Book Review: Siren by Jennifer Melzer

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Siren by Jennifer Melzer

A Romance/Fantasy/Paranormal Novel published by Dragon’s Gold (01/05/2015)

 

Summary:

Siren Talbot is in love with Carver and thinks he’s about to propose after more than two years of being in a relationship. When the night is over, she is left with a haphazard memory and a box that she thinks contains the ring, but no Carver. He disappeared. Siren falls apart at his abrupt absence and is only able to get through it when she meets Patrick. This new man charms his way into her life and lends her support when she needs it and they grow quite fond of each other. When he proposes, she accepts and they are married, but she can never quite let go of Carver… For three years she hasn’t opened the ring box, but when she’s finally ready to let the past go, the box has mysteriously vanished. There is only one culprit this time: Patrick.

 

Keywords:

 Relationships, bad boyfriends, secrets, magic, depression, moving on, romance, love, future, locked away, disappear, second chances, bad magic, evil

My Review:

I didn’t realize this was a romance story. Most of the story was taken up by the romance and Siren pining for Carver and loving Patrick etc. etc. This book was mostly romance with a bit of fantasy thrown in, so if that’s your thing, then go for it. I wasn’t as pleased with the mix. I thought there could have been a lot edited out as the story dragged in many places and the emotions Siren was feeling were repeated over and over again.

The story begins with a high tension scene that makes the slow pace afterward seem even slower. It takes about half the book for the second (and real) inciting action to take place. The opening scene was like a faux inciting incident and seemed unbalanced in the context of the story’s pacing and plot. Quite a bit of editing could have taken place after this first scene, as we are shown Siren pining and grieving and then recovering painfully slow. The author takes too much time with the aftermath of Carver’s disappearance. We get the point already, move on to the real meat of the story please.

I thought the story focused on Siren, but it seemed that she was just a vehicle through which Carver’s and Patrick’s stories could take place. I didn’t like Siren. She was whiny and easily manipulated. She was constantly doubting her own emotions and just going along with whatever was presented to her. She didn’t have much of her own personality until the middle of the book, where the real story begins. The fact that Siren wouldn’t open the ring box for so very, very long makes me dislike her even more. Siren and the other characters would have been more relatable had there been no magic involved, but because there is a paranormal side to the novel, nothing seemed remotely likely and you will have to suspend your belief if you want to really get into this story.

This novel was published by Dragon’s Gold 01/05/2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25

 

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Jennifer Melzer’s Website

Twitter

Nano November: Week two in Review – Word count: 55,782

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Donutauthor photocrest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76

Total time spent: 14 hours and 20 minutes (860 minutes)

Total word count: 55,782 (30,262 in week 1) for 25,520 new words in week 2

To get to 50k words: 26 hours and 5 minutes or 1565 minutes at 32WPM

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 43,591 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 12,362 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 35,112 (8,640 words week 1 of Nano and 12k in October) for 14,472 new words!

 

Day 8: 11/08/15, Sunday
Location(s):
○ At home 10AM – 10:45AM, 2097 words
○ Verne and Wells 12PM -1PM, 1550 words
○ At home 4PM – 4:20PM, 1200 words
Total time spent: 2 hours and 5 minutes
Total word count: 4847 words

 

Day 9: 11/09/15, Monday
Location(s):
○ At work early 7:25AM – 8AM, 1650 words
○ At home 8PM-9:45PM, 3400 words
Total time spent: 2 hour and 20 minutes
Total word count: 5050 words

 

Day 10: 11/10/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1250 words
○ Panera Issaquah 6PM – 7Pm, 945 words
Money Spent: Soba chicken noodle bowl and a bagel at Panera $11.25
Total time spent: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total word count: 2195 words

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Day 11: 11/11/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
○ Early at home 8:55AM – 9:30AM, 1787 words
○ St James 1:50PM- 3:30PM, 2804 words
○ Never Ending Bookstore write-in 4PM – 5:15PM, 2069 words
Noteworthy: I miscalculated my word count somewhere and was about 1000 words under what I had put online and had write like mad to get to 50k today.
Money Spent: St. James breakfast burrito and mocha $11.89
Total time spent: 3 hours 30 minutes
Total word count: 6660 words

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Day 12: 11/12/15, Thursday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:15AM – 8AM, 2145 words
○ During work lunch 12-12:10PM, 548 words
○ Work 5:10PM – 5:25 PM, 949 words
Total time spent: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Total word count: 3642 words

 

Day 13: 11/13/15, Friday
Location(s):
○ Early at work 7:45AM – 8:00AM, 840 words
○ Fall City Roadhouse Write-in 5:30PM-9PM, 1186 words
Noteworthy: Won a game challenge (4″ funky mirror disco ball) where I had to write in a specific set of words in a short amount of time, the Stayin’ Alive Game
Money Spent: Fall City Roadhouse $45 for two: pulled pork sandwich, fish and chips, coke, hot chocolate
Total time spent: 3 hours and 45 minutes
Total word count: 2026 words

unnamed unnamed (2)

Day 14: 11/14/15, Saturday
Location(s):
○ Home
○ Neverending Bookstore Write in
Noteworthy: Instead of starting in on Pessimist, I changed gears and worked on Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) my romance story and wrote 9k words today at home and at the Neverending Bookstore write in.
Total time spent: NA
Total word count: NA

Nano November: Day of Donuts Halfway Hustle – 10,321 new words!

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Eats, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard and tagged , , , , , ,

Here are my spoils left at the end of the day:

20151115_174901

 

Daddy’s Donuts – open 8am – 7pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 7018 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore Wa 98028

Writing Time: 8:20AM – 9:10AM

Words written: 1,762

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Daddy’s is a small little place with a plethora of donut signs indicating the little house actually sells donuts. They specialize in mini donuts that rival Pike’s Place mini donut vendor. They are fresh and not bogged down in oil. Unlike Pike’s, I could eat a dozen of these babies without feeling sick. They are like cake and I loved every bite of them. Prices are decent, but don’t come if you want a donut as big as your fist. They are mini, they are lovely, and the employees are bright and helpful.

 20151115_081918

Sampled/Money spent: $9.32 for the straw-bella and the plain and $1.64 for a 8 oz. hot chocolate

 

CountrySide Donut House – open 5:30am – 3pm Sunday November 15th

Address: 10032 Main St, Bothell, WA 98011

Writing Time: 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Words written: 2,547

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It’s cold in here, the double doors let out any heat that comes from the back, if there is any. The donuts are displayed prominently, proudly in a large display that you see as soon as you step inside. The most popular is the maple bar, hands down but I was more intrigued by the cinnamon roll. They only take cash and checks (who still takes checks? Who would write a check for donuts?) The worker was short and snappy behind the counter, making sure he moved the customers along and that no line developed. There’s almost no standing room.

 20151115_092502

 Sampled/Money Spent: $2.20 for a french cruller (one of my favorites) and a cinnamon roll donut.

 

Factory Donuts – open 5AM-2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 12505 NE 144th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Writing Time: 11AM – 12:15PM

Words written: 1672

 20151115_105701

 Why are donut houses so cold? I’ve been here before. You can’t go wrong with a croissant and as much as I like odnuts I was glad for the change. It was very delicious and I ate it up! The lady behind the counter is hilarious with a great sense of humor.

 20151115_105719

Sampled/Money spent: Apple fritter and ham & Cheese croissant $4.11

 

 

Sunrise Donuts & Espresso – open 6AM – 2PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 7299 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE, Redmond, WA 98052

Writing Time: 12:30 – 1:45PM planned, showed up at 12:15PM to see the closed sign

Words written:

 20151115_121634

Better get here early because by noon ish they were closed for lack of inventory.

Money Spent/Sampled: none

 

Westernco – Bellevue – open 4AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 1412 156th Ave NE., Bellevue, WA 98007

Writing Time: x, got my donuts and left because I was tired of being cold

Words written: 0

 20151115_123547

Sampled/Money spent: $2.00 on a jelly donut and a custard donut.

I Decided I wanted a warmer writing place and hopped North to join my new favorite bookstore’s write in at Neverending Bookstore in Bothell.

 

Words written at the Neverending Bookstore with my apples: 2181

20151115_131317

 

Top Pot – Bellevue – open 7AM – 5:30PM Sunday November 15th

Address: 10600 NE 9th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004

Writing Time: 3:30PM – 4:30PM

Words written: 2160

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Money spent/Sampled: $2.18+3.82 for a regular old fashioned and a raspberry old fashioned.

20151115_152847

Decidedly the most open/most space/most expensive/least exciting donuts of the bunch. It’s hard to go wrong in Bellevue though and I was glad Sheri joined me!

Total donuts consumed: 13 mini donuts at Daddy’s, 1/2 French Cruller at CountrySide Donut House, 1 croissant ham n cheese sandwich at Factory Donuts, 3/4 Old Fashioned at Top Pot. Total words: 10,321. Total time: 7:30AM – 5:30PM from leaving my house to getting back to my house.

Foodie Fridays: Want to Eat Donuts and Write with Me?? Sunday 11/15 Day of Donuts Halfway Hustle WA

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Eats, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard

Join me in my halfway hustle nano journey from Bothell to Bellevue this Sunday!

crest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76Untitled picture

Here’s my schedule:

Daddy’s Donuts – open 8am – 7pm

Address: 7018 NE Bothell Way, Kenmore Wa 98028

Writing Time: 8AM – 9:15AM

CountrySide Donut House – open 5:30am – 3pm

Address: 10032 Main St, Bothell, WA 98011

Writing Time: 9:30AM – 10:45AM

Factory Donuts – open 5AM-2PM

Address: 12505 NE 144th St., Kirkland, WA 98034

Writing Time: 11AM – 12:15PM

Sunrise Donuts & Espresso – open 6AM – 2PM

Address: 7299 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE, Redmond, WA 98052

Writing Time: 12:30 – 1:45PM

Westernco – Bellevue – open 4AM – 5:30PM

Address: 1412 156th Ave NE., Bellevue, WA 98007

Writing Time: 2PM – 3:15PM

Top Pot – Bellevue – open 7AM – 5:30PM

Address: 10600 NE 9th Place, Bellevue, WA 98004

Writing Time: 3:30PM – 5PM

What are your Nano plans for the halfway mark?

Book Review: INERTIA (The Threestone Trilogy Book 1) by A.R. Rivera

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INERTIA (The Threestone Trilogy Book 1) by A.R. Rivera

A Fiction/Science Fiction Novel published by Amazon Digital Services (06/17/2015)

Summary:

“…some of life’s most painful events are the ones that shape us— make us who we are destined to become— and that shaping makes those moments unavoidable. If we are ever to meet our destiny, they have to happen.” (Kindle Locations 265-266).

Gerry Springer is in his 30’s, about to get kicked out of his apartment, rides the bus every day because he can’t afford to fix his BMW, and works at a convenience store. His dreams of making music have been gathering dust for years and all he wants to do is get by, make sure his dad can comfortably live out his days at the retirement home, keep his girlfriend Abi happy and with him, pay his rent on time, work down his bills and debt, and fix his car that has been sitting in the garage for months.

Everything goes wrong for G, but then everything seems to be on an upswing, and then the bus he’s riding gets hit and there is no way he would have survived. Waking up in the hospital, G goes through a lengthy period of disorientation where everything from the date to the lack of GPS has him reeling. Is this a dream in a coma induced by the accident or has he been transported to 1996, the year his baby sister was killed in a car accident?

Keywords:

Car Accident, Relationships, Forward Motion, Father-Son, Time Travel, Can’t Get Ahead, Debt, Dead End Job, Money Troubles, Determination, Music

 

My Review:

A.R. Rivera has a knack for writing characters and stories about tragic and luckless individuals just struggling to get by day by day when something out of this world or unusual happens to them (makes for a good story). The level of detail of their day to day lives is amazing and really sets the reader into the story with the characters.

At first you think Gerry’s a jerk who can only make bad decisions, but when push comes to shove he thinks of -almost- nothing else than others and of saving his baby sister. Day to day he may be without motivation, but really that’s only because of his lack of opportunity and having to be responsible, or at least to try to be. Gerry shines when he has purpose in his life, but when he lacks direction his personality in the being a good person department is also lacking. He is a fascinating character to watch bomb personal relationships and to watch making hard decisions, like keep the car or the apartment and keep his girlfriend happy or follow his aging father’s final wishes?

Why does Abi, his girlfriend, love Gerry? What is her part in this relationship? It somewhat bothered me how G treats his girlfriend and how he’s always putting her last even in his thoughts unless she’s being abnormally loving and doing something huge for him. She gives and gives and he takes and takes and their relationship is grating, even bordering on abusive?

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services 06/17/2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25

Links for more information:

Goodreads

A.R. River’s Website

Book Review: Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk by by Jeffrey Cook, H. James Lopez, Warren C. Bennett, Katherine Perkins, Carol Gyzander, S.A. Cosby

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Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk by by Jeffrey Cook, H. James Lopez, Warren C. Bennett, Katherine Perkins, Carol Gyzander, S.A. Cosby

An Anthology of Shakespeare Inspired Punk Stories published by  Writerpunk Press (03/09/15)

Though there is quite a bit of front matter, it is short and concise and good to read to gear up for the rest of the stories. At times the language gets oddly Shakespearian and at times the action takes turns that may be confusing. Some of the characters are somewhat stilted and lacking in description but overall this is an enjoyable and worthy read!

 

Mac by Carol Gyzander

“Different was dangerous.” (Page. 44).
“We’ve gained nothing, to still not have happiness. It would be safer to be that which we destroy, than to have destroyed it and still live in doubtful joy.” (p. 82).

In the strict society governed by ‘moddy’ chips that regulate emotions, hormones and even obedience, Mac is not happy with his lot in life, but he should be. Moddy dictates he should be content at his factory job doing the same as everyone else. Then his friend Banks opens his eyes to a whole new world, an underworld of the Moddy’s rejects… Written as somewhat dystopian, Mac tells the story of a man who learns the truth about how his world really operates and chooses to reject the moddy’s chips control over his life.

 

The Green Eyed Monster by S.A. Cosby

“Everyone lies, young buck.” (Page 172).
“Love was just a synonym for fool. Love made you blind to treachery, deaf to the truth and dumb in the face of facts.” (Page 178).

This is a story of manipulation for revenge. Iggy is a crazed man who can only see the end goal of revenge and doesn’t care how he gets there. He wants to ruin everyone he can along the way. There is lots of action and revenge. Iggy plays the manipulative and vindictive typically female-stereotyped role. Will Iggy go all the way or will he be found out by one of his mates before he can stick them with their own ruination?

 

Prospero’s Island by H. James Lopez

This is a story full of half nymph-half enhanced machined parts characters and the few humans who rule these creatures. Prospero and Caliban butt heads, but Prospero is too kind to end the creature. They are all stuck on this island and trying to get off and when Prospero is given the chance to run two ships afoul near the island, he jumps to do it. Later, he decides to help the shipwrecked humans, but the Sycori, the feral nymph originators, run chaos of these plans and Prospero must make difficult choices and decide whom to save and whom to let fend for themselves.

 

A Town Called Hero by Warren C. Bennett

Hero is a small town and air base that was seemingly unaffected by the war with the Fatherland, but when twenty some odd pilots land rag-tag on the island amidst the defeat and end of the war, the island will offer up one of its most deep mysteries. Where does the advanced technology come from and will all the pilots be able to settle into this peaceful community?

 

Winter’s Tale by Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins

“Who says prophecy isn’t truth?” (Page 288).

‘“Just because there’s nothing sane he can do doesn’t mean there’s nothing he can do,” Dita responded. “Never discount the risk of nobility doing something insane. Sometimes it even works.” Treveur grinned, “In truth, I’m counting on it,” he replied.’ (Page 311).

A tale of a man in power gone mad, Winter’s Tale drops off the story of Leonard and his sudden crazy notion that his wife cheated on him with his best friend and picks up sixteen years later with the story of the mad man’s daughter. She was smuggled out of Leonard’s grasp to grow up as a commoner and falls for a man who happens to be Leonard’s ex best friend’s son. Can a union between the two young ones bring about peace between the old men as well? The fight scene in this short story was truly magnificent and the banter between dueling enemies was quite entertaining.

This anthology was published by  Writerpunk Press on March 9th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.   TL;DR Star Rating: 4.00

Links for more information:

Goodreads

Nano November: Week one in Review – Nano Word count: 30,262

by in For the Love of Donuts, Local Authors, Local Events, NaNoWriMo, Rachel Barnard | 4 Comments

Donutauthor photocrest-05e1a637392425b4d5225780797e5a76

Total time spent: 16 hours and 40 minutes (1000 minutes)

Total word count: 30,262

Words per minute: 30.26 WPM

What a busy first week!

WIP Word Count Progress Reports:

The Optimist Sees the Donut – 18,721 words

The Pessimist Sees the Hole – 11,265 words

Café Connections (Aster & Tilde Book 1) – 20,640 words (12k of this written in October)

Day 1: 11/01/15, Sunday
Location(s):
• Seattle Region Kickoff St. James Espresso in Kirkland 10PM-11PM Oct 31st,
• At Home – morning (2773 words from 8:30AM – 10AM), evening and night (5:30PM -8PM for 4271 words)
• North Bend/Snoqualmie Region re-Kickoff Time Warp Write-in at Fall City Roadhouse 11:30AM-1PM, for 1520 words
• Seattle Region Verne and Wells 2:30PM-3:30PM for 1441 words
Noteworthy: Food poisoning had me abandoning the Seattle kickoff party early, but with the time change I was off to an early jumpstart the next morning and with multiple write-ins was able to round out my word count for the day.
Money spent: AFK: $17.20 for Bruschetta Cucco Panini and tots, Roadhouse: $18.44 for ricotta pancakes and OJ
Total time spent: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Total word count: 10,005

Day 2: 11/02/15, Monday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1k words
• At home 8PM – 8:45PM, 1004 words
Total time spent: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total word count: 2104 words

Day 3: 11/03/15, Tuesday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:20AM – 7:50AM, 1546 words
• Lunchtime at work 11:45AM-12:15PM, 983 words
• At Costco waiting for my new tires to be put on 7PM-7:45PM, 1425 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total word count: 3954 words

Day 4: 11/04/15, Wednesday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:30AM – 8AM, 1391 words
• Neverending Bookstore write in 5PM – 5:40PM, 1500 words
Total time spent: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total word count: 2891 words

Day 5: 11/05/15, Thursday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:20AM -7:50AM, 1148 words
• Spotted Cow 6:15PM – 7:45PM, 1683 words
Money spent: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Gelato $3.50 from the Spotted Cow
Total time spent: 2 hours
Total word count: 2831 words

Day 6: 11/06/15, Friday
Location(s):
• Early at work 7:50AM -8AM, 698 words
• At home 7:40PM – 8:30PM, 2507 words
Total time spent: 1 hour
Total word count: 3205 words

Day 7: 11/07/15, Saturday
Location(s):
• Never ending bookstore write in 1-3PM, 3264 words
• St. James Espresso write in 6:30PM – 7:30PM, 1998 words
Money spent: Brew in Bothell peach and raspberry smoothie for $3.56 12 oz. and St. James chai tea latte for $4.25
Total time spent: 3 hours
Total word count: 5262 words

Book Review: Flower’s Fang by Madison Keller

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Flower’s Fang by Madison Keller

An Urban Fantasy Novel published by Hundeliebe Publishing (09/13/14)

Summary:

Arara of the Jegera is bullied by her own people because she’s different. She’s a runt and has longer fur and better mind talking abilities. She plans on heading North after the ceremonial hunt with her year’s kin but when the Prince of the flower kin – Se’ls – comes to watch the hunt, things start to go awry for Arara. Prince Se’ls just wants to find a Jegera to form a Sedyu-bond with but hasn’t felt any connection to any of the candidates until he sees Arara. Sel’s and Arara are tied together by more than a potential Sedyu-bond when something is threatening the Empire and they must fight together to survive and help everyone else.

 

Keywords:

Flower-like people, dog-like people, power struggle, underdog, magic, secrets, standing up, fighting back, legends, prophecy, leadership, emotional, assassins, dark magic, empire, prince, bonding, runt, misfit, skills

 

My Review:

The worldbuilding in this story was amazing and different, but not too complicated. You can easily imagine the world, although the flower-Kin and Jegera may be a bit harder to visualize than a human. I really enjoyed the different types of characters in this world and their names and details. The Kwaso and Yaka were neat and unusual. The Jegera were the furred creatures with the unqiue ability to talk in each other’s heads using a ‘gefir.’ I really liked the concept of a gefir and the fact that some Jegera were better at it than others. The Kin were flower-like people with sap for blood and petals for good looks and vines that they wrapped up much like long hair.

The main characters in this story, however, left me quite wanting. Se’ls and Arara are both emerging ‘adults’ in their cultures, but they are amazingly childish. They both easily display every emotion they are feeling and whine and cry at the drop of a hat. They act like children, think like children, and cry like children. This book’s characters were more appropriate to a middle grade novel in the way they acted.

Arara’s main reason to leave her home town was tied into her apparent musical skill, however, after the first couple of chapters she leaves this behind and apparently doesn’t care any more about music or her wish to write music. The author forgets all about Arara’s musical ability in light of her other adventures and never comes back to this trait.

Kerka’s character baffled me. He wasn’t bad enough to be a bad guy and he never quite redeemed himself either. He wasn’t enough of a character to be bad or good or to have a turnaround moment.

I loved the fantasy elements in this book and absolutely adore the cover art but felt like there was a lot lacking in the characters.

This novel was published by Hundeliebe Publishing on September 13th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 3.25

Links for more information:

Madison Keller’s Website

Goodreads

Madison Keller on Facebook

Buy, Read, Review and Win! $5 for November and $50 end of year contest

by in author platform and tagged , , , | 1 Comment

promo contest

My first type of contest runs new monthly (click here for link to contest page); with the final contest for $5 gift card this month in November. All you have to do is purchase a book! Not just any book, though, one from my reviews list that I’ve rated 4.5 stars or higher.

I have books in multiple genres to choose from and I’ll be adding new books to choose from every week. You have until the end of the month to provide proof of purchase and you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card. Sweet, yeah?

I’m also hosting a $50 Amazon gift card contest! All you have to do is write a review of three stars or higher for one of the books you purchased from my list.

Here’s the $50 contest entry link:

 $50 Amazon Gift Card Drawing: Entries Open June Now Until December 31, 2015

Leave a review of 3 stars or higher of any of those 4.5 rated or higher books now until the end of the year to get entered into a drawing to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Help support Indie authors!

Book Review: Providence of Souls by Tonya Fraser

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Providence of Souls by  Tonya Fraser

A Fiction Novel published by Amazon Digital Services (09/10/15)

Summary:

“…all of my lies might unravel all the way back to Italy.” (Kindle Location 3427).

Cessarina had known wealth of family and joy before her family had been cursed with the evil eye. Her mother thought that praying to the family skull, Ambrogio, could help lift the curse and she went mad with her purpose, abandoning both Cessarina and her father and retreating into her own mind. Cessarina longed for a normal mother. The only way to fix her situation was to get out of it, but does she believe Ambrogio has the power to help her in a new world with new problems?

Keywords:

Skull, prayer, superstition, curse, evil-eye, America, Italy, immigration, family, jealousy, poverty, hard work, factory, sewing, sons, seeing beyond, gambling, death

My Review:

 

The language Tonya Fraser uses at times is very beautiful, “My fate seemed to be stitched into my soul as tightly as the lacework I toiled over. I was able to feel it, heavy in the air.” (Kindle Locations 3670-3671).

Cessarina is able to think about the bad choices she made, and although she at first attributes them to bad luck and Ambriogio’s lack of help, she is finally able to realize that at times she is at fault for her fate with her actions and lies and decisions.

Fraser starts many small story lines but doesn’t follow all of them through, leaving the reader without finality with some characters. The biggest question to me was what happened to Cessarina’s parents?

The part where Cessarina steals something didn’t go anywhere like I thought it would. It provided some tension when you thought she would be caught and her world would spiral further down, but nothing came of it and I felt that this part was unresolved.

This was a very well written book with an intriguing premise. It was a fascinating story about a young girl who takes her life into her own hands, even as she makes some decisions on a whim. Her story is that of an Italian immigrant trying to make her way in America with bad luck hanging just over her shoulder. Halfway through we switch to the stories of her sons and their tragic lives.

The whole book is one long tragedy and though it is hard to sit through so much suffering, it is also something unfamiliar to most American readers and therefore quite eye-opening in the description of the environment Cessarina and her boys lived in as poverty-stricken individuals in 1930’s New Haven.

This novel was published by Amazon Digital Services on September 10th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25

Links for more information:

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