Review of Follow Your Heart by Brenda Jackson

 

For my latest review, I am proud to present an upcoming novel from a New York Times bestselling romance author from my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida-Brenda Jackson.  Follow Your Heart is a Catalina Cove novel and follows the ever famous Madaris family, specifically Victoria Madaris.

An up-and-coming television journalist/talk show host, Victoria Madaris lives in picturesque Catalina Cove, even though this means an hour commute each way to her job in New Orleans.  When Victoria finds out that she is next on the matchmaking list of family matriarch Mama Laverne, she is accepting of her fate.   Unlike her brothers and cousins, who left the bachelor life kicking and screaming, Victoria believes that Mama Laverne can't go wrong with whomever she has chosen for her to fall in  love with and marry. But could Mama Laverne possibly be wrong for once?  The man who Victoria believes is her intended, couldn't be less interested in her, while in the meantime, romance finds her in the most unlikely of places-the arms of Senator Roman Malone.  As the attraction between the two becomes undeniable, Victoria is faced with the prospect of having to tell Mama Laverne that she was wrong about her intended.  Added to this, is the antagonist unknown to Victoria who will go to extreme lengths to keep her and Roman apart.  

Brenda Jackson is an award winning romance novelist and native of Jacksonville, Florida. A graduate of Raines High School and Jacksonville University, her first novel Tonight and Forever launched a career that has seen her reach the New York Times Bestseller List and become a nominee for an NAACP Image Award.  More information about her can be found at www.brendajackson.net. 

Follow Your Heart is signature Brenda Jackson-full of captivating details, relatable characters, and passionate love scenes that serve up plenty of romance without crossing the line into full-blown erotica.  Although it is part of the Madaris series, it can be read as a standalone novel, though faithful fans will enjoy meeting up with some of their favorite characters from previous novels.  Victoria's story is relatable to women who have had relationships end badly and are hesitant about opening their hearts again.  Ms. Jackson's descriptions of  Catalina Cove puts the reader right there in the midst of the quaint, beautiful town.  And the sizzling chemistry between Victoria and Roman is enough to warm up any reader on a cold winter's night!

*disclaimer-I received an advanced review copy of the novel.  No payment of any form was received for this blog post*

 

Contemporary Novelist Eric Jerome Dickey Passes Away at Age 59

 

The family and publicist for Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times bestselling author, confirmed that he passed away on January 3 after a prolonged battle with cancer.  Dickey kept his struggle with cancer very private, with only a few close loved ones privy to his battle, not unlike actor Chadwick Boseman.  

His death comes as a shock to his millions of adoring fans who eagerly consumed such novels as Friends and Lovers, Blackbirds, and Finding Destiny. I reviewed Blackbirds on this blog and as a long time fan, it truly did not disappoint.  He was known for living in the locales that he set his stories in, a habit that was apparent from the stunning details that were a hallmark of his work.  I traveled the world vicariously through Gideon, an assassin who was the subject of several of his novels, and I got a small thrill whenever I recognized a character from one of his novels making an appearance in another.  

The literary world has lost a great one with his passing but it is my personal hope that perhaps his loved ones can take some comfort in the fact that he was as greatly celebrated in life as he is in death.  

Review of The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray

I found The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray while browsing in my local library.  Lost in the stacks, searching for a few gems to devour while on vacation from work, it’s title and colorful, flowery cover caught my eye.   The first line, “You do a lot of thinking in jail,” captured my attention.  As I read on, Gray’s eloquent, poetry-like prose captured my heart.

            The story of a family’s unravelling when a mother and father-Althea and Proctor Cochran, are both sent to jail for fraud, Gray paints a portrait of what sociologists have been telling us for years-that when a person is incarcerated, their family members do the time with them.  This is especially true in this story because the Cochrans’ stole from the local community in the name of charity.  As the saying goes about the sins of fathers, so  the Cochran twins-Kim and Baby Vi, suffer through the brunt of taunting and ostracism from a town angry at their parents’ betrayal.  The twins respond in opposing ways.  Baby Vi, small and quiet, folds into herself and keeps her head down, seemingly trying to disappear.  Kim, large and defiant, lashes out, getting into trouble at school, missing curfew, and just generally making as many waves as possible.  Ironically, Kim is the one who made the phone call to police that started the fraud investigation and the reason that she called is slowly revealed throughout the novel.   Althea’s narrative is told in first person as she navigates life in confinement and confronts uncomfortable truths about herself.  The point of view switches between Althea and her sisters, Lillian and Viola, and the letters that Proctor to sends to Althea.   As the story progresses more is revealed about broken family dynamics and painful family secrets. 

    Anissa Gray is an award winning journalist, having won both Emmy and duPont awards for her work with CNN.  A graduate of Western Michigan University and New York University with a Master's degree in English, she currently lives in Atlanta with her wife.  She can be found at www.anissagray.com.

    As a reader, it is easy to assume that the girls referred to in the title are the twins, Kim and Baby Vi.  While they are obviously in need of care, having essentially been orphaned by the criminal justice system, you come to realize that all of the women in the novel are in need of care and feeding of some kind.  Althea, who was thrust into the role of matriarch when her mother passed when she was only twelve, resents the fact that she has always had to be the strong one.  Her resentment is so strong that it blinds her to how she treats her family, especially Kim.  "It had to be tough love with her, which is what Proctor doesn't understand.  I was tough because life is tough.....But Proctor wanted to be a buddy, a friend, and , obviously, their favorite....I'm the one who always had to do what needed to be done."  It takes a near tragedy for her to finally be able to completely face down the reflection in the mirror and begin to heal.  Viola relapses into a cycle of binging and purging (the book should probably have a trigger warning because of graphic depictions of her bulimia)  while trying to maintain a steadily crumbling facade of having it all together.  Lillian does everything she can to mute the pain of past abuse, and in the process, has muted herself and her voice.  As a black woman, this novel spoke to me on a deeply personal level as I identified with the characters.  While we may not all share the same trials, we share what so many black women do, and that is the struggle to make a place for ourselves and have our voices heard in a world that tries to silence and minimize our existence.  We are all in need of care and feeding of one kind or another, despite the strength that we show the world.  As Althea's mother explained to her, " 'boys and men are earth and stone....but you girls, us women, we're water.  We can wear away earth and stone, if it comes to it.' "  Even the mightiest river can dry up, if not continuously nourished at the source however.  We need care and feeding of our souls, in order to find the inner strength necessary to sustain our source and flow through a harsh world, leaving our marks like water carving out canyons, inch by inch.  

 

Review of Only Child by Rhiannon Navin

 

For better or worse, guns are as much a part of American culture as the Fourth of July and apple pie.  The debate over gun regulation is one of the most heated in the history of this country.  One of the unfortunate offspring off American gun culture has been mass school shootings, shattering the innocence of young lives and ripping families apart in the most heartbreaking ways.

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin explores a Sandy Hook-like school shooting and its aftermath from the unique perspective of one of the six year old survivors.  From the opening pages, when Zach Taylor hides in a closet with his teacher and the rest of his first-grade classmates, the author draws us in with his simple yet profoundly insightful perspective on the events taking place.  As the adults around him fall apart, Zach retreats into another closet- in his brother's room, where he processes his emotions through painting and reading a popular children's book series.  The author tells an unfortunately all too familiar tale through the eyes of a sensitive, soulful little boy, who readers quickly realize is wise beyond his young years.   

Originally from Bremen, Germany, Rhiannon Navin came to New York City and pursued a career in advertising.  Now a wife and mom living outside of New York, Only Child is her first novel.

Only Child is an exciting debut from a first-time novelist.  Navin took an extremely difficult topic and handled it with great care and compassion, avoiding the potential landmines of over-emphasis on actual violence or political debates.  Her focus on Zach's family as a microcosm of the community around them, provided an intimate portrait into the lives of victims and survivors of gun violence and the use of a six year old narrator provided a refreshingly beautiful perspective.  There were times when Zach thought and said things that were so profound that it took my breath away.  When Zach's dad explains what the word sympathy means to him, he responds by saying, "I only noticed how Andy acted bad all the time.   That he was being mean to me.  A lot of times I didn't like him because of that, and I didn't try to feel the sympathy with him.  Maybe Andy wouldn't have acted bad a lot of times if he could have noticed that we were feeling the sympathy with him.  I don't know."  Many adults couldn't figure out the things that Zach did, especially the adults in his family.  But what made him so unique, is that the author still managed to remind us that he was actually a child with all the accompanying behaviors, including tantrums, bedwetting, and clinging to a favorite stuffed animal.  Ironically, that is what made Zach's voice so compelling.  While we as adults can't sit down and agree on how to keep first-graders from getting massacred at school, a six-year old figured out how to heal his family, and spread that healing to his community.  If we could all only see the world through the beauty and innocence of a child's eyes.

My First Teacher

 I stopped posting to this blog at the end of 2016.  You see, 2016 was very 2020ish for me.  Towards the end of that year, I lost several dear friends of mine to various illnesses-sickle cell anemia and leukemia among them.  The biggest, most shattering loss that I suffered that year came four days before Christmas, when my sister and I each held one of our mother's hands and watched her take her last breaths after we removed her from life support.  Three days earlier, she had suffered a massive heart attack which had stopped her heart several times, leaving her with irreparable brain damage.  My mother had suffered from various chronic illnesses since the time that I was five years old.  I was 38 when she died.  I had made it my mission in life to heal her, to find the next great natural remedy that would ease her pain and prolong her life.  But instead, I found myself sitting in front a doctor staring blankly as he told my sister and I that there was basically nothing else that could be done for her.  My mother had emphasized repeatedly that if anything happened to her, she didn't want to be kept alive on machines.  However, it's one thing to hear that from a living, breathing person who has literally been there since birth, and quite another to be faced with the harsh reality of saying, "ok, just give up, let her go".  

But let her go we did.  I think part of my heart stopped beating with hers.  In a dazed stupor, I made a simple post to my Facebook page:  "I just lost my first teacher.  Sleep well Mama, no more pain".  My mother was my first teacher.  She taught me to read before I ever set foot into a classroom, and she instilled the love of reading in me that inspired this blog.  She even bought one of the books that I reviewed after she read about it here, her quiet way of telling me that she liked my writing.  Like many adult women and their mothers, we didn't always have an easy relationship.  At times, I felt like she dismissed my writing as just a trivial pursuit.  So for her to hold that book up and say "remember this?  I read it on your blog"......well, you might as well have handed me a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur grant in the same day.  The teacher finally approved of the student.  

So in this year of change, of pandemic, of lockdown, of protest, I think it's time that I come out of hibernation and start writing seriously again.  It's time for the student to begin her assignments again.  It's time for my heart to beat again.  

Review of Written in the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt

For my latest book review, I'm proud to present Written in the Ashes by K. Hollan Van Zandt.  Once again, I'm thrilled to be a part of the Virtual Author Book Tour.  Written in the Ashes is a historical fiction novel that provides such intensive historical detail that it is simply amazing.

The story is set in ancient Egypt during the period of time when Christianity was gaining a foothold in the empire and the struggle between the new religion and the traditional pagan beliefs was quickly erupting into violence and bloodshed.  At the center of the story is 20 year old Hannah, a beautiful shepherdess with the voice of an angel.  She is brutally kidnapped from her home in Sinai, where she lived with father, and brought to Alexandria, where half-dead, she is bought by Tarek.  Tarek brings her back to his father's house, the alchemist Alizar.  He treats her kindly and eventually allows her to study under the famed female philospher Hypatia at the Great Library.  This puts Hannah on a life-altering course and squarely in the middle of the conflict between Bishop Cyril and Hypatia.  Cyril wants to convert he populace to Christianity and resorts to ever worsening tactics in order to achieve his goal.

For this review, I'm switching things up a little.  Click below to watch a video interview of the author and check the Author Interviews page of this blog for an exclusive excerpt from the novel.

Written in the Ashes is so unique because it chooses to follow the story of a woman in a world and culture that was entirely male dominated.  The novel is so vividly detailed that readers are nearly transported to the world of ancient Egypt .  Even though the story is set centuries in the past, Hannah and Hypatia's struggle to carve a niche for themselves in a male dominated world will resonate with modern women readers.  There is a beautiful balance between action and romance, leaving something for readers of all genders and preferences.  I found myself reading late into the night on several occasions.  I could really see with my  mind's eye, the buildings, architecture, food, clothing, and people of ancient Egypt . When the novel finally concluded, I was pleased with the ending, but I find myself wanting a sequel!!!  As always, there are no plot spoilers on my blog, I can only tell you to buy this book and read it!  You won't be disappointed.                                                                              

Acclaimed Author Gloria Naylor Passes Away at 66

2016 has dealt us all some tough losses, and the literary world has not been immune to this.  Gloria Naylor, most famous for her critically acclaimed novel The Women of Brewster Place, passed away at the age of 66 near her home in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S.V.I.  According to her niece, the cause of death was heart failure.

Her 1983 novel, The Women of Brewster Place, went on to win a National Book Award and became a widely hailed tv miniseries starring Oprah Winfrey and Lynn Whitfield.  Subsequent novels including Linden Hills, Bailey's Cafe, and The Men of Brewster Place, which examined the lives of the men in the original novel, earned her a firm place as a leading African American author.

Naylor earned a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and a master's degree from Yale.  She taught at several prestigious institutions, including The University of Pennsylvania and New York University.  Her other awards included the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship.  She leaves behind a sister, Bernice Harrison, a niece, and a nephew.

Hats off to another literary giant who has passed on.  Ms. Naylor may have left the physical world, but she lives on through her writing.

Review of Tears of Abraham by Sean T. Smith

America is torn apart by civil war.  The United States are anything but as countryman fights countryman.  At the center of it all is a battle hardened soldier who is fighting to save his marriage and fighting to save his country......Lincoln must be the president right?  This must be set in 1861, right?

Wrong.  Northeast Florida writer Sean T. Smith's latest novel, Tears of Abraham, explores America in the not to distant future as it is torn apart by a second Civil War.  At the center of the story is Henry Wilkins, a soldier in an elite, highly classified counter-terror unit.  PTSD, frequent absences, and the secretive nature of his job have all taken a toll on his marriage to Suzanne, who has drawn up divorce papers.  The government is dissolving as quickly as their marriage.  The President declares martial law, states begin the move towards secession, and bombs destroy Washington D.C. and San Francisco.  Henry's unit is ambushed and mostly wiped out.  He and another survivor begin the treacherous journey from Canada, where their commander had taken them in an ill-fated attempt to hide, back to their respective homes.  For Henry, home is the Florida Keys, where he can only hope that Suzanne and their daughter Taylor are safe  and still waiting for him.  Along the way, the novel explores the lives and fates of several minor characters who are nevertheless well developed and starkly realistic.

Originally from Ontario, Canada, Sean T. Smith moved to Miami, Florida and attended the University of Florida in Gainesville.  After pursuing a music career in Nashville, he moved back to Florida, where he raises his family and writes.  He is currently working on his fifth novel.  To learn more about him, visit his personal blog and make sure to check out his Q &A on the  Author Interview page of this blog, one of the most interesting ones I've ever done.

Apocalyptic fiction is one of my absolute favorite genres, and the fact that reviewing Tears of Abraham allows me the chance to feature a local author, is an added bonus.  The novel deals with political issues without being heavy handed or biased and the characters in the novel are well-rounded, from a delusional redneck to a struggling black man, to the main characters themselves.  One of my favorite chapters is entitled "Semper Fi", which opens with Henry's internal struggle at being caught up in a civil war which pits him against an enemy that he normally would have been fighting with, not against.  "Henry Wilkins was willing to give his life for his country, but at the moment, his country seemed intent on killing him.  This did not sit well in the jagged corners of his soul, humping through the Canadian Rockies with drones hunting him." The narrative then expounds into a poignant memory of Henry and his father.  What was sobering for me as I read these lines, is the fact that although a work of fiction, the political chaos that leads up to this is disturbingly close to the climate in our country today.  Science fiction and apocalyptic fiction writers are often uncomfortable prophets of the future, quietly warning readers of our possible fate while there is still time to change paths.  As readers, our job is to heed the warnings and not merely dismiss them as existing only between the pages of a book or in the minds of the authors.  Tears of Abraham reminds us that we are stronger together than apart and that in the current climate of political divisiveness, our focus on foreign terrorism may blind us to the fact that the worst enemy may lie within.

Review of The Blackbirds by Eric Jerome Dickey

The Blackbirds is the latest novel by the prolific author Eric Jerome Dickey.  I read this book as part of an online book club that I've recently joined, and though I must confess that I voted for a different book for the group's selection, I am so glad to have read the novel. (Shoutout to the members of R.E.A.D.!!!)

The plot traces the lives of four best friends who live in the same apartment building.  Indigo, the owner of the apartment building, is the child of a wealthy Nigerian family and the on-again, off-again girlfriend to a superstar NFL player.  As he cheats on her and stalls on putting a ring on her finger, she wavers between him and her ex-boyfriend, an equally famous NBA player. Kwanzaa is a Starbucks barista and college student, trying unsuccessfully to get over her broken engagement and cheating fiance.  A chance encounter with a handsome, mysterious customer leads to a wild fling with details that outdo even some of the author's most sensual works!  Destiny is the infamous title character from a previous EJD work, Chasing Destiny.  She is all grown up but still fighting the demons of her tragic past.  Ericka is a divorced teacher, left by her pastor husband while fighting cancer.  She is also fighting a strong, hidden crush on Destiny's father.  The novel is divided into sections based on each character's  birthday, and there is enough drama, romance, and fast-paced dialogue to keep readers turning pages well into the wee hours of the morning.

Eric Jerome Dickey is the author of over twenty novels, including the Gideon series, one of my personal favorites.  He also penned a series of graphic novels featuring the Black Panther and Storm, the African weather witch of X-men fame.  He hails from Memphis, but now makes his home as a nomad, traveling from place to place.  Learn more about him and his works at his website.

This novel takes readers on a roller coaster ride of emotions.   I laughed out loud literally at the antics of the women and their sharp wit and brutal humor.  I cried with them as they faced heartbreak and disappointment.  I raged against men who broke their hearts, and in Ericka's case-a bitter mother who was much better at dishing out bitterness and animosity than love.  On the other hand, I marveled at the strength of the relationship between Indigo and her mother.  As they discussed relationships, her mother told her, "you are better than me, Indigo.  You are better than me in every way.  You are the woman I admire and adore.  Don't let a man kiss you and turn a princess into a frog."  I cheered for Destiny as she fought to reclaim her life and stop living in the shadows.  I nearly stood up and shouted "Amen" when she told a man from her past, "I am a black woman, overworked, stressed, abused, and I have demons.  Oppression, fear, being marginalized creates demons.  Every black person in America should have demons, or they are spiritually dead.  You'd have to be crazy to not have a breakdown."  The novel is not all serious conversation, however.  Those EJD fans who turn to his books for the spine-tingling, graphic sex scenes will not be disappointed.  There is truly something for everyone in this novel.  This is a true gem from a beloved author.  EJD certainly rose to the occasion with this work.

Review of The Inquisitor's Niece by Erika Rummel

The Inquisitor's Niece by Erika Rummel is featured on this blog as part of a Virtual Authors Book Tour blog tour.  The novel is a historical fiction piece full of carefully researched details that brings the setting of Spain during the Inquisition to life as the backdrop to a touching love story.

The novel follows the story of Luisa and Alonso, two seemingly star-crossed lovers who overcome life-threatening odds to be together.  Luisa originally has dreams of becoming a nun, however her ambitious father has dreams of marrying her off to a prominent man. Being a woman in the 16th century means that she has little to no say in her future, so marriage it is.  On the advice of the Cardinal, her father arranges a marriage to Deodatus, a prominent scholar and poet who is wealthy and famous.  However, Deodatus is attracted to men only, and Luisa finds herself trapped into a loveless, sometimes abusive relationship.  Alonso is a Jew who was forced into conversion by the Inquisition, but even this wasn't enough to save his father, who is eventually killed, leaving his family in shame and penniless.  Alonso barely escapes losing his livelihood as a doctor by receiving a pardon from the Cardinal upon recommendation of Natale, a sneaky spy of the Inquisition.  Natale's scheming, back-stabbing tendencies play an integral part of the story and nearly bring about the demise of Alonso.  As I'm not a fan of spoilers, I will leave details about how Alonso and Luisa meet, how her marriage to Deodatus ends, and what happens at the end, for readers to discover on their own!  And, as part of the blog tour, here is your chance to win a copy of the novel:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Erika Rummel is a scholar, author and historian from Vienna, Austria.  She earned her PHd from the University of Toronto and went on to teach Renaissance history there, as well as at Wilfrid Laurier in Waterloo.  To learn more about her, check out the BTWA interview with her on this blog's Author Interviews page.

The Inquisitor's Niece embodies what I love the most about reading historical fiction:  the ability to learn about a time period in history while being entertained with a delightful plot.  Rummel's background as a history scholar is evident in the amount of painstaking research that obviously went into recreating the life of Christians and Jews during the Inquisition in Europe.  Luisa and Alonso are endearing characters who are vividly brought to life and their quest to be together will win readers' hearts.  I look forward to reading forthcoming works from Erika Rummel and am excited to once again participate in a Virtual Authors  Book tour.

Review of Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique

In her debut novel, Land of Love and Drowning, Tiphanie Yanique weaves Caribbean historical fact and fiction into a compelling story of love, heartbreak, and loss that gracefully blurs the lines between contemporary fiction and fantasy.

Click the link to hear me read an excerpt from the novel, in character as Annette:

The story begins with sea captain Owen Arthur Bradshaw, his wife Antionette, and his mistress, Rebekah. Rebekah is known as an obeah woman (obeah is a Caribbean term dealing with the practice of witchcraft or magic) and it is widely believed throughout St. Thomas that she used her powers to drive her Navy husband away, and to lure and keep Captain Bradshaw.  He fathers two children with his wife, Eeona and Annette, and an illegitimate son with Rebekah named Jacob.  The lives of these three children will become intertwined in ways that send shock waves through the next generation.

Tiphanie Yanique was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands and currently lives in New Rochelle, NY with her husband-the photographer Moses Djeli, and their two children.  Land of Love and Drowning is her first novel and it has received several awards, including the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Award from the Center for Fiction.  She is also the author of a collection of short stories entitled How to Escape from a Leper Colony, and is a professor at the New School in the MFA program.

Land of Love and Drowning is part love story, part fable, and part history lesson.  While Ms. Yanique writes of the magic spun by Rebekah, Eeona, and Annette, she creates her own magic with an elegant lyricism and poetical style that draws readers in and leaves them captured under the spell of the Bradshaw women and the mystical beauty and power of the Caribbean.  As a huge fan and supporter of Caribbean arts and literature, I am thrilled to have discovered a new talent in Ms. Yanique and will be eagerly awaiting her forthcoming works.  Fans of Colin Channer, Paule Marshall, Elizabeth Nunez, and Edwidge Danticat-there is a new Caribbean writer in our midst who is poised to take her place as a torchbearer of the authentic island narrative and culture.

Review of What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Let me start by saying that there are no spoiler alerts in this blog (I hate spoilers!!!) but I will issue a strong warning:  Reading this novel may require a strong dose of caffeine to function the next day because you will really be tempted to stay up late into the night to finish!  I turned the last page at 12:48 am and it was well worth it!

Rachel Jenner is still reeling from her divorce from her successful pediatric surgeon husband, John, who left the day after Christmas for a younger co-worker.  Nearly a year later, she is still struggling in her role as a single mother when a routine walk through the woods with their son Ben turns into every parents' worst nightmare.  She allows him to run ahead to the swing and when she arrives, he is gone.  His dog, Skittle, later reappears with a broken leg and the massive police search that ensues soon finds the clothes that Ben was wearing stuffed into a bag.  As the hours turn into days, Rachel and John are driven to the edge of insanity as they fear the worst.  The media frenzy, driven by social media, quickly turns on Rachel and casts blame and suspicion on her, heaping on to the guilt that she feels for allowing Ben to run ahead.  She is castigated online, journalists camp out in front of her home, and the public judgment escalates into vandalism and violence.   Making matters even worse, as the list of credible suspects emerges, Rachel realizes that even those closest to her are not who they seem and the number of people that she can trust shrinks daily.  Rachel's narration of the unraveling of her life is juxtaposed with the story of Jim Clemo, the lead investigator on the team searching for Ben.   His own secrets, as well as the personal relationship that he has with one of the female officers on the case, turn out to play a pivotal role in the search.

Gilly Macmillan is a wife, mother, photographer, and lecturer of photography.  She grew up in the United Kingdom and as a teen, moved with her family to Northern California.  She returned to the UK for college, earning degrees in Art and Art History from Bristol University and Courtald Institute of Art in London.  She lives in Bristol with her family.  What She Knew is her first novel.

What She Knew is a thrilling debut novel filled with plot twists, long-buried secrets, and thoughtful insight into what happens when unexpected tragedy upends the lives of a family, and how that tragedy reveals how little we often really know about those closest to us.  The opening line of the novel drives this point home, "in the eyes of others, we're often not who we imagine ourselves to be". Macmillan creates a realistic, introspective protagonist in Rachel, one whom readers can sympathize with despite her admitted shortcomings.  Even with Rachel's first-person disclosure however, there are still things about herself that she  doesn't realize and that are slowly revealed as the search for Ben continues.  The novel is also a quiet commentary on modern day social media and how it is used to allow people to anonymously pass judgment and make statements that they most likely wouldn't say face-to-face.  The Internet allows us to indulge our rubbernecking tendencies-that nearly universal human trait of being horrified yet secretly entertained by the tragedies of others.  As Rachel puts it, "we all love to be thrilled by the vicarious experience of other people's ghastly lives after all".   What She Knew is a tightly written, well-paced thriller that represents a more than worthy first effort from Macmillan.  Readers should look forward to more work from this new author.

Review of The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres of books because if done correctly, an author can bring a historical character to life and sweep readers away into a different time period, introducing vivid details about life in the past.  Most historical fiction writers take some liberties with names, dates, and events, but tend to stick closely to the most relevant information about the period of time that their story takes place in.  The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill is no exception, and presents a heartbreaking, lyrical narrative that addresses one of the greatest stains of  human history-the Transatlantic slave trade.

Aminata Diallo is the first person narrator and it is her story that readers follow throughout the book.  As the novel opens, she is an old woman living in London, being cared for by abolitionists who want her to tell her to appear before Parliament as part of their appeal to lawmakers to abolish the practice of transporting Africans across the Atlantic, a move that they hope will eventually lead to the complete end of slavery.  With stunning prose and moving imagery, Aminata takes readers back in time to her childhood in her village of Bayo, where she is the daughter of a jewelry maker who goes against tradition by teaching her how to read and write passages from the Qu'ran, and a midwife who teaches her the art of "catching babies".  When she and her parents are captured and their village raided and set on fire, Aminata is eleven years old and watches both her mother and father be killed as they fight their captors. With only a few familiar faces from her village and the friendship of a young man Chekura, Aminata endures such unspeakable horrors on the slave ship that as an old woman, she admonishes readers "if you.....have an African hue and find yourself led toward water with vanishing shores, seize your freedom by any means necessary.  And cultivate distrust of the colour pink.....what benevolent force would bewitch the human spirit by choosing pink to light the path of a slave vessel?" Aminata's story takes her from the indigo plantations of South Carolina as a slave to Canada as a free woman after she is granted freedom for serving the British during the Revolutionary War.  Along the way, she endured nearly every cruelty associated with slavery, including rape and the separation of her husband and children.

Lawrence Hill lives in Burlington, Ontario with his wife and children.  He began his writing career as a journalist and is the author of two other novels as well as several works of non-fiction.  The son of a sociologist and a civil rights activist, Hill grew up immersed in his parents' human rights work as well as research about the history of black people in Canada.  The Book of Negroes takes its title from a real historical document bearing the same name, which documented blacks who worked for the British during the Revolutionary War in exchange for freedom.  The work was originally published under the title of Someone Knows My Name and in 2015, was adapted into a miniseries airing on BET. For more information about the author, visit his official website.

This novel is not for the faint of heart.  Hill's meticulous research is evident in horrific, spellbinding details that offers readers no escape from the brutally graphic treatment that many slaves endured.  This, coupled with Aminata's brave, unflinching voice and piercing observations of the world around her, makes this a story that readers won't soon forget.  The narrative is so believable that one could easily find themselves looking up the actual Book of Negroes and searching for Aminata's name as one of its entries.  Hers is no rose-colored story of happy slaves living in Tara.  While Hill adds dimension and a range of emotions to all of his characters, slaves and slave owners alike, through Aminata's words we are provided with a psychological damnation of the institution with no room for justification or whitewashing.  As she thinks back about her march to the coast where she and the other captured Africans will board the slave ship, she makes a blunt analysis about the eyes of the slave catchers.  "Never have I met a person doing terrible things who would meet my own eyes peacefully.  To gaze into another person's face is to do two things: to recognize their humanity, and to assert your own".  I highly recommend The Book of Negroes as a beautifully handled work of fiction that handles an all-too real subject with candor and dignity.  Aminata's story will travel with you long after you have turned the last page.

Review of Isolation by Denise R. Stephenson

Isolation by Denise R. Stephenson is featured as part of a Premier Virtual Authors Book Tours blog tour and is also a part of a Rafflecopter giveaway on the Contests and Giveaways page of this blog.  The novel is set in future apocalyptic America and while it can be categorized as science fiction, the epidemic that it predicts has its roots in all too real events.

The novel opens with a series of vignettes of random strangers who are infected with various bacterial infections, whether from food, contact with insects, or swimming in contaminated waters.  The horrifying headlines of mad cow disease, MRSA, E.Coli and other outbreaks that have scared populations worldwide in recent years, reaches pandemic proportions, killing millions and forcing extreme measures from government to contain the spread of infection.  Martial law, food shortages, looting of stores, and civil unrest break out amid increasing periods of forced quarantines in which all citizens are forced indoors. Touching one's own face becomes illegal as scientists and government officials try to dampen one of the fastest ways that the infections are spread.   Ultimately, the most extreme measures that can possibly be imagined are implemented:  all touch between humans is forbidden and a permanent Outdoor Ban is implemented, meaning that all citizens are forced inside forever, coming out only to go to ABC's-anti-bacterial centers, if they become infected.  The novel's focus narrows as it alternates between third-person accounts of Maggie, a mother who has bound her infant son's hands, and now raised him in a society where he knows no skin-to-skin touch, Gary, a nurse who lost his fiance to the infections and is now a Sterilizer living and working in an ABC, and Trevor, a disturbed young man with OCD traits who works his way up to Chief Enforcer in the new government.  Their stories are interspersed with a first-person narrative from an unnamed former scientist and professor, now living alone in complete isolation since his wife succumbed to the epidemic, and whose philosophical musings provide a voice of morality and reflection about the extreme government actions, as well as the events that led up to the epidemic.

Denise R. Stephenson lives in Oceanside, California, and has lived in all of the isolated locations of the novel at one time or another.  She has published academically, and also as a member of Attention Deficit Drama, where she has written and produced short plays and monologues.  Isolation is her first novel.  To learn more about her, check out the author Q & A on the Author Interviews page of this blog.

Like many good science fiction novels, Isolation poses serious questions and implications for the path that we are headed on in real life.  The spotlight shines brightly on AgriBiz and its use of GMO's in crops and antibiotics in hormones, as major causes for the rises in tainted food supplies and bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotic treatment.  The role of government in limiting the civil liberties of its citizens under the guise of safety is also examined, echoing today's debates about government curtailing freedom in order to protect citizens from terror threats.  One chance encounter and inadvertent touch turn Maggie and Gary's lives upside down as they begin to question what is happening around them and discover deeply buried yearnings for genuine human contact.  Ms. Stephenson achieves the notable goal of making us question modern practices in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and government, without being overly preachy.  The musings of the anonymous professor provide poignant reminders of all we stand to lose as a society if we continue on our current path.  When he reflects on the use of criminals and the poor as Cleaners-the frightening position of cleaning up contaminated corpses, he reflects that even "back in the day" (pre-epidemic), no one would have questioned the practice.  "Some people never did have the rights the rest of us held so dear.  Some have always been expendable".  Readers will be easily moved to tears when he recounts the story of willing giving his cat Ghost a lethal injection because of fear of being contaminated by the animals touch and licks of affection.  Isolation is a disturbing, chillingly realistic portrayal of our potential future that should give us pause in the midst of our daily lives to reflect on what could happen if current trends are left unchecked.  As the professor said, "while we peered up into the heavens, the rug was pulled out from under us, the rug of oats and wheat and sweet grasses, the carpeting of green we lived on".

Review of P.S. Never Give Up Hope by Renata Hannans

P.S. Never Give up Hope by Renata Hannans has the distinction of being the first non-fiction book reviewed on this site.  The compelling and sobering first-person narratives of juvenile offenders in Florida's prison system make this book truly worthy of this honor.

Ms. Hannans first heard the story of "Lil Eddie" from a newspaper article and from students she served as a case manager working in a Jacksonville public high school.  She began writing, and later visiting the teenager, whose real name is Jonathan E. Hartley.  As a 15 year-old, Lil Eddie and a co-defendant were convicted of the armed robbery and second-degree murder of 57 year-old pizza delivery driver Sarah Hotham.  He is currently serving a life sentence in prison and his story opens the book.  Nine other current and former youthful offenders tell their stories in the pages of the book, including an anonymous subject who gives advice to teenagers from Death Row.

Renata Hannans is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, where she lives with her husband and daughter.  She continues her work as a case manager working with students, as well as various other projects advocating on behalf of juveniles in Florida.  To learn more about her, check out the Q & A with her on the Author Interviews page of this blog.

P.S. Never Give Up Hope is at turns inspiring, chilling, and tear-jerking.  The stories of young people gone astray was so engrossing that I finished the entire book in one evening.  The individuals profiled share their stories in as honest, real terms as possible.  While they do explain the circumstances that led up to their convictions and incarcerations (with the exception of the anonymous Death Row inmate), they don't make excuses for their actions.  Instead, they seek redemption and attempt to advise teenagers to avoid the fateful path that led them to their current situations.  Adult readers cannot help but wonder if the lives of these young people have not been thrown away by a system which is increasingly being called out by critics as overly harsh towards juveniles.  A recent  Supreme Court ruling which states that life imprisonment for juveniles for crimes not involving murder is cruel and unusual punishment, provides the slimmest of hopes to some of the convicted as their lawyers scramble to see if the law can be applied retroactively to their clients.  P.S. Never Give Up Hope should rightfully have a place in this much-needed debate that must take place if we as a society are to move forward in finding more progressive, realistic solutions to the problem of juvenile crime.

Review of Across Great Divides by Monique Roy

Roy, M. (2013).  Across Great Divides.

Across Great Divides by Monique Roy is a featured novel in a Closed the Cover blog tour and is also a part of a Rafflecopter giveaway (see bottom of this post). This novel spans three continents during the World War II era, starting in Berlin, Germany as notorious dictator Adolf Hitler begins his rise to power, and was inspired by the author's grandparents, Jews who fled his regime.

Eva and Inge are beautiful, identical twins living idyllic lives as teenagers in Berlin.  They are the daughters of Oskar, a master jeweler and Helene, the elegant matriarch who holds her family together with a quiet, dignified strength.  Eva's best friend Trudy is an integral part of their lives, even eating with the family during the Shabbat-the weekly Sabbath meal, even though she is not Jewish.  Things quickly take a turn for the worst, however, when Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and begins his reign of terror against the Jews.  Trudy is forbidden by her family to associate with the twins and eventually becomes a part of the Nazi Youth program.  The twins' younger brother Max, becomes actively involved with a Jewish underground resistance group, against their parents' wishes.  Max urges his family to flee the country but Oskar, like many Jews of the time, resists.  However, after the terrifying events of Kristallnacht in which Jewish shops and synagogues are vandalized and destroyed, Oskar finally realizes that his family is not safe in Germany anymore.  Forced to sell his business, he manages to hide some precious diamonds but is unable to keep a beautiful, very expensive emerald necklace from being confiscated by the Nazis.  Ironically, Max's underground connections are able to secure the necessary visas for the family to flee to Antwerp, Belgium.  During their flight, they are joined by a young refugee named Isaac, who quickly falls in love with and marries Inge. While in Antwerp, Eva also falls in love, with a young man named Carmen. The war quickly spreads to Belgium and they are forced to flee again, this time to Rio de Janeiro, and finally to South Africa.  Carmen and Oskar establish themselves in the growing diamond industry in the country, Max enrolls in university, and the twins live as homemakers.  However, the ugly stain of discrimination once again rears its head, this time in the form of apartheid, which affects Eva's maid and brings back horrible memories of their experiences as Jews in Nazi Germany.   Throughout their travels and experiences, the emerald necklace continues to play a part in their lives through the people that they meet, keeping them connected "across great divides".

Monique Roy has a degree in Journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and is the author of a children's book called Once Upon a Time in Venice.  Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she was inspired to write Across Great Divides by her grandparents, European Jews who fled the Nazi regime. To find out more about Ms. Roy, read the author Q & A on the Author Interviews page of this blog.

Across Great Divides handles an often-told narrative in a unique way.  While the story does begin in Berlin and includes experiences of discrimination that the family faces as Jews, the bulk of the plot is centered around their flight to different continents and their interactions with one another. Ms. Roy does a great job of quietly drawing comparisons between the Holocaust and the South African system of apartheid by showing the human impact of those who suffered under these regimes, as well as showing the irony of Oskar and Helene's acceptance of the apartheid system despite the discrimination that they themselves faced.  Across Great Divides a briskly paced,  brightly detailed story of love, family, survival against overwhelming odds, and the struggle to maintain hope even in the most dire of circumstances.

Click here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a copy of the novel:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review of He Belongs to Me by Theresa Rizzo

Rizzo, T. (2013).  He Belongs to Me.

He Belongs to Me chronicles the story of Catherine Boyd as she fights deceit at the hands of her own family in order to regain custody of her son Drew and deal with the painful secrets that have driven a wedge between her and her parents.

Catherine and her brother Andrew (her son's namesake) grew up in a wealthy, privileged family with everything that they could possibly want or need-except for their father's approval.  Stern, heavy-handed Eric Whittemore demanded perfection in everything from grades to sports.  Catherine struggled to win her father's love while Andrew rebelled.  Catherine's relationship with her mother Sarah lacked the usual mother-daughterly affection as Catherine sensed that her mother did not really care for her.  Andrew's tragic death as a teenager became yet another wave that caused the family to drift further apart and the circumstances surrounding his death were one more painful family secret.  Against her parents wishes, she married Thomas Boyd and when the young couple struggled to make ends meet, they moved in with her family.  Catherine gives birth to Drew and his twin Bobby, but when the twins are still infants, Bobby stops breathing and dies in what is apparently a tragic accident.  Thomas soon becomes the suspect in his death, aided by the accusations of none other than Sarah Whittemore.  After a brutal trial and an eventual acquittal, Thomas and Catherine separate.  She goes to college at Stanford and signs over what she thinks is temporary custody of Drew to her parents.  When she graduates and attempts to get him back, she is met with the cruel realization that her parents duped her into signing over permanent custody of her son. After consulting with an attorney, she realizes that reconciling with Thomas is the only chance that she has of winning a custody battle against her parents, since as the father, he never signed away his parental rights.  Thomas and Catherine must deal with the years of pain, anger, and guilt that lie between them, and Thomas must face his insecurity at being around children since Bobby's death.  Only then can they unite and fight against the formidable Whittemores, causing long-hidden secrets to come to light in the process.

Theresa Rizzo is a wife, mother, and registered nurse living in Colorado.  He Belongs to Me is her debut novel and her second novel, Just Destiny, is due out in March.  He Belongs to Me was a finalist in the 2013 USA  Best Book Awards-General Fiction Category. To learn more about her, check out the Q & A on the Author Interviews page of this blog.

He Belongs to Me is easily deserving of the awards and positive reviews that it has received since its release. Flowing prose, realistic dialogue, and dramatic confrontations between characters lend to the book's appeal.  The courtroom scenes are painfully well-written and illustrate the trauma that is endured by countless parents who find themselves fighting for custody of their children.  The relationship between Catherine and Thomas evolves slowly and beautifully from one of tense estrangement to one of rekindled love and romance.  The author's unique choice of plot is also appealing.  Many stories involving custody battles center around a father fighting for his child(ren) as conventional wisdom says that family courts favor mothers. However recent years have seen increasing numbers of women losing custody of their children and this phenomenon is one that is only sparingly explored in contemporary fiction.  Theresa Rizzo lends a compelling voice to this issue and handles the contentious subjects of family law and family secrets with talent and grace.

Happy New Year-Blog Hop and Book Giveaway

Happy New Year from Book Talk with Alana!  As we enter a new year filled with many more opportunities to read and discuss wonderful books, I'm happy to once again be a part of a Closed the Cover New Year-New Authors-New Books Blog Hop.

I don't normally make resolutions, but my goals for my blog this year are to publish at least two reviews per month, to participate in at least five blog hops and/or book tours, and to continue to support independent authors.

What are your literary goals for this year?  To read more books?  To try out a new genre or author?  Comment below for a chance to win a copy of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey or Countdown City, the second book in The Last Policeman  trilogy by Ben H. Winters.

Happy Reading!

Review of Checkmate by Jonathan Patrick

Jonathan Patrick's political thriller is currently on a virtual blog tour with Closed the Cover through December 6.  International terrorism is at the center of the plot and draws on the experiences of the author as a retired U.S. Air Force veteran.

What happens when North Korea, China, and Iran conspire to attack the United States?  The answer is an intricately woven story full of rich details and research, and (for the most part) high developed, believable characters.  I won't give away much in this review because so many details are so tied into one another that it would risk giving away important plot elements.  Simply put, Checkmate must be read to appreciated.  A synopsis does not do justice to the time and effort obviously made by Mr. Patrick to make the story as realistic as possible.  When the original conspiracy is put forth in a meeting at the Grand Hyatt Taipei in Taiwan, readers can easily become skeptical as to how
 a plan that seems to be so far-fetched could have a chance of being put into motion and actually being successful against the world's greatest superpower.  However, as the author reminds us in the book's trailer, "with most of its once mighty navy staying in port, and the remainder stretched thinly across the globe, America's enemies now have different words to describe America: weak...and very vulnerable".  Without taking obvious political sides, the novel shows how austerity measures have weakened America's military might and thus opened a window of opportunity for the country's political enemies to take advantage of chinks in the armor.

Jonathan Patrick is a retired veteran of the United States Air Force who currently lives in the Carolinas with his wife and two children.  His military career took him to various countries around the world and provided him with experiences with several intelligence agencies.  He is working on a second novel.  To learn more about him and his thought process while creating the novel, check out the Q & A with him on the Author Interviews page of this blog.

As I read the novel, I was reminded of the political thrillers from authors such as Tom Clancy.  The details of the missions, submarines, and military and commercial installations was so realistic that it was almost scary to realize how such a sinister plot could actually play out against American interests.  I also really enjoyed the background information provided about many of the key characters, allowing us to see how even some of those who come to be enemies of America, have human interests, feelings, and motivations.  The only character who seemed under developed was Ramon, the totally inept supervisor of Julie and Gina, the brilliant young women who designed the computer software program that is at the heart of the story.  While America faces imminent threat of attack, his only interest seems to lie in the March Madness basketball tournament.  Readers would shudder to think that a supervisor in a key government intelligence agency would be so out of touch.  But then again....

Checkmate has a fast-paced, chilling climax that leaves enough loose ends to warrant a sequel in the near future.  I for one, will be looking forward to it, if only to continue reading about the heroic characters that were introduced to us in this book and see how America recovers and fights back against a conspiracy that spans the globe.

Review of From Rum to Roots by Lloyd G. Francis

Francis, L. (2013).  From Rum to Roots.  San Francisco:  Marway Publishing.

From Rum to Roots is the debut novel from author Lloyd G. Francis.  When I received the invitation to participate in the blog tour through Closed the Cover, I jumped at the opportunity after reading the synopsis, and the book met all of my expectations and then some.

The story begins in 1937 in the Jamaican countryside.  Linton McMann is the gang driver at a rum plantation owned by Major Blaine.  There is an unspoken, well-hidden secret between the two men-Linton is Major's illegitimate son.  Linton has grown up with the resentment and shame of never being publicly acknowledged by his father, despite Major's small efforts to placate him.  After violence erupts in and around the plantation as the workers rise up in an attempt to organize and demand better wages, Linton and his girlfriend Sheila escape to the settlement of Bessanworse where they join an elder named Timothy and become a part of the fledgling Rastafarian community.  Meanwhile in Kingston, 17 year old Daisy has just graduated from high school and is taking over her family's ice business while dealing with friction between her and her sister Callie, as well as her mother's new husband, Wilbur.  After a terrifying episode of abuse that Daisy shamefully keeps secret, she leaves home and marries Miles, a man who turns out to be very abusive.  Daisy leads a miserable, poverty-stricken life with her two young daughters, Janet and Lissette, while Linton struggles with the loss of Sheila and  their unborn child, leaving him to carry a heavy load of guilt and grief.  Linton and Daisy's paths finally cross in America, when they both receive visas and end up in Brooklyn, New York.  They marry and start on a solid path of upward mobility, fulfilling the American dream while attempting to erase their painful memories of Jamaica.  Daisy's dream of sending for Janet and Lissette fade with each passing year as she and Linton have children of their own and the ocean separating them seems to grow too wide to cross.

A native of Oakland, California, Lloyd G. Francis started his career as a photojournalist and ended up covering battles in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kashmir.  To learn more about him, check out the interview with him on the Author Interview page of this blog.

From Rum to Roots is a story of an often untold immigrant experience that turns the history of Jamaica and America in the early part of the 20th century into a mesmerizing, richly detailed narrative with characters who are endearing but flawed, and who epitomize the human struggle to survive and overcome daunting odds.  Linton and Daisy must both overcome personal histories full of pain, guilt and hurt, and until they do so,they can never truly find complete happiness, despite the material wealth that they gain as they become financially successful.  Money truly cannot buy happiness, and their attempts to shut out their past causes friction and a nagging sense of emptiness, and for Daisy, it also causes a nearly irreparable rift between herself and the daughters that she left behind in Jamaica.  This story speaks to the very real struggle that many immigrants to this country face-the desire to assimilate into American life without losing their past and heritage completely.  For Daisy and Linton, their heritage does not represent a source of pride and comfort, but instead serves as a reminder of the struggles and tragedies that they left behind.  They must ultimately realize that burying the past does not bury the pain, and that they cannot heal themselves by turning their backs on their roots, but rather by embracing them and drawing on the wisdom and pride of their ancestors and homeland.  From Rum to Roots is a moving, deeply fulfilling novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the final page is turned.  This is a first-rate effort from a new author and a worthy piece of contemporary fiction that speaks not just to the immigrant experience, but to the general human experience as well.