We the Enemy Ray Rhamey
In this action-packed political thriller, reforms in Oregon compel criminals to tell the truth in court and guns are limited to nonlethal weapons. Opposition is fierce, and the president aims to restore the status quo by stopping the man behind reform, Noah Stone. He sends Jake Black, former Secret Service agent. But Jake is drawn to Stone’s work. When attacks threaten to destroy it, only Jake can save it. He faces the question of his life—who is the enemy, Noah Stone or Jake Black? 5-star Midwest Book Review “A unique thriller with plenty of twists and turns, highly recommended.”
Eiko Kenan Brack
Eiko is martial-arts fantasy about a young girl; raised by the assassins who killed her family. When she comes of age, she becomes their next target. Eiko follows a dangerous and fascinating journey as she grows from child to young woman, along the way experiencing a world few could understand.
Eiko is the type of story that I have always wanted to see on the screen, written in a way that shows a very tragic character who overcomes harsh adversity, through very violent means, but in the process finds her own humanity.
The Unfinished Song: Initiate Tara Maya
Dindi dreams of becoming a Tavaedi, one of the powerful warrior-dancers whose secret magics are revealed only to those who pass a mysterious Test during the Initiation ceremony. The problem? No-one in Dindi's clan has ever passed the Test. Her grandmother died trying. But Dindi has a plan...
Kavio is the most powerful warrior-dancer in Faearth, but exiled from his tribehold for a crime he didn't commit, he decides to shed his old life. But when he rescues a young Initiate girl, he finds himself drawn into a war. He must decide whether to walk away or fight for her...
GRAND OBSESSION: A Piano Odyssey Perri Knize
A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 and a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” now in paperback. This lyrical, intimate memoir of one woman’s mad quest to recapture the lost sound of a grand piano is about finding and pursuing passion at any age. As heart-stopping as a thriller, Grand Obsession takes readers around the globe and immerses them in a subculture of fascinating, real-life piano characters. Knize’s epic journey to understand her piano’s elusive power reminds us that reason can’t always account for what calls to us, but answering that call can lead to life’s most profound experiences.
Animals Don’t Blush David Gross
The confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers is a region of the USA steeped in histories of the mountain man, fur traders and the northern upper plains nomadic tribes. I joined a veterinary practice there in 1960. Our clients were determined, independent-minded folks who expected their veterinarian to be physically tough, knowledgeable about all species of animals, and skilled in the practice of the profession. Our animal patients were usually stoic but never embarrassed by anything they did or done to them. The characters in this book are those people, those animals, and that time and place.
The flogging: Sheri has sent the opening to Favors.
Lounging on a bed in her t-shirt, shorts and slippers, Julie Fielding looked across the room through the dingy window at the setting sun. She felt older than her 28 years; tonight’s solitude was a welcome pause in the whirlwind of events that had become her life. Tough, yes; but at least Julie’s experiences were grounded in the tangible, for the time being, that is.
Julie watched as magenta and azure-mixed clouds spread as brushed liquid over the darkening sky. Slowly they turned to red and tangerine, then finally to blue-grey shadows lined with piercing gold and white. An occasional whooshing of cars on the nearby interstate and faint voices were superseded by a door slamming one room over as male occupants argued about whose turn it was to pony-up for gasoline. Julie rose to her feet to turn on the nearby floor lamp and continued to the window, tugging hard to close the thick curtains on a mid-September’s eve. After checking the adjacent door’s lock, Julie turned and all but tossed herself back onto the floral polyester comforter-covered bed. Cigarette-laced air filled her lungs, causing the threat of a cough. She reached for the nearby T.V. remote in the dim-lit room and set to clicking before stopping on the 80’s sit-com “Cheers”.
Her green eyes soon grew heavy, lulled into relaxation by the faint dialogue from the television characters. She pulled a pillow out and began to cuddle up when the familiar cricket (snip)
Nope.
There’s some pretty description and clean writing, but for me this didn’t raise and story questions, and that left me lacking the tension needed to turn the page. This character is on her way to a new town and a new house after a divorce, but this chapter and what I saw of the next don’t go near a story--it’s mostly “throat-clearing,” the author’s idea of information we must have to understand the story. Perhaps--but the time to give that is during the story, not before, when you’re trying to hook a reader’s interest. My advice: find the place where something really happens to this woman to start the story.
Comments, please?
Ray
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© 2011 Ray Rhamey