Dreaming of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hyde - #BookReview

Stewie rolled his shoulders and pulled the collar of his shirt away from his sweaty neck. It bothered him when it clung there.

He had never gone down to that last house before, because he hadn't needed to. He had always sold out his wagon full of eggs without needing to walk so far.

There was a good quarter of a mile gap along the banks of the lake - an undeveloped spot with no houses. It was after six but still quite hot in an unseasonably summerlike spring. Four of his regular customers had not been home, or had not answered their doors.

***

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon―a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It’s his new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar―she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

Marilyn has a reason for keeping her distance: a secret no one knows about. Her survival tactic is to draw a line between herself and other people―one that Stewie is determined to cross. As their visits become more frequent, a complicated but deeply rooted relationship grows. That’s when Stewie discovers how much more there is to Marilyn, to her past, and to challenges that become more pressing each day. But whatever difficult times lie ahead, Stewie learns that although he can’t fix everything for Marilyn or himself, at least he’s no longer alone.

***

Oh my goodness, it is extremely rare that I cry when reading a book. This novel had me reaching for the tissues well before the end, and of course, at its conclusion also.

The main character, a child called Stewie, has what my mum would have described as 'an old head on young shoulders'. He has had to deal with so much loss in his short life, and consequently, he is a boy who is filled with sadness and takes life very seriously. He is an utterly delightful character and one I felt fully invested in. My heart ached for this little boy, and I wanted to scoop him up and cuddle him.

His relationship with his surly, elderly neighbour Marilyn is the main theme of the book. Marilyn is a woman with secrets of her own and initially it appears to be a very unlikely friendship. However, it serves to demonstrate Stewie's character perfectly. He is caring, sensitive and loyal to the extreme. 

Although the book is the story of Stewie's sadness and inability to deal with his grief, it is ultimately a life-affirming and hopeful story which I highly recommend.

The author already has an extensive back catalogue and I am looking forward to delving into some of those.

ISBN: 978 1542021586

Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages:  304

Support Independent Bookshops -  Purchase link to Bookshop.org*

About the Author:

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 44 published and forthcoming books.

Her newer releases are Dreaming of Flight, Boy Underground, Seven Perfect Things, My Name is Anton, Brave Girl, Quiet Girl, Stay, Have You Seen Luis Velez?, Just After Midnight, Heaven Adjacent, The Wake Up, Allie and Bea, Say Goodbye for Now, Leaving Blythe River, Ask Him Why, Worthy, The Language of Hoofbeats, Take Me With You, Walk Me Home, and When I Found You.

Forthcoming are So Long, Chester Wheeler, and Just a Regular Boy.

Other novels include When You Were Older, Where We Belong, Don’t Let Me Go, Second Hand Heart, Jumpstart the World, Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills, The Day I Killed James, and Diary of a Witness.

She is co-author, with publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide.

Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward was made into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. It was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over 30 countries. Simon & Schuster released a special 15th anniversary edition in December of ’14.

Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition, an age-appropriate edited edition of the original novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in August of ‘14. It is suitable for children as young as eight.

(book courtesy of NetGalley)

(author photo courtesy of her website)

(author bio courtesy of Good Reads)

Support Independent Bookshops - Buy from Bookshop.org

*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler - #Bookreview

I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.

And I lost about a year of my life and much of the comfort and security I had not valued until it was gone. When the police released Kevin, he came to the hospital and stayed with me so that I would know I hadn't lost him too.

But before he could come to me, I had to convince the police that he did not belong in jail. That took time. The police were shadows who appreared intermittently at my bedside to ask me questions I had to struggle to understand.

***

In 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave.

When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he's drowning. She saves his life - and it will happen again and again.

Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them.

And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it's even begun.

This is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.

***

This book was a little out of my reading comfort zone. However, I am so glad that I read it as it was fantastic and I enjoyed every page.

It was chosen for my book group read this month and I cannot wait to hear what my fellow book group members thought of it.

It is said to be the first science fiction novel written by a woman of colour. What pulled me so completely into this is the time travel element as it meant that many sections read like historical fiction, of which I am a devoted fan.

The main character, Dana, is a fully fleshed character and it was interesting to read about her in both time periods. For me, the most interesting parts of the novel were when she is called back in time to the plantation owned by her white ancestors. As a black woman she must assume the role of a slave while she waits to be transported back to 1976.

Although time travel is the device used to enable the reader to understand the history surrounding  slavery through twentieth century eyes, it is about so much more. The community formed by the slaves and the terrible lives that they had as possessions of a white owner were difficult to read at times. Punishments by white owners were handed out with little thought, and for those who survived, it was interesting to observe the way in which they learned to adapt to life as slaves.

This novel is about gender, race and survival. It is about how an educated modern black American woman witnessed and lived in one of the most atrocious periods in history. It is one of the best books I have read this year.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those interested in historical fiction, science fiction and black history. I am definitely going to check out some of Ms. Butler's other books and venture a little further into the science fiction genre.

Purchase at Bookshop.org*

About the Author:

Octavia E. Butler was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother and her grandmother.  She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower (1993), which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and Parable of the Talents (1995) winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel published that year. She was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.

She passed away on February 24, 2006. At the time of her death, interest in her books was beginning to rise, and in recent years, sales of her books have increased enormously as the issues she addressed in her Afro-Futuristic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant.

(Author photo and bio. information courtesy of the authors website https://www.octaviabutler.com/ )

*Disclosure: I only recommend books I would buy myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains an affiliate link from which I may earn a small commission.

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell - #BookReview

 

The girl may have been the end for him. The end's beginning, like the bend of a road too slight to notice where it leads. She could have happened to him a day later or a day before, but she was there on that day, in that moment, just hours after Circus Palmer turned forty, a predictable time for a certain kind of end to come, and just seconds after Maggie slid her hand from his wrist and with her lips parted just enough to slip his finger through if he'd wanted, whispered, "I have something to tell you."

***

Love is messy. Love can make us feel alive. It can also bring us down. Sometimes we look for it in all the wrong places. This is a novel about longing, desire and dreams; about passion and risk and all the places in between.

Maggie is pregnant with Circus Palmer's child. This may be her last chance, but she craves her freedom.

Pia is Circus's ex-wife, still in love with the fantasy of the man who conjured jazz tunes for her into the night, but who left many years before.

Koko, Circus's daughter, is lost in the maelstrom of teenage years, the confusion of awakening desire and yearning for the father she barely knows.

Peach is a barmaid who just wants someone to see the person she is inside.

Odessa is on the run from a mistake that can't be undone.

And then there's Circus, Circus Palmer, a jazz trumpeter whose moment of glory is fading. Selfish, damaged, scared, perhaps the only person Circus is fooling is himself.

Delivered in a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a provocative and gripping novel about the desire to be loved, and the need to belong.

***

The writing is this book is beautiful. It is about a jazz musician, and the lyricism of the narrative appropriately echos this.

The book is about Circus Palmer and his relationships with a number of women; an ex-wife, a daughter, a woman carrying his child, and so on. There are plenty of women that move in and out of his life. He seems to have a woman in every town in which he performed his music.

Circus is not a particularly likeable character. He is a user of women, although every now and then we see a flicker of genuine emotion. What makes this book stand out is the narrative feel of the book. The chapters are told not only from Circus's perspective but from the women who orbit his world. Thus, each chapter has a different voice being told from the viewpoint of the various women in his life.

It is a very character driven novel. There is little in the way of plot. However, for me, the book focussed on the loneliness of Circus. Despite being charismatic, with a bevy of women fawning over him, he was unable to make any emotional connection. 

This book is an interesting study of character written in a beautiful style. For a debut novel it is impressive, and I think Ms. Warrell is one to watch. If this book is any indication, then I think we can expect great things from her in the future.

ISBN:  9780857529442

Publisher: Doubleday

Formats: e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages:  368 (hardback)

About the Author:

Laura Warrell is the author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, named a ‘best’ or ‘must-read’ book by Vanity Fair, People, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Apple Books, The Root, The Millions, Hollywood Reporter, Bustle, Today, Debutiful, and elsewhere. The novel was chosen as a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, and an Indie Next List Pick.

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm has been long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and short-listed for the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. It is also a finalist for the Golden Poppy Book Award through the California Independent Booksellers Alliance. 

Laura, named a “Writer to Watch” by Publishers Weekly, grew up in Kent and Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from the Creative Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and she has attended residencies at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Tin House Writer’s Workshop where she will teach in the online Winter Workshop in 2023. She has taught Creative Writing and Literature through the Emerging Voices program at PEN America Los Angeles, at Writing Workshops Los Angeles, and at the Berklee College of Music and other academic institutions in Los Angeles and Boston. 

Laura’s writing has been published in Lit Hub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, The Writer, and other publications.

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is her first novel. 

(ARC courtesy of the publisher)

(author photo and bio courtesy of the authors website)

Guidebook to Murder by Lynn Cahoon - #BookReveiw

 

Some people like to hear their own voice. That jewel of wisdom hit me as I filled the coffee carafes for the third time. As chamber liaison, I'd volunteered my shop, Coffee, Books and More, to serve as the semi-permanent host site for South Cove's Business Basics meeting. The early morning meeting was scheduled to run from seven to nine, but the clock over the coffee bar showed it was already twenty minutes past.

All because the newest committee member, Josh Thomas, owner of the new antiques store down the street, had issues... 

"I wonder why he even moved here," Aunt Jackie fake-whispered to me as she sliced a second cheesecake. "He hates everything."

***

In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store—Coffee, Books, and More—open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill’s elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily’s gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill—along with all of her problems . . . and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit—especially if it gets her closer to South Cove’s finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she’s on the case—and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently . . .

***

Every so often, some cosy crime fiction is just the ticket. I read this while on holiday recently, and it made for ideal reading to relax with. It is the first in the Tourist Trap series and introduces Jill Gardner, who runs the local book and coffee shop.

At some points it was glaringly predictable, particularly regarding the romance element of the story. However, the 'who dunnit' aspect came as a surprise to me at the reveal, which perhaps it shouldn't have done had I not had my mind so firmly in holiday mode. 

The author has written several other series including the Kitchen Witch Mysteries, the Cat Latimer series and the Farm to Fork mystery series. Guidebook to Murder was the winner of the 2015 Reader's Crown for Mystery Fiction. The following book in the series is Mission to Murder, which I might just keep on ice until my next holiday.

ISBN: 978 1601833044

Publisher: Kensington Trade

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 226 (paperback)

About the Author:

Lynn Cahoon is the author of the NYT and USA Today bestselling Tourist Trap cozy mystery series. Guidebook to Murder, book 1 of the series won the Reader's Crown for Mystery Fiction. There are six Tourist Trap Holiday novella's available in digital and audio that are bundled into two print books. The most recent book in the series, Wedding Bell Blues, released in 2022.

Lynn started her career writing sweet contemporary romances with heroes ranging from cowboys to warlocks. (You can find these books and more at www.lynncollinsauthor.com) 

A breast cancer survivor, she lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. 

(author info courtesy of her website. ARC courtesy of NetGalley)