Transcendental Sojourn
By Liz Cosline
http://www.lizcosline.com/index.htm
Nonfiction
ISBN13 Hardcover 978-1-4363-3715-1
ISBN13 Softcover 978-1-4363-3714-4
Reviewed by Lisa E. Ruedemann, ruedester@gmail.com
Let me tell you about Liz Cosline's new book Transcendental Sojourn. It is thought provoking…on to my thoughts……When we get older…yes older …we start reflecting on the lives we've led. It is a human thing to reflect upon our life and the place we have in the grand scheme of things. The wonder if we have contributed anything worthwhile or major to this world or at least to our small part of it. Our lives seem so short when you think of it really and over all too soon for most of us. Each of us with a personal view of what death will be and how that fits into the grand scheme of life. A few people have had the opportunity to gain insight into death that the rest of us can only conceptualize as we get closer to the reality. There are a rare few who have actually faced death and have lived to share the experience with us. Liz Cosline is one of those people who faced death and was willing to share her thoughts and views with us on the experience.
Ms. Cosline suffered a brain aneurysm one Easter out hunting eggs. An almost always fatal occurrence, however, she was one of the 1% who miraculously recovered from such a traumatizing event. She expresses her views on how her life has changed and how she now views her life and life's choices. I have read Ms Cosline's other books ( One Voice, Unexpected Knowing and Notice for Arrival - a trilogy about near death experience) and wish to share some of the insights I gathered from her journey to the brink of death, through almost death and then the life after near death. I find that her most recent book is her journey into life's meaning. She writes with a new light on life and gave me much to think about in regards to my own mortality, dreams and aspirations and where I will be after death. The book is such an easy read. Just an account of her philosophy of what life could be like living in harmony and peace, her questions to God , views on God and the place God holds in her life. The changed values and the new way she sees what is important in life. She did not tell me how to think or feel, did not preach a system of belief upon me. She just spoke in her words about her journey through life changes since nearly dying and how she now views living.
Like I said, it is seemingly simple easy reading...every time I have read it. And yes I have read it several times and each time I read it I take something different away some new thought…..a new insight to ponder. Reading this book has me reflecting on my own life, values and what life means to me...and what my death may bring...and how do I live the rest of my time here on this earth. Yes so simple yet thought provoking. Definitely a worth wile choice of must read books.~ Lisa E. Ruedemann, MS HSA
Technorati Tags:
Lisa E. Ruedemann, liz cosline, transcendental sojourn, aneurysm, traumatizing events, after death, life philosophy
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Lowdown on E-mail Marketing and How You've Been Lead Astray
Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles
Subtitle: Proven Ways to Produce a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with
Effective, Spam-Free Email Systems
By Winton Churchill
Foreword by Ron Richards, President, ResultsLab
Morgan - James, 2008
ISBN 9781600374210
Nonfiction/Business
Author's Site: www.churchillmethod.com/
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Remember when we were advised, "Don't believe everything you read?" That's probably even more true in the Internet age than it was back in the days when I first heard it. That's one of the reasons I was glad to see the release of Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.
See, I've always been vaguely aware that people get unnecessarily up in arms about SPAM. I see them let others censor the material they get delivered in their e-mail boxes all in the interest of kill, kill, killing the Dearly Beloved messages. I've seen them give up an old e-mail address to curtail the flow of SPAM, even though they are also giving up all kinds of networking contacts when they do so. I've seen them rant and rave about SPAM that was really only a query from someone who had found them doing a search on Google. I mean, that's why we have websites, so people can find us.
So when a real expert like Churchill tells it like it is, well . . . that is a wonderful, affirming experience for me. Churchill is a master marketer who has been quoted in the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine. He also happens to know a good deal about e-marketing and he shares what he knows in this helpful marketing book.
Email Marketing is written primarily for big business people with large marketing budgets and big staffs. I would like to have seen Churchill specifically address how little guys might put his method to use on a smaller scale and a lot more frugally. But then I am the author behind the HowToDoItFrugally series of book for writers. With an emphasis on the word frugal.
That doesn't mean this author's methods can't be adapted to small business people, right down to small publishers—even individual authors. I found that many of his theories fit very well into the basics of great PR (things like building relationships rather than use the big four-letter word SELL). And that many of them can be adapted to less ambitious online processes like forging trust and making great contact lists.
It is also comforting to know that in my own marketing I have already been practicing much of what he preaches but on a much, much smaller scale. He almost has me convinced to take a jump into something bigger. But if I don't, I can use some of his techniques to hone the processes I'm already using.
Technorati Tags:
winton churchill, ron richards, resultslab, marketing books, email marketing, complex sales cycles, spam free, spam, the new book review
-------------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, This Is the Place and Harkening. Her how-to book for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Irwin Award. The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, is also a USA Book News award winner and a Reader Views Literary award winner. She won the 2008 New Generation Award for Marketing. Learn more at www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
Subtitle: Proven Ways to Produce a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with
Effective, Spam-Free Email Systems
By Winton Churchill
Foreword by Ron Richards, President, ResultsLab
Morgan - James, 2008
ISBN 9781600374210
Nonfiction/Business
Author's Site: www.churchillmethod.com/
Contact Reviewer: HoJoNews@aol.com
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success
Remember when we were advised, "Don't believe everything you read?" That's probably even more true in the Internet age than it was back in the days when I first heard it. That's one of the reasons I was glad to see the release of Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.
See, I've always been vaguely aware that people get unnecessarily up in arms about SPAM. I see them let others censor the material they get delivered in their e-mail boxes all in the interest of kill, kill, killing the Dearly Beloved messages. I've seen them give up an old e-mail address to curtail the flow of SPAM, even though they are also giving up all kinds of networking contacts when they do so. I've seen them rant and rave about SPAM that was really only a query from someone who had found them doing a search on Google. I mean, that's why we have websites, so people can find us.
So when a real expert like Churchill tells it like it is, well . . . that is a wonderful, affirming experience for me. Churchill is a master marketer who has been quoted in the likes of The Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine. He also happens to know a good deal about e-marketing and he shares what he knows in this helpful marketing book.
Email Marketing is written primarily for big business people with large marketing budgets and big staffs. I would like to have seen Churchill specifically address how little guys might put his method to use on a smaller scale and a lot more frugally. But then I am the author behind the HowToDoItFrugally series of book for writers. With an emphasis on the word frugal.
That doesn't mean this author's methods can't be adapted to small business people, right down to small publishers—even individual authors. I found that many of his theories fit very well into the basics of great PR (things like building relationships rather than use the big four-letter word SELL). And that many of them can be adapted to less ambitious online processes like forging trust and making great contact lists.
It is also comforting to know that in my own marketing I have already been practicing much of what he preaches but on a much, much smaller scale. He almost has me convinced to take a jump into something bigger. But if I don't, I can use some of his techniques to hone the processes I'm already using.
Technorati Tags:
winton churchill, ron richards, resultslab, marketing books, email marketing, complex sales cycles, spam free, spam, the new book review
-------------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers’ Program. She is the author of two award-winning books, This Is the Place and Harkening. Her how-to book for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, is the winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book and the Irwin Award. The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, is also a USA Book News award winner and a Reader Views Literary award winner. She won the 2008 New Generation Award for Marketing. Learn more at www.HowToDoItFrugally.com.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Smoking Poet Reviews Linda Merlino's New Novel
Belly of the Whale
Linda Merlino, author
"A riveting story, both powerful
and poignant in its telling." H.Roughan,
NYTimes Bestselling Author
Reviewed by Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 issue
If you are a lover of fine literature, you know that sweet moment of discovery. This is why you read. This is why you open book cover after book cover, anticipating that golden moment. It happens when a newly opened book reaches from the printed page and into your mind, into your heart, and captures cleanly both imagination and resonant emotion. Opening Belly of the Whale, by first-time author, Linda Merlino, is such a golden moment.
I may never have picked this book up in any of my bookstore wanderings and treasure hunts. The dark cover with flashes of neon light, a tiny gunman, and a teary bald woman may have had me turn away. Don't judge. Not like that. For this book, arriving instead in my mailbox awaiting review in The Smoking Poet literary e-zine, may have begun as something of an editorial job ... but concluded with a new fan for writer Linda Merlino.
The story begins at the end.
"I fear that the dead are gathered here in this corner of Whales Market, that the sums of several lives are laid out on gurneys like me, and that yesterday I thought the worst thing happening was my breast cancer."
Hudson Catalina—"Hudson like the car, Catalina like the island, Hudson Catalina, I love you," her husband Jack whispers to her in their marriage-long game—is on the brink of giving up. Her mother has died of cancer, as has her grandmother. Now, after a double mastectomy, as she battles for life, or is it that she battles against the torments of medicine, chemo and radiation, 38-year-old Hudson wishes only to be done. Done. With all of this. Despite her four lovely babies, her ever patient and devoted husband, Hudson is beyond tired of the fight. It is Tuesday, and she throws some delicate treasure against the mirror, breaks all, feels broken herself, and has no patience left. Not even for the love of her family and closest friend. What's the point?
You know how that happens. You reach the end, what feels like the end, and when you think you have encountered the worst life can shovel on you, you encounter something even darker. Here is the belly of the whale, and Hudson is swallowed into it. Dragging herself out into a storm to go to a small grocery for a few items in preparation for her daughter's birthday, surely the last one she will share, Hudson becomes hostage to a young man gone mad with his own devastated heart and broken spirit. Here begins a nightmarish night of being held hostage, handcuffed to the dead and dying, hope threaded to another boy who is mentally incapacitated. Pressed that hard and so harshly against yet another wall in her waning life, Hudson Catalina makes some discoveries about herself and about where hope begins ... somewhere beyond the point where you think you lost it.
I am keeping my eye closely trained on this new author. Learning that Merlino wrote much of this book in longhand, scribbling notes throughout a busy mom's day, I understand the drive and motivation that could produce such a worthwhile read. In a day and age of a struggling publishing industry, just when you are about to lose hope in the literati, this kind of writing makes you find new hope yet again.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Linda Merlino, author
"A riveting story, both powerful
and poignant in its telling." H.Roughan,
NYTimes Bestselling Author
Reviewed by Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 issue
If you are a lover of fine literature, you know that sweet moment of discovery. This is why you read. This is why you open book cover after book cover, anticipating that golden moment. It happens when a newly opened book reaches from the printed page and into your mind, into your heart, and captures cleanly both imagination and resonant emotion. Opening Belly of the Whale, by first-time author, Linda Merlino, is such a golden moment.
I may never have picked this book up in any of my bookstore wanderings and treasure hunts. The dark cover with flashes of neon light, a tiny gunman, and a teary bald woman may have had me turn away. Don't judge. Not like that. For this book, arriving instead in my mailbox awaiting review in The Smoking Poet literary e-zine, may have begun as something of an editorial job ... but concluded with a new fan for writer Linda Merlino.
The story begins at the end.
"I fear that the dead are gathered here in this corner of Whales Market, that the sums of several lives are laid out on gurneys like me, and that yesterday I thought the worst thing happening was my breast cancer."
Hudson Catalina—"Hudson like the car, Catalina like the island, Hudson Catalina, I love you," her husband Jack whispers to her in their marriage-long game—is on the brink of giving up. Her mother has died of cancer, as has her grandmother. Now, after a double mastectomy, as she battles for life, or is it that she battles against the torments of medicine, chemo and radiation, 38-year-old Hudson wishes only to be done. Done. With all of this. Despite her four lovely babies, her ever patient and devoted husband, Hudson is beyond tired of the fight. It is Tuesday, and she throws some delicate treasure against the mirror, breaks all, feels broken herself, and has no patience left. Not even for the love of her family and closest friend. What's the point?
You know how that happens. You reach the end, what feels like the end, and when you think you have encountered the worst life can shovel on you, you encounter something even darker. Here is the belly of the whale, and Hudson is swallowed into it. Dragging herself out into a storm to go to a small grocery for a few items in preparation for her daughter's birthday, surely the last one she will share, Hudson becomes hostage to a young man gone mad with his own devastated heart and broken spirit. Here begins a nightmarish night of being held hostage, handcuffed to the dead and dying, hope threaded to another boy who is mentally incapacitated. Pressed that hard and so harshly against yet another wall in her waning life, Hudson Catalina makes some discoveries about herself and about where hope begins ... somewhere beyond the point where you think you lost it.
I am keeping my eye closely trained on this new author. Learning that Merlino wrote much of this book in longhand, scribbling notes throughout a busy mom's day, I understand the drive and motivation that could produce such a worthwhile read. In a day and age of a struggling publishing industry, just when you are about to lose hope in the literati, this kind of writing makes you find new hope yet again.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
David Brailovsky Reviews Intrigue in the House of Wong
Title: Intrigue in the House of Wong
Author: Amy S. Kwei
Publisher: Tats Publishing, PO Box 425478, Cambridge, MA 02142
Date published: 6/1/2008
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9815499-0-3
202pp
$13.99
Available at Amazon.com and Tatspublishing.com
Reviewed by David Brailovsky
I enjoyed very much reading Amy Kwei’s “ Intrigue in the house of Wong”. She succeeded in an interesting and effortless way to explain Chinese culture, values and traditions.
A better understanding between East and West is a major concern of the book. The “House of Wong” is a great way for the younger generation to do away with stereotypes and prejudices. The plot makes it fun reading.
I recommend it highly.
===================
Reviewer David Brailovsky is the author of "A Covenant in Shanghai". Available at Amazon.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Author: Amy S. Kwei
Publisher: Tats Publishing, PO Box 425478, Cambridge, MA 02142
Date published: 6/1/2008
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-9815499-0-3
202pp
$13.99
Available at Amazon.com and Tatspublishing.com
Reviewed by David Brailovsky
I enjoyed very much reading Amy Kwei’s “ Intrigue in the house of Wong”. She succeeded in an interesting and effortless way to explain Chinese culture, values and traditions.
A better understanding between East and West is a major concern of the book. The “House of Wong” is a great way for the younger generation to do away with stereotypes and prejudices. The plot makes it fun reading.
I recommend it highly.
===================
Reviewer David Brailovsky is the author of "A Covenant in Shanghai". Available at Amazon.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Melissa Meeks Reviews "One Wild Ride"
Title: The Call
Series: Time Masters Book One
By Geralyn Beauchamp
Cold Tree Press (October 8, 2007)
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN 9781583851982
588pp
$18.95
Reviewed by Melissa Meeks
See more reviews at Bibliophile’s Retreat
Rating: 5/5
Describing this book is an interesting endeavor. Rather than ask the usual questions it actually makes more sense to ask what Time Masters isn't. In this case the answer is … Nothing!!! Beauchamp has managed to intertwine all genres in a coherent manner that I have yet to find elsewhere. At the same time she’s also managed to work in all the elements of a good story with a superb quality of writing.
The hero - Dallan - is not only a hunk, but he's got the Romance factor going on big-time. If Shona hadn’t already claimed him and he was for real, I'd certainly be first in line to do so myself. I’ve read quite a pile of books before and since first picking up Time Masters and still have to say over a year later that I've not seen much out there to rival the writing of this debut author. She’s crafted an excellent plot and characters that leap off the page into the reader's imagination as if real and remain vivid even after putting the book down.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll even be frightened at times. As the cover says this is One Wild Ride. If you just have to find the best roller-coasters – this one delivers and you can even experience it from your favorite reading nook. So hop on and enjoy as the story goes from a "comedy sketch" due to characters being out of their accustomed environment on one page to fight scenes with action, adventure and suspense on the next. These fluctuations come at you often and fast in this book, as full of emotional power as a minefield of explosives. Of course the intense emotion is part of what makes the book so riveting. I could have stayed up all night reading just to find out what would happen on the next page, in the next chapter or even how the book would end. I have rarely found another author who can evoke such intense responses with the written word.
This book is one that I can’t bear to lend out and risk losing as it’s worth rereading many times. I had to buy an extra copy just for sharing so I could horde one to get my fix of satisfying reading anytime. Geralyn has put so much meat into her story that with every read I still find new details and thoughts popping up. Before it was even released, I quit trying to count my “reads” and still hope to squeeze in time to read it again and again. I am so glad this is only the first in a series and am already chomping at the bit for Time Masters Book Two: The Prophecy.
-------
Reach the reviewer at forest_rose@yahoo.com.
She blogs at Bibliophile's Retreat
Technorati Tags:
melissa meeks, bibliophile's retreat, geralynbeauchamp, time masters, the call, science fiction, cold tree press
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Series: Time Masters Book One
By Geralyn Beauchamp
Cold Tree Press (October 8, 2007)
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN 9781583851982
588pp
$18.95
Reviewed by Melissa Meeks
See more reviews at Bibliophile’s Retreat
Rating: 5/5
Describing this book is an interesting endeavor. Rather than ask the usual questions it actually makes more sense to ask what Time Masters isn't. In this case the answer is … Nothing!!! Beauchamp has managed to intertwine all genres in a coherent manner that I have yet to find elsewhere. At the same time she’s also managed to work in all the elements of a good story with a superb quality of writing.
The hero - Dallan - is not only a hunk, but he's got the Romance factor going on big-time. If Shona hadn’t already claimed him and he was for real, I'd certainly be first in line to do so myself. I’ve read quite a pile of books before and since first picking up Time Masters and still have to say over a year later that I've not seen much out there to rival the writing of this debut author. She’s crafted an excellent plot and characters that leap off the page into the reader's imagination as if real and remain vivid even after putting the book down.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll even be frightened at times. As the cover says this is One Wild Ride. If you just have to find the best roller-coasters – this one delivers and you can even experience it from your favorite reading nook. So hop on and enjoy as the story goes from a "comedy sketch" due to characters being out of their accustomed environment on one page to fight scenes with action, adventure and suspense on the next. These fluctuations come at you often and fast in this book, as full of emotional power as a minefield of explosives. Of course the intense emotion is part of what makes the book so riveting. I could have stayed up all night reading just to find out what would happen on the next page, in the next chapter or even how the book would end. I have rarely found another author who can evoke such intense responses with the written word.
This book is one that I can’t bear to lend out and risk losing as it’s worth rereading many times. I had to buy an extra copy just for sharing so I could horde one to get my fix of satisfying reading anytime. Geralyn has put so much meat into her story that with every read I still find new details and thoughts popping up. Before it was even released, I quit trying to count my “reads” and still hope to squeeze in time to read it again and again. I am so glad this is only the first in a series and am already chomping at the bit for Time Masters Book Two: The Prophecy.
-------
Reach the reviewer at forest_rose@yahoo.com.
She blogs at Bibliophile's Retreat
Technorati Tags:
melissa meeks, bibliophile's retreat, geralynbeauchamp, time masters, the call, science fiction, cold tree press
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Endings a Tragedy for Thinking Readers
Title: Endings
Author: Barbara Bergin
Fiction
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-86534-519-5
268 pp.
$28.95
Available: Sunstone Press, Amazon
Publisher: SUNSTONE PRESS
Box 2321, Santa Fe,
NM 87504-2321
(800) 243-5644
Reviewed by Connie Gotsch
Endings by Barbara Bergin, published by Sunstone Press, appears to chronicle the responses people make to life altering situations somewhat beyond their control, but to which they have also somewhat contributed. Then again, maybe the story deals with the fabrications people spin to rationalize the life choices they make.
Stunned by the loss of her husband and two children in a freak automobile accident, Dr. Leslie Cohen has sold her medical practice, abandoned friends, hit the road as a locum tenens orthopedic physician, and stopped forming long term relationships.
Through a series of flashbacks triggered by events, characters and plot points, the reader learns, or seems to learn, why love terrifies Leslie. She was tailgating her husband, Chris, as they headed for a family holiday. The driver ahead of him slammed on his brakes, Chris hit his, and Leslie plowed into him, killing him and her children. Guilt and consumes her, especially since she had Chris had hit a difficult point in their marriage.
Many books on the theme of carelessness at the worst moment resulting in painful loss, would lead Leslie into a nice, comfy small town, where friendly people would wrap her in warmth. Next Leslie would go through personal growth and transformation. She would find herself in the company of a handsome man with whom she shares much, but would fight her growing love for him. His patience would win her over. She would work through her grief, forgive herself for her part in the accident, marry the hero, and go into practice with the doctor whom she has come to relieve as a locum tenens.
Endings sets up that possibility. Leslie heads to Abilene, Texas, to substitute for Doc Hal Hawley who is preparing to have serious cancer surgery. Then almost to town, she slides into a fishtailing horse trailer driven by Reagan, the man who ends up her love interest. That could set ‘Endings’ on the predictable course, love marriage, more children, happily ever after. But using this twist and many others, Barbara Bergin slowly turns the story’s plot to a very different kind of growth and closure for Leslie.
So cleverly does the author disguise this arc in the predictable moonlit nights and kind souls one would expect to try to help Leslie, that the tale ends with a surprise that leaves the reader shaken and wondering just what Leslie’s part in her own tragedy was, or just what happened on the road that day tailgating Chris, and what transpired afterward, considering the state of their marriage.
Barbara Bergin supplements her clever plot line with elegant character development and description of locale. An orthopedic surgeon herself and a horse woman, she takes the reader both into the operating room and the rodeo area with equal vividness. Her medical descriptions never turn gory. Her description of love has just the right amount of steam.
‘Endings’ is not a book that will give the satisfaction of a happy conclusion, but it will leave the reader considering just genuine people really are, and what they might or might not control in their lives.
----
Reviewer Connie Gotsch is the author of "A Mouth Full of Shell" and "Snap Me a Future" published by Dlsijpress. She is featured in "The Complete Writer's Journal" Also available at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ or
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_a?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=a+mouth+full+of+shell&x=0&y=0
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
Technorati Tags:
connie gotsch, endings, barbar bergin, tragedy, book reviews, sunstone press, abilene TX, carolyn howard-johnson,
Author: Barbara Bergin
Fiction
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-86534-519-5
268 pp.
$28.95
Available: Sunstone Press, Amazon
Publisher: SUNSTONE PRESS
Box 2321, Santa Fe,
NM 87504-2321
(800) 243-5644
Reviewed by Connie Gotsch
Endings by Barbara Bergin, published by Sunstone Press, appears to chronicle the responses people make to life altering situations somewhat beyond their control, but to which they have also somewhat contributed. Then again, maybe the story deals with the fabrications people spin to rationalize the life choices they make.
Stunned by the loss of her husband and two children in a freak automobile accident, Dr. Leslie Cohen has sold her medical practice, abandoned friends, hit the road as a locum tenens orthopedic physician, and stopped forming long term relationships.
Through a series of flashbacks triggered by events, characters and plot points, the reader learns, or seems to learn, why love terrifies Leslie. She was tailgating her husband, Chris, as they headed for a family holiday. The driver ahead of him slammed on his brakes, Chris hit his, and Leslie plowed into him, killing him and her children. Guilt and consumes her, especially since she had Chris had hit a difficult point in their marriage.
Many books on the theme of carelessness at the worst moment resulting in painful loss, would lead Leslie into a nice, comfy small town, where friendly people would wrap her in warmth. Next Leslie would go through personal growth and transformation. She would find herself in the company of a handsome man with whom she shares much, but would fight her growing love for him. His patience would win her over. She would work through her grief, forgive herself for her part in the accident, marry the hero, and go into practice with the doctor whom she has come to relieve as a locum tenens.
Endings sets up that possibility. Leslie heads to Abilene, Texas, to substitute for Doc Hal Hawley who is preparing to have serious cancer surgery. Then almost to town, she slides into a fishtailing horse trailer driven by Reagan, the man who ends up her love interest. That could set ‘Endings’ on the predictable course, love marriage, more children, happily ever after. But using this twist and many others, Barbara Bergin slowly turns the story’s plot to a very different kind of growth and closure for Leslie.
So cleverly does the author disguise this arc in the predictable moonlit nights and kind souls one would expect to try to help Leslie, that the tale ends with a surprise that leaves the reader shaken and wondering just what Leslie’s part in her own tragedy was, or just what happened on the road that day tailgating Chris, and what transpired afterward, considering the state of their marriage.
Barbara Bergin supplements her clever plot line with elegant character development and description of locale. An orthopedic surgeon herself and a horse woman, she takes the reader both into the operating room and the rodeo area with equal vividness. Her medical descriptions never turn gory. Her description of love has just the right amount of steam.
‘Endings’ is not a book that will give the satisfaction of a happy conclusion, but it will leave the reader considering just genuine people really are, and what they might or might not control in their lives.
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Reviewer Connie Gotsch is the author of "A Mouth Full of Shell" and "Snap Me a Future" published by Dlsijpress. She is featured in "The Complete Writer's Journal" Also available at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ or
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_a?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=a+mouth+full+of+shell&x=0&y=0
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The New Book Review Is Now Brilliant! (-:
My The New Book Review, www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com was named a Brilliante WebBlog Premio 2008 award. Nikki Leigh at www.nikkisreviews.blogspot.com nominated it because it features "reviews for all sorts of authors, not just big name authors." She also noted that the instructions for submitting are clear.
The Brilliante is a sassy little award, a recognition that lets peers award peers. One of the benefits of being so named is that authors may nominate blogs, too. So here are mine in no particular order:
Nicole Williams for her Step of Faith blogspot for meticulous blog-keeping and lovely writing. I'm encouraging to use her writing skills in other areas. http://stepofaith.blogspot.com
Kathe Gogolewski for a combination personal blog and professional blog that works!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/A21V32M89BJ4ZD/ref=cm_blog_blog
Joyce Faulkner for a bit of humor in For Shrieking Out Loud, a blog named after her book of humor. You'll love her funny bone. http://www.forshriekingoutloud.blogspot.com
Allyn Evans for her Happily Ever After Today blog about blog about epiphanies, spilled milk, and finding happiness. It is inspiration without preachiness. www.happilyeveraftertoday.blogspot.com.
Here are the suggestions for those nominated, so they can pass on the joy:
Rules for next recipients of the Brilliante Weblog Premio:
1. The award may be displayed on a winner's blog.
2. Add a link to the person you received the award from.
3. Nominate up to seven other blogs.
4. Add their links to your blog.
5. Add a message to each person that you have passed the award on in the comments section of their blog.
And there you have it. Congratulations!
PS: For an idea of how authors might use this award idea to promote, go to www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, founder of Authors' Coalition (www.authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com). It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews and reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page.
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