Audiobook: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Audiobook

Everything I Never Told You
by
Celeste Ng

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Rating:

On a spring morning in 1977, James and Marilyn Lee’s family changes in the worst way when their daughter, Lydia, goes missing. When police find her body at the bottom of the lake in their Ohio town, the agonizing questions begin. What happened? Was it murder or suicide? Lydia’s high school classmates can offer nothing, but her brother, Nath, has an idea who might know: their neighbor and classmate, Jack.

What follows is a painful look at a Chinese-American family and their struggle to understand how a girl who was seemingly happy, was not. Lydia’s story is paralleled by her mother’s abandoned dream to become a doctor. And while Marilyn wants Lydia to pick up the dream, James, who was lonely as the only Chinese boy in school, wants only for his children to fit in as Americans. Now without Lydia, her parents’ dreams are forever lost.

Everything I Never Told You is a story about regrets, unfulfilled dreams, unspoken feelings and the inevitable conflicts and misunderstandings that result. James wants his children to be popular because he was not. Marilyn wants to be nothing like her mother, but when she finds herself married and shackled by children, she puts her dream on Lydia. Lydia wants only to please her mother. Nath dreams of escape and Hannah, their younger sister, just wants someone to notice her. Instead of showing how they feel, they pretend. And when Lydia dies, they can’t reach each other for comfort.

It’s only after Lydia dies that her parents get to know her, but it is too late to understand or change the events. Ng helps the reader understand by going back in time to tell each family member’s story, including Lydia’s friendship with Jack and her final night. A tentative connection suggests healing and hope, based on better communication. But they must all move forward without a full knowledge of what happened.

I enjoyed listening to this story, but I found it depressing, if both words can be in the same sentence. It was more of a compulsive listen because of Ng’s excellent writing and her ability to make the reader/listener feel, which was greatly enhanced by the narrator. I was very moved by her character’s emotions. And while there is hope at the finish, I wanted to rewind and tell the Lee children to act out rather than retreat. The need to please parents is always strong, however, and perhaps their feelings of isolation made them focus only on this.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

Advertisements

When your book club Skypes with an author – it’s a win-win!

Lawrence H. Levy via Skype with Book Club Mom

 

Second Street Station by Lawrence H. Levy

Do you ever look forward to going to work? Well tomorrow I will because Lawrence H. Levy, author of Second Street Station, will be joining our library sponsored mystery book club via Skype. We’ve already connected with him in a test run and are excited to be using our new projection and sound system! Isn’t it great when authors take time to talk with book club readers?

Book Club Mom

Second Street Station
by
Lawrence H. Levy

Rating:

The future looks bleak when Mary Handley is fired from her sweatshop job in Brooklyn. She’d held her tongue long enough at the Lowry Hat Factory and finally gave her boss, the Widow Lowry, a piece of her mind. “After all, if you didn’t call a pig a pig, it might never know it was one,” she tells the widow. Now both poor and jobless, she shows up at her police officer brother’s Second Street Station, hoping for a meal.

It’s 1888 and a lot is going on in New York. Women are starting to demand their rights. Powerful entrepreneurs like J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and Jay Gould are wielding their influence and the genius inventors, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla are in the middle of a war of currents.

In Brooklyn, Mary is not about to listen to her mother’s advice…

View original post 361 more words

What is historical fiction and does it have to be totally accurate?

Image: Pixabay

I’ve been thinking about the relationship between readers of historical fiction and the writers of these popular books. How much of their stories should be fact and how much should be fiction? The genre is, after all, historical fiction, which, I think, gives writers the license to use their imaginations. But what happens when readers take issue?

Dictionary.com defines historical fiction as “narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages.”

Goodreads adds to this definition by explaining that:

“In some historical fiction, famous events appear from points of view not recorded in history, showing historical figures dealing with actual events while depicting them in a way that is not recorded in history. Other times, the historical event or time period complements a story’s narrative, forming a framework and background for the characters’ lives. Sometimes, historical fiction can be for the most part true, but the names of people and places have been in some way altered.”

There is also a term called “alternate history” in which writers speculate what could have happened if certain events ended differently.

---

Are you, as a reader, bothered by a writer’s imagination if the story portrays well-known leaders, heroes or organizations in a not-so-nice way?

---

Consider The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. How much is fact and how much is fiction? Are there really clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and is the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—accurately portrayed? Does the author’s imagination take away from the story, or enhance it?

---

How about Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier? Not much is known about Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and his relationship with the girl in this famous painting. Is it scandalous to suggest he had an affair with a servant girl from his own household?

---

I recently re-read the 2015 historical mystery, Second Street Station by Lawrence H. Levy in which there are many American historical figures from the late 1800s, including Thomas Edison. We all think of Edison as the inventor of the electric light bulb and many other important discoveries that have greatly enhanced our lives. In his book, Levy incorporates some lesser-known facts about Edison, including the inventor’s favorite drink, Vin Mariani, a popular cocaine-laced wine that helped him work around the clock. Levy also portrays Edison as a highly competitive and vindictive businessman, who orchestrated the public electrocutions of dogs, calves and an elephant to demonstrate the dangers of alternating current, which was developed by his chief rival, George Westinghouse. (Read all about the War of Currents here.) And Levy also ties Edison to an unsolved murder of film pioneer, Louis Le Prince, who was the first person to record motion on film and received patents on his devices before Edison. Levy isn’t the first to suggest Edison had something to do with Le Prince’s disappearance, but it’s likely new information for the casual reader.

These books are all great choices for a book club discussion because of the questions they raise. Many of the questions can’t be fully answered. I think that’s why they make great stories!

So can fact and fiction get along in the same novel?
I think so. What do you think?

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

On building an author website – fredrohn.com

It’s finally ready!

I’ve spent the last few months setting up an author website for my father, Fred Rohn. He’s getting ready to launch a new book, Encounters: Relationships in Conflict, and we are going to use as many online tools as we can to market ourselves.

As almost every self-published author has stated in Who’s That Indie Author?, book promotion is the number one challenge for writers who have spent their time writing, not learning marketing techniques. Having an author website, a blog and a social media presence are important promotional strategies.

We found an excellent resource in the Claire McKinney’s guidebook, Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does? I recommend this book to anyone who feels overwhelmed by the task of book promotion.

I hope you’ll take a look at Fred’s new website: fredrohn.com, follow his blog and sign up for updates. Fred is looking forward to sharing many ideas.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

Who’s That Indie Author? Geoffrey M. Cooper

Author name:  Geoffrey M. Cooper

Genre:  Medical Thriller

Book:  The Prize

Bio:  Geoffrey M. Cooper is an experienced cancer researcher and scientific administrator, having held positions as a Professor, Department Chair and Associate Dean at Harvard Medical School and Boston University. He is the author of a leading cell biology text, The Cell, as well as several books on cancer. The Prize is his first novel, in which he brings his background in medical research to life in a tale of fraud, deceit and murder. His second novel, dealing with sexual harassment in science, is in the works.

Favorite thing about being a writer:  Immersing myself in a story and developing characters that take off on their own.

Biggest challenge as an indie author:  Promotion and marketing! Much harder than writing.

Favorite book:  All of Robert Parker’s work, especially his Spenser and Jesse Stone novels. I also love Robin Cook’s and John Grisham’s books.

Contact Information:
Website: geofcooper.com
Twitter: @GeofCooper
Facebook
Amazon

---

Are you an indie author?  Do you want to build your indie author network? Get your name out on Who’s That Indie Author!

Email bvitelli2009@gmail.com for a bio template and other details.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

 

The Storyteller Speaks: Powerful Stories to Win Your Heart by Annika Perry

The Storyteller Speaks: Powerful Stories to Win Your Heart
by
Annika Perry

Rating:

The appeal of short fiction is that it offers a glimpse of a character’s life, a problem, a twist and a quick finish. Annika Perry’s debut collection, The Storyteller Speaks, makes good on this promise in her newly published book of fiction and poetry.

Perry gives the reader twenty-one distinct stories about the daily challenges of marriage, children, friendship, family and loss. Her characters are knowable and likable, even the ones who find themselves on the bad end of a decision. Many of her stories depict the author’s upbringing in Sweden and the United Kingdom, yet show a universal understanding of family and relationships. And even though the stories are separate, the reader begins to develop a sense of community, as it seems as if some of the author’s characters might know each other.

Several standout stories will stick in the reader’s mind because of memorable characters and conflicts. In “The Whiteout Years,” a young widower wonders how he can let go of the heavy burden of guilt. Likewise, a young mother faces a very different future in “Sophia!” after a bizarre and tragic series of events. In one, there is a sign of hope. In the other, an unknown challenge.

Other stories finish with a warm feeling of love and friendship. In “Friends Forever,” Perry’s characters overcome a long and painful break and in “Role-Playing,” happiness is a given when old friends reunite.

But Perry isn’t afraid of exploring difficult or dark subjects. In “The Game,” children playing a seemingly harmless game discover the frightening power of their diversion. And in “Smouldering Shame,” Perry’s characters confront betrayal and a sorrowful tragedy. In “A Rare Passion,” a young man acts on impulse and immediately sees the folly of his decision. Can he fix his mistake in time?

Despite difficult subjects in many stories, Perry offers a strong overlying message of hope, love and family, as shown in her final story, “Loss of a Patriarch” in which a family finds peace and comfort after a beloved father and grandfather dies.

The Storyteller Speaks is a touching look at the challenges of life and relationships, an excellent debut. I look forward to reading more from this promising author.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

The Lincoln Lawyer – the book and the movie

    

I always wonder if the movie version of a book I’ve read will be a good one. You never know how the two are going to match up, so I was happy to see how well the 2011 film of The Lincoln Lawyer matched the book of the same name by Michael Connelly.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Matthew McConaughey plays the lead, but the cast is full of well-knowns, including Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and Bryan Cranston. The story revolves around Mickey Haller, an LA defense attorney whose office is the back of a Lincoln Continental. Haller faces his greatest fear when takes on a wealthy client who has been arrested for assaulting a woman: is his client telling the truth? The words of his famous lawyer father echo in his brain, “There is no client as scary as an innocent man.”

Both the book and the movie tell a swift-moving and entertaining legal crime story. I like Michael Connelly’s writing and enjoyed seeing his characters on-screen. The book, of course, provides a lot more detail and back story, including the connection between Haller and Connelly’s other famous character, Harry Bosch (the two are half-brothers).

I recommend both, but read the book first so you can get the full story in your mind. The movie is pure entertainment!

Click here for a full review of the book.

Want to know more about the movie? See the whole cast and crew on IMDb.com.

And to reward you for reading to the bottom of this post, here’s a nice pic of McConaughey.

Image: Popsugar

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!

Who’s That Indie Author? K.C. Tansley

Author name:  K.C. Tansley

Genre:  YA Time Travel Mysteries

Books:  The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts, The Girl Who Saved Ghosts

    

Bio:  K.C Tansley lives with her warrior lapdog, Emerson, and two quirky golden retrievers on a hill somewhere in Connecticut. She tends to believe in the unbelievables–spells, ghosts, time travel–and writes about them.

Never one to say no to a road trip, she’s climbed the Great Wall twice, hopped on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, and danced the night away in the dunes of Cape Hatteras. She loves the ocean and hates the sun, which makes for interesting beach days.

As Kourtney Heintz, she also writes award winning cross-genre fiction for adults.

Favorite thing about being a writer:  Nailing an emotional beat. After struggling with a scene for weeks, there’s usually a moment when it all comes together and I feel like I’ll hit the readers with just the right mix of visceral reactions, internal thoughts, and body language for them to experience what my character feels.

Biggest challenge as an indie author:  Selling books remains the hardest part of being an indie author.

Favorite books:  City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead, Splintered by A.G. Howard, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Contact Information:  Website: kourtneyheintz.com
Blog: blog.kourtneyheintz.com
Facebook: @kourtneyheintzwriter
Twitter: @KourHei

Awards/special recognition:   The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts (Book 1 of The Unbelievables)

• 2017 EPIC’s Ariana Cover Design Awards Finalist
• 2017 EPIC’s Ebook Award Finalist
• 2016 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Gold Winner
• 2016 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Judges’ Choice Awards Winner
• 2016 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist
• 2016 International Book Awards Finalist
• 2015 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards Finalist

---

Are you an indie author?  Do you want to build your indie author network? Get your name out on Who’s That Indie Author!

Email bvitelli2009@gmail.com for a bio template and other details.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon

 

Setting up the author website – it’s a GPS-worthy journey

Do you ever wish you were a little more high-tech? Or did you think you were already savvy in that realm, until you decided to set up a website?

I’m in the midst of setting up my father’s author website, ahead of his book launch in July. It’s almost ready, but there have been a few bumps along the way. For anyone who’s done this before me, maybe these top ten things have happened to you:

1. You celebrate the news that the domain you want is available!
2. You sweat as you try to learn about all the terms and conditions.
3. You worry about how much is too much to spend on a plan.
4. You cheer when you get through the above steps.
5. You choose a host (WordPress) and feel good because you’ll know your way around.
6. Your head aches when you see that your Dashboard has a lot of things you don’t recognize.
7. You curse yourself for using the same email address as your blog.
8. You wonder what all those plugins do.
9. You notice that the wrong Gravatar is attached to your website.
10. You spend hours and hours trying different themes and figuring out how the tabs work.

I’ve overcome most of these obstacles, but I’m still not ready to share. Do you just jump in with the work in progress?

I think I’ll tinker a little more…

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!