Helen Rena's Blog: Books and Their Discontents, page 7

Love at the End of Days: Release Day

Today I am very excited for Tera Shanley, who is releasing her new romance Love at the End of Days on this glorious 14th of October, which is probably our last 14th and our last October because…

The Apocalypse is coming…

…are you ready?

Romance and zombies collide in the riveting sequel to Love in the Time of the Dead.

Year four into the Dead outbreak that ended the world and Vanessa Summers has been so burned by love, she swears she will never trust a man again. But Sean Daniels, guard leader of Dead Run River, isn’t just any man. When past lovers return to the colony, things get complicated. Desperate to rid herself of the heartache, Vanessa signs up for a supply run that will test her mettle as a guard in training. Sean volunteers to lead her team, and his hungry looks say it’s more personal than professional.

Danger comes from all sides as they scavenge Dead infested cities, and as her attraction for Sean deepens, Vanessa finds her head and heart at war with each other. He clouds her judgment, and any misstep could spell disaster outside of the safety of colony gates.

A race back to Dead Run River could save a team mate’s life, but trouble has been brewing back home. Laney Landry, the woman who broke Sean’s heart, is in trouble, and Vanessa must decide whether to take back the Denver colony beside the man she’s falling in love with, or bow out of an attraction that terrifies her.

Weathering Dead hybrids, betrayals, battles, jealousy, and soul consuming love, Vanessa must find her place in the team she’s found. And if she can, she might just master survival at the end of days.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/107005-love-at-the-end-of-days

Author Website: http://terashanley.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @TeraShanley

Author’s Bio:

Tera Shanley writes in sub-genres that stretch from Paranormal Romance, to Historic Western Romance, to Apocalyptic (zombie) Romance. The common theme? She loves love. A self-proclaimed bookworm, she was raised in small town Texas and could often be found decorating a table at the local library. She currently lives in Dallas with her husband and two young children and when she isn’t busy running around after her family, she’s writing a new story or devouring a good book. Any spare time is dedicated to chocolate licking, rifle slinging, zombie slaying, friend hugging, and the great outdoors. For more information about Tera and her work, visit www.terashanley.com.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett: A Quarter of a Review

I had great, big expectations for The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I really did. Everyone was talking about that book. And then they made a movie, and everyone started talking about it even faster. I had to get the book.

And so I did.

It started out strong. Yes, I enjoyed reading the first few lines. A black woman called Aibileen tells us how she takes care of white kids for a living. And how she also does all the cooking and cleaning besides taking care of those babies. The white race has it coming. I sat more comfortably in my chair.

However, the very next thing I read (yes, it was still the first page) was that Aibileen had been hired by a very young white woman to take care of the woman’s very young white baby. It’s the woman’s first baby; she doesn’t know how take care of the newborns yet. She also seems to be having trouble bonding with the baby, which is hardly surprising as we learn later. Yes, it’s actually the opposite of “surprising” because the young woman, Mrs. Leefolt, got married because that’s what was expected from women in 1962, and then she stayed unemployed for the same reason, and then she had a child for the same reason. And also, I’m guessing, because married women couldn’t use contraceptives. No, Kathryn Stockett does not mention this last fact, but she does acknowledge that Mrs. Leefolt did not want children. Like at all. Because Mrs. Leefolt always wanted to be a clothes designer: she learns how to sew on her own and she keeps sewing during her every spare moment. All of this is acknowledged in the book, and yet, Mrs. Leefolt gets no sympathy from Stockett. None at all. Which felt so odd as I read the book. It was as if Stockett admitted that Mrs. Leefolt had her legs chopped off, but still berates her for not running a marathon well. Huh?

Well, anyway, I kept on reading…

Aibileen helps Mrs. Leefolt with the baby and the household. All goes well. However, Mrs. Leefolt wants to build a separate bathroom for Aibileen because it was believed at the time that African Americans had special germs that were dangerous for white people. Naturally, Aibileen feels humiliated about this separate bathroom project. I’m rooting for Aibileen here, and I agree with Stockett in condemning Mrs. Leefolt’s racism. What bothered me, however, that Mr. Leefolt was completely exempt from this condemnation.

Mr. Leefolt is never home. Mr. Leefolt is never thought of by Aibileen. He is seldom thought of by Mrs. Leefolt. In fact, he is rarely mentioned in the book at all. However, it’s got to be him who funds the separate bathroom project, hires the workers, and so on. And yet, not a bad word for Mr. Leefolt.

Okay…

A new character is introduced in the book. Miss Skeeter. A young white woman fresh out of college. A woman who is figuring out her place in the world. Her mother, however, is a racist and does some heinous stuff to the black woman who raised Miss Skeeter. I get this turn of the plot–it will make it this much harder for Miss Skeeter to choose to be a decent human being. All good…only…only Miss Skeeter’s father is somehow not involved in what’s going on in his house. Like zero involvement. He reminded me of Cinderella’s dad: in the fairytale, you know he is there when the stepmom abuses Cinderella, but he is just a shadow. A non-entity.

At this point I began to worry if this was a pattern in the book: a bad white woman, an involved and hence good white man…

Another character. Minny. A brave black woman who is angry with white people for what they are doing to African Americans. Due to something she did to her last employer’s daughter, she is unhirable in the town where she lives. Eventually, however, she does find a job for a flaky white woman, Miss Celia. Again, due to some circumstances I won’t go into, Miss Celia does not want to tell her husband, Mister Johnny, that she hired Minny. So Minny cooks and cleans while Mister Johnny is at work. Which is very low on Miss Celia’s part because Minny is scared Mister Johnny would come home suddenly and take her for a thief and kill her. But Miss Celia is a racist and does not care how Minny feels.

So I keep on reading…

…how the sham goes on until one day Miss Celia is gone to town and Mister Johnny does come home unexpectedly and does find Minny in the kitchen. Yes, at last, the first direct contact between a white dude character and an African American character in the book. It should be good especially since Mister Johnny comes in with an ax. Minny and I are petrified.

What comes next, however, is just…I don’t know…

Okay, what comes next is that Mister Johnny peacefully explains how he found the ax outside and just brought it in without intending to harm anyone. The two converse, and it turns out that Mister Johnny is a really nice guy. He likes Minny’s cooking and actually knows it wasn’t his wife who’s been cooking all this time, and it’s all rainbows. And then Minny eagerly cooks Mister Johnny a tasty lunch and there are rainbow-colored ponies frolicking around, and that’s when I stopped reading the book. It just felt too sad and tired, this plot. I mean, it’s Cinderella all over, only instead of a young white virginal girl who mops and cleans, we have a black woman who mops and cleans and takes care of babies.

***Sigh***

SUSPECTED by Rori Shay: Cover Reveal

Today I’m doing a cover reveal for Rori Shay and her new YA science fiction novel Suspected. It is Book 2 in the Elected Series.


 



 


About Elected, Book 1 in the series:


 

It’s the year 2185, and in two weeks, Aloy will turn eighteen and take her father’s place as president of the country. But to do so, she must masquerade as a boy to avoid violating the Eco-Accords, four treaties designed to bring the world back from the effects of climate change. Aloy hopes to govern like her father, but she is inheriting a different country where long-concealed political enemies are stepping out of the shadows.

As she struggles to lead, Aloy maintains her cover by marrying a woman, meanwhile battling feelings for the boy who knows her secret – the boy who is somehow connected to her country’s recent upheaval. When assassination attempts add to the turmoil, Aloy doesn’t know whom to trust. She understood leadership required sacrifice. She just didn’t realize the sacrifice might be her life.

ELECTED is a coming of age story, mixing the themes of gender, politics, environmentalism, and above all – love.

 

About Book 2, Suspected:

East Country upheld the laws. Mid destroyed them.

In the year 2185 Earth is rebuilding after climate change created a global eco-crisis. Countries maintain complete isolation so there is no warfare over scarce resources. One Elected family is chosen to lead each country for 100 years to ensure stability. Women aren’t allowed to take office and must reproduce at all costs. Technology use of any kind is banned to preserve what’s left of the environment.

And yet, I’m my country’s Elected. I’ve just sanctioned technology use to ready us for war. I’m about to cross the border to spy on our neighbor. And…I’m a girl.

Shhhh…

 

 



 

Suspected goes up for sale in February 2015.

Buy links for ELECTED (special sale price of 99 cents for Book 2’s cover reveal):

1. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Elected-Book-1-Rori-Shay-ebook/dp/B00JUEWUP0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412033741&sr=8-1&keywords=elected

2. Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elected-rori-shay/1119587657?ean=9780989676847

3. Silence in the Library Publishing: http://www.silenceinthelibrarypublishing.com/product/elected-rori-shay/

Link to put SUSPECTED on your goodreads “want to read” list:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22736512-suspected

There will also be a prequel short story to ELECTED coming out through Silence in the Library Publishing in December 2014! Watch Silence in the Library’s website for that news! http://www.silenceinthelibrarypublishing.com


 

Rori Shay is a strategic management consultant living in the Seattle area with her family, black lab, and cat.  In the writing world, Rori is primarily known for her science fiction trilogy, The Elected Series. She received a BS from the University of Maryland and an MBA from George Washington University.  She enjoys running, reading, snow-shoeing, and pumpkin-picking!  Rori is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cloven (The Trinity of Souls #2) by Georgeann Swiger: Cover Reveal

This is the second book in The Trinity of Souls series.

The blurb:

What would you do if the only things standing between you and the angel you love were another angel and the fiery pits of Hell?

When Anya and Micah declare their love for each other, the battle for the souls of the star-crossed angels stretches across the heavens. With Heaven forbidding their love, Micah vows to protect Anya by sentencing himself to Hell.

But Anya won’t let him go without a fight. She goes into Hell after him, only to discover an angel from Micah’s past is willing to do anything to keep Micah in Hell.

With love and lies blinding Micah, Anya fights to get him to face his demons and return to Heaven, even if it means hearts will be broken.

The battle for the angels begins where it left off. Between Heaven and Hell is forbidden love.

The lovely cover:

The Book Info:

Author: Georgeann Swiger

Title: Cloven

Series: The Trinity of Souls (#2)

Category: NA

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: CreateSpace (Self-Published)

Format: Ebook

Published: 21st October 2014

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23164435-cloven

Pre-Order Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NSC1VPK

The First Book in the Series:

For a limited time only Adorned will be free, please include something similar to this in your blog post;

Adorned is free for a limited time.

Be sure to get your copy today!

Amazon Free Link: http://www.amazon.com/Adorned-Trinity-Souls-Georgeann-Swiger-ebook/dp/B00JG8QZ1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411468084&sr=1-1&keywords=adorned+georgeann+swiger

Barnes & Noble Free Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/adorned-georgeann-swiger/1119125704?ean=2940149544202&itm=1&usri=2940149544202

The author:

Georgeann Swiger earned her degree in journalism from West Virginia University, and then spent five years as an anchor/reporter at WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, WV. After having children, she left television news to be a stay at home mom. During that time, she discovered creative writing was more fun than writing about real life tragedy. Imagining interesting character and having them come to life on the page is now her passion. When she’s not writing, she works as a substitute teacher. She lives in Reedsville, West Virginia with her husband, two kids, a beagle dog and a temperamental cat who tries to rule the house.

Website. Twitter. Facebook. Pinterest.

A Shiny New Review of Into the Blind

From The Avid Book Collector:

“Into the Blind was really quite different from anything that I have ever read. The author has created this majorly screwed up world where children are sold on the Black Market for their special abilities. The main character Ever was one of these babies, and for 15 years, she and three other children have been held hostage in an abandoned mall being treated horribly while their captors wait for the children’s powers to develop. Ever is quite special as she is blind, however, she can ‘see’ using the people around her. She is a ‘heart’ and when her ability is developed, she will be able to channel feelings into other people. This can be good or bad, and her boyfriend Fox, does not want her to channel at all. This poses a problem quite often in the story, because whenever a situation arises where Ever can get their butts out of trouble, Fox gets really pissed off.

As the four plot to escape the mall prison, the action picks up and the reader gets to go on a journey that is beyond mind-blowing. At times, I was comparing this story to something like Alice in Wonderland on crack. It was just that kind of weird. The ending? Well, everything came together and made perfect sense, and it left me completely speechless.

Helen Rena has really written an outstanding story that has so many twists and turns, and such creativity, you can’t help but get engrossed in the world that she has created. This one will appeal to all age groups who love a good fantasy/dystopian story and is one that I would recommend.”

Yay!

Danielle Doolittle’s Regret: Giveaway and Gorgeous Cover

Today I am hosting Danielle Doolittle, who has just released her paranormal novel Regret.

Here is the blurb:

Eighteen-year-old Penelope Green doesn’t have any reason to believe her senior year will be anything but ordinary.

Boy was she wrong…

There’s a new family in her small Martha’s Vineyard community and they’re about to flip her world upside down; none more so that the brooding, wide-shouldered Kane Whitmore.

Connected in ways she never dreamed possible, Penelope must trust Kane and her growing feelings for him as his family to guides her through her missing past and a world she never knew existed—a world she’d suddenly become the center of.

Learning she’s a Guardian with the ability to heal she can handle. It’s the dreams—both frightening and heart-wrenching—that nearly brings her to her knees. But when madman’s vengeful plot puts her loved ones at risk, Penelope is willing to sacrifice anything to keep them safe…even her own life.

Available on Amazon now.

Rafflecopter:

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Dangerous Love: A Cover Reveal

I told you this was the week of cover reveals…

 



 

 

DANGEROUS LOVE



by Kara Leigh Miller and Jody Holford

Anaiah Press is proud to present the cover of a romantic suspence novel by Kara Leigh Miller and Jody Holford



Dangerous Love!

Release date: March 3, 2015



About the book:

He’s fighting to forget his past while she struggles to remember hers…

 

Doctor Josh Parker lives with guilt about his wife’s death every day.

He believes himself incapable of ever loving again, but when a

mysterious woman arrives in the Emergency Room, brutally beaten and

left for dead, he starts to feel something he hasn’t felt in far too long:

hope.

 

Alessandra Matthews has no memory of the events that led to her being

hospitalized. Worse, she has no idea who hurt her or why. Although she’s

uncertain of who she is, she is fully aware of one thing — she’s falling

for her doctor.

 


Sometimes, what you don’t know can kill you…

 

As Josh and Alessa work to solve the mystery surrounding her past, she

soon realizes just how much danger she’s really in, but Josh refuses to

let her face the darkness of her memories alone. With each of them

struggling to put their pasts behind them, theirs is a DANGEROUS LOVE.

 

And here’s what we’ve all been waiting for – the cover!

…

…

…






Add Dangerous Love on Goodreads!

About the Authors:

Kara Leigh Miller

Kara lives in Upstate New York with her husband, three kids, three dogs, and three cats. When she’s not busy writing romance novels that leave readers swooning, she’s spending time with her family or attending one of her many writers groups. An active member of The Romance Writers of America and the CNY Writers Haven, Kara is also Managing Editor for Anaiah Press’ Surge and Romance Imprints. She absolutely loves to hear from her fans and fellow authors, so feel free to drop her a line anytime!

Website     Twitter      Goodreads     Facebook



Jody Holford

Jody lives in British Columbia with her husband and two daughters. She is a fan of Nora Roberts, Jill Shalvis, Rachel Gibson, and Rainbow Rowell. In reading and writing, she likes characters who are flawed, but driven toward the pursuit of love and happiness. In November 2013, she published A Not So Lonely Christmas with Foreward Literary. In December 2014, she published Forever Christmas through Kindle Direct.


Website     Twitter      Goodreads     Facebook

Reading in the Time of Ebola

I used to be a good reader.

No, not like that.

I used to be an enthusiastic reader who read books mostly as authors intended them to be read.* I fell in love with the characters they wanted me to love and hated the ones they wanted me to hate. I made mistakes, of course. Like for example, when I finished Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I saw a happy couple finally united after many trials and tribulations instead of a blinded subdued male paired with a victorious female. And when I read Jane Austen’s novels, I completely overlooked Austen’s scathing critique of the way British society forced its women into marriages. I thought they were love stories.

Books seemed so shiny to me then.

So of course, I went on to get a Ph.D. in Books. Comparative Literature, that’s what they called it. I learned how to be a good reader, or at least as good as one can be.** If, for instance, the text said its protagonist tortured women, children, and animals, then no matter how romantic he seemed in his relationship with one woman, his love interest, he was still a sadist, and his dark moody charms should repulse rather than attract. Yes, I am talking about Wuthering Heights.

Reading like this was fun.

Somewhat.

And only for a short while.

Because quite soon they taught me to see authors’ biases and prejudices in books. Which I had been blind to until then. Yes, I know I sound naive, and I WAS naive. In fact, more naive than I should have been because as someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, I knew not to believe a word written in, let’s say, newspapers and magazines. But I thought it was only non-fiction that lied. I mean who lies in fiction?

Many people as it turned out.

For instance, Tolstoy. Who said that some women are as shallow as cats and so it’s okay to hurt them (War and Peace). Dickens. Who said that only virginal girls and married women who never slept with anyone but their husbands deserved to live (Dickens’s entire oeuvre). And even Charlotte Bronte. Who showed no pity to the poor mad locked-up Mrs. Rochester because that woman happened to be a person of color.

Now whenever I’m reading, I feel like Mad-Eye Moody: constant vigilance and trust no one. Anybody can suddenly turn into a death eater. That good-guy protag can abruptly say something racist. That novel can suddenly make its overweight sexually adventurous female character into a villain. That moody, handsome fairy king can out of the blue begin to sex-traffic human underage girls, and the author is clearly okay with that. My blood boils, and yes, reading is hard these days.

And when I started writing, it was, of course, about a girl who believed all the stuff written in books. Some books told her that females were more prone to insanity, and so she thought herself mad. Others said females were evil, and she believed that too. It was a hard book to write. I so much wanted for the girl to be all right, but at the same time, as a writer, I had to give her a hard time. And so I gave her a sexist boyfriend, wishy-washy friends,

and the deadliest environment I could think of: a bookstore. The girl had to grow up, relying on books only for her information about the outside world. And now my book, Into the Blind, is out there. I wish it well. I hope it’ll prove me to be at least a good writer, if not a good reader.

*Authorial intent is of course a much fuzzier thing than that, but if we go into detail, we’d never get out of it alive.

**Our understanding of texts is of course influenced by who we are: our gender, race, state of health, lived experience, and anything and everything about us.

Cover Reveal for Love At The End of Days

Hi, everyone! It’s the week of cover reveals!

Today I am doing a cover reveal for Tera Shanley’s Love At The End of Days.

Here is the blurb:

Romance and zombies collide in the riveting sequel to Love in the Time of the Dead.

Year four into the Dead outbreak that ended the world and Vanessa Summers has been so burned by love, she swears she will never trust a man again. But Sean Daniels, guard leader of Dead Run River, isn’t just any man. When past lovers return to the colony, things get complicated. Desperate to rid herself of the heartache, Vanessa signs up for a supply run that will test her mettle as a guard in training. Sean volunteers to lead her team, and his hungry looks say it’s more personal than professional.

Danger comes from all sides as they scavenge Dead infested cities, and as her attraction for Sean deepens, Vanessa finds her head and heart at war with each other. He clouds her judgment, and any misstep could spell disaster outside of the safety of colony gates.

A race back to Dead Run River could save a team mate’s life, but trouble has been brewing back home. Laney Landry, the woman who broke Sean’s heart, is in trouble, and Vanessa must decide whether to take back the Denver colony beside the man she’s falling in love with, or bow out of an attraction that terrifies her.

Weathering Dead hybrids, betrayals, battles, jealousy, and soul consuming love, Vanessa must find her place in the team she’s found. And if she can, she might just master survival at the end of days.

And here is the cover:

Love At The End of Days (ISBN:9781623421557) will be released on October 14th, 2014.

To learn more about the author: http://terashanley.blogspot.com/

Killing Darkness Cover Reveal

Hi, everyone!

Today I am doing a cover reveal for Kat Daemon’s Killing Darkness.

Here is the blurb:

Powerful, beautiful, and covered in scars…

Brielle, born of a mortal-immortal union between a human mother and the devil Himself, is prophesied to be the one capable of turning the tide in the brewing apocalypse.

As Brielle’s thirtieth birthday draws near, she strikes a deal with the devil and sets out on a journey of self discovery. In an attempt to comprehend what it means to be fully human, Brielle finds herself at the door of her therapist, Adam. Blurring relationship lines and questioning everything, she quickly learns that humanity, vulnerability, and love are things she isn’t prepared to handle. Distancing herself, she finds shelter in her father’s arms once more.

Two worlds are about to collide…

When the archangel Michael suddenly takes a deep interest in Brielle, Lucifer begins to understand that his greatest opponent is curious about more than just her choice. Michael’s fall will be Lucifer’s rise and only Brielle holds the key to making it happen.

With a human, an angel, and a demon all tearing at her heart, Brielle realizes it’s time to decide if her loyalties lie with Michael in Heaven or her father in Hell.

And here is the cover:

Kat Daemon grew up in New York where her imagination always seemed to get the best of her. When she’s not hanging with demons, she’s usually armed with a strong cup of coffee and dreaming up her next tormented character.

She is the author of the The Darkness Saga. Book one of the saga, Taming Darkness, the story of the world’s most infamous fallen angel and the one woman who was able to hold temptation over him, is available now.

You can find out more about Kat and her books at www.katdaemon.com