Hitting the Books

A Tendering in the Storm (Change and Cherish Historical Series #2)

Jane Kirkpatrick

SUMMARY (as given by the publisher): Based on a true story, this lyrical novel gives voice to a mother’s fears for her family and a woman’s search for her truest self.

Wondering if an angry God has abandoned her to the consequences of her willfulness, Emma must come to terms with her own vulnerability. As clouds of despair close in, she faces the difficult question of whether to continue in her own waning strength or to humble herself and accept help from the very people she once so eagerly left behind.

Well, there’s certainly plenty of storms, but not a whole lot of tender. When I was given this book to review (I did not pick it out on my own), I missed two important points.

First, this is the second book with Emma as the main character, which isn’t exactly clear from the blurb. That’s fine–the author does a fine job of filling in the background information, so the first book isn’t exactly necessary.

Second, it is based on a true story. That right there should have set off warning bells. However, somewhere I had gotten the idea in my head that this was a historical romance (don’t know where the idea came from, other than the fact I rarely read any other kind of historical fiction.), so I went ahead and dug in.

Two days later I slammed the book shut and promptly went to read something, anything, with a happy ending.

As I pointed out in my review of Paths of Exile, the problem with writing about real people is that you are constrained by facts (Facts? We don’t need no stinkin’ facts). Therefore, you cannot always have a nice romantic happily-ever-after. I like romance. I like happily-ever-afters. I don’t like being depressed by my books (or movies for that matter). Life’s depressing enough as it is.

Other problems with the book:

• First person point of view. I really dislike first person books. I know they’re supposed to be more immediate, to draw the reader deeper into the character’s mind and soul. All they tend to do is distract and irritate me.
• Emma Giesy. I didn’t like her. I never connected with her, rarely felt anything for her at all. Occasionally had a “wife’s/mother’s worst nightmare” moment of connection, but that was more for the situation rather than Emma herself. In fact, Emma never seemed to grow and mature as a woman. I certainly didn’t think she found “her truest self.” At the end it wasn’t so much that she “humble(d) herself and accept(ed) help” as she finally was forced in the only direction left open.
• The deal with Kiel. In the beginning, he’s painted as such a martinet. I had visions of a David Koresh/Jim Jones-type cult leader. Then, suddenly, he’s the good guy. The change almost came out of nowhere. Certainly took me by surprise.
• Flat, static characters.

To give her credit, Ms. Kirkpatrick’s writing is very good, nice and solid, with very vivid descriptions. I certainly can’t fault her research and knowledge of history. I’m sure lots of people really like her stories, considering she won the Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center and National Cowboy Hall of Fame. I’m sure those same people, those who like richly written, historically accurate, realistic and immensely depressing fiction are all over her books. But that ain’t me.

From my point of view, the plot stunk: girl has wonderful life, loses husband, marries an abusive man, almost loses her kids, and ends up in the tight-knit (and not in a good way) community she’d tried all her life to break away from. Oh joy. What a great story. Remind me to take my Wellbutrin before reading another book like that.

Ouch. So I guess I’ve been pretty rough on the book. But I don’t like books that make me cry, and I really, really, really don’t like depressing endings. That’s probably the bottom line. Not so much as a bad book as a bad book for me.

Ach je! They’ll probably never send me another book to review after seeing this one. But if they do, it had better have a happy ending.

Paths of Exile

Carla Nayland

Britain, 605 AD.

Homeless, penniless and friendless, literally with a price on his head, he must evade his enemies, avenge his brother’s murder and rescue his betrothed. Along the way, he will lose his heart to another woman and discover a shattering secret that challenges all the ideals he holds dear.

That’s the blurb from Carla’s website on her newest novel. A while back I read Ingeld’s Daughter, and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reading this one.

I would definitely recommend Paths of Exile to readers of historical fiction. Carla does a superb job as usual of bring the reader into the past. The premise of the story is quite interesting, there were some parts that had me chuckling, and there were a couple of plot twists that took me by surprise.

However, I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as Ingeld’s Daughter, mainly because I’m a romantic/escapist when it comes to my historical fiction. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t like straight-up historical fiction. I like historical romance. I don’t like stories that don’t end happily ever after, which, when you’re sticking to actual historical facts, usually doesn’t happen. (I’ll be reviewing another historical novel next month, to which I’ll have the same complaint).

Another thing that bothered me was the use of modern jargon/slang. I believe Carla was writing the modern equivalents of how certain characters would have spoken in the past, but it more often than not jarred me out of the story. The use of words like “cherry”(for female anatomy), “nobs”, “Pa”, “wink, nudge.” felt out of place (out of time?). And the phonetically written accents were extremely hard to follow (I don’t do phonics well at all).

Finally, I was rather ticked about how my favorite character ended up. I suppose it was the likely outcome of the time period, but still… It’s that whole HEA mentality I have. If the historical characters can’t have a happily ever after, at least let the fictional characters live out their lives in peace.

Paths of Exile is available in a free PDF format on Carla’s website, or as a paperback from Lulu.com.

What’s to Eat? The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook Linda Marienhoff Coss

Good question. Certainly nothing from this extremely unhelpful food allergy cookbook.

Out of 151 recipes, there are a mere 24 that my daughter might touch. Thirty-five if I include those with veggies or potatoes, but since she refuses to let either enter her mouth (except sweet potatoes for some reason), they really don’t count.

Of those 24, there are:

• 2 kinds of tabouleh (not too many American toddlers are all that interested in tabouleh. Though the Punkin does like Ethiopian-style spiced lentils…)
• 4 different sauces (Dilled mustard? Oriental dressing? Sunflower pesto? Tofu and spinich dip? Actually, she might eat that one–she loves tofu)
• 3 kinds of biscuits (the Punkin can’t even eat the pancakes and waffles as written–they call for vanilla soy milk, and she’s allergic to vanilla.)
• 3 desserts (including pie crust and frozen fruit. Like I needed a cookbook to tell me that frozen fruit was a good dessert. Sigh)
• 1 pasta dish (basically spaghetti. Again, duh.)
• 2 cookies
• 5 rice dishes (apricot, basil, bell pepper, “second-time around,” and Burgundy wild rice pilaf. Yeah, that’s it. Let’s give the toddler some Burgundy (I know, the alcohol is mostly cooked off. Still…).)

And a few other odds and ends.

Other than the spinich dip, I think I might be able to adapt the lemon poppyseed muffins. Those are the only two recipes I’m planning on trying. I might not even use the muffin one, as I’ve had better luck adapting Betty Crocker for baked goods than using special “allergy-free” recipes.

I paid $16.95 for this cookbook. That’s what I get for buying cookbooks off of Amazon–you can’t flip through the recipes beforehand. Yes, it’s milk-free, egg-free, and nut-free, and if those are the only allergies you’re dealing with, this is an okay cookbook. I suppose. Personally, I think the dishes are rather upscale for a household with kids. Burgundy wild rice pilaf? Dilled cucumber and bay shrimp salad (I was shocked to see that one, as shrimp allergies are fairly common, and usually pretty nasty)?

Supposedly the recipes are kid-tested, but I’m dealing with a toddler. You know, the type that won’t touch anything green (I was ecstatic when she willingly put a green bean in her mouth this week. She spit it right back out, but I didn’t have to fight her to get it in there in the first place). Or will only eat brown foods this week and only liquids the next.

I’ve been mostly on my own, figuring out stuff to make the Punkin, and she seems to be doing just fine. Perhaps I should write my own cookbook, “The Neutral-colored, Wheat-only, Soy-only Cookbook for Discriminating Toddlers.”

Finished Fire in the Mist , by Holly Lisle. I was actually able to read it mostly for pleasure. Of course, since I also am writing about a shepherdess with magical abilities, I did keep a close eye out for similarities. Thankfully, there very few.

One thing that confused me though was the back blurb:

“Take a simple shepherd girl with magic in her blood, raised in the back country, living free. Then destroy her family, but let her get away and grow to magehood. Now, you’re in trouble.”

Now, doesn’t that sound like some evil entity destroyed her family? That she was out for revenge against the person/people responsible? That’s what I thought it was, and so was rather disappointed when it turned out to be a Plague.

Another thing is the off-hand tea and crumpets. “You’re cute, so let’s jump in bed.” When did free-spirited and independent become synonymous with loose? This “musical beds” routine is really starting to irk me. Sigh.

And the Hoos (one of the cultures of Arhel) supposedly have 13 different sexual orientations. I’ve still not figured that one out. Not sure if I want to.

Other than those little things, it was an okay read. Lisle is incredibly good at world-building and characterization (but I already knew that from her website and clinic), and I did enjoy those parts of the book. It was the plot itself that didn’t do much for me.

Okay, so I finally got this written. Had it partially done last night when the Punkin started wailing, and kept wailing for the next hour. Second night in a row she’s done that. So, I took her in to the doctor today just to make sure her ear infection had cleared up and that there wasn’t anything else wrong. Doc says she’s fine, and thinks poor Punkin might be having night terrors. Sigh. Needless to say, neither one of us has gotten much sleep the past couple nights.

And what I really want to do is go write. Which is where I’m going as soon as I hit the publish button on this post.

Toodles.

Jiggity Jog.

Was away on a Women’s Retreat this weekend. Bunch of ladies from my church rented two lovely, huge beach houses. And I do mean huge. The main house had 9 bedrooms and 7.5 baths (not counting the two master suites we didn’t rent), an indoor pool, home theater, pool table, ping pong, beachside. Luxury…sorta. The house was brand-spanking new, and felt thrown together–doors didn’t latch and lock, gaps in the windows, and the WiFi didn’t really work (which is why I didn’t post like I’d planned to).

Our first night was very…um…exciting. We arrived in the middle of a nor’easter. We got sandblasted (literally) with 40+ mph winds. The sand covered the cars like snow. I had sand in my ears, in my hair, in my pockets, just from unloading the car. The wind was so strong that the house I was in, which was built up on stilts for flooding reasons, swayed so badly that I got seasick. On land. The tide came within about 25 feet of the house (if you click the link, look at the sandfence in the background. The waves were up to there).

At the same time, it was awesome. I’ve never seen the ocean so wild. The waves had to be 15-20 feet tall. And so loud. And my room had a Jacuzzi

I’d finished Fire in the Mist before leaving for the weekend (hopefully I’ll get to my review on it soon), so I read Piper at the Gate, by Mary Stanton instead. I loved Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West (it’s one of those I go back and read at least once a year), but wasn’t as impressed with Piper. Especially since information given in the first book was changed in the second. That Argh-ivates me to no end.

The retreat ended Sunday, but we had the house until Monday morning, so my husband and daughter came down for Sunday night and we got to let the Punkin run around on the beach for a bit. She loved the sand–laughed, kicked at it, wiggled her toes in it–but hated the water itself. Didn’t like the pool either. Thought playing pool was mighty fun though.

Nice sunny day today…as we were leaving. On the way home we stopped to let me get some scenery data for my book, which opens outside of Richmond. But once I got home I realized I might not have been in the right place. Which means I’m not sure, once again, where my action is taking place. ARGGHHH!! Drives me nuts. So now I get to spend the rest of the evening trying to pinpoint where Stonewall Jackson had his HQ on June 26, 1862, and whether or not there is a stream nearby.