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A grain of sand in my shoe
The Crossroads Cafe
Ms. Smith's A Place to Call Home and When Venus Fell are among my favorite books. She seems to no longer have a NY contract and is publishing through Belle Books, a small publisher specializing in Southern fiction. I believe Ms. Smith is one of the founders. I've been waiting ages for the next book in her fantastical mermaid series, but nothing seems forthcoming on that front, which is a shame. Smith does have another book A Gentle Rain coming this fall/winter.
The Crossroads Cafe finally became available at my library, so I picked it up on Saturday.
Summary, in haiku (I'm stealing Devon's idea):
Southern location
Where damaged characters heal
Bodies hearts and minds.
Great sense of place, well paced, characters who were sympathetic. Well done, all the way around.
But there is a grain of sand in the shoe of my reading pleasure. Roger Clemons. Who is Roger Clemons? Apparently he is a Cy Young award winning pitcher. And apparently no one at Belle Books copy edits or fact checks. There were some other little copy editing misses, but this is just wrong. Google the man, fer cripes sake! You know what a Cy Young award is but how to spell the name right? Grr.
Nefertiti
I'd never read anything by Moran before. For all I know, Nefertiti could be her debut. If so, I'm totally wowed! I picked this up at the library after reading Tara Marie's review. I might've picked it up on my own, but only if I over looked the cover quote from Diana Gabaldon.
Wow, again. The fictionalized life of Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt then co-Pharoah of Egypt, as seen by her half sister Mutnodjmet. Fascinating. Loved the POV -- Mutny was an "insider" but one step back, an insider with status but little power.
Power hungry prince
And new wife who wants the same
Throw away old gods.
The pacing was a little clunky -- evidence of a debut author, maybe? The first couple of years of Nefertiti's ascension to First Wife and power are very detailed, but then vast stretches of time are glossed over. Might've been helpful to share a little more detail, especially when it came to the people's reaction to the worship shift from Amun to Aten.
Here, too, though, there was a grain on sand to irritate my reading. At the beginning of the book, Mutny was thirteen. A bit later on she was fourteen; then in the next passage she was 13 again and on the following page 14 once more. Which is it?
Like in The Crossroads Cafe above, it's just a little thing, but it's one of those little things that irritates to the point of me needing to put the book down.
Ms. Smith's A Place to Call Home and When Venus Fell are among my favorite books. She seems to no longer have a NY contract and is publishing through Belle Books, a small publisher specializing in Southern fiction. I believe Ms. Smith is one of the founders. I've been waiting ages for the next book in her fantastical mermaid series, but nothing seems forthcoming on that front, which is a shame. Smith does have another book A Gentle Rain coming this fall/winter.
The Crossroads Cafe finally became available at my library, so I picked it up on Saturday.
Summary, in haiku (I'm stealing Devon's idea):
Where damaged characters heal
Bodies hearts and minds.
Great sense of place, well paced, characters who were sympathetic. Well done, all the way around.
But there is a grain of sand in the shoe of my reading pleasure. Roger Clemons. Who is Roger Clemons? Apparently he is a Cy Young award winning pitcher. And apparently no one at Belle Books copy edits or fact checks. There were some other little copy editing misses, but this is just wrong. Google the man, fer cripes sake! You know what a Cy Young award is but how to spell the name right? Grr.
Nefertiti
I'd never read anything by Moran before. For all I know, Nefertiti could be her debut. If so, I'm totally wowed! I picked this up at the library after reading Tara Marie's review. I might've picked it up on my own, but only if I over looked the cover quote from Diana Gabaldon.
Wow, again. The fictionalized life of Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt then co-Pharoah of Egypt, as seen by her half sister Mutnodjmet. Fascinating. Loved the POV -- Mutny was an "insider" but one step back, an insider with status but little power.
And new wife who wants the same
Throw away old gods.
The pacing was a little clunky -- evidence of a debut author, maybe? The first couple of years of Nefertiti's ascension to First Wife and power are very detailed, but then vast stretches of time are glossed over. Might've been helpful to share a little more detail, especially when it came to the people's reaction to the worship shift from Amun to Aten.
Here, too, though, there was a grain on sand to irritate my reading. At the beginning of the book, Mutny was thirteen. A bit later on she was fourteen; then in the next passage she was 13 again and on the following page 14 once more. Which is it?
Like in The Crossroads Cafe above, it's just a little thing, but it's one of those little things that irritates to the point of me needing to put the book down.