Month: August 2015

Cover Reveal & Review: The Wiregrass by Pam Webber

Review - Submitted

The Wiregrass by Pam Webber

 

The Wiregrass by Pam Webber is a coming of age story written about a time when small towns were safe, neighbors were friends, and kids could wander around after dark safely.  However, this was also a time when evil deeds of men were not spoken about publicly or even whispered about softly.  When innocence was taken, it was taken brutally.

Nettie, Lil’Bit, Sharon, J.D., Sam, and Eric are all cousins who spend the summer with their granny and Ain’t Pitty in Crystal Springs, Alabama.  As is usual for these mischievous cousins they have their way of bringing a small amount of justice to their world with innocent TP’in and other small pranks. The cousins love their summers for the freedom and love they have for one another and their family.  However, the grown up world intrudes forcing the children to grow up quickly and discover their actions have consequences and they must find the courage within themselves to save one another and their friend.

The Wiregrass is about a time that many will never experience except through reading.  Webber does an excellent job at providing detailed descriptions and emotions placing the reader smack dab in middle this gripping tale.

“In a few weeks our feet would have some summer toughness, but until then we would need flip-flops, amazing pieces of rubber that provided air-conditioned protection for our feet and sound effects with each step.”

Webber captures the authenticity of the time in speech, beliefs and actions and communicates them effectively.  Each character is lovingly developed connecting with the reader as the well-developed plot plays out.  There is so much packed in this book, many will think about this well after reading it.  It is a classic coming of age but with twists and connections that one cannot help but love.

One poignant phrase, more than any other will be sure to come back to mind time and time again:  “No matter what, choose happy.”   This one message among many, Webber chooses to remind us that we have the power to choose.

I was given this book for an honest review.

 

WordsAPlenty gives this book a 5 star review!

 

Additional Information:

The Wiregrass is a coming of age novel about an innocent young woman who is forced to come to grips with evil stalking the beautiful place and people she loves.

Through the main character’s romantic encounter, we meet a young man who is harboring a dark and dangerous secret that eventually has Nettie and those she loves running for their lives.

Set in 1969, the story uses the uniqueness of the Southern Wiregrass region to support engaging characters as they take the reader on a roller coaster ride of lingering emotions,

from laugh out loud funny to soul crushing sadness.

Pam Webber is the author of a nursing textbook and numerous published articles. In 2001, she was featured in the journal Nursing and Health Care Perspectives.

Pam resides in Virginia with her husband.  The Wiregrass is her first novel.

The book’s website is www.thewiregrass.com.

The author’s biography is at http://pamwebber.com/about.

Read an excerpt at http://pamwebber.com/books/the-wiregrass/excerpt.

Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist

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Auguste and The Condition by M. L. Sanford

Review - Submitted

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.  

Auguste Kensley and his boyhood friend, Raj barely survives their neighborhood in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  As a fatherless and only child, Auguste and his friend overcome the obstacles that would keep them in their poverty-filled world and dead by the age of 15.   A fortunate meeting with a freelance news writer for tabloids provides an opportunity for Auguste to finally escape and become a man and not a statistic.    Raj too takes on the family business in the U.S. and manages to survive.   After a few years Auguste recognizes that he is in a dead-end job and seeks other opportunities. He selfishly suggests that his friend, Raj go abroad to visit his family while also growing the family business.  Raj agrees but only if Auguste joins him.

Both friends face their own brand of terror.  While Auguste’s is the focus, Raj experiences a terror much closer to home:

“The big deal?  Man, now you don’t understand,” said Raj.  The look of  puzzlement on his face was comical to Auguste, he was so serious when it came to his  problems but for Auguste’s, well, his were just silly.  That was how Auguste felt about it anyway.  “When you go for a visit to India,” he said, “they don’t expect you to stay a week, or even two.  It’s at least a month, even more,” the treble tone in his voice rising as he got more exasperated, it getting shriller the more he talked about it.

Auguste is thrust into a world beyond his realm.  He discovers love, loss, desperation, fear and despair.  Kidnapped by a “crime boss” Auguste finds himself given over to a terrorist group for ransom.  Sequestered into a dark hole, the terrorists break him.  They isolate him for 196 days, keeping him in a constant state of the unknown.  His girlfriend, Jasmine, along with Raj raise the ransom money required to release him.

His release is on one condition … and Auguste is the only one who can know about the condition. His failure to follow-through with it means Jasmine will die.  Faced with yet another ethical dilemma, Auguste must decide alone what to do when that condition arrives.

“Maybe this vacation, this experience of life and death on the other side of the world, actually worked, giving me a new purpose.”

Definitely an action-packed story with a well-developed plot and characters; it demonstrates the psychological damage a victim of kidnapping faces.  Furthermore, it outlines what captivity of any kind can do to a person – physically, psychologically and emotionally.  Believable and well-executed.

I enjoyed reading Sanford’s book and hope to read more by him.  He writes well, keeping the reader hooked throughout!

WordsAPlenty highly recommends this book with 5 stars.

To purchase a copy of Auguste and The Condition click here.

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Beyond the Black Door by Rachel Gatti

Review - Submitted

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.  A B.R.A.G. MEDALLION HONOREE

 

Rachel Gatti’s Beyond the Black Door is a delightful tale of Frances Combe, whose life has been somewhat dull and tedious, finds her family moving into Great-Grandfather Henry’s home on Woodhall Road.  Nearly homeless, they were given the family home.

“No Trespassing” sign hung crookedly across the front gate.  Weeds and tall grass covered the yard.  Broken slate tiles from the roof littered the walkway.  A thick wall of ivy consumed more than half o the home’s exterior.”

The mother was not overly thrilled as the house was decrepit and she was more about appearances.  Further she could not stand Frances’ tall tales!  She was less than thrilled to discover there was a black door that could not be opened.  It was this door that Frances used to travel through a portal into Terah.  Frances was the only person who could open the secret door.  A new world filled with creatures that live mainly in fairy tales and horror books.

Frances met Isaiah, a young man with a unique gift and Alistair the missing assistant to Henry.  Together they struggle to prevent the evil from crossing out of Terah and into the portal to Earth.

Defeating the evils will require one thing and one thing only – the power which Frances has in spades!

“Frances you can do great things,” Alistair said. “You have the ultimate power – the power of a pure human heart – the ability to love.  Any man can raise his fist in anger, but to love, even when the entire world opposes you, takes immeasurable strength.”

Support of her new friends and the courage to fight, Frances joins to defeat the evil.  Ahead of her, Frances has decisions to make – does she return home or stay?  Does she have the courage to do what is needed?  Do her parents even notice she’s gone?

Rachel Gatti did an excellent job of writing, explaining things clearly and building tension when appropriate.  While it reminded me of the Witch and the Wardrobe and Alice in Wonderland, I found the characters more comfortable.  Although Frances was faced with a journey and she was full of self-doubt Frances was never annoying about it.   Gatti clearly stayed with the premise of the book; it was always about love, pure of heart and tenderness. There were times she could have given into the gratuitous violence but she never did. Descriptions were vivid; one could see Brewsa clearly as if he were standing in the room with you.

Gatti did nothing that was gratuitous.  It was natural and flowed seamlessly.   An excellent novel for young and old adults!

If you have children or you yourself enjoy adventure and fantasy, this is an excellent choice.   WordsAPlenty gives this B.R.A.G. Medallion honoree a 5 star rating.

To purchase this book on Amazon, click here.

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