IWSG: Blogger Friends and a Cover Reveal

 

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it's time for the wonderful people of the Insecure Writer's Support Group to come together! 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! 

Each month we have an optional question, meant to spark a post or a discussion. This month's is, Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere? 

Finally, don't forget to visit our wonderful co-hosts: Louise - Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!

 

Now for my post:
I would have to say that I have made more wonderful, supportive, and helpful colleagues than friends. I consider someone a friend when I have personal conversations with her, something a great deal less common than collegiality. But before anyone feels bad, I must also say that I value these collegial relationships highly. I would not be the writer I am without the generous help and support of many writers who may hardly know me, but are still willing to reach out a hand. And in the end, perhaps those are friendships. 

 

Writing check-in:
Writing is happening! Though I'm falling a bit behind with the short story collections, that's because I'm into the final layers of edits for Death By Donut, and have set it up for preorder... and I'm revealing the cover today! I think this is the best yet :)   

 

Here it comes...

 

 

 Closer...

Closer...

Ta-da!

Nothing ruins a perfect day like a fresh corpse with your morning coffee.

Election day’s almost here, and the island’s new pool is on the line. JJ should be all in with the campaign, but when a prominent Island businessman drops dead at her feet in the Have-A-Bite Bakery, someone has a mystery to solve. JJ’s fiancé—police chief Ron Karlson—is out of town. Who else is there?

 

JJ is missing her sweetheart, tired of the winter rains, and distracted by everybody’s questions about when the wedding’s happening. Even more worrying, her foster-daughter’s father has failed to show up on schedule. No wonder JJ’s struggling to wrap this one up before someone else bites into the wrong donut. There’s no time to lose, because something truly essential is on the line: saving the bakery—and JJ’s favorite espresso brownies!

 

Available now for pre-order at Amazon and Smashwords! Release date is April 25. The price for pre-orders is $2.99, and will go up when the book goes live!

 

 

 

Cozy Review and Tour: The Phantom of Oz

Title: The Phantom of Oz (5th in series)
Author: Cindy Brown
Publisher: Henery Press, 2018. 268 pages (paperback)
Source: Electronic ARC from Great Escapes Book Tours

Publisher's Blurb:

Creepy munchkins. A mysterious phantom. And a real Wicked Witch. Are you ready for it?

Actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows has been hired to uncover the cause of the creepy accidents that plague the roadshow The Wizard: A Space OZpera and find out who dropped a chandelier on the Wicked Witch of the East.

Was it the ghost who haunts the Grand Phoenician Theatre? A “wicked witch” in the cast? Or is it someone—or something—more sinister?

It’s Ivy’s most personal case so far.

Her best friend Candy, who’s touring with the show, is caught in a downward spiral of self-destruction, and is in more danger than she knows. To save her friend and the show, Ivy must answer even tougher questions: Do spirits really exist? What is real beauty? What does friendship mean?

Ivy needs to learn the answers, and fast—before Candy reaches the point of no return.

My Review:
I had the pleasure of reviewing the 3rd book in the Ivy Meadows series back in 2016, and since I enjoyed it, when I saw this one come up (not sure how I missed the one in between) I had to join the tour.

Once again, Cindy Brown has spun a compelling tale about her likable detective. Ivy is a very human protagonist, with a lot of skills and a fair ability to screw up. I have to admit that her comedy of errors in the theater made me cringe a bit, but it felt like a believable bad week.


The real issue in this book isn't murder, though. It's about relationships, friendship in particular, but also body image, sexism, and being judgemental. If Ivy is stumbling a bit as an actress (thanks in large part to a very ill-timed cold), she is falling all over herself as a friend. And why? In part because she want too badly to help everyone, to make their lives better. But she's also suffering from some serious insecurity due to that bit about body image.

Somehow, Ms. Brown manages to make the serious themes fit perfectly into a light-hearted cozy mystery without weighing it down. Ivy is still a novice detective, but she handles it pretty well this time around. I knew who the perp was well before the end, but here's the thing: so did Ivy. She just wasn't ready to believe it, and it was interesting to watch her work through still more permutations of relationships to get there. She has to take a good hard look at herself before she can do what needs to be done.

Probably my only disappointment here was the ghost. That always bugs me a little, because I don't believe in ghosts. But I'll admit that a  ghost kind of works in the theater, since as Ivy notes every theater has its ghost, and theater people love to believe in them. Or "believe" in them. So it's kind of fun to see what comes of this one, and the mixing in of special effects makes it all the more fun.

Recommendation:
This is a great addition to the world of cozies, and in my opinion is a cut above because the author deftly addresses some serious issues without ever losing her grip on the fun of the story. I took about 2 chapters to get wholly gripped, and then read through it in only a few sittings.

About the Author:

Cindy Brown has been a theater geek (musician, actor, director, producer, and playwright) since her first professional gig at age 14. Now a full-time writer, she’s lucky enough to have garnered several awards (including 3rd place in the 2013 international Words With Jam First Page Competition, judged by Sue Grafton!) and is an alumnus of the Squaw Valley Writers Workshop. Though Cindy and her husband now live in Portland, Oregon, she made her home in Phoenix, Arizona, for more than 25 years and knows all the good places to hide dead bodies in both cities.

Author Links
Website & Blog: www.cindybrownwriter.com
Twitter handle: @friendlybrown
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cindy-Brown-author/288210721356802?ref=hl

Purchase Links
AMAZON – B&N  kobo


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Tour Participants
January 30 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW
January 30 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
January 31 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW
January 31 – Valerie’s Musings – INTERVIEW
February 1 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW
February 1 – Carstairs Considers – REVIEW
February 1 – Christa Reads and Writes – GUEST POST
February 2 – The Layaway Dragon – REVIEW
February 2 – Socrates’ Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 2 – Readsalot – SPOTLIGHT
February 3 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers – SPOTLIGHT
February 3 – Island Confidential – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
February 4 – The Montana Bookaholic – REVIEW
February 4 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 4 – Because I said so – Adventures in Parenting – REVIEW
February 5 – Girl with Book Lungs – REVIEW
February 5 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
 

Middle Grade Monday: Towers Falling, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

 

Title: Towers Falling
Author: Jewel Parker Rhodes
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co., 2016. 228 pages.
Source: Library

Publisher's Summary:  
When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can't help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?

My Review: 

This deceptively simple book has some elements that are too predictable--any adult will know from the beginning what the trouble is with Deja's Pop, for example--but it does do what the author sets out to do: presents the story of 9-11 in a way that will be accessible to children born long after the rubble of the towers was cleared. Rhodes brings up issues of race and prejudice, and the children all have their own issues to deal with.

In fact, at times the relationships and circumstances feel a little too contrived. The friendship between Deja, Ben, and Sabeen is too instant and too smooth, and their three separate issues are a little too neatly complementary. Deja lives in a homeless shelter while Ben seems to have everything he could want, but of course his family is falling apart while hers sticks like glue no matter what. Sabeen has enough money and an extended family, but must deal with being Muslim in America.

In the end, the story reads well, and kept my interest despite the weaknesses, but I never really lost sight of the author's goal of making a book "that teachers could teach" about the attack on the World Trade Center.

My Recommendation:
I'd say that this is a book to use exactly as the author intends: as a supplement to explaining 9-11 to children. In fact, because of the subject matter, a child not familiar with the attack should probably not be turned loose to read it without some guidance, though the author does work hard to present the whole thing in a way that won't traumatize children, even while conveying the horror of it.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Towers Falling out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

Middle Grade Review: Raymie Nightingale

Title: Raymie Nightingale
Author:Kate DeCamillo; read by Jenna Lamia
Publisher: Listening Library, 2016. Originally by Candlewick Press, 2016.  272 pages.
Source: Library digital services

Publisher's Blurb:
Raymie Clarke has come to realize that everything, absolutely everything, depends on her. And she has a plan. If Raymie can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition, then her father, who left town two days ago with a dental hygienist, will see Raymie's picture in the paper and (maybe) come home. To win, not only does Raymie have to do good deeds and learn how to twirl a baton; she also has to contend with the wispy, frequently fainting Louisiana Elefante, who has a show-business background, and the fiery, stubborn Beverly Tapinski, who’s determined to sabotage the contest. But as the competition approaches, loneliness, loss, and unanswerable questions draw the three girls into an unlikely friendship — and challenge each of them to come to the rescue in unexpected ways.

My Review:
Kate DiCamillo has a unique way with the waifs of the world--I first encountered her through Because of Winn-Dixie, which is also about a girl who's more than a little lost in her Floridian world, and I feel some of the same pathos (if that's the word--I don't mean it in a negative way, more just as sorry that sometimes the world sucks) in this book as in that.

Raymie is both so very lost, and so very certain that she can fix that if she just wins the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition of 1970-something. The reader knows (at least, the adult reader does; I wonder how the 8-year-olds read it?) that it's not going to be that easy, and her father's not going to come back just for that. But Raymie's pretty much finding her own way through all this, and it's an interesting path. The adults in her life--all women, and in fact none of the 3 girls has any men in their lives--are in varying degrees absent, flaky, and doing their best. Their best isn't all that great, though, so it's up to the 3 girls to forge ahead on their own. And they do.

In the end, it's a story about friendship, and about self-reliance and finding what you do best. The 3rd-person narration is so intimate with Raymie's head that I felt like it was 1st person, and seemed to work just right.

Jenna Lamia's reading is about perfect. She has the right sort of Southern voice for it, and does a marvelous job.

My Recommendation:
As usual with audio books, I recommend the story first and the audio book second. This is a great story about finding one's way in the world, and really is good for girls or boys, though some of the latter might be put off by the baton-twirling thing. They should look beyond that to see an adventure of 3 kids who band together to save themselves, because no one else is going to.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Raymie Nightingale out of my (digital) library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Middle Grade Review: Just Like Me

Title: Just Like Me
Author: Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2016. 256 pages
Source: Library


Publisher's Blurb:
Who eats Cheetos with chopsticks?! Avery and Becca, my “Chinese Sisters,” that’s who. We’re not really sisters—we were just adopted from the same orphanage. And we’re nothing alike. They sing Chinese love songs on the bus to summer camp, and I pretend like I don’t know them.

To make everything worse, we have to journal about our time at camp so the adoption agency can do some kind of “where are they now” newsletter. I’ll tell you where I am: At Camp Little Big Woods in a cabin with five other girls who aren’t getting along, competing for a campout and losing (badly), wondering how I got here…and where I belong.

My Review:
Julia was adopted from a Chinese orphanage when she was a toddler, and as far as she is concerned, she is a lot more Irish and Italian than Chinese. So being pushed to embrace her "Chinese sisters" and her whole Chinese heritage brings out, well, the worst in her. In fact, she's become embarrassed by all things Chinese, so her sisters have a point when they say that she's ashamed to be Chinese.

In this quick read, Julia and her sisters (and the other three girls in their cabin) have a lot to learn about themselves, each other, and getting along. The process isn't pretty. I appreciated, though, that they *all* get to learn, and to understand their own flaws as well as what makes the others tick. It would have been easy for the author to do what I thought at first she was going to do: set up an enemy against whom Julia, Avery, and Becca would be forced to become a team. It doesn't quite work that way, to my delight. As we work through a mix of standard 1st-person narration, Julia's journal, and a letter to the woman from the adoption agency, we get a front-row seat at the transformation.

The girls, in fact, have several things to work out. Julia needs to come to grips with her own past, including a niggling worry that I'm guessing must be pretty common to adopted kids: didn't her birth mother love her? And all five of the girls need to learn what it takes to be friends and to be a team, and how to cope with their own private struggles. The summer church-camp setting works very well for this, as the theme of the camp session is peace and  cooperation. As an adult who has wrangled a cabin full of girls about this age, I spared more than one moment of sympathy for their counselor (and, in fact, Julia does likewise, which seemed a promising sign of possible maturity). I was glad to see the counselor develop a spine and maybe even a plan to help the girls help themselves.

Recommendation:
At first I didn't think there was much to this book. But the author didn't take the easy way out, and by the end I thought that she did a great job with all the themes. I'll recommend for kids maybe 9 and up, and especially for adopted kids--or anyone who knows and loves an adopted kid.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Just Like Me out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

For a whole different take on growing up, check out The Problem With Peggy, now available from Amazon and Smashwords, as well as other on-line bookstores.Or order signed copies direct from the author!

Middle Grade Monday: Crewnshaw, by Katherine Applegate

 

Title: Crenshaw

Author: Katherine Applegate

Publisher: Feiwel And Friends, 2015. 245 pages.

Source: Library

Publisher's Summary:

Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There's no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again.

Crenshaw is a cat. He's large, he's outspoken, and he's imaginary. He has come back into Jackson's life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?

Beloved author Katherine Applegate proves in unexpected ways that friends matter, whether real or imaginary.  

My Review:

As you might expect from the author of The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate plays with the boundaries between reality and imagination, and comes up with something unexpectedly moving. The book is written in Jackson's voice, a simple and spare style that nicely conveys the struggle between his head and his heart.

Jackson is a boy who believes very firmly in science and the probable. Even when he was 7 and Crenshaw first appeared, he didn't believe in him. Now that he's ten and about to start 5th grade, he really doesn't believe in imaginary friends. To the delight of the reader, Crenshaw doesn't seem to let that stop him. After all, he's a cat. Cats do what they want, though some of what Crenshaw wants is none too cat-like (because, he explains to Jackson, he's the result of Jackson's own interests, which were by no means limited to cats). 

So Jackson himself knows that Crenshaw isn't real, and no one else can see him, and yet. Things happen that need an agent, and Crenshaw is the only available agent. Neither Jackson nor the reader can ever be 100% sure that there's no such thing as imaginary friends. What Jackson is sure of is that he needs all the friends he can get, and it takes a nudge from the cat to make him say what has to be said to keep his best human friend. Telling Marisol about their money problems and incipient homelessness doesn't fix anything, but it allows her to be his friend, and she helps him loosen his grip on facts just a little.

My Recommendation:

A nice read, not too challenging, but one that deals gently with both homelessness and friendship. For ages 8 up.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Crenshaw out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

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Join the Ninja Librarian in celebrating the release of The Problem With Peggy on Nov. 28! Preorders are now available from Amazon and Smashwords for the ebook. Preorder the paperback directly from this site and we'll pick up the shipping costs!

Middle Grade Monday: Connect the Stars

 

Title: Connect the Stars

Author: Marisa de los Santos & David Teague

Publisher: Harper Collins, 2015. 192 pages (Nook version)

Source: Library digital resources

Publisher's Summary:

When thirteen-year-olds Aaron and Audrey meet at a wilderness camp in the desert, they think their quirks are enough to prevent them from ever having friends. But as they trek through the challenging and unforgiving landscape, they learn that they each have what it takes to make the other whole.

Luminous and clever, Connect the Stars has Marisa de los Santos and David Teague’s trademark beautiful prose, delicate humor, swooping emotions, and keen middle grade friendships. This novel takes on the hefty topics of the day—bullying, understanding where you fit in, and learning to live with physical and mental challenges—all in a joyous adventure kids will love!

My Review: 
First, that's a lovely cover. Just wanted to say that, because once again that's what caught my eye while randomly browsing for a distraction. Now for the review.

The book is told in first person, alternating chapter-by-chapter between the voices of Audrey and Aaron, which actually works well. Sometimes I had to check back to see who we were following, but I think that was about me being tired, not the voices being clear (actually, the voices aren't so very different, but the things they notice and comment on are, if that makes any sense). We start with several chapters of the kids' lives at home, which sets the backstory for why they are going on the wilderness camp and why each struggles with friendship. Of course, knowing that, we know from the start that the two will become friends during this camp experience. And we know that the wilderness camp will test them in unexpected ways.

The story lies in how those things happen. The one drawback, for me, is that the story relies in part on an unbelievable setup for the wilderness trek. The idea that any commercial operation could or would take 15 kids into the desert with only one adult was almost laughable (but probably wouldn't trouble juvenile readers). That adult then exercises a lot of bad judgement and endangers his charges more than once, which is also probably more believable to young readers. For a time, however, the unbelievable elements made me think I might not be able to enjoy the book. And the book does rather depend on there being just the one adult present.

Fortunately, as the kids begin to bond and discover their strengths and overcome their weaknesses, I was more able to engage in the story. I liked that Aaron and Audrey aren't "troubled youths," in the typical sense. This isn't a camp meant to whip kids into shape before they end up in jail. It's "La Viaje a la Confianza," the Journey to Confidence, and while some of the kids are dealing with some major issues, those issues aren't trouble with the law.

And even though things don't exactly go according to plan, they do gain confidence. Audrey and Aaron also come to realize that they can learn to live with their issues, be honest with each other (and the other two friends who are part of what becomes a foursome), and be best friends anyway. In the end, this gets a positive review despite the unrealistic elements, because the message is great without being preached at the reader. Instead, it is wrapped in a mild adventure. The ending gives it a bit of a marking down, for excessive sentiment.

Recommendation:

I think this is a good read for any kid who wonders if he or she has what it takes to have friends (which I'm guessing is most junior high kids). But beware: whether or not the reader already loves the outdoors, they are apt to feel at the end as though they could maybe love the desert, and they'll want to go find out. My answer: go . The desert is an amazing place--all our different deserts.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Connect the Stars out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."   

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Join the Ninja Librarian in celebrating the release of The Problem With Peggy on Nov. 28! Preorders are now available from Amazon and Smashwords for the ebook. Preorder the paperback directly from this site and we'll pick up the shipping costs!

 

Middle Grade Monday: The Island of Beyond

This is a book I picked up because my Maine friend mentioned it (see last week's photos). I think the author's a friend of a friend or some such. Close enough to make me pick it up (especially since we just visited a lake in Maine) and far enough not to affect my review in the least :)
 

Title: The Island of Beyond
Author: Elizabeth Atkinson
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 2016, 288 pages
Source: Library

Publisher's Summary: 
Eleven-year-old Martin can hardly imagine a worse summer. His dad is sending him to his great-aunt Lenore, who lives on a tiny island called Beyond. Martin's dad wants him to like "normal" boy things--playing sports and exploring the outdoors. Martin's afraid he'll never be the son his dad wants him to be. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere won't change that.

But nothing about Beyond is what Martin expects. Not peculiar Aunt Lenore, not mysterious Uncle Nedâ-and certainly not the strange, local boy who unexpectedly befriends Martin. Solo can canoe and climb trees and survive on his own in the wilderness, and Martin's drawn to him in a way he doesn't quite understand. But he's not sure he can trust Solo. In fact, can he trust anything about this strange island, where everyone seems to be keeping secrets? 

My Review: 
A lovely story, with twists and undercurrents, some of which are left to the reader to sort out as he or she pleases. In some ways, this reminds me of Fireflies (reviewed in April), but with more depth, and a beautifully drawn setting.

Martin isn't a character that I felt at first I could relate to. He's a total city kid, hooked on his video games and scared of everything outdoors (kind of the opposite of me). But I soon found him to be a real human, with real problems about not fitting in, feeling like he can't measure up to expectations, and so on. And he finds out that what he needs is what he finds on the Island: people who just accept him for who he is. In fact, it might be a little too simplistic in that sense--but it doesn't feel like it. It feels real, as he blunders his way through new experiences.

There are issues with Martin and his father that they are going to have to sort out some day. Maybe there are more books coming, but I almost hope not. We can imagine the battles they will have over the coming months and years, and don't need to see them :)  And there is just a hint about Martin's sexuality, though nothing is ever made explicit, and he is much more concerned with learning to have a friend for the first time in his life.

Recommendation: 
This is suitable for kids from about 8 up. Adult issues are well filtered through a child's eyes, and aren't the focus anyway. Yet the book feels like it has enough depth to keep the interest of older children and adults.

FTC Disclosure: I checked The Island of Beyond out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Summer reading sale--The Ninja Librarian and Return to Skunk Corners--just 99 cents!

And yes, work is underway, slowly, on Book 3, The Problem of Peggy