This Morning I Woke Up Dead by Mindy Larson, A Book Review

This story is the epitome of what if.  I found myself asking that question throughout the book as I tried to picture what happened, and how it would end.

There are two main characters in this story, and they each talk in the first person as it goes from one to the other.  It keeps you from wondering what the person is thinking and feeling and instead wondering what they will do or understand next.

I can't, and maybe you won't either, help but feel their distraught emotions and love for each other.  You want them to reconnect, and you don't really care how they do it.  Dead, alive, it makes no matter as long as they get back together.  Crazy right?  Of course if they were people I actually knew, I might not be so cavalier with their lives.  But then again, maybe I would.  That is if I felt the same emotions with them as the author made me feel with these characters.

The concept the author explored, death, is one we all think about, and probably a lot more than we want to.  It is a fact of life, but what we know of it is completely limited and inadequate to make us feel comfortable and safe to transition to that state even though we know it is our final journey.  The unknown is a haunting thing to say the very least.  So we wonder, and the what if questions saturate our thoughts.  What if it is nicer than here?  What if we would be happier?  What if our knowledge and concepts are not even close?  See what I mean?

The characters did the same thing.  One tried to figure out what was happening, and the other tried to find peace with what was.  Or rather what was believed to be reality.  But then as things happened, questioning the unknown was the only solace they had.  The only peaceful and soothing solution to bathe their minds was questioning what was real and what could be real if only they could grasp the supposed impossible with both hands and hang on.  For some reason, maybe it was how we were taught in school about science; we always seem to need physical validation to believe.  Of course it's okay in religion to have faith, but somehow everything else is off limits.  Funny right?  How shallow and mind limiting we can be.

Overall the story was entertaining, and emotionally charged.  You felt what the characters felt, and sought to find an acceptable conclusion without keeping the two apart.  As they rode the waves of the moving tide with each other, you wanted one of them to grab hold of the other, and not let go.  Either way, they needed to be together.  Read the book, and I think you will agree, one moving on without the other just wasn't acceptable.

Jamie and The Angel: meeting her guardian angel by Carol Guy, A Book Review

Jamie and the Angel is a short little story of understanding.  It brings the reader into the real life situation that many children face, but with a real heartfelt answer.

Many times children see, hear, or know things that adults question, and write off as a fluke, or their imagination, or silly because they don't see, hear, or know the same things.  But the real facts are quite different, and not acknowledging the event or experience as real, even if only to the child, is not only doing them a disservice, it is cruel.  Children have real feelings, and real experiences, just like we all do.  The only difference is they usually don't have the life experiences, knowledge, or emotional maturity to handle things that are out of the norm.  So they look to others to help them.  When they don't get the help needed, they turn to other sorts of explanations and comforts to assure them that they are still okay.  They aren't from outer space; they aren't a freak.

Growing up is hard.  Many adults think children should just know things, saying that it's just common sense.  They should know better.  They shouldn't be ridiculous.  But in reality, that is part of the growing up process.  We learn what we live, and live what we learn.  Parents have to teach their children how to behave, what emotions are what, how to learn well and on the list goes.  If they don't get the feedback they need, they are afraid, tend to be more withdrawn, and feel all alone in the world.

This book explores just that; the feelings of being alone, afraid, unsure, feeling different, and sad.  In this case, the child has a gift she doesn't understand, and has no one to help her with it.  She looks for comfort from the obvious sources, but since they don't understand it either, they actually make things worse.

For this child she has a faith that she leans on in what she thinks is the last hope.  The light in the dark tunnel gives her the understanding she needs, and the comfort she yearns for.

The author not only shows how this child felt and how she was able to resolve it despite the lack of family and friends support, she also gives help to the parents that may have a gifted child.  The guidelines at the end of the book give any parent helpful information to guide their child through the rough patches so they don't have to feel insecure, sad, different, or alone.

It's a wonderful book.  Children and parents with special gifts they don't understand, and even those without special gifts should read this.

Aberrant by Ruth Silver, A Book Review

 

Innocence and hope abound in this story.  You find yourself rooting for the characters as they flounder through a reality they had never conceived of.  It is interesting, entertaining, and touching.

Olivia is a young woman thrust into an adult role without any preparation.  At least not prepared for anything beyond what she was supposed to understand and live as reality.  What she believed and had ingrained in her to be reality; however, was abruptly interrupted, and forever changed.  The new reality was haunting, shocking, and so very disturbing.  It rocked them to the cores of their souls and exposed their raw undeveloped foundations.

Joshua is Olivia's mate.  Soul mate, love, best friend, protector, and everything else she needed.  They became for each other what they not only felt for each other, but also what they needed and had to be to survive.  Neither one had been prepared for the drastic earth-shattering changes thrust upon them.  But they put on a brave face, took a step forward, and braved the storm.

Even though with every relationship there are doubts and missteps, you feel like fidgeting as they dance around their relationship with all the new vulnerable and cautiously rendered feelings.  It warrants memories of first loves, first kiss, first trials and first commitments that left you scared and feeling exposed and wonderful at the same time.  With each breath and beat of their hearts you want them to prevail. 

The journey of their lives is unexpected, and keeps you guessing, wondering, and anxious for their survival, not just physically, but also emotionally.  You want to see a win.  You want them to win.  The characters become adored and the connection strong as you root for them; no one else, just them.  Ruth kept them front and center letting you feel their every emotion, as well as fight their every battle.

This story gives you the full range of color from dark to bright and everything in between.  There are no dull spots, or trivial spots as each step builds to another.  The only thing you are left wondering about is what will happen next.  Even at the end, you want to go the distance and see what the next step is.  You feel like you have just lived a different life, these are your friends, and now you miss them.

Yes, I did enjoy this story, and really want to read the next one.  Ruth told it with flare, but firm direction and description without anything bogging it down.  She kept the pace even so you didn't feel a lag or want to skip ahead, realizing the sequence had to be, for it was a tale of two people and a very different world.

Buy it here.

House of Shadows by Walter Spence, A Book Review

A creative, detailed, and surprising story.  I haven't read vampire stories since I read a few by Anne Rice, but this one was really very interesting, and I'm glad I took a chance.

Vampires are a bloody sort, literally.  I don't like to read about the blood, the killing for it or any of that vampire stuff, at all.  I always feel sorry for the one who is changed, or killed, and never understood why anyone would want to be a vampire.  Silly, I'm sure, but just one of my aversions.  So when a book comes along about vampires, it has to have a story line that is captivating enough for me to skirt over the blood issue.  This story was just that.  I remember one part was so surprising, I reacted out loud.  I love it when the author can create a web so unexpected you have absolutely no choice but to react.  That is a good book.  From a good author.

The ending leaves you wanting more.  Not more vampire blood stuff for me, but more information on the characters, the story line, what's going on and what will happen next.  Don't get me wrong, the story gave you answers for now, but you realize there is more to the big picture.  And even though you wonder about it, you just know that the author will surprise you again.  This is not a book that you feel you know what the outcome will be.  At least it wasn't for me, and that is a good thing.  There has been many a book where I knew very early on what was going to happen and how it was going to end.

There obviously will be one or more sequels to this book and fortunately there is no way you can imagine what will happen in book two before it gets here.  Interestingly, the details Walter weaves into the story made me wonder if it was all created, or researched somewhat on what was written about certain things or a mixture of both.  Wondering about things like that mean you are caught up in the story.  When that happens, you know the story was well done.

Walter Spence will not bore you, irritate you, or even placate you, but he will captivate you with a spin and tale you won't see coming, taking you down a path you can't wait to tread, with a book you're glad you picked up.  Here's an author that can grab your attention and keep it well past the end of the book as you wait for the next one to be released.  He says he has a thousand stories running through his head.  I'm glad to hear it.

Reapers With Issues by H. E. Ellis, A Book Review

 

Pestilence, famine, war, oh my.  Creativity, shock, and a questioning what, all rolled into one story.

To say this was a surprise read from her other series, would be an understatement.  I have to admit, at first I couldn't wrap my head around it as I first felt shock for the, shall I say audacity, of an author to write some of these things that fly in the face of the religious minded.  But if you let the chains on your mind go, you begin to sense the limitlessness of one's abilities to grasp the different angles your mind can create from a linear line.  In other words, black and white can be any sound or color you want, and this story gives you a taste of just that.  I would even say it elicited a decadent feel at first.  That is until I got free of the chains and started to understand and feel the story with an unadulterated one path mind.

What is great about this story is that there was a morality to it, and characters that still had depth you could feel.  Some, of course, took a while to feel anything for due to the nature of the character in your mind before you even began to get into the story, but that's what makes it intriguing; intimidating even as you wonder as an author if you could have created such a piece.

Many authors like to keep their characters in a positive light by giving them few if any flaws thus hoping to draw the reader into their veneration.  But being in a real world, sometimes the flaws, making them feel on the same level as the reader, give the character just the endearment needed to make them your hero, your best friend.  What H.E. Ellis makes you feel for these characters, I believe, will actually surprise you.  It sure astonished me.  It's a talent that some authors just innately have.  I believe Ellis is one of them.

This story revolved around the four horsemen, God, Jesus and Lucifer.  To say it is unlike anything I have read on these subjects would be a most articulate summation.  But, the interesting, intriguing, and yet moral story that ensued was a journey of pure artistic enthrall that ripped the seam of complacency and tiresome wide open.  It brought the reader to a sense of "win" with the near ending scenes and yet left you wondering what was next.

This book is not for the faint of heart.  It has strong language, vivid scenes of a dark nature, an abnormal view of religious characters and explicit sexual indications.  If you can get past those things and not letting any stalwart view of religion you may have feel disrupted, then you may enjoy the story for what it is... a skewed take on what really happened with the characters noted above.

Aire by Lena Goldfinch, A Book Review

A fantasy written so you can see it like you're actually there.  It's a story that's entertaining and surprising which you'll certainly enjoy.

Even fantasies, with their creative, innovative and novel stories can become predictable.  So reading one that has interesting or surprising details makes the read really fun.

This story involved a princess that had a rare gift, but needed life to show her the true value of it.  Being protected and sheltered from the real world, she was ill equipped to handle being outside of the palace walls.  But being a stubborn and fiercely loyal and giving person she drew others loyal to her, which gave her the help she needed to fulfill her steps to destiny.

As is true in real life, destiny cannot be manipulated, it just is.  We may have choices, but what is supposed to happen, will.  For princess Annalisia, her destiny unfolded in a way she had never imagined.  Those things only happened in the fairy tales she was told as a child, maybe somewhere in real life but most certainly not in her life; at least nothing other than her special gift.  So how she handled these events was pretty true to how you would expect her to, which gave her the pinch test of being real.  It created the marker for becoming her friend, feeling her emotions, and enjoying her company.

You know the saying, rules are made to be broken, well in Annalisia's case, rules were not to be made in the first place.  That's only because to bind her with rules would be to smother her flame, and without her bright and beautiful spirit, the life of this story would be gray indeed.  She had an energy and wonderful outlook that kept you entertained, amused, and happy.  She is a fun character to follow.

The supporting characters were also with their own personalities that stood out from Annalisia's but at the same time, enhanced her.  Every one of them.

Even though as a princess she was not allowed certain freedoms with other stations in the social hierarchy, the very existence of it ensured her attention, both good and disruptive.  She just could not be bound, by anything.  That very simple word was an assurance of something happening.  It absolutely had to.  It was her destiny.  That attention included her fate.  Her heart screamed for what she couldn't have, while her mind strove to stay calm and centered as the princess she was taught to be.

If you like romances, and fantasy, then you will certainly enjoy this book.  And trust me, you will look to read Lena's other books too.

Surprise Larceny by S. Furlong-Bolliger A Book Review

Short stories are just that.  You won't find a lot of fluff or character building; there just isn't any room for it.  That's probably why I don't usually read short stories.  I like to get to know the characters and really see, through descriptive writing, where everything is at.  So surprisingly, I could actually picture the scene and had just enough of the character's personality to feel and understand the emotions.

In reality, I think had the author wanted to, a full novel with quite a few twists and turns could have been developed.  That should actually be considered and played with when spare time permits.  It could be very interesting.

This story is what I would call deceptive.  You think you know what is happening, and you think you know what will happen, with maybe a quizzical quirk of your brow showing a little guess work, but then you realize you don't know anything.  You are not creative enough to see what was coming.  Ha ha.  And that puts a smile on your face.  That is a book that's fun to read.  That is what makes you say I want more from this author.

Now putting a story with that impact into a short story that still has sufficient build and development gets a bow from me.  My hat's off to you Ms. Bolliger.  Sometimes writing a GOOD short story is more difficult and complicating than a full novel.  So judging a book by its cover can be as equally deceptive as its size.  Granted, a cover will make you pick up a book, and a short story may entice you to buy for a quick read, but how do you know if it's any good and worth your hard earned dollars.  You just have to look for reviews and see what others had to say.  I have a feeling this and all of S. Furlong-Bolliger books will have good reviews, and they would be right.

S. Furlong-Bolliger has an ability to create an impact within a very small space.  With that insight and talent, I can only imagine what would happen in a full novel.  It would be a dynamite can't put it down kind of book I'm sure.  Books that everyone will be reading and talking about.

For a short, yet captivating read, this book is for you.  As a writer, I have to wonder what else could have happened, and wouldn't it be fun to find out.  Enjoy!