Review: Avra's God by Ann Lee Miller

Summary
In the tradition of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, four friends navigate college and the drama churned up by their Florida beach band to cement friendship and more.

Avra wants love, but drummer Cisco—self-medicating from his parents’ divorce with sex and intoxicants—is a poor choice. Cisco hungers for fresh-baked cookies and the scent of family he finds at Avra’s.

Kallie shares her classically trained singing voice only with lead vocalist Jesse and fights to keep her heart safe. Jesse feeds on fame and hides more than insecurity beneath his guitar.

The friends surf ego, betrayal, and ambition and head for wipe-out. But somehow, when they’re not looking, Avra’s God changes them all.

Review
The emotional roller coaster I sat on while reading Avra’s God took me to heights I never imagined. Anne Lee Miller crafted her story in such a fashion that it incorporated life events and struggles that almost any reader may relate to. The characters endured family troubles, relationship problems, and problems in their lives in general. In creating the lives of these characters, Avra, Cisco, Jesse and Kallie, Miller opened up a new level of compassion and feelings that we as readers have for them. Whatever comes their way, we experience and get a sense of what they must go through.

A popular topic within Avra’s God is, not surprisingly, God. The events that transpired all tied back to Avra and her teachings to her friends. She helped each one find God, in her words, but more importantly find peace within their hearts about themselves and their lives. Many of the characters had to deal with father issue and in their own time learned to accept them. Avra was a key component to their success and is also the character that most of my compassion drifted towards.

Avra is a strong female lead character within Miller’s novel. Each character seemingly receives the same amount of time, but Avra has a much stronger presence. She is the helping hand, the one each friend turns to when in need of advice. So when her life and relationship start to crumble, the largest portion of my sympathy is directed towards her. She is a great role model to the audience. Avra never bends her beliefs for her friends or relationship, but stays true to who she is as a person. 

I really enjoyed Avra’s God and the messages that Miller sent to her audience. I was engrossed with the characters and truthfully, I read this in one night because was unable to put it down for a second. Miller includes just the right amount of each topic and does not overwhelm the reader, but traps them in the lives of these four college students and the common hardships many must face in life. 

Reviewed by Rachel Keane

Book Information
Publication date: 12/12/2012
Pages: 344

Review: Dear Me by Anthony Henry Joseph Maria

Summary 
True love is the only thing Mason Gallo ever wanted. He found it in a troubled girl named Keats Cameron in Niagara Falls. Now Keats has disappeared and Mason is searching for her trail. It leads Mason back into a world he longed to escape, a lifetime filled with sadness and loss. But Mason will do whatever he has to find his true love again. He will never give up. He will never stop.

Review 
Edgar Allen Poe was a great poet, yet his works were truly disturbing and depressing. That’s somewhat how I felt reading Dear Me Life In A Box.  The most agonizing read by far out of all the books I’ve read in my life. While the writing was done fairly well, I would never want to read this novel again because of how tragic and dramatic and truly sick the story was. “Dear me” is exactly what I kept telling myself as I struggled to finish this sufferable novel. If you were looking for a happy ending or even a moral or just a nice, good, fun read; DO NOT pick up this book.

Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh (as was this novel) but it was a . . . let’s just say it was a different way to tell a story. It was as though a diary, stream of consciousness and a really bad self-help book were all rolled into one. The narrator begins with a page from the diary of Keats, the girl he is in love with and the one who has left him, again. And though he knows he should be searching for Keats, he is not. At this very moment, he is buying a plane ticket for Winsor, Ontario to meet his brother Spencer at the Windsor Casino. 

Mason Gallo, like his brother Spencer as well as his other older brother Julian, is Italian yet he isn’t in the family business. And yes, I do mean that family business (Mafia). So he is not looking forward to the visit. Yet the ride to the casino leads Mason to ponder over love and how Keats is his life, and to not be with her is essentially death. 

Now at the Casino, Mason is more unsettled now than he was before. However, Mason is relieved to see that Spencer is doing better than he was the last time their paths crossed.  The last time Mason saw Spencer, his older brother warned him against falling in love. Yet presently, he is longing for his love Keats. 

While visiting with his brother, Mason learns that the reason Spencer drinks, gambles, sleeps with women and uses drugs is because he lost the love of his life. Spencer lost his very own Keats and learned of the family curse. Thus Mason is currently aware of the man named Victor M., whose life’s purpose is to destroy the Gallo family. 

Suddenly Mason mind is reeling. Who is this Victor M.? What had their father done to cause this man to want to destroy his family’s happiness? Is he responsible for Keats disappearance this time and possibly all the other times? How is Mason going to find him and end him? To live without Keats is to die and Mason will do anything, even dabble in the family practice just to have Keats. For “love is the end of life” his father once said, and his love for Keats would be the end of Victor’s life. 

From here it spirals into a darker, family drama, where is the love kind of story. The story strays further and further away from Keats and delves deeper into Mason’s maddening mind until you are left with a definitive hopeless and horrifying ending. Dear Me Life In A Box is a tragic tale of some of the lives we lead. Life sucks and there is no sugar coating or hand holding going on here. However, something I failed to mention, Dear Me Life In A Box does try to teach one not to give up on love. No matter how tough it gets, always keep steadfast and wait for love, it could happen. Unfortunately, the moral of the lesson is that there isn’t always a happy ending. If there is one thing this novel teaches us, it’s that we can’t completely run from the past and we can’t escape who we really are, even if we don’t it. 

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Book Information
Publication date: 1/25/2013
Format: eBook
Pages: 228

Review: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Book Summary
"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy." So begins the tale of Ellen Foster, the brave and engaging heroine of Kaye Gibbons's first novel, which won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Wise, funny, affectionate, and true, Ellen Foster is, as Walker Percy called it, "The real thing. Which is to say, a lovely, sometimes heartwrenching novel...[Ellen Foster] is as much a part of the backwoods South as a Faulkner character- and a good deal more endearing." 

Review
Kaye Gibbons' Ellen Foster opens with one of the most memorably shocking first lines I've ever read, and continues to astonish with its ability to pack so much meaning and emotion into such concise sentences. Narrated by 12-year-old Ellen Foster, a poor and uneducated Southerner, Ellen Foster follows its courageous and charismatic heroine's journey from her mother's suicide through her father's alcoholism and abuse to a loving foster family.

In the tradition of Scout Finch from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Carson McCullers’ The Member of the Wedding, Ellen Foster narrates the events and emotions of adulthood through the practicality and candor of child’s perspective. Ellen Foster is the rare coming of age tale in which the protagonist has come of age long before her age implies and long before the story begins. She tackles issues of family, abuse, and racism with the wisdom of rapidly fading innocence and the hardened gaze of the prematurely matured. Yet, underneath the harshly unconcealed realities of Ellen’s past gleams the unrelenting hope and ultimately fulfilled promise of a better future.
 
From the first line, the reader cannot help but become immersed and invested in the unfolding events, as well as captivated by the indomitable voice of one who refuses to be silent or to be less despite seemingly insurmountable circumstances and liltingly inaccurate grammar. Ellen Foster is as deep in resonating power as it is short in length, and the emotions that it evokes echo and linger long after the last page.

Reviewed by Miranda Wojciechowski

Book Information
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date: 10/17/2012
Pages: 144

Review: Stealing the Groom: A Stealing the Heart Novel by Sonya Weiss

Summary
Friends don’t let friends marry the wrong woman…

Chad Walker may be a take-no-chances man with a plan, but there’s no way Amelia Snyder is going to let her best bud marry Mean Girl #1—even if the wedding is solely so he can secure the controlling shares in his family’s company. But free-spirited Amelia’s at-the-altar groom-napping scheme takes a surprising turn when she ends up as the blushing bride instead. 

Suddenly, with Amelia living in her handsome husband’s home—in his bedroom, no less—she starts to reconsider their strictly platonic arrangement. But Chad’s always been anti-risk and definitely anti-love, and betting a lifetime of best friendship on the chance at forever might be the biggest gamble of all.

Review
Stealing the Groom is an amazing romantic tale that incorporates all the necessities; love and comedy. There are hundreds of books out there similar to this one by about friends suddenly realizing they are in love or friends marrying each other for financial gain and eventually realizing their love for one another, but none quite compare to the story created by Sonya Weiss. Stealing the Groom is one of the most unique renditions I have read. By making all other renditions look boring, it is proof that old ideas can be spun with new tricks to create an entertaining and refreshing story line.

I was absolutely hooked after reading the first page and could not put this book down until the very last page. The basis of the book, kidnapping and marrying your best friend who also happens to be someone else’s groom, is entirely unique. The journey the couple sets out on from the beginning of the groom-napping is riddled with humor. Each obstacle they encounter contains a slight sense of irony. Amelia’s sense of adventure and seemingly lack of proper planning keep the initial scheme interesting and unexpected while Chad’s personality balances out the crazy in Amelia. 

The characters within the story were well developed and witty. The banter and flirting was one that made me smile and laugh along with them. Weiss highlights the differences the friends poses, but show how well opposites attract in this case. By allowing each character to personally express their thoughts and feelings to the audience, Weiss allowed for there to be more compassion and understanding towards the characters. Different to most stories with a similar plot, we were allowed to see the inner most feelings of the characters and get a sense of their true feelings. There was no guess work on whether one loved the other, the audience was aware and was allowed to see their love beautifully unfold. 

This completely comical love story is one to take the time to read. Amelia and Chad’s friendship turned to a romantic relationship is filled with ironic ups and downs, not to mention the best grandfather characters I have read about. Stealing the Groom is a must read for everyone. I have high hopes and am very excited to read any further books in this series. 

Reviewed by Rachel Keane

Book Information
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Publication date: 3/10/2014
Pages: 221

Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Summary 
Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can’t keep a secret, until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed. 

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse. 

But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself. 

Review 
Speechless is a novel that had me anything but. I had so many things to say about the heroine and I was questioning who or what the real antagonist was. I even wrote a poem (an unfinished poem) about this book. I guarantee that if you read this book, you won’t be able to stop talking about it. It makes you consider the value but more importantly the power of words and all you say. Gossip isn’t as harmless as one might think. Also, it is about learning not hate others or yourself. This novel teaches you to accept people’s differences as well as learning to accept the differences you possess from others. Yet I would say it is really about forgiveness. Learning to understand that despite all the bad you’ve done, if you are truly sorry, truly let it go. Holding on will do no one, not even you, any good. 

In the beginning, our heroine, Chelsea Knot, is far from heroic. Chelsea cannot keep a secret. If it’s juicy, she’s spreading the word. And this piece of dirt is the juiciest yet. While at a New Year’s party with her best friend Kristen, the queen of the school, Chelsea walks in on a boy on top of another boy! Without thinking, Chelsea runs to tell Kristen and half the basketball team. Of course the aftermath is not what Chelsea expected or wanted. 

The next day, Chelsea finds out that Noah, one of the boys she walked in on, was put in the hospital and is unconscious. Kristen tells Chelsea that it was her boyfriend Warren and another guy in the team, Joey. And Kristen swears Chelsea to secrecy. However, the hardest part about keeping quiet is that she knows it’s wrong. This is the one time where her blabbing is the right thing to do. So Chelsea tells the police and has now taken a vow of silence to prevent her gossiping from hurting anyone ever again. 

A new semester, a quieter Chelsea, yet nothing is ever going to be the same again. For starters, her friends aren’t her friends anymore. Kristen has not only shunned her but has also found a best friend replacement. So much for friendship but Chelsea can’t say anything because she took a vow of silence. On top of that, the rest of the basketball team as well as majority of the school is harassing Chelsea but because of her vow, she can’t and won’t say anything. Chelsea has never felt so alone in her entire life. 

Surprisingly enough, while in detention, Chelsea is befriended by Asha, an Indian girl who knits; a girl who she would have never even notice while hanging around with Kristen but beggars can’t be choosers and Chelsea is thankful for someone on her team. Now Chelsea is starting to see things in a whole new light. Maybe all those jokes she and Kristen made about people weren’t so nice and that there should be more to friendship than how you look or act and just agreeing with popular opinion. Chelsea also begins to realize that maybe Kristen did call the shots too much and Chelsea never had, or rather, never voice her true feelings. But most importantly, Chelsea learned that some things should be better left unsaid. Yet sometimes, speaking up is better than saying nothing at all. If only she could find her voice again. 

As I stated before, I couldn’t put this book down and I couldn’t stop talking about this book. For starters, you weren’t exactly rooting for the heroine at the beginning and it seemed the antagonist wasn’t who but more so what and this novel got me really thinking about where I stand on some things. All in all, a great read. To add,Speechless teaches us that the things we say do have an impact. That there’s a reason you should not gossip. Also teaches us that we should be tolerable of others who differ from ourselves as well as learn to love who we truly are and try to coincide peacefully with everyone. Most importantly, to get us to understand that though we do wrong, it is important we forgive ourselves and try to fin d a way to move forward. 

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Book Information
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication date: 8/28/2012
Pages: 288

Review: The Perfect Game by Stephen Paul

Summary
In a dark Manhattan alley, a young woman suddenly collapses from a brain hemorrhage. The statistics say it’s rare to have happened to someone so young and healthy, yet all signs point to natural causes. But when Kyle Vine, the man she was supposed to meet that night, learns she wasn’t the only victim, he knows there’s something more going on and soon discovers a mysterious link to the sudden success of a journeyman pitcher for the New York Yankees. 

As the lethal brain bleeds continue to strike, Kyle and the woman’s eccentric uncle work together to unravel a mystery unlike any the world has ever seen in order to stop a ruthless killer from striking again. 

Stephen Paul’s debut supernatural suspense thriller, The Perfect Game, is a fast-paced gripping ride that will continue to keep readers on the edge of their seats while trying to figure out who’s behind the deadly episodes, how they’re doing it and, perhaps most shocking of all, why.

Review
I am obsessed with this book and don’t think any other explanation will capture what I am feeling. The Perfect Game by Stephen Paul is, well, perfect. It has every element a reader craves in a novel. It is the perfect length with the right amount of mystery, suspense and even an element of science fiction. As the summary alludes to, the events that transpire within the novel are completely shocking and unexpected. When you first start reading, you think the book is veering one way, but then it becomes completely different. 

I was hooked from the first page of The Perfect Game, mostly due to the main character Kyle Vine. He is a relatable character, dealing with a divorce, legal problems and his nonexistent love life. We are allowed peaks inside Kyle’s mind, showing us what a guilty conscious he carries for things he could not have changed. It makes the reader more sympathetic, and while you want to have negative thoughts about him because he tries to date a student, you simply only see him in a positive light. 

Possibly the most exciting part of the entire book is the unexpected science fiction element around the killer of the novel, which the characters would argue was not science fiction. However it is interpreted, the killer was utterly fascinating. The most unique part about him was the separate, short chapters where we were granted a peak into his mind. These chapters kept the mystery interesting but I was also using them to try to guess who the killer was by the clues his inner monologue gave the reader. 

The Perfect Game is undoubtedly one of my favorite books and I am extremely excited to recommend it and to begin to make people aware of Stephen Paul’s amazingly unique story. This novel will appeal to so many readers due to its wide variety of genres within it, and I hope it takes off and reaches its maximum potential as an amazing book. 

Reviewed by Rachel Keane

Book Information
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Publication date: 2/21/2014
Format: eBook