Paula Wall, The Rock Orchard and The Wilde Women
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Paula WallThe Wilde Women
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Trade
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 9780743496247
The Rock Orchard
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Pub. Date: June 2007
ISBN-13: 9780641834882
The publisher was kind enough to send me Paula's newest book, The Wilde Women, and her 2007 book, The Rock Orchard. I thought I would combine them into one review for an overall feel of how Paula writes.The Belle women and the Wilde women.............. these are some loosely moralled, seductive, hard headed, "full throttle ahead" women.
Both of the these books are set in small Tennessee towns, one during WWII and the other during the Depression.
I will admit that I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy these books at first as I garnered the impression that they were along the lines of "hard romance books" if you know what I mean. I thought there would be a lot of sex and not much else.
I was very pleased to realize a chapter or two into the books that I was wrong. While these books are not shy about sexual matters, there actually are no chapter-long sex scenes that take away from the story. The books each center around a family of women, but so many of the town's residents come into the story in a fully fleshed out manner that these books turn into a community story, not just a family. As you near the end of each of the stories you want to know what happens to everyone, not just the love interests.
The characters are all fully described and investigated, no one is left as a 2 dimensional character. There is a full selection of identities: rich, poor, crazy, mean, happy, horny... you name it! All "real" characters.
I was happily surprised when I found myself invested in each storyline and eager to see how the book ended.
I can definitely recommend Paula's books.
Please contact Editor @ the "Dew" before reproducing,
The Ex-Debutante
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Ex-Debutante
Linda Francis Lee
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (April 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0312354967
I dearly love sarcasm and humor. Give me a book laced with those two ingredients, throw in a whole lot of Southern mannerisms and eccentricities, and I am in hog heaven.
That, dear readers, is what The Ex-Debutante is filled with.
This story is filled with my favorite type of Southern eccentrics - my favorite type for stories that is. The Rich Southerner who can trace their roots back 300 years. They are so immersed in tradition that has carried them through the decades that a lot of it seems absolutely ludicrous to us but very, very serious to them - thereby making it humorous.
This story is filled with all the traditions: tearoom luncheons where you only go to be seen; dinner at the club, cotillions, dinner parties. Of course never, ever, EVER being seen any less than 100% groomed........... until of course you sneak around in your nightgown in the middle of the night driving the gardener's truck to spy on your husband having an affair.
This is a story of such a family, the adult children dealing with a very eccentric mother while managing their own lives, a debutante's ball in crisis, a divorce with secrets to be hidden.... and two people who have been in love since high school but still haven't figured out how to make it work.
Give it a read, I guarantee you'll laugh all the way through.
Please contact Editor @ the "Dew" before reproducing,
Earthly Pleasures
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Earthly Pleasures
Author: Karen Neches
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
(February 5, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0743292480
ISBN-13: 978-0743292481
This is a completely new and different type of “romance” book. A book with quite a different view of what Heaven is like and who goes there. Now, when was the last time you heard about a book that has Heaven and romance all rolled into one?
This tells the story of a Hospitality Angel and an Earthling:
An Angel whose job it is to greet the newly deceased when the arrive in Heaven and who believes she’s perfectly happy and has no desire to change her life, even after she's been told her soul has been promoted and is being sent to Earth; and an Earthling who should be in the wonderful first year of marriage with a women he adores and can't figure out why he's so miserable.
The book intersects many of the main and side character’s lives in interesting ways and has some surprising twists and turns in the actual story line. I don't want to tell you too much of the story as it would give away these surprises. Humor, angst, intrigue, attempted murder and lust are all combined in this fun story.
This story also does not have one of those neat, tidy endings that leads you to believe the characters are finalized and packed away into a tidy little box when you close the book. You are left thinking about them and wondering what happens in the future.
It's not a big book, thereby making it perfect to pack into your bag and enjoy on the beach.
Please contact Editor @ the "Dew" before reproducing,
Twighlight
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Author: William Gay
Publisher: Macadamcage
September 07, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59692-264-8
Format: Paperback Genre: Fiction Pages: 225
Price: $14.00
This is a rather disturbing book that involves a disgusting mortician with very nasty habits as relates to those he "takes care of", a completely psychotic and violent nutcase who keeps murdering people and getting away with it, creepy 'Blair Witch' type woods and two young adults on their own after their father dies who get into a situation that's way over their head.
The story is set in the late 1950s in the South, but if the actual town or state is mentioned, I'll admit to missing it. The area of Ackerman's Field it mentioned throughout the story. But it's centered around an area where the mines have long been abandoned and sunk back into the earth and where the woods are called Harrikin - named after a tornado that they called a hurricane when it wiped what was left of the old mining town off the earth.
The story involves Kenneth and Corrie - siblings who have buried their father recently and sense something wrong. They dig his body up one night to find that not only is his very expensive coffin not in the ground with him, but that he has been disfigured and "posed" in a very undignified manner. They continue to dig up other townfolk, only to find the same has happened to all of them.
After Kenneth manages to steal the mortician's briefcase, he finds revolting self photos of the man cavorting with the dead he's supposed to be burying.
Kenneth and Corrie blackmail him for the return of the photos. The mortician instead hires the town psycho to kill them for the same amount of money.
Here the story starts in earnest. It is filled with odd folk, good folk and many scary folk. There's violence throughout the rest of the story and you have to admire Kenneth's strength of character to go on and keep trying to set things right by reaching the law in a neighboring town.
The descriptions throughout the book give a strong visualization of the time and area - leaving your imagination to follow right along with the story. It's a nice quick read that rarely slows it's pace... but I wouldn't read it alone at night, especially if you live out of town.
Please contact Editor @ the "Dew" before reproducing,
