Favorite, by Karen McQuestion

I purchased Favorite, by Karen McQuestion, because I enjoyed her previous book, Lies I Told My Children.

Angel Favorite’s mother disappeared five years ago. Today, Angel is the victim of a brutal attack. Are the two events linked?

4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 Stars
Firmly entrenched in the Young Adult genre, this book does not deviate from that style, catering mainly to the very young teen. However, it is an interesting story that held my attention throughout, if for no other reason than to learn the outcome.

As an adult, I found the plot to be simplistic without much meat to it. We are given some background, but the information is sparse and delivered without much emotion.

There is also not enough background or justification for the villains’ actions. There is perhaps a thin thread signifying insanity, but to me, just implying someone is crazy is not good enough in fiction.

I found it extremely odd that everyone made such a big deal about leaving a sixteen and seventeen year old home alone for a few days. Sure, Angel had been attacked, but the culprit was behind bars. For the most part, though, that wasn’t even brought up. The general concern was simply that two ‘minors’ were left home alone.

The initial attack on Angel was very well presented. The suspense was excellent, and the details were just right, not overwhelming or confusing.

The entire ‘feel-good’ ending left me pretty much cold. There wasn’t enough emotional investment in the story to really enjoy it.

Character Development: 3 Stars

Angel Favorite much too often appears younger than her sixteen years. Her initial animosity toward her attacker’s mother was somewhat understandable; however, it continued far too long with no real provocation, giving Angel an even more immature attitude. Oddly, no adult ever had a conversation with her to explain that it was not necessarily the mother’s fault.

Angel’s brother does come across with a maturity commisserate with his age. The father seemed oblivious to everything but himself and his music which made me wonder what Angel’s mother was like and how she managed to stay with such a self-centered person.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

The writing style was pretty good for a Young Adult novel. I assumed the author was aiming at the thirteen to sixteen year old crowd, and, if so, the sentence structure and vocabulary used were right on target. The descriptions were pretty sparse, but they did get the job done. Excellent voices were heard in the dialogue.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG-13 due to Violence.

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I have to admit that while I enjoy some Young Adult novels, I do have to review them from an adult perspective, which may cause some ‘downgrading’ when it comes to rating. However, I also feel that a teenaged discerning reader might feel the same way about these issues that I do. Teenagers are simply more mature in this day and age. Books have to compete with movies and television. I’m not saying that books need to be more violent or graphic, simply that it could take a little more maturity in the storyline these days to hold a teen’s attention.

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Here are some comments from the author, Karen McQuestion:

I’m a freelance writer who lives in Hartland, Wisconsin. I’ve been writing since grade school but didn’t start writing novels until the youngest of my three children was in preschool. Favorite was an early project that was completely rewritten and revised countless times. The title changed along with the manuscript from Angel Favorite to Finding Angie and Saving Angie. In the original version, the main character, Angie Favorite, was an adult woman and single mother to Jason. At that time, I had an agent who submitted it on my behalf, but although it made it through a few publishing hoops, no one offered to publish it. Even after I broke ties with that agent (he left the business) I still couldn’t get this story out of my head.

Periodically I’d work on it, making myself crazy by taking things out and adding things in. Eventually I had a eureka moment—the flaw in the story was the main character’s age. Once I changed the plot so that Angie was a teenager, the whole thing came together. Of course, that required a complete rewrite. Her son became her brother, her ex-husband became her father etc. Angie’s missing parent was now her mother, not her father, and the ending changed as well. The new version seemed just right to me and the title, Favorite, obvious for its double meaning both as a last name and also for the definition of the word.

When I learned authors could self-publish on Kindle that seemed the surest avenue to getting a book out in the world. Favorite is actually my fourth title to be released on Kindle. I’d been gratified by the sales and feedback I’ve gotten for my previous three books. I hope readers enjoy Favorite.

Favorite, by Karen McQuestion

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish you all a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving Holiday!

June Bug, by Chris Fabry

I found June Bug, by Chris Fabry, because of a series of links while looking at books connected to other books I have purchased. I find this to be a good way to find books similar to others I enjoyed.

Description: June Bug, a nine year old girl who travels with her father in an RV, sees a missing child poster with her face on it.

3 3/4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 2 1/2 Stars

With an interesting twist on the child abduction theme, June Bug is a watered-down tale of a girl who has been kidnapped, but never suspected it until she saw a “Missing Poster” with her face on it. This is a feel-good novel without much basis in reality when it comes to the main plot.

There are some very tense moments included that do keep the storyline rolling along. Also, the backstories for characters like the sheriff make for some interesting reading.

I really just had a problem with the main premise of the book. It’s hard to pinpoint without giving away spoilers. I can say that the actions taken by June Bug’s father both in the past and the present are simply unbelievable. The actions taken by Sheila, someone June Bug and her father meet in their travels, are also pretty far out there. Basically, one minute she is wondering if he is a child molestor or worse, then, just because she sees him teaching the kid to ride a bike, she decides he is the world’s most wonderful father, except for when she thinks that it is okay to give a lecture on how much the girl needs a mother, which, frankly, sounded like she was looking for a proposal.

There was an underlying message that a father could not raise a daughter alone. I found that to be a very sexist message to pass on in this day and age. The ending was so forced and unrealistic that I was left feeling as though I had read some kind of fairy tale as opposed to a book about real people.

Character Development: 3 Stars

June Bug was a pretty well developed character right up until the end of the book. In the end, she just took events way too ‘in stride’ for me to even imagine. Up to that point, she was immature and precocious in turns as you would expect from any child her age.

The father was far less developed and remained an enigma througout the novel.

The Sheriff was a well-rounded character that evoked plenty of empathy. However, again, his character fell flat in the end.

The grandmother was my favorite character. I cried for her at one point during a scene with her daughter. I wish there had been one more scene from her point of view in the end so I could have found out more about her feelings. I wondered if the author avoided that on purpose as I didn’t feel condoning the others’ actions would have fit into her personality.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

This was some of the best writing I have seen from a child’s viewpoint. Mr. Fabry had June Bug’s voice reaching out to the heart of the reader. Amazingly, he was able to switch to the adults’ voices easily without breaking the flow of the novel.

The dialogue was excellent. I especially enjoyed the wonderful metaphors contained within this story. Even June Bug’s metaphors fit her personality. This gave the descriptions a wonderful flavor.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG for light Adult Situations.
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This book falls under the “Christian” or “Religious” Fiction genre. There is a bit of ‘preachiness’ in it here and there. This is just a warning for any of you who might care about that sort of thing. For the most part, the religious references did fit within the storyline.

Regardless of my low scoring of the Plot/Storyline, the writing style of Chris Fabry will have me coming back for more his novels. I do realize that the missing realism that bothered me will be exactly the sort of thing that will charm other readers.

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Here are some comments from the author, Chris Fabry:

How did you come up with the title?

I knew the title would be important, and I knew the little girl’s name would need to be catchy and memorable. I was at a writer’s conference in Colorado thinking about anything but the title and the name of the girl, when the speaker talked about the importance of place in the novel. I was doodling notes and wrote down “June Bug,” because that was part of what I remember growing up. We’d catch June Bugs, tie a string on them, and walk them around like pets. Suddenly I looked down and realized, “That’s her name.” Then I
knew it was also the title. It usually doesn’t happen as dramatically as
that for me, but it did this time.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve written since I was a child, but I had my first book published in 1995. Before that I did a local newspaper column and hosted radio shows, but not much in print.

What authors have inspired you?

My favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird. I also love Pat Conroy’s writing and how you can smell the tides in South Carolina and taste the shrimp as you’re reading.

Where did you get the idea for the novel?

I was in the parking lot of a Walmart and saw an old RV parked there. I
wondered, “Who lives in these?” I see those RVs in parking lots across the country. I imagined someone coming in from the RV and walking into the store. A little girl. And her seeing her own face on the missing children list. Everything flowed from there.

Who is your favorite character?

June Bug just captivates me still. I think about her a lot, wonder how she’s doing, if she’s making friends, etc. But the Sheriff is on my mind, too. And Mae. Of course, John. There are just some really good characters here.

Biographical Information:

Chris Fabry is a writer and broadcaster who lives in Arizona. He is the
author of more than 65 books, including the New York Times bestseller, The Winners Manual, written with Coach Jim Tressel. He collaborated with Jerry B. Jenkins and Dr. Tim LaHaye on the children’s series Left Behind: The Kids. His first novel for adults, Dogwood, won a Christy Award in 2009. June Bug is his second novel for adults.

Chris is the host of Moody Radio’s Chris Fabry Live, heard on more than 200 outlets across the US. He is also the voice of the Love Worth Finding broadcast on radio and television. Chris and his wife, Andrea, are the parents of nine children.

June Bug, by Chris Fabry

.357 Vigilante #2: Make Them Pay, by Lee Goldberg (Writing as Ian Ludlow)

I purchased .357 Vigilante #2: Make Them Pay, by Lee Goldburg (writing as Ian Ludlow) because I enjoyed the first book in the series, .357 Vigilante.

In this installment, Brett Macklin is called in to stop a child rapist/murderer.

4 1/2 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 4 Stars

The two books I have read in this series remind me strongly of the Deathwish movies with Charles Bronson. Brett Macklin is the Charles Bronson-like vigilante who seems to survive even the most punishing scenes.

Taken with that in mind, this book is pure action. It’s not literary, nor is it written to send a message or provoke any deep thought. It’s just there for pure entertainment.

Mr. Goldberg handled the scenes involving references to child rape and pornography with the utmost respect and circumspect descriptions. I was very happy that he skipped graphic details and used intimation and innuendo instead.

The storyline flowed fast and furious. There wasn’t a lot of thought put out regarding vigilantism and whether it is good or bad. There was no preaching or lectures, either. This was just a fast-moving, roller coaster ride of a story.

There is one thing that I abhor in any novel or movie: When a character you thought was dead turns out to be fine. This is especially bad when it is made obvious they are dead, as happened in this novel. I won’t go further to avoid spoilers, but I had to mention it as it is the reason for the four stars instead of five for this section.

Character Development: 5 Stars

I debated on what to do with this section, even to the point of considering leaving it out, as this novel is not character-driven at all. However, I realized that Macklin, though just your basic action hero, is still a fairly well-developed character through his actions and some of his thoughts. The paths he chooses and decisions he makes are logical and fit well with his personality.

My only hesitation with a five star rating on this section was with his picking up with another woman in the middle of this book. Upon further reflection, I decided that, though a little seedy, it was still believable, and pretty much in character.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

As I mentioned above, this is not a literary novel. You don’t read it for the great metaphors, flowery prose, or vivid descriptions. You read it for the action. With that, Mr. Goldberg really hits his stride. The action scenes are wonderful, quick reads, with plenty of tight descriptions. He knows just when to draw out the scene and when to just get on with it.

Editing/Formatting: 3 3/4 Stars

There were a few too many editing errors that cut into my concentration when reading.

The formatting was of professional quality.

Rating: R (With this subject matter, the reasons are obvious)

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This is a pretty short book, so it was a very quick read. I could easily see it being equivalent to a one hour television show, except for the subject matter. I’m looking forward to reading the third book in the series, .357 Vigilante #3: White Wash.

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Here is an anecdote from the author, Lee Goldberg:

I often wrote the book in class when I should have been taking notes.
I remember one boring lecture in particular when I was writing a
brutal scene in my notebook instead of the professor’s rehash of what
we’d already read in our textbooks. The girls on either side of me
glanced at my notes, saw what I was writing, and looked at me in
horror. After the break, I had two empty seats on either side of me.

.357 Vigilante #2: Make Them Pay, by Lee Goldburg (writing as Ian Ludlow)

Sleepyhead, by Mark Billingham

I purchased Sleepyhead, by Mark Billingham, during one of my random surfing trips on Amazon.

Description: A British Mystery involving an ‘accidental’ serial killer. He doesn’t want to kill his victims. Instead, he attempts to put them in a type of coma. It’s up to London detective inspector Tom Thorne to find the killer before he strikes again.

4 1/2 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 3/4 Stars

This is a British mystery with a unique plot where the killer does not actually want to be a killer. I did feel like the difference from other serial killer novels would have stood out a bit more had the killer been more successful in his endeavors.

The book moved along at a fairly fast pace. There were quite a few action and tension-filled scenes to keep the reader enthralled. Almost every scene forwarded the story with good attention to plot detail.  Even the scenes with Allison, the girl in the coma, speaking were essential to the storyline and not just tossed in for shock effect.

Reading a true British novel takes a bit of extra concentration on my part. I know a lot of British words that are different, such as ‘boot’ for ‘car trunk’. However, I still manage to learn more. In this one, I learned that ‘pissed’ means ‘drunk,’ not ‘angry.’ However, this ‘other language’ gave the book a little more flair as it immerses the reader in British Culture.

I was unimpressed by the ending. The reasoning behind the killer’s motives just did not add up for me. I do realize that you pretty much have to be a bit nuts to go around killing people. I also realize that many killer’s motives would not be logical to a sane person. And, well, I do consider myself to be mostly sane. However, in fiction, authors can certainly imagine and write about logical motives, and it appears this author tried to do so. It just fell short of the mark when it came to explaining, not the killings, but the urge to leave the girls living in comas.

Character Development: 4 1/2 Stars

Tom Thorne, while a bit cliched, was still a well-developed character. He is a crusty old investigator with some old-school techniques and not well liked by his peers for his tendancy to bend the rules. Yes, it’s a bit trite, but the very familiarity makes for a good, comfortable read.

Anne Coburn, the love interest and doctor for Allison Willets, was a bit weak, yet still a decent supporting character.

Allison Willets is pretty much the star of the show and makes the book really stand out. Her viewpoint is told with incredible emotion.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

The writing style is excellent. There is plenty of description to admire, without being overburdened with it. The dialogue is excellent with a major swipe of realism. You can actually hear the English accent while reading.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG-15 for Violence, Language, and Sexual References

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Sleepyhead is actually the first book in a series that features Detective Thorne. Here are the next ones in the series, in order:

Scaredy Cat

Lazy Bones

The Burning Girl

Lifeless

Each of them look intriguing, so the next time I am in the mood for a British Mystery, I will be checking them out.

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This author did not respond to my query for participation in the blog. I imagine that he is hard at work on his next book.

Here is some biographical information copied from his website:

About Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham was born and brought up in Birmingham. Having worked for some years as an actor and more recently as a TV writer and stand-up comedian his first crime novel was published in 2001.
Sleepyhead was an instant bestseller in the UK. It has been sold widely throughout the world and was published in the USA in the summer of 2002.

Though still occasionally working as a stand-up comic, Mark now concentrates on writing the series of crime novels featuring London-based detective Tom Thorne. The second novel, Scaredy Cat was published in July 2002 and was followed by Lazybones, The Burning Girl, Lifeless, Buried, Death Message and the standalone thriller, In The Dark. The latest novel, Bloodline is published in August 2009. Mark is currently writing the next Tom Thorne novel called “From The Dead” and at work on the next in a series of thrillers for children – Triskellion – written under the pseudonym Will Peterson.

Mark lives in North London with his wife and two children.

Sleepyhead, by Mark Billingham

Where Did That Idea Come From?

One question that readers always want a writer to answer is, “Where do you get your ideas?”

I’ve invited some authors to answer this question for us. I think you will be surprised at some of the answers.

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Some advice from J. Dean, author of The Summoning of Clade Josso: The First Descent into the Vein:

I like the way Ray Bradbury and Gabriel Garcia Marquez put it: don’t grow up.

Keeping a little kids imagination is one of the best things I can suggest. Don’t grow up. Keep the wonder alive by looking at the world through the eyes of a child. Take an everyday situation and add just a little “What if..?” spin on it. You’ll find more inspiration there than if you just sit at your computer or typewriter and just stare at it.

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Mr. Dean: I think ‘not growing up’ is a great idea! Um….Can we think happy thoughts and fly, too?

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From Eric Christopherson, author of Crack-Up:

I’m working on my fourth novel and each time the seed of the story comes from somewhere new. To date I’ve only posted one book for the Kindle, Crack-Up, about a high functioning paranoid schizophrenic who really isn’t paranoid about his enemies. I majored in Psychology and was reading about schizophrenics when it dawned on me how interesting it would be to use a paranoid schizophrenic off his meds as the main character in a thriller because the reader, like the character, could never be sure what was “real” and what was not. But I had no plot, no story to go with it. The idea got tucked away in my mind for half a dozen years. In the meantime I’d nearly completed my first attempt at a novel–a story about cults, based on a one-day personal experience–when I was watching an episode of Nightline with Ted Koppel that described how information technology could be used to make startlingly accurate and precise predictions about human behavior via “predictive analytics.” Instantly I had the plot for my paranoia story. But to understand how the two pieces fit together, the paranoia and the predictive analytics, you’ll have to read the book…

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Mr. Christopherson: I loved Crack-Up. So, when I read this comment, my first thought was, “Hey, where are books two and three?” They’re not on Amazon. So, could you please get on the ball and get the other two out there for me?

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From Sierra Rose, author of Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke:

Dreams, mostly. Almost all my ideas have come after I’ve gone to bed and just let my thoughts go out and plot things to relax before falling asleep. It seems if I have to come up with an idea while awake, it just fizzles.

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I used to talk in my sleep all the time. Maybe a great novel is locked in my brain. I should purchase a tape recorder.

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From K.A. Thompson, author of several Amazon books:

Most of my ideas grow from kernels of real life, though they warp along the way and bear little resemblance to actual real life happenings. My last book was woven largely around a few panic stricken months of my life in 2002, from what I thought would be a fairly routine doctor’s appointment to surgery to the agonizingly long wait to get pathology results. I never thought it would be worth writing about until a good friend–who had been hinting very strongly for a sequel to the Charybdis series–texted me with “You should give Chip or Terry your brain tumor.” Until that point, I had no idea how to write that story, but once she said that, the pieces fell together, and The King and Queen of Perfect Normal oozed out onto virtual paper.

The big problem with taking little pieces of real life and building a story around them–people tend to think you’re writing about them and take it personally, even if you never had them in mind to begin with (and even if you did ).

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This reminds me of an old (Chinese?) curse: “May you have an interesting life.” >> So you can write great novels.

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Next week, we will hear from more authors to find out where they get their ideas.

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Authors: Want to share with our readers where your ideas come from? E-mail your comments to Lynn8888@yahoo.com.

The Only Life There Is, by Maria Rachel Hooley

I purchased The Only Life There Is, by Maria Rachel Hooley, due to a forum post by the author.

The Description (copied from the Amazon page):

All Sarah and Evan Davis have ever wanted was a child, but after two dangerous miscarriages, they face a childless future which seems unbearable. Against her doctor’s advice, Sarah allows herself to get pregnant one last time. Evan fears the pregnancy will kill her. Instead she gives birth to a son, Kade. He is a perfect child until she and Evan start seeing the signs of autism which begin to shut down their dreams one by one. Evan and Sarah struggle with the thought of never having a normal life until the unthinkable happens. Kade drowns, leaving Evan and Sarah to face a normal life once again, but that life is broken and scarred. It will take a miracle for their marriage to come through the dark passage of grief ahead.

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When I purchased this book, based on the description (copied above in case it changes), I thought perhaps that summary was only for the first 25% of the book, and the rest was about getting over the grief. I was extremely disappointed to find that the description gave away the entire plot and storyline. If you read the description, you just need to add some filler and you have the entire novel. I’m still going to try to not let this color my review, though, as the description is not really part of the book.

I will say that knowing every event in advance definitely stunted my enjoyment of the book. When Kade was missing, I got no feel for any tension or suspense simply because the author had already told me that he had drowned in the description. It ruined that entire section for me as I knew there was zero hope.

2 3/4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 Stars

The novel carried a very dark, ominous tone, even during the brief periods of happiness found by Sarah and Evan. Many times, the happier period of their marriage, the first two years, are referenced, but the reader never really gets a feel for that. The book opened with anxiety as Sarah finds out she is pregnant, and she and Evan argue over whether to abort, as it could cost Sarah her life.

Throughout the pregnancy, Evan was miserable with worry. The author then chooses to skip over the child’s first six months, which hopefully brought the parents a little happiness, to when Evan first suspects his son, Kade, of being ‘different’. There are a very few small pockets of cheerfulness from that point until the tragedy. After that, of course, there is nothing but grief, misery and sadness.

I found the descriptions of Kade and his behaviour to be realistically indicative of an autistic child. This portion was obviously well-researched. However, I found the oppressing sadness of his parents to be unrealistic. I am quite certain that most parents of autistics still manage to find some joy in their children. All this book shows is the exhausting heartache of raising a child with problems, without hardly a glimpse of the happiness of having the child at all. Yes, they loved their son, but it seemed only because of the fact that he was their only child, not due to him actually being lovable. Even when Kade attains a goal, such as speaking his first word, the scenes are colored with sadness and foreboding.

While the author managed to squeeze in as happy an ending as possible, there was not one really uplifting moment in this book. The ‘miracle’ needed that is mentioned in the description never appears. The entire book was just one big pit of depression.

Character Development: 2 1/2 Stars

Sarah came across as a one-dimensional, delusional person who really needed to seek some psychiatric help, even from the beginning of the book. She went through life imagining that all will go her way, but she lived in a bubble. She didn’t appear to have one friend. She had no job. She had no real personality outside of her thoughts about Kade.

Evan was the most developed of the cast. Even though he spent the entire book being miserable or angry, he at least had a job and a friend. His actions and reactions were pretty realistic.

I normally cry at the death of children in books. However, Kade was so flat that I had trouble caring. It sounds harsh, but all that was shown of him was that he was an annoying brat that only a mother could love. The author did nothing to give the reader any empathy for Kade.

Writing Style: 3 1/4 Stars

There was a lot of repetition of phrases, along with some awkward sentences that really detracted from the flow of this novel. The descriptions and dialogue were well done.

The dialogue was very well done and is obviously Ms. Hooley’s strong suit.

Editing/Formatting: 2 1/4 Stars

There were too many typos and editing errors to even try to really get into this novel.

The formatting was of professional quality.

PG13 for Adult Situations

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I could definitely relate somewhat to the frustrations of the parents when Kade threw temper tantrums. When my son was ten, one of his best friends was a high functioning autistic boy. I’ll call him “Jimmy” here. I took Jimmy, another child, and my son through a Dairy Queen drive through one day. I ordered kid’s meals for each of them. When the lady handed me the food, I passed it over to my son, who was in the passenger seat, and he started sifting through to pass out the boxes. Jimmy, sitting behind my driver’s seat watching my son, started to scream and began kicking the back of my seat.

Jimmy was not small for his age, and with his back against the back seat for leverage, he was really pumping his feet into my seat. Then he turned and began kicking the side window. Finally, after what seemed hours, but was only minutes, I realized what the problem was. I had forgotten, but he had this odd thing about toys being in with his food. I grabbed his food box, removed the toy, and tilted it to show him that there was no toy in the box. He calmed down immediately as if nothing had happened. (By the way, he also wouldn’t touch any kid’s meal toys, even after they were removed from the box.)

Now, Jimmy was just visiting us. He spent a few nights at my house now and then. But, the difference is that he did not live with me. Other than that incident, I don’t really remember having to deal with other ‘tantrums’ on my own. I know that it was hard on his parents. They were good friends of mine. However, I also know that they took great joy in Jimmy. I’m certain there were times that they were frustrated and upset, but there were many more times of happiness.

That’s what upset me about this book the most. It never showed the true joy of having a child, even a ‘different’ child, and loving that child for who he is, not in spite of it.

I do believe that Ms. Hooley meant to have a different feeling come across when people read her book. I think she just spent way too much time showing the frustrating and sad side of the issue.

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Here are some comments from the author, Maria Rachel Hooley:

I wrote “The Only Life There Is” to both give information about autism and examine how we determine what a quality life is. Yes, it is difficult being a parent of a child who is developmentally different, but over time it does become “the only life there is” because there is no divergent path to take. The story came about one day when I’d had so many things go wrong, and I was frustrated. In a rare moment, I said, “I wish I could have a normal life.” In that moment, I knew those words were wrong because to have a ‘normal life’ would mean a life without my daughter, Taylor. It would mean that God would take her from me, and that isn’t something that I could deal with. Out of that realization came the book because I wanted to people to understand that no matter how heartbreaking autism can be, the alternative of not having those children is far worse for those who love them.

I have been writing for over twenty-five years and have just completed my twenty-third novel. I am a strong advocate for education about autism because right now the disorder affects so many, and the numbers are rising quickly. I am also a teacher who works with at-risk students.

The Only Life There Is, by Maria Rachel Hooley

Extra! Extra!

If you are reading this, you probably already own a Kindle. However, if you don’t, or if you just want a second one:

Craig Larsen, author of Mania, is giving away a free Kindle to some lucky winner!

All you have to do is go to http://www.craiglarsen.net/content/index.asp and sign up for Mr. Larsen’s Newsletter.

Yes, it’s that simple.

If you don’t win the Kindle, you still might win a cool Mania t-shirt!

So, check it out: A free newsletter to keep you informed about a wonderful, new author with a chance at a free Kindle.

I’m headed there to enter now!

Follow me ————->>>>>>>> Craig Larsen’s Site

Mania, by Craig Larsen

I one-clicked Mania, by Craig Larsen, when Amazon offered it during a freebie promotion.

Description: Nick Wilder’s brother is murdered. Nick is not just the only witness, but also the prime suspect. Unfortunately, he has lost most of his memory of the event.

4 1/4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 3 Stars

This book starts off with a bang, or perhaps a slice. Either way, it’s a terrific start that pulls you right into Nick’s world as he and his brother are attacked by a vagrant, an attack which results in his brother’s death.

The story then goes back in time to a couple of months before the attack. This is a common tactic, but it’s still not one of my favorites. I don’t really like knowing what happened first. My dislike stems from the fact that when I already know what happened, I find myself rushing through the back-story with a ‘get to the action’ attitude. This author does do a better job using this format than some because he switches from past to present often, telling the current and the back-story at the same time. It did get a little confusing now and then, especially when I had to put the book down for awhile to do other things. However, overall, it was an interesting way to tell the story.

The story is told mostly from Nick’s viewpoint, which is an excellent method to hold suspense due to his brief memory lapses. However, for some inane reason, there are occasional bits thrown in from other viewpoints. Not only are these portions unnecessary, but one such bit actually gave away a major spoiler. It wasn’t a direct giveaway, just one sentence that hinted at something, and perhaps some people will miss it. After reading that bit, I kept thinking, “No, I have to be wrong. No author would give so much away right in the beginning.” Unfortunately, I was not wrong, which ruined quite a bit of the ending for me.

As I stated, the book starts off at a good pace with a fast draw, but there are some middle portions that drag almost interminably. For instance, Nick makes a trip to visit a childhood girlfriend. Since she had nothing to do with the actual plot, I thought perhaps the visit was thrown in for character development. However, there really seemed to be no purpose at all as there was no revelation or great epiphany. It was just filler.

The book does pick up in the last quarter. As a matter of fact, the ending is a somewhat edge-of-your-seat type where multiple surprises are revealed.

Character Development: 4 Stars

Nick is a terrific, well-rounded character. The reader can really feel his pain and confusion throughout the story.

Through Nick’s interactions and observations, the reader can get a real feel for Sam, his brother. The flashbacks of their childhood also provide some interesting insight into Sam’s personality.

Nick’s girlfriend is the only real character failure in the book. Throughout the novel, she is not given any real play, even though she is a major player.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

With tight prose, Mr. Larsen has an excellent writing style. His terrific sentence structuring, combined with gritty, realistic dialogue work will in this genre. His descriptions are compelling and powerful.

The action scenes are also very well written. I love it when I can picture action segments in my head without any confusion about who is doing what.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG-15 for Adult Situations, Violence, and some Sexual Scenes and Conversation
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I love a good mystery, and this plot had the capability of being a five star novel. I don’t mind knowing ‘whodunit’ in the beginning or throughout the book, if that is an author’s intention. However, I really felt as though with this novel, the ending should have been a huge surprise. There was some surprise involved, but not as much as if the author had refrained from odd little commentary that revealed too much. I think if the entire book had been told solely from Nick’s viewpoint, the mystery would have remained intact.

I will be looking for more work from Mr. Larsen. His writing style is excellent. It appears that this is his first novel. I am certain that as he matures as a writer, his methods will improve.

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Here are some comments from the author, Craig Larsen:

I have often thought that there is no such thing as “art” separated from the person. If you were to pick up the manuscript for The Old Man and the Sea on a bus stop bench one day – author unidentified, no credit given for the work – pick it up and begin reading without any sense of who Hemingway was, you might not think it that good of a book. Or at least, I doubt you would think to award it a Nobel Prize. For the most part, we pick up a sense of an author or of an artist through the body of their work, over time. However, we also weave in bits and pieces from their actual lives. Would Van Gogh’s paintings be colored with the same tragedy we bring to them without the folklore that his name carries? That’s why, I think, it is so difficult for a new writer to break into the literary world. It is impossible for a reader to pick up a Craig Larsen with the same enthusiasm as he or she might bring to a Stephen King – no fault of the reader. So it is extremely helpful, and interesting, to have someone take the time actually to begin giving shape to the author behind a new book.

The idea to write Mania developed out of a number of different forces in my life. I have been writing as long as I can remember. The first “book” I remember putting together was Ali & Fatima at five years old. My family was living in West Africa, and I wrote the book to sell to my parents. So yes, I had my first sale at five. After that, I never stopped. I became enamored of Sherlock Holmes in my early teens, and then as I hit puberty and started to notice girls I began reading Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Salinger and Steinbeck. This infatuation with fairly self-absorbed authors gave me license to write all sorts of self-indulgent books myself. This was a habit – or maybe an illness – I picked up before I was twenty, which I carried with me through my entire adult life. I remember finishing novels in law school even as my final exams loomed. –I suppose if it was a habit, it was a compulsive one!

A few years ago, I made the decision to stop doing everything else and to sit down and write a book that people would want to read. I understood that it would be a shot in the dark as far as a reader was concerned – so I knew it had to be compelling as a standalone piece. What I wanted to do was to write a thriller that would grab a reader from the first page, then not let go until the end. This meant structuring the book carefully. It also meant imbuing the book with a deeper meaning. You don’t go to a Disney film just to look at the colors and shapes on the screen. You go because the film strikes a deeper chord. Beauty must love Beast for the man he is inside. Snow White needs to sleep until she is properly old enough to be woken by the prince’s kiss. Yes, Bambi does need to die.

I am not going to tell you that I deliberately set out to craft each piece of Mania. In fact, I think great books are a balancing act between the writer’s conscious and subconscious. You set out to write something, and you end up learning what it is you wanted to say. I knew where I wanted the book to twist and turn. I knew that I wanted to unravel a complicated relationship between two brothers. But to some large measure I let Nick – whom I knew very well, an ambivalent protagonist, capable of deep emotion and empathy but also of violence – carry me from the beginning of the book to the end. As a writer, I know that a reader will recognize my own excitement in the book – but again I understand that this must be balanced against the reader’s desire to suspend disbelief and to climb as far into the story as possible, which ultimately means be willing to trust that the writer is always at least one step ahead of you, ready to direct you carefully around the next corner.

That is it in a nutshell. I wanted to write a strong debut novel that would stand on its own and reward a reader willing to take a chance on it. And personally, I wanted to express something of the transformation that was taking place inside of me as I grew older, centered in the relationship between my brother and myself – which ultimately becomes a metaphor for many other things. I wanted the novel to be as visual and cinematic as possible, but I wanted also to take advantage of the tools available to a writer versus a cinematographer. I wanted the book to be true in every respect – visually, viscerally, in its language, in its feelings, in its violence, in its tone. But to get there I understood that I needed to create an illusion of truth, in the form of a story.

I hope you can enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s far from perfect, but I hope that its flaws lend it some of my personality – and if they don’t, that they are at least excusable. In the end, what excited me most about writing the book was that it would get read.

Mania, by Craig Larsen

Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent

I picked up Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent, during an Amazon promotion in which they offered it free.

Set in the Deep South, this is the story of what happens when a white family takes in an orphaned black girl.

4 3/4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 Stars

While a bit slow to start, the storyline had a nice, even flow to it. The reader is immersed in the world of a just-turned thirteen year old Southern girl, Jessilyn. While there was not a lot of action, there was plenty to enjoy in each scene with glimpses of Jessie’s life.

One element of the story could have used more explanation for creditability. Jessilyn’s father’s decision to take Gemma into their home as part of the family was not supported by enough back story to explain why he would take such risks to his own family, especially with the great danger to his own daughter.

The confrontations between Jessilyn and her ’stalker’ were handled extremely well. Never was there a truly contrived rescue; each incidence ended realistically.

With the setting and the young protagonist, this book was reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The courtroom scene was a big contributor to this connection.

After completing this book, I went back and read the description again. There is a portion which states, “Escalating episodes of horrific violence ensue, including sexual attacks directed at 13-year-old Jessilyn Lassiter.” I do not agree with this description. I realize that ‘horrific’ may have different connotations for different people, but to me it implies blood and guts, which were not really part of this book. Also, the phrase ’sexual attacks’ implies rape or molestation when in actuality the ’sexual attacks’ were an adult male making a few rude, suggestive remarks to Jessilyn. This book could easily be read by young teens.

Character Development: 4 1/2 Stars

For the character of Jessilyn, this was also a coming of age story. Her character grew and matured throughout the summer setting as she entered her teenage years. She was both mature and childish, in turns, just like any young teenager. Her actions were right on target for someone of her age.

Gemma was not as well developed. I would have liked to have gleaned more of her personality through further, frank discussions with Jessilyn. Although Jessilyn was the main character, Gemma was such an important part of the book that she really should have had more depth.

Miss Cleta was my favorite character. She was a feisty, older, true Southern lady. She could bake beautiful desserts with one hand and scare off the bad guys with a shotgun in her other.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

I think it must be very difficult for an adult to write a book that is fit for young teens, while still being interesting to adults. Ms. Valent seems to handle this with ease. Her subject matter is a sticky one, yet it is handled with style and aplomb.

The dialogue was what I loved most in this story. I could easily hear these people talking. The South was in every contraction and lackadaisical sentence. It’s so much fun to read true-to-life dialogue that really puts you into the story.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: PG for some Light Sexual References

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Being from the South myself, I could easily see the events in this book unfolding in real life. No, I’m not old enough to have lived in those times. LOL But, I did grow up in a backwards town when it came to racism.

I graduated High School in 1986 and my school still had segregated proms. Yes, that’s right, two proms: one for white people and one for black people. In case you are wondering, any Hispanics, Asians, and other nationalities were considered ‘white.’ This segregation continued until 1989.

Fortunately, as a child, I moved around a lot. Therefore, I never developed the ‘racist’ attitudes of the town I ended up in for High School. I am grateful for that. I would truly hate to be that ignorant.

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Here are some comments from the author, Jennifer Erin Valent:

How did you come up with the title?

That’s up for debate in my own brain, actually, because I can’t remember if I came up with the title first or with the scene the title came from. I should write these things down! But, I really think I came up with the title first because I had immediately wanted to include fireflies in the title and remember toying around with different ideas for a good while. Then I needed to work it into the story which comes in the form of a conversation between Jessilyn, the main character, and her father, Harley. The title fit the story well, particularly the theme, which speaks to standing out in the darkness.

How long have you been writing?

I started writing about 7 years ago when I finished a children’s book I’d
decided to give a try. After fooling around with writing strictly as a hobby for years, I finally finished something! And that got me hooked. I went on to write some articles and then decided to give novels a go, and that’s where I found my niche – in fiction.

Where did you get the idea for the novel?

I really just wanted to write a Southern novel since I have a weakness for Southern stories, having grown up in the South. But once I set it in 1932 and came up with a young white girl who is best friends with a young black girl, all the pieces came together for a story about racial prejudice.

Who is your favorite character?

I’d have to say Jessilyn, since I spend so much time with her, so to speak. It’s her voice that narrates the story, and I feel a connection with her character above all. But I also have a real affection for Miss Cleta, her elderly neighbor. She’s such a spitfire! I want to be her one day!

Biographical Information:

Jennifer Erin Valent is the 2007 winner of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian
Writers Guild’s Operation First Novel contest for Fireflies in December. She lives in central Virginia where she has worked as a nanny for over fifteen years. A lifelong resident of the South, her surroundings help to color the scenes and characters she writes.

Fireflies in December, by Jennifer Erin Valent