October 15th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, ARC, Great Britain, Guest Reviews, J-L, Knight, Medieval, Rape/Abuse, Scarred Hero, Science, Time Travel, United States of America
by Susan Sigler, guest reviewer
Wish for the Moon is a beautiful story with elements comparable to Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, complete with medieval knights and tournaments.
Jones’s story contains medieval and feudal terms, which left me feeling a bit confounded for the first half of the story. I found myself resorting to a list of medieval terminology which I printed from the internet. For the second half of the read, I applied my own inferences and conjectures deciding to forego my list altogether.
As a result, there is an adjustment period for modern readers. Some terms you’ll find within the book are: atavistic, barbican, bread trenchers, garderobe, hauberk, I trow, supercilious, God’s teeth, for certes, and cantankerous.
I found myself empathizing more with a secondary character, rather than the main characters. I found (Giles) both earl and brother to our hero (Matthias) quite refreshing. I enjoyed Gile’s character very much. He is honest and forthcoming, whereas Matthias is dishonest and unforthcoming. They are at odds, and their brotherly dynamics are at the heart of this plot.
The setting where most of our story unfolds, takes place inside a castle during the Middle Ages.
Caroline Greer (heroine) will travel alone from South Carolina in the states, to Wales in the U.K. She visits Matthias Thorne, a professor of medieval studies at Cardiff University. Matthias may have knowledge of a plant, known for its abilities to help inhibit seizures. This is critical to Caroline who’s not only an herbalist, but suffers from epileptic seizures.
When Matthias turns her away refusing to help, Carrie must take matters into her own hands.
In his attempt to stop her from uncovering a dark truth, they will travel back in time into the Middle Ages.
Once there, they will encounter a terrible betrayal, lies, and deceit. When the truth is revealed, will Carrie and Matthias have enough trust in themselves to forge a life together? Or will the betrayal be too painful to overcome.
Wish for the Moon is book one of Circle of Destiny, which leads me to surmise, it may very well be part of a trilogy.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Time Travel Romance, eBook, The Wild Rose Press, Copyright 2008, 375 pages.
ISBN# 1-60154-554-1
Buy: Wish for the Moon
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May 4th, 2009 — A-C, Author Interviews, Jane Austen
Keira: I noticed that the title What Would Jane Austen Do?
appeared a few times in the book. Was this your original title? If not, what was it? What were some other titles that were possibilities?
Laurie: Yes, that was the original title. I don't think any others were considered.
Keira: What was your inspiration for WWJAD?
Laurie: I was having coffee with several writer friends when the topic of conversation turned to "If time travel were possible, would you go?" I really had to think about that. Aside from missing my family and friends, there are so many things not available in the Regency that I consider absolute necessities. Although tempted, I realized I'm a modern woman through and through. I'd like to go for short time, like going on a camping trip, but for the rest of my life? I don't know. And so the idea of a heroine who loves Jane Austen's books and the fashions of the Regency gets a chance to go back in time where (among other things which I hadn't figured out at the time) she has to come to term with her modern-ness.
Keira: How did you come up with the names for your characters?
Laurie: Characters names seem to pop into my head in all different sorts of ways. Sometimes, I can see them, or hear them and their name seems obvious. If not, I have a number of name books that I flip through until the right name jumps out at me. I wanted the heroine in WWJAD to feel a bond to JA, so I named her Eleanor after Elinor Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility
. I changed the spelling in case I wanted to use a quote from Elinor later in the book.
Keira: Speaking of characters, did you draw their appearances based on anybody in particular and do you have pictures?
Laurie: I don't have pictures of them except in my head, and I don't consciously model them after anyone in particular. Though I admit that occasionally there must be a subconscious association. My hero in Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake
looked suspiciously like Hugh Jackman in a high crowned hat, snowy cravat, buff riding breeches, and tall Hessian boots.
Keira: When you started writing WWJAD did you know anything about the JAFF (Jane Austen Fanfiction) community? How do you think the community will receive your offshoot?
Laurie: Actually I didn't know much about it. After I sold the book I got an inkling of the enormity of the fan base and the variety of fiction that is out there, but by then I couldn't read any of it for fear that someone else's vision might color mine. I've added a few titles to my TBR pile but I haven't had much reading time lately.
I sincerely hope the members of the community will enjoy reading my story even though it's not technically fan fiction. None of JA's famous characters are characters in the book. It's more fiction that incorporates a real life person into the story. The heroine recalls bits of her favorite JA stories to help her survive culture shock when she travels back in time to 1814. And she gets to meet Jane Austen in person.
Keira: What are some challenges in writing Austen based romance?
Laurie: When Eleanor meets the real Jane Austen, I had to be careful to remain true to historical fact. For instance, my description of JA's dress is based on her own words when she describes her dress in a letter to her sister Cassandra. When JA mentions having been in Bath the previous April, she really was in Bath then.
In 1814, Jane Austen was nearing forty, had had two books published, and another soon to be released. My heroine wants to ask her where she got the inspiration for Mr. Darcy, hoping he was based on a real person, and that she will get to meet him at the ball. But because JA had not publicly admitted she was the author, Eleanor had to be circumspect in her questioning, and I had to be very careful constructing that scene.
Keira: What's one of your favorite Jane Austen inspired novels?
Laurie: I have Pemberley Manor
and The Darcys & the Bingleys
in my TBR pile. I'm looking forward to the Sept. release of Marilyn Brant's According To Jane
.
Keira: Who are your favorite authors besides Jane Austen?
Laurie: I'm going to take a pass on that question because I'd like to list all my friends who are writers. And if I missed one I'd never forgive myself.
Keira: How do you define love?
Laurie: Love is being the wind beneath each other's wings.
Keira: What makes a great (written) bedroom scene?
Laurie: I personally like the characters to have some doubts going into the situation. Not necessarily performance issues but questions about the wisdom of continuing. I like female characters with some doubts about their bodies/attractiveness when naked, male characters who second guess their decision/motivation. I'd like the characters to know beforehand that making love will change the relationship, then make the decision to go ahead anyway. I want them to be swept away physically and emotionally like never before. Along the way I like a bit of humor here and there. When it's over, I want to see that making love has changed everything.
I just reread that paragraph and it sounds rather dry. Maybe I should have just said, I want a love scene to make me smile and leave me breathless.
Keira: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
Laurie: Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to tell you about my new book. It's been fun. One last plug: What Would Jane Austen Do? May 2009. Hope you enjoy reading it.
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March 26th, 2009 — 0.5 Stars, Guest Reviews, J-L, Paranormal, Pilot, Survival
By: Cara Lynn, guest reviewer
I wasn't going to review this book, but figured, what the hey!
First, I didn't like the book.
Island Heat by Susan Kearney had a lot of possibilities. I figured it would have some military tones as the guy on the cover looks like he could be military.
He is, but he's from another planet.
OK, that could be seriously interesting. Sort of like time travel with a twist. After all, they are more advanced than us and had to travel a long time to get here.
But while the author maintains the fantasy with words she has made up, like 'quait' for the ability to mentally influence the actions of another, or like 'underfirst' to delineate all those who aren't Firstborn, the story is unpalatable in parts.
Cade Archer literally falls into the sea in front of Shara Weston's remote island retreat. His ship is destroyed, but he falls without a parachute and recovers faster than you'd expect. That is because he isn't strictly human. He is able to use this power to save himself and those that are with him as he is avoiding being murdered.
It's all tied into the story of the underfirsts needing salt to gain their strength. (She develops this nicely.) On his planet, only the Firstborn are given salt. This also gives them their quait which they use in horrific ways, basically enslaving the underfirsts. (You never see life on this planet, only as told by Cade as the story unfolds or as you see actions of his Firstborn brother, Jamal.)
Cade is shot down by Jamal who is dead set on killing him however he has to do it. Cade had thought his mission was secret, but somehow Jamal knew.
Throw in a psychic who has real powers to foresee the future, some of which can be changed by one's actions, and a reporter, and a volcano expert, and a security officer, and you have a story that could have been quite interesting.
But Jamal has a malicious streak a mile wide as is shown off page when he kills a Polynesian woman he has taken and 'trained' -- but not trained so well that she doesn't try to exhibit her individuality. The more troubling scenes are the sadistic ones involving mental (and physical) rape, torture and blood that he is capable of. And that he takes pleasure in it even though he already has the information he was seeking.
Of course Cade and Shara fall in love. Jamal is killed (I expected him to recover and the scene to go on). Cade finds he gains quait powers, even as Jamal's powers diminish slightly, but Cade is disturbed by his powers knowing how it corrupts the user, and asks that Shara kill him after his mission, if necessary. And the earth is saved.
There were huge sections of this book that I glossed over or went back to see what happened without taking it in.
I give it a 1/2 star. But for originality, it could be a 2. But I'd even take some of that away because of the troubling scenes. They make you think how you would be able to break a mind hold, or if you would be able to. Like hypnotism, is it not something that you could decide NOT to go under? Evidently not. Ugh.
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Originally posted 2008-11-26 09:52:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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