Nya Reviews

UNDER THE SAME SKY by Genevieve Graham

2012-03-01T11:21:00.006-05:00

Under The Same Sky: The Blurb

The year is 1746. A young woman from South Carolina and a Scottish Highlander share an intimacy and devotion beyond their understanding. They've known each other their entire lives.

And yet they have never met.

Maggie Johnson has been gifted with "the Sight" ever since she was a child. Her dreams bring her visions of the future, and of a presence she knows is real. She calls him Wolf, and has seen him grow alongside her from a careless young boy into a fearsome warrior. And when her life is torn asunder by unspeakable tragedy, he is her only hope.

Andrew MacDonnell is entranced by the vision of a beautiful woman who has always dwelt in his dreams. When war ravages his land and all he has ever known, he leaves the Scottish Highlands on a perilous journey to the New World to find her, knowing that their only chance of survival is with one another.

Their quest to find each other across a treacherous wilderness will test the limits of courage and endurance, guided only by their dreams--and by the belief in the true love they share.

Review of UNDER THE SAME SKY by Genevieve Graham

This is a haunting tale of impossibles and imponderables, of inexplicable dreams morphing into memories, bending reality until that which cannot be … is.

Under The Same Sky is Genevieve Graham’s debut novel. She writes with confidence and economy, and manages to break a few rules in the process. This tale is told in two parts, from two different perspectives. That is not uncommon. But what is unusual and unique is having the protagonists come of age, separated by time and distance and circumstance, with an embedded consciousness—an awareness of each other that borders on madness.

In her world, the mid-18^th century, Maggie Johnson has ‘the Sight’ and from childhood her visions of a young boy she calls ‘Wolf’ comforts and gives her the courage to deal with life’s hardships. But an unimaginable horror occurs, acts so despicable it is difficult to believe one so young could survive, let alone meet the aftermath with bravery and an indomitable spirit. Her family, the life she once knew, is ripped asunder and she and her sister are thrust into a world beyond their ken. Maggie not only survives, she flourishes … but this is the frontier and it takes only a moment in time, a single act to destroy all she’s struggled to build.

Andrew MacDonnell’s world exists in a place of legend. A world of war and hardship and strength of spirit. The Highlands are a harsh and demanding landscape. Young Andrew grows up knowing love and the power of family—and the nature of belief and commitment. And through it all, his dreams are laced with the images of a girl he’s never met, yet with each passing year she becomes more real than even the cruel world in which he must make his way. For war comes, leaving destruction, and the young man must face a future alone … or seek out that which beckons in the deepest recesses of his mind.

Perhaps only those truly tested to the limits of endurance could understand that which drives both Maggie and Andrew on a quest of discovery, holding fast to the love they’ve come to share and using their shared dreams to guide them.

The story begins with lush prose, then settles into an economy of language that highlights the stark reality and unending danger of a time and place far beyond modern sensibilities. Some might have preferred one treatment over another but in truth, it is simplicity that often paints the starkest image, the one you remember.

For me, it is perhaps Andrew’s tale that resonates more. The description of the Battle of Culloden was one of the best I’ve ever read—the horrors, the confusion, the pain and terror, the losses were all depicted with consummate skill. In contrast, the pivotal event in Maggie’s story was relayed with restraint, perhaps too much so. The author—and Maggie—seemed almost one step removed, unable, unwilling, at that point in time to come to grips with the savageness of men outside the bounds of civilization. Yet Maggie’s adjustment and adaptation to a strange culture and language were lovingly relayed, imbuing hope and ultimately faith in the power of the human mind and heart to recover and thrive.

If I have a complaint it’s that the denouement was far too short, too ‘tidy’ to the point of leaving me with conflicting feelings of satisfaction and annoyance. Simply put, I wanted more. HEAs always come at a price and Maggie and Andrew most certainly paid their dues, yet it was done individually, not together. I closed the book thinking … there’s more to this story, more I want to know.

I suspect every author wants that … to leave the reader wanting more. So, well done Genevieve Graham.
Five Stars

About the Author

Genevieve Graham graduated from the University of Toronto in 1986 with a Bachelor of Music in Performance (playing oboe). While on a ski vacation in Alberta she met a really cute guy in the chairlift line-up and they skied together for two days. After the second day she decided she had to have him ... permanently. The couple (now husband & wife) subsequently moved to Calgary and brought two beautiful and talented daughters into the world. They have recently settled in a small, peaceful town in Nova Scotia and are loving their quiet life.

Writing became an essential part of Genevieve's life a few years ago, when she began to write her debut novel, "Under the Same Sky". Her second book, "Sound of the Heart" will be available in stores May 1, 2012.

www.GenevieveGraham.com

Find UNDER THE SAME SKY for KINDLE and in PRINT

Chasing Kate by Kelly Byrne

2012-02-09T21:30:00.002-05:00

Chasing Kate by Kelly Byrne

I used to think Marti Noxon was the only one who could rip my heart out of my chest and hand it to me on a platter, still beating.

I was wrong, dead wrong.

Chasing Kate starts out this way:

The first time I kidnapped Sadie Beck was an accident. In my defense, the second time was too. Initially. Having a little perspective now I can see how there might have been a better way to handle the situation, but at the time my perspective was in the toilet.

That perspective, the one in the toilet, belongs to Kate, a twenty-something still acting out, still reveling in poor life choices and an overdeveloped, deliciously delightful spirit of revenge. She comes at her perceived misfortunes sideways, painting the people, the sights, the minutiae of dysfunction with exquisite, raw emotion. Her thoughts, her language, is evocative, poignant and in-your-face—painting descriptions such as this: Neon signs on the storefronts flew by like Jackson Pollack pieces wrapped in gauze. Everything dull and blurry. And you think, damn, that’s not a place, it’s a state of being and the author forces you to own it, the same way Kate does.

And that’s before Sadie Beck stows away in The Green Beast, before this old soul masquerading as a five-year-old squirms her way into Katie’s heart, and ours.

All the very best stories are journeys, road trips either running from or hurtling to, voyages of discovery, filtered through truths and half-truths and perceptions that mold us, form us, like clay that never quite sets up.

This journey begins with an act of spite so brutally funny, I squirmed and gasped and cheered, living vicariously through the audaciousness of a woman on the edge. Knowing nothing of her history, at least not yet, we still sense the hopelessness, the state of being where nothing left to lose still has a viable downhill run.

Enter a child, a munchkin, wise beyond her years yet never precious, filled with innocence and bravado, and the conviction that only the very young and unspoiled can bring to the inner debate and turmoil when pseudo-adults confront their fears and life’s theatre of the absurd.

The choice to safeguard and protect the child is easy, the reasons why less so. Kate’s instincts and motivations run counter to what moral authority dictates, forcing her into decisions that dredge up the façade of authenticity, of normalcy, of love and happiness and her place in a universe that may, or may not, have existed in her time and space.

What we learn … what she learns is painful, gut wrenching, and seemingly so far from life-affirming that anger and tears struggle for supremacy (hers and ours), and old wounds re-open because it is easier to repeat despair than to establish hope. Kate must learn life lessons, yet the author deals them with a deft hand, sprinkling humor, pathos and a measure of humility.

And as with all journeys, fellow travelers form the weft and weave of their passage, opening new paths, new directions, and ultimately hope for the future.

The author has a firm grasp of her craft and a masterful ability to paint characters, scenes, events, memories in either broad strokes or with exquisite detail. I found myself rereading passages because the visuals, the emotions, the lessons were so stunning that savoring them slowly often warred with the need to forge ahead and find out what happened next. I quite literally could not put this book down. It is beautifully written and edited, heart-wrenching, funny, soulful…

Chasing Kate could very well be the best book I’ve read in a very long time.
Five Stars.

About the Author:

Kelly Byrne's writing background spans several genres including poetry, playwriting, film and television scriptwriting, and fiction. Chasing Kate is her debut novel and she's hard at work on her second.
Her short story "Revelations" won second place in the Mary Mackey Short Story Prize for the 2011 Soul Making Contest in San Francisco (sponsored by The National League of American Pen Women - Nob Hill) and another story, "Better Than Soup," garnered an honorable mention in the humor prize category for the same contest.
She currently lives in Los Angeles and enjoys daily walks up steep hills with her furry munchkin, Lucy, affectionately known as "The Goon." She would like to mention also that she feels awkward writing about herself in the third person.

Kindle

The Scattered Proud by Gev Sweeney

2011-11-20T14:22:00.002-05:00

A Stunning Debut Literary Novel

THE SCATTERED PROUD

She escaped plague. She could not escape life. She refused to escape her heart.

“His words were the echo of loss, and I was the place where that echo

would end in an answer…”

THE BLURB:

Obsession is another word for hope.

Philadelphia, 1793: As yellow fever empties the city, fearful, young Janet Watters lives at the mercy of others, comforted by her secret love for Kit DeWaere, a rector’s son who believes that doing little or nothing to help people would be an abuse of God’s trust in humanity.

Kit’s sometimes-rash acts of service earn him a position as vicar to a covert Episcopal mission in late Revolutionary Paris. It’s a dangerous time to be religious or American in France, which has banned Christianity and is at war with the United States. And it’s a dangerous time for Janet to be reunited with Kit when her father brings her to Paris to work at the mission. Kit’s sense of justice––and his marriage to a mercurial French émigrée––lead to an illusion that will change the nation and drive Janet from the boy of her dreams to the man of her heart.

THE REVIEW:

It truly is one of the great joys of my life to read a beautifully crafted piece of literature. With Janet/Jeanette in The Scattered Proud, I’ve inhabited this child-cum-woman’s life in a way I never thought possible. The restraint, the pureness of spirit, the unbridled selfishness, the vexation of good intentions, wishes and desires thwarted, the immediacy of danger and the helplessness against forces that exist outside our grasp, the unexpected good and the impartiality of evil, words of solace in a time when religion informed the framework of lives and provided comfort…

This is a young girl’s journey into womanhood—the events, the sense of place so carefully crafted that it takes one’s breath away. It is a rare talent that an author can ground the reader in a time/space so alien and unfathomable to modern sensibilities, yet have us believe, truly believe that the emotions and actions are like familiar cloaks. We recognize in this period piece even modern truths, perhaps even more so because without the trappings of modernity, the distillation of faith and longing becomes the singular focus.

It is a story about love. There is a sensuality to this that is difficult to describe, though the author finds a way to make us feel a phantom passing, an imagined glance, then cuts it with self-loathing that teeters on martyrdom until we bleed and reel and stagger and doubt even ourselves. Stephanie Meyer, thou dost know not of teenage angst.

It is, in the end, a story of faith, the testing of character, the belief in the nature of man and the reasons why… It is about survival, acquiescence and choices in a time when choice carried a different hue and timbre than they do today. It is about consequences and the unraveling of intentions occurring not in a flash but at a languid pace, glacial, festering—until the ripples magnify and illuminate the ties that bind us all. There is loss and redemption, peace at a price and learning one’s own heart when all around there are naught but limits.

Gev Sweeney quite simply got it right. Five Stars.

About the Author:

Gev Sweeney has been telling tales since sixth grade, when she was caught daydreaming about a failed jungle expedition. She grew up to become a journalist who did everything from getting caught in a riot to shooting a Brown Bess (not during the riot). She advocates historic authenticity in fiction, but forgives Shakespeare for all those horrid anachronisms in Julius Caesar. She lives at the Jersey Shore with her guinea pigs, Auden and Philip Baby-Boar.

Available from:

OMNILIT

SMASHWORDS

KINDLE US
KINDLE UK

STOLEN RAPTURE by Denyse Bridger

2011-11-12T11:22:00.001-05:00

Award Winning Romance Author Denysé Bridger
does it again with the dark paranormal

STOLEN RAPTURE

THE BLURB:

When work brings Deluna Jordan face to face with a man who knows her better than she knows herself, she soon discovers he shares everything with his boss, including lovers…and a thirst for blood…and she is about to become the lucky recipient of all their desires…

THE REVIEW:

I admit to being a bit of a fangirl when it comes to Denysé Bridger’s work. So when I read the blurb to STOLEN RAPTURE, I thought … there’s gonna be hot sex, devastatingly gorgeous vamps, AND a ménage? Oh yeah, baby—I am so there.

His name’s Cord, short for Cordeaux Vincente—with a voice like ‘chocolate silk’ and eyes that will have your undivided (are you drooling yet?). Deluna meets him at the Grayson fashion show, he works for the competition: Falcon’s Flight, and he has those astonishing mismatched eyes for her only. Cord’s boss happens to be Rahve Falcon, a charming alpha with a reputation, one that threatens Cord’s claim to the lovely Deluna.

Deluna has no clue what she’s up against when Cord arrives, late, to take her to dinner. In a stunning display of dominance and submission things proceed apace (this was a good spot to crack the window and let in some cooling air).

Of course, the inevitable happens, Deluna meets the mysterious Rahve at a party, igniting his interest.

The competition between Cord and his boss/partner Rahve is palpable and when Rahve says, “you’re free to join us,” all hell breaks loose with Deluna the recipient of their passions.

The denouement is, let me just say … unexpected (jaw on the floor unexpected).

Denysé has a gift for capturing sensuality, for giving her characters depth and telling a rousing good story—and leaving the reader panting for more. <OK pun intended>

STOLEN RAPTURE is a novella so it’s a great curl-by-the-fire read. And if you’re like me, you’ll read it and then turn right around and read it again. Go ahead … I won’t tell.

Let’s give this novella Five Fangs.

Set your KINDLE on fire!

OUT OF THE PAST by Densyé Bridger

2011-10-31T21:27:00.002-04:00

The Review:

Streets are awash in the blood of women consigned to Toronto's mean streets, unrelated except by circumstance and the mindless bloodlust of a predator whose madness challenges Detective Knightly with barely suppressed memories.

Damien Knightly is well-named for his past and his present meld in unexpected ways, insinuating time and circumstance into the tapestry he weaves as he balances his desire for justice with the demands of who and what he is. His partner, Bonnie, and the medical examiner, Janine Chase, form his close circle as they pursue the madmen slaughtering victims in increasingly hideous fashion, the newspapers dubbing him the "Werewolf'" killer.

What links the victims? What drives Damien to delve into his distant past, seeking answers he may not be prepared to handle, releasing memories of a time when the Ripper stalked the streets in a city an ocean away, yet as near as his maker and the bittersweet emotions of forbidden love. There is one link … Alethia Colbert—a woman dedicated to offering chances and choices for Toronto's underbelly of the forgotten and under-privileged. A woman Damien finds compelling for reasons that link to events and persons that continue to haunt and beguile decades later.

As Detective Knightley struggles with his memories and feelings for Rowena Carrington—the woman he might have possessed for his own, forever—he must also balance his attractions to the women who now play a commanding role in the life he has fashioned, independent of his maker and others of his kind. Past and present wage war as Knightly seeks answers amidst the seemingly impossible evidence confronting his team.

Damien Knightly is a vampire, but one like no other, retaining his humanity in strange and surprising ways. He goes against type, against the madness that his legacy and his future demand. Not so with DeVallier, Damien's maker, his 'father'—a creature of cunning and disdain for the human existence, a creature who desires to bring his wayward offspring back into the fold. And DeVallier is running out of patience … until he too must confront their shared history and the choices each made when one small mistake spiraled out of control.

While vampire and humans unite to track down the killer, another unlikely pairing—Shanna, the psychic, and Noel, a man bearing secrets—find each other through a strange shared destiny and terror unlike any either had ever experienced before. Together they set off on a quest to find the source of the agony each suffers every time the killer strikes. What links these two to the murderer and the seemingly unrelated players on an out-of-control thrill ride that threatens to consume them all?

Damien will face down more than the killer—he will confront his own past and his innermost desires. And help will come from unexpected sources. The impossible becomes real and none who survive will ever be quite the same.

Out of the Past is a crime-mystery, a thriller, a romance—intensely sensual, interweaving 1880's London with present day Toronto in a heady blend of carefully constructed scenes and a cast of characters that bring the story to life with an undeniable authenticity. This is a tale that will satisfy on many levels. I heartily recommend it for your 'must read' list.

Well done, Densyé Bridger. 5 Stars!

Find OUT OF THE PAST on XOXO Publishing's site

Kindle

Bella Signorina by Denysé Bridger

2011-10-29T20:50:00.000-04:00

Bella Signorina by Denysé Bridger

Denysé continues to beguile and captivate with a lovely little novella set in that most romantic of all places: Italia. A woman, a man, a dance floor, sultry attraction, the sweetest music of love and desire. What could possibly go wrong? Enough that I was ready to beat Stefano over the head with his precious photographs. I felt Bianca's confusion and frustration when Stefano pulls back, inexplicably, yet still wearing his heart on his sleeve.

The key to this dance of love lies in knowing the steps. Stefano is more than he seems and it isn't until Bianca understands the man is she ready to follow his lead.

Denyse Bridger is a master at placing us in that most seductive place where all our senses engage, where desire pulses with a physicality that draws us in, leaving us breathless. The ending left me clutching my Kindle with an 'aah'.

Genre: Sweetly sensual contemporary romance
Cover by: Kayden McLeod
Publisher: Solstice Publishing (www.solsticepublishing.com)
Kindle Buy