Jennifer Freitag - Plenilune

Plenilune



By Jennifer Freitag


Available on Amazon

Product Description (from Amazon)

The fate of Plenilune hangs on the election of the Overlord, for which Rupert de la Mare and his brother are the only contenders, but when Rupert’s unwilling bride-to-be uncovers his plot to murder his brother, the conflict explodes into civil war.

To assure the minds of the lord-electors of Plenilune that he has some capacity for humanity, Rupert de la Mare has been asked to woo and win a lady before he can become the Overlord, and he will do it—even if he has to kidnap her.

En route to Naples to catch a suitor, Margaret Coventry was not expecting a suitor to catch her.

About the Author (from Amazon)

JENNIFER FREITAG (1990 - ) is the author of Christian historical fiction (THE SHADOW THINGS), and planetary fantasy (PLENILUNE). She was born and raised in the piedmont of South Carolina, and lives there with her husband and daughter. Her literature opens up brave new worlds to her readers, and she continues to dedicate her time to the pursuit of writing.

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra

Having read Jenny's historical fiction The Shadow Things, and since her blog is one of my favorites to read, I knew I was going to love her newest book. I bought pre-order and plunged in as soon as it appeared on my Kindle.

It's a big book, and thus it took me a good few months to read properly. Jenny's writing isn't to be read in great gulps, and I had to ration myself properly. This isn't a story for the faint of heart.

I had known from The Shadow Things that Jenny doesn't shy away from the stark ugliness of human depravity, and this book was no exception. It's not a story for young readers, and there are a number of shocking incidents, some of which I'd have rather she'd left out.

The plot, at face value, seems to be that a Beauty and the Beast formula. Margaret is kidnapped and held captive by a less-than-kind fellow, who expects her to marry her. But then the fox shows up.

I can't say much about the fox, but he's one of my favorite characters. I might have been biased, because he shares many similarities with a fox character that I have in my own writing, but I agree with many of the other readers - this book is worth a read just for the fox.

The book takes place on the moon - though apparently not the moon that the Apollo astronauts visited, for, scenery-wise, the place is little different than earth. There are plants, forests, animals - indeed, it seemed to be the same plants, forests, and animals that we have on our own sphere - and there are houses and people and wars. Really, the only difference between the world of Plenilune and our own is that Plenilune has magic.

So I was a bit disappointed in the world building, though you really won't notice with the thickness of the writing.

I recommend this to older readers who are willing to slough through thick writing and have a stomach for some pretty nasty situations. 

Genre/Theme: Planetary Fantasy, Romance, Christian

Reading Level:  Mature TEEN - high school to college to
ADULT - self-explanatory 
Profanity: MODERATE - It get worse as the book goes through
Sexuality: Obvious - Rupert kisses Margaret several times, once biting her in the process. There is a strong reference to the actual act, and towards the end a man is condemned for a pretty nasty sex crime (basically, the girl was dead). 
Other: 
It ... gets gory, especially the further the story goes. There are wars all through the final third, at which point I began skimming, so I'm not entirely sure exactly HOW bad it was - though I distinctly remember a guy getting his face sliced off - but I do know it didn't shy away from the ugliness of war. 

Suzanne Tyrpak - Vestal Virgins

Vestal Virgins
Suspense in Ancient Rome


By Suzanne Tyrpak


Kindle Edition Available 




Product Description (from Amazon) 


Publication Date: December 11, 2010

Vestal Virgin--suspense in ancient Rome
Elissa Rubria Honoria is a Vestal Virgin--priestess of the sacred flame, a visionary, and one of the most powerful women in Rome. Vestals are sacrosanct, sworn to chastity on penalty of death, but the emperor, Nero, holds himself above the law. He pursues Elissa, engaging her in a deadly game of wits and sexuality. Or is Elissa really the pursuer? She stumbles on dark secrets. No longer trusting Roman gods, she follows a new god, Jesus of Nazareth, jeopardizing her life and the future of The Roman Empire. (From the "Tales from the Adytum" collection.) 336 pages.
   

Please note: Due to the setting and the times, the book includes several scenes involving deviant sex--suggestive rather than graphic--and not more than a few paragraphs.



About the Author (from Amazon)



About seven years ago (before my divorce, when I had some expendable income) I traveled to Rome with a group of writers. I fell in love with Italy, Rome in particular. A travel book I read contained a short blurb about vestal virgins; it mentioned they were sworn to thirty years of chastity and, if that vow were broken, they would be entombed alive. That got me going! Plus, on a tour of the Coliseum, a guide pointed out the seats designated to the vestal virgins--the six priestess of Vesta were educated, and therefore powerful, at a time when most women weren't even taught to read.

I traveled to Rome twice, and on my second trip I hired a scholar who specialized in the year I'm writing about, A.D. 63-64, to give me a tour of the Forum. One of the most useful books I found was History of the Vestal Virgins of Rome, published in 1934 by T. Cato Worsfold. I also wrote to Colleen McCullough, and she was kind enough to write back. She gave me the name of an out-of-print book that I've used a lot, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, by H.H. Scullard. I have shelves of books about Roman history and Paul of Tarsus. Very little has been written about vestal virgins--but that gave me quite a bit of leeway. After all, I'm writing fiction!


O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Rachel

When I came across this book on the free lists, I hesitated to pick it up.  I knew Nero would be pretty bad, even if the author was able to gloss over how evil he really was.  But then I saw in the description that the vestal virgin converted to the religion of Paul of Tarsus, so I read a few reviews.  Seeing the annoyance that this was a “religious book”, I decided to take a chance.

While the story line itself was compelling, the characters were mostly believable, and historical accuracy was maintained, still, I did not like this book overall.  The details given to Nero were far more explicit than really was necessary, and the Paul of this story was not the Paul that I read about in my Bible.  If you believe that there is good in all of us and we all have god in us and just need to find our god goodness inside of us and each other, and if you believe that communion means eating real blood, then perhaps you will agree with this portion of the book.  Still, it was the weakest part of the storyline, and for me, even more distasteful than the parts about Nero.

The plot was really simple, although the execution of the plot was more involved.  The plot goes like this.... Girl loves a man she cannot have due to her “great position”.  In this case, it is Elissa and she has pledged 30 years of her life to being a vestal virgin, she loves a family friend and writes many letters to him.  A member of the girl’s family is betrayed by a family friend.  Nero accuses her brother of treason, and has him killed in the gladiator arena.  Girl is pursued by the family friend, in an attempt to take what is not his.  Nero wants her, and will stop at nothing, not even her vows of virginity, to have her.   Because the “family friend” does not get what he wants, he destroys something or someone close to the girl to punish her.  In this case, Nero has the younger sister rewarded to become a vestal virgin, and then takes her innocence by appealing to her pride.

As the plot thickens, Elissa tries to protect herself and her sister from Nero’s extreme madness and preoccupation with sex, violence, and his own self proclaimed godhood.  Meanwhile, the man she secretly loves has met a man named Paul and introduces her to “The Way”.

As she struggles to understand the cryptic comments that Paul makes, while avoiding Nero’s advances and threats, she finds herself in ever increasing danger.  The threats spread to those around her, and she chooses to sacrifice herself to protect those she loves, and Nero eventually has her buried alive.  She realizes too late that no one is safe from Nero’s madness, and decides to rely on the goodness of god that lives within her for her future – however short it may prove to be.

The book does finally come to a close, but for me, the ending was somehow disappointing and left far too many dangling ends in the plot, although all very minor ones.  Yet, even with the dangling plots, there is not enough magic at the end to feed a desire for a sequel.

The characters do not have enough depth for you to care much about them.  Only Elissa has any real character development, and perhaps Nero.  There is no doubt in my mind that the book is fairly accurate, and even falls short of the reality of Nero’s madness and preoccupation with evil.  The plot is engaging enough to make it interesting, but not “edge of your seat” interesting.  I had no problem putting this book down, and several times considered dropping it for good.  I kept reading mostly to find out how Paul would fit into the plot.  He is introduced late in the book, and is a very minor character, at least from my viewpoint, his character is a minor one, and quite weakly developed.  I am quite sure that others will think Paul too much a part of the plot and overbearing.

In all, I was very disappointed with the book, and will not be keeping it around for my daughters to accidentally trip over.







Note:  Not for young or immature readers.  Extreme adult themes throughout.

Genre/Theme:  Historical Fiction, Nero, Roman, Church History

Reading Level:  ADULT - self-explanatory
Profanity: HIGH - many instances of strong language to
EXTREME - strong language common throughout text  - while most of the book and the characters are within a  less extreme vocabulary, Nero occasionally crosses the line into extreme, and is usually at least in the High category.
Sexuality: OBVIOUS - blatant sexuality in text, but not explicit  - Very little of the book is actually sexuality, but nearly every occurrence of Nero involves both sex and violence and his perverse and deviant enjoyment of it.  While most of these encounters are merely obvious ... a few crossed into the explicit
EXPLICIT -  -  these are scenes involving Nero, and are mostly sickening.  They are short, and merely border on the explicit.  They are few, and never last more than a few paragraphs or a page or two.  Such is the nature of Nero.
Other: There are many scenes of violence, and while the greater part is ok reading, there are parts that I am sure came somewhat close to what the horror of Nero actually was.  Nero wallowed and gloried in the perverse sins and the suffering of others.  Somehow, as bad as this book shows him to be, I don’t think it came close to the whole truth.

Yvonne Anderson - Words in the Wind

Words in the Wind
Gateway to Gannah


By Yvonne Anderson 


Kindle Version Available




Product Description (from Amazon)

Dassa is back on Gannah, but things aren’t going the way she’d planned.

A shuttle crash leaves her marooned 10,000 kilometers from the settlement just as a blizzard sets in. Injured, she takes refuge in Ruwach Gorge. Seeking food and shelter, she stumbles across the ruins of a place she’d always thought was a myth. What she finds there casts doubt on some of her fundamental beliefs.

Her husband, Pik, reluctantly takes charge of the settlement in her absence and organizes a search for her. Rebellious settlers and a wayward daughter make things difficult enough. But when the planet’s animals threaten to break the ancient treaty and resume the old Wildlife Wars, Pik’s hard-pressed to hold things together. If he can manage to find Dassa, will she have a home to come back to?

Alone in the mysterious canyon where reality and fairytale are flipped, Dassa wonders the same thing.

About the Author (from Amazon)

Anderson writes fiction that takes you out of this world. Words in the Wind is the second in her Gateway to Gannah series.

Visit her Website

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Rachel


Warning .. don’t pick up this book unless you have time to be transported to another time and place for several hours.  At nearly 300 pages, it took me around 8 – 10 hours to read.
Pik and Dassa are again the main two characters, but where The Story in the Stars (first book) jumped from location to location, and shifted sub characters several times, this book has two primary locations and only one set of characters. Many of them were in the first book, and it was delightful to get to know them better.

Whereas the first book’s theme was love and forgiveness and the Gospel, this story is about maintaining our Walk with God and obedience and discipline.  There are many spots that will make you squirm in your seat, particularly if you find that character’s words and thoughts too much like your own.  Another splendid novel by Yvonne Anderson, and I feel sure she would say to give the glory to God.

Words in the Wind is not a soft read; it will grab you and work you over a bit.  It will stretch your comfort zone, and pull your comfy chair right out from under you.  I laughed.  I cried.  My heart ached and rejoiced.  I don’t often enjoy emotional books – but this one had a subtle lesson as it took you through the journey and was far beyond the typical “tear-jerker”.

While ‘Stars’ had an underlying “Star Trek” feel to the universe, because the entire story takes place on Gannah, there is very little of that feeling in this book.  Gannah was a familiar location from the first book, and so it felt homey and unique all at the same time.  The plot here is vastly different from ‘Stars.’  The book flips back and forth between Pik’s story and Dassa’s story.

Basic Plot

A decade or more has passed.

Dassa has just finished translating an ancient log book for the Karkar.  She has spent several weeks on a space ship, piloted by the captain of the rescue ship in the first book, Dr. Broward.  In spite of less than clear skies and her better judgment, she opts to return to the surface of the planet, she is so anxious to see her two children and husband Pik again.  But as the shuttle descends, Yasha talks with Dassa about her attitude of aloofness and hiding from him.  Suddenly, things go very wrong ... and the shuttle crashes.

Dassa survives the crash, only to find herself in the most edge of a gorge at the northern edge of the land.  A blizzard is beginning, and temperatures are dropping fast.  She needs to find shelter fast – and in spite of her injuries, including damaging her meah, she escapes the burning shuttle, kills a lion, takes his skin, and manages to escape down the edge of the gorge against all odds of her surviving.  She knows help will arrive ... eventually.  But she also knows that winter has begun, and the storm above could rage unchecked for weeks.  In the meantime, she needs to find food and shelter, warm clothes, and better shoes.  This is one part of her world that she knows very little about.

After many days of travel, which take several chapters due to the extreme danger, she arrives at a statue – and realizes that the mythical cities of the stories of her people are not myths at all.  What she finds inside shakes her to her very core and upends everything she thought she knew about her beloved Gannah’s history.

But she is determined to return home.  She estimates it will take her a year, maybe two, but she will cross all of Gannah with nothing more than her survival skills, her faith in Yasha, and the ghosts that haunt her memories.

Meanwhile ...

Pik has suddenly found himself the Gannah ruler of over 1000 Earthers.  None of them truly understand Gannah yet, and they feel the loss of Dassa as a young child would feel to be suddenly ripped from loving parents.  Dassa’s two children especially feel this loss, as they are separated from their mother’s meah as well – something they have never been without, no matter how far away she has been.  Eventually, the young daughter’s fears and anguish cause her to make an unwise choice and she is badly injured.

Meanwhile, one of the council members uses Dassa’s disappearance to advance his own agenda.  He wants to lead a group to start a second settlement, and he will stop at nothing to get his way.  Pik does his best to treat him fairly and keep the matter private.

The animals come to talk to them – only Adam had a meah to talk to them – and they try to trick the humans into breaking their agreement – and then report that one of them has seen Dassa, but was unable to communicate with her.

The first rescue attempt was called short, but they see signs that Dassa is alive.  But with so many things going wrong at the settlement, and the bad weather of winter, will she be able to continue to survive?  Can the settlement survive without her?

........

Whether you are “into sci-fi” or not, this book is compelling on so many human levels as well.  It will challenge you to re-evaluate where you stand in your faith, and compel you to a more faithful level of obedience.  At least, I found that true for myself.

Now that I’ve finished reading, I find myself mulling over things.  And definitely, I am looking forward to the next book.   The book comes to an end at a good place, but it leaves several problems unsolved and unaddressed, minor issues to be sure, but a vital part of the sub plot.

Thank you so much to Yvonne for inviting us into her world of Gannah.

I handed the books to my sci-fi loving 14 year old daughter, and she is devouring them as well, and has declared them “too good to let me sleep until I know how it ends!”


O.Scarlett! review by V. Kathie

This book did not captivate me as much as the first, but I still enjoyed it. Mom says it is probably because I am not a mother and I never had to deal with the problem of “what would happen to my family if I was separated from them for a large amount of time.” Although that broken arm of hers gave my imagination a work out as I tried to picture the book as it happened. I kept having her reach for things with her right hand but realized that was the one that was broken so I had to switch my mental picture to having her reach with her left hand.
I was able to put this one down a whole lot easier than the last one. But I still had trouble. I enjoyed the lesson and it got me thinking. (I love a book that makes me think, probably why I enjoy listening to Unshackled so much.) If you are the type of person who has a ‘camera’ running in your head while you are reading something you probably will have a bit more trouble reading it than if you are not. I had to walk away from it every thirty minutes to let my ‘camera’ cool off although I do enjoy a good mind stretcher that works with my brain to see things in different lights. I give this book a five star rating and will definitely be reading it over and over and over again.



Note:  Depending on a child’s ability to handle violence, this book could be enjoyed by most Jr. High students, and some in upper elementary.  Violence is not the theme of the book, but is “extreme” (not graphic) on the occasions that it occurs.   Theme is learning obedience and reliance on God through the things that you suffer.


Genre/Theme:  Science Fiction, Survival/Adventure, Christian,
Reading Level:  TEEN - high school to college  (ages 10 and up)
Profanity:  Mild
Sexuality: Very SUBTLE - hinted, but not explicit  -  people marry, have babies, and the Captain flirts
Other: Dassa crashes on the northern most extreme edge of her world (only one land mass) just as winter begins.  Describes crash and the extremes she goes to in order to survive.  At the settlement,  one child is badly injured.  A few descriptions of the violence of the animals of the planet.

Melissa Foster - Come Back to Me

Come Back to Me


By Melissa Foster

Kindle Edition Available




Product Description (from back cover of paperback)
Tess Johnson has it all: her handsome photographer husband Beau, a thriving busines, and a newly discovered pregnancy.  When Beau accepts an overseas assignment, Tess decide to wait to reveal her secret -- only she's never given the chance.  Beau's helicopter crashes in the desert.

Tess struggles with the news of Beau's death and tries to put her life back together.  Alone and dealing with a  pregnancy that only reminds her of what she has lost, Tess is adrift in a world of failed plans and fallen expectations.  When a new client appears offering more than just a new project, Tess must confront the circumstances of her life head on.

Meanwhile, two Iraqi women who are fleeing honor killings find Beau barely alive in the middle of the desert, his body ravaged by the crash.  Suha, a doctor, and Samira, a widow and mother of three young children, nurse him back to health in a makeshift tent.  Beau bonds with the women and the children, and together, with the help of an underground organization, they continue their dangerous escape.
What happens next is a test of loyalties, strength, and love.

About the Author (from Amazon author page)
"Melissa Foster is a wonderful connector of readers and books, a friend of authors, and a tireless advocate for women. She is the real deal"--Author Jennie Shortridge

Melissa Foster is the bestselling, award-winning author of three novels, Megan's Way, Chasing Amanda, and Come Back to Me. Her books have been recommended by USA Today's book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women's Nest, a social and support community for women, the World Literary Cafe, and Fostering Success. Melissa is currently collaborating in the film production of Megan's Way.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children, she's written for Calgary's Child Magazine and Women Business Owners Magazine, and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa is currently working on her next novel, and lives in Maryland with her family. Melissa's interests include her family, reading, writing, painting, friends, helping women see the positive side of life, and visiting Cape Cod.

Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails from her readers. Visit Melissa on The Women's Nest or her personal website.
This biography was provided by the author or their representative.



O.Scarlett! Review by Tenya

Come Back to Me is a contemporary romance which spans the globe and tugs at the emotions. It did bring me to tears at one point, a difficult task since I do not cry over books easily. I wanted to love this book with a first chapter that captured my attention and compelled me to keep reading.

Beau and Tess are separated from one another by his photography assignment in war-torn Iraq, but this job could bring the recognition that will break Beau’s career wide-open. When the wreckage of Beau’s chopper with bodies burned beyond recognition is found in the desert, Tess cannot accept his death. She has newly discovered she is pregnant; however, that fact does not fit her husband’s five-year-plan. Now that he might be dead, Tess’s only hope to keep her sanity is hanging onto Beau’s promise that he will come back to her.

After month’s go by, she slowly learns to let go of Beau and begins to accept the child growing inside of her. Surrounded by a set of rather tragic characters (her friends), Tess struggles to find the path back to wholeness and normality. Perhaps her new client, Louie is the way she can find herself again.

Meanwhile, Beau struggles to survive in the desert, miraculously aided by two women and a group of children as he recovers from his wounds. In turn, he is obligated to assist them in escaping from the hellish life they have known in Iraq. The bonds which grow between him, the children and their mother are intense, but Beau hangs on to one thing – Tess! Will he be able to return to her?

At the end of the book, I felt a bit unsatisfied. It seemed more of a tragedy than a romance. I have no problem with the author ending it this way, but too many loose ends remained. One of the characters had suffered a brutal attack, but the psychological issues of that were never addressed. Too many things were too neatly tied up in pretty packages in the final chapter while other things were ignored and not tied up at all.

This book is well-written (as far as style) and formatted successfully. The cultural aspects about the women from Iraq and their interactions with Beau and others are authentic and obviously well researched.  The basic plot is intriguing and draws the reader into the world of the main characters immediately. One really cares about what happens to these people and how the conflicts will be solved.

NOTE:
     I usually enjoy a romance with a good plot, so I believed I would like this book. As far as plots go, I did enjoy it, for the most part. The consistently bad language throughout the book, which even permeated the private thoughts of the characters, ruined the story for me. This reader found the profanity of the female characters particularly disturbing, especially since it included the most vulgar of words. The Lord’s name was not used wrongly much in this book, but just about every swear word was used – and frequently toward the end of the story.
     There are many instances of adult situations in this book including rape and abuse, especially within the context of the back story of one of the Iraqi women. A couple of the characters have rather “loose” morals. No qualms are raised concerning “sleeping around” before marriage except for the one female character that has a few too many one-night-stands and suffers the tragic consequences. Quite a few scenes take place in a bar where people are drinking alcohol.


Genre/Theme: Contemporary Romance
Reading Level: (by appropriateness) Mature Teen to Adult (except those offended by bad language or loose morality)
Profanity: The amount in the text bordered on EXTREME (all kinds of words used, even the worst)
Sexuality: OBVIOUS - Nothing explicit, but sexuality is most definitely a major theme throughout.
Other: Adult themes: some violence, rape, abuse, language, tragic death, etc.

Catherine Kirby - Sari Caste

Sari Caste

By Catherine M. Kirby

Kindle Edition Available

Product Description (from Amazon)

 A courageous voyage through destitution, intrigue and murder.

Manasa is abandoned by the man she should marry. He marries her sister instead. Meanwhile Manasa finds herself pregnant with his child. She flees her Bengali village wondering where to go. Eventually, she finds herself wandering the streets of Calcutta. Without money or food, life is a daily struggle. Finally, she is taken on by a brothel. She is desperately unhappy until she meets a different sort of man. This man she marries in secret and together they plan her escape from the brothel.

Murder, corruption, and intrigue threaten to swallow up the new life they attempt to establish in the beautiful hill country of Darjeeling.

About the Author (from Amazon author page)

Writing has always been a passion for me. I started with short stories, poems and haikus and finally found myself writing a novel. It was exciting to see it grow and take shape. I had no idea where the story would take me. I just found my starting point and followed the muse. The research was fascinating, time consuming but absorbing. Once I reached those magical words 'The End', I was overjoyed. Then the real work of editing and rewriting began. Once I'd finished my first novel, I was keen to write another. My novels do not follow the same genre but do deal with the intricacies of relationships - what makes them go wrong and what, if anything, can save them from destruction. I hope my readers will enjoy the results.

This biography provided by the author or their representative.

O.Scarlett Review by Tenya

The description of this book grabbed my attention because the subject matter is something which interests me.  I advocate for necessary changes in this world to stop the exploitation of women and children around the globe.  I hope to do this by bringing awareness to these matters in entertaining stories, the novels I write.  Ms. Kirby has done the same in Sari Caste, a contemporary story set in the country of India. 

The reader is quickly drawn into the traumatic world of Manasa, one of four daughters unwanted by their father.  (Culturally, India still values the birth of male offspring over that of girls, and I’m reminded of an article I read recently about Indian girls and women changing their names in mass groups because the names they had been given by their parents meant “unwanted.”)  The father is abusive toward Manasa’s mother, blaming her for a lack of sons in the family.  He’s a drunkard who takes every advantage to marry off his daughters as cheaply as possible, hoping their required dowries won’t deplete the coffers he has failed to fill.

Locked into working long hours to provide a dowry which will allow her younger sister to marry the man Manasa loves, the drama of this family’s life captures the attention and compassion of the reader.  Finally, Manasa is forced to flee her country village with her newborn child and seek out a new, and hopefully better, life in the city.  But, the city is not all she dreamed it would be.  She soon discovers that her dreams may end in starvation for her and her baby.  The only true friends she finds are “pavement dwellers,” street people, who experience tragedy heaped upon tragedy.

Desperate to provide for her own child and her friends, Manasa takes a job in a brothel.  Eventually, her sister escapes to the city and joins her.  As Manasa and Kajal struggle to survive their circumstances, one would think it could not get any worse, but it does.  Discovering that the orphan children living at the brothel are being exploited in the worst way by the owners, Manasa determines she must save herself and anyone else she possibly can.  The bulk of the book deals with the struggles she endures and her efforts to escape a life of prostitution and slavery.

For such a horribly difficult subject, I cannot imagine that anyone could have handled the presentation of the situation into which young Manasa is forced, out of necessity, any more tactfully than this author has done.  This story is hard to read, simply because of the subject matter, but Catherine Kirby has written it in a compelling way that forces the reader to continue to the last page, no matter how horrific the lives of the characters become.

Sari Caste is a work of fiction, but the heart-wrenching situations and tragic circumstances of Manasa and the other characters are far too real for many people living in India today.  Yes, today, not one hundred years ago!  Your support of organizations that strive to help women escape this kind of hopeless lifestyle is important.  Often stores or internet retailers who offer Fair Trade merchandise will carry items produced by people like Manasa who have been rescued from the horrors of forced prostitution, or prevented them from choosing it as a desperate means of survival.   The jewelry, handbags and other lovely items produced by these people is astoundingly beautiful!

Is there victory and escape in this story?  Truthfully, the end left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.  Every man in this book ends up being a total louse!  I resolve my dissatisfaction by remembering that true liberty is having the freedom to mess up your own life rather than letting others do it for you.  It is a most compelling and heart-wrenching story that I recommend to adults who like some real 'meat' in their fiction.

Notes:

As previously stated, the subject matter of this book is difficult.  Obviously, there’s going to be sex involved because much of the story takes place in a brothel.  There are descriptions of certain situations, but they are not overly explicit.  The events are clear without becoming vulgar.

The book is written in first person which is not my favorite.  I really did become tired of the word “I” but this is probably just a personal pet peeve of mine. If you are not a great fan of first person narrative, be prepared when you do read this book.  Don’t let it keep you from reading! The story is compelling enough to overlook such a simple thing, and truthfully, Catherine pulls it off very well.  After a few chapters I did not even notice anymore.

Genre/Theme:  India, Human Trafficking/Slavery, Drama

Reading Level: (by appropriateness) ADULT – because of subject matter

Profanity:  NONE – I cannot remember any.

Sexuality:  BLATANT – subject matter could not be presented without it, but it is never vulgar or overly explicit

Other:

There are many tragic things in this book including children starving to death, murder, rape, and the general horrors of the exploitation of women and children in the forced sex trade.  Several very unwholesome characters appear, and their behavior is characteristically lecherous.

Expect this story to shock you!  It should. 

Sam Torode - The Dirty Parts of the Bible

The Dirty Parts of the Bible
by Sam Torode

Kindle Edition & Paperback Available through Amazon





Product Description (from Amazon)

From the Back Cover

     It's 1936, and Tobias Henry is stuck in the frozen hinterlands of Michigan. Tobias is obsessed with two things: God and girls.

     Mostly girls, of course.
     But being a Baptist preacher's son, he can't escape God.
     When his father is blinded in a bizarre accident (involving hard cider and bird droppings), Tobias must ride the rails to Texas to recover a long-hidden stash of money. Along the way, he's initiated into the hobo brotherhood by Craw, a ribald vagabond-philosopher. Obstacles arise in the form of a saucy prostitute, a flaming boxcar, and a man-eating catfish. But when he meets Sarah, a tough farm girl under a dark curse, he finds out that the greatest challenge of all is love.

About the Author (from Amazon author page)

     I'm a writer, artist, and book designer enjoying life in Nashville, Tennessee.

I found this for free via Pixel of Ink.  I was going to skip over it, until I saw the review comparing the story to Mark Twain and Johnny Cash.  Curious, I checked out the reviews on Amazon.

      Historical fiction is among my favorites, so when I read on the Amazon reviews that this was a surprisingly mild story, considering the title, about the Great Depression, I decided to give it a chance.  Besides, the story was to take place in an area not far from where I grew up, and it was in a era of time that I’ve heard so much about from my own maternal grandparents and family friends.  The Great Depression is one fascinating time.
      The opening paragraphs are shocking .. a description of his birth (or at least it has a lot of swear words) and the admission that he was an only child and that his parents had no more children after that – and his father loves winter because it allowed him to keep his passions under control.   This book told as a sort of autobiography – of a nearly 20 year old boy on the brink of adulthood.  While the boy has been raised in a “Christian Home” – his dad is a preacher, he still struggles with the desires of the flesh and his understanding of scripture.  It is a walk in his mind, mulling through his questions of right and wrong and how society views life and the world, and as such, some parts are quite raunchy and quite crass and others will make you mad.  Still others will make your heart ache with his struggles.  

     His father is a Baptist Pastor in a small town in Michigan.  His parents have never displayed much, if any, affection for each other.  But of course he’s a normal boy .. and you get inside a boys head as he describes his awareness of  girls around him and his own development, or lack thereof.  The first chapter is rather shocking.  But you learn a lot about this teenaged boy on the brink of adulthood about to loose the girl of his dreams to the boy from his nightmares.   Lars really isn’t that bad.  But he is all the man that Tobias can only wish to be, especially as he’s about to marry Tobias’ girl.
      The writing does often overdo the swearing and frank descriptions.  Sometimes there are sentences that don’t quite make sense, and I spotted over a dozen grammar and typo errors.   Still, the writing style did match that of a teenaged boy’s struggles with the world around him, especially as it was in 1936.  I was surprised that one of the Amazon reviews said that they had chosen this book as a church book club read ... and the reviewer had been shocked and stopped reading at the end of the first chapter.  Someone else had commented, “With a title like that, and the picture on the front cover, what else would you expect?”  Indeed.
      I kept reading though, I’ve always been fascinated by frank history, much more than sugar coated.  And this story promised to be full of onions and garlic without a chocolate coating.

Basic Plot

      Tobias has always felt trapped in the tiny Michigan town of Remus, where his father has been the Baptist preacher since Tobias was three.  He is an only child.  He has many friends, but has never quite fit in with the others because his father is against everything fun (from a nearly 20 year old boy’s point of view).

     One day, one of his friends shows him the Song of Solomon.  And afterwards, church was a lot less horrible, as he could open his Bible and read these interesting parts while his father droned on about the evils of cards, drinking, and other sins.  His father was also very pleased to see his son’s sudden interest in Bible study.

     One night, after a fight with his wife, his father stopped at a bar for some apple juice and the bar tender gave him hard apple cider.  And the preacher got drunk, wrecked his car, and was punished with blindness.  He finally confided to his son that he had left behind a considerable amount of money in an old abandoned well back in his hometown where he grew up in Texas.  He told Tobias how to find his uncle and gave him instructions and money for the train ride south.
       By this time, I was 3 chapters in, and I wanted to know if Tobias made it to Texas, and I wondered if this story would match those of my elder relatives.
       At first the train ride was a great adventure, but as he got use to the train, and being away from home, he got bolder.  He tried a sleeping car ... and later adventured to find a motel, but the man who gave him instructions, directed him to a “house of women” instead.  He ended up sleeping on the floor, and the girl stole all of his money.
      Now he was in the Midwest, no money, and no way to get home, or continue on to Texas.  He stumbles back to the railroad and there is taken in by an old ragged hobo – a big black man named Craw.
      Craw takes him under wing and helps him jump his first train – which nearly kills Tobias.  But by some miracle, he survives, but looses everything else he owns as his back pack is lost in the attempt.  Food is scarce and adventure is high.  Craw is full of surprises and cures for their problems.   And there are many near death adventures (burning train cars, giant cat fish, and prickle plants to name a few) as they work their way south.

      Once in Texas, Craw and Tobias find their way to his uncle’s ranch – where Tobias is welcomed as family by Aunt Millie and Uncle Wilburn.  Craw is less than welcome, but is given a shed to bed down in, and food to eat, and together they work a job putting in a fence for some bulls, a job that turns out to be far harder than anything Tobias’s done in his life.  But he settles into life on the ranch, and gets to know these relatives that he has never known and his parents have seldom mentioned.

     Life is good, especially when he discovers that the only other person his age on the land is a girl – a gorgeous girl – with a hard edge and a curse.  Every boy that has ever liked her has died. 
      The book now falls into the rhythm of ranch life, building the fences, morning chores, and trips to town to sell the garden and ranch goods.  Tobias all but forgets about the reason he first came to Texas, and his heart is fast falling for Sarah.  Tobias has a knack for getting into trouble – and Sarah has that curse to complicate matters.  You won’t believe all of the trouble the two get into and get out of – sometimes with Craw’s help, and sometimes without.  I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to town, what a great adventure, and the family reunion had me chuckling as I remembered some of the ones I had gone to as a child.
      When Tobias does find the money, not only does it nearly kill him, but the money came with an unexpected end. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
       I have read much worse books – and as books go, the story is quite believable.  Growing up near the area in the book, I found the descriptions to be realistic.  Also, since most of my maternal family grew up here, I’ve heard dozens of stories of their growing up in the Great Depression.  Also, from those stories, I have heard many of the same objections to religion, comments on social issues (blacks and white) and how life was back then.  I have more than one relative that could cuss just as well as any of the characters in this book.  One Amazon review found the old folks hard to believe – but I don’t agree as my relatives would have fit right in with them.
       I also found this to be an interesting walk through the mind of a teen struggling with thoughts of girls, religion, life, and love.  Many times over the last few months, I’ve found myself considering the viewpoint of the young man and his choices and world view.  It left me feeling sad, and with a better understanding of the struggle between the world and the Bible that our world faces. 

     I think what has made this book so popular is that so many people can relate to Tobias and his struggles with his flesh, with his understanding of religion, and growing up in general.  It’s a walk in somebody else’s shoes.

Note:  Not for younger readers at all.  The author based this novel on stories told to him by his grandparents ... and is a retelling of the “Book of Tobit”, and old Jewish tale, but told in the era of the Great Depression. 

Genre/Theme:  Coming of Age, Historical Fiction (Great Depression)
Reading Level:  Mature Teen/Adult
Profanity:  HIGH
Sexuality:  OBVIOUS - girls and sex are one of the main thoughts of this older teen boy.

OTHER:  There are a lot of graphic descriptions in this book.  Some of it is quite violent, and the life of a Hobo is told in stomach churning detail at times.  Body functions are discussed several times, but in context, such as the boy’s search for a bathroom in a crowded city after a long overnight train ride.  This book is written to mimic an autobiographical novel, written from an older teen boys point of view on life, adventure, girls, and his human heart and soul, it can be quite raunchy and extremely crass some of the time. 
     After a while, I became so engrossed in the story and the choices of the young man, that I failed to notice the language.  It wasn’t until I skimmed it a second time for this review that I realized that it was much more prevalent than I remembered.  The same can be said of the sexuality, as this is a teen boy, he is obsessed with hair and where it is located, and bodies of girls – among other things.  The author did a fairly good job of sticking to wording of the King James as Tobias’s main source of knowledge was the Bible and a medical book he found in one of his mother’s drawers.  Ironically, nobody really does anything until the last few paragraphs, when he takes his new bride out to a quiet meadow and discovers just what Solomon meant in his great Song of Solomon, on the other hand, he doesn’t hold back much describing Tobias’s feelings at every event.

Favorite authors include Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Garrison Keillor, G. K. Chesterton, P. G. Wodehouse, Joseph Campbell, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and many others.

     As Groucho Marx said, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

     Website: http://www.torodedesign.com/  Readers can keep in touch with me on Google Plus.

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

O.Scarlett! Review by Rachel

Treasure Me - Christine Nolfi

Treasure Me
The Liberty Series #2


by Christine Nolfi

Kindle Edition & Paper Available




Product Description (From Amazon)

Petty thief Birdie Kaminsky has arrived in Liberty, Ohio to steal a treasure hidden since the Civil War. She’s in possession of a charming clue passed down in her family for generations: Liberty safeguards the cherished heart.

The beautiful thief wants to go straight. She secretly admires the clue’s author, freedwoman Justice Postell, who rose above the horrors of slavery to build a new life in Ohio. According to family lore, Justice left South Carolina at the dawn of the Civil War. Heavy with child, she carried untold riches on her journey north. As Birdie searches for the treasure, she begins to believe a questionable part of the story: a tale of love between Justice and Lucas Postell, the French plantation owner who was Birdie’s ancestor.

If the stories are true, Justice bore a child with Lucas. Some of those black relatives might still live in town. Birdie can’t help but wonder if she’s found one—Liberty’s feisty matriarch, Theodora Hendricks, who packs a pistol and heartwarming stories about Justice. Birdie doesn’t know that an investigative reporter who has arrived in town will trip her up—as will her conscience when she begins to wonder if it’s possible to start a new life with stolen riches. Yet with each new clue she unearths, Birdie begins to discover a family history more precious than gems, a tradition of love richer than she could imagine.

About the Author (from book page on Amazon)
Christine owned a small public relations firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Her articles and
press releases have appeared regionally in The Plain Dealer, The Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Magazine and other media outlets. Her short story,
Night Hour, appeared in Working Mother magazine.

Christine closed the firm fifteen years ago after she traveled to the Philippines and
adopted a sibling group of four children. She has been writing novels fulltime since 2004.

Contact her at
christinenolfibooks.blogspot.com/
and christinenolfi@gmail.com

Christine's other books:  The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge
O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Tenya

I found this novel a charmer because it's cleverly written! I really enjoyd the author's writing style. Ms. Nolfi has talent with words that pushed my eyes down the page. This was an easy read, but the plot kept my interest. Honestly, I did not feel it started slowly as she built the backgrounds for her characters. Because my favorite stories (of any kind) show how broken people can be mended, I was pulled in by the main protagonists. I really wanted to see them find wholeness.

Beautiful Birdie is a thief with a jaded, hurtful past which is shrouded in mystery, even to herself.  Hugh is a reporter with his own secrets, which he keeps for good reason.  The story follows many of the formulas for traditional romance fiction, but with enough twists and turns to carry this book beyond the ordinary.  Lives woven together, although unknown to the protagonists, is a knot the reader must unravel before putting the book down.

As contemporary romances go, this is a good write and a pleasant read. Shrouded in a bit of mystery, there's enough attraction and breaks between the scenes of the main characters to keep urging one toward the next chapter. I rated this five stars on Amazon because within its genre, Treasure Me is a very worth-while piece of fiction.

The descriptions of the little town of Liberty and its cast of homespun inhabitants returned me to my own roots of growing up in a small, snowy town filled with people so unique one would believe they could only exist in books. Yes, it made me homesick, and I'm glad for it. It's the reason I enjoyed the book so much!

Notes:  My greatest disappointment with this book was that I found the cover art to be very misleading.  I picked this up, expecting a period romance, but got a contemporary one instead.  This did not bother me because I did enjoy the story; however, I always had that Victorian woman in the back of my mind.  The art does relate to the story, just not directly.

If you get hung up on conservative morality, this book probably is not for you as the story is about characters who have been casual about their sexual relationships outside of marriage.  Some of the characters are a bit course and there's a little language and some sensual/sexual description.

Genre/Theme: Contemporary Romance
Reading Level: Mature Teen to Adult
Profanity: Low with a few instances of swearing
Sexuality: Obvious but not overly explicit - only two small scenes I can remember
Other:  This is a secular romance.  Illicit sexual relationships and adultery are hinted at and carry a large part of the plot.

M.D. Eyre - Tabnit Gisgo

Tabnit Gisgo
The Gisgo Memoirs Vol. I
by M.D. Eyre

Kindle Edition available

Product Description (from Amazon.com)

Here presented for the first time in print- unchanged and, more importantly, uncensored- are the memoirs of Tabnit Gisgo: spy, informer and occasional purveyor of fine wine and figs to the gentry of Athens.

His astonishing recollection of skulduggery, dissembling and lust takes him from the death chamber of Alexander the Great in Babylon to the banks of the River Nile, where a desperate battle takes place that will decide the future of the ancient world…

Oh, and as well as encountering the Great Conqueror himself, in all his power-crazed glory, (along with the voluptuous temple priestess of Nimip, a murderous Macedonian general who wants his blood and one enormous elephant) our scribe also reveals his disgraceful role in the greatest whodunnit of the age.

Tabnit Gisgo: Everything in excess.

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Tenya

Tabnit charmed me from the get-go, and somewhere between chapter one and chapter five, I realized I adored the old dodger. The author's use of the first person narrative to establish the personality of the title character has been ingeniously implemented. You really fall for the guy as he becomes a strange sort of secret agent in the world of such giants as Alexander the Great and Ptolemy. Could this accidental "spook" be the true driving force behind events as we know them, or don't know them? ... possibly only Tabnit knows for sure.


Wit and humor drive this historical, and at times, hysterical walk through one of the most interesting periods of the ancient world. If you are a lover of history and enjoy masterful use of the English language, then Tabnit Gisgo is a must-read. M.D. Eyre has created a piece full of cultural and historical details which are written to entertain. I laughed right out loud!

Looking forward to the second installment of Tabnit's memoirs, truly hoping that no body parts go a-missing.

Notes:

You want to be a good student of the English language to read this book.  Mark Eyre is a master of language craft, intermingling ancient words within the text.  (It's all Greek to me...)  An average reader may stall in the midst of the long paragraphs and first person narrative.  Above-average readers, however, should enjoy the playful manner in which these fictional memoirs are developed.  Also, a better-than-average understanding of some ancient history, particularly the life and times of Alexander the Great and the decades following his demise would be quite helpful.

Genre/Theme:  Historical Fiction, Comic, Spies, Adventure

Reading Level:   Mature Teen to Adult

Profantiy:  I would call it toward the higher end of Moderate simply because some stronger profanity is used several times.

Sexuality:  Obvious, but not often
OTHER:  subtle violence and a few adult themes