Review: Little Island by Katharine Britton + Giveaway

Posted on May 21, 2014May 20, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways

Format read: paperback provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Women’s fiction
Length: 321 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Date Released: September 3, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Grace
Flowers
By the water
Have fun!

These are Joy’s grandmother’s last words—left behind on a note. A note that Joy’s mother, Grace, has interpreted as instructions for her memorial service. And so, the far-flung clan will gather at their inn on Little Island, Maine, to honor her.

Joy can’t help dreading the weekend. Twenty years ago, a tragedy nearly destroyed the family—and still defines them. Joy, Grace, her father Gar, and twins Roger and Tamar all have their parts to play. And now Joy, facing an empty nest and a nebulous future, feels more vulnerable than ever to the dangerous currents running through her family.

But this time, Joy will discover that there is more than pain and heartbreak that binds them together, when a few simple words lift the fog and reveal what truly matters…

My Review:

Little Island is a story about the corrosiveness of family secrets and the lies that people tell themselves (and each other) in order to hide their truth from the world, or from themselves.

The Little family seems like a happy family, at least on the surface. Grace and Gar have a solid marriage and a good life running a B&B on Little Island in Maine. Both their daughters are married, and have kids of their own. The younger daughter, Tamar, is a successful lawyer. But son Roger has always been the scapegrace of the family. He drinks too much, he does prescription drugs, and 20 years ago he killed a girl while drunk driving.

So maybe not quite an ideal family, but not too bad. They’ve all moved past Roger’s accident; he did his time long ago.

All is not as it seems. Their older daughter, Joy, has just sent her son off to college and can’t see a future for herself or her marriage without her son as the glue. Tamar’s marriage is falling apart, because she’s been too busy working (and micro-judging everyone in her path) to maintain a bond with her husband or have much knowledge of her twin daughters. Gar is starting to forget things. And Grace’s mother just died, and in the wake of that event, her long-lost aunts got in touch with her. Grace didn’t even know her mother had sisters. Or a family.

And Roger is continuing to slide slowly downward, a little bit at a time.

But as the story unfolds, the perspective switches from Joy and Grace in the present to Joy and Tamar 20 years ago, the time of Roger’s terrible accident. As the past unravels, the family discovers that a lot more died on that awful night than one young woman. And the present holds more joy and hope than anyone first thought.

Salmon-picnicking bears are a great way to liven up a memorial service.

Escape Rating B: OK, that last sentence in the review was kind of a spoiler–but you have to read the book to get the joke. And it’s worth it.

Little Island is a story about family dynamics, particularly about the way that one single event, one secret, can echo down through the years and fracture the foundation. It’s not that they are all unhappy, in the sense of the quote about happy and unhappy families, it’s that they are all lost.

The relationship that is the most damaged, and gets the most attention in the story, is the relationship among the siblings, Joy, Roger and Tamar. Roger and Tamar are twins, and shared everything together, until they suddenly didn’t. But neither of them could quite move on from that one secret, and they were so dependent on each other that they couldn’t break away, either.

Joy, the older sister, was always left out of the twins tight little twosome. And Tamar was frequently cruel about making sure that she stayed out.

So it’s Joy’s perspective that we follow most in the story, because she’s always been an observer. She’s even on the outside of her own life, because she’s so conditioned to waiting in the wings.

The story starts out slowly, but picks up speed as more of the past is revealed, and we can see how that past continues to impact the present. There is also a thread about the impact of stories, particular the stories that families tell about themselves and each other, and the way that the expectations those narratives create continue to ripple throughout our lives.

This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

GIVEAWAY

Katharine is giving away a paperback copy of Little Island to one lucky U.S. winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen + Giveaway

Posted on May 20, 2014May 19, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | blog tours> book reviews> Giveaways

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, paperback, audiobook
Genre: Historical fantasy
Length: 544 pages
Publisher: Random House
Date Released: June 17, 2014
Purchasing Info: Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Alarmed, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine London that greets her, she uncovers a hidden, supernatural city populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of the exclusive, secretive Aegolius Club, whose predatory members include the most ambitious, and most bloodthirsty, men in England.

My Review:

As implied by the title, The Quick is a story about those of us who are alive, as opposed to, or in opposition with, or being preyed upon by, the dead. Or in this particular case, the undead.

It’s amazing when you look back, how long it takes any of the characters to say the word “vampire” in the story. In keeping with the Victorian lack of willingness to call anything what it really is, although everyone knows that they are, or want to be, or are studying, or are being chased by vampires, all the characters are supremely reluctant to say the word.

The story always felt like it fit within our perceptions of the Victorian period. There’s a slow buildup, from the story of a young man who decides to live in London after he graduates, to his developing relationship with his roommate and best friend, to the sudden horrific break in his pattern, when he gets accidentally turned into a vampire.

Which leads us to the Aegolius Club. London is so famous for its secretive gentlemen’s clubs, that the concept that one club restricts its membership to vampires is not that far-fetched. Very eerie, but not too far out there. The commentary that the dreary London weather is tailor-made for creatures who shun sunlight is wryly on target.

Into this mix we have an intrepid explorer. James Norbury is the accidental vampire, and his creation, his “exchange” of life from quick to undead, undoes many of the Aegolius Club’s sacred traditions. They try to correct their mistake by either bringing him into their fold, or killing him. He escapes and begins to roam London, uncertain of who he is or what he can do.

His sister comes to London to find her missing brother. And it’s her story that we follow. Charlotte discovers not one, but three secret societies, all at cross-purposes to one another.

The Aegolius Club wants to use her as bait to capture her brother. The Alia are not quite the criminal underworld of vampires, although there are elements of that, but mostly they are the organized group of non-upper-crust vampires, banding together to fend off their enemies, the elite of the Aegolius, and to pool resources and run businesses.

(If you’re going to live forever, you need something to live on, not to mention, live in.)

Charlotte finds herself an accidental member of the Rag and Bone society. They gather knowledge of vampires, and fight them. They can help her find her brother, but there’s no saving him.

A lot of death and destruction is caused on all sides, because Charlotte cannot be convinced of that fact.

Escape Rating B: This book starts out slow, and then builds to a climax that grabs you with its consequences, sort of like the hand reaching out of the grave at the end of Carrie.

There’s a level of understatement in the way that the plot unfolds; no one believes in vampires and the Aegolius Club wants to keep it that way. Everything is muffled in “that’s not what we do” or “that’s not the done thing”. Although it seems totally appropriate that the members of the club are very stuck on tradition and do not like change; most of them are fixed in the era of their life (and death) and they can’t adapt. They are hiding in the club, not hiding from anything in particular, but hiding from the future. They lose their spark after their undeath, because they have nothing to work towards–except controlling the members of the club.

Tradition also shrouds investigation into the limits of their powers. Part of what sets events in motion is one new vampire who wants to study them scientifically, so he compels a scientist to conduct experiments. The legends that arise among the vampire population about “Doctor Knife” are all the more chilling because they are true.

The story rises or falls based on one’s ability to empathize with Charlotte. Even though it is her brother’s change that sets her in motion, the adventure, and the danger, are really hers. What we see is her determination to discover what happened, and her complete unwillingness to accept that there is no cure, no matter how many people sacrifice themselves or how much even James himself demonstrate that there is nothing she can do to save him. She intrepidly follows a course that is nearly guaranteed to lead to disaster, and certainly will not help the person she intends to help.

At the end, the reader is left wondering whether the story is completely over. In a fantastically chilling way.

This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

GIVEAWAY

Lauren is giving away a print copy of The Quick to one lucky (and maybe quick) U.S. winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose

Posted on May 19, 2014May 18, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, audiobook
Genre: historical fiction
Length: 453 pages
Publisher: Harper
Date Released: April 22, 2014
Purchasing Info: Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

A richly imagined and stunningly inventive literary masterpiece of love, art, and betrayal, exploring the genesis of evil, the unforeseen consequences of love, and the ultimate unreliability of storytelling itself.

Paris in the 1920s shimmers with excitement, dissipation, and freedom. It is a place of intoxicating ambition, passion, art, and discontent, where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats, artists, libertines, and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves. It is at the Chameleon where the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club’s loyal denizens, including the rising Hungarian photographer Gabor Tsenyi, the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol; and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine.

As the years pass, their fortunes—and the world itself—evolve. Lou falls desperately in love and finds success as a race car driver. Gabor builds his reputation with startlingly vivid and imaginative photographs, including a haunting portrait of Lou and her lover, which will resonate through all their lives. As the exuberant twenties give way to darker times, Lou experiences another metamorphosis—sparked by tumultuous events—that will warp her earnest desire for love and approval into something far more.

My Review:

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 is a portrait, not merely of the two individuals pictured in the photograph, but also of the City of Lights in the Jazz Age, the 1920s and 1930s. Hemingway’s Paris. Picasso’s Paris. The Paris of the famous “Lost Generation”.

The portrait is drawn through the eyes of four disparate individuals who sometimes connect, and sometimes push against each other, until the Fall of Paris to the Germans and the subsequent division between collaboration and resistance push them all toward a final climax.

It’s also a story about the mutability of memory, and the way that eyewitnesses to the same event often remember totally different factors, some because they can’t get out of their own perspective as the center of the universe, some to protect the innocent, and some to protect the guilty. Particularly when they are the guilty parties themselves.

Time, in this case, both heals all wounds and wounds all heels.

Lesbian Couple at Le Monocle, 1932 by Brassaï

The story revolves around the fictionalized character of Lou (Louisianne) Villars, purported to be the villain who revealed the location of the terminus of the Maginot Line to the Germans. But that’s not where Lou’s story begins. She begins as a young French girl who would quite probably rather have been a boy. She wants to dress as a man, and also to act as a man, including her preference for female lovers. She wants to participate in sports at the men’s level. Today her behavior and preferences wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but in France in the 1920s and 30s it was illegal for a woman to dress in men’s clothing.

Lou’s tragedy is that she never seems to grasp whatever she is reaching for, whether that is success in sports, or happiness in love. She gets close, but never quite grabs the brass ring. And her lovers all turn out to be bad choices that lead her to destruction, both her own and other people’s. To the point where the conceit of this fictional biography is that Lou’s history was erased because she became a symbol of the evils of Nazi collaboration in France.

The photographic portrait for which the book is named is by the photographer Gabor Tsenyi, and its subjects are Lou and her first lover, Arletta, at their famous table at the Chameleon Club. In the photo, Tsenyi captured the end of their relationship, but also immortalized Lou dressed in a man’s tuxedo.

That photograph, along with others taken in the same period, makes Tsenyi’s career. His perspectives on Paris in the 20s and 30s, as written in letters to his parents back in Hungary, present an entirely different point of view on the scene.

As do the quasi-journalistic ramblings of his best friend, the American author Lionel Maine.

And last but not least, the perspective of Baroness Lily de Rossignol, who begins the story as Tsenyi’s patron, employs Lou in one of her several attempts at conquering the world of sport, and finally, as a member of the resistance helping to spirit people away from Lou and the Gestapo.

These differing viewpoints; the sarcastic writer, the artistic photographer, the socialite afraid of boredom and the sportswoman seduced by speed, the wrong women and Hitler, weave a tapestry of light, music and the beauty of Paris.

But is any of it what they really remember?

Escape Rating A-: Lovers at the Chameleon Club is a story that starts out slowly, but spins faster and faster as it races towards its conclusion. As each person adds their perspective, the portrait becomes deeper and richer; the more characters in the stew, the more of Paris is revealed.

Lou is not a likable character, it’s not just that nothing goes right for her, but that she seems to make the worst choices for reasons that are not clear. But even as she falls, and keeps falling, fascinating things happen around her and/or because of her. Her life is a train wreck, and once you’ve noticed, you can’t look away.

The Baroness is not likable either, but where Lou would be unhappy that she wasn’t liked, the Baroness thought much too much of herself to care what other people thought, as long as they danced to her tune.

The most sympathetic character in the story is Gabor Tsenyi. His is the eye that sees the beauty of Paris, and captures it with his lens. Because his part of the story is revealed through his heartfelt letters to his parents, we view events as they are happening, or in their immediate aftermath. While he admits to exaggerating, he isn’t trying to rewrite history to whitewash his past, because it doesn’t need whitewashing.

In the end, I found myself doing a wikipedia search for Lou Villars. Although Lovers at the Chameleon Club is fiction, and I knew it was fiction, it felt like a real history.

This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 5-18-14

Posted on May 18, 2014May 18, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Giveaways> The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

I heard a terrible joke this week: “In Seattle, what do you get after two days of rain and gloom?” Answer: “Monday”. And it can be so damn true. But not this week. It was supposed to rain, and instead we got the gray but not the wet.

Mellie has taken to sleeping on a suitcase in the office. (Why we’ve left a suitcase in the office is a whole other question). But now it’s HER suitcase. Maybe she thinks it will keep us from traveling?

Coming Next Week:

Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose (blog tour review)
The Quick by Lauren Owen (blog tour review)
Little Island by Katharine Britton (blog tour review
B.O.Q. by N.P. Simpson (review)
Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick (review)

Stacking the Shelves (89)

Posted on May 17, 2014May 17, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Stacking the Shelves

In addition to feeding my addiction at both NetGalley and Edelweiss, there were a couple of special purchases I’d like to mention.

The wonderful folks at StoryBundle are running a special bundle this week of Science Fiction and Fantasy written during NaNoWriMo. This looks like a terrific punch of new SF/F authors, and I can’t wait to see how the stories turn out.

Humble Bundle (much better known for their indie gaming bundles) have a special Doctor Who comics bundle this week. If you love the Doctor, or are curious about the comics, this is a great way to read a pretty full starting collection.

little green book of chairman rahma by brian herbert

For Review:
The Agincourt Bride (Catherine de Valois #1) by Joanna Hickson
Allegiance (Penton Legacy #4) by Susannah Sandlin
Black Ice (Midgard #2) by Susan Krinard
Dark Refuge (Spirit Wild #4) by Kate Douglas
The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma by Brian Herbert
Lock In by John Scalzi
The Tudor Bride (Catherine de Valois #2) by Joanna Hickson
Witchlight (Magic Born #2) by Sonya Clark
Wouldn’t It Be Deadly (Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins #1) by D.E. Ireland

Purchased:
Doctor Who Comics Bundle from Humble Bundle
Sci-Fi/Fantasy NaNo Bundle from StoryBundle
Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome by John Scalzi

Borrowed from the Library:
Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick

Review: The Queen of the Dark Things by C. Robert Cargill

Posted on May 16, 2014April 28, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | book reviews> C Reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, ebook
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Date Released: May 13, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill continues the story begun in his acclaimed debut Dreams and Shadows in this bold and brilliantly crafted tale involving fairies and humans, magic and monsters—a vivid phantasmagoria that combines the imaginative wonders of Neil Gaiman, the visual inventiveness of Guillermo Del Toro, and the shocking miasma of William S. Burroughs.

Six months have passed since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and darkness beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures and banning them from Austin, Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past—including one Colby considered a friend—have resurfaced to exact their revenge.

As darkness gathers around the city, Colby sifts through his memories desperate to find answers that might save him. With time running out, and few of his old allies and enemies willing to help, he is forced to turn for aid to forces even darker than those he once battled.

Following such masters as Lev Grossman, Erin Morgenstern, Richard Kadrey, and Kim Harrison, C. Robert Cargill takes us deeper into an extraordinary universe of darkness and wonder, despair and hope to reveal the magic and monsters around us . . . and inside us.

My Review:

The Queen of the Dark Things is a very direct sequel to Dreams and Shadows. And I can’t exactly say that I liked Dreams and Shadows. I found it interesting, but it also reminded me quite a bit of Neil Gaiman’s early work, particularly Neverwhere, with a slice of American Gods thrown in to give it body. Or several bodies.

Both Dreams and Shadows and The Queen of the Dark Things are contemporary fantasy, of that particular flavor where myth still lives alongside of our technological world, and where our lack of belief in magic and the old ways is squeezing out a great deal of what was once wondrous in the world. Which doesn’t mean that the nasty stuff in the shadows isn’t still there, just that most of us can’t see it. The dark things are still plenty capable of screwing us over.

The Queen of the Dark Things is about living with the consequences of our actions. Just because much of the setting takes place in a slightly fantastic version of Austin, Texas and among the myths of the Australian dreamtime doesn’t change the essential truth. This is a story about consequences.

It’s also about a very “Clever Man” playing a very long game, in the hopes and not the certainty of getting the right people into the right places at the right time to achieve what he hopes will be the best outcome. A case of the needs of the future outweighing the needs of the present.

He maneuvers two children into positions of power, one to become the wizard Colby Stevens, who we first met in Dreams and Shadows; and the other to become The Queen of the Dark Things. He does it to prevent seventy two demons from being free to wreck havoc on the world, and he hopes that he is not setting up a future that will be worse.

The demons have been planning this particular game for five hundred years, and they don’t care how much damage they do. They just want to win.

But the demons have misjudged Colby. He wants what he has always wanted. And it has never been any of the things that they want. Which might just be enough to save him.

Escape Rating C: The story in The Queen of the Dark Things takes a long time to set up, and that’s on top of having read Dreams and Shadows last year. It veers into literary science fiction, so if you like your explanations long and lyrical, this might be for you. I would have preferred that the story get to the action quicker.

The plot is incredibly convoluted. The demons made a bet 500 years ago, and in order to tally it up, they’ve been messing about with shadow puppets ever since. While Colby was still a child learning magic, his mentor left him with an Aborigine shaman for a while, the “Clever Man” Mandu, and Mandu set up this particular future in the Dreamtime.

It’s a long, sad, crazy story, but Colby and Kaycee, the girl who becomes the Queen, have been set up by the demons and Mandu to take the demons down several pegs.

The issue I have with The Queen of the Dark Things was that I didn’t feel enough for the characters to be invested in their story or what happened to them. Although Colby is the central character, so much of the story is based on something that happened when he was a child, and he’s remembering rather than feeling–his story is stripped of the emotions. We don’t see Kaycee’s feelings or thoughts in the now; what there is of the real her is stuck in the past. Even Mandu is a ghost.

The character whom I cared about the most was the dog, Gossamer. He’s an awesome dog.

The story told in The Queen of the Dark Things had the potential to be a fascinating re-imagining of old mythology into modern storytelling. But it just didn’t catch me by the heart.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Post by Author Isabo Kelly on What Having Kids Taught Me About Writing + Giveaway

Posted on May 15, 2014May 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | ebook giveaway> Giveaways> Guest Posts

Today I’d like to welcome Isabo Kelly, who recently published The Darkness of Glengowyn (reviewed by me and E. at The Book Pushers), and the equally awesome first book in the series, Brightarrow Burning, reviewed here. She’s here to talk about…

What Having Kids Taught Me About Writing
by Isabo Kelly

Thanks for having me here today!

Rather than a straight up “about my book” post, I thought I’d start the tour with a little more personal post. I’m just going to say up front, though, this has nothing to do with airy fairy feelings. LOL. Yes, yes, I learned about a whole new kind of love when I had kids, but the only way that’s affected my writing is that there are now certain topics I have a much harder time dealing with (anything that has a kid in jeopardy is really really hard for me to tackle; and because my oldest is on the Autism spectrum, I’m really sensitive about kids with special needs topics).

No, what having kids really taught me about writing is time management skills—and how sorely I lack said skills.

I’ve learned I had a whole lot more free time before I had kids. Granted it was infinitely less flexible because of the day job, but there was definitely more time in my life. I just squandered it on things like sleep and showers that last longer than five minutes.

I’ve learned I can do a LOT in a very short amount of time. If all I have is an hour during naptime, or worse 15 minutes during naptime because neither of my boys are good sleepers, I can write actual books during those short spurts of creativity.

I’ve learned not to bother waiting on anything as ephemeral as my muse. She can catch up with me whenever she decides to show up. In the meantime, I have books to write.

I’ve learned I actually do need the occasional block of quiet time to edit, and sometimes, with kids, the only thing I don’t have is quiet. This is when I tell my husband I’m hiding in the bedroom with the door locked for a few hours.

I’ve learned I don’t need that much quiet to write the first draft. My imagination spills out onto the page even in the midst of chaos and mayhem. This is kind of a relief, to be honest. If I can write amid the uproar of my young boys charging around the place, I can write anywhere, anytime.

I’ve learned I can’t live without lists. Having kids did a number on my memory so I need lists or I will forget everything I need to do—including wash my hair (seriously, I can forget I need to do this if it’s not on my list!)

I am still trying to learn not to fret and worry about the work I’m not getting done in those periods of time when I can’t work because I’m being mommy. This is one of those life lessons I really want to figure out because when I’m playing with my kids I want to be present, not stressing my work load. This is an ongoing learning curve, though.

I’ve learned I can write sex scenes even if my kids are in the room. I just don’t let them see the screen.

But I’ve also learned, I enjoy writing those scenes more when my kids are asleep.

Finally, I’ve learned I still have a lot to learn about organizing my time and my writing around my family life. I’m not very good at it yet, but I try. And in the meantime, I manage to hug and kiss my kids a lot and still write lots of fiction. Overall, I call that a win.

So, anyone have any good hints or suggestions for time management? I’m always looking!

About Isabo Kelly

Isabo Kelly is the award-winning author of numerous fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romances. Her life has taken her from Las Vegas to Hawaii, where she got her BA in Zoology, back to Vegas where she looked after sharks, then on to Germany and Ireland where she got her Ph.D. in Animal Behavior.Now Isabo focuses on writing. She lives in New York with her Irish husband, two beautiful boys, and funny dog. She works as a full time author and stay-at-home mom.

For more on Isabo and her books, visit her website, follow her on Twitter @IsaboKelly, friend her on Facebook, or follow her on Goodreads.

TOURWIDE GIVEAWAY

Isabo is giving away three ebook copies of the first book in the Fire and Tears series, Brightarrow Burning, and a $40 gift certificate to winner’s choice of B&N or Amazon! For a chance to win, please use the Rafflecopter below.

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Wicked Nights Blog Hop

Posted on May 14, 2014May 11, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | Blog Hops> Giveaways> Wicked Nights Giveaway Hop

There’s a saying about one person’s taste being another person’s poison (not that poison isn’t a different kind of wicked!)

So, I’m not going to tell you what your favorite wickedness is. Instead, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon or B&N Gift Card so that you can choose your own particular favorite type of wicked read. (Although if you haven’t read Jane Kindred’s The Fallen Queen and ALL the wonderful sequels, I am happy to recommend…or Victoria Vane’s equally naughty Devil DeVere series…)

Wicked Nights. Oh, yeah. We LOVE those naughty…steamy… oh-so-wicked reads. Check out all of our favorite scorching hot books, heroes and heroines. There will be naughty giveaways at every stop so be sure to check them all out! And don’t forget to enter the Grand Prize Giveaway for an Amazon Gift Card!

MY GIVEAWAY

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GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY

Entry -Form

For more chances to win, visit the other stops on the hop!

Guest Post by Mark T Barnes on Creating Myths + Giveaway

Posted on May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | blog tours> Giveaways> Uncategorized

This time, I’m just going to gush. I get some good books from Library Journal, and some not so good books from Library Journal. And every once in a while, I get one that absolutely blows me away. That was The Garden of Stones by Mark T. Barnes. I adore epic fantasy, and Garden was one of the best I’ve read in a long time.

I begged 47North for a review copy of book 2, The Obsidian Heart, because I couldn’t bear not knowing where the story went after the towering cliffhanger I was left with. It was every bit as awesome as Garden, and now we have The Pillars of Sand. Read today’s review to see just how much I loved it.

Making Your Own Mythology, by Mark T. Barnes.

Myths are ancient stories shared through generations, both within and across cultures. While history relates the facts of the past, myths reveal the truths of personalities, beliefs, hopes, and fears of times gone by. Myths help us understand why we are who we are, in the context of our journey through history and cultural transformation.

Fantasy worlds in particular benefit from a strong and original mythology as part of the world building process. Not only do they add depth and texture to a story, they provide a framework for the reader to know why things are the way they are. It’s important for our characters to reflect in some way the thinking of their age, which has been formed from cultural mores and social interactions over hundreds of preceding generations.

It’s important to find the obvious in our mythologies and do something different with them. Readers may know the content of many myths, morality tales and fairy tales already, so reward them with something new. Find the anchor points a reader will care about, and identify with, and build a mythology around them. Look at the important concepts of our own culture: how we view birth, life, and death. Love and hatred, romance and vengeance. What do we fear? What do we despise, and why do these things have such a visceral effect on us? Look at topical issues that are important to us today, and weave those into a mythology to make it meaningful and impactful.

Mythology in fantasy literature can also have us think about our own origins as well as the stories we’re leaving behind for generations to come. The myths we make will inform others what we valued, what we feared, and helps them learn the truths of who we were and the mark we left a changing world.

The world of Īa in the Echoes of Empire series has a layered history. All the great world events lend to myths, and how those myths are remembered and used. In the EoE series I tried a few new things:

No orthodox religion or deities of any kind. The native inhabitants of Īa practice a form of natural reverence. With the introduction of humans who came from a technologically advanced society with less of a focus on religion, there came the concept of Ancestor worship. As people we have strong feelings towards the people in our lives, and time and new circumstances altered how the dead are perceived.
No heaven or hell. There’s no great reward for being ‘good’, nor damnation for being ‘bad’. Such reference points are meaningless when a person is capable of thought, free will, and change. The dead go to a place called The Well of Souls where they continue to be the people they were in life, sans a body. Knowledge of the Well of Souls and the ability to communicate with the dead has taken some of the fear from death.
The world is alive and conscious. There have been many empires and civilisations resting one atop the other like sediment. In the distant past the high water mark of a dead civilisation managed to communicate with the mind of the world, changing forever their view of their place and status. Technological industrialisation was bypassed in favour of arcane industrialisation, where energy sources were renewable gifts from the world itself. Humans changed this paradigm, and their defeat in the old wars became a parable for how civilisation should work with a world that knows what’s being done to it.
Power perceived is power achieved. The Insurrection and The Scholar Wars showed the world that the arcane sciences are devastating and that not all who hold power, should. Centuries after The Scholar Wars there are still prejudices and laws in place against some uses for the arcane.
Tales of ethics and morality. The wars of the past and the blood that was shed has led to the Avān, one of the world’s predominant cultures, forming a rigorous code of conduct and caste system in order to protect themselves, from themselves. Other cultures have beliefs based on great acts of invention, or heroism, or generosity. The greatest heroes in the EoE world are scholars, philosophers, courtesans, etc. Generally people who have tried to make the world better through less destructive means than war.
The lessons of war and envy. Though the humans were defeated in the old wars, the Elemental Masters of the time took notice. Indeed it was the introduction of advanced technology that inspired some of the Elemental Masters to try new things with the arcane, and to start truly bridging the gap between arcane science and technical science. This also introduced the concept of Wars of the Long Knife (Wars of Assassins), trial by single combat or arcane power to resolve disputes, government sanctioned and arbitrated House wars, etc.

Seeding the histories of our fantasy worlds with pivotal moments and people, and having those nexus points reflected throughout the years to follow, gives our worlds depth and texture. Whenever I pick up a fantasy novel I look forward to seeing where the writer is taking me, and how well their characters and story are in touch with their myths, legends, and origins.

Mark Barnes lives in Sydney, Australia. He is the author of the epic fantasy Echoes of Empire series, published by 47North. The series includes The Garden of Stones (released May 2013), and The Obsidian Heart (released October 2013). The Pillars of Sand is the third of the series, due for release in May 2014. In April 2014, The Garden of Stones was selected as one of five finalists in the 2013/2014 David Gemmell MORNINGSTAR Award for Best Newcomer/Debut, with the winner to be announced in London in June 2014.

You can find out more at www.marktbarnes.com, his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/marktbarnes.author, or follow Mark on Twitter @MarkTBarnes.

GIVEAWAY

Mark and his publisher, 47North, are generously giving away 5 NetGalley copies of each book in The Echoes of Empire trilogy! If you love epic fantasy, this is your chance to start (or complete) the series.
Because the copies are NetGalley downloads, winners will need to join or be members of NetGalley (which is free).
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Review: The Pillars of Sand by Mark T Barnes

Posted on May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audioboook
Genre: epic fantasy
Series: Echoes of Empire #3
Length: 488 pages
Publisher: 47North
Date Released: May 20, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

The epic conclusion of the Echoes of Empire trilogy.

Prophecy declared that corrupt politician Corajidin would rule the Shrīanese Federation, even become its new Emperor?and sinister magic has helped him defy death in order to do it. But his victory is not assured, thanks to clashing rival factions that hinder any attempts to unify the nation. Though he has taken increasingly brutal measures to eliminate all obstacles in his path, the dark forces supporting him grow dangerously impatient. And the harder they press, the more drastic Corajidin’s actions become.

Soon, only his most powerful adversaries will stand in his way: Indris, the peerless swordsman and sorcerer who has long fought to end the Federation’s bloody turmoil; and the warrior-poet Mari, Corajidin’s own daughter and the woman Indris loves. Fate has torn them apart, forcing them into terrifying personal trials. But if Indris can bring to bear the devastating knowledge of the Pillars of Sand, and Mari can rise up as a rebel leader, Corajidin’s enemies will rally?and the decisive battle for the soul and future of the Shrīanese will begin.

This epic tale of intrigue, love, and betrayal, painted in the blood of allies and enemies by Mark T. Barnes, concludes the Echo of Empire trilogy that began with “The Garden of Stones” and “The Obsidian Heart.”

My Review:

The Pillars of Sand is an absolute stunner from beginning to end. Even the opening synopsis that recaps the events of the previous two books reads like an awesome story being told around a campfire, reciting the tales of the legends that have gone before.

But don’t rely on that summary if you haven’t read the first two books in the Echoes of Empire series, get yourself a copy of the utterly fantastic first book, The Garden of Stones and then continue breathlessly through the heroes’ valley of the shadow in The Obsidian Heart. You’ll be panting to read The Pillars of Sand just to find out how our heroes, their country, and their world get out of the horrible fix that they are in.

The story is again told from three different points of view, Dragon-Eyed Indris, for whom every faction seems to have a different destiny, none of which he remotely desires; his lover Mariam of the House of Erebus, one of the greatest warrior-poets that Shrian has ever produced, and her father Corajidin, the man who would lead Shrian to horrific greatness at incalculable cost.

Corajidin’s story is much like Macbeth’s; he believes that he has a destiny to rule Shrian, so he brings that destiny about no matter what dark powers he needs to consort with or how deep the madness into which he must descend. He never seems to understand that destiny is a two-edged sword, and that the prophecy he follows also predicts that he will not be able to hold onto anything, or anyone he conquers.

In our terms, he has sold his soul to the devil, but it turns out that he is dealing with beings even more fell than our version of Satan.

Mariam is Corajidin’s daughter, but she was raised to have her own mind and her own purpose. She believes in the ethics and morals that founded Shrian, and not the depths to which her father would sink them. And so she becomes a force for good, or at least better.

Indris is the great puzzle. He has acquired so much power, but he fears, with good reason, to use it. He knows that if he lets what is inside him loose, the power will use him. And so will entirely too many people who have been hiding the truth from him for far too long.

But they were right, some truths are too unbelievable to know. And yet, they must be revealed in order to save what can be saved. However little that might be.

Escape Rating A+: Mark Barnes did it again. I stood at the bus stop with my mouth gaping open, completely overwhelmed by the ending. Also terribly, terribly sad that I will not get to return to Shrian.

I expected a slightly different ending. I’m much happier with the one I got, but I was expecting something darker. Not that the butcher’s bill in the end wasn’t high, but it wasn’t outrageously high. Sadly, just enough and not too much.

One of the things that fascinates about the story and it’s entire construction; The Echoes of Empire, as a whole, is about the evil that men (and women) do to each other. It is a battle between good and evil, but all the players are some variation of people, not deities or demons. (In some cases they may be dead people, but still people).

Humans and their equivalents do not need any help in finding the path to damnation and destruction. We’re quite good at getting there all on our own.

The Pillars of Sand brings the Echoes of Empire to a beautiful, and shattering conclusion. If you love epic fantasy and have not started this series, I envy you the joy of discovering this marvelous series for the first time.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

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