Friday 56: The Qualities of Wood by Mary Vensel White

"It's probably that sheriff," he said.

"What sheriff?"

"From town. I thought they were finished when I left to pick you up. They're looking for something."

Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice

Title: The Qualities of Wood
Author: Mary Vensel White
ISBN: 9780007523580
Publisher: Harper Collins Authonomy/2014
Pages: 370

Vivian has been married for 4 years to Nowell and she leaves her job in the city to join her husband at his Grandmother’s house in the countryside. Nowell has taken a break from his work and now writing his second mystery novel. Both are preparing the house for sale. Soon after Vivian arrives, the Sheriff finds a body of a young girl in the woods behind their house. Vivian meets Katharine, who becomes a close friend. Nowell’s brother Lonnie and his new bride Dorothy too arrive.

With time in her hand, Vivian is suddenly questioning everything around her. Nowell, engrossed in his writing, seems to be drifting away from her. Lonnie is broody and secretive. Dorothy is the only one who seems genuinely happy to help Viv.

Vivian tries to unravel the secret about the girl who was found dead. She also meets another neighbour who used to be reclusive but now seen everywhere.

The language, descriptions and Vivian's thought process are all very beautiful but somewhere down the line, the mystery element gets lost. More emphasis should have been on that but it is not so. The secret is resolved in a slow pace. If one is looking for a fast paced thriller, then it is not so. There is lot of symbolism and metaphors. A few of those worked and few were wasted. I liked it in a literary way but not for the mystery and suspense element.

The Invisible Man by H G Wells

The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking from Bramblehurst railway station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand.  He was wrapped up from head to foot, and the brim of his soft felt hat hid every inch of his face but the shiny tip of his nose; the snow had piled itself against his shoulders and chest, and added a white crest to the burden he carried.  He staggered into the “Coach and Horses” more dead than alive, and flung his portmanteau down.  

“A fire,” he cried, “in the name of human charity!  A room and a fire!” He stamped and shook the snow from off himself in the bar, and followed Mrs. Hall into her guest parlour to strike his bargain.  And with that much introduction, that and a couple of sovereigns flung upon the table, he took up his quarters in the inn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My first experiment was with a bit of white wool fabric. It was
the strangest thing in the world to see it in the flicker of the flashes soft and white, and then to watch it fade
like a wreath of smoke and vanish.
"I could scarcely believe I had done it. I put my hand into the emptiness, and there was the thing as solid as ever. I felt it awkwardly, and threw it on the floor. I had a little trouble finding it again.

Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice


The Invisible Man by H G Wells

The Invisible Man starts with a stranger arriving at the town of Iping. The stranger doesn't get along with the villagers, especially the people who own the inn where he's staying. He spends most of his time trying to do something scientific in his room. The villagers accuse him of robbery. He takes off all his clothes and reveals that he is invisible!

He fights the villagers and flees, leaving his important scientific notes behind. To get them back, he forces a homeless man Marvel to help him. They go back to Iping and get the Invisible Man's stuff, but the villagers attack and again he takes shelter in a house that happens to be owned by an old college friend named Kemp, and this is where we learn that our anti-hero's name is Griffin.

Kemp has alerted the police to Griffin's whereabouts when he arrives but when they come to arrest him, he escapes.  Kemp works with the police to catch Griffin, who in turn, tries to catch Kemp. In the end, a bunch of people in Burdock gang up on the Invisible Man and kill him. As he dies, Griffin loses his invisibility.

H G Wells does not explain why Griffin needed to invent that apparatus which turns him.anything invisible. And Griffin is an arrogant and violent person. Not at all endearing. We ought to sympathize him but we do not. 

2014 National Poetry Month: Controlled Hallucinations by John Sibley Williams

2014 National Poetry Month: Reach for the Horizon Blog Tour hosted by Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit

I am going to review a poetry book. It is contemporary poetry and I discovered the poet via the net, liked what he had written, requested a copy and he was kind enough to send me one. 


Title: Controlled Hallucinations
Author: John Sibley Williams
ISBN: 978-1938853227
Publisher: FutureCycle Press/2013

Pages: 78

As the title suggests, Williams has been able to control the hallucinations. He has taken the everyday experiences and juxtaposed those with feelings, thoughts and varied images. He has taken note of life from all its aspects by making use of metaphors, some of those are unthinkable for an average reader of poetry. He does it so seamlessly and the reader craves for more. He speaks of ball of yarn, to be in love, about rooftops, mirrors, seeing people in the clouds and the blue sky, fence posts, birds and raw emotions blended with passion. 

Let me take the first poem which sets the tone and that tone is maintained throughout.

I

I see a man on an adjacent building
silhouette cut from the skyline.
So I also cut out the roof
he stands on.
I cut out the tools
and the cascading shingles.
I cut out the hydrangeas
the shingles decapitate
on their way down.
.
I cut out the mountain
in the distance,
still coddling its last snows
replacing it with a silo,
the shingles with paper
snowflakes.
.
I replace the man
with another man
with a woman
with a horse
a piano
with a book
and myself.
.
Nothing quite fits.
.
But the man
no longer fits either
on the roof
on skyline
And I wonder is this
what it means
to touch?
.
The imagery is so good that one wants to keep reading. 

LIX

With an apple in my mouth, yes,
I must be swine.
Because strangers stop momentarily
to capture me in their lenses,
I must be a roadside attraction.
As there is nothing to hold to
in what I say,
        I say it again
        And again--

nonsense being the tenderest 
act of friendship, of identity.

I can be cloudburst, yes,
and I can be my own prey.
I can be you.
         or, if you say it,
         none of these

I especially liked the twists at the end. Because that is what I do. That is what I am. A poet. 

Re-reading his poems gives yet another meaning. The knowing turns to un-knowing. From churches to graveyards, from skylines to bedrooms. From clouds to the grounds. The journey is just an illusion. Or hallucinations. Controlled or not.....open ended or closed. Understand it any way you want. 

Teaser Tuesday: Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber

Michael spoke slowly and sternly, as if scolding an obstinate child. 

“Kate, let me be very clear about this. You will not continue this murder investigation, under any circumstances. I forbid it.” 

Michael’s words were unequivocal, not to be challenged. He was man. He was in charge. He expected no argument. 

He was an idiot.

Title: Murder Strikes a Pose
Author: Tracy Weber
ISBN: 9780738739687
Publisher: Midnight Ink/2014
Pages: 274

Kate Davidson is a Seattle yoga instructor. She is struggling to keep her yoga business intact. She is also fending off matching efforts by her best friend. One fine day she finds a homeless man selling newspaper in from of her yoga studio. It wouldn't have been so bad but his horse-sized German shepherd Bella scares everyone away. She befriends the homeless alcoholic George, and his best friend, Bella. The three of them form some kind of camaraderie and she learns that George has more to what he appears to be.

Then one day she stumbles over his body in the studio’s parking lot. Police treat it as just another drug related street crime but Kate knows that George was no drug dealer. She is determined to find his killers. Also she wants someone to adopt that big dog! No one willing and the dog has already adopted her.

Meanwhile the killer is moving on to her. She knows if she doesn't do something, she will end up as a permanent yoga pose of death!

The novel moves forward in a good pace. The relationship between Bella and Kate is very good. She wants the dog to be adopted but the dog wants Kate to be her master. The story has elements of murder, mayhem, humor, a bit of a romance and understanding and makes for a good cozy mystery. 

The characters are well developed and quite likable. The detailing is very good. And the dog is lovable! As I am an Indian and do yoga, I understood the yoga terminology and poses too well....

The Civilized World by Susi Wyss

Adjoa had been going to Madame Janice's every week for the last three months, but she still couldn't put her finger on why her stomach clenched and her shoulders stiffened every time her twin brother, Kojo, drove her to the white woman's well-kept house. Madame Janice was a perfectly pleasant American lady who seemed to appreciate Adjoa's massages. Other than the African masks and statues displayed prominently in the living room, other than the rather rude night watchman, there was really nothing about Madame Janice or her home that could account for Adjoa's anxiety.

Title: The Civilized World
Author: Susi Wyss
ISBN: 9780805093629
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks/2011
Pages: 256 pages

The Civilized World is a novel set in Africa and told in stories. The beginning chapters speak about five women and how their life intersect in the last few chapters. Each story depicts the everyday Africa without any political statement or sensationalization. It is not about women who are driven by poverty or anything like that. These women are like us, with issues about children, in laws, finances and husbands. The end result can't be predicted as is true in real life. These women go through the path of life with all the complexities of life which includes social interactions.

Adjoa is in the midst of it and when she meets one of the women after many years, she can only ask for forgiveness and redemption. Is Janice ready to forgive and move forward? Will Adjoa get over her loss? 

Wyss' narration of Africa is so palpable that one can almost smell, taste and see the landscape and people clearly.  The author lived for a long time. That gives the narration a reality and makes it very readable.

Hurrah's Nest by Arisa White

We alone together is me, one egg in the pigeon’s nest
between my rusting ten-speed and brick wall.
The wind blocked my body from her.

Night and day we were audience
to feathers tossed and shit about.
It’s hard to listen to courtship.

She tells me, 
With children you will never be lonely.

-from “Disposition for Shininess” from Hurrah's Nest by Arisa White

Hurrah's Nest: poems by Arisa White

This book of poem speaks of a family, their interactions, hardships and everything in between. There is identity crisis, scars of being a family. One might feel that there is no love between them but it is not so. Poems are built from moments, memories and just being there. Each poem is a story in itself yet we don't feel anything is disjointed. 

The family consists of a mother, six brothers and one sister. There is a sense of abandonment by the mother but that too is just a passing feeling. Closeness is the end result, no matter what experiences one might have gone through in ones's family.....

I can go on but poetry has to experienced by the reader, felt in his/her heart....

Musing Mondays: Mini Reviews

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about something related to reading/books each week…...

This time I thought of posting a couple of Mini Reviews. 

Rustled by Natasha Stories 

Charity has escaped a fundamentalist religious community that wants to keep her captive. She crashes her car in the middle of a storm, and is saved by Russ, who provides her shelter, comfort, and  heat to forget about the storm outside. But Russ has secrets of his own and Charity isn’t safe.

I liked how it began. Russ is protective of Charity. There is suspense element. However there is a lot of erotic stuff which was a big no no for me. I prefer good old romance. Not something that borders on BDSM! NOT FOR ME!

Winter's Heart by A.C. Warneke 

Flynn Rogers has been in love with Winter Mitchell since she was all of 12 years At that time he was playing a vampire on TV. Nine years later she gets to plan his son's birthday party. He is engaged to actress Melissa Irish although the relationship is not exactly romantic.

Winter falls for Flynn which is reciprocated. It gets complicated for all involved as Winter and Melissa have to maintain a facade for media. 

The story started out good but it is too explicit for my liking. I am no prude but I don't like to read about sex every other page. This too borders on BDSM. A big NO NO!!

MORAL OF THE STORY: DO NOT DOWNLOAD FREE E-BOOKS WITH LURID COVERS

The Personal History of Rachel DuPREE by Ann Weisgarber

I still see her, our Liz, sitting on a plank, dangling over that well. She held on to the rope that hung from the pulley, her bare feet pressed together so tight that the points on her ankle bones were nearly white. She was six. She had on her brother's cast-off pants, and earlier, when I'd given them to her, she'd asked if wearing pants made her a boy. I'd told her we'd wait and see see, and that had made her giggle. 

Title: The Personal History of Rachel DuPREE
Author: Ann Weisgarber
ISBN: 9780143119487
Publisher: Penguin Books/2011
Pages: 321

1917. Badlands in South Dakota. It has been struck by a severe drought. Rachel DuPREE and husband Isaac are trying hard to survive. Rachel is pregnant with her eighth child. She has five surviving children and does not wish to bury the one she is carrying. Isaac is resolute. He will not give up the land but Rachel has misgivings now. When Isaac lowers Liz, their six year old daughter, into the well to get water, Rachel cannot bear to look into Liz's accusing eyes. She starts reminiscing her life and starts questioning. 

Looking back, we learn that, Isaac and Rachel acquired 360 acres of land from the Homestead Act, as a black man - or even a woman - was entitled to stake a claim. Rachel married Isaac because she was in love with him but Isaac married her for acquiring land.  

Twelve years later, Rachel is not so sure about her choices in life. She wants better for her children, not this struggle. They do not have small pleasures of life. She knows she has to take a decision for the sake of her children.

Told in the voice of Rachel, the prose is not flowery but spare and beautiful. We are with Rachel all the way. We learn about "agency Indians" and the black settlers and it makes us think, who land is it in the first place. 

I will quote Rachel here: "I admired the feel of a book. I opened the book and held it to each girl's nose. I alwasy believed that smelling the pages of a book took a person into the story." 

That is the way I felt about this novel.

Last Train to Omaha by Ann Whitely-Gillen

"What's the matter with you? Your daughter is gravely ill, and you have the nerve to take out your personal feelings on the one person she adores most in life."

Title: Last Train to Omaha
Author: Ann Whitely-Gillen
ISBN: 9780991832507
Publisher: AnnGillen Books/2013
Pages: 296

James Milligan has shut himself from everything after he witnesses his best friend's death when he was 18. He is a successful architect but does not let anyone get close to him. He is only in his elements when he is with dying veterans at the Aaron Milligan Palliative Care Center. He eases their pain and is very gentle and sensitive. He is known as "The Shepherd" because he can soothe dying people on their death bed. When Rebecca Doyle enters his life, he does not know how to react. Her cherubic daughter captivates him but he cannot vocalize his feelings to either of them.

A war veteran Martin Diggs helps him overcome his deep reservations. He also goes on journey of self discovery to finally find love.

This is novel about self realization, thoroughly captivating and thoughtful. It is about embracing life no matter what. The secondary characters made the novel a pleasure to read. 

Teaser Tuesday: Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward

"What do you mean, news?”

“Well, at least you have your priorities in order.” My brother sounded like he was pouting. I remembered the way he would hide under the kitchen table when our parents fought, refusing to come out.


Title: Close Your Eyes
Author: Amanda Eyre Ward
ISBN: 978-0345494481
Publisher: Random House/2011
Pages: 272

This books open in 1986, where Lauren Mahdian and Alex are kids, six and eigth, respectively. When Lauren wakes up from a nightmarish dream, she finds her mother murdered and father arrested of the same crime. Alex and Lauren are bound by that tragedy.  Alex has always been in touch with their father, writing him letters and calling him. However, Lauren has no contact with her father.

Come to 2010, Alex, now a doctor and wants to do something. He goes to Iraq and disappears. Lauren is now utterly alone, with no one to turn to. Her boyfriend, Gerry, is a good person but   Lauren is unable to get close to him.  Slowly, Lauren tries to unravel the truth from her memories, to find out what really happened that night.

We find that Sylvia and Victoria are strangely connected to the Mahdian family. How? The answers to that one keeps the reader in tenterhooks until the end. It is about love between siblings, about love for ones parents and also about that love, which the giver can't understand. Lauren has this strange compulsion to find out everything after Alex disappears. It is her love for him that forces her to seek the truth which she had always tried to brush aside.

It has the right element of suspense, mystery and a good story line. All in all, a good read.

Teaser Tuesday: Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson

‘You had an accident,’ he says. ‘A bad accident. You suffered head injuries. You have problems remembering things."

Page 14, Before I Go to Sleep by S J Watson

Title: Before I Go To Sleep
Author: S J Watson
ISBN: 978-0062060556
Publisher: Harper/2011
Pages: 368

Before I Go to Sleep is very normal, based in a suburban and is replete with ordinary descriptions. This normality enhances the impact of the novel. The everyday occurrences keep us anticipating.

Chrissie has lost her memory in an "accident", as told by her husband Ben. She can't remember anything other than what happened in the last 24 hours. That is, if she falls asleep, she forgets everything. She does not recognize anyone, not even her husband. Every morning she has to be told, who she is, who Ben is and if they have any children...Every morning is terrifying for her.

Dr Nash, unknown to her husband, is trying to treat her. He encourages her to keep a journal, to write everything she can recall before she fall asleep. It is through her journal that Chrissie can learn about her own past, her own life. Before going to sleep, she tells Dr Nash where she keeps her journal and each morning he reminds her of that.

Chrissie recalls so many important things about her life and writes it all down, unknown to her husband. She also remembers writing a novel, which her husband has kept hidden from her. And there are other facts like her having a son, who is killed in the Iraq war. There is no picture of her with her husband or son and she wants to know why. And she is told they lost it all when there was a fire.

The reader anticipates something is not right. And Chrissie struggles through her haphazard memory to learn more. To be able to recreate her life via her journal..Then she finds something about herself and also her husband. This makes her question everything.

What conspiracies are working against her? Who really is her husband. Is he what he claims? Is he true to her? The story may seem mundane at times but it has that tight feel, that suspense which keeps us totally involved in the novel. It questions us if we can survive a memory loss of any kind. It is a frightening aspect.

Sunday Salon: Mini Reviews

I have read too many romances in the form of e-books. And none of those need a full review. So I thought I would do Mini Reviews! All these novels can be found free! From Amazon. I read those with the help of a Kindle For PC, which can be downloaded for free from there. Try it! Works GREAT!!


 Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren

Alex is a private investigator who works with her dad, and she is hired by a woman who has seen a photo in a newspaper of Brodie Hayes,a former rodeo star. And thinks that he is her long lost son stolen from the hospital forty years ago. Alex tracks him down and unknown to him takes something from for a DNA sample. Initially Alex is skeptical about the whole thing but somehow it is not really closed case at all.  She starts to empathize with Brodie. It is not really a superficial romance although the does does suggest that. It has depth and the characterization is good even of those who have grey shades. The love story is only secondary to the story of stolen child..that is Brodie...

The Bride's Baby by Liz Fielding

Tom and Sylvie have an one-night stand and as a consequence Sylvie gets pregnant. When Tom sees Sylvie after a few months, he thinks she is having a baby by some other man and also thinks Sylvie is going to marry that man. Both are in love with each other but they don't say it. This novel is all about misunderstanding.  And it kind of finishes fast. The characters are too proud to talk about their feeling. Made a fast and easy read. 

A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight 

In a stormy night, the reclusive Ethan Hunter leaves his infant daughter in Molly's care. She is terrified but does care for the little girl. And when he returns to get his daughter back, Molly and Ethan are stuck in the farmhouse during the snowstorm, but when they're back in the real world that their relationship starts. Molly, who has withdrawn from society after being part of a horrific tragedy, is forced to get and it seems she can't Ethan. Both Molly and Ethan have histories and troubled pasts but they do deal with that to find happiness with each other.

Click on the titles to get all those downloaded for free!!

To be continued, next Sunday.......

Teaser Tuesday: Wrecker by Summer Wood

"This one? He was barely a child. They’d said he was three, but Len hadn’t . . . were three-year-olds that tiny? Len had expected something along the lines of a good-sized calf, seventy pounds or so, take a little muscle to roll— but this kid would have a tough time toe- to- toe with the goose that patrolled the ragged edges of Len’s yard. Did geese hurt children?"
~~~Page 1,  Wrecker by Summer Wood

Title: Wrecker
Author: Summer Wood
ISBN: 9781608192809
Publisher: Bloomsbury/2011
Pages: 287

The title makes one think of destruction, disharmony and chaos. But it is not true. Wrecker is about a boy, and about Melody, Ruth, Willow, Johnny Appleseed, Len and Meg. And also about Lisa Fey, Wrecker's mother. When three year old Wrecker enters Len's life, he (Len) does not know what to do with this small boy. Wrecker's mother has been sent to jail for 15 years and Len is related to her by being married to Meg, Lisa Fey's sister. Meg is not quite okay in the head due to an infection.

After only a day, Len decides to send that boy away from him. He goes to Bow Farm asking them to look after the little boy while he sets the ball rolling. Ruth is only too happy to look after the boy and Melody, Willow and Johnny Appleseed accept her decision. However, for one reason or the other Wrecker lives with them for 6 months before Len takes him away to send him back.

The little boy, the troublesome little boy, has already made inroads into everyone's heart, especially Melody. All of them want him back, including Len, who decides to adopt Wrecker. However, Wrecker is brought by everyone at Bow Farm...Ruth, Melody, Willow and Johnny. None of them are related, not a family unit but they have love and affection for each other and the boy. 

Melody becomes his "mother" and other love him just the same. Wrecker comes to love all of them. He is an unconventional boy, a high-spirited one, who misses his real mother Lisa Fey but with time he accepts these people as his own. Including Len and Meg. He comes to love each one of them. Meanwhile Lisa Fey waits for her release to be united with her son. She never had a good life but Wrecker is the best think that happened to her. 

With wild California as its backdrop, Wrecker is a novel which makes an impact, the boy makes our heart ache for him, his mother makes us cry, and Melody is so full of love that one can't believe that she is not his mother. Ruth , Willow, Johnny are equally important part in Wrecker's life. 

Summer Wood has written a novel, which stays long after we finish it. We keep thinking of Wrecker, Lisa Fey, Melody and Len, along with the others. It is about an extraordinary boy, and other people who are not a family unit as we know but nevertheless a family, and most important, they are Wrecker's family. He gets them all when he needs them most. Love has no boundaries. Especially a mother's love. And it does not have to be tied by blood.....the ending touches us deeply....

This is going to be one of my best books of 2011....

Angel Mine by Sherryl Woods

Title: Angel Mine
Author: Sherryl Woods
ISBN: 1551666006
Publisher: Mira/2000
Pages:401

When Heather comes to Wyoming in search of Todd, with her 3-year-old daughter, Angel. she does not anticipate that he would not accept his own daughter. True, he did not know about Angel but one look at her, anyone could tell she was his daughter alright. 

Todd has some issues to deal with. Heather wants him to share the responsibility of bringing up Angel. But he wants both of them out of his skin. However, he does not like it when Heather has to leave Angel in care of a 10-year-old while she works. While both deal with it, we meet some interesting characters in the novel. Those are supportive and make the novel move forward.

The beginning was very fast, the middle kind of dragged and the end 20 pages hurried through. However, I liked the way Angel pushes her way through her dad's heart. He simply can't resist her. No one can. After a lull in my reading, I liked getting back to a book, be it a romance novel!

The Tale Of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

"I just want to be sure. If you think you know who the ghosts are, it helps. Whenever possible, it's best to try to contact specific people on the other side."
~Page 277

Title: The Tale Of Halcyon Crane

Author: Wendy Webb

ISBN: 978-0-8050-9140-3

Publisher: Holt/2010

Pages: 326

It is modern a Gothic story which has all the right elements to sustain the interest of the reader. When Hallie James discovers that her mother was very much alive after three decades, she doesn't know what to believe. He dad is lost to her as he has Alzheimer's. Now both her parents die within a few weeks of each other. So she has no answers for all her questions.

She travels to an island in the Great Lakes to seek answers for her questions. However, the islanders are antagonistic towards her for what her father had seemingly done 30 years ago. Hallie doesn't believe that her father could do anythibng wrong. And she knows that she has to unravel the truth. And only the islanders can help her in that. She moves into her mother's house, which she has inherited and finds herself seeing small girls calling her to play, her mother's hug engulfing her and certain visions she can't understand.

When an old housekeeper Iris offers to tell her family's story, she is only too eager to learn it. And then in the midst of her narration, finds herself having clear visions of what happened.

Now she has an inkling of her father's reason for taking her away from the island and also knows that it is her home and she has come to stay. And only she can help the ghosts to leave the house.

With a setting in a island in Great Lakes, amongst old house, graves, ghosts and witches, the reader is completely enthralled by the narration. And is as eager to know about what propelled Hallie's father to leave the island along with Hallie, that too, by meticulously planning their own demise, and then getting a new identity for both of them. . Especially when we see him being a loving father, who doesn't ever remarry, as he still loves his wife, Madlyn Crane.

We are as pleased as Hallie when she is finally accepted by the islanders and also finds a love, which she had not expected. The best part is, suspense is maintained throughout. Once I started it, I simply couldn't put it down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My telephone lines were down for two days, due to which my internet wasn't working. Hence, I couldn't visit anyone in the last two days. Will try to remedy that soon. My Google reader is overflowing!

Out Of Shadows by Jason Wallace

‘For generations, Europeans have treated Africa like a playground. We’ve carved it up amongst ourselves, stolen its riches and not given a damn about the poor people who live here.’
~Page 4

Title: Out Of Shadows
Author: Jason Wallace
ISBN: 978-1849390484
Publisher: Andersen Press/2010
Pages: 320

Back Cover

Zimbabwe: 1980s -

The war is over, independence has been won and Robert Mugabe has come to power offering hope, land and freedom to black Africans. It is the end of the Old Way and the start of a promising new era.

For Robert Jacklin, it's all new: new continent, new country, new school. And very quickly he is forced to understand a new way of thinking, because for some of his classmates the sound of guns is still loud, and their battles rage on... white boys who want their old country back, not this new black African government.

Boys like Ivan.

Clever, cunning, wicked Ivan. For him, there is still one last battle to fight, and he's taking it right to the very top...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My views:

Out of Shadows is told from the point of view of Robert Jacklin. When he arrives in Zimbawbe, he is not too happy. Everything is new for him, the country, the school, friends. He feels so lost.
But he too gets adjusted slowly, pulled into a set of friends, who don't like the new way of thinking in the country. For them, racism still persists, guns are always out, torture is the way of life. Anarchy can't be wished away.

Robert knows right from wrong but he can't get away from Ivan and his friends. In the way of growing up. Robert is forced to choose. Most of the time, being in the wrong. He lets down the very person he was friends with. When he learns the darkest secrets of his so called friends, he knows he has to get away from his friends and do the right thing. But is it already too late?

We see Robert growing up in the five years that follows, both in body and his thinking. He can differentiate between right and wrong and go with what he knows is the righ path. Boys like Ivan can never understand that and, can never grow up.

Jason Wallace has shown us the ugliest side of the newly founded Zimbawe, where corruption persits. Killing is the norm. There is no difference between right and wrong.

On a personal note, one of my closest friends had lived in Zimbawe in that period. Sheused to tell us about the rampant anarchy going on and no one seemed to care. When one her relatives was bruttaly raped by three people, they left the country. She has very bad memories of those times.
I passed on the book to her and she told me she was crying halfway through the book. Maybe someday, I will post her thoughts about the book here.

It is not an easy read or a comfort readbut I will say it is a must read. It is the only way we can prevent something like this from happening in our parts of the world. By awareness and determination.

I posted the following few weeks ago. I do so now too. Just think about what it says:

If I stood you in front of a man, pressed a gun into your palm and told you to squeeze the trigger, would you do it?

No, sir.

Are you sure?

Of course, sir. No ways!

What if I then told you we'd gone back in time and his name was Adolf Hitler? Would you do it then?' Would you? Would you?

I'd want to ask him: Why?
~Page 277

This book arrived unsolicited, from the author. I am very glad he sent it to me.

A-Z Wednesday: Open Country by Kaki Warner

"You heard he was rich, is that it?" he accused, still pacing. "And now that he's hurt, you're just bidding your time until he dies so you can get your hands on his money. Jesus, what kind of woman are you?"
~Page 38

Title: Open Country
Author: Kaki Warner
ISBN: 978-0425234303
Publisher: Berkley Trade/2010
Pages: 448

Second of the Blood Rose trilogy, Open Country is as good as Pieces of Sky. This is about the second Wilkins brother, Hank. Set in the old New Mexico city, this is a fine piece of historical fiction. Hank is seriously injured in a train accident. Molly McFarlane is desperate to provide for her late sister's children. She has to save them from their step father. She marries Hank assuming he would be dead soon and she would get his insurance settlement. However, Hank survives and obviously does not remember either the train accident or marrying her. Still he takes her to his ranch. The Wilkins family accept her and her wards soon enough and Hank to falls in love with her and those kids.

And then Hank remembers everything. What with Molly's past looming large and the children too hiding something, Hank seems to get more than his fair share of troubles. Yet he knows he has to protect them all. Open Country stands alone and one gets involved with the Wilkins family soon. It is a fairly easy read and finishes fast. It is well wortyh it for all those who like to read about family sagas.

Thanks to Kaki, for this Uncorrected Proof of the novel.

TSS: Greater Love by Robert Whitlow

Title: Greater Love
Author: Robert Whitlow
ISBN: 9781595544506
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/2010
Pages: 400

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Book Description

The Tides of Truth series follows one lawyer's passionate pursuit of truth--in matters of life and the law.

As the storm clouds gather, Tami does her best to weather the growing turbulence in every area of her life.

She's just accepted a job with a law firm but now wonders if she made the right decision. She has two strong men vying for her heart--and is about to lose them both if she can't determine which one is right for her.

And Tami's new case is anything but simple. When she first meets her prospective client, she immediately knows the rough young teen is lying, guilty...and utterly terrified of something beyond the charges she's facing. What she doesn't realize is just how far reaching the effects of the case will go. Or how close to home the deadly results will hit. For by the time the storm breaks, someone close to Tami will have paid the ultimate price.

Through it all, Tami will experience greater sacrifice, greater friendship, and greater love than she's ever known.

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Greater Love is a legal fiction with strong Christian elements. If one ignores the religious part, it makes a fine read, although love and sacrifice are very universal and only limited to just one religion.

Not a very easy book to review as revealing the story would spoil it for the reader. Right from the beginning I knew which one of her Beaus, Tami Taylor, would choose. Not difficult considering her mindset. Her relationship with the young Jessie is very beautifully brought out. Jessie who has suffered so much in life to comes to trust Tami and her older friend, Mrs Fairmont, who comes love Jessie as her own.

There is this suspense element, where there are people looking for Jessie but that is overshadowed by the romance element, which kind of slowed down the book. The legal point of view should have predominated but it didn't and that seemed like a let down.

What didn't gel well with me is the fact that Tami, a Law graduate is always turning towards her family for advice. She ought to have been able to take her own decisions regarding her personal life. Professionally she seems to do fine. The sacrifice of Sister Dabney is the Greater Love.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for my review copy.

Teaser Tuesdays: Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

Holding his shirttail over his nose and mouth, Brady bent over Sancho's twisted, smoking body to see if he was still alive.
He was. Barely. His face looked melted. Hip lips were gone, his teeth showing in a ghoulish grimace.

~Page 342

Title: Pieces of Sky
Author: Kaki Warner
ISBN: 978-0425232149
Publisher: Berkley Trade/2010
Pages: 432

Prim and Proper Jessica Abigail Rebecca Thornton, a milliner, is running away from her brother-in-law John, when she meets rough and tough rancher, Brady Wilkins on a stagecoach ride. He is her exact opposite. But he too has some issues of the past, which have to be dwelt with. By quirk of fate, Jessica ends up in his ranch and it is discovered that she is pregnant and can't be moved from there. She is stuck there till she gives birth. Initially she does not like it there but slowly she and Brady fall in love with each other. That's when vengeful ex-con Sancho Ramirez turns up with his half brother to tear their lives apart. The ranch had initially belonged to Ramirez's father.

First of the Blood Rose trilogy, we get to know the Wilkin brothers and the story behind their feud with Ramirez. Brady has the responsibility to protect his family, no matter what and Ramirez is totally evil. Despite being emotional, this book is not cloying and speaks of human endurance in the face of evil.

One of the memorable characters of this book is Ramirez's sister Nina, who is the opposite of her brother. She has lived with the Wilkins family for so long. And she shares a beautiful relationship with Brady.

Thanks to the author for sending me this book along with the ARC of Open Country, the second one in the series.