Tag Archives: won

Review of Reflection in the Music, by LeTara Moore

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I won a copy of Reflection in the Music, by LeTara Moore, through Goodreads.

Description:
Melissa is lost and hasn’t the first clue of where to find herself. Pea can’t let go of her past mistakes, which is suffering her present and future. Sherri thrives on her vanity, but even the most vain finds herself falling short. Jane just wants to start over and make amends, but how does one mend a broken heart? Life has a funny way of connecting the lost and confused. Some mistakes are meant to be made and some wounds aren’t meant to be healed. Some wounds don’t want to heal. Despite the shortcomings and differences, these ladies find themselves all singing the same tune. Beauty, passion, art, fear and love all had their hands in the composition of the ladies’ song—a song that reveals the deepest layer of each one’s being.

Review:
This was….well, honestly I don’t know what this was. True to it’s title it contained a lot of music references and the characters used songs to illicit memories. But rather than a story, it’s almost more a series of interconnected vignettes. The problem is that it reads as if this was not what the author intended, but what resulted from poor development and storytelling. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what it felt like to me. Further, the book could do with another round of editing. Especially to look at consistency in tense and page numbering.

There are those who will likely enjoy this more than me, especially readers who gravitate toward innocent, slightly religious characterization. But this was bust for me.

Review of The Gifted Storyteller: The Power Is in the Story You Tell, by Gregg Korrol

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I won a copy of Gregg Korrol‘s The Gifted Storyteller through Goodreads:

Description:
What if a Genie popped out of a bottle and gave you the power to create your life as it happened?

Michael followed “the plan” and did everything he was supposed to for life to be successful; great job, money, dates, yet despite it all, everything wasn’t the dream he expected. One night after work, he meets a beautiful and mysterious woman named Jeannie, who introduces him to the Gifted Storyteller, and changes his life forever.

Review:
This isn’t so much a review as documenting I’ve read this book, because I just don’t like this sort of book. I knew that I didn’t like a certain sort of book, but didn’t know this would be a book of the sort I don’t like. By this sort of book, I mean the sort where someone meets a stranger who opts to impart sacred knowledge to some random sap and this is presented to the reader as ultimately enlightening. There’s a quote on page 91 that states, “What she is saying is mind blowing.” and that’s how the reader is meant to feel about the book and it’s lessons. Here’s the thing, I almost never feel that they are. I didn’t here either.

I could take that fact to mean this is a pointless self-help book, but maybe it’s just imparting lessons I don’t need—to be mindful of the reality you build yourself and be careful of the fictions you build in your head (very Deepak Chopra).

Some will likely call this a sexist generalization, but I think men are especially in danger of this. After all, how many women have died because they didn’t live up to the fantasy of some strange man? (Certainly Korrol uses his character’s relationship to the opposite sex to make this point.) So, maybe these are lessons some people actually need, while some of us had to learn them growing up or risk never making it to adulthood.

A Lowcountry Christmas

Book Review of A Lowcountry Christmas, by Mary Alice Monroe

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A couple weeks ago, I did a Christmas Challenge. I read the four paperbacks that had been languishing on my shelves because they were all Christmas novels. I figured what better time to get them read? I finished it and, low and behold, another one landed on my doorstep. I won Mary Alice Monroe‘s A Lowcountry Christmas through Goodreads. Again, I figured there was no better time to get it read that Christmas Eve.

Description:
As far as ten-year-old Miller McClellan is concerned, it’s the worst Christmas ever. His father’s shrimp boat is docked, his mother is working two jobs, and with finances strained, Miller is told they can’t afford the dog he desperately wants. “Your brother’s return from war is our family’s gift,” his parents tell him. But when Taylor returns with PTSD, the stress and strain darken the family.

Then Taylor’s service dog arrives—a large black Labrador/Great Dane named Thor. His brother even got the dog! When Miller goes out on Christmas Eve with his father’s axe, determined to get his family the tree they can’t afford, he takes the dog for company—but accidentally winds up lost in the wild forest. In the midst of this emergency, the splintered family must come together and rediscover their strengths, family bond, and the true meaning of Christmas.

Review:
For those who enjoy this sort of book, I imagine this will be a winner. Personally, I gave it a shot, but I call this sort of book Misery Porn. Yes, there is a happy ending and you get a taste of it in the prologue to know it’s coming. But the whole rest of the book is people being miserable.

I can sense Monroe had a good intent. She obviously wanted to inform readers about PTSD and the healing powers of service dogs. But the book often felt didactic and I felt the ‘healing’ happened too abruptly.

Further, I had a hard time buying into the whole, “The splintered family must come together to rediscover their strengths, their family bond, and the true meaning of Christmas.” when the father is so obviously left out of the equation. He’s the only family member without a POV and until you’re supposed to go “awww” and believe everything suddenly happy he’s the antagonist of the book.

The writing however is perfectly readable and the book seems well-edited. I honestly think this is just a matter of wrong book for the reader. But it’s Christmas Eve and I wanted to read a Christmas book.