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AUTHOR INTERVIEW — DIANA BLACK

The other day, I had the opportunity to interview this charming author, Diana Black, whose book about Women Over Fifty brought forth an interesting club, some blogs, etc.

They are the WOOFERS, so check out this link to my interview to find out more!

WOOFERS INTERVIEW here, and have a look at this book cover.

A MAGICAL JOURNEY — A Review of “Whale Song”

From the talented author Cheryl Kaye Tardif we are given a poignant and haunting tale—a coming-of-age story of a young girl transplanted to an island culture that combined Native mysticism with the beautiful animal world of the whales.

When Sarah Richardson’s family moved from Wyoming to Vancouver Island, she was not happy. Leaving behind a life of familiarity and comfort, including her best friend, she could not imagine ever experiencing joy again. Her parents, however, immerse themselves into their new lives—her mother resumes her art and her father, his marine biology.

But soon enough, she finds herself seamlessly drawn to the island, the ocean, and eventually to a new best friend—Goldie Dixon—and a wise old woman called Nana, who instilled Native Nootka mysticism into her new identity.

Unfortunately, as she begins a new school year, she becomes the victim of racism meted out by another young girl and learns what it’s like to be bullied. In the process, however, she discovers the other girl’s secret abuse by her father, and during a school field trip, when she saves the other girl’s life, they become fast friends.

As life begins to settle into some kind of normalcy, Sarah is happy— she even has experienced her first crush on Adam, a young boy in her class.

But then life takes a tragic turn, as she learns of her mother’s terminal illness. Then in a horrible and devastating moment that dramatically alters all of their lives, something happens in that hospital room; something that Sarah cannot remember—hysterical amnesia, the doctors report. Because her father is the suspect, he is sent to prison for murder…for allegedly turning off his wife’s life support.

Through the horrible aftermath, Sarah clings to Nana’s words: “When wolf walks by her, she will remember.”

What finally emerges, years later, will set them all free.

A powerful tale of mystery, drama, coming-of-age, and Native mysticism, Whale Song: A Novel was like a magical journey…I couldn’t put it down!

SENTIMENTALITY — A Review of “Same Time Next Year”

When this movie came out, I loved it! In fact, I listened to the music from Johnny Mathis (“The Last Time I Felt Like This”) over and over.

In this movie, the premise seems trite. A couple meets, spends a weekend together, and that’s it. But it isn’t, and this particular couple, played by Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, decides to meet again the “same time next year.” And then, over the next couple of decades, we see the two of them connect again and again. We watch them as they grow and change—sometimes she grows more than he, and sometimes vice versa.

We’re kind of rooting for them to get together, but we also know, on some level, that if this relationship were to become permanent, it would change…irrevocably.

I love the pairing of these two actors, and the theme music from Johnny Mathis evokes so many emotions in me…from that time. It transports me back to what was happening in my own life.

A memorable movie that touches on emotions and reminds us that it’s the moments in life that are most memorable.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED — A Review of “One Good Turn”

When a mysterious man driving a Peugeot puts on the brakes to avoid hitting a passenger, he is struck from behind by a blue Honda. This action sets in motion a whole series of events – beginning with Honda Man wielding a bat toward Peugeot driver’s head – which next leads to a bystander’s intervention. The mild-mannered bystander hits the bat-wielding individual with his laptop case.

The lives of these disparate individuals collide in this moment; then they begin to intersect at various points along the way in the upcoming days. As it turns out, the mild-mannered man is a successful mystery writer – Martin Canning – who pens his novels under the name Alex Blake. The man in the Peugeot is “Paul Bradley,” but in actuality, this is an alias. And Honda Man turns out to be one Terence Smith.

Add to the mix a businessman, Graham Hatter, whose dealings are fraudulent; his disenchanted wife Gloria, who is not unhappy when he has an accident in a hotel room with a woman and ends up in ICU, near death; and then toss in the machinations of members of a cleaning/miscellaneous assignments crew called Favors – and you have the makings for a complex suspense tale that draws the attention of the local police – namely Louise Monroe – and a former policeman/private detective named Jackson Brodie.

All are in Edinburgh, where a Festival is going on – and where Julia, Jackson’s girlfriend, is a participant, along with comedian Richard Mott, who also happens to be Martin Canning’s houseguest.

How does each of these characters figure into the overall plot? Who has set in motion the events that will lead to murder, mayhem, and destruction? Rapidly turning pages, hoping to find the answers, I could not get there fast enough.

Just as exciting as Atkinson’s previous and subsequent novels, Case Histories: A Novel and When Will There be Good News? (Import) (UK Hardcover) Atkinson, One Good Turn: A Jolly Murder Mystery leaves the reader wanting more – all the way to the surprising end.

A CAPTIVATING SAGA — POWERFUL BONDS

“Show us your true colors, who you used to be.”

This is the challenge posed to the patriarch of the Grey family, by the oldest daughter Winona—at a pivotal moment in their lives— and when he responded by slamming the door to his study, making himself an island, separate and alone, she knew. He had chosen not to care about the things that mattered to his daughters.

Thus comes the beginning of the end to this family saga. The three sisters, joined by family connections and the wish of their dying mother that they never forget that they are sisters…Connected by their heritage and their history, these three—Winona, the oldest, a well-known attorney, who is always seeking (and seldom receiving) her father’s approval; Aurora, the family peacemaker; and Vivi Ann, the undisputed star of the family, the one to whom everything seemingly comes easily—until that time when a stranger comes to town.

When Vivi Ann falls for the handsome, dangerous-appearing man who has become their ranch hand, she is already engaged to Luke— the love of Winona’s life—and settled into an acceptable plan for her own future. Marriage, children—all of the things she supposedly wants—but instead, she walks the dangerous path of defiance and runs off with her lover.

Dallas Raintree, half-Indian with a juvenile history of assaults and thefts, strikes a discordant note in all of their lives. For Winona, especially—since her unrequited love for Luke is now a possibility, if only Vivi Ann leaves him for another. But when Winona manipulates things so that Luke discovers the betrayal, she is totally unprepared for the consequences that will ripple through all of their lives for years to come.

For the joining of Dallas and Vivi Ann is not the end of anything. It is the beginning of a lifetime for Vivi Ann of being on the outside of the approval her father cares so much about.

And when something happens that wrests away the happiness the two lovers had sought—something outside the law—the pair spends many years apart, wronged by the judgment of a town and the small-minded law enforcement investigation that rushes to judgment.

Will Winona finally come through for her sister and the “wronged” lover? Can she find a resolution that will turn aside a conviction?

True Colors is a magnificent portrayal of family dynamics that shift and turn as destiny unfolds. A memorable and thought-provoking voyage to a satisfying conclusion.

HAVE I MADE TERRIBLE MISTAKES? — A Review of “American Wife”

American Wife,  a fascinating and provocative tale of an ordinary woman’s journey to the White House caught me in its grip from the first moment.

Written in the first-person voice of Alice Lindgren, ordinary child of Midwestern parents, we follow her childhood and adolescent experiences. Her father is a banker, her mother a housewife. Living in the home is her paternal grandmother, a woman who reads a lot and has opinions. Someone who has an enormous impact on the young girl. She is also someone who harbors a secret, one that can potentially devastate the lives of those around her.

And then, startlingly, on one ordinary night, something happens that seemingly steers Alice off-course. An accident that changes her and how she views the world.

From this defining moment forward, we see Alice’s life change direction. She becomes a quiet librarian, almost austere in her life choices. She could continue on this path indefinitely.

But then, another unexpected event alters the course of her life. She meets Charlie Blackwell, a rich young man, son of a former governor, whose world of privilege clashes with Alice’s humble beginnings. She is captivated by his charisma. They fall in love.

Their married life reveals much about each of them. Through familiarity, they become adept at understanding each other’s flaws and limitations. At one point, Alice considers leaving Charlie, whose fondness for drinking and carousing troubles her greatly. But then she realizes that in life and in marriage, compromises must be made…

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your views), this decision sets the tone for the rest of their lives together and ultimately their roles when Charlie becomes President. Her quietly divergent views are left unexpressed, at least publicly, and she becomes almost an automaton—waving at crowds, hosting galas, and focusing on noncontroversial issues until something happens that seemingly changes the course of their lives.

A secret from Alice’s past threatens to be revealed by someone she considered an ally—a friend, even. But then when she dodges that bullet, she takes an opportunity to quietly voice her own opinions to a war protestor who has taken up camp on the White House lawn, requesting an audience with the President. Her actions thrust her into the eye of a media storm, but then the spin doctors take over with their damage control. So it seems as if she has dodged another bullet. Or has she?

Will her life be irrevocably altered still again? What will happen to the carefully constructed world she and her husband have created? And what, indeed, will be the outcome for the country? “Have I made terrible mistakes?” This is a question Alice asks herself on that fateful evening when she finally, at long last, speaks in her own voice…

This thoughtful book in an ordinary woman’s voice posed many philosophical questions—about the inner life of a marriage, but more importantly, what most probably could be an insider’s tale of a powerful union.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW — STACY JUBA

Check out my interview of author Stacy Juba, over at DAMES OF DIALOGUE.

On October 21, I had the pleasure of interviewing this author with a compelling story to tell.

Twenty-Five Years Ago Today is the book that explores a long-ago mystery—a cold case—and shares with the reader the how and why of it all.

Check this one out!  You’ll be glad you did.

A MAGICAL TAPESTRY OF LIVES UNDONE — A Review of “Sing Them Home”

In 1978, in the small town of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, a tornado has ravaged the community, swirling through its ranks and taking the wife of the small-town physician, Llewellyn Jones.

Before her final “ascent,”  Hope Jones had already begun to descend into physical deterioration through Multiple Sclerosis; being whisked away by a tornado might be seen as a kinder, gentler journey.

But the aftermath of the tornado leaves much more than the usual detritus. In the wake of its devastation, the three children of Dr. and Mrs. Jones each carry the emotional waste with them into adulthood. Larken, an art professor, comforts herself with food and protects herself from relationships with an extra layer of flesh; Gaelen, the esteemed TV weatherman in Lincoln, Nebraska, keeps himself physically fit through bodybuilding and protects himself from long term relationships by his womanizing behavior. And the youngest, Bonnie—described as Flying Girl by Emlyn Springs residents because she was found, with her bicycle, in a tree after the tornado—collects bits and pieces of people’s lives, like artifacts, hoping to make sense of it all and find meaningful connections between these treasures and the lives of those who have gone on before her.

Alvina Closs, who was Dr. Jones’s nurse and his mistress for many years, carries the pain of how her relationship with the doctor – even while his wife, her friend, was alive—might have damaged Hope in some way. She seeks meaning in her life that suddenly veers off track when Dr. Jones, now the mayor of Emlyn Springs, is struck by lightning and killed one day while playing golf. She attempts to pick up the pieces of a solitary life and makes Dr. Jones’s vision, the one that included joining forces with a “sister city” in Wales, her own.

The community—one that mirrors the Welsh one in many ways, in its traditions and heritage—bands together to enjoy a special event called Fancy Egg Days, which features a performance by several students and the crowning of Little Miss Emlyn Springs.

Throughout the book, we follow the lives and loves of the three adult children—interspersed with passages of Hope Jones’s diary from the 60s and 70s—and come to admire and cheer them on as they struggle with the foibles they have inherited (in part due to the devastation wrought by their mother’s passing), and also the unique heritage of their small community.

And then, as the drama of Fancy Egg Days draws to a close, another devastation is visited upon the town residents. Will they pick up the pieces of their lives again? Will they somehow turn devastation into triumph?

A compelling read, Sing Them Home: A Novel, introduces the reader to a treat—an exploration—into the lives of characters that become so real that they feel like our own neighbors in some small town community we know. In the end, we long for the story to continue.

WHO AM I WITHOUT YOU? — A Review of “I See You Everywhere”

In the novel I See You Everywhere , the two sisters, Louisa and Clem, speak to us in their alternate voices, to reveal their distinctive qualities; as unique as each one is, the bond they share is heightened by their distinct individuality.

Louisa is the oldest—the conscientious student and the one who longs for marriage, children and an art career— while Clement (Clem) is the daring one— the rebel, uncontainable, and irresistible to men.

Their story begins in the eighties and continues for more than a decade—and then veers off in a new direction when their bond is tragically severed.

In Clement’s voice, we learn how she feels about her life, her choices: “Sometimes I feel uncommitted to life, or to mine. I feel as if what I thought was going to be My Life (the Siamese twin) quietly snuck off on her own when I wasn’t looking, chose a different fork in the trail a ways back, and sometimes our two paths cross, so I bump into My Life by accident, and I say, `Here you are! Where have you been?’ “

An excerpt from Louisa’s story reveals and sums up how different she feels from Clem—how different she is… “About the only thing we had in common that summer was solitude. Or so I was led to believe. Mine was a solitude of retreat and longing, fraught with wishes and sighs—but Clem’s I imagined as sure and intrepid, a flight from everything soft about civilization. I was copy-editing ruminations on art. Clem was counting seals…We communicate best by mail. On the phone, we argue. In person, we tend to become sarcastic. Our letters, though, have a touch of romantic collusion.”

From an early age, the girls are rivals, even as they cling to each other to define them as individuals and as part of a unit known as sisters. They validate each others’ feelings, even though they disagree about so much. Through the years, the strength of the bond increases…They face difficulties and support each other despite the rivalries and differences between them. Their lives change in dramatic directions. The author beautifully chronicles the growth of the women and their relationship, even as she teases us by leaving clues that, at some point, everything will change dramatically and unexpectedly.

This story, beautifully wrought with great descriptions that bring the reader right into each moment, spotlights clearly the emotional life of each woman through the alternate use of the first person narrative. It is almost as if we can see inside each woman’s soul.

I enjoyed Julia Glass’s novels Three Junes and The Whole World Over, but this story topped them both, in my opinion.