The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom was recommended to me by my friend Mary Beth. As she has always had exquisite taste, I knew this book would be a read I enjoyed. And it was.

It was also a read that exhausted me, spent me emotionally. Life during the late 1700's and early 1800's was terribly hard, physically demanding, and racked with illnesses they could not treat. I found my heart pulled through my chest and drug through the same tobacco fields the people of the time period worked, caked and baked in sugar dust, doped with laudanum and laced with love. I cannot tell you it is a happy story, but I can tell you it is a shockingly true story. While not based in fact, but in fiction, the picture painted by Ms. Grissom is of details you simply know are true.

The Kitchen House chronicles the journey of a young Irish girl, Lavinia, striped from her deceased parents and brought to America as an indentured servant. She is sent to live in the kitchen house with Belle (the Master's mixed daughter) and her family. Although she is white, as a child, she serves the house and the family as one of the slaves. [Side note: I was unaware of the amount of Irish people brought over to America to serve as slaves. I find this detail interesting and extremely thought provoking. Research will be done.]

As Lavinia ages, because of her precocious nature, her wild red hair and her hazel eyes, she is given an opportunity to become educated, to live as a "white" person in Williamsburg with her Aunt and Uncle, by relation of the Master's wife. Her fortune proves to be good for her academically and socially, but Lavinia longs for her family, for Papa George and Mama Mae, for Belle, the twins she befriended as a child, and the babies she's helped raise - a myriad of mixed children forged via rape from the young Master's son, the field keeper Rankin (talk about a character that will disgust you!), and other white men looking to sow their wild oats.

Throughout this painful, yet endearing novel, a story of tolerance, of struggle, of heartache, and of hope  pierces the reader's soul. It's historically accurate and fictionally sound. I loved the details, the history, and the characters, all drawn in real life accuracy.

The Kitchen House is the kind of book that stays with you, with characters connected deep within the root of person, down to the very essence of humanity.

A definite five stars. A must-read.

The Kitchen House is Kathleen Grissom's first novel. For more about her and her upcoming sophomore book release, Crow Mary (of which I will certainly read) visit her website at:  http://www.kathleengrissom.com/thekitchenhouse.htm

The Karmic Connection by Libby Mercer

This past December I did a review for Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer, a fun read about a creative artist that reinvents her life. About a month ago, Libby Mercer contacted me again for another book review and I was happy to oblige.

The cover reveal was posted on March 22, and tonight I'm honored to post the review of the book.  In a word - LOVE!!!!

Lorraine Jameson is the picture of peace, the picture of health, the picture of beauty with long dark hair and eyes that beckon a person's trust; sincere and kind. She is the Yoga instructor at Luna Wellness Center, a place one goes to find peace and harmony, reconnect with their soul. Adam Stowe is her polar opposite - career obsessed, success obsessed, money obsessed, the very definition of a work-a-holic. 

When Adam's boss decides that Adam has put in one too many hours (or hundreds, really) he basically kidnaps Adam and packs him off with a first class ticket to finding inner peace. Adam is livid, he wants nothing more than to break free of this hippie-dippie, yoga lovin', granola eatin', victory garden hell of a jail. But, much to Adam's dismay, he has to play nice or Celeste, the owner of Luna Wellness Center, won't give him a clean bill of health to return to the daily grind. Damnit!

Lucky for Adam, the Universe has other plans. Adam meets Lorraine, and he is captivated by her beauty, her strength, and her damn inner peace that no matter how many deep breaths he takes or yoga poses he tries to do, he simply cannot master the inner calm she seems to have. 

However, Adam will soon learn that inner peace is often found through turmoil and Lorraine isn't exactly as she seems - but then again, are any of us really?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Libby Mercer has such a fantastic light, but thoughtful way of writing. I felt like I was walking through clouds, dancing with daisies, and sipping sunshine as I went through the days expectations of Luna Wellness Center. I'm ready to pack my bags and find one somewhere in TN. (Anyone know where one is?) The character of Lorraine captured me right from the start, and as I learned more about her I could really relate to her life, her battles, and her ability to press forward, to be positive. Adam took a little more time to grow on me, but as the ice melted from him, he found a place in my heart, too.

This novels certainly leans heavily towards the ideas of Gods and plans of the Universe, but I think there is merit in the idea that we can be one with nature and I don't think that renounces my firm belief in the Christian God. I believe they are many facets to the idea of spirituality and the way Mercer embraces them within the context of wellness made me feel at peace myself. I also have the sudden urge to mix lavender and vanilla scents for clarity and relaxation.

I think this is a perfect Spring time read. It lends itself to beginning again, finding a new and better self. And that's often the symbolic nature of Spring - shedding the old so the fresh and tender side of life can emerge after the ice melts and the haze of winter fades. I recommend picking up this book!

This book is available on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1046570305?ean=2940016521626

http://www.amazon.com/The-Karmic-Connection-ebook/dp/B00CIY1OEW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1366923034&sr=8-4&keywords=the+karmic+connection

 I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

About Libby Mercer:

Born and raised in the Midwest, Libby Mercer's adventurous spirit kicked in after graduating from high school and she's since lived in Boston, NYC and London. San Francisco is the city that she currently calls home. For several years, Libby worked in fashion -- first as a journalist and then as a shopkeeper, and for a while she dabbled in design. Fashioning a Romance was Libby's first published novel and Unmasking Maya is her second. 

Check out Libby's blog here: http://libby-mercer.blogspot.com/

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, A Review

I finished this book Tuesday. I've been sitting on this review for five days because I don't know how to write it. Yeah - me...at a loss for words. I assure you, my readers, this is not something that happens often.

I cannot say with enough emphasis that every person I know (or don't) should read this book. I'm even nagging my husband to read it because I MUST discuss this novel with someone - soon!  Why are there no literary reading groups in Clarksville, TN??? (Mom, Dad - are you reading this blog???  READ THIS BOOK - we have to talk about it!!!)  It is, hands down, the BEST book I have read in quite a long time. The writing, the plot, the twisted internal conflict, the lengthy disturbing monologues, the sociopathic diatribe of the characters - all FANTASTIC. Fantastic feels cheap as I write this; words fail me.

I want to harp on the writing here - well written. Just. Well. Written. A colleague and I discussed Friday how neither of us had any use for a book, regardless of plot, if it wasn't well written (I believe he referred to the horrid Fifty Shades of Gray (Hair) as an example of possibly the crappiest piece of shit on the market...but I digress). This book is impeccable. The language, the vocabulary, the sentence structure all in unison for full effect of the plot, which is also, well, fantastic.

Amazing Amy has it all, except a man. She's spent her life being the focus of her parents very lucrative children's book series based on her.  She IS Amazing Amy. And you will love her, and then you will love to hate her, and then you will love her because she's just so damn smart you can't not love her - the tennis match is endless, or maybe racquet ball, far more intense than tennis. Yes, racquet ball - angry, sweaty, slamming the ball off the wall to the glass and then BAM! hit your partner in the back of the head angry racquet ball.

And as Amy lives her sad little "poor me" life, Nick Dunne enters. "Just one olive" Nick Dunne. Dashing, perfect, smiling, Mama's boy (his mother still peels his oranges and cuts the crusts off his bread even though he's well into his thirties) Nick Dunne. Nick loves Amy. Amy loves Nick. Life is grand.

Wait, no one wants to read that book, because frankly, life isn't grand. It is blessed, it is doting, it is caring, it is cruel, but it is not always grand. Enter destruction - Mama's dying. With this life changing event looming in the air, prodigal son (sort of) Nick must return from New York to Missouri (a risk made much easier by the fact that the online industry has killed off the magazine writer and both he and Amy are currently unemployed- side note...super glad I received this book in hardback rather than on my Kindle or I would have felt like a hypocrite reading it). Mama's dies  - you saw it coming. No one uproots their lives for an ailing parent that's going to make it. But, Nick wants to remain in small town USA, slipping back into his old life, his old self, and most notably upsetting his new wife.

Make no mistake about it folks, Amy is pissed.

Read. This. Book.  

From the book cover:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made with Nick Dunne's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams and the slope and shape of his wife's head, but hearing Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media - as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents - the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter - but is her really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

For more about Gillian Flynn, visit her website at http://gillian-flynn.com

I will certainly read both her other novels, Sharp Objects and Dark Places soon. In true book format, of course.

Blood Echo by Melissa Simonson

Every so often a book comes along that hooks you from the opening line. Blood Echo by Melissa Simonson is that book. From page one, I was knee deep the red waves of mystery.

There is a dark, but warm, quality that encompasses the writing style of Melissa Simonson. She evokes pity for characters that a reader would normally deem unlovable and that speaks volumes for her talent!

Estella and Iris were best friends. Not just a simple concept of  best friends, but tried and true, dark and twisted, connected like blood, but thicker, best friends. They've survived struggle unknown to many, and faced loneliness with only each other to cling. And then tragedy strikes (I won't tell you what - you'll have to read to find out!) and Iris finds herself in a world unknown, one without her best friend (however, it does seem some bonds are forever).

But this world is more foreign than Iris could have imagined. Armed with a new twist on her own life, she dips in and out of emotionally charged moments, some devastating to her own well being. Yet, as she learns to control her new fate, Iris opens herself to possibilities, opportunities if you will, to make certain things right.

From exasperating characters like Darren to endearing characters like Fred, Blood Echo will leave the reader thirsting for more. Lovers of series such as The Southern Vampire Mysteries (aka True Blood) will be sure to love Blood Echo; this is not Twilight fan fiction!

Blood Echo can be purchased through the following retailers:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Echo-ebook/dp/B00C7FCBIK

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-echo-melissa-simonson/1114957479?ean=2940016747651

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Blood-Echo/book-CHsjtORUbUev5MO5c-3f_g/page1.html?s=BlUwsxcHEkaf6Yq9-cDqGw&r=1

About Melissa Simonson via Red Adpet Publishing:
Melissa Simonson has been writing for four years and started mainly out of weekend boredom. She's a self-professed caffeine addict and a terrible driver; she has a weird fascination with rosary beads, complicated cocktails, and diet coke.

When she's not writing, she can be found watching endless hours of Dexter and Weeds and reading dark, gritty fiction.
Since she saw Jason Statham in her favorite movie Snatch, Melissa has wanted to marry him.

She lives in Southern California with her four year old son, Liam, who is already smarter than she is.

 For more about Melissa Simonson, visit her blog at http://lissasimonson.wordpress.com/

And just in case this wasn't enough - Red Adept is doing fantastic giveaway with this novel. Enter for your chance to win!

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Guest Post: Jasmine Giacomo (Author of Rebel Elements)

Authors are such truly creative people. We often don't give them enough credit for taking us out of the reality we live in and plunging into a world where truly anything can happen. Writers create magic, and that is exactly what my guest post by Jasmine Giacomo writes about today. Please enjoy!

Magic is my Normal

Magic runs in my blood. It drives me to write fantasy fiction. I wrote my first fantasy story at age 14, but I don’t remember ever reading any fantasy before that point. I suppose I had a few fairy tale storybooks when I was very small—I distinctly remember reading the Snow White Golden Book to my stuffed animals at age four. When I was a little older, I ate up the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, and anything with adventure in it (Huckleberry Finn, anyone?). But fantasy?

I have a pretty solid theory on how this magic got into me. I grew up in a conservative Christian household (hence the no-fantasy childhood). But you know what I did have? A Bible full of amazing, magical stories about time running in reverse, people rising from the dead, heroes in both genders, crazy battlefield confrontations, and straight-up miracles that saved the day.

You’ve got your coming-of-age stories, your quests, your good-vs-evil for the sake of the planet. You’ve got angels, demons, monsters, villains, and awesomely flawed heroes. Deities clash, power corrupts. Powerful beings communicate in dreams, and prophecies come true—or seem to contradict until that final twist. Protagonists get cheated, beaten, ignored, or murdered. In true epic fashion, centuries pass and a hero’s descendants get to play their own roles in the future of their realm. And everyone has cool names, even if you can’t always pronounce them.

Once I started writing my own short fantasy stories, I fell in love with the Dragonlance books. I read those all throughout my high school years, and just ate them all up. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman gave me a glorious new world to delve into. I inhaled the world they created, their world-changing Cataclysm, the characters that spread across the face of Krynn.

The conflicts they crafted were always entertaining to me—and on a world with several different creature races, someone’s always in conflict with someone else—and sometimes with the gods themselves. Caramon, Tanis, Flint, Tasslehoff, and Kaz were my favorites.

The books eventually told stories about the original heroes’ children, as well. Truly epic. One of my favorite feelings when I read a good fantasy story is the belief that the characters and their world will continue to move forward in time, even after I stop reading at the end of the series. I definitely got that sensation from the Dragonlance novels, and it’s something I’ve craved from every fantasy book I’ve read since.

We grow up from childhood into our teen years, and whatever we have around us, that’s our normal. My normal involved magic, and lots of it. I want to live in a world that has magic, so I do. Even if I have to write it into existence myself.

Jasmine currently has a new release out entitled Rebel Elements and I'm thrilled to kick off her "Rebel Tour" with Red Adept Publishing.

Rebel Elements

First Seal of the Duelists

Bayan’s life is busy but rewarding as he trains to take over his father’s successful farm, until the day his elemental magic manifests. Philo, a eunuch of the Waarden Empire, must follow the law and send Bayan to the distant Duelist Academy to hone his skills—where the empire will claim him as its own property for life.

Before Bayan can reach the Academy campus, he and Philo are attacked by bandits who leave behind a mysterious item. While Philo tracks down its true importance through ancient archives and noble manors, Bayan struggles to fit in at the Academy, where his anger at his situation gets him into as much trouble as his outlander appearance. Worse, his rage poisons his magic, tainting it.

To complicate matters further, an assassin’s strike leads Bayan and Philo to uncover a mysterious, deadly plot whose successful outcome would change the world as they know it. Bayan must choose between his new life as a duelist and the power of his own rage. Who will he save?

About the Author

Jasmine Giacomo writes from Washington State, where she lives with her husband and two children. She graduated last millennium with a degree in English Literature from a college built atop a volcano.

Though she's been writing since the age of four, she also enjoys geocaching, history, science and games, and holds a black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. She particularly enjoys reading and writing fight scenes.

Her current writing project is book three in the Seals of the Duelists series. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, G+, Amazon, and Worlds of Jasmine.





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