Reading and Reviews (Brown and Joynt-Lang)
I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'llshare my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read islimited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook atnight for the last hour of my day.
I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. BesidesRomantic Suspense and mystery, I read crime and law novels, once in a while atrue story, WWII historicals, romance, and mainstream character driven books.
Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past.Maybe you'll discover a new book or author.
Daughters of Green Mountain Gap by Teri M. Brown is the story of threegenerations of women, of faith versus science, of tradition and change. Mother,daughter, granddaughter. My Review:
Maggie is a granny woman, a skilled midwife. But Maggie hasspent her life learning and practicing healing beyond childbirth. Her knowledgeof herbs is almost secondary to her gift of healing through faith and mentalattitude. Her daughter Carrie Ann rejected Maggie’s style of healing, believingher ideas were crazy and more like magic. When Carrie Ann left to pursue amedical education, with Maggie’s blessing, she also left her daughter Josie Maebehind for Maggie to raise on her farm in Green Mountain Gap holler. Carrie Annreturned to practice medicine but in the near town of Burnsville. Josie Maematures, caught between her mother’s and her grandmother’s worlds.
This is the point where the story begins for the reader. Thetime frame for Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is 1892-1894 with anepilogue set in 1926. The setting is North Carolina hill country and on theCherokee nation. The dynamics between the three women is a remarkable story.The characterizations are deep and develop to the very end. The events areheart tugging and page turning.
Ms. Brown weaves her story of folklore and science usingknowledge of herbs and history. I didn’t question it, and it wasn’toverwhelming. I’ve read books that seem more like the author trying to proveher knowledge and spotlight her research. Ms. Brown’s style is flawless in thisrespect.
Evocative andthought-provoking. Daughters of Green Mountain Gap exposes the inexplicablecomplexities of the relationships between the generations of the three women. I highly recommend this book.
Escaping Circumstances (Out of the Darkness, book 2) by Gloria Joynt-Lang Eliot “Scorp” Traversini is no stranger to pain. Quinn loves her new apartment building but not Scorp, her neighbor. As Scorp and Quinn bond over his sister, they spark a passion they never expected. But dark secrets and unrelenting fears threaten their newfound romance.
My Review:
If you’re a lover of romance novels, this book has severaltropes to wet your appetite. Opposites attract qualifies for Scorp and Quinn.Elliot, known as Scorp, is a tattooed monster of a man, all handsome, yetlooking like the bad boy. Quinn is the artistic type with a more timidpersonality. Quinn can’t help but run into the man who lives across thehall…forced proximity. She doesn’t like him, but something draws her to him.When she finds out he’s raising his kid sister, cracks in her resolve growwide.
So what’s going on with these two that they can’t justcharge in and get to know each other—secrets. They both have pasts, and thosepasts aren’t pretty.
Quinn isn’t totally wrong evaluating her neighbor as a badboy. He’s self-destructive in an effort to forget and deal with a past that hasleft deep scars. But his heart of gold and the gentle nature masked by hismacho good looks can’t hide from her for long. He’s taken in his little sisterto protect her from a similar fate.
The heroine and hero in this story have a lot of depth. Whatbothered me is having the full scope of their pasts purposely hidden until latein the book. Perhaps Ms. Joynt-Lang’s purpose was to build intrigue orconflict, but I think the characters would’ve been fuller and the story smootherif we’d known the why of their actions sooner.
Romance lovers will be immersed in the blossoming lovebetween Scorp and Quinn with their ups and downs, and in the middle of all theconflict is a sweet little girl.
