Converse on Twitter: #ILookedForTheOneMyHeartLoves & #FranceBT
Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a tour stop on the “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” virtual book tour through France Book Tours. I received a complimentary ARC copy of the book direct from the publisher Open Road Media, in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Anne and Alexis are separated by war as children and reunited later by destiny. A powerful and dramatic love story that spans decades in spite of its seeming impossibility.
Anne, 9, and Alexis, 11, grow up together in the Montmartre area of Paris. While she has a major crush on him, he merely sees her as his friend’s little sister. After WWII begins, the two are separated as their families flee Paris to avoid the German occupation. When they say goodbye, Alexis promises to always protect Anne.
Anne holds on to this promise for years as she constantly thinks of Alexis, wondering where he may be. Anne grows up, finds works in an art gallery, and marries a kind, devoted man with whom she has two children. But her heart still belongs to Alexis and she never stops looking for him. Their paths cross fatefully one day in Brussels many years after they were separated.
Alexis, living in Canada and soon to be moving to San Francisco, has a family of his own; a wife in constant depression and a son. Despite their responsibilities to family and the geographical distance that keeps them apart, Anne and Alexis find a way to love one another, secretly yet passionately.
But after all this time, will they ever manage to be truly together, completely?
Dominique Marny was raised in a family that loves art, literature, adventure and travels. In addition to being a novelist, she is a playwright, screenwriter, and writes for various magazines.
A shortened & condensed reading of a World War:
One of the gifts Marny gives her readers is a shortened and condensed reading of a World War, by attaching a full historical enriched scope of the French side of World War II. Knitted into the arc of the chapter which begins in 1939 is an intact re-creation of all the pertinent moments which had the most impact on French families and citizens. She approached this section of her novel with an intensity yet intermixed a warmth of hope and love of family, as she focuses on Anne as a central figure to highlight the discrepancies as you would observe them. By focusing on Anne during this time, we see the war through the eyes of an innocent child whose wishful thinking and dreams are nearly curtailed by the haunting realities of what war can bring into your world view.
Marny does a considerable job at bringing us right into the heat of the bombings flying over Paris to the lesser known anguished moments of separation from school friends and the family members who live too far away to commute to see when living under German occupation. I appreciated seeing everything Anne saw and breathing in a side of the war I had not yet felt touched in other stories.
My Review of I Looked for the One My Heart Loves:
As the story opens centered on a family living in France on the fringes of World War II developing into their lives, we peer into the young life of Anne, of whom we greeted at a cemetery decades later before warming into her years of childhood. The transitional shift left me curious to know not only of whom the grave marker belonged too, but who the curious stranger was in front of her visiting the same grave! As a young child, Anne felt the full measure of anguished sorrow for how a new Great War would impact her life and the ones she cared about the most. She was at the impressionable age where knowing about what feared adults was enough to fear a child. Her brother Bernard was like a typical brother, bent on teasing his sister and tormenting her with either embarrassment in front of their peers or telling her things she would rather not know at all. The two were caught up in the tides of a changing world – where freedom and the sanctity of family would be tested.
The mass exodus out of Paris into safer areas of France is depicted with equal measures of heightened alarm for safety and the arduous tension in walking or biking hours at at time reach a destination. Although I had known Paris and London were left behind for only those who could brave the war which arrived on their doorsteps, I had not yet read of what Parisians had gone through during the developing days leading into World War II. I have oft read war dramas from the perspective of the British during this war, and therefore, am a bit remiss on knowing more about the French. When I read Letters from Skye, I learnt a great deal about the front lines and the intensity of staying hopeful amidst uncertainty. Marny and Brockmole have a way of placing us into the heart of the French people and the plight of France during the war itself in such a way as to feel as though we lived the hours ourselves.
The entire first section of this novel is a beautiful eclipse of how war affects a young girl and how her life is different by living through war as it altered her neighbourhood and disrupted the lives of everyone she knew. She held a candle lit for the young boy she held an infatuation of concern for during the bombings of Paris; never knowing where his family had fled a few years before when Paris was starting to feel the blitz of the bombers. The bond she felt for Alexis and the growing love she knew was in her heart for him is what helped her endure. She cast her thoughts on his own well-being and although they lived apart during the war, her spirit was tied to his.
After the war, Anne started to fuse her passion for art into a passionate career, all the while curious about where Alexis had gone inside his own life’s adventure. She was not one who strove to entertain the idea of marriage, but rather was found in the throes of loving a man who genuinely loved her in return. Her life took on a rhythm part of her choosing and part of choosing to live a life that might become expected of her to curate. Because she elected to make choices in her life based on where society and convention were guiding her to tread, she ended up closing the door on her own heart’s desire. Anne’s life because a swirling sea of art acquisitions and galley showings featuring artists both renowned and starting out to gain an audience. As the years started to encompass her hours, even motherhood did not tether her heart to happiness.
It was always a nudge inside her mind that she had missed something, or rather that she had missed the opportunity to be with someone she always felt was more her equal and her other half. Alexis was only a boy when they departed from each others’ lives, yet the candle that once flickered for him turnt into a fiery flame renewed through happenstance which led them into that daring twist of fate where deciding which path you take in life can either be your downfall or your unexpected blessing.
I was a bit betwixt myself as I read this novel if I agreed with her choice to follow after Alexis; and I credit this vacillation to a previous novel I read in August Lemongrass Hope, of whose thematic of choice parallels I Looked for the One My Heart Loves. In many ways, what left me feeling a bit aghast is that the lead character in Lemongrass Hope found beauty and joy inside being a mother – to consider leaving her children even if she had chosen to live a different life than she dreamt for herself was a cross she was not willing to bear, yet the path she chose to live was one that surprised me in the end. Anne on the other hand is career-driven and is not willed to her children as Kate was to hers and this in of itself shows the differences within motherhood and the connection a mother shares with her children. However, for me personally, I felt Anne came off more self-centered and selfish than Kate, as Kate was caught between fate and true love. Anne never had the luxury of experiencing what Kate had with Ian, and therefore, in this instance I sided with Francois over Anne. On a lot of levels, Francois and Anne were identical to each other: each were dedicated to their professions to where they approached marriage and children second to their career.
Lemongrass Hope matches this novel for exploring the fragility of the human heart and the yearnings of a powerful mind bent on pursuing its own convicting motivation. For me, although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found myself a bit wanton of wanting to dig back into Lemongrass Hope. In a lot of ways I felt Impellizzeri had won me over for how she handled the truism of a conflicted heart and soul. Whereas Marny gave me a breath of insight into the French who survived the war and the carefree approach to living I always felt the French embraced as a celebration for life itself.
On writing a unique Romance set against time, memory, and war:
I appreciated the honesty and raw emotions that Marny stitched into her novel, as she has written a very unique Romance set against time, memory, and war. The initial reactions I felt to the story of Anne and Alexis were two people caught up in each others’ lives who drifted apart out from war. Yet, when I soaked into the story, I started to see the complexity of understanding who we choose to love and who we might have let go from our life without realising they were the ones our heart had chosen to love before our mind even realised the connection. Both of Marny’s characters made choices to marry against their own will in some ways, because neither was quite ready for what marriage would bring into their life.
The honesty within their thoughts and the actions they took after their reconnection warmed me to their story, because life as in fiction, choices can determine the fate of where we end up in our lives. And, not everything is straight-up right nor wrong, there are in-between places as well. The one I felt a bit sorry for in the story were Anne’s husband Francois, who truly loved Anne in a way she could not quite reciprocate. This is not merely a Romance novel but a literary novel centered on human emotions and the conflictions of understanding the line between desire and adultery.
I always appreciate seeing a video about an author I am about to read, and in this one I appreciated getting to know someone who speaks a different language than I do, because through the sub-titles and the way in which Ms. Marny describes the story she’s written, I felt connected in a way that would lend a curiosity to read her novel. I hope you appreciate seeing her inside this short introduction as much as I had originally.
Virtual Road Map for
“I Looked for the One My Heart Loves” Blog Tour:
Be sure to scope out upcoming tours I will be hosting with:
via my
{SOURCES: Cover art of “I Looked for the One My Heart Loves”, book synopsis, author photograph of Mr. Malaval, author biography, and the tour host badge were all provided by France Book Tours and used with permission. The introduction video of author Jean-Paul Malaval by Open Road Media & Bordeaux travelogue by TravelTherapyTV had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Bookish Events & France Book Tours badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
Acquired Book By: The story behind how I was able to read “Uncovering Cobbogoth” is quite a unique story all the way around! Originally, I was selected to be on the blog tour with TLC Book Tours for this novel, but at the last minute I received a cancellation notice. Normally I do not chase after a novel when a blog tour falls through (although I have a few times this Spring 2014!) as I respect that circumstances can change or become altered from what was originally scheduled. However, I felt so strongly in this particular selection I simply had to contact the author on behalf of her personal website & I might have tweeted her as well – I cannot remember the order of events, but I did contact her personally letting her know how much I still believed in the story & on my disappointment of the blog tour cancellation.
Around this point in time I was in contact with one of the publicists I work with on blog tours, Ms. Amber Stokes (her badge is in my sidebar – Editing Through the Seasons) who had lamented via the twitterverse she was enjoying this book but was on tour with it through Cedar Fort! I had not at that point in time heard of or known of Cedar Fort Publishing! Much less realising that another Indie Publisher was organising blog tours for book bloggers! Within a short time frame I had contacted Ms. Clark AND I had contacted Cedar Fort’s blog tour cordinators at no less than four times, as I was trying to read their site & sort out the details for “Uncovering Cobbogoth”, the qualifications as a book blogger seeking a print copy as much as realising they offer more than one blog tour at once! I believe within a 24 hour expanse I had all my bases covered! Including thanking Ms. Stokes profusely for telling me about Cedar Fort initially!
The long short of this story ahead of the review is simply that I was accepted as a late stop on the blog tour, as I had a very short window of being able to receive the book and review it on my blog! I picked one of the last stops as I knew I would need every inch of that time to soak into the world of ‘Cobbogoth’! And, part of me knew this was a special book to request as well! Therefore, I was offered to receive a complimentary copy of “Uncovering Cobbogoth” direct from the publisher Sweetwater Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. This also marks my first blog tour as Hostess for Cedar Fort blog tours as I scheduled a few more throughout Summer!
Inspired to Read:
The very first moment I saw this book title being offered for a blog tour stop via TLC Book Tours, I simply knew after I clicked over to the author’s website that I had stumbled across a piece of magical bliss! When I pulled up the book trailer I even lamented to my tour director, “The book trailer nailed it for me!” It was the combination of the magical world and setting, the lushness of the characters & back-story, and the way in which the mythological arc is carried over and through the book trailer (attached below my book review!) which set my mind afire with the wondrous possibilities that were going to lie in wait for me! The fact that it involved ‘Icelandic’ origins was enough to whet my whistle of electrified joy! The beauty of Iceland is not only its appeal for mythological history nor being on the center-front edge of green technologic advances in science, but it sits on the fringe of adventure, discovery, and of a place rarely opted for a holiday!
I have dreamt of wandering around the shores and inlets of Iceland for many a moon, and part of me always gets as giddy as a cat when Iceland is featured in documentaries! (if you follow the electric car ones, you know what I am referencing!) There is a pure allure and dynamic for story-tellers to feel captivated and wholly enthused to go to Iceland. From the bottom of my writer’s heart I long to talk to Icelanders about their own organic tradition of story-telling and their enchantment with the world’s story-tellers as Iceland is one of the singularly largest self-contained countries for literary explorers! The country boasts more readers per capita than most other locales on earth! To me if you combine everything we know superficially about Iceland and the bits and bobbles I just shared, wouldn’t you be stoked with a breath of anticipation to read Uncovering Cobbogoth!?
If my enthused opening to my review below is of any countenance, please take a moment to celebrate the wonderfully joyful revelation of a writer on the verge of seeing her book launch to the four winds, land in the loving hands of readers, and electrify her heart with an overwhelming sense of harmony knowing that her story has not only captured our attention but it is a story which has gone out into the world to find new readers & new appreciators of the work she etched into ‘Uncovering Cobbogoth’!
Uncovering Cobbogoth Release Day!! And a HUGE heartfelt THANK YOU!
The lovely video which was embedded at the time of this post has been removed.
Book Synopsis:
Follow Norah Lukens in her quest to uncover the truth about the fabled lost city of Cobbogoth! After her archaeologist uncle’s murder, Norah is asked to translate his old research journal for evidence and discovers that his murder was a cover-up for something far more sinister. Readers of all ages will be captivated by this tale of mythical beings, elemental magic, and the secrets of a lost city.
Author Biography:
Hannah L. Clark lives with her kinzura and their kynd in Utah. She has always known she would be a storyteller. In 2006 she graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor’s degree in English, and immediately began writing Cobbogoth. Hannah loves running, mythology, laughing, soulful bluegrass music, and growing things. Like Norah, she is slightly inclined to believe that trees have souls. To learn more about Hannah and the Cobbogoth series, visit cobbogoth.com.
The back-story set in the Cobbogoth series:
I am always intrigued by how each writer of Fantasy elects to give us little nibblements of the back-story as the current one takes shape before our eyes! The inertia of my fingers grasping at the pages awaiting to read what was written next is a good barometer of knowing how well in tune Clark is with gaining her audience’s attention front and center from Chapter 1! There was an emotional turning point where you knew that the lead character was carrying far more than the world on her young shoulders, as I appreciated the symbolism of the Cherry Tree and of the theory of how trees can speak in low whispers if we were only able to believe in their presence in our lives. This is mentioned in the Author Biography, about a kinship between herself and her lead character’s beliefs in the living souls of trees; a theory and belief that I, a reader of Cobbogoth whole-heartedly believe true!
To bridge the extension of this belief and to paint a catalyst of memory for a young orphan’s heart for her unknown Mum was a touching sentiment! I also appreciated seeing the etchings of how friends can be betwixt mere ‘friends’ and ‘something more’ or even ‘as close as family’ as their relationships can alter and change over time apart. There are a lot of hidden insights into how our world can be perceived as we’re living through our ordinary days as much as how we grapple to understand the depths of our connections to the people we care about the most. Clark allows her characters to ‘breathe freely’, to excise their vulnerability, and shed the layers of their innermost thoughts as though carting away a discarded snakeskin. Emotions are always the elements of humanity held the closest to our person and the hardest to ease away from when facing conflict and tragedy.
Her brushstrokes include foreboding flashbacks and a combination of startling truths played out in the form of premonitions and second-sight visions, which besotted Norah to a wrecking level of heightened awareness. Her mind was prepared to handle the onslaught of knowledge she would need to process, but her emotional heart was written in the true scope of her seventeen years. For this, an extra layer of realism was woven into the context of the story. The flashbacks and moments of her enlightenment felt a close kin to ‘living ghosts’ as they faded in and out of recognition as though they were spatially translucent and remembered against will. Within these moments the fuller history of Cobbogoth becomes a living vessel beyond proportion.
My Review of Uncovering Cobbogoth:
A mystery is underfoot at the start of Uncovering Cobbogoth, as Norah Lukens has short-term memory loss whilst in transit towards Boston on a commuter bus. The reflection of a stranger’s kindness was a nice touch on behalf of the writer, as it stirred my own memories whilst travelling in my mid to late teens when I too, received welcoming kindnesses by fellow travellers when I needed a bit of aide myself! Including during a cross-country red-eye flight where they did not tell us to expect to pay for in-flight headphones, snacks, and morning necessities in the washroom! A grandmother wrapped me inside a wicked film, heaps of snacks, and just enough peppermint candies and soap to make me feel properly refreshed before the plane landed! Such kindnesses always touch our heart as they arrive in our lives at moments we are not expecting help. In this way, I was swept into the shoes of Norah as soon as she appeared on the page! A nibbling awareness that this is a novel where everything is not yet as it seems would be beneficial to tuck away certain passages for future references!
Norah’s homecoming is forestalled by horrific tragedy jettisoning her onto a course of fated bravery, as she is meant to help the detectives solve the crime she walks-in on whilst expecting a transition from being away from home. Not yet a breath of her eighteenth year is broached before she starts to watch the embers of her life unravell and re-construct a new path for her to tread. The shattering realisation that one-half of her life is now ripped away and gone, whilst the other half remains elusive and unnervingly real at the same time gives her mind an off-balance reality.
As Norah’s emotional state wavers between solid ground and the shattering awareness of how intricate her life thus far has schooled her in what she would need to know to survive the moment ‘after’ her Uncle’s death; nearly puts her past her ability to function. Little pieces of a shifting puzzle float through her internal vortex, as her mind acts more like an automatic processor of information: where it has stored, analysed, and executed a thousand different pathways of knowledge only to be propelled into instantaneous flights of auto-retention! Gifted with a photographic memory and the devouring of ancient languages as though they were in high fashion in today’s age, she is guided by her years as a home-schooled pupil of her Uncle Jack’s. His presence might be taken from her, but his voice is ever present and his wisdom ever apparent.
I appreciated the ‘other world and other kind’ technology introduced into the context of this installment of the series, as I was most fascinated by the use of crystals and stones of having properties outside of their elemental physic natures! Rocks, fossils, gemstones, and all matters of geologic science were another fascination of mine growing up, and to see the protection bracelet (a name I dubbed it as I read!) brought into the story was quite bang-on brilliant! I loved the idea that there is more to the nature of stones than we first give them credit for having! Although anyone who has attended a gem and stone festival, (or a smaller version inside of an Arts & Crafts Fair) will denote that crystals of any size, but generally of medium or larger varieties have a ‘telling presence’, as they give-off a piece of themselves as they sit quietly on a flat surface. Knowing this, I was wholly fascinated by the presence of stones and crystals through the adventure I lived whilst inhabiting the soles of Norah’s shoes!
From the moment Norah first picked up her Uncle’s journals and started to decipher their hidden language contrasted against the flashback memories of a part of Icelandic lore I was not familiar of previously, this particular story has you mesmorised from the first page your turn against your heart’s desire to see it unfold faster! I felt my heart leap wanting to curl inside the story and wander around free of needing to read the words off the page! I felt as though I had finally found my ‘next adventure’ past the Cooper Kids, which made me feel as though I had stepped through the portal and taken up an active role in the story itself! I always wanted to find more books of this nature when I was a young adult myself, but they were always few and far between! Imagine my blissitude in realising I have found another writer who can pen a story that re-ignites the joy I had whilst I was younger?! The contrasting differences between Light & Dark foes keeps you on the edge of your seat, as you never know which is going to shift into view nor which moment Norah is going to finally assemble all the clues she needs to understand her Uncle’s greatest lesson! A riveting jolt through a fraction of what Cobbogoth has to offer us all!
On the style of Clark’s writing:
When the reader has to become aware of how her Uncle Jack’s life was taken from him, she did it with a measured fusion of shocked-horror from the niece’s point-of-view and realistic evidence of a man who was recently murdered. She takes the reader so far to enable the scene to become apparently raw and real, but holds back a bit from making it more than it needed to be as far as the level of intensity. I appreciated her willingness to keep the realism but not forsake the breadth of the genre: YA Fantasy.
Uncovering Cobbogoth is an adventure you know you can handle, but it keeps you suspended between the pages as much as the living story within its chapters is a suspension of time. Science was always a ready interest of mine growing up, as I had half a step inside the worlds of art and science within my childhood hours. I was drawn into the dimensional theories of Quantum Physics as I grew and examined different quantum realms on my own by my early twenties, because of the curiosity they engaged my mind inside. The theory of super-strings, hidden dimensions, black holes, and galaxies hidden within a space of a seed were an exciting read for me! I need to re-take up where I left off as I only just brushed the surface of what I wanted to study, but within that pursuit, I have noticed that the science within science fiction that enlightens my mind the most contains elements and theories woven around the concept of space-time dimensions and/or the continuum. This is not the first foray I have ventured on this year to read a story with time travel or the bending of time (as we see it peripherally) as it’s core center of scientific thought. The Skin Map uses the theory of ley lines whereas Cobbogoth is using the theory of hoption holes. In each of their own ways, they are breaking down a theory of how humans of any age can travel through ‘portals’ within the space-time vortex of dimensional space. And, I personally find that exciting!
Clark has a deft hand for writing the most scientific principles of the novel in a way that is not only easy to digest, but gets you excited to learn more than what has already been provided! The curious illustrations her sister, Ms. Shakespear contributed to the story’s element of past and present gave a visual reference for the sub-stories that draw out the focus on Cobbogoth itself rather than the story set in and around Cobbogoth on a whole!
I would say that due to the nature of the high octane adventure and action sequences, as well as the brief passages of violence which take place as Norah’s life is thwarted by more danger than you could blink through, I do believe the classification of this novel as ‘YA Fantasy’ is rather apt. It would be a great story for a teenager to sink their teeth into because it is on the verge of leaving the formative years behind and entering the world on your own merits. Lessons of courage and fortitude of spirit are organically woven into the texture of the story itself. If you watched the motion picture “The Dark is Rising: The Seeker” you will not have any trouble reading this novel! At some point, I’d like to read the novel the forementioned film is based upon!
After being entranced by the debut of this wicked sweet fantasy series, I can only hope that Book 2 will not only be too far behind Book 1 (I would wait a year or more! The setting is that compelling to return too!), but I am hopeful that at the time of its release I am in plenty of time to join the forthcoming blog tour! This is surely one series I do not want to miss out on continuing the next chapter of the ensuing adventure!
Uncovering Cobbogoth Book Trailer OFFICIAL 2014 via Hannah L. Clark
Sadly, the book trailer was removed or marked as private (UPDATE: February, 2022)
{SOURCES: Author photograph, Author Biography, Book Synopsis, Book Cover, and Cedar Fort badge were provided by Cedar Fort, Inc. and were used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. The Book Trailer for “Uncovering Cobbogoth” and Hannah L. Clark’s personal video via Hannah L. Clark had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank her for the opportunity to include materials that help introduce readers to her work.}
What I find most surprising as I go through the Bout is what I am finding as I read the stories I am picking up. I always consider myself an open-minded reader who appreciates a widely diverse reading life, yet what surprises me the most is that how surprised I can become whilst attempting to read a book by an author I previously felt I would be captivated by! :( On this note, I have become a bit disappointed and frustrated twiceover in one week! As I started to settle into The Reincarnationist, I was plumb aghast by what I was finding inside the opening pages of Chapter 1! To the brink that I felt that the author & publisher should have changed the genre from historical suspense to historical horror! I will write more about this in a moment, because what was even more interesting is before I boomeranged back the ENTIRE Reincarnationist series to my local library (they are such a blessing to have knowing how many books are in our local catalogue and thus are able to read when I am either about to seek a book for review &/or simply want to get caught up with an author’s work) I remembered what I had loved reading & listening about The Book of Lost Fragrances.
I also knew Seduction & The Collector of Dying Breaths would follow the same vein of thought & intrigue as this particular Book 4 in the series, so before I carted off this half of the series I was less than enthused to be reading now, I decided to take the high road. I thought, no wait! What if the books centered in a focus about ‘scent’ and ‘parfum’ are written in a different style than the previous books!? What if that style was more agreeable to where my reading sensitivities and interests could find common ground!? I pulled these books out of my library bag, placed them on the shelf, and walked out the door. As I returned, I was both apprehensive and joyful in knowing that I could quite possibly have found a way to enjoy an author I had read so very much about!
At the very same time, Richard Brooks was requesting I continue his journey, and I did not want to keep him waiting! :)
Book I am Reading:
The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose – barely made it to page 12! Books 1-3 go promptly back to the library!
The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
Chain of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson
Books &/or Memes I am Blogging About:
Chain of Mercy: a book review of a debut novel (editing at time of post)
10 Bookish and not So Bookish Thoughts (editing at time of post)
Booking Through Thursday (editing at time of post)
Blogs I am Visiting (including non-bouter blogs):
Readerly Musings: Christine undertakes her next vlog adventures & has an open-call for Questions! I promptly stalked this blog by the way to see if the new vlogs had arrived as I was most curious as was my Da in seeing her responses to our proposed Qs! Unfortunately for us, the vlogs must take HOURS to finalise as even by midnight we were not finding they had gone live! :( Meanwhile, I found another booktuber to keep my eye on as her enthused bookish chatter is quite catching!
#k8chat – I enjoyed visiting Ms. Tilton’s chat during their 1st Anniversary celebration the prior week, and I could barely believe it was time to visit with them once more! Their topic of discussion was Diversity in Lit, which I have been talking about since Black History Month in February! I am enjoying keeping in the loop with the on-going dialogue of open-mindedness in reading & exploration of stories. I happily shared links to my own blog, engaged in the conversation, & rather unexpectedly had the pure joy in *winning!* a copy of a novel by an author I have been most delighted getting to know through tweetchats: Ms. Ellen Mulholland! And, coincidentally, the book I have won is a Young Adult novel set in the style of coming of age and is a contribution to LGBT fiction from a similar point of view of Etched On Me, on the level that the character is going through a moment in their life where they want to better understand & accept who they are. I do know the story is lighter than Etched On Me in its scope, but poignant in how the story is told by its author! I was thrilled to bits as this brings the author & I full circle in regards to going from acquaintances online, to fast bookish friends (we tend to have a bit in common as we converse), to a book blogger discovering a new author’s work! Isn’t life bookishly beautiful, at times!? I cannot wait to see “Birds on a Wire” arrive by postal mail! :) Cheers! Thank you K8chat!
#10MinuteNovelists – Except to say I did not stay very long because their tag for some reason was being wonky & quirky, and I felt as though I was not able to properly follow the line of thought threaded into the conversation! :( Such a shame as I enjoy visiting with them!
I had properly forgotten about #StoryDam! As I appear to be forgetting my regular tweetchats of late! Need more post-its!?
Notes:
I am not certain how I erred twice in one week with books I was quite eager to read, but apparently, I have as when I first opened The Reincarnationist novel I was expecting to be swept away into this historical suspense novel akin to The Skin Map (a still need to finish novel left-over from Sci Fi November!)! I was not expecting to be appalled and more than a bit grossed out by the gutting scene of murder and chilling attack of a woman before I even reached page 15! I promptly put the book in the stash of books being carted back to the library this afternoon! I mean, truly!? I am now a bit betwixt understanding how all my research into the Reincarnationist series is now ending on such a sour note, as one thing I cannot handle to read is brutal mind-bending gore inside of a historical novel! There was a delicate grace in my readings of Citadel by ?. I am not finding the same to be true of M.J. Rose as it is reading more like a horror centered novel than a historical!? I am most confused! As this reminds of how much I appreciate Anne Rice’s research and dedication to writing her novels but at the very same time, cannot find the heart of mind to read the novels which have enchanted readers for decades! :(
After my library run,…
I decided that it was time to give The Book of Lost Fragrances a bit of a go, as what did I have to lose at this point in time!? From page 1 to page 34 I was literally entwined with the story, the characters, and this tingling nudge towards following one’s heart and nose through a story which was written with a passion for the past and the history of perfumery! :) I was greatly entranced by the Egyptology focus, as much as how a person can have a gift in ? ask Mum the word! ? that not only gives them a field to work in but a gift that takes on a path their life must travel. I loved being consumed by the crushing grief of Jac as she starts to reconcile her sorrow against the fact she does not want to admit that she’s gifted with the ability to see past death and visit with her Mum between the veils. I loved the atmosphere shifting between the tombs Napoleon Bonaparte was attempting to plunder in his quest for conquest, as much I appreciated the Gothic Literature undertones I have always enjoyed reading. This had the etchings of historical suspense, and I felt my spirits starting to soar a bit! The fact that I could reach page 34 and not find one thing wrong except for the fact my dear eyes could not drink in the narrative fast enough was a marker of improvement!
In Chain of Mercy, I found myself captivated and compelled to read Richard Brook’s story simply because he is a broken man in his spirit who needs not only a boost of encouragement but he needs to re-affirm his acceptance of understanding his own humanity. He’s at a cross-roads in his life where he needs to not only determine the course he wants his future to be set upon but in which method he wishes to arrive into that future. I love the fact that his character is not only flawed, but he is genuinely going through a lift shift that takes patience, perservance, time, and the ability to truly look in the mirror seeing your faults and knowing you can overcome them. And, to me that is a very compelling story to engage yourself and find the pages cannot be turnt fast enough!
{SOURCE: Bout of Books Badge created by Jorie in Canva to give readers & visitors who come to her blog a way to know of its existence and therefore increasing the mystery & lore surrounding it! The booktuber video “Contemporary & More (#36) via Padfootandprongs07 had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share a random joy discovery during Bout of Books. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}
The premise behind “Booking the Rails” was the impetus of a scathingly brilliant idea on behalf of Jorie! How does a girl who lives in the Southeast of the United States *actively!* participate in the mission of Books on the Underground & Books on the Subway!? How can she make a difference with a bookish blog without placing the books on the rails herself!? *lightbulb!*
Generate a book blogosphere gathering, where readers and bloggers can reach out to each other and start a social conversation! Expounding social interest to a new high to where those who pick up the books left on the rails by Hollie (in London) & Rosy (in New York City) will be encouraged not only to touch base by their mutually exclusive hashtags #BooksontheUnderground & #BooksontheSubway but might find themselves sharing their impressions of the books which alighted in their hands! This is one bookish blogger’s mission to read the books left on the rails! Jorie is therefore “booking the rails!”
Join her discoveries! Chat your thoughts! Tweet & share the movement behind volunteer public libraries! Unite bookish souls! Unite!
I moved to London five years ago after graduating from university and I’m originally from Lincolnshire. I left university adamant that I was going to get a job as a Creative in an Advertising agency. After 2 years of interning at agency after agency, I now find myself working at Leo Burnett, London. I have about an hour commute to work everyday, from Dalston to West Kensington, so reading is a nice escape for me. I love receiving recommendations for books and I have always loved passing on great books to my friends. One day I finished a book I was reading on the tube and just thought what a lovely surprise it would be for the next person to find. I didn’t leave my book that day because I realised there were a lot of hurdles to overcome. I didn’t want it to be just a book out in the world alone; I wanted it to be part of something bigger. I designed and printed Books on the Underground stickers and that’s how it started. What’s Books on the Underground? It’s a public library on the go! Find a book, take it, read it and when you’re done with it, put it back on the train for someone else to enjoy! All books are marked with the BOTU sticker and encourage people to tweet & follow the blog.
I’ve been living in New York for around one year when I found out about Books On The Underground, thanks to Facebook. I saw an article about Hollie and BOTU when it hit me right there: I need to do this in NY. I think I thought about it for 5 minutes before I decided that I’m going to do it. I reached out to Hollie who was amazing and supportive; we did the NYC stickers together. Why did I decide to do it? I have a 40 minute commute to work everyday, and that’s nothing compared to some other commuters who have even longer commutes. Looking at people in the early morning is the most depressing thing ever. It’s like their eyes are lifeless. They stare into space as they cruise from stop to stop. Why not give these people something to look forward to when they get onto the train? Why not pass the time enriching their brain instead of bobbing their head along with the train movement. That’s why I decided to expand BOTU to BOTS. And I haven’t regretted my decision for one bit. What’s BOTS? It’s a public library on the go! Find a book, take it, read it and when you’re done with it, put it back on the train for someone else to enjoy! All books are marked with the BOTS sticker and encourage people to tweet & follow the blog.
I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and after a ten-year writer’s block I discovered Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. In December 2013 my path crossed with Rosy & Hollie (of Books on the Underground & Books on the Subway) via Twitter whereupon I was encouraged to play an active role in promoting their bookish mission. I conceived the idea of an exclusive feature entitled “Booking the Rails” to showcase the books they leave on the trains in London & NYC thinking this would create a social conversation. The first feature debuts 19 March 2014 to coincide with my third appearance on The Star Chamber Show. I am the Chambers volunteer live tweeting secretary.
Each feature spotlight of “Booking the Rails” will be drawn from the books left on the rail systems via New York City and/or London! For my first spotlight, I was trying to sort out which of the books I pulled from my local library to read first! Oh, I had forgotten to say, whilst the rail passengers are taking part in a volunteer-run library, I am ‘booking the rails’ along with them by borrowing the books from my own public library! Mine might be stationery but the books allow my imagination to remain transient! “Wonder” was a selection of mine to read when it first debuted, having been checked out numerous times to where I was a bit vexed it simply *had!* to boomerang back due to lost hours whilst checked out to me! The premise never left me and it felt fitting my first selection would come from the London rails! The start of everything!
Borrowed Book:My local public library originally purchased Wonder by R.J. Palacio at time of publication. I had always meant to borrow and read the book directly thereafter but never had the opportunity! I feel twice blessed by this book ahead of reading its pages; the first was finding it through my local library and thus, a second time in the feeds of Books on the Underground! The very Twitter account which launched a budding friendship and a conjoined effort to bring awareness to volunteer libraries on the move! I borrowed “Wonder” from my local library and this time, I read it through and through!
Inspired to Share:
The compassion Ms. Palacio has for this story and its heartfelt message of hope in the face of adversity is something that I not only support but am appreciative to observe! Her kindness is revealed in her worriment over the reactions of her sons, which served as the impetus of writing Wonder; drawing light upon our own apprehensive nature, and to serve as a sounding board towards social change & tolerance of the unknown. To change our immediate reactions which might even come to surprise us whilst allowing compassion and acceptance to be the greater good in which we impart. Listen to her words and open your heart to engage directly into the narrative.
August has a keen philosophical intuitiveness about himself, the dynamics of his family, and his personal living environment around him. He seeks to find solace out of uncertainty and squalls chaos with simplistic truths which etch out the stigmas of which society oft-times places on individuals who are in some shape or form ‘different’ from the ‘norm’. And, the sad truth is that normalcy is in the eye’s of the beholder! To be normal is quite definitively the ability to be wholly true to yourself, your internal resolve of spirit, and in knowing who you are without the prejudgements and negative thoughts of others assembling into your heart. August has instinctively dry humour to convey his thoughts about life, dispelling any unease to meet him because he breaks the ice by simply being himself! He draws you into his sphere by engaging you in a way you were not expecting! No pretense. He’s simply ‘August’, who prefers to go by ‘Auggie’, the brother of Via and the boy who wants to live like a regular ten-year old entering fifth grade!
The author instinctively took the elephant out of the room by not revealing the true nature and perception of how August looks to the world. I can only hope that if this were to become a motion picture, the film-makers would make the same choice in revealing the story as told by those who interact with August without the full sight of his facial features. Because this isn’t a story about medical afflictions and physical disabilities which challenge us, this is a story about a young boy seeking to find his niche inside of a world who is not yet understanding how to accept him in its fold.
When August started enveloping me into the block of New York City he calls home, I felt as though I could sense the comfortable aura of where he walks and of whom he interacts with on a daily basis. The inertia of home outside of his house, where people know his name and his personality giving him a true sense of acceptance in the outside world. Whilst on the fringes of leaving the cosy-comforts of this reality to trade it in for the unknown perils of attending school for the first time.
My Review of Wonder:
The author chose an opening quotation from the song “Wonder” by Natalie Merchant, which I must admit, was one of my favourite songs on the radio whilst I was in high school! I loved the simple and honest truths stitched inside the lyrical story, allowing you to feel instantly uplifted by its spirited message of Hope and Acceptance. A tune which for the greater part of my teenage years was one of the few songs which lived inside me, a bit like some of the spirited songs by The Cranberries, Jewel, Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Moriesette, Sarah MacLachlan, and the Indigo Girls. Free spirits seeking to spread enlightenment and harmony through their vocals and melodies! To realise that this song was the inspirational foothold to allow Palacio the ability to transcend into the heart of the narrative is quite humbling! A song of reverberated ideals and a moral uplifting resonance transmorphed into a story of a young boy who leads quite the extraordinary life! I oft felt that the extraordinary individuals we perchance to encounter whilst living through our everyday hours are the very individuals who never consider themselves anything outside the ‘ordinary!’ Their inner light does not only shine bright, but with a humbling arc of self-acceptance and awareness which infects all of us with a measure of gladness we did not realise was amiss!
[ Speaking from a teenager of the mid-1990s, I love how the title of page 61 begins with the key lyric of the Green Day song which I actually liked back then! ]
August is a character held within a sincere voice of the transforming and wonderment of youth; where we get to be on the ‘verge’ of every new experience in trepidation of the unexpected and unknown for the very ‘first’ time! We get to have the belly bouncing butterflies of indifference and of anxiety stemming out of our inability to trust ourselves by a confidence we have not yet garnished into place. We are on the brink of discovering the layers of our personalities and the depths of our resolve to compute the outward changes of our lives, whilst muddling through our growing years in full wonder of how we are able to rise into each new obstacle and challenge us with a determined spirit of growth. August is like so many of us who felt as though each new experience coming into view arrived too quickly, and was not fully wanted at its time of arrival!
#ChooseKindis cleverly taken from the novel (off of page 48!) inside Mr. Browne’s English class where he is inviting his students (and August too!) to examine their conception of who they are and who they are striving towards becoming. It’s a preceptional challenge to have the students in the story step back from themselves and examine how they are being perceived by their peers and if they are representing their inner truth. It’s a classical technique to include a key word or phrase into a storyline, but in the advent of the technological age of social media, this clever phrase being turnt to clue in the reader to an impactful life lesson takes on a higher level of meaning! A hashtag allows all thoughts and observations attached to the tweet embedded to become interwoven into the global thread of conversation whilst allowing everyone to have a conjoined and collaborative exchange! This takes a book whose message is self-evolving outside of its sleeves to a new height in ‘interaction’! And, I am celebrating this achievement! Choose kind is the individual choice of being who you ought to be in the moment which intersects with right and wrong behaviour. As much as it’s an exercise in learning that being right ‘all the time’ isn’t something to strive to achieve either! There is always a middle ground in life, and the younger everyone can embrace this, the more enlightenment can be ignited. In my thinking, alongside the lines of using the hashtag for #randomjoy(one of my most favourite ways of sharing my ‘extra’ bubbles of joy!) this new hashtag could be inserted to express, convey, and materialise little notes of thought where a kindness was given openly and freely. Or an acknowledgement of a generosity in the midst of in-difference could be honoured. A seedling of a conversation where in every point of face reaction, ‘choosing kindness’ over aggression or even in projecting a position of righteous thought could be replaced by ‘a kind act of humanity’.]
Seeing August slowly become integrated into his class, where Summer breezes into his life during lunch and Jack (Jack Will) decides to make up his own mind about August, chooses to help find the humour in everything that could hurt August if he weren’t on his side, I started to get a warm glowing in my heart. I liked the direction of progress Palacio used inside the story. Especially with the additional “Precepts” by Mr. Browne’s English class! No one is ever too old to wiggle their mind around something quite larger than the scale of our lifepath. Yet, appearances of friendship can be a dicey sea to navigate properly! Those who appear to be your stand-up friend and confidante might actually be a wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing. The tricky part is sorting out who is a friend and who is truly a foe. For young August, his mask of reality was shattered by Halloween on campus. He was given a golden opportunity to listen to his classmates speak about him, but the startling and scary truths coming out of their mouths was enough to shatter anyone’s heart and soul. His spirits had been keenly lifted by prior kindnesses, yet in that one moment of clarity he saw what all of us who are bullied have to see: sometimes the people you trust are not the people whom you trust them to be.
I have to give credit to Palacio for switching up the regular order of the novel by inserting full-on chapters which reveal a principal character’s insight into August! She started out by showcasing Via (August’s sister), followed by Summer (August’s first true friend), and then came Jack Will. I wasn’t sure what to think as I started to read Jack’s section because I had previous information about how he effectively tainted his friendship with August. You get an inside glimpse into each of the character’s emotions and thoughts as their lives intersect with August at school and off school grounds. It’s quite unique, because the author has this ability to keep a vein of realism in how she portrays the children and not forgetting to keep August grounded at the center. Writing Via’s boyfriend Justin’s perspective in undercaps was a charming way of revealing his inner spirit. I especially loved how some scenes we’ve already read are re-examined or pulled back through another interpretation of the events as they unfolded. As though even as we had seen them, we were still missing pertinent pieces to understand the wholeness of the scene. By the time I reached Miranda’s section my heart-felt quite full. I knew of a girl like Miranda who felt safer and more at home at a classmate’s home.
The greatest gift we can all give is the gift of love and friendship intermixed with everyday kindness. This is a novel which celebrates the simple joys in life and the complications of when the views and opinions of the outside world can sometimes cloud our own perspectives and hearts. It’s a novel which champions those few who might have a harder line to walk in life but do so with a gladful heart. They see the light and the sparks of joy whenever possible and attempt to let go of the swarming of negativity that can overshadow them. They are the true heroes and heroines of our world, because it’s in their quiet calm of recognition of our frailties and our insecurities that we remain our humanness back to them. This is a novel which exposes the will to carry-on in a positive way whilst allowing for the grace of acceptance of other people’s weaknesses not to overshadow inner strength. The true ‘wonder’ of ‘wonder’ is how kind the world truly is when you walk out each day with a heart full of joy, a spirit full of kindness, and a warm smile to reflect your innermost feelings at heart.
Booking the Rails : whilst reading Wonder:
I can only imagine truly what it would feel like to find this curiously robin egg blue book with a curious illustrative face on its cover which bespeaks of a curious tale; one blue eye nestled into the left side of a young boy’s face. Scribbled over the eye in a child’s hand of letters is the single word: W O N D E R, of which is the book’s title. The author’s name is curiously attached to the bottom of the illustration left behind as a watermark. Although, on my library copy, a sticker of “SSYRA 2013-2014” is tucked quite close to the ‘eye’ of Wonder and the author’s name is obscured by my library’s barcode sticker! This isn’t the first time I’ve wondered what the full-on cover-art might appear as by seeing ‘past’ the library markings; but I am ever so very thankful to be blessed with the literature my library provides, when I am truly curious, I simply pull up an author’s website! Wonder is one book I’ve seen in big box stores to chain bookshoppes! I’d love to say I’ve seen this little book that could change the world in an Indie bookshoppe, but all of those have gone by the wayside locally. A sorrow I have not yet quite let go of. What then would I feel as I settled into my spot on the train (am I booking it in to the city or the suburbs?), whilst idly curious about this book which presented itself (in the station? on the seat next to me? notched into a fixture of pamphlets?) to be picked up? I’m carting off this blue book of Wonder without even realising what led me to be drawn into it. Now, I’m sitting on a train (perhaps a train I take quite frequently but not for work or trade?) toying with opening its pages yet caught up in the humdrum of train life. Other people are jostling into view, one steady stream of commuters and rail riders. The noise is deafening and yet, at this point in my life it’s barely an audible hum. My stuff is in my lap and I’m indifferent to wanting to browse through my portable calendar ticking off my next scheduled ‘have to dos’. The book is resting on top of my backpack (because that’s how I roll!) diverting my attention from anything else. Alas, the curiosity of what is inside befalls any other notion to notice which station we’re coming in or out of, much less how much longer I’m meant to ride to my destination! I open the book to find Natalie Merchant’s words from her infamous song “Wonder” and I nearly hear it on the PA system; its left that strong of an impression in my mind! Hmm,. this is quite interesting! The first section of Part One reveals another piece of the song and floats me inwardly back to the days gone by when it belted out on the radio whilst my driver’s license was being minted into use! I turnt the page and found myself curiously drawn into a boy named August’s life story… his humour is dry, his sense of identity is nonplussed, and his story is captivating me,… I reach page 44 cringing at the cruel reference Julian gives August about Darth Sidious ahead of disembarking this otherwise ordinary train which transports within my regular sphere of living! What day is this!? What was I meant to do?! All I want to do now is resume riding the rails to see where Wonder leads me,…
My recollection of ‘booking the rails’ is a fictional account, yet my mind wonders, what were the stories of those who read ‘Wonder’ on the London Tube!? #TheWonderofWonder perhaps!? Let’s start a conversation, shall we!? Share your story in the comment threads!
Via, no Olivia? : A sister whose brother has special needs:
Never one to assert her own needs ahead of her brothers, Via is one of those strong-willed and self-reliant children who has a sibling with medical special needs whereupon she built an armour of strength to support herself without parental oversight. Her side of the story isn’t explored until page 81 where Part 2 begins. The honesty her character was given was especially giving as I would feel that it was a very real emotional change of perception on Via’s behalf when her eyes betrayed her heart in seeing August as the outside world does. She was the supportive older sister for all of his life, but when she spent time away with her grandmother she was led out of her routine. She was given the freedom to be Via, to express herself without cause for alarm, and to be surrounded in perpetual light rather than with shadows and darkness looming in and around her steps. She was living without consequence of prejudicial perceptions and for the first time in her young life, her eyes changed how she saw the world. The way in which she saw her brother terrified her on one level and opened her up to a new awareness on another level. Its how she dealt with balancing the two living truths that would set her character on a path she might not be willing to explore.
Via goes into more detail about August’s birth defects and what she presumes is the underlying problem between her, August, their parents, and the world. She’s on the verge of adulthood and deciding on who she wants to be, and that includes the type of sister she will be for August. I’ll admit, I cannot always picture characters as they are described inside stories, sometimes my mind falters and sees the character as my heart sees them rather than what is visually on display through descriptive narrative. For me, August doesn’t quite fit the picture Via has painted for us, as I see August’s heart.
The mere fact that she was reading “War and Peace” inside her ninth grade year made me smile inwardly! Except to say, I’m reading “War and Peace” this year ahead of turning thirty-five and to me, that’s something to smile about as well!
Why a book called ‘Wonder’ is transformatively positive:
Full credit for the bravery shown throughout “Wonder” from the guiding hands of its author, Ms. R.J. Palacio who guides her audience through the brewing storm of August Pullman’s fifth grade year. This is a pivotal transition for August because he is going to be mainstreamed into regular school without the protection of family and the homeschooling environment of learning at home. Palacio placidly and pointedly gives the readers strong evocations of what is right and wrong throughout the dialogue exchangements between the principal characters and supporting characters. She allows the reader to decide in some ways, what is the right phrase to express yourself and what is the wrong way to implicate a negative response out of someone you want to bully. She draws out the undercurrent issue of the anxiety bullies have about their peers, and how their anger towards the bullied is fueled by an intolerance for nonacceptance of children who are different from them. This indifference turns quickly into hatred which grows out of the inability to accept what is not yet understood. She pulls you into August’s heart by seeing how he reacts and distracts from the extra attention he is given by his new classmates. Her bang-on narrative to include popular motion pictures and video games, garnishing a truism of narrative that young people can relate too helps aide the dialogue about bullying to be brought out into the open, because August feels 3-dimensional rather than flat on a page!
The absence of focusing specifically on what medical conditions August is afflicted by and exactly which surgeries he has undergone I believe adds to the gentleness of the story. Afterall, if anyone is living a life inside shoes similar to August, they might not feel comfortable disclosing their full medical history! They are already on the defensive and internally dealing with the emotional trauma of being misunderstood and misconstrued, so why add to their burden to adapt into a new environment?! Much less give any potential bully more fodder to stoke the coals of the fire!? I felt that this disfragmented perception of only subtle clues and hintings of what August is facing day-to-day brings his life full circle. We’re in ‘his thoughts’ and ‘sensing’ how he projects himself and internalises his world. We’re walking quite literally inside his shoes to see how what others are projecting towards him are being received. In this, I think Palacio hit the proverbial nail on the head!
An added reason for loving this book is the dimension of multicultural heritage woven into the background of August & Via’s parentage! Their father is of Russian & Polish descent and their mother is Brazilian! It isn’t often you get to see characters having a diverse background of ethnicity and ancestral roots, and being that I love genealogical histories, this was an extra special treat for me! However, it also sparked a unique perception of how exceptionally diverse New York City has become due to the multitude of immigrants who call her home! This is transformative in of itself, as there are only a handful of authors who include such a unique family in their stories! We are a melting pot in America, and seeing more of us represented in stories for children and for adults, (as Wonder is brilliantly lovely to be a cross-over sensation in both sections of readership) is one way of opening up our hearts to the wholeness of who we are as Americans.
Within the story of ‘Wonder’, I was Summer growing up because I oft befriended those in my classes no one else could understand at first glance. I did not focus on their disabilities or their learning difficulties, mostly because I had my own strugglements with speech, reading, and mathematics. I saw the world through a pair of dyslexic eyes and I was always considered the ‘different one’, so I suppose you could say I always sought out the friends who were a bit different like me. I saw them the way I hoped everyone else saw them. Not as the boy in pre-school who was feared mute; he was simply a happy-go-lucky soul who had such an aura of kindness around him, he made glow and chuckle without words at all! I didn’t even notice the girl’s wheelchair at the Science Center, but saw her active mind for solving complicated issues and tasks whilst we pretended we were stranded on a desert island without proper provisions. And, I could continue to call out cherished friends throughout my schooling years who always staid close in thought and mind. I oft wondered over the years where they are and what they are doing. If perhaps they found others like me who saw their souls shining bright and their voices conveying their courage and their friendship? Each of us is on a path towards understanding more of who we are and why we are here. Why then do some try to make our path a bit more difficult by simply not accepting we all are different from each other, but we’re all the same at the very same time!? Our differences make us unique, and our similarities connect us through a tapestry of thread that extends from one heart to another until everyone is united.
If only the story of August Pullman could continue and carry-on as he grows and gains more experiences in middle school, high school, and the life awaiting him past the walls of school. I’d welcome a series of sequels which allow us back into his family and his inner world.
A notation on bullying:
I will always celebrate those writers who are on the forefront of the social conversation for change in regards to ‘bullying’. I previously reviewed The Pact by Mitchell S. Karnes, which dealt with a decidedly different point of view on bullying and being bullied; to the brink of challenging this reader’s opinion of how much violent inclusion is necessary to carry the story. Within that narrative, a true impression of the depths of which bullying is now surfacing to include was both harrowing and insightful; showing the true measure of how much change we need to bring to the limelight for a very difficult challenge to overcome. I am going to be reviewing the second book in Karnes novel this Summer (The Dragon’s Pawn) in which I resume the story where the last installment left off; on the suggestion of the author that my wrinkles and flies in the ointments would be fully understood and fleshed out in the sequel. Until then, as I am quite open to seeing where his vision is leading him in this conversation, I am going to seek out other stories for children and young adults to tie in the conversation further whilst exploring the literature sparking the dialogue amongst adults who seek to protect the innocents who are affected.
The following video was unearthed whilst I was seeking supporting content for this special feature of “Booking the Rails”. I always strive to find content that has merit and interconnecting positions within the theme or context of what I read. Every small pebble and ripple of change has to begin with one person deciding that enough is surely enough. Bullying isn’t something that we have to ‘agree to disagree’ about happening; it’s an underbelly issue of intolerance and negative passive aggression, rage, and unprecedented psychological trauma. We need to take a stand and re-direct the behaviour by giving clear guidelines of proper communication skills, action-reaction tactics, and the ability to intercede through mitigation where parties involved in bullying will talk out their emotional triggers and start a conversation towards resolution, change, and reconstruction of childhood interactions. There is a heap of work yet to be done, it all starts with a single conversation about how to interact with peers and what do when your faced with the cruelty of the growing years being taunted in your face.
This is one bullied girl on a mission to seek out stories which bring both sides of the discussion to the forefront. Join me?
Question to Readers: All comments & reactions are welcome!
Are you one of the readers from the London tube who picked up a copy of “Wonder”?! What were your initial thoughts and impressions of the book!? What staid with you the most after you placed the book back on the rails for a new reader to discovery!? Did you have trouble parting with the book!? Perhaps you’re a reader of “Wonder” stateside or elsewhere in the world. Was “Wonder” gifted to you? Did a teacher introduce you? A book which caught your eye whilst walking in a bookshoppe!? How did “Wonder” alight in your life and what did you appreciate the most from its story!? IF you haven’t yet read the story, does this spotlight endear you to find a copy!?
{SOURCES: Booking the Rails conjoined badge of all three blogs made by Hollie (Books on the Underground) and used with permission. The book trailer by Random House Kids had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it. Tweets were able to be embedded by the codes provided by Twitter. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
I was selected to be a stop on “The Pact” Virtual Book Tour, hosted by TLC Book Tours, in which I received a complimentary copy of the book direct from the author Mitchell S. Karnes in exchange for an honest review . I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired To Read:
As foreshadowed on the companion Author Q&A piece on bullying which coincides with this book review, The Pact is a story which appealed to me very much as I was bullied in school since a very young age. In the 80s/90s bullying wasn’t as widely spoken about nor understood. Generally back then, if you were picked on you were told to ‘buck up and take it’ and not be such a silly emotional girl. I am thankful I had my parents to support me and help me avoid the worst of what could have happened by switching me out of schools. I have always been wanting to advocate for social change and social conscience in regards to being bullied, and by featuring this novel on my blog, I am taking the first step towards this goal!
Author Biography:
Mitchell S. Karnes was born in Kansas and spent his childhood in Illinois. He lives in Franklin, TN with his wife, Natalie, and five of their seven children, where he serves as the Pastor of Walker Baptist Church. He holds a Bachelor’s degree and three Master’s degrees. Mitchell’s first novel, Crossing the Line, made the Southern Writer’s Guild’s “Must Read” list. His short stories include: “When Nothing Else Matters,” “A Family Portrait,” and “Grampa Charlie’s Ring.” He hopes to entertain, challenge, move and teach through each and every story. The Pact is just the beginning…the first book in a four-part series.
Re-visiting School & the Life therein for teens:
The Pact opens innocently enough as the central character who is being bullied is seen going through the motions of his everyday life at school. Paul is targeted from observation in this early stage of the story for being different from his peers; including his exploits in literature which delve into history as he is an avid researcher for a role-playing game he’s keen on. Karnes deftly brings back the joy and the trauma of life within school walls for those who have had to deal with bullies at some point in their lives. The scene is bittersweet and real, by giving both sides of the action supplemented with short back-stories on each of the characters. I appreciate this discovery of who the bullies are as they are bullying Paul, as it opens the door to understand what makes a bully tick.
At the very same time, I appreciated that the main lead character of Scott enters the scene by deftly using defense skills to deflect and defuse the situation before it could grow worse in proportion. I oft wondered myself if self-defense classes might have helped me handle similar situations where the physicality of being bullied was being tested against the skills I clearly lacked in knowledge. I never wanted to study martial arts to instigate a fight, but rather to defend myself when the bullies turnt uglier in their abuse towards physical threats which could escalate without warning.
The insertion of the role-playing game of Warriors & Thieves is quite bang-on and accurate as eighth grade or ninth grade is generally the years in which role-playing enters into the life of teens eager to break out of the droll of school related angst. I even liked how each of the players would choose different approaches within the gameplay itself to assert their own voice into the realm of the game! I also knew that the author might dig a bit deeper into the presumed reality of the game and the actual reality of each individual group who plays the game. Given the fact that each set of gameplay is based on each individual Game Master’s vision for the game, the game itself can take on different queues for each round of simulated action. The balance between good vs. evil and light vs. dark can vary as much as what the general focus of each game is elected to be featuring. As the story moves forward, the interplay of the characters lays a foundation rooted in inspirational fiction as an essay on how to find balance between faith and life as its lived.
My Review of The Pact:
I had a knowing smile on my lips as I began the first chapter of The Pact, as Karnes had a way of travelling me back through time and re-entering my own life on school grounds. Despite the difference in gender from the lead character, there was enough semblance of recognition of an average day at school for me to re-adjust my mind’s eye to endeavour to go back into that hidden world just out of view. I say ‘hidden world’ because life at school isn’t something that you can prepare for nor is it something that you hope it will be. You have to adjust to what comes across your path as you live through the experience. Heavy leaden backpacks, heavy books, your shoulders off-setting the balance and trying to keep in step with your schedule of the day’s classes is all par for course! Such a great lead-in for the story!
Luke might be a war-monger in Warriors & Thieves, but I was curious to seek out what was motivating him to push Chris and Paul out of their comfort zones of reality into the common bloodshed of warfare. There are many ways to accomplish self-confidence and self-advocacy without pushing the envelopes of violence, especially unrelented violence in a game which is usually grounded in skill, maneuvers, and obstacles. Chris on the other hand has a brilliant way of keeping the rules of the game intact by pushing the action of the game forward within the confines of the realm, but lacks the clarity of knowing how to enliven the story of which the world-building is meant to carve out of its niche. Paul is the innocent of the group, learning as he builds confidence through his friendships. Scott comes from playing the game through his father’s advice. Endeavouring to give a bit more of a back-story to each of the characters which gives you a lifeblood to the game eliminating the one dimensional interface. One of my favourite revelations is when Scott shows Paul his hand-drawn map of Canaanshade which he created with his father. The intricacy of the world arc is exactly what all of us hope for in our fantasy realms of reading adventures! Lit alive with creatures and characters you want to know more about.
As the story eases back into the schoolyard drama of sorting out how to find your way on a wrestling team, we start to see a switch in the path the story is leading the reader. At the conclusion of Chapter Five there is a haunting foreshadow which queues in a larger message of the evolving narrative. Whilst we see Scott become a member of the Junior High Wrestling team, we see the underpinnings of his confliction over finding the balance between strength and humility. To know when to assert one’s knowledge of the fight on the mat and when to be humble and yield to your opponent. The chapters in which we see the interaction of the boys on the team lend a good viewing of the complexities all youth have during their growing years especially as they sort out how to be fueled by self-confidence but not clouded by pride.
Intuitively, Karnes keeps a few antidotes of Scott’s life away from the reader’s eyes, so at first the only way to foresee what could happen next is noticing the slight changes in his behaviour and reactions of speech. Then, in Chapter Twenty-Two the character flaw of Scott is pushed into full view and shocked all who discovered his darkest secret of which even he doesn’t fully understand the severity of.
Although I knew the intensity of the subject at hand, the sequent deaths in the story came at quite a shock as did the level of rage. This is a cautionary tale of how sometimes the lines between fiction and reality can become blurred and the true lesson is knowing the signs of when someone can no longer separate the difference of the two.
Inspirational Murmurings of Advice for teens:
What I was keen to see develop is if Scott’s family would embrace how he played the game with his late father’s advice on how to bring out the light in both the fictional realm of Warriors & Thieves as much as in the living realm of teenage life. There is always going to be ignorance for something people fear outright without merit, but if everyone took the time to actually see from the point of view of the teen who is involved, I think it would break down the barriers of communication. To see where they are approaching what they do in their everyday life and worlds, and understanding what motivates their interest, we are a step closer to understanding what is truly right and what is a caution for being wrong. I am never one to advise going against a child’s interest out of fear of what it might involve, but rather advocate for an open line of conversation to engage in the child’s interest and to root out what they are actually into. You always have to believe in your child (son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandson, granddaughter, etc) first and foremost, and then, a measure of goodwill and willing to accept their interests if they have their heart and mind in the right place.
I also think it’s a good example of how one person’s influence can sway your thoughts away from what you internally already know are true. To be given feedback from a youth minister that contradicts how your own father raised you, I would imagine would weigh most heavily on your heart and mind. I had a measure of hope that this is one thread of the story Karnes would lead Scott to realising the difference between a positive influence and one that is not entirely negative but not entirely positive. I had hoped for him to redefine his belief in his father’s guidance and learn whom to trust now that his father has passed and can no longer offer him advice. This is one thread of the story that faded from view as the chapters took a turn in direction I discuss below in Fly in the Ointment.
I believe that no one should eclipse the methodology of parenting of a child when the parent is taking an active role in their child’s life. Parents who understand and know their child inside and out, know where their heart lies, and where their interests truly are leading them. Even grandparents need to become familiar with their grand-children’s interests and activities, because what might be viewed by outsiders as negative influences might actually be a way for their own grandson/daughter to directly impact positivity into the lives of their friends. At least these were my thoughts until the chapters in the book started to reveal how Luke was having trouble separating fiction from reality. In this instance, the greatest threat to the young lives in the story was Luke’s inability to proper distance himself from his role-playing character as he brought the game into real life where it did not belong to be explored.
Fly in the Ointment: (with a few spoilers)
Despite my champion belief that the story would triumph the bullying behaviour in the story, I was quite mystified as to the level of violence which erupted out of the heart of the central character’s wayward actions. I would have much preferred the central focus of the one event that stemmed directly out of the gameplay of Warriors & Thieves which took place at Luke’s grandparent’s house rather than the climax at the railroad bridge. One whole section felt a bit forced to me which is when Scott’s grandmother fervently urges her husband to ‘jump the rails’ ahead of the oncoming train. I didn’t foresee this anywhere in the story as behaviour befit his grandparents and the sequencing of their deaths had heavy emotional impact but could have been avoided completely.
I believe this is an after-school special which went too far to prove the point on behalf of bullying and what leads ordinary events to escalate to violence. If there had been a disclaimer in the beginning stating that this was a story based on living events where the characters names were changed, I might have gone so far as to say this was one isolated incident went horridly wrong. Yet, there are little nudges of discourse in the chapters themselves, where Scott takes on the role of being a bully rather than a bully’s guardian. In real life this can happen, as those who are tormented can oft times think the best course to deal with their attackers is to turn the tables. However, unlike in real life, a reader is privy to the character’s thoughts and thus, their motivations of a change in outward behaviour. This line of personality change in Scott is never actually addressed in a forthright manner but rather eluded too instead.
Also, what surprised me more than anything is the complete lack of common sense on behalf of all the boys involved, to where they would not confide in anyone: not a parent, a teacher, or a peer adviser. In my own life, if I ever saw any measure of extreme bullying coming towards me, I always deferred first to a faculty member but post haste confided in my parents as soon as I was off school grounds. I knew better than to attempt to deflect the worst threats of which are not always idly spewed by those who choose to cause harm to others. If the story is to serve as a lesson and guide to those who are being bullied, wouldn’t it have been better to write the story with a resolving ending of a better way of addressing the core issue!? And, why end the entire book on a loosely conceived cliffhanger, eluding to a larger story than what was presented?!
I am conflicted to say the least after reading this story in full. I only hope that my review of the book and of the posting of the Q&A session with the author will spark a measure of a response in both comment sections to where the dialogue can become open to all who want to weigh in on this topic which affects all of us. (whether indirectly or directly)
Bullying, Harassment, and Hazing:
The Pact remains true to form what teens regularly face in the fear of their next encounters with those who bully them. The incidents revealed inside do not shock me as they might some who read the story for the first time on just how far young boys will go to torment someone they feel they have the right to enforce power over. I am thankful that my own history of bullying was limited more to verbal insults (which carried with it a hearty dose of emotional anguish) and minor physical altercations which are too minor to mention in light of what occurs in the novel. I am not sure what originally instigated the behaviour of adolescents and college-aged co-eds to haze their fellow students and athletes.
As the story reveals, each of the key bullies of the story: Joe, Sammy, and Mark each have troubles in their own life and homes which starts to unravel what motivates them to torment Scott and Paul. Yet none of their actions would circumvent the actions of Luke, who like Scott is the greatest threat in the story. After concluding your reading of my book review of The Pact please take the time to read:
{SOURCES: Mitchell S. Karnes photograph and biography, The Pact book cover and the logo badge for TLC Book Tours were all provided by TLC Book Tours and used with permission. Blog tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
I Looked For the One My Heart Loves
Book Synopsis: 
A mystery is underfoot at the start of Uncovering Cobbogoth, as Norah Lukens has short-term memory loss whilst in transit towards Boston on a commuter bus. The reflection of a stranger’s kindness was a nice touch on behalf of the writer, as it stirred my own memories whilst travelling in my mid to late teens when I too, received welcoming kindnesses by fellow travellers when I needed a bit of aide myself! Including during a cross-country red-eye flight where they did not tell us to expect to pay for in-flight headphones, snacks, and morning necessities in the washroom! A grandmother wrapped me inside a wicked film, heaps of snacks, and just enough peppermint candies and soap to make me feel properly refreshed before the plane landed! Such kindnesses always touch our heart as they arrive in our lives at moments we are not expecting help. In this way, I was swept into the shoes of Norah as soon as she appeared on the page! A nibbling awareness that this is a novel where everything is not yet as it seems would be beneficial to tuck away certain passages for future references!
