: A Writer's Love Story by Robert Wacaster

I have to again thank Robert for allowing me to review another of his books.



About the Book

After finding out the man she was seeing is married, Katie is heartbroken. But the heartbreak doesn't last long when a best selling author named Robert walks into her life. He's charming, caring, and seems to be everything she's ever dreamed of in a man. But does she really know him? And can she handle a long distance relationship with Robert when he has to leave New York for California? Can Katie and Robert truly find happiness together? Or will this be just another "Writer's Love Story?"

My Review

This was a good one. It was a very good love story. It wasn't too mushy and it wasn't "hard". It had a pretty good balance. I think the best word to describe this one is endearing. Plus there were some pretty good surprises.

The story is pretty fast paced, like the last Wacaster novel I read there was little down time in this one. Which made this quite a quick read. I liked the story itself. Wacaster's humor really comes through in this one.

The characters were pretty good. Katie, at times was a bit of a drama queen, and even a ditz. But I think for the most part the characters were all believable. I think we've all known someone who is a bit ditsy (even I've had my ditsy moments). Jill was a pretty good character, she was very level-headed. Given Katie's ups and down she needed a contrasting character. I also liked Robert. He was a bit of a loose cannon though, most of the surprises were things that he did.

I really liked this story. I was able to connect with what the characters were going through. I really liked the BMW part of the story (you'll have to read it to find out...) The ending was also pretty good. I thought the ending would happen a little earlier in the story, but it was a good way to end it. I think had things happened differently I would have been disappointed with it.

A Writer's Love Story

Guest Blog Post: Author Faith Justice

It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for a great guest post! Today's guest blogger is Faith Justice, author of Selene of Alexandria. Today Faith is going to share with us why her novel is set in the 5th century. So let me introduce Faith Justice.



Tudor Women Move Over: the Theodosians Are Here!

Why do some historical fiction writers specialize in the Tudors, or World War II, or medieval Japan? Why did I choose to delve into the 5th Century AD? After all, if you put a timeline on the wall and throw a dart, it would make no difference what year you hit—people somewhere would be creating art and culture, innovating in crafts and science, warring over territory and religion, fighting diseases and natural disasters. Down through the ages individuals love one another, give birth, and betray each other; work, fight, and die—the stuff of fiction (historical or otherwise).

Like a lot of history geeks, I read about many time periods. I went through an ancient Greek/Roman/Egyptian phase, American Revolution/Civil War/Expansionist phase, and—yes—a Tudor phase. I was drawn to stories of strong women: Sappho the poet, Hatshepsut the Pharaoh, Boudica of the Iceni, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and all those Tudor women. Many of whom were immortalized in Judy Chicago's ground-breaking feminist art exhibit "The Dinner Party" which I attended in 1980. So I was surprised when I ran across a woman whose story I didn't know there—Hypatia, the Lady Philosopher of Alexandria. The accompanying Dinner Party catalog described Hypatia as "a Roman scholar and philosopher who lived in Alexandria...she stressed the importance of goddesses and the feminine aspects of culture" and made much of the fact that she was murdered by a Christian mob in 415.

I was hooked—caught up in the romanticism and inherent drama of Hypatia's life. I embarked on a journey to learn as much as I could about this fascinating woman and the times she lived in. The 5th Century was particularly turbulent: the Huns forced other barbarian tribes west into Roman territory, the Catholic Church underwent violent birth pangs as it emerged from a century of internal conflict to become a potent political force, and the power that was Rome stumbled, mortally wounded. This was the century of the Fall of Rome (in the West)—what was not to like?

As I researched Hypatia's story, I came across other remarkable (and little known) women and their stories: Galla Placidia, sister to Emperor Honorius who was captured by the Goths when they took Rome in 410, married their king and ruled the Western Empire for over twenty years; her niece Pulcheria who proclaimed herself Regent for her younger brother Theodosius II at the tender age of fifteen and co-ruled with him for much of his reign; Athenais, a young beauty who captured the heart of Theodosius and contended with Pulcheria for influence over the Emperor—all wonderfully complex, compelling stories set in this time of turbulence and change.

I wrote Hypatia's story in Selene of Alexandria (2009), Galla Placidia's in Twilight Empress (due out in 2010/11), and I am writing about Pulcheria and Athenais in my current work. I'm hoping readers are becoming just a little bored with the Tudor women and their era. Maybe they're ready for something different, but equally fascinating: the Theodosian women and the Fall of Rome. We'll see.

Faith L. Justice is a history junkie and science geek who lives and writes in her land marked home "The Suffragette House" in Brooklyn, New York. You can read sample chapters of Selene of Alexandria and Twilight Empress at Faith's website www.faithljustice.com or check out her blog Historian's Notebook for history in the news, interviews with historical fiction writers, reviews, and essays about all things historical.

Faith, thank you for that. I can see why you have chosen these strong women, and the time period they lived in. It truly was a great period, and the stories that have come from then are so full of everything that makes a story great.

I love to learn why authors write about their subjects, what draws them to the stories they write, and where their interest in these subjects comes from. It makes me feel more connected to the story if I understand what the author's reasoning is. I'm really looking forward to reading SELENE of Alexandria now. I think it's going to have to bump the two book that are ahead of it :-)

So again, thank you so much for sharing with us. I hope that you will join us again in the near future.

-Jennifer

Review: The Last Goodnights by John West

Received this through Bostick Communications for review.



About the Book

John West’s memoir provides a unique, powerful, and unflinching look inside the reality of one of the most galvanizing issues of our time: assisted suicide. Told with intensity and bare honesty, his account of the deaths of his parents is both gritty and loving, frightening and illuminating, nerve-wracking and even, at times, darkly humorous.

For more information on The Last Goodnights please visit Coutnerpoint Press's website.

My Review

I really thought this one would be a tear-jerker, but it surprisingly wasn't. It wasn't that I didn't become emotionally attached, but West gives the story so matter-of-factly and the humor that exudes from his family makes it easier to read. Not to say that he's making light of this very serious topic, but the stories are marked with humor because that's how they happened.

Whether you agree with assisted suicide or not I think this is a great book to read. The turmoil West goes through, while helping his parents relieve themselves of their turmoil, is horrible but to be expected when placed in this situation.

I felt like I got to know K, Jolly, and John while reading this. And while I know they are real people books about real events always seem to have something missing that links the people to the real world. I didn't feel that way at all with this one. I think the portrayal of who these people really are came through very well. It was very well written.

I don't know that I could have done what John did, I don't know that I would ever be placed in that situation, but what I do know is that I could not have relived it over and over by writing a book about it. I think it is courageous of West to have even attempted it. And while he states that it was therapeutic for him I think it still must have been a very difficult and emotionally draining task (given what he had already gone through).

Even with the very difficult subject matter this was a very readable book. I didn't get to drained to finish it, and it didn't take me very long to get into it, and then finish it.

The Last Goodnights: Assisting My Parents with Their Suicides

Review: The Last Christian by David Gregory

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.



About the Book

In the future, it’s possible to live forever—but at what cost?

A.D. 2088.

Missionary daughter Abigail Caldwell emerges from the jungle for the first time in her thirty-four years, the sole survivor of a mysterious disease that killed her village. Abby goes to America, only to discover a nation where Christianity has completely died out. A curious message from her grandfather assigns her a surprising mission: re-introduce the Christian faith in America, no matter how insurmountable the odds.

But a larger threat looms. The world's leading artificial intelligence industrialist has perfected a technique for downloading the human brain into a silicon form. Brain transplants have begun, and with them comes the potential of eliminating physical death altogether—but at what expense?

As Abby navigates a society grown more addicted to stimulating the body than nurturing the soul, she and Creighton Daniels, a historian troubled by his father's unexpected death, become unwitting targets of powerful men who will stop at nothing to further their nefarious goals. Hanging in the balance—the spiritual future of all humanity.

In this fast-paced thriller, startling near-future science collides with thought-provoking religious themes to create a spell-binding "what-if?" novel.

To learn more about The Last Christian please visit Waterbrook's website.

My Review

This book was amazing. It had a little of everything in it.

The technical aspect of the book was very interesting to me. The idea that all people can be connected to each other constantly was very interesting. It added a new level of intrigue to the story. In this story technology has tried to rid the world of the social ills that had once existed. However it seems that technology has taken one thing away from the culture...

The story was pretty faced paced, right from the beginning. And while the technology was really futuristic it was feasible. I think I was able to understand the technology because it is, I think, where technology is currently heading, so it wasn't difficult to imagine.

I loved how the story combined the technological society, and that of a non-technological religious society. Seeing the differences between the religious society and the technological society was quite eye opening. The path that was explained in the book as to how society became non-religious is very sobering.

The writing was very good. It was easy for me to connect to the characters in this story. They were well written and well developed. I loved Abby, based on the culture she was thrown into she was quite naive, however she was actually a very intelligent character.

I really loved this story. I was so easily drawn in to it.

The Last Christian: A Novel

Review: Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Thank you to Tess with Newman Communications for sending me a copy of this for review.



About the Book

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on.

When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her health as a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

To learn more about The Little Giant of Aberdeen County please visit Hachette's website.

My Review

There was so much about this one that I loved. The writing was beautiful, the characters were very well developed, and the story was captivating. I had actually been eying this one for a while and never got around to it. But I'm glad that I was finally given the chance to read it.

There's so many great things about this book that in trying to write this review I don't really know where to start. The main character is so great. Truly's life is so extraordinary, and yet so simple. The events that occur in her everyday life are really so normal. There are just a few events that cause her life to be so different.

The main characters were so well written that I was able to connect with them all. I could understand what they were all going through and why they choose the paths that they took. While my emotional attachment in this one was with Truly, I had a great understand of what they were all feeling.

In addition to the great characters the story was very well written also. While it was definitely larger than life none of it was unbelievable. This story is really something that I could see happening in any town in America.

With this one I could go on and on forever, as it was just a great book. I guess that's the best way to sum it up: Truly a great book!

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County