Book Review: Promise the Night by Michaela MacColl

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Promise the Night cover imageIn the early 1900s a girl named Beryl Clutterbuck was growing up on a ranch in what was then British East Africa. With a mother who had returned to England when she was a baby and a father who had little time to spend on raising her, Beryl grew up wild and as resistant to taming as the land around her. Her best friend was a native boy, Kibii, and she wanted to train to be a Nandi warrior.

Beryl’s fierce sense of daring and adventure never left her, and she later went on to be Beryl Markham, the first pilot to fly solo from England to North America. Promise the Night is a work of historical fiction by Michaela MacColl that weaves real life incidents from Beryl’s pre-teen years with rich details of African life. The result is a fascinating portrait of a girl who is courageous, independent, unconventional, and not always likeable.

Promise the Night also paints a vivid picture of Africa during those times. White settlers came for the vast tracts of land they could buy for farming, ranching and other pursuits. Inevitably, there were conflicts with black natives who were looked down on for what were considered primitive ways.

Tales of lion hunts, leopard attacks, encounters with baboons and horse races are thrilling to read about, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself alternately cheering for Beryl and appalled by her sometimes bristly nature. Promise the Night brings a part of her childhood to life while also interspersing notes from her solo trip across the Atlantic.

I first learned about Beryl Markham when I read her memoir, West With the Night. While I really like that book a lot, it’s not accessible for younger readers. Promise the Night fills in that gap and introduces younger readers to this remarkable woman. I highly recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 9 to 13. I also believe boys will like this book equally as well as girls.

P.S. You may also want to check out the discussion guide for this book at MacColl’s website. AYou may also want to read the first chapter of Promise the Night.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Growing Up Jewish in a Small Town in America: A Memoir by Elaine Fantle Shimberg

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Here’s a guest book review by author Christina Hamlett (AuthorHamlett.com).

Title: “Growing Up Jewish in Small Town America: A Memoir”
Author: Elaine Fantle Shimberg
Published in 2011, Abernathy House Publishing

Among the numerous delights in Elaine Fantle Shimberg’s latest release, Growing Up Jewish in Small Town America: A Memoir, are the inclusion of quotes that speak as much to Jewish culture and philosophy as they do to the universally bewildering dichotomy of wanting to blend in and yet still stand out as unique. Shimberg’s fond recollections of being one of the 32 Jewish families living in 1940’s Fort Dodge, Iowa are funny, conversational and reminiscent of a safer era in which kids could ride their bicycles after dusk down neighborhood streets and not worry about ending up on the back of a milk carton. The black and white captioned photographs sprinkled throughout the text are sweet frosting on an already delicious cake, and it’s easy to see how the young Elaine’s curiosity, daredevil sense of adventure, and unabashed mirth laid the foundation for such a successful career as an author, columnist and talk show host when she grew up.

As a former actress, I can likewise find much to relate to in her anecdotes about treading the boards as the Virgin Mary at her kindergarten’s Christmas pageant and turning her time in the spotlight into a boisterous solo of “Rock a Bye Baby.” That she disavows blame or credit for her embarrassed teacher later joining a convent is one of many humorous postscript remarks guaranteed to have liquid come out of your nose if you’re foolish enough to be drinking while reading.

What I especially admire about Shimberg’s breezy and approachable style is that she doesn’t resort to one of the common practices of others who have penned life stories; specifically, their penchant for analyzing, interpreting and justifying actions and events from the 20/20 perspective of adulthood instead of just relating them from the innocence of memory. Though written decades after-the-fact, the voice in which she whimsically brings her past to life is that of an inquisitively impatient young adult who wants to rush headlong into the future and yet recognizes that – like Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” – everything that defines her true values has not only been with her all along but was shaped by the experiences of her ancestors, themselves strangers once upon a time in a strange land.

Shimberg’s book will resonate as much with teenagers starting out on their own journey as it will with well traveled adults caught up in the introspection of all the roads not taken. If I have any criticism at all of the book, it’s that it was much too short. One can only hope that this exceptional storyteller has many more chapters and pictures up her sleeve that will entertain us in the coming years.

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Red Beans and Rice—Great Recipe to Make for Book Club

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When I was growing up in southern  Louisiana, we ate red beans and rice once or twice a month. For many in New Orleans, the tradition is to serve this easy dish every Monday to start the week out right. A pot of red beans simmering on the stove will certainly feed a crowd, which makes it a good, easy dish to serve for your book club members.

The key to cooking good red beans and rice is to allow enough time, about three to four hours, so the beans have time to soften. To make a creamier dish (my favorite), mash the beans against the side of the pot once they are soft enough. The nice thing is you can cook this on the weekend before your book club meets and heat it up again the night of your event. The extra time it sits only helps the flavors get more intense. You can also freeze your beans and reheat if you want to make this dish well in advance. Here’s the recipe I got from my mama that I make for my own family.

Red Beans and Rice

  • 1 lb. kidney beans, picked clean of bad beans and washed
  • 1 lb. smoked pork sausage, or spicy sausage such as andouille
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium green pepper, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Soak the washed beans overnight in a four-quart pot. In the same soaking water, bring beans to a boil. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper and bay leaf. Lower heat and simmer about one and a half hours.

Add sausage and oil. Simmer one and a half hours longer or until beans are tender.

Serve over cooked rice. For a complete meal, add cornbread muffins and a green salad with fruit on the side.

First Kisses and a Book Giveaway from Melissa Kantor

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Yesterday, I reviewed Melissa Kantor’s book, The Darlings in Love. Today, I’m thrilled to feature Melissa’s great essay on first kisses, both experiencing them and writing about them. Plus, Melissa is giving away two copies of The Darlings in Love to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com. Just leave a comment here with a memory of your first kiss or thoughts of first kisses in general and you’ll be entered to win. Comment before midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on Wednesday, January 25 to be eligible. Addresses in the U.S. and Canada only please. (Please note: the giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Caryn and Kimberly on winning.)

Why I Love to Write A first Kiss

Melissa Kantor photo

Melissa Kantor

My first kiss was such a debacle that when I blogged about it (http://melissakantorauthor.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-first-kiss-and-most-embarrassing.html), complete strangers wrote in to express their sympathy.

Luckily, though my first kiss was a train wreck, later first kisses (that is, the first kisses I had with the boys who followed that first boy) were not. In fact, when I think back on the Greatest Moments of my life, there are definitely a couple of first kisses that make the Top Ten. Unlike most other memorable experiences—including college graduation (terrifying) a wedding (expensive, stressful) and childbirth (painful/messy)—first kisses have absolutely no down side. After days, weeks, months or even years of back and forth, maybes and maybe nots, suddenly…you know. First kisses are question and answer, taking off and coming home. Time stops during a first kiss even as it races forward. You step back and (if it’s a good first kiss), you find you are grinning in spite of yourself. They are the ultimate Yes!

Sadly, if all your dreams come true and you find yourself happily married to a wonderful man, first kisses are no longer a part of your life. But given that they’re one of life’s greatest pleasures (not to mention free of charge and calories), what’s a girl to do?

It’s a conundrum I’ve resolved by living vicariously through my characters. My books are all about teenage girls, and each of these girls is someone I like and relate to. Sadly, despite my very real affection for these girls, I have to beat them up. Constantly. No sooner do I create them than I give them a crush who doesn’t like them back, parents who are getting divorced or a best friend they’re not speaking to. What we call plot is really sadism—your character wants something and you won’t let her have it.

Which is where first kisses come in. After humiliating, disappointing and generally destroying my characters, I feel I owe them something. And what could be a better reward for all she’s suffered than a perfect, spine-tingling, heart-stopping first kiss. She sees him across a stage, a dance floor, a rec room a…well, you get the idea. Their eyes lock. They cross the space that separates them. And then…sparks fly.

For them and for me, it’s a perfect moment. If you’re a mother, maybe all your first kisses are behind you. If you’re a daughter, maybe all your first kisses are ahead of you. Regardless, isn’t it nice that you can both enjoy reading first kisses as much as we writers enjoy writing them?

To read the first chapter of The Breakup Bible (it’s got a yummy first kiss in it), go to: http://www.melissakantor.com/breakupbible.html .

To tell me about your first kiss (or to read about mine), go to http://www.melissakantor.com and click on my blog.

To read the first chapter of The Darlings in Love (there’s no kiss in the first chapter, but the book’s got two), go to http://www.melissakantor.com/darlingsinlove.html.

 

 

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Book Review: The Darlings in Love by Melissa Kantor

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The Darlngs in Love cover imageIn The Darlings Are Forever, Jane, Victoria and Natalya, who have been friends for years, were separated  for the first time in years when they left the school they attended until 8th grade and each went to different high schools.

The Darlings in Love by Melissa Kantor continues the saga of their freshman year, this time looking at how each girl approaches being in a relationship with a boy. Jane is headstrong and confident, and she pursues Simon even though he gives off mixed signals about what he really wants. Natalya is a bit more reserved, and she’s a little unsure of how to approach the wealthy people she’s surrounded by since she got her scholarship to a prestigious private school. Colin is one of those. While they seem so at ease when they are with each other, she’s not sure she can ever fit into his upscale lifestyle. Victoria is not afraid to let Jack know she loves him, but she wonders if they really have enough in common to hold them together.

Together the girls help each other navigate the often-confusing waters of first-time love. How do you interpret the signals you’re getting from a guy about your relationship? Do you give up after the first sign of trouble, or do you try to fix the problem? What happens is a guy tells you he likes you, but he’s dating someone else? What if you find out he likes someone else more than you?

These and other issues are sure to be on the minds of girls who read The Darlings in Love, and Kantor keeps each personality true to itself as she helps her characters figure out the answers to their own questions. Through it all, Jane, Natalya and Victoria have each other to lean on during the rough times and to celebrate with during the good times. I recommend The Darlings in Love for girls aged 11 and up.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Say You’ll Be Mine by Julia Amante

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Say You'll Be Mine cover imageIsabel has always done what she was expected to do. She helped her parents run their winery in California, and she took care of them both before they died. She let her ex-husband Nick stay on at the winery even after their divorce, because she knew he needed stability in his life. Now she’s on the cusp of selling the winery and free to do whatever she wants for the first time in her life.

Then news reaches Isabel of her cousin’s death in Argentina, and she learns Brenda has named her guardian of her three children. She sets out to handle the situation like any other business transaction she has encountered. Only this time, she’s not familiar with the rules and the children don’t respond the way business associates would. Isabel must decide if accepting her cousin’s wishes is the right thing to do, or if it would be better for everyone involved if she finds a more suitable guardian. Complicating matters is that Nick decides he wants to be part of her future.

Say You’ll Be Mine by Julia Amante takes a look at what happens to a woman in her 40s when life throws her a curve ball. Julia herself grew up in Argentina, and part of her heart still belongs there. She’s always been strong, which means that while she’s good at negotiating, she doesn’t often let down her guard even to herself. Consequently, she’s lost the ability to even know what she truly wants. She loves her cousin’s children, but she’s not sure she knows how to be a mother to them. She must sort out all of her conflicting emotions and make decisions that will affect the rest of her life. The question is, can she do that before she takes steps that will limit her options.

Say You’ll Be Mine is full of complicated, flawed characters who are trying to do the right thing for themselves and the people around them. They don’t always know the right path to take, which means they make decisions that may make them unlikeable for some time. In the end, it’s their ability to concede past mistakes that helps them move into the future.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: The Traitor’s Wife by Kathleen Kent

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The Traitor's Wife cover imageMartha Allen is 22 and well past the age when her family started to think of marriage for her. But her hard disposition has attracted no man who would marry her, and so she is sent to live with her cousin Patience and help with the household while Patience goes through a difficult pregnancy.

Lie is hard in rural Massachusetts during the late 1600s, and Martha is a big help. She finds herself attracted to Thomas, an indentured man who helps to run the farm. There are whisperings that Thomas has a secret to hide, that he was somehow involved in Cromwell’s execution of England’s king years before. Whatever happened in his past, it now threatens to shatter the peaceful existence that has settled over the household.

The Traitor’s Wife by Kathleen Kent tells the beginning of the story of Martha Allen and Thomas Carrier, the parents of Sarah Carrier in The Heretic’s Daughter. In this prequel, Kent once again brings this time in the early years of the Massachusetts colony alive. There were fears of violent natives on the prowl, the plague, and mischief-makers from England. This new frontier was a hard place to live, and despite the separation of colonists they depended on each other to stay alive.

In The Heretic’s Daughter, Sarah struggles to understand her mother and the hard exterior she shows to the world. Here, Martha is revealed as someone who has a backbone of steel, but it’s a rigidness born of necessity as much as personality. The same goes for Thomas, who is reluctant to involve anyone else in protecting him from his past, but is eager to begin anew in this raw country.

Through Kent’s research and masterful storytelling, she has created another fascinating tale that draws on family stories of her very real ancestors. I recommend The Traitor’s Wife for anyone who loves historical fiction.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King

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Everybody Sees the Ants cover imageLucky Linderman has had to face a lot of challenges in his 14 years. His grandfather has been missing in action since being captured in Laos during the Vietnam War. His father doesn’t really talk to him about anything important, and his mother escapes the home life tension by swimming laps every day. Then there’s Nader McMillan, the bully who has abused Lucky repeatedly since they were seven. When Nader goes too far one day, Lucky’s mom takes him from their home in Pennsylvania to stay with family in Arizona for a few weeks.

Outside of his regular environment, Lucky has a chance to gain a new perspective on everything in his life and decide what he’s going to do going forward.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King is a powerful and gripping story about an uncomfortable subject. Lucky’s parents know he’s being bullied, but their initial efforts to do something about it prove fruitless. Eventually, they give up. Most of the people in Lucky’s life turn a blind eye to Nader’s abuse because they don’t know what to do about it. With no one to guide him on resisting, Lucky avoids Nader when possible and takes whatever Nader gives out when he can’t.

Over the years Lucky has learned to escape into a world where he is rescuing his grandfather from his captors. In his dreams he is more powerful than in real life, and he finds a way to work through the issues that bother him. The question is, will Lucky be able to figure out how to rescue himself without doing something drastic?

Everybody Sees the Ants doesn’t flinch at the brutal reality of war zones, whether they are on the playground or in the jungle. It refuses to turn that blind eye to the consequences of those brutal actions: children who grow up without fathers, parents who blame each other for their ineffectiveness and grow apart, and a society that doesn’t protect the vulnerable. It’s not an easy book to read, but it is an important one. I highly recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 14 and up.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

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