The winner for the Christian parenting book The Minivan Years is Katrina of Callapidder Days!
Congratulations! This was so hard, so many good friends entering, so I couldn’t rig it! 
I wrote all the names down on paper, and MG drew one out of a bowl.
There will be another giveaway soon, so please check back!
Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel, is a unique novel written by Vanna Bonta and newly released audio book, read by the author. She describes the book thusly, “Flight is an adventure of multiple realities”. This is a novel that takes science fiction and fantasy to a different level, to a new world called quantum fiction. Flight blurs the lines between the mundane world and alternate reality, all the while delving into questions of existence and the power of thought. The author describes this new genre:
quantum fiction is literature that embodies the new physical or quantum universe. It involves the view of reality as a multi-dimensional experience in which reality is subjectively seen and uncertainly known.
In Flight, Bonta has created two incredibly unique main characters – Mendel and Aira. Mendle J. Orian is a science fiction writer who is pulled deeply into his books. Aira’s character in Mendle’s novel is a “light being”, able to change forms at will, using thoughts rather than words to convey thoughts and influence others. As Mendle is writing Aira Flight’s story, he starts to see Aira in his mind, starts sketching her, and begins to fall in love with his creation, separating himself further from his demanding ex-girlfriend. Mendle starts to find surprising coincidences between what he is writing and what is happening in “real life”. After Mendle has written that Aira and her companion Onx were sent from their dimension into another as corporeal beings, a stray vegetarian dog appears in the hotel and a woman with amnesia (who happens to look like his character sketch) appears in Mendle’s hotel room bathroom during a Sci Fi convention. He names the new beings in his life Onx and Aira Flight after his characters, and because of their lack of a past – seeming to just appear in his hotel. Are they really the individuals he had written about, or are they from somewhere else?
Vanna Bonta is both a writer and a voice-over actor, and her skills are well utilized in this work. Bonta gives each character a unique tone, bringing an extra depth to all of them as she pulls us into her world. While using a third person narrative, Bonta is able to delve into the thoughts of each character, helping the listener or reader get invested in the world that she has created. The combination of the sound effects of typing and Bonta’s voice keep each character completely unique, a challenge in many audio books. Many authors choose to use vocabulary and language aimed at a 5th level, but Bonta’s word choices in Flight challenge the reader, rather than talking down to readers. As the story continues, she interweaves scientific terms and jargon, which validates Mendle’s theories and further pulls us into the story.
The storylines of Mendle and Aira are running parallel as the novel begins, and when their lives merge we begin to find unusual coincidences between life and the written word. These “coincidences” lead us to many questions as we listen to the novel: Is Aira really Mendle’s character, or is she just an amnesiac who happens to have no bellybutton? Which came first, Aira or Mendel’s writing? What is reality? Are there other dimensions? Are coincidences “just” coincidences? In quantum physics, thoughts affect answers, and you can become like Mendle, “surrounded by his own imagination come to life”.
While the Flight audio book is over 16 hours long, don’t let that deter you from listening to the novel. Vanna Bonta’s voice is entrancing – quickly making an engrossing connection between the listener and the characters; her versatility as a voice actor brings a very realistic feel to the book. Readers or listeners will have difficulty putting down the story – eager to learn what happens next to all of the characters involved. Flight is amazingly positive, life-affirming book, filled with beauty. The combination of the characters, storyline, and Bonta’s voice make the audio book an intense and memorable experience. Flight will exert a magnetic pull on you, and you’ll be stuck on it, waiting for the sequel to be released!
What follows is my email interview with author Jana Richman, the author of the wonderful The Last Cowgirl: A Novel, which I reviewed here.
1. The Last Cowgirl reads as if it were a memoir, the narrative combined with flashbacks to childhood is very powerful. Is the story somewhat autobiographical?
(more…)
Kristin Harmel writes wonderful chick lit and has fun with her titles. Her first book’s title was somewhat innocuous (The Blonde Theory), her second was titled How to Sleep with a Movie Star (reviewed here), and now her soon to be released third book is The Art of French Kissing. The latter two titles are ones that make I blush as I tell someone what I’m reading, but nothing will stop me from reading them – Kristin quickly pulls you into the world and the characters she has created.
We meet Emma, the narrator of The Art of French Kissing, just before her life falls apart – she loses her PR job and her fiancé within 24 hours. When her friend Poppy invites her to come work with her in France, doing PR for a soon-to-be-released musician, Emma can’t say no. Soon she is pushed into a whirlwind dating spree by her Poppy to learn the wonders of kissing Frenchmen, in an attempt to get over Brett. She is also pulled quickly into the “emergencies” that seem to surround her quirky new client, Guillaume. Kristin has created characters with wonderful depth – they all have their plusses and minuses; there are no stereotypes. The characters in The Art of French Kissing feel real, and the adversity they are dealing with also rings true – while there are surprises, nothing feels staged.
I spent some time in Paris in high school (and my first kiss was with a French boy), and it was wonderful to explore it with Emma as she sees the sights, and lives in a little apartment with a view of the Eiffel tower. In the author’s notes, Kristin explains that she had spent a summer in the apartment she has given to Emma and her friend Poppy, she also gives us her picks for where to go and where to eat when visiting Paris. After reading this book, I want to go back now! While I can’t catch a flight tomorrow, I have wonderful mental images to visit thanks to The Art of French Kissing. As Emma explores Paris with various handsome young men, Kristin describes the sights and tastes of Paris so vividly, I could almost taste the baguette.
No chick lit book would be right without a romance, as well as some kind of problem within the romance. But, which romance will it be? A romance with the hot musician Guillaume? or with the hot reporter Gabriel? or back at home with her ex-fiancé Brett? Emma is tempted by all three, and all three have roadblocks and issues. The twists and turns in The Art of French Kissing keep your nose in the book, and while I guessed a couple surprises, there were several more that I wasn’t expecting! It’s rare to find a novel with unexpected surprises, so that made this book all the more wonderful. Kristin’s writing completely engrossed me, and I devoured the book. Not only did I love The Art of French Kissing as I was reading it, it’s brought back my own memories of France and given me wonderful mental images that keep popping into my brain and make me smile.
I highly recommend all of Kristin’s books, and suggest pre-ordering The Art of French Kissing now so you’ll have a chance to read it as soon as it comes out. This is a wonderful example of great chick lit!
This book was received from the publisher for review
Three Million Acres of Flame is the latest Young Adult novel by Canadian author Valerie Sherrard. She has written several other novels for this age range, including Speechless, which we really enjoyed and reviewed here. It’s always wonderful to have a chance to read and review a second book by an author. This time Sherrard has created a fictionalized story that commemorates a part of Canadian history that is often overlooked – the Great Miramichi Fire of 1825. She participated in an interview about the fire, as a part of her book tour. Using a time of crisis and tragedy as a backdrop, Sherrard paints a portrait of a family coping with both big and small problems.
Valerie Sherrard writes some details of the fire in the Author’s note:
The Miramichi Fire took lives [more than 160]. (Among them, a number of my ancestors.) By the time it had run its deadly course, it had burned one fifth of the province – more than three million acres of land. It destroyed buildings, possessions, livestock, and provisions. It left many facing the winter ahead both homeless and impoverished.
The rest of the author note describes in greater detail the facts of the fire and its aftermath. The fictionalized account of the Haverill/Drummond family in Three Million Acres of Flame follows the events of the Miramichi Fire as they really happened, with suspense, fascinating details, and a tender feeling for characters.
At first, the Haverill/Drummond family seems like many families in the 1800s. A widower with a son and a daughter marries a widow with one son, and they try to blend the two families together. Skye is still mourning her mother’s death, feeling that her father married again too quickly. While Skye feels a close bond with her brother Tavish and her father, she wants nothing to do with her new step-mother and new brother Stewart. Skye and her brothers feel like authentic teens – complaining about each other and their parents, teasing, and feeling as if they are the only blended family in the world. Skye goes to school, chatters with her friends about her problems with her step-mother and Stewart, and then does the chores that are needed on a farm. These are warm, normal characters with whom you can easily relate.
The first few chapters lay the groundwork for the rest of Three Million Acres of Flame, molding the characters into unique individuals with their own strengths and before the fire comes. Sherrard helps us understand the world of 1825 – class differences, chores, church, and the town of Newcastle in general. As time passes, Skye starts to grudgingly accept her step-mother and enjoy the warmth and freedom of August. There are day-to-day problems, such as her sadness that her Uncle William (her late mother’s brother) is moving out of their home to work in a logging camp, Tavish developing a crush, and her step-mother is expecting a baby.
Everything changes on October 7, 1825. The dry weather and heat had created the perfect environment for a fire, and the entire population of Newcastle flees from the fire into the Miramichi River that separates their town from neighboring Chatham. Chaos breaks out as separated family members try to find each other, and townsfolk walk the fine line between being in the river deep enough to escape from the flames, but not so deep that you would drown.
Skye’s heart had just started to heal from her mother’s death, and now she has to deal with the deaths of people close to her and the anxiety of not knowing the fate of others. Sherrard writes the novel using the third person, so we can see the aftermath of the fire from Skye’s perspective, as well as her brothers’ perspectives. Once the flames are gone, the inhabitants of Newcastle need to cope with finding places to live and food to eat for the upcoming winter. Sherrard’s storytelling ability is amazing, bringing me to tears several times as I read about the fates of the townspeople and the hardships they had to endure. My heart swelled, though, as I read about the generosity of other Canadians and the townspeople helping each other.
Three Million Acres of Flame is a multi-faceted, intense read. While at first glance it looks like a “disaster book”, it really tells the story of a “normal” family living through extraordinary times. Sherrard doesn’t make her characters infallable, instead she breathes life into them as she shows Skye’s jealous streak, Tavish’s tenderness, and Stewart’s propensity for teasing as we follow a year of their lives. Using strong female and male characters to drive the story, the reader ends up learning about a compelling time in history as well as becoming invested in what happens next for each of the characters. It felt like I had walked into the 1800’s and visited with friends.
I highly recommend Three Million Acres of Flame for the young adult audience (boys and girls), as well as for adults. There are some graphic descriptions of the aftermath of the fire, so I would not suggest it for tweens. While parts of the book are quite sad, this is not a depressing book at all. Valerie Sherrard has done fantastic work with this engrossing novel, it was very difficult to put down!
This book was received from the publisher for review
Lucky reader Katrina won a copy of The Minivan Years.
I have 3 daughters under age 10, and everyone has playdates, activities, and errands. I know I spend far more time in my minivan than I ever expected! I love being home with my daughters, but there are a few moments here and there that aren’t fun. I was interested in having the opportunity to review The Minivan Years: Celebrating the Hectic Joys of Motherhood, to read another mom’s experiences parenting young children. A minivan can be a small, shrill place for even the loveliest daughters, dogs, snacks, and sand toys!
The Minivan Years: Celebrating the Hectic Joys of Motherhood is a collection of essays by Olivia Bruner which brings attention to the good parts of life with young and busy children. While pointing out the positives, Bruner uses Christian messages as well as anecdotes from her daily life and the lives of her friends and family. You may recognize Bruner’s name from her earlier book Playstation Nation, which she co-authored with her husband, Kurt Bruner. Their names may also be familiar because of their close work with Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson.
If you are a Christian mom who is feeling frazzled, this is the book for you! Whether you are stressed by the number of things you have to do each bedtime, or having to reheat dinner before eating it, or even simply the amount of time you are stuck in the car, there are simple ideas on how to make you and your family happier. It’s great to see simple, insightful ideas; Bruner knows that giving overwhelmed parents complex ideas to reduce stress would only cause more stress! Each chapter highlights a certain area of life that can be challenging, and then gives tips to help lower your stress level and increase family harmony. Bruner intersperses her tips for keeping a positive attitude during The Minivan Years with quotes from Scriptures and lessons from the Bible. Don’t think because Bruner is quoting Scripture and discussing her faith throughout the chapters, that she has a holier-than-thou attitude; she is funny and self-deprecating as she talks about her own parenting mishaps. You can’t help but laugh with her when her two year old goes outside and knocks on the neighbor’s door dressed only in bubbles!
If you are not Christian, this book is not likely to be a good fit. The religious message is very strongly tied with the parenting tips, so it would be difficult to “bleep” over the Christian aspects. Depending on your comfort level with Christian theology, you may wish to look through it, as Bruner has some wonderful ideas that anyone can use.
Some of the nuggets from The Minivan Years I really enjoyed were:
If you are a devout Christian with young kids, I highly recommend picking up The Minivan Years. It will give you some ideas about picking your battles and realize that “if a perfect parent like God encounters mishaps, I suppose you and I are in good company.” (p. 15) Olivia Bruner has a lovely sense of humor, and she intertwines real examples of parenting mishaps along with guidance from the Bible and changes her family made so their lives would become easier.
If you have a different belief structure, I recommend looking at The Minivan Years at the library or a bookstore prior to purchasing it. Depending on your comfort level, it may or may not be a book that could give you a some new ideas.
This book was received from the publisher for review
Thank you to everyone who commented!
I recently reviewed two memoirs, mentioning that they read like novels. Now we have found a novel that felt like a memoir. In The Last Cowgirl: A Novel, Jana Richman has brought her main character, Dickie Sinfield to life through a combination of contemporary narrative and flashbacks to childhood memories. The Last Cowgirl is a book about a woman coming to terms with her childhood on a cattle ranch, and her life in the 30 years since she left it.
When she was 7 years old, Dickie’s father George moved the family from a suburb of Salt Lake City to a ranch in the rural town of Clayton, complete with cows and horses. Dickie tells us at the beginning of the novel:
Since then – nearly forty-six years ago – I’ve blamed anything that needed blaming on what Annie refers to it as Dad’s “Gil Favor complex.”
Dickie’s older brother Heber thrived, loving the change, while older sister Annie and mother Ruth ignored the move, continuing to be fashionable and ladylike. Dickie was stuck in the middle, and ended up torn between the two extremes. While she would say that she hated life in Clayton, she loved riding in the wilderness with her new friend Stumpy and helping their neighbor, Bev, with her garden and ranch. Dickie was a sensitive child who had thrived on orderliness of the green grass, sidewalks, and curbs, and felt out of her element in the relative wilderness of Clayton. Dickie’s character comes across well in this quote about her unsettled feelings during childhood:
It was the last three words that got to me. The three words I’d been hearing my entire life. Dropped off a horse onto her head. She’ll be fine. Dragged by a steer. She’ll be fine. Lost in the mountains. She’ll be fine. Branded. She’ll be fine. Shot at. She’ll be fine. At what point, I wondered, do the actions of grown-ups add up to a child who actually won’t be fine?
Dickie leaves Clayton right after graduation with a college scholarship for a journalism program, then leads a very orderly life in Salt Lake City as a prominent writer for a Mormon newspaper. She has a house, a yard with a garden, a couple friends, and a neighbor who she has been casually dating for over 10 years. Dickie’s orderly life is reminiscent of her suburban life prior to the move to Clayton. She has also tried to leave behind any emotional messiness; we are left only with hints about a past relationship. Dickie’s liberal beliefs set her apart from most of the people at work and help her keep her distance from others, making her life very compartmentalized. The Last Cowgirl challenges its narrator to let go of her control, and brings the reader along for the wonderful ride, galloping beside her.
Using Dickie’s voice to tell the story, Richman makes The Last Cowgirl very personal. As we read her memories from childhood, we build a strong connection with her. Dickie’s friends, family, and neighbors become like friends to us as we see them from her childhood through her adulthood. Richman writes very detailed descriptions, and while I’ve never been to Utah, I can now picture the landscape around the ranch in great detail; Richman has painted vivid images that have stayed in my mind long after I closed the book. My mind’s eye is stuck on a hidden canyon with wild horses…
I’m glad I took The Last Cowgirl off my shelf on a day when my daughters weren’t home, because nothing could make me put it down! As it was, I ignored my husband, dogs, and computer while I was caught in the world Richman spun around Dickie Sinfield. The Last Cowgirl had me laughing, crying, and reading quotes out loud, completely enraptured by the story. Make sure you’ve got some free time when you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.
I strongly recommend reading The Last Cowgirl, not only so you can read about Dickie’s unique childhood escapades, but also to read her journey from keeping everyone at arm’s length to trying to achieve happiness. As you follow your own trail, spend a few hours reading The Last Cowgirl to help bring you some smiles along the way.
This book was received from the publisher for review
