Monthly Archives: July 2013

Book Review of Rachel Francis’ Life on Fire

Yesterday, as I was trolling my TBR list, muttering to myself about how I could have so very, very many books and still not pick anything to read, my daughter reached over and said, “How about that one? It looks interesting.” Well there you go, decision made (and proof positive that covers matter).

Rachel Francis‘ PNR novel, Life on Fire, was downloaded from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Anna grew up in the peace of Caroline, a small East coast town barely warranting its own school district. When that serenity is shattered by murder, no one feels safe. One, two, three attacks and no end in sight, Anna falls into a deep depression, spurred onward by the sudden departure of her best friend.

It’s then she notices the strangers around town. Anna enters a world of magic when she comes face to face with two of the newcomers, leaving her changed forever. Saving her hometown may be second only to keeping a centuries old war from boiling over.

Review:
Life on Fire takes the same old, same old and spruces it up enough to be interesting. Anna is a regular, small town girl until her life is endangered and she awakens to her inherent, and previously unknown, paranormal powers. These powers are of course the most powerful there can be. But not to worry, there is an emotionally damaged hotty available to fall in love with her and help her through the transition. She in turn will of course sooth his injured soul in a way no one has been able to before. As well as effortlessly help and earn the admiration of everyone around her.

I’m being trite I know. I did say the same old plot was livened up a little bit though. It’s the characters that add the spice. Wendrick is a wonderfully conflicted character, by far the best in the book IMO. He carries his own heavy burden of ability, responsibility and basic guilt for what he is. David and Rosalyn have an interestingly tempestuous relationship, and Anna has a strong, loving family. Anna was my least favourite of the bunch. In a book that walked the standard genre line so unwaveringly it was the small divergences that kept it from being boring and Anna didn’t stray too far from the standard PNR heroine. She therefore didn’t hold my interest very well. I didn’t hate her or anything. She was just kind of a null for me.

Her and Wendrick together were pretty good however. This isn’t exactly a case of instant-love, or rather I think the author tried to pull it back from insta-love. It’s pretty quick though. And even if not quite instant, the love between Anna and Wendrick solidifies with very little outside influence. He is inexplicably drawn to her and she pretty much goes on a systematic campaign to make him her own. There isn’t really any falling in love as much as finally accepting the love.

Though the main character is 22, this reads like a YA book. Anna still lives at home with her parents. Wendrick is several hundred years old, but acts like a stroppy teenager. David sulks through the whole first half of the story and Anna has dealt with one of her best friend’s crushes for years. There is one mild, largely inexplicit sex scene. It’s the only reason I hesitate to call this YA.

My main complaint is that the dialogue is incorrectly formatted throughout the book, such that a spoken sentence is often on the same line as the response of the person spoken to. Creating confusion about who is actually speaking after all. A made-up example (cause I’m too lazy to go find my kindle and pick out a real one): ”Sit there.’ John sighed, but sat.’ In this case John would be the person spoken to, not the speaker. It’s obvious on a second glance, but it takes that second glance and disrupts the flow.

For an easy, mindless couple hours of entertainment Life on Firefits the bill.

Book Review of Karla Brandenburg’s Mist on the Meadow

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I grabbed Karla Brandenburg‘s Mist on the Meadow from the KDP free list.

Description from Goodreads:
For her twenty-fifth birthday, a family legacy is passed on to small town pastry chef Marissa Maitland as a Kundigerin, which means she has come into secret psychic power. She will know things about people at the brush of a hand, and use this to help them—but she cannot talk about being Kundigerin without suffering pain.

Named executor of his grandmother’s estate, Wolf Harper must find something called a “Kundigerin” before he can sell the place. If he could sell his remaining family too, he would. Keeping the family business afloat is his priority, in spite of his uncle’s bad management putting them in the red.

Wolf runs into Marissa—literally, at an icy intersection—and is enchanted by her beauty. One bite of her baked goods bewitches him and enflames a passion Marissa shares. But Marissa blurts long-buried details about the car accident that killed his parents, and knows far too much about the problems at Harper Electronics, neither of which she will explain. Should he be afraid of her?

Review:
This was a pretty good read. I really liked some aspects of it–Marissa’s family & friends, her work ethic, Wolf’s self-inforced control issues, the writing. I especially liked the way Wolf’s slightly crazed, desperate behaviour countered the traditional masculine role without making him feel wimpy and the fact that Chuck may not have gotten his comeuppance, but he didn’t get off scott-free either if you look at the karma of his life. However some things irked me.

Brandenburg doesn’t seem to be bound by her own rules. One of the first things Marissa learns about being a Kundigerin is that she isn’t allowed to talk about it. However, throughout the book she seems to speak fairly freely about it. Granted she avoids the actual word, but she still reveals herself on more than one occasion. Additionally, it is quite explicitly explained that females are Kundigerin and males are Secret Keepers, but Wolf seems to have Kundigerin powers of his own. Plus, since Marissa doesn’t seem to know much about her abilities the reader doesn’t know much and as a direct consequence there were times (the final confrontation for example) where I only had a hazy understanding of what actually happened.

A more personalised dislike was the fact that I thought that the whole misunderstanding with the ex-girlfriend was pat and trite. I could have done without all of the resulting self-doubt. She knew how he felt about her, so why feel so insecure? And lastly, After the mystery wrapped up (a little too nicely if you ask me) and everyone who deserved saving was saved there were still several chapters of just plain mush. No romantic trope was missed. Wolf systematically worked through every ‘awww’ moment possible. So much for everything in moderation.

Having laid my irritants on the table, let me reiterate that I enjoyed the read despite them. Brandenburg is a talented writer who sculpts believable characters that readers can easily relate to. I think the plot escaped the bounds of the story a little bit, but there is still a gem in here that is worth looking at.

On a side note, though it makes sense in the context of the book, the cover doesn’t do the book justice. Overlook it and give it a try.

Book Review of Milissa R. Bailey’s Gracier

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I won a signed copy of Milissa R. Bailey‘s novel Gracier from the Librarything’s Member giveaway.

Description from Goodreads:
Everyone around her knows. Everyone she trusts has lied. And the one man who held the key to Jessica McCabe’s past is dead. Welcome to Gracier, Iowa, a well-kept community with even better kept secrets. Lives are peaceful, streets are quiet, but behind the tranquility is many a tale to be told. Veterinarian Jessica McCabe has returned, but it is not the homecoming she had expected. Her grandfather, Jonas McCabe and Gracier’s longtime vet has died, leaving behind the practice they had hoped to share. The reading of Jonas’ will sets off a series of events that bring into question Jessica’s birthright, the truth surrounding her mother’s untimely death and her grandfather’s sanity. With her world turned upside down she is thrown into a partnership with Matthew Cassidy, the man who chose his family’s wealth over Jessica’s love. Her determined spirit leads Jessica to stay, continue the veterinarian practice and return to the life and community she loves. But a secret loft and a box filled with a hidden past change the course of her life once again. Longtime family friends, Dr. Andrew Harrison and retired Sheriff Chester Caughlin know the truth. A promise made to a dear old friend to protect the girl they helped raise is one they intend to keep. But the wheels of fate have been put in motion. The people entrusted with protecting Jessica from the past are losing control. The small town of Gracier, Iowa holds many secrets and those who have kept the truth hidden are about to discover that not everything has been laid to rest.

Review:
Gracier brings small town Iowa to life. I hope there are still towns out there like that. If so, I want to move there. The book is beautifully written as everything is meticulously described in lovely language. Unfortunately, that flowery prose also slowed the book down a lot. It often came in the middle of some other event or character’s internal monologue and I frequently wanted to rush it along to get back to the meat of the problem.

About half way through chapter two I decided I knew where this book was heading and for a long time it looked like I was right. Then there was a twist (making me only half right). For the last couple chapters there was enough occlusion for me to wonder if the book was going to stay the new course or return to the old, so in that sense it maintained enough of a mystery to keep if from being completely predictable. For the most part I really enjoyed it, but I can’t say I liked all of it.

The basic premise is that Jessica returns home for her grandfather’s funeral and is forced to face someone from her past that she would rather forget. It soon becomes obvious that everyone around her is hiding something and she sets out to find out what. This is all well and good, but despite the whole why of the secret being explained, I didn’t buy it. It essentially comes down to a bunch of men deciding to keep some pertinent information from one woman. They do it for all the best reasons of course, but it’s still far too paternalistic for my taste. I would have wanted the painful truth and would have a hard time forgiving anyone, let alone everyone important to me, hiding it from me. Who are they to decide what’s best for someone else? It would be another matter if she was 12, but she’s well into adulthood. Jessica also seems to have a whole sense of crisis about all of this before she has enough information to know that it should and would cause emotional upheaval. I understand that it was supposed to be Michael’s presence that put her so on edge, but she seemed disproportionately wound up about the whole thing before having enough clues to put her there.

I also didn’t understand Steven’s change of heart. I don’t want to post a spoiler so suffice it to say that after years of pining after one person he suddenly goes and changes his mind with no obvious impetus. It’s great that he did, but why? I also could have done without all the God is great, blah, blah at the end. Luckily it wasn’t nauseatingly overt. All-in-all, I enjoyed the read even if I couldn’t comfortably put myself in the place of the main characters.