand together in a show of force or risk losing everything—including their lives.
***
Nabbed on Edelweiss because it looks too cute. Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase.

Samantha Rousseau is used to getting her hands dirty. Working toward a master’s degree in wildlife biology while helping take care of her sick father, she has no time for celebrity gossip, designer clothes, or lazy vacations. So when a duchess from the small country of Lilaria invites her to dinner, Samantha assumes it’s to discuss a donation for the program. The truth will change the course of her life in ways she never dreamed.

Alex D’Lynsal is trying to keep his name clean. As crown prince of Lilaria, he’s had his share of scandalous headlines, but the latest pictures have sent him packing to America and forced him to swear off women—especially women in the public eye. That is, until he meets Samantha Rousseau. She’s stubborn, feisty, and incredibly sexy. Not to mention heiress to an estate in his country, which makes her everyone’s front-page news.

While Sam tries to navigate the new world of politics and wealth, she will also have to dodge her growing feelings for Alex. Giving in to them means more than just falling in love; it would mean accepting the weight of an entire country on her shoulders.


***
I love me some women spies. So when I saw this one on NG, I had to read it. Sadie's Secret by Kathleen Y'Barbo.

Louisiana, 1890--Sarah Louise "Sadie" Callum is a master of disguise, mostly due to her training as a Pinkerton agent but also from evading overprotective brothers as she grew up. When she takes on a new assignment with international connections, she has no idea her new cover will lead her on the adventure of a lifetime.

Undercover agent William Jefferson Tucker is not looking for marriage--pretend or otherwise--but his past is a secret, his twin brother has stolen his present, and his future is in the hands of the lovely Sadie Callum. Without her connections to the world of upper-crust New Orleans, Jefferson might never find a way to clear his name and solve the art forgery case that has eluded him for years.


***
Gorgeous cover, Intriguing title, reputable publisher, and a blurb that screams strong woman, The Scent of Butterflies by Dora Levy Mossanen hit the wishlist for sure.


Such audacity she has, Soraya, a woman who dares to break free of the diamond-studded leash of her culture. A woman who refuses to accept the devastating betrayal her husband has perpetrated. A woman who refuses to forgive her best friend.

Soraya turns her back on Iran, fleeing to America to plot her intricate revenge. The Shah has fallen, her country is in turmoil, her marriage has crumbled, and she is unraveling. The cruel and intimate blow her husband has dealt her awakens an obsessive streak that explodes in the heated world of Los Angeles.

Yet the secret Soraya discovers proves far more devastating than anything she had imagined, unleashing a whirlwind of unexpected events that will leave the reader breathless.

***
FREE TODAY!!!! A novel about the woman pope, Pope Joan. I've talked about her a few times on here. I've not read this book about her yet, but it's now on my Kindle. Get yours here.


Is there any truth to one of the most secret, yet persistent rumors in the Catholic Church's two thousand year history? In Rome, 858 A.D. While on his way to St. Peter's, Pope John Anglicus falls ill on a street. To their horror, the crowd discovers not only is the pope a woman, but she in the throes of labor. The pope and her secret lie in full view of a rampaging crowd. This compelling novel follows the legend of Pope Joan from her childhood, to Johanna von Mainz's epic adventure to find her father and the man she loves, both seemingly lost to her forever. She fights her way across a savage pre-Europe to get to Rome and her dreams, and we discover how she arrived at her fate. This story of a woman's rise to the papacy is a timeless struggle of someone who wanted it all: God, love, family, wisdom and, yes, power. Many have paid the highest price to make those dreams real, but none have been so completely erased from history as the woman pope.

Tip from Tara: Be Careful What You Do With That Ex...

I recently spotted a book on Netgalley. It had a great cover, but I noticed something that made me cringe ASAP... There's nothing I hate more than typos on book covers. I mean, really, it's proof that pretty much everyone is a publisher nowadays, and if you are putting books out there with typos on the covers, you need to take a step away from the industry because you're doing nobody any favors--not the authors with you, not the readers who may actually think that's the proper spelling--after all, it's on a book cover!

I did a quick little Amazon search and found there is a serious problem with the word EX, EXES, and EX's, and I decided this was a good opportunity to talk about apostrophes and their blatant misuse.

What is wrong with these bits of two book covers and the use of the word EX'S? *I do not know the authors, nor have I read the books. To avoid embarrassing anyone, I've cut the relevant parts, but these are actually on book covers. I use this as an example of apostrophe abuse because this is a book blog. I'm rather dismayed at how often I find this error, on covers, in blurbs, in Yahoo articles. Mind boggling. Apparently it's become acceptable! And while I respect there will be errors in the actual book (I've read some BIG 6 books and noted a typo or two), take care with your covers. And reporters reporting...ugh, they should know better.*





I'm just going to post the correct way of using the word EX, EXES, and EX's.

Let's say your ex-boyfriend had a nice grandma.
"My ex's grandmother was really nice."
One ex, mine, possessive.

Or it could be, "My ex had a nice grandma."
One ex, mine, not possessive.

Let's say your ex and your best friend's ex met each other at the mall or hooked up to have an affair of their own...
"Our exes met at the mall."
Two exes, your ex and your best friend's ex, not possessive.

Let's say your ex and your best friend's ex had a baby together.
"Our exes' child was born yesterday."
Two exes, your ex and your best friend's ex, possessive.

So...the above covers should say EXES. Our EXES hooked up. (The bits come from erotic novels in which exes are hooking up). Ex's is singular, possessive. The above titles make me wonder, "Your ex's what? What does your ex own?"

"I have six exes."
"That's my ex's house."
"Our exes met and had a baby."
"Our exes' baby was born in June."

I'm seeing apostrophes misused everywhere--in song titles, in Yahoo articles...

's is only added when possessive or when two words are shortened to one, like:
"She is" becomes "she's".
"He is" becomes "he's".

You wouldn't say, "I love cowboy's."
The only time that 's would be there is if the cowboy owns something. "I love the cowboy's butt."

And.....that's all folks. 




Image courtesy of farconville / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Strong People Weep...But They Don't Go Under, A Guest Post from Carol Hedges

I have to once again thank #wwwblogs for helping me make yet another cool lady author friend. Every Wednesday, women authors all over the world use the twitter hashtag #wwwblogs to share their latest blog post. Every Wednesday, at least blog I read really gets me excited for whatever reason. In the case of Carol Hedges, I was immediately struck by two things: she writes a strong heroine, a girl spy series. This is an author who appreciates strong women in fiction. Second, she is a car fan!!! I drooled over her car. It's black and pink and classic and just screams girl power! She's given me permission to share the photo. Take a nice long look, drool your heart out, and please welcome Carol Hedges.


'Stories begin with once upon a time.' This is the opening sentence of Jigsaw Pieces my latest ebook. It is written in the voice of 18 year old Annie Skjaerstad. She continues: 'Once upon a time when I was 16 years old, somebody I knew died and changed my life forever'.

Jigsaw Pieces traces two pivotal experiences in Annie's life: the suicide of a classmate and her chance meeting with World War 1 veteran Billy Donne. Annie lives in the UK, but was born in Norway. Her father left when she was very young and she never sees him. She is a loner in a strange land who doesn't fit in, says the wrong thing, and is generally disliked and misunderstood by her fellow students. Yet as the story unfolds the reader begins to understand where Annie is coming from. How she has had to develop a strong carapace to survive, and I hope they also begin to see another, softer, more empathetic side to her prickly character.

Where did Annie spring from? Looking back at my own life, I am struck by how many similarities we share. I too was an outsider, growing up in the 1960's as the only Jewish girl in a school of 600 christian ones. My parents were refugees from Hitler's Germany. Like Annie I tried to fit in, but never really did. And then there was the inevitable racism and bullying. I underwent many bad life-events as I matured into an adult, but I firmly believe these were what eventually turned me into what I am today: a writer.

So out of our negative experiences we emerge, Annie and I, strong women, our characters forged in the fires of what we have endured. As Annie says: 'I like the idea of being strong. I've grown up with the concept. It's in my bones and my blood. Strong people survive. They weep, but they don't go under. That's how I am.'
Blurb:
‘He had been part of my everyday life. I hadn’t liked him much, nobody had liked him much, but he’d been there. Now, I’d never see him again.’

Annie Skjaerstad had been searching for her identity since being uprooted from her native country of Norway. With a spiky personality winning her no friends, and family members suddenly torn out of her life, she is left seeking comfort from a growing intrigue into the stories of fallen war heroes.

But one day, a boy from her school unexpectedly commits suicide, changing things forever. Confused by the tragic tale of someone she knew, Annie soon finds herself conducting her own investigation into his death.

What she uncovers will bring her to a dark and dangerous place, as suddenly – her own life is put at risk.

A tense, coming of age crime thriller by the author of ‘Dead Man Talking’.
About the Author:
Contact Carol via Twitter: @carolJhedges, via her blog or on Facebook. 

She is also a member of www.shewrites.com.

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Elizabeth Thompson

Book: Falling in Love Again
Author: Loretta C. Rogers
Heroine: Elizabeth Thompson


Falling in Love Again is different in the fact that the heroine and hero are married, which is a bit unusual for romance novels.
What makes the heroine, Elizabeth Thompson, strong? Although she is the wife of Marine Captain, Kevin Thompson, Elizabeth isn't the typical heroine. She battles depression, and like most wives, she doesn't give herself enough credit for her own abilities. But, when another Marine wife deliberately bullies a young pregnant woman by mimicking the girl's southern drawl and making fun of her pregnancy weight, belittles another wife who is overweight, and also disses the Marines,  Elizabeth puts on her big girl panties and stands nose-to-nose to the bully. On base, there is an unspoken code--Marine wives don't cry, especially in public. When her husband deploys to Afghanistan, for the second time, Elizabeth squares her shoulders and defies the code. Instead of sinking into the dark bowels of depression, she draws on an inner-strength where she acts rather than being acted upon. She exercises, takes college classes, and earns a teaching degree.
Elizabeth isn't willowy or curvaceous, or even classily beautiful. She is overweight. What makes Elizabeth sexy--she's not afraid to make her dreams come true. She is kind and gentle, but has an inner strength that reveals itself throughout the story. Elizabeth is a heroine that is relatable to women readers.


Blurb:
Marine Captain Kevin Thompson risks his life in Afghanistan. When his best friend is wounded during a terrorists attack, Kevin wonders if there is more to life than war. During his darkest moments, his thoughts of Elizabeth and returning home keep him emotionally strong. Elizabeth copes with the daily fears of facing life without her husband. How will she ever deal with it should he not return? Turning to other military wives brings her some comfort, but only the arms of her husband will calm the terror she deals with on a daily basis. Falling in Love Again gives readers a unique and realistic look of what happens on the front lines of battle, and delves into life on a Marine military base, the relationships wives form with one another, and the heartaches they share.




Are you an author with a strong heroine in your book? Want to see her featured? Find out how here.

Review & Giveaway, Stone and Silt by Harvey Chute

Blurb:
A ruthless murder and a stolen shipment of gold.

At school, sixteen-year-old Nikaia Wales endures the taunts of bullies who call her a “half-breed.” At home, she worries about how her family will react if she reveals her growing feelings for the quiet boy next door.

Those are soon the least of her troubles. Nikaia discovers a hidden cache of gold, and when police find a corpse nearby, her father becomes a suspect. Worse, Elias Doyle is circling, hungry to avenge his brother’s death.

Nikaia desperately searches for clues to save her father. In her quest to find the killer, she learns about the power of family, friendship, and young love.

My Thoughts:
I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I was just surprised by how very young it comes across. I expected that because the heroine is sixteen or nearly sixteen, it would have a tone of a sixteen-year-old. It felt more like an eleven or twelve-year-old, and perhaps this was done because that's the age group it's aimed at...but with the girls her age around her getting married or becoming prostitutes, the fact she was still running around in the woods playing "hunt" was weird. Back then, kids grew up fast, had more responsibilities, so I was surprised by this.

The mystery is pretty cool, what there is of it. She witnesses a possible crime--or the makings of it, and finds some gold stashed away that ends up going missing. A dumb mistake on her part leads to her father being arrested and she must trace the origins of a mysterious brooch to find whodunit.

Immersed with this is the fact she is half-Indian,  half-Scottish, and sorta becoming interested in a Chinese boy. I don't have to tell you the difficulties that would have arose with this back then.

There are also Native American customs thrown in. And this leads me to my next quibble: the story got off track for too long. While the mystery intrigued me, around the 50% mark it went off track for so long, I grew bored and it began to lose me. It went to her NA family, customs, small pox, town life...and I was like, "Wait a minute...let's get on with it. I want to know whodunit."

Third, lots of things were far too predictable. I saw so many things coming way before they officially did: the spyglass, the stones...while the heroine was trying to figure out what the stones were, I immediately made the connection, as soon as the words were spoken. Some things were just too obvious to me. This detracted from my enjoyment; however, one must keep in mind this is aimed at younger readers.

Favorite part:
"It faces the river currents. Every day, rough water. Not so easy a life for a rock, being ground up by the flow and the silt. But after a time, the river has done all it can do. The rock is transformed into something so strong, so smooth. So beautiful."

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





Other sites:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stone-and-silt-harvey-chute/1116306511
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/Stone-and-Silt/rs-tC9XrMk2C40J0JFebPw
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17924724-stone-and-siltBook Page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/stone-and-silt-by-harvey-chute/
Harvey’s page on RAP: http://redadeptpublishing.com/harvey-chute/
Harvey’s blog: http://harveychute.blogspot.com/
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Wooden Chair by Rayne E. Golay

As I "close" the last page of this book, I'm left with a variety of thoughts roiling in my head...thoughts about how some behavior seems to be inherited...how sometimes those who seem evil are really the most miserable of all of us, and perhaps they need our pity more than we realize.


There's no major conflict/plot to this book, no mystery. It's more of a psychological story as we read about a young girl in Finland during the war. Now, this is in a historical setting: the forties and fifties mostly, but it's not about history. Folks who don't care for historical fiction should not be deterred. It's a story that could very well take place now, albeit more difficultly, with the children's services now available to people.

It's a girl whose mother just hates her. For reasons unknown. The girl is subjected to emotional torture and abuse day after day, told she's ugly, good for nothing, locked in closets, neglected, unloved, while her brother receives all the adoring attention. Why does her mother hate her so?? It's never made clear. How does a mother loathe one child but adore the other? I don't know. Jealousy?

The novel goes on to show the girl growing up into a needy young woman. She very slowly starts becoming her mother, drowning herself in a bottle of wine at the slightest hurdle. The man doesn't call when he says he will. Drown in a bottle and cry. (Though in her defense, the man was annoying. One minute he's all "you're too young for me" and then next he can't leave her alone. I mean, he knew how young she was was when he first asked her out. Quit leading the girl on. Jackass.)

But the heroine rises above it. She gets therapy and becomes a counselor herself--counseling those with alcohol addiction. She becomes a loving mother, breaking the cycle.

The heroine has blindness in one eye and a "rolling" eyeball for much of the book. This causes a whole 'nother set of problems. As strange as this will sound, I was fascinated by these parts of the story: by the surgeries, the techniques, the struggles with the disability. I felt this aspect of the book was very well done.

As I said above, the book made me think long and hard about behavior patterns and it made me take a long figurative look at cruel people in my own life. In the past I would look at those people and just think they were evil bastards...but now I sit here and wonder what's made them that way. By the time I read the last page of this book, I actually felt sorry for the evil mother. There was a lot going on there, a lot that made her the way she was. I mean, seriously, in the end, who had the most miserable life? The one who made others' lives hell, or the one who learns to leave it all behind?

That being said, I do have some quibbles:

The first half really dragged. I could skim some parts and not miss a beat. It was a lot of repetition: Mom is mean. Little girl cries. Nobody helps her. Mom is mean. Little girl cries. Grandma, uncle, grandpa, and dad show her love but don't help her. Repeat.

There was a lot of tears on faces, sobbing, and crying. Not saying I wouldn't cry myself in some of these instances, but when reading a book and it seems someone is crying or sobbing on almost every other page, it begins to grow irritating.

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

Tasty Review & Giveaway: The Shadow of Mudflap by Christi Snow & M.F. Smith

To us, first responders are heroes. But for them, risking their lives is a normal, everyday thing.
Mudflap:Born the baby of the family, Mudflap has always had something to prove to emerge out of the shadows of his older siblings. He spent eight years as a Special Ops elite sniper and is now a firefighter. But at his heart, he’s just a normal West Texas good old boy who loves his beer, women and football, until the Department of Defense calls him up to say they need his skills again.
Shanae:Shanae is a first responder of a different sort. She’s a trauma nurse who works on a medical evacuation helicopter team. But while she lives a life full of adrenaline every day, it’s just a cover for her real life, where she hides in the shadows and is secret agent, Shadowfox for the Lubbock Foxtrot Team (LiFT). She’s living the kind of life that most people think exists only in movies and books.
Working for two different branches of the government, Mudflap and Shanae are in a race against time and the terrorists who threaten the very heart of West Texas life, football. They’re working toward the same goal, but find themselves in a confrontation against each other and the lies they’ve each had to hide behind. Can love win out in the end or will the cost be each other and their very lives?
First responders are heroes every day, but this story tells the tale of when they become even more and find love along the way. The key is for them to stay alive so that they can complete their mission and just maybe live happily ever after.
On an ordinary day, they save lives. On an extraordinary day, they save the country.


***MY REVIEW***
This is a cute book. The "halftime texting", the jokes between Mudflap and Shanae. The Texans and their fanatism about college football... I'm from Oklahoma, where it's the same. OSU vs OU. So I got a chuckle out that too.

The hero is a nice guy--not an Alpha butt wipe. I like this. He doesn't have to establish dominance constantly--not that he could dominate this heroine anyway.

Shanae is a ball-buster. She takes no grief from anyone. She carries weapons on her person even at the golf course. She sees what she wants and she takes it. And oh! She rides a motorcycle!

These two connect and end up undercover for different secret branches and the mystery all connects somehow to college football. That's all I'll say about that.

It's an enjoyable, very fast paced read. My only quibbles are that, one, Shanae and Mudflap were ready to get into each other's pants WAY too fast, like mere hours after meeting. That was a bit crazy. I mean, I could see it if those few hours were spent in deep discussion and getting-to-know-each-otherness, but it wasn't. Two, the thing with the coins was kind of confusing to me. I'm still not sure I completely understand.

But this was a nice start to what promises to be a good series for those who like romantic suspense with a dash of humor.

Favorite part:

Slowly and methodically  she set her coffee cup down and then lunged at him, pressing her knife below his crotch. He never had a chance to react. He really should have remembered that waking her up was never a good thing.





Barnes and Noble (print and e-book)KoboARESmashwords

Author InfoChristi SnowAs an avid reader her entire life, Christi Snow always dreamed of writing books that brought to others the kind of joy she felt when she read. But...she never did anything about it besides jot down a few ideas and sparse scenes.
When she turned 41, she decided it was time to go after her dream and started writing. Within four months, she'd written over 150,000 words and hasn't stopped since.

She's found her calling by writing about sexy, alpha heroes and smart, tough heroines falling in love and finding their passion. She's truly living the dream and loving every minute of it.
Her tagline is... Passion and adventure on the road to Happily Ever After. She's loving this adventure!www.christi-snow.comhttp://smittenwithreading.blogspot.com (book review blog)https://www.facebook.com/christisnowauthor?ref=hlhttps://twitter.com/ChristiSnowhttp://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5849322.Christi_Snow
M.F. Smith Mudflap is a morning show personality for 96.3 KLLL in Lubbock, TX. He’s been on the morning show for seven years and in radio for over ten years. He’s entertained people all over the world, and has helped raise money for many non-profit agencies and charities.

Mudflap loves to see people smile and believes everyone deserves a hug.KLLL radio station website


GIVEAWAY!!!!! Ipad Mini 16GB OR, Kindle Fire HD 16GB


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the Tour