Tag: Books

Blog Tour and Book Review:

BonnieReadsAndWrites8 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In the unforgiving heart of the Old West, the peaceful lives of frontier settlers are in turmoil as the vengeful figure known as Shadow Hawk strikes under cover, spreading darkness.

His brutal campaign, marked by Bible verses foretelling divine retribution, leaves fear in his wake as he seeks to settle a long-buried score.

Amid the rising terror, Josh and Amy must face yet another ruthless threat—a relentless pursuer bent on taking Josh’s life. Their trials deepen when a devastating grasshopper swarm ravages their land, leaving their livelihood at stake.

Desperate to protect her family’s future, Amy pins her hopes on a legendary treasure—the fabled Jesuit gold, a prize that could pay for her younger brother’s education back East and provide for her ailing father. Together, Josh and Amy must conquer foes both human and natural to reclaim peace and secure a brighter future

BOOK REVIEW

This is the second book in the Devil’s Mountain Dames series.  It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend starting with Book One for the full effect.. The setting, Devil’s Mountain, appears to be fictitious, and the book doesn’t really pin down its location, except it’s in the “Old West.” The exact year the book takes place is not specifically defined either, as far as I can tell, but it appears to have been fairly soon after the Civil War.

The main characters are easy to connect with, and the mysteries are compelling and certainly held my attention.  The author easily weaves significant events into the story–the Jesuit-connected treasure search, the Shadowhawk mystery, a devastating grasshopper plague, and more. The struggles of life on the frontier are definitely well portrayed, and I did feel transported there. The cast of characters at the Broken Horseshoe Ranch is a group of folks I would enjoy visiting again.  The villain is certainly worthy of the title, and surprises await.  I love seeing new series’ in the Western genre, and I recommend that readers check it out.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janey Clarke writes charming, witty, cosy mysteries. From septuagenarian shenanigans in Cornwall to the intrigue of Regency-era whodunits and now to her newest venture into the rugged drama of the Wild West. When not plotting her next twist or researching historical details, she can be found exploring the stunning Jurassic Coast in Dorset with her loyal spaniel by her side. With a passion for tea, old books, and well-timed humour, Janey Clarke creates stories she hopes will whisk readers away to delightful worlds where solving a mystery is always the order of the day. And always solved by a feisty heroine! Visit her at http://www.janeyclarke.com to learn more about her books.

Janey’s Social Media

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Book Links

Goodreads | Purchase Link

Thank you to Zooloo’s Book Tours!

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors who have lived in North Carolina

BonnieReadsAndWrites12 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Authors who live in your state: I’ve revised it a bit to include any authors who have lived in my state. They don’t have to be there now, and they don’t have to be alive. I’m living in North Carolina now, and won’t move again, so I’m focusing on authors who have lived in North Carolina. Many of them live or have lived in Western NC, where I now live and where my mother was born and raised.

Here’s a beautiful mountain view in Western NC:

Credit to AmazingAsheville.net for some of the information in the following list.

  1. Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938) was born in Asheville at 92 Woodfin Street. His father carved gravestones, and his mother ran a boarding house at 48 Spruce Street, where Wolfe lived until he went to Chapel Hill to attend the University of North Carolina. After finishing at Chapel Hill in 1920, he went to Harvard to study playwriting. Wolfe’s first and arguably best novel, Look Homeward, Angel, is autobiographical. Eugene Gant is Wolfe, and scores of the many characters in the novel are thinly disguised real people in Asheville, which in the novel is called Altamont. Later Wolfe called Asheville Libya Hill. Many in Asheville took issue with the book and its author, and Wolfe did not return to Asheville until near his death at age 37. Of the town’s reaction to Wolfe’s first book, Wilma Dykeman wrote, “With the usual perverseness of humanity, the people of Asheville did not seem shocked at much of the deceit and folly and wickedness and waste that Wolfe found – they were shocked only that he exposed it.”
  2. Horace Kephart: Horace Kephart (1862-1931) is best known for Our Southern Highlanders, his 1913 study of mountain people in Western North Carolina.. Born in Pennsylvania, he came to Western North Carolina in 1904 and lived in Hazel Creek, Bryson City,and Dillsboro. He was instrumental in establishing the national park in the Smokies and in creating the route for the Appalachian Trail.
  3. Charles Frazier (1950 – Present) Frazier was born in Asheville. Possibly his most successful book was Cold Mountain, which won the National Book Award and was made into a movie in 2003. Thirteen Moons (2006), also set in Western North Carolina, traces the story of a white man’s involvement with the Cherokee Indians in the early 19th century.
  4. Jan Karon (1937-), born in Lenoir, retired from advertising and began writing when living in Blowing Rock, the setting (as the mountain town of Mitford) of the successful Mitford series, which began with 1994’s At Home in Mitford. Karon now lives on a farm in Virginia.
  5. Caroline Miller (1903-1992), a Georgia native, lived for several years in Waynesville, NC. Her 1933 novel, Lamb in His Bosom, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
  6. Billy Graham (1918-2018), world-renowned Christian evangelist, whose home was in Montreat, published more than 30 books on religion, salvation, and relationship with God.
  7. His wife, Ruth Bell Graham (1920-2007), was author or co-author of 14 books, including volumes of poetry and personal recollections.
  8. Nicholas Sparks (1965 – Present) lives in New Bern, NC, and has set some of his books there, including possibly his most famous novel, The Notebook.
  9. Ann B. Ross (1936 – Present) was born in Hendersonville, NC. She is a NY Times best-selling author of the Miss Julia series, which includes more than 20 books.
  10. Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) – lived in Flat Rock, NC from 1945 until his death in 1967. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for poetry (Cornhuskers and Complete Poems, 1951) and one for history (Abraham Lincoln: The War Years).

That’ s my top 10! How about you? Which authors whose works you admire or enjoy have lived in your state?

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.

Book Review: Upon The Corner of the Moon by Valerie Nieman

BonnieReadsAndWrites11 Comments

*This is a review I did for the May issue of Historical Novels Review, the magazine of The Historical Novel Society. It was selected as an Editor’s Choice.

In 11th-century Alba (Scotland), young Gruach, the future Lady Macbeth, is sent away from her family to apprentice with a Pict healer.  Five-year-old Macbeth is sent from the house of his father, the Mormaer of Moray, to the royal court of his grandfather, King Malcolm II. He comes of age alongside his foster brother, Duncan.  While Macbeth is educated to be a leader, Gruach is taught healing arts and Pict traditions, and then summoned back to Malcolm’s court, where she is soon given away in marriage. The journey of the Macbeths is not the famed and false one of Shakespeare, but a mixture of both their true and imagined place in Scotland’s history. This is the first book in the Alba series.

This intriguing novel creates a glimpse of the little-known childhoods of Gruach and Macbeth. Gruach is shown in a much more sympathetic and factual light than in Shakespeare’s play. There are three points of view—Macbeth, Gruach, and a fictional poet, Lapwing.  The three witches of Macbeth are replaced in this novel by three spiritual belief systems—Pict, Celtic, and Christian. Gruach’s Pict spiritual experiences are fascinating, and Lapwing still speaks of the Celtic gods, although Christianity is taking over.

The backstabbing politics of a royal court make a compelling read. Macbeth’s journey to becoming Mormaer of Moray will lead him to Gruach. She is married to the cruel, violent, and abusive Gillecomgan.  As her brother Nechtan says to Macbeth, “My sister Daimhin—Gruach—know that she is no wife to Gillecomgan, but a hostage, and pregnant.” The novel ends, but not the story, as there will be a second book coming. The writing is beautiful, lyrical, and descriptive, and it captures the period perfectly.  To say this book is well-researched is an understatement. Highly recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (From Amazon and Her Website)

Valerie Nieman

“Upon the Corner of the Moon” is the story of the Macbeths you’ve never known: Destined to unite Scotland, they first had to survive childhoods as pawns in a dynastic struggle.

Previous novels include “Dead Hand,” a sequel for “To the Bones,” a blend of paranormal mystery, romantic suspense, with the distinctive tang of Appalachia along with Irish lore. It has some very dark elements but overall rather spritely, I think. (“To the Bones” was shortlisted for both the Manly Wade Wellman Award and the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award.) “In the Lonely Backwater” was honored with the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for the best book of fiction by a North Carolina writer. It draws on all the people I’ve been — a reporter, a farmer, a sailor, a teacher, and always, a walker and observer. It’s an official International Pulpwood Queens Book Club pick, won the Mystery/Suspense category prize from American Writing Awards, and was a finalist at Forewords INDIES.

Another recent title, “Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse,” is set in a mid-century carnival and features poems that appeared in The Missouri Review, Chautauqua, and other journals. More than 15 years of writing — and a week of study at Coney Island Museum — went into telling the story of Dinah and The Professor.

I have held grants from the NEA, and the North Carolina and West Virginia arts councils. I earned degrees from West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte and worked as a reporter in coal country and a writing professor at NC A&T State University.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Website | Instagram | X | Facebook

PURCHASE LINK: Click on Image Below To View on Amazon:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Surprised Me

BonnieReadsAndWrites9 Comments

I know it’s Wednesday, but I couldn’t post yesterday, so here’s Top Ten Tuesday a day late. Below are ten books that surprised me.

A girl in a field, facing away, holding a pack of letters behind her back.
a Coffee Cup with Butterfly perched on the side.
Version 1.0.0

Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green: The reason this one surprised me is that this was Amy Lynn Green’s debut novel, and it was completely epistolary (comprised of letters, articles, and other written communications). It was so well done!

The Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber: This was the first book I read by Heather Webber, and I discovered she writes wonderful small-town fiction with a touch of magical realism. What shocked me was she had already written 25 books and I’d never discovered her before.

The Thin Place by C.D. Major: This one surprised me because sadly there really is a place in the world where dogs inexplicably jump to their deaths.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg: The ending surprised me, as it did a lot of people.

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver: I was pretty tired of WWII novels, but this is about a safe-cracking criminal family that helped British Intelligence during the war, so surprisingly I found myself reading another WWII novel.

The Long March Home by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee: This is so well written, and again set during WWII, but in the Philippines, and I learned a lot of shocking things about what went on there during the war.

The Exchange by John Grisham: Sadly, this one surprised me because it was so bad. It was supposed to be a sequel to THE FIRM, but it felt like Mitch McDeere was added into a totally unrelated novel just to make some sales.

Horse Show by Jess Bowers: This one is shocking and surprising. This is a collection of short stories, many about how horses were abused and neglected, such as in circuses, on movie sets, and even in the military.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor: Everyone who reads this blog knows Jodi is my favorite author. But what you may not know is that she didn’t publish her first book until she was 60. That was when she self-published the first book of The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. She is now a best-sellling author with a major publisher. I bought this book for 99 cents when it came out because I like time travel fiction. I had no idea I was going to read a series that would become like an old friend.

The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor: I read this one just because Jodi Taylor was the author. It isn’t Time Travel, so I was skeptical. What it is is a fantasy about how a young girl’s life was saved by a magical golden horse. And it’s so good that I like it just as much as St. Mary’s. That’s what surprised me.

*Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by That Artsy Reader Girl.

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

Thank you to The Book Date for hosting It’s Monday!

This week is a catch-up week for me as I have several books on Netgalley that are past their publishing date, and I’m determined to get those completed. At the same time, I only want to read books I’m enjoying, so I no longer hesitate to DNF and move on if I don’t like something.

Click on the covers for their links to Amazon.

WHAT ARE YOU READING NOW

Dare you enter the stone circle . . .? The world’s most unlikely ghost-busting duo – actress Diana and handsome young bishop Alistair – are back in this spine-tingling paranormal mystery from New York Times bestselling British fantasy author

There are stories about the dilapidated stone circle at Chipping Amesbury, going back centuries. Of people going missing, never to be seen again. Of people found dead inside the circle. Of monsters, and of demons. The villagers may tell the tales with relish to visiting tourists, but a careful observer will notice that there is no transport to the stones, no tours on offer, and the locals stay well away.

Alistair Kincaid, the youngest ever bishop of All Souls Hollow, is an expert in Britain’s ancient stone circles. That’s why, when landowner Sir Neville Chumley announces his plans to restore the circle to its ancient glory, he agrees to take part in a documentary about the project.

WHAT HAVE YOU JUST FINISHED

Stuck in a dead-end bar job in central Tokyo and barely making ends meet, Naomi Kihara’s life turns upside down when her American father, whom she hasn’t seen since she was a toddler, dies. Having been brought up to believe he abandoned her, it’s a shock to learn she is his heir. But there’s a catch: Naomi must go live in his hometown for one year. Felix, Nebraska couldn’t be any more different from Tokyo, Japan. And besides, not everyone in town is happy the Johnson property now belongs to the Japanese daughter everyone forgot Mike ever had in the first place. But with the help of her new friends and neighbors, Naomi discovers a strength in herself she never knew existed.

WHAT ARE YOU READING NEXT?

Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she’s wandered throughout the South, escaping a mental hospital in Alabama, working for a Louisiana circus, and dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she’s allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother’s Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.

She intends only to visit briefly – to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long gone, and their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight back, a ghost finds the path away from life, and a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the process, Genevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run.

Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuries, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behind, the power of names, and the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphant, a visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry.

HOW ABOUT YOU? WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with “Springy” Covers

BonnieReadsAndWrites24 Comments

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.

Hi everyone! I’m back from vacation and HOPEFULLY back to posting normally since my retirement. You would think I’d have more time than ever, but retirement has brought its own challenges to my schedule. I’ll provide more of an update after Top Ten Tuesday. The topic is: Top Ten book covers that remind me of Spring. See below.

I love the Spring flowers on the cover. I discovered Heather Webber WAY late in the game. She’s already written over 25 books, but when I read this one, and learned she writes small-town mysteries with a touch of magical realism, I was hooked! Now I seek out her books whenever I can. My review is here.

A really sweet “best friends” romance with a lovely Spring cover. My review is here.

The “Your Words” Poetry Collection by Louise Belanger includes beautiful photos of flowers along with wonderful inspirational poems and story poems that will draw you closer to God. The covers are so captivating! My most recent review is here.

This is historical fiction set in Switzerland during the time of discovery that adding iodine to salt will cure hypothyroidism. My review of the book is here.

A novel about starting over, and about women helping each other through tough times. My review is here.

This is an inspirational “married strangers” romance set in Appalachia in 1910. I love the Spring flowers and birds on the cover. Here is my review on The Historical Novel Society website.

The dress and flowers give this a “springy” feel to me. It’s a fascinating novel about a time when wealthy American families basically traded their daughters for titles and raised social standing. See my review here on The Historical Novel Society website.

Kim Vogel Sawyer is one of my favorite authors of Christian Historical Fiction. This novel is about a Mennonite Women’s organization in 1890s Kansas. The flowers on the cover give it a Spring feel. My review is here.

This Spring cover speaks for itself. It is set in 1930s Appalachia when many families had to relocate for the creation of the Smoky Mountain National Park. My review is here.

This could be a Spring night, and I love the Starling. This is another fantastic small-town book with a touch of magic by Heather Webber. It is set in Starlight, Alabama. My review is here.

UPDATE

I was on vacation in Florida last week visiting my friend Lyric, so I didn’t post at all. I am back in the swing, hopefully. The thing about retirement is I get up whenever I want, putter around, and I often look at the clock, surprised it’s almost dinnertime and wondering where the time has gone! I am working on that! I have missed blogging!

The week prior to my vacation we had a wildfire in the area (Alarka in Bryson City) that consumed around 2000 acres! It was between four and seven miles from my house, but thankfully our brave firefighters got it contained. We had planes coming in from as far away as Montana to help fight the blaze, and God helped too, with a huge rainstorm right before I left. I believe one house was lost, but it could have been a lot worse. No lives were lost. I am thankful.

Have a wonderful week!

Book Tour and Spotlight: Miss Burnham and the Loose Thread

BonnieReadsAndWrites6 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lynn Knight was born in Derbyshire and lives in London. The women of her family passed on many stories along with beaded bags and buttoned gauntlets, and fostered her interest in the texture and narratives of women’s lives. She is the author of The Biography of Clarice Cliff (2005), a memoir, Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue: The Story of an Accidental Family (2011), and The Button Box: The Story of Women in the 20th Century, Told Through the Clothes They Wore (2016).

Miss Burnham and the Loose Thread is her first novel.

BOOK REVIEW

In 1925 London, Rose Burnham is trying to make a success of her new business, a dressmaking shop, and has been encouraged by the many orders from Miss Holmes, who wants to impress a new suitor. The most recent dress is gorgeous and expensive to make, so Rose is quite concerned when Miss Holmes cannot pay for it. In tears, she explains that her suitor, Reginald, was a fraud. He talked her into advancing him 800 pounds for a business, and now he has disappeared, money and all. She explains she met him through a matrimonial agency. Outraged, Rose decides to pretend to be a client of the matrimonial agency, Cupid’s Arrow, and bring this “suitor” to justice.

I really enjoyed and connected with the characters in this book, especially Rose and her sisters. Rose has had the opportunity to leave employment with a department store and start her own business, and this book highlights the difficulties of and discrimination against women in business at that time. Rose’s determination to get justice for women being swindled is encouraging and heartwarming. The mystery surrounding the suitor, Reginald, is intriguing, and I could feel Rose’s outrage as she tries to track him down. There is a secondary mystery involving anonymous poisoned pen letters that are being left for Rose’s friend. This novel has a modern connection–everything that plays out in both of these mysteries in 1925 London is still going on today, but on social media. Recommended to all Mystery fans and fans of Women’s Fiction.

Thank you to Zooloo’s Book Tours for a free copy of this novel. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

BOOK LINKS

GOODREADS | PURCHASE LINK

Q&A With the Author of HORSE SHOW, Jess Bowers

BonnieReadsAndWrites4 Comments

Recently I did a review of HORSE SHOW for The Historical Novel Society. You can find my blog post containing the review, the author’s bio, and purchase links here.

Jess was kind enough to do a Q&A with me as well, and you can find it below.

Bonnie:  Hi Jess and thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions.

Bonnie:  Horse Show is a collection of short stories that include horses in some way.  What inspired you to put this collection together?

Jess: Well, the title, Horse Show, is a bit of a pun—each story in the book includes an equine and a “show” or spectacle of some kind, whether that’s a movie, a 19th century stage show, or a woman having her horse tell fortunes in her backyard. That was really my inspiration—the many ways we put this species on display throughout American history.

Bonnie:  One of my favorites, Two on a Horse, is set on the Steeplechase Ride at Coney Island.   This was a highly dangerous and popular ride in the late 19th and early 20th Century.  I became interested in this ride after reading about it in another novel.  What inspired you to place the story here?

Jess: I first saw the Steeplechase in action while watching Ric Burns’ excellent American Experience documentary about Coney Island. Once I learned that there weren’t any seatbelts or brakes on the mechanical horses, and that a lot of early amusement park attractions were designed to create compromising situations between women and men, I thought about all the different kinds of women who would have ridden the Steeplechase, and all the ways that the ride could become a nexus for danger as well as empowerment.  

Bonnie:  Do you have a favorite story in the collection and why?

Jess: I’m fond of “Based on a True Story” because it really captures my sense of humor, in addition to pushing the boundaries of what a story featuring a horse can be, while questioning why there’s a horse in the story at all. Saying much more would spoil the surprise of reading it, though…!

Bonnie:  Many of the stories highlight the abuse of horses in some way.  I know I learned a lot more about this topic when reading your book.  Has this always been a topic you wanted to share with the world?  And have there been improvements in the treatment of horses in the present day?

Jess:  As a lifelong equestrian and animal enthusiast, the anthropocentric way humans approach and exploit other beings, defining what it is to be “human” in opposition to other creatures, or claiming dominion over them and their habitats, has always bothered me deeply. Just as an anti-war book must contain war, Horse Show includes animal abuse to call attention to its inhumanity. While I do think strides have been made in terms of better understanding horses, institutionalized equine abuse continues, from Thoroughbred racing’s questionable breeding and training practices to less publicized situations such as the ongoing abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses for “big lick” competitions, where horses are cruelly mistreated to achieve a specific high-stepping walk, all in the name of “tradition.” Sadly, many humans still see horses as tools or machines or toys, rather than sentient beings who suffer and experience trauma just as we do.

Bonnie:  Horse Show is your first book, although some or all of the stories were published individually.  For the new writers who read this blog, how would you describe your journey to get published and what advice do you have for them?

Jess: I knew that the stories were good, and if I could place them individually in reputable, well-respected literary magazines, it would strengthen the collection’s case once I was ready to approach presses. Lots of writers I admire constructed their debut story collections this way. Publishing is kind of like rolling a snowball downhill. Each story you place, each contest you’re a runner-up for packs more snow onto the ball you’ve got rolling, and eventually you create an avalanche. Be careful about where you send your work. Aim for the most prestigious publications you can—those are the bylines that make publishers and agents e-mail you asking to see more work. And enter contests! That’s how Santa Fe Writers Project acquired Horse Show, after it made the longlist for their annual contest. Lots of great small presses find books that way.

Bonnie:  I have become a fan of your work after reading Horse Show.  Are you working on another book?

Jess: I am! While researching Horse Show, I developed a folder of “strange animal happenings” that had nothing to do with horses but tickled my brain. So, my next book is throwing the barn doors open to welcome in all kinds of obscure creatures from history. So far, there’s a wombat, a snake, some dogs, and Nikola Tesla’s favorite pigeon.

Bonnie:  Let’s go beyond the bio.  Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t know just from reading your bio.

Jess: I really love swimming, so much so that I’m always the first one to kick my shoes off and jump into random bodies of water. No swimsuit? No problem. Cold? I don’t care! Pools, creeks, fountains, holding ponds…I’m like a badly behaved golden retriever whenever water is involved.

Bonnie:  Thanks so much, Jess, for answering my questions today!

Remember to check out HORSE SHOW! It was an amazing read.

Book Review: Horse Show by Jess Bowers

BonnieReadsAndWrites9 Comments

*This is another review I did for The Historical Novel Society. It is an outstanding collection of short stories that was selected as an Editor’s Choice.

This amazing collection of short stories looks at the equine from many perspectives, from 19th-century London to New York’s Coney Island in the early 20th century to Hollywood movies and beyond. The majority of the stories are set from the mid-19th through the mid-20th centuries and mostly in various parts of the United States.

“The Mammoth Horse,” set in London, is a sad look at the abuse of animals in the circuses and follies of the 19th century. “Shooting A Mule” tells of the violent execution of a mule with explosives at a military base in Willett’s Point, NY, in 1881. “The Lost Hoof of Fire Horse #12” tells the story of a lone horse’s hoof that now gathers dust in the Smithsonian. “One Trick Pony” describes the abuse of stunt horses during the 1939 movie Jesse James.

I was so impressed by “Two on a Horse,” set on the Steeplechase ride at Coney Island in the early 20th century. Although the horses were made of wood, they were part of a harrowing ride, and Bowers describes the personal stories of the riders in vivid detail. From the first lady to attempt to ride the Steeplechase astride to a sexual assault occurring during the ride itself, the story has a strong impact, and the reader can see and feel the violence of the ride as well as the trauma of the riders.

Equally fine is “Of Course, Of Course,” which on the surface is about a young newlywed couple who discover a horse abandoned on their new property. However, underneath lurks a saga of a wife awakening to her own abandonment, abuse, and neglect in 1960s California.

These perfectly crafted tales create a tragic picture that will have an emotional impact on the reader. Highly recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (FROM HER WEBSITE)

Jess Bowers lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she works as an Associate Professor of English at Maryville University. But she’s originally from York, Pennsylvania, the first capital of the United States (so they claim) and hometown of the 90s rock band Live (that one’s true).

Her debut collection, HORSE SHOW, was published by Santa Fe Writers Project, and recently named one of “The Most Exciting Debut Short Story Collections of 2024” by Electric Literature.

Her short fiction has also appeared in The Portland Review, cream city review, Redivider, StoryQuarterly, The Indiana Review, Zone 3, Oyez Review, and other journals, been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net Award, and other honors. She won Laurel Review‘s Midwest Short Fiction Prize and the Winter Anthology Prize, which was pretty cool.

She’s also a co-editor at Cartridge Lit, an online journal publishing literature about video games, which she’s loved since she first played Fishing Derby on her Atari 2600.

Bowers holds a B.A. in English and creative writing from Goucher College, an M.A. in the same from Hollins University, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri, where she studied fiction writing, film, and 19th-century literature and visual culture.

In her free time, she thinks about the hungry ghosts of silent Hollywood while riding her little yellow pony through the woods. She also watches far too much T.V.

PURCHASE LINKS

*Click on the cover to buy on Amazon.

Sunday Post: Here Comes The Rain Again

BonnieReadsAndWrites13 Comments

Thank you to The Caffeinated Book Reviewer for hosting Sunday Post.

Last week was pretty relaxing and I don’t have much to report. I am watching a rain forecast for this coming week: Three days of heavy rain starting Monday night or Tuesday. That’s going to change our plans to have some trees removed this week, as it will probably be too muddy to get it finished. Since we live on a gravel road and there is a branch (creek) on our property, it might get pretty muddy around here soon.

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOG

Last week I did two book reviews: The Ballad of Mary Kearney and All We Thought We Knew.

I didn’t end up participating in Top Ten Tuesday, but hope to do so this week, time permitting. The heavy rain might also affect my internet, so we’ll see what I can get done. I am going to try to schedule some posts tomorrow so they will go up anyway.

NEXT WEEK

I will be reviewing HORSE SHOW by Jess Bowers and CRIME BRULEE BAKEOFF by Rebecca Connolly. There may be other reviews as well.

BOOK HAUL

I accepted an audiobook from Macmillan Audio of WILD DARK SHORE. I’m excited to listen to it.

How was your week? Any bad weather coming?