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joannerenaud · 6 months

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Enchant the Heavens review

I've been revisiting a lot of my favorite old historicals since my beloved kitty Peggy died about a month ago, and one of them is Enchant the Heavens by Kathleen Morgan.

When I was a college student I loved romance novels, particularly historical romance, even though most of my friends at the time thought it was ridiculous and made fun of me for reading them. It made me even more stubborn, and I clung to the genre like a barnacle onto the hull of a ship. However, there was one book at the time that was too cheesy even for me, and that was Enchant the Heavens.

I found the cover embarrassing. Look, my teenage self thought, the hero’s hands look like he’s about to crack the heroine’s skull! And the hero, Marcus, was so earnest. The book was so earnest. The culture at the time was saturated with snark and irony, and sadly, I was not immune. I set the book down.

Years later, in 2011, I revisited Enchant the Heavens, and I found myself… well, enchanted. I was swept away by the epic nature of the story and the endearing characterizations. And I reread it just a week ago. I admit, I was afraid the suck fairy might’ve visited it over the intervening years. But I found myself devouring it happily just as I did all those years ago. And it’s good.

Enchant the Heavens was the first novel Kathleen Morgan ever wrote, and it was a labor of love. It’s a big, passionate, visceral, breathtakingly earnest romance.The story involves a British chieftain’s daughter, Rhianna, and the Roman governor’s nephew, Marcus, during Boudicca’s revolt, and their love is an anguished, star-crossed love that takes a great deal of blood and tears and hard work to resolve. Unlike most romances set during this period, the Celts aren’t romanticized into nature-loving New Agers, and the Romans aren’t evil. And neither the heroine or hero give up their cultures or identities in the end; in fact they work on uniting their communities in the aftermath of war. It’s mature and refreshing.

The language does have a lot of archaicisms that kind of annoying. ‘Twould! ’Twas! Naught! Okay… You just have to run with it. But if you’re willing to dive in, there is a lot to love about it. Rhianna is not afraid of revenge, or using her sword, which is really delightful (to avoid spoilers, I won’t tell you who she kills). Marcus is a reasonable guy too, but there’s just the right amount of deeply felt angst that is perfect for a story about forbidden love. Sometimes I feel that Marcus and Rhianna verge on being idealized archetypes then actual people, but it kind of fits with how epic and operatic the story is. (It really captures the vibe of ancient Irish stories like Deirdre, which was the author’s intention.) The author walks the line of having them be larger-than-life figures, but they still grow and change, from a thoughtless girl and a career-driven aristocrat to a responsible, compassionate leader and a humbled man ready to sacrifice his dreams to help his lover and her people.

The research put into this book isn’t perfect— towards the end of the book, there’s an hummingbird, native to the Americas, in Rome — but it’s thorough and thoughtful, and I liked the depiction of the historical figures. For example, the depiction of Nero, who has a brief and memorable cameo, is almost miraculous in how… sensible it is (and ahead of its time given this was written long before the current reassessment of Nero and the 2020 show at the British Museum). There’s no orgies or lions or gladiators or martyred Christians or any other cliches that I’ve seen over and over again in the few historical romances set in this period. It’s astonishing.

Anyway, this book is long. It’s also epic and sweeping in every possible way, and I have a feeling a good chunk was left on the cutting room floor. I would kill to have the original, unedited draft. Rhianna’s relationships with her friends Eilm and Cordaella are given short shrift. Also I feel the destruction of Camulodunum, and Rhianna’s role in it, was also cut a lot. I would have liked to see more of that, and Rhianna coming to terms with how her actions affected innocent civilians.

But the pacing, given how long it is, is surprisingly tight. I thought the consistent themes of freedom, symbolized by the goshawk, was really beautifully done; not heavy-handed, but subtle; and the story really embraces the pagan religions of the time in a way that’s delightful. There’s so much I can’t get into, or this review would be twice as long. There’s battles, druids, psychic visions, continent-spanning political intrigue, murder, and possibly supernatural white boars sent by the gods.

And the ending is really satisfying. I wish it were 20 to 30k longer, but it’s great as it is. It’s an absolute banger of a story. It’s not perfect but I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Of course, what really sucks about it all is that this was going to be the beginning of a series, and the hero’s best friend Quintus was going to get a sequel.

There was, in fact, one sequel (Enchant the Dream) featuring the heroine’s brother Cerdic. But then the author converted to Christianity sometime in the late 90s, and her entire pre-conversion historical and fantasy backlist are completely unavailable. (Of course, her post conversion backlist is available.)

It pisses me off so much, because Enchant the Heavens is so good! And I wanted to see Quintus’s story! But that’s never going to happen. And there’s never going to be a legal digital copy of this book either, because the author has seemingly disavowed it.

But we’ll always have Enchant the Heavens, and even if Morgan wants to forget her pagan past, I am grateful she wrote this book. I highly recommend it.

#enchant the heavens #kathleen morgan #book review #review #ancient rome #ancient britain #celts

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joannerenaud · 1 year

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I'm so happy you enjoyed the book! I felt the same way as you.

MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 15: NEEDING NAPOLEON (2020)

1. The Introduction

Hello, Neighbors! Welcome back to Malmaison Media Salon! At last we’re here and today is a bit of a special review. Why special?

Let me explain:

1. Firstly, it’s one of those cases where I stumble upon a media piece via recommendation from another community member. This time it was @suburbanbeatnik , who interviewed the author of the book and there was a contest where the first 3 users to comment would get a free ebook copy via email.

I was the first to comment because I was given the link and because I was really excited about what sounded like a promising story, considering my soft spot for the adventure genre, time travel and alternative history. So yeah, I became one of the lucky three users.

Unfortunately, the book is only available in English and has to be purchased through websites like Amazon, so those who don’t speak English too well might be out of luck for now.

2. Secondly, it’s one of the few anglophone (British, to boot!) media pieces that DO NOT paint Napoleon as a villain! How cool is that?! For newcomers, stumbling upon a gem like that is about as likely as seeing a UFO, so you can bet your asses that I HAD to check out the book!

3. Thirdly, I already mentioned that I’m a sucker for adventure, time travel, historical fiction and alternative history so that really boosted my excitement… as well as my worries. I prayed that the book would turn out to be good. Luckily, it did! More on that later though.

Anyway, before we proceed, this review is dedicated to @suburbanbeatnik and @garethwilliamsauthor . Not only is the latter, well, the author, but he also graciously gave me permission to write said review and I’m thankful for this.

Okay, with formalities out of the way, let’s begin!

2. The Summary

The novel tells the story of one Richard Davey, an ordinary schoolteacher who admires Napoleon and lives a very boring, lonely life.

However, during a fateful holiday in Paris, he gets a chance to leave his old life behind, meet his hero and maybe even change the course of history.

To me, the idea sounds very interesting, so let’s move onto the deeper analysis and see if the execution matches the potential.

3. The Story

Although the beginning of the story did confuse me a bit because we jump straight into action, I. Fucking. Love. This. Book. I was extremely hooked when reading and felt like I was back in my childhood, reading my favorite swashbuckling stories. The excitement is REAL.

The pacing is excellent, most loose ends get tied up in the end, the ending is satisfying yet also realistic and we don’t have the protagonist getting everything he wanted, which is awesome!

I did have a problem with the flashbacks though, mainly because they kept popping up and breaking the storyline immersion, but that’s just me.

Also, there’s a good mix of gritty artlessness (in a good way because it doesn’t gloss over war), a swashbuckling adventure, romance and down time (we can’t have action ALL the time).

The romantic subplot is very well-written and realistic, even though my asexual self still didn’t care much because I don’t normally like romance. Spoiler, it’s one of the few times where the protagonist doesn’t get the love interest in the end, for a lot of reasons.

So yeah, only minor complaints here and there.

(Oh, and tiny bonus for the Frev community: Frev isn’t demonized either!!! Yay!!!)

(P. S. Also there were a lot of moments that cracked me up, like the pun with HMS Bellerophon being called Billy Ruffian.)

4. The Characters

Richard Davey is by far one of the most relatable characters ever, since I can relate to his loneliness (me during the worse days of depression) and love for History (I’m a Frev and Napoleonic nerd). He’s flawed, reacts realistically and in his own way to situations and has a great character arc, from a man just going with the motions of life to a hero who can and does make a difference in history, just not in the way he first planned.

Emile Béraud, a soldier Richard befriends in the past, is an absolute sweetheart. Loyal to a fault, friendly and just as lonely as Richard, he takes part in the adventures and is a very compelling character.

Aunt Patricia, Richard’s only living relative, might be a minor character who doesn’t personally appear, but her presence is felt throughout the story and Richard constantly imagines what she would have to say in his position and how she would judge him.

Madame Odillet, the owner of an antique shop who helps Richard get back in time, is a mysterious woman with a troubled past, who definitely knows more than she first lets on. I like the book parallels between her and witches, even though she’s just a regular human.

Napoleon starts out as an insufferable punchable prick, but later on his portrayal becomes nuanced. He loves and misses his son, has a soft spot for kids, has a temper and at times alternates between acceptance of his fate and resolve to fight back. He’s not in a good place mentally nor physically, but he’s portrayed as someone flawed yet far from being a bad person.

Jerome is an arrogant hedonistic ass. Full stop. But he’s a minor character so I can understand why he’s not as nuanced, even if I wish there was a bit more complexity.

Gourgaud is an impulsive and arrogant bastard who is loyal to his emperor yet entitled due to having saved said emperor twice.

Bertrand and Fanny are extremely sweet.

Las Cases… I found him unpleasant and arrogant.

Murat and Caroline are mentioned and, LUCKILY, not depicted as traitors.

Ney in his cameo is his usual post-Russia reckless self (he possibly had PTSD, I believe).

Overall, the cast is memorable and I did enjoy the portrayals for the most part.

5. The Setting

The descriptions really sell the setting here, in my opinion. I particularly enjoyed the scenes at Malmaison where Napoleon essentially is Richard’s tour guide.

Always nice to see that the author really did their research and has a way with language to make immersion that much easier to achieve.

6. The Writing

Once again, the descriptions. Short, sweet, to the point.

The language is mostly easily understandable, but there are French words sprinkled in that (fortunately) can be more or less understood in context. I wish there were footnotes with translations though. Oh, and some words were unfamiliar to me as a foreigner so please keep that in mind too.

7. The Conclusion

If you can, please give the book a go. Remarkable adventures, nuanced characters and believable settings that are reminiscent of swashbuckling novels are definitely worth your money, in my humble opinion.

Of course, no work is perfect but I throughly enjoyed this one despite some flaws and I look forward to reading the sequel. It’s not every day we get an anglophone pro-Naps media piece, after all.

On that note, let us conclude today’s soirée. Please stay tuned for updates on future reviews, my dearest Neighbors.

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel

#needing napoleon #author of the month #gareth williams #napoleon #napoleon bonaparte #review #usergreenpixel #time travel #alternate history #napoleonic era

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joannerenaud · 2 years

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March 2022 Author of the Month-- an interview with Gareth Williams

Happy spring equinox! March 20 was also the day that Napoleon, freshly escaped from Elba, marched into Paris, greeted by cheering crowds. And today, speaking of Napoleon, I’m pleased to introduce Gareth Williams (here on Tumblr at @garethwilliamsauthor). He’s the talented author of Needing Napoleon, a new time travel/alternate history thriller where the twenty-first century, down-on-his-luck protagonist, Richard Davey, goes back in time to help Napoleon win the battle of Waterloo. Does Richard succeed in changing history? What adventures befall him on the way? And what is his relationship like with his hero, Napoleon? Find out in Needing Napoleon— the first three commenters will win a free PDF copy!

# # #

Hello, Gareth. Thanks for coming here today. How did you become interested in Napoleon?

It is hard to remember a time when I wasn’t captivated. I suppose it started at school but before I knew it, I was teaching about Napoleon to my own students!

I think it is the scale of his achievements, both military and civil, achieved, let’s face it, against the odds. An obscure Corsican becomes Emperor of the French, fighting a series of European coalitions, codifying French law, building infrastructure and defying the dominance of the British Empire. Of course, without the French Revolution opening up the military to men of talent rather than title, he would have remained an obscure Corsican. So, the short answer, is that I was drawn to his against the odds story. Plus the glamour of the Hundred Days, when, like a boxer who can’t stay retired, he steps into the ring for one last fight, and what a fight - Waterloo!

When did you first become interested in writing a novel about him? Specifically, a time travel novel?

It had been a vague idea for a long time. I had written other stories, pretty unsuccessfully, partly because I was reluctant to tackle a subject so close to my heart.

But retiring a couple of years ago presented the opportunity to think and plan a book with Napoleon at its heart. Then the first UK lockdown was introduced in late March 2020 and I was out of excuses! In fact, I wrote the whole thing, once plot notes were complete, in just three months. As to the time travel component, there are two reasons I was drawn to this element of the plot. Firstly, I love time travel stories in general. Secondly, I am like my central character, Richard Davey, in that I too was a history teacher and I too believe Napoleon underperformed at The battle of Waterloo. If only I (or Richard) could whisper in his ear. Surely, then, we would see the Bonaparte of Austerlitz, not the pale shadow whose lacklustre command lost the battle.

Do you have any favorite books or movies about Napoleon?

As a man past his mid-fifties, I was dazzled by the sheer scale of Sergei Bondarchuk’s film Waterloo starring Rod Steiger and produced by Dino de Laurentiis. I recommend Max Gallo’s series of books recounting Bonaparte’s life in the first person. Even translated from French into English, all four books in the series seem to put you right inside Napoleon’s head!

Do you have any favorite books or movies about time travel?

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton is brilliant about the experience of being stranded in the past.

Making History by Stephen Fry tackles the unforeseen consequences of tinkering with the past. When this came out, I was gutted. It was like he had stolen ideas right out of my head and made them better! To add insult to injury he went to Queens’ College, Cambridge University just like me.

I really enjoyed the original Back to the Future movie starring Michael J. Fox from 1985. I was at university, I had just got engaged, my future was bright!

Terminator and Terminator 2 are classics too, you just can’t separate them. They sum up the basic time travel plot in non-stop action movies. And you can’t forget Bill Murray’s arrogant weatherman learning to be a better person in Groundhog Day.

Can you tell me more about your research process? How accurately did you try to depict Napoleon—- and what aspects of his character might you have altered and why?

I read quite a lot of autobiographical material dictated by Napoleon. I was influenced, as I said earlier, by Max Gallo. In truth, I don’t think there is one true Napoleon waiting to be revealed through research. The artillery officer at Toulon morphed into a commander in Italy who became one of three Consuls governing France before having the Pope watch him crown himself Emperor of the French!

Life changed him. He started out as an opportunistic republican and look where he ended up!

If I have altered anything, it is to allow Napoleon to retain a little more of his earlier self, buried, but waiting to be re-ignited. Richard Davey, the time travelling schoolteacher will try to light that fire! As a consequence, Bonaparte emerges a little more open to advice and becomes, perhaps, a little less arrogant than the average emperor.

I’ve seen a number of recent fictional depictions of Napoleon where he’s depicted as a Hitler-like villain trying to conquer the free world. In your book, the hero not only admires Napoleon, but he’s willing to buck his very British upbringing by trying to help his hero win Waterloo. What led you to this characterization?

To be honest, I never buy into cartoonish caricatures. Very few leaders are without redeeming features, especially if judged by the standards of the time. Hitler was a monster. Napoleon was not. How else can we explain the men who rallied to his cause in 1815 when he escaped Elba and returned to France?

The other issue here, is the notion that Napoleon wanted to be a new Alexander the Great, conquering the known world. Firstly, he was constantly faced with military coalitions determined to oust him as a threat to the notion of hereditary monarchy. What choice did he have but to fight?

Secondly, how was his behaviour different from the British? They claimed to be reluctant to subsume territories into their empire and yet it girdled the globe! All major European powers were prone to acquiring territories to their own benefit. France under Napoleon was no different.

As to Richard Davey’s motivation, his life is empty, he admires the scale of Bonaparte’s achievements and believes his downfall was not inevitable. Dreams of Napoleon fill Richard’s emptiness. After all, I’m British but admire the Founding Fathers of the United States!

Your depiction of Waterloo was particularly memorable. It feels like you were there. Did you travel to Belgium to see the battlefield?

Thank you. That is very rewarding to hear but I have never visited the site of Waterloo. Most battlefield visits are a disappointment. Usually, you end up looking at farmers’ fields trying to imagine what happened there centuries ago. I have visited many other battle sites without finding them especially informative. So, I decided to rely on the wealth of published material on the battle from narrative accounts to meteorological reports, from detailed illustrations of uniforms to explanations of early nineteenth century tactics.

What inspired your depiction of your hero’s best friend Emile?

In truth, Emile developed as I wrote. I needed someone on the French side who would listen to Richard. Without that, he would have been shot as a spy in short order.

I know this is not really a good way to develop character, but I got to know him as he interacted with Richard. He had to be open-minded and fairly close to Bonaparte hence his regiment and posting.

I also wanted him to be a contrast to Richard Davey. In a way, he is everything Richard might wish to be. He is confident, charming, sociable, brave and relatively successful. He also gives Richard an anchor in the past that has become his present and in so doing, allows him to start thinking about his nineteenth century future.

Thanks Gareth! Your novel was fast-paced and a lot of fun. As this is the first in a trilogy, I am very excited to read the sequels!

# # #

As an additional treat, I have uploaded Gareth’s interview with Carole Horton of Radio Skye here. And I also have uploaded a playlist, also curated by Gareth, to my Youtube channel. You can listen to it here— there’s also a description of how the tracks inspired him.

Don’t forget, the first three commenters on this post (not reblogs, just comments) will win a free PDF copy of Gareth’s book. Thanks everyone!

More about Gareth:

If you enjoyed this interview, here’s another interview he did with the Historical Novel Society.

Gareth’s website can be found here— and this is his Goodreads page. If you enjoyed this content, please hit like and subscribe!

Purchase info:

Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Waterstones Browns Books Book Depository

#author of the month #interview #interview archive #gareth williams #needing napoleon #napoleon #napoleon bonaparte #time travel #alternate history #napoleonic era

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joannerenaud · 3 years

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I got a couple of reviews on A QUESTION OF TIME and DOORS and I’m so happy! Thank you, MA, whoever you are. ;)

Purchase links:

A QUESTION OF TIME is available at

Champagne Books

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

DOORS is now available through

Amazon

iBooks

Champagne Books

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

You can read an excerpt here.

#a question of time #doors #time travel #my books #self promo

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joannerenaud · 3 years

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First line game

Rules are: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. I was tagged in this by @thiswaycomessomethingwicked.

I did less than 20, because most everything I wrote before 2009 has never been finished, so here we go! Some of these are more “open paragraphs” than opening lines, but... hey... why not?

First Line Game

1. Fair Vanity (original, time travel, in progress)

When I finally dared to open the door that afternoon, the sun was a dull red ember, cloaked in haze and smoke, and the sky was the burnt, flat yellow of a dying world.

2. Vanity of Vanities (original, time travel, finished)

The grass was dying. Temperatures in the Valley had skyrocketed to over a hundred degrees. Even at sunset, it still felt like a furnace. But, when I discovered a package wrapped in brown paper courtesy of my great-aunt Justine, all the heat and the loneliness and the stress of working from home and the unending deluge of shitty news melted away from me like it was all a dream.

3. The Age of Sagas (GOT/ASOIAF fic, time travel, WIP)

“Well, here we are.” Brenn Fossoway’s voice was disgustingly cheerful as the old compact ground to a halt in the empty parking lot. “Home sweet home!”

“Maybe it’s your sweet home,” she said as she gazed up at the science building, looming above her in the purpling dusk. “But it’s not mine.”

4. The Captive Heiress (original, historical fiction, in edits)

Revolution hung in the air, heavy and potent as a storm, but nothing ever changed in the valley where Xandrine had lived all her life. The sheep bleated, the paper mills churned disgustingly, and the river Dore flowed the same, placid and winding, through the ash trees and willows that lay to the west of the chateau.

5. A Great Wide Blue Stillness (original, historical romance, originally publshed in the COCKY COCKERS anthology)

The dinner shift had just started, and the girls, all in black bombazine and starched aprons, flew from kitchen to dining room, bearing trays of relishes and jello salads, as well as entrées of fried steak, stuffed pork chops, grilled calf’s liver in onion and bacon, and chicken cooked a hundred ways.

6. Fly By Night (original, time travel, unpublished)

“So how about that party, huh? Wasn’t it crazy?”

“Yeah.” Even though Rachel’s face was flushed—she had downed that last shot of whisky fast—she didn’t feel very communicative.

7. The Titanium Tower (original, SF, unpublished)

Patra zoomed over the Sunless Sea, the waters below her hovercycle glittering in the directionless pale light, and almost felt alive again. Though Mother had asked her to run another errand-- this time to fix a droid bay door in Sector Six-- she didn’t mind.

8. Doors (original, time travel romance, Champagne)

When I found myself standing by a window that curved out onto an alien world, I stared in fascination. The landscape lay before me, twisted and strange, with red organic rock formations bent like gnarled fingers, and a dusty gold sky streaked with clouds the color of dried blood.

9. A Question of Time (original, time travel romance, Champagne)

Several of CiCi’s teachers had laughed at her for wanting to write stories about terra-forming Mars, or androids, or future colonies on the moons of Saturn. Girls weren’t supposed to like stuff like that. They were supposed to read sappy series novels like Couples, Sweet Dreams, or Sweet Valley High. Stuff like that was all right, she supposed, like watching soap operas, but it didn’t interest her. Yet Mr. Forrest understood.

10. Wendy (original, slipstream, originally published by Astonishing Adventures magazine)

The rain is pounding on the roof, and I’m staring at the bottle of Ambien on my coffee table. My doctor would tell me that it’s too late at night to take even one pill, but more than anything, I just want to sleep. It wasn’t just that I was tired—I’ve had insomnia most of my life, I’m used to that—but it was that I wanted to forget.

11. Ash-Slave (original, historical fantasy, originally published by Dark Valentine magazine)

Friends, there are some men who are convinced that the King of Kings is the most powerful man under heaven. Truly, those who have such faith in the Great King are blessed—yet, great Ahura Mazda forgive me, I have reason to think otherwise. What is a king, even the mightiest king in the world, when he is in love? Come and listen to my tale of the ash-slave who commanded the King himself.

As far as patterns, I sure do love eerie, ominous scene setting! Also time travel, but that goes without saying.

I’m gonna tag @pepper-seeds, @titleleaf, @somepallings, @joachimnapoleon and any other authors who wish to participate.

#writing #time travel #historical fiction #historical romance #ancient persia #game of thrones

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joannerenaud · 6 years

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Cocky Cockers Anthology out now!

I have a new story out-- a historical romance novelette called A Great Wide Blue Stillness-- one of the many great featured romance stories in the COCKY COCKERS anthology, a new charity anthology out now!

There comes a time in our lives where we look for something new, something that bends the rules, something that is sure to ruffle some people’s rooster tails. Introducing The Cocky Cockers in all its cocky glory!

What do you get when you cross cocky heroes and heroines with Cocker Spaniels? Why, Cocky Cockers, of course.

All the stories in this anthology feature a Cocker Spaniel and a happily-ever-after (or happy-for-now) ending. How they get there? Well, that’s all the fun!

Warning: The stories in this anthology run the gamut from G to NC-17 ratings and include examples of nearly every subgenre–including contemporary, historical, paranormal, and steampunk–as well as m/f, m/m, and f/f pairings.

Proceeds from this anthology will first be used to defray any legal costs associated with its publication, and secondarily donated to the Romance Writers of America’s Benevolence Fund.

It is now available from:

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Contributors:

Shiloh Walker https://www.shilohwalker.com/website/

Jackie Barbosa, Editor http://www.jackiebarbosa.com

Sela Carsen http://selacarsen.com/

Tom Eden http://www.tomeden.com/

Anne Gaston https://annegaston.com/

Missy Jane https://authormissyjane.wordpress.com/

Sadie Jay https://sadiejaywrites.wixsite.com/relationships

Kinsey Holly, Editor http://kinseyholley.com/

John Jacobson, Editor

Taryn Kincaid https://tarynkincaid.com/

Lucy Kinsley and Tara Song

Rachael Kerr

Tara Kennedy http://www.talkapedia.com

Mia Koutras http://www.facebook.com/mia.koutras

L.J. LaBarthe https://www.ljlabarthe.com/

Elise Logan https://twitter.com/Elise_Logan

Carrie Lomax https://carrielomax.com/

Mara Malins https://twitter.com/MaraMalins

Heather Massey http://heathermassey.com

Siobhan Muir https://www.siobhanmuir.com/

Marie Piper http://www.mariepiper.com/

Joanne Renaud http://joannerenaud.tumblr.com/

Dominique Rothford http://dominiquerothford.com/

Selene Grace Silver http://selenegracesilver.com/

Naomi Tajedler http://www.naomi-tajedler.com

Emily Veinglory https://veinglory.blogspot.com/

Jules Voigt https://philosophersden.wordpress.com/

Jody Wallace http://jodywallace.com/

Mary Winter https://marywinter.com/

Julia Wolf http://juliawolfwrites.com/

#cockycockers #joannerenaud #jackiebarbosa #shilohwalker #anthology #romance

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joannerenaud · 8 years

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Thanks so much for the awesome review!! Doors is now available through Amazon, Champagne Books, All Romance Ebooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. You can read an excerpt here. You can also check it out on Goodreads.

A review of 'Doors' by Joanne Renaud

From the moment I opened to the first page and began the prologue, I knew that ‘Doors’ by Joanne Renaud was going to be an excellent novel. As a reader, you’re immediately transported into a dreamscape and reminded of characters you loved from ‘A Question of Time’, (Joanne’s prequel and though you don’t need to read that book to understand whats going on, it does help to have the background information.) You move on from the foreign dreamscape world and into the real world of Jacqueline Karam and her eccentric, yet lovable friend, Orne St. John. The 174 page story, without giving away to much, is centered around a tragic point in Jaqualine’s childhood that haunts and tugs at her. She dreams of her long passed teacher and his cryptic message, but with no clear explanation as to why. She can’t seem to get it out of her head and as the story continues, it just might be the key to something bigger. With Orne St. John pushing her to pursue it, in his unique, possibly selfish, yet charming way, how can she not begin the expedition…and once started, will everything be the same? It’s a journey that will shake her very core and yet, she grows stronger for the experience. (which is right up my alley!) 'Doors’ removes us from the mundane everyday life into an adventurous world of puzzlement, mystery, parallel dimensions and wonderful 90’s references. (Which to me is an excellent treat!) The relationship, and banter, between Jacqualine and Orne St. John, as they journey to find their individual happiness, is a wonderful development that feels completely natural to their personalities. Not something that is forced at all. The character growth between the two is astounding and is something I really appreciate. (Flat characters are boring!) Personally, I am not a huge romance reader. I went through a phase at one point, but I found most romances come down to a very basic,and disappointing, plot; Strong independent woman doesn’t need anyone to tell her what to do, or how to live, and then suddenly she meets a man she hates, who then turns into a love interest she can’t live without, as well as, can’t function without. Thus strong heroine is no longer strong and independent, becoming a dependent shell of her former self. For me, that grew old fast and I became a very picky romance reader. (though recently I’ve been told things have gotten better in the romance section. I’ll have to look around and see.) But, as I previously stated, our heroine in 'Doors’ becomes a stronger person for her adventures and this just makes me all sorts of happy. With Joanne’s style and her timey whimey plots, She weaves wonderful tales of science fiction into unforgettable romance, creating an exciting adventure that you won’t soon forget! So, I urge you, if you’re picky like me, (and even if you’re not!) to pick it up and read it! It will definitely be worth your time!

#Doors #reviews #wheeeeeeee

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joannerenaud · 8 years

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So the March Mayhem giveaway is officially over now-- but we will announce the winner soon, as soon as I’m back from New York. Thanks to everyone for entering!

And speaking of New York, I am here in Fun City to give a reading on April 4th at Lady Jane’s Salon, New York’s first-- and only-- romance reading series, at the fabulous Madame X’s bar in Soho. I’ll be there with my fellow romance authors L.G. O’Connor, Talia Surova and Mari Mancusi. The event runs from 7 to 9, with a $5 cover charge (and $5 drinks). New York peeps, I’d love it if you could make it. See you there!

#Lady Jane's Salon #Joanne Renaud #L.G. O'Connor #Talia Surova #Mari Mancusi

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joannerenaud · 8 years

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Spring is here, and it’s time for March Mayhem! Fifteen days... five authors... and the chance to win a fabulous swag basket with prizes from Donna Thorland, Lynne Connolly, Kat Parrish, Kat Laurange, and me!

In addition to a shiny new paperback copy of A Question of Time and my brand new science fiction romance Doors, I’m also giving away the artwork above, which features (from left to right) Yalira from Kat Parrish’s Bride of the Midnight King, Marcus Aurelius, Lord Malton from Lynne Connolly’s Dilemma in Yellow Silk, Anna Winters (and her kitten Scrappy) from Donna Thorland’s The Dutch Girl, Charlie from Kat Laurange’s Somebody Brave, and Orne St. John from Doors.

More info about these characters here! You can find out more about March Mayhem prizes here, and you can enter to win from my blog home page from now until 3/30/2016, 12 AM, EST.

#March Mayhem #Donna Thorland #Lynne Connolly #Kat Parrish #Kat Laurange #Joanne Renaud #promo extravaganza!

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joannerenaud · 8 years

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Guys, I have a new book out! I am proud to announce the arrival of DOORS, a timey-wimey “side-quel” to my first book, A QUESTION OF TIME, out now from Champagne Books. Here’s a blurb:

Jackie Karam always knew her friend Orne was a weirdo, even before he enlists her help in opening a door to an alternate dimension. His theory is that if one could find a book one lost, a book one loved but can no longer remember anything about, it might open a door to another world. Jackie just happens to have such a book in her past. A science fiction novel her high school teacher had recommended to her before he died in a car crash.

Jackie loves hanging out with her handsome, charming, eccentric friend, so she agrees on a trip back to her hometown to look for Mr. Forrest’s book. She finds it in the White Springs library, and just as Orne hoped, opens a door to another dimension, one altered from the world she knows. Not just altered, but better. Her career is a success, her old teacher is alive and well, and her relationship with Orne is so much more intimate. Her own world is so drab and hopeless by contrast, she’s tempted to stay.

But does she truly belong in this other world? What happens to this world’s Jackie if she stays? And what will happen to her, if she refuses to go back through that door?

You can read an excerpt here.

DOORS is now available through Amazon, Champagne Books, All Romance Ebooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

And I’m so pleased with the cover. Trisha FitzGerald did an amazing job!

#Doors #Champagne Books

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joannerenaud · 9 years

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A Tribute to Pino Daeni

Here's the second romance novel cover post I managed to dig up from the old blog. Enjoy!

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This post is a tribute to one of my favorite cover illustrators, Pino Daeni (aka Pino D’Angelico), who was a significant influence on me when I was growing up. He’s most famous for illustrating book covers in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, though by the ’90s he tired of commercial work and started exhibiting in galleries. But I was fascinated by his covers– I loved his unabashed romanticism, his fluid brushstrokes, his vivid color schemes, and– last but not least– his effortlessly sexy men and women. He died in May 2010, but sadly enough I only just discovered this the other day. So here is a belated tribute post to that greatest of romance cover illustrators– the one and only Pino.

From 1986, this cover for Roberta Gellis’s medieval historical romance “The Rope Dancer” is the oldest painting in my current batch of pics, and it manages to be both epic and ’80s at the same time. The girl is a very typical Pino girl– a curvy and kittenish redhead. The guy feels like something of an afterthought, but but I love the whole neon pink RenFaire vibe of the cover. It makes me want to listen to The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats.

Deborah Grabien’s “Fire Queen” was a diverting 1989 historical fantasy/romance set in ancient Ireland, and while it’s not GRR Martin, I have many pleasant memories of it. I have to admit one of my favorite parts about the book was the cover, and the stepback art you see here. It had a great Red Sonja vibe to it, with lots of action. The colors are insanely saturated, but hey– it was the ’80s!

From 1991, Claudia McCormick’s “Raven at Sunrise” was another ancient Irish-set historical romance. This was more of a traditional genre romance, hence the use of a clinch. I can just see Pino in his studio, going nuts with the foliage. The orange/yellow/fuchsia palette seem an odd choice for a story set in Ireland, but I think possibly he was just trying to be different. I really like the musculature on the guy.

Some of my absolute favorite work by Pino were the illustrations he did for the Harlequin Historical line– the usual layout was a closeup of the girl, a clinch below, and various scenes from the book on the back cover (you can see another example of this in my ‘Retro romance covers’ post here). You can see that the colors, while still playful and saturated, are becoming slightly more subdued. I especially love this one– the book, a French baroque-era historical romp by Louisa Rawlings (aka Sylvia Halliday) is not only sexy and fun, but the cover works perfectly for it. If you want adventure, romance, duels, and the home-and-garden tour of various magnificent chateaux, this book is for you. (The guy is hot too, which doesn’t hurt.)

Kathleen Morgan’s “Enchant the Dream”– the sequel to the wonderful “Enchant the Heavens” came out in 1996, which means that this came at the end of Pino’s illustration career. I really wish I could see more of the illustration on this: I think, looking at the design, it might possibly have been planned originally to be a stepback, but the designers probably changed their minds in the end to save money. I prefer Pino’s earlier more painterly work, but this is a fine illustration too. I like the super-loose background on the back cover.

I’ve gotten a lot of pleasure looking at Pino’s work over the years, even though, alas, many people back in my teenage and college years gave me trouble for liking these covers. I got more than a few sneers when I would pull out a Pino-illustrated book and say how well done it was. I make no apology for liking his art; I like artwork that is so ostentatiously emotional and feminine. In any case, since the ’00s, I’ve heard much less scoffing and sneering whenever I bring up Pino’s artwork– or even romance novel cover art in general– which I think is an interesting cultural shift.

#Pino Daeni #romance novels #romance novel cover art

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joannerenaud · 9 years

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Retro Romance Covers

I have some good news for you guys! About three years ago, I wrote a series of posts about romance cover art, with lots of pics. However, I lost it all when my web provider nuked my blog from orbit (that is why I moved to Tumblr). However, I was able to recover a bunch of posts recently. Here is the first long-lost Retro Romance Covers post, with more to follow!

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Today, I am going to post retro romance covers. With today’s dependence on stock photo, illustrated romance covers are becoming a lost art, which is too bad. Though they were considered laughable twenty to thirty years ago, romance covers, which were illustrated by consummate professional artists like the late Pino Daeni, Allan Kass, Elaine Duillo, and Elaine Gignilliat, were often quite beautiful. Here are a few covers I especially like.

This is the oldest book here– originally published in 1965. As far as I know, this is the cover for the original edition. I have no idea who the artist is, but it’s a fun pic– he probably did a lot of advertising work (like for Coca-Cola, judging by the girl). I love how the guy looks like he has dyspepsia. The spaniel is adorable.

This fantastic cover for Laura Parker’s 1790s era historical “Silks and Sabers” by well-known illustrator Elaine Gignilliat is one of my favorites. The amount of detail in this is really astonishing, and it actually references the print Le Bal Paré by Gabriel Saint-Aubin. It’s too bad the girl in the red dress looks like Raquel Welch from “The Three Musketeers,” but eh, you can’t have everything.

Pino Daeni is one of my favorite illustrators, and partially because of him I was determined to become a book cover artist myself. This is one of his earlier efforts, a first edition of Catherine Coulter’s “Chandra.” The book is not Ms. Coulter’s best, but I’ve always loved this illustration– the moonlight and the cool palette seem to make it especially sexy and evocative.

This was a cute little illo by artist Barney Plotkin done for the profoundly ’80s category romance “Here There Be Dragons” by Marianne Clark. While not up to the likes of Daeni or Gignilliat, I like the mid-1980s soap opera vibe this pic has, as well as the perspective. Drawing a birds-eye perspective on a snuggling couple is not something I could do easily.

Amazingly enough, I actually found the original artwork sold here back in 2009– and it looks like it was even more beautiful in real life. Alas, the final printed cover cut out a lot of the nice details on the painting.

Back in the days when stepback covers actually featured more art, not reviews or a longer blurb, this was the stepback cover for the original paperback edition of Karen Robards’ “This Side of Heaven.” The artwork is by illustration heavyweight Elaine Duillo, first major female cover artist and Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame inductee. There’s so much stuff to look at in this illustration, from the fabrics to the flowers to the landscape; I’m especially fond of the cat.

In 1992, Pino Daeni was getting sick working on covers, with their tight deadlines and lack of artistic freedom, but it’s hard to tell this from his work. Even the jobs he did for Harlequin were beautiful– he had an epic sweep and a feel for history that came through in every cover. I really like this cover done for Mary Daheim’s “Gypsy Baron,” with all the gorgeous and authentic 17th century costume details (though I’m not sure St Paul’s Cathedral should be there in the background for a story set in King James I’s time– but oh well). I especially love the heroine’s awesome Marie de Medici collar on the front. That is not something you see on your average romance cover, and at the time I remember it was very eye-catching.

More covers to follow!

#romance novels #cover art #Pino Daeni #Barney Plotkin #Catherine Coulter #Elaine Duillo #Elaine Gignilliat #Karen Robards #Laura Parker #Marianne Clark #Mary Daheim #Pamela Kent #book cover design #romance novel art #romance novel covers

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joannerenaud · 9 years

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I review Jacobin’s Daughter on Dear Author!

#young-adult #Jacobin's Daughter #Joanne Williamson #Joanne S. Williamson #YA #book review #review #Dear Author

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joannerenaud · 9 years

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For Such a Time: I Discuss THAT BOOK

I’ve read a lot of horrible books in my time, but For Such a Time is by far the worst book I’ve ever read. Warning: triggers and spoilers ahead.

When I first heard of Kate Breslin’s For Such a Time, the Nazi/Jew inspirational romance that was a retelling of the Book of Esther—first, from Rose Lerner, and then from the review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books—I had a sinking feeling about it. You’d think I’d be the target audience for it. I love the Book of Esther, and I even like inspirational romances. (Mesu Andrews’ Love Amidst the Ashes was flawed, but it had a lot of great things about it.) And I think Nazi protagonists, while an incredibly tricky thing to pull off, can make for an incredibly rich and challenging reading experience. I’m fascinated by the German history and their perspective on World War II as well. But after I read the various reviews, the whole thing felt like a trainwreck. The reviews said the Jewish heroine converted to Christianity at the end, and that seemed kind of gross. But I wanted to read it first. Maybe it wasn’t quite so awful as the reviews made it sound.

I also thought—”Oh, but it’s got a blurb from Susan Wiggs! You loved her stuff back when you were in high school. And it’s got great reviews from Library Journal… and even Rachel at Smart Bitches said at least it was well written. How bad could it be?”

Well, dear reader, the answer to that shocked even a jaded critic like me. It’s probably the shittiest book I’ve read in a LOOOOONG time. It’s not just offensive, but it’s dumber than a box of rocks, and that’s insulting to the rocks.

I read For Such a Time with a group of fellow romance authors, and that was the ONLY way I could have finished it. It was downright grueling to read, and the story was a failure in every possible way. The characterization was shallow, the language was overblown, and the plotting is of a sub-Dynasty level. This book takes all the horrors of the Shoah and reduces them to a Roma Downey produced Lifetime movie. At other times it reads like a G-rated Schindler’s List fanfic, but with the Amon Goeth character whitewashed almost beyond recognition.

Yet the fact that the hero is a Nazi officer (but he’s good! he’s just misunderstood! He’s never really done anything bad, even though he’s “Himmler’s prize bull”) is actually less problematic than the way that Jewish culture and history has been completely overwritten by this evangelical default. Breslin made NO attempt to fact check her Judaism. It’s clearly meant to be read by evangelicals ONLY.

For example, you have moments like a little German Jewish boy going on and on about how he wants to go to heaven. He describes heaven as “eternal summertime” where you could “sing and dance all day ‘cause the angels would play music on accordions and trumpets.” Various Jewish characters go on and ON about “salvation,” and how Stella will “fulfill the prophecy” and be “the one”. There’s also no knowledge of Jewish mourning or respect for the dead or ritual uncleanness in the presence of corpses. There’s a repulsive scene where they find a box of ashes of dead Jews from the Krematorium before their Great Escape, and after our heroine says blithely, “I don’t think they would mind the sacrilege,” she rubs all the cremated corpse dust all over herself as some attempt to… disguise herself. She’s not disgusted or creeped out at all either. She’s reverent! It’s good to be the THE ONE, I guess.

She also has a Bible (no mention of the translation—one supposes it’s in German, because why would she ever read anything in Hebrew) which magically appears to her in her time of need. She even has a semi-conversion moment when her Bible falls open to John 3:16 (right next to a picture of her Nazi boyfriend, of course) and she hears a divine “Whisper” which leads her to think of Jesus. But in this book, all Jews are proto-Christians: there’s absolutely no sense of what Judaism is like as a religion. Stella just comes into her natural Christianity at the end, since apparently Judaism is just Christianity without pork or the resurrection. (Thanks, Jackie Barbosa!)

The plot, such as it is, follows the Book of Esther more or less. Stella, or Hadassah (the interchangeability of the names is pretty irritating) is a beautiful virginal blonde who is lusted after by every villain, male or female-- even the butch female guard at the ghetto threatened to rape her at one point. She is rescued by the broad-shouldered, russet-haired and bronze-skinned Aric von Schmidt, SS colonel, who is taken by the cerulean blue of her eyes right before she’s about to be shot via firing squad at Dachau. He whisks her away on some flimsy-ass pretext that she’s actually Aryan and the Gestapo jerks just screwed up her paperwork, because how could a JEW be BLOND!? It’s unclear how much he actually believes this pretext—because even though the author stuffs five adjectives into every sentence when just one would do, her writing is also incredibly vague and static.

Anyway, Aric is the new Kommandant at Theresienstadt, a concentration camp that was used as a transit camp for Auschwitz. It was a terrifying place in its own right-- it was only in operation for 3 1/2 years, but over 33,000 people died there from disease, overwork and sadistic treatment by the Nazis-- and Breslin makes a stab out of describing various horrors. However, real emphasis is on the syrupy, soft-focus romanticism of Aric’s desultory PG-rated attempts to seduce Steldassah (Hadella?) Oh no, she wants him. Oh no, he’s a Jew Killer. But his shoulders are so broad! He’s put me into a low-cut evening gown! What could be possibly want? And so on and so forth. This all culminates in a scene where his jealous meanderings so incense her that she rips the bodice of the aforementioned evening gown, and he gapes at her heaving bosoms.

His hand shot out to grasp her chin. Pulling her to him, he said angrily, “Tell me, Fräulein, if you give your kisses so freely to a captain, what will you offer a colonel? A Kommandant?”

Like a blow, his words roused such pain in Stella that she forgot her fear. “Is this what you want?” She grabbed at the buttoned front of her dress and ripped away the delicate cloth. Blue beads popped and flew in every direction. “The same thing the Gestapo pig tried to take before he shipped me out on a cattle car, or at Dachau when they beat me, then gave orders to have me shot because I refused to surrender to the Block leader’s depravity?” The front of her dress gaped open, exposing the white lace camisole beneath and the agitated rise and fall of her breathing. “Go on, take it, Herr Kommandant.” Bitterness choked her. “Because I’ve learned it’s much safer to submit than to fight back.” He stared at her, his taut features easing into an expression she couldn’t identify. “I had wondered why you were taken to the shooting pit.”

Kate Breslin, For Such a Time (Kindle Locations 1521-1528). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Such a scene wouldn’t be out of place in one of those bargain basement Danielle Steele adaptations you saw on TV all the time back in the ‘80s. It’s nauseating, especially compared with all the loving descriptions of starving Jews and the stench of the ghetto of Theresienstadt. Good times.

But lest you think Aric is anti-Semitic and irredeemable, there’s an earless houseboy named Joseph who’s there as a pathetic mascot to show what a great guy Aric is. (He’s like Oliver from the musical, but with even less personality.) Steldassah takes a maternal interest in him, and they end up a Big Happy Family Unit in the end. But wait! I gotta talk about the conflict! There is conflict, or some notion of it.

So there’s this plot to kill Aric by his second-in-command, Captain NoFirstName Hermann, who is basically a mustache-twirling Cartoon Nazi. Hermann is just there to make Aric look good and noble, and to persuade the readers into forgetting the romantic hero is in charge of genocide. Hermann is supposed to be the Haman analogy, but it so doesn’t work. He’s less a sinister councilor, and more like an angry and violent bro arguing with another bro over a chick.

Of course, Hermann’s plot fails because of Comic Relief Jewish Uncle Morty’s intervention, and yay, Steldassah falls deeper in love with Aric because his shoulders are so broad, and sometimes he’s nice to people when he benefits from it. It was really painful reading about these two lovebirds. Steldassah is an insipid, navel-gazing twit who judges local working girls for wearing makeup while she herself is lusting after a Nazi. And her Nazi beau is no prince either. He’s vapid, selfish, shallow and self-pitying (for example, he’s still pissed off his old man reported his adolescent Nazi activities to the authorities back in Austria, a move which inadvertently caused the death of a friend), but Hadella is much the same. So maybe they are a match made in heaven.

Or hell, to be more accurate. Aric is, after all, the kind of guy who likes to tell stories about magic castles with demons which somehow act as a metaphor for his poor, sad, bereft life. And then he says things like:

“Save me, Hadassah…”

I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth as I was typing that out. Anyway, moving on…

It’s hard to imagine how a high-ranking Nazi like a concentration camp Kommandant could possibly be forgiven and/or redeemed. The books I’ve read that use SS officers as protagonists (i.e. Silver Rose by David Kaufelt) usually kill them off horribly. (Karma is a bitch, people.) But Breslin can’t have that—oh no—so she bends over backward to try to make Aric free of the sins of the Final Solution, even though he is an SS colonel. He’s basically a Good German in the Wehrmacht, a la Tom Cruise in Valkyrie, a war hero, fighting at the Eastern Front until Babi Yar (in 1941) where he’s wounded badly and he spends a year in recovery. When he leaves he ends up joining the SS, because, allegedly, according to Breslin, they’re the only people who would take him after his injury. And he becomes Himmler’s “shining star” in the process. (Of course, the SS only took committed members of the NSDAP, but Breslin chooses to ignore that.) And he runs the camp at Litomerice before Theresienstadt, where thousands of people died from overwork and exploitation. And his bookshelf has copies of Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (she makes a point of mentioning this) so the fuck?

But once Aric falls in love with Steldassah, he sees the light of Jesus, and since he’s clearly such a good guy, all the other Jews are totally understanding. As the Red Cross is coming to visit for their horrifically staged visit, he arranges a Freedom Train to take a bunch of Jews to safety to Russia. Clue Inglorious Bastards II: Now With More Jesus! (The people in the camp even watch approvingly as he proposes to Hadassah, and guys, I swear it’s written just like Disney fanfic. I half expected Mrs. Potts to start singing “Tale as Old as Time” in the background.) Meanwhile, a band of Jewish people stay behind at Theresienstadt to confront Himmler and Eichmann in front of the Red Cross. WHICH DID NOT HAPPEN. NONE OF IT DID. It’s all so distorted and awful that I became enraged as I read it.

Anyway, once the Freedom Train makes it to the Russian border and they have a massive fight with the Germans (which the Jewish characters in the story call ‘The Battle of Susa’-- gag) Aric is wounded, and Hadassah and the others make it to Lvov (really Lviv) in safety. But convenient vaguely ethnic resistance fighters rescue Aric (instead of killing him, since he’s a Nazi—but the dude has serious Plot Armor). In the very last chapter comes to Lvov to have his big HEA with Hadassah. It’s worth quoting from this scene for the WTFery:

“Aric, what will happen now... to us?” Hadassah asked, trying to stem her sudden feeling of anxiousness. “Germany is losing the war. You’ll be hunted down. Where will we go?”

“For now, we’ll leave for Switzerland. Rand and Helen are waiting for us there.” He paused. “After the war...”

He gave her a pensive look. “God has forgiven me, Hadassah, though I know I don’t deserve it. He’s gifted me with more than I’ve ever dreamed-- a chance to start over again, a new sense of hope, and the faith I thought I’d lost a long time ago.” He smiled. “He gave me you.” Then he reached down to tousle Joseph’s hair. “And a son.

“But the world will still hold me accountable for taking part in Hitler’s scheme,” he continued. “Even now, when I think of the apathy I once held against your people, it grieves me. If I’d had your courage, I could have done so much more...” He let out a ragged breath. “When the war is over, I must face whatever justice metes out--”

“You won’t face it alone, my son.”

Hadassah turned to see her uncle approach with Yaakov Kadlec. “We’ll be there, too. We’ll tell them of your actions and how you saved us all. I believe they will listen. After all” --her tatteh smiled-- “God is on our side.”

“Yes, He is,” Hadassah said, and as she tucked the pearl into her apron pocket, she laid her palm against the miraculous Bible that held the photograph she would soon return to her beloved. The story of Elijah rose in her mind. “Whatever our future holds, Aric, God will be there to guide us,” she said, gazing up at the man she loved. “We have only to listen.”

A soft breeze arose at that moment, steady and sweet across the hills of Lvov. And Hadassah smiled, hearing His whisper.

Kate Breslin. For Such a Time (Kindle Locations 6175-6178). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

I just—don’t know where to begin to deconstruct with how fucking HORRIBLE this is. It’s bullshit on so many levels. It’s a shit sandwich, with a new layer of shit every time you look. It’s shit in infinite dimensions. It’s a shit tesseract!

This story completely co-opts the Shoah and turns it into a neutered, tacky soap opera where the Jews are stripped of their culture, religion and traditions and are turned into a mass of ambulatory MacGuffins that Aric and Hermann can fight over like they were in the last act of a Michael Bay movie. It rewrites history—it takes a very real genocide where millions of people were murdered viciously and brutally—and uses it for grist in a cheap melodrama where the real issue is just how a misunderstood Nazi gets to show everyone that he’s really a swell guy. It’s like someone turned the Killing Fields of Cambodia into a heartwarming, life-affirming musical comedy. It’s garbage.

Maybe a talented author could have spun dreck into gold, but Kate Breslin was not this author. Even the writing was terrible. The endless twitchy repetition of phrases like “Salvation”… “the Ceaseless White”… “my Dove” and “Blue… like Austria” was just deadening. Even though the author was trying hard to be super emotional, the flowery prose, which technically polished, felt oddly bloodless and removed--- and the constant POV shifts down to random soldiers and servants didn’t help. And I was just reminded of The Sound of Music constantly, from Aric’s constant nostalgia about Austria and its mountains and its fields and rivers and how blue Austria was. Amusingly enough, Aric is of course the son of a baron—that’s why he’s Aric VON Schmidt. But all titles (including Von) were abolished in Austria in 1918. But hey, that wasn’t in The Sound of Music, so how would Ms. Breslin know that?

Worst of all, spiritually, it’s bankrupt. Steldassah is no Esther; she never publicly proclaims her Jewish faith or heritage. Aric is basically the guy who, in this alternate universe, leads the Jews of Theresienstadt to freedom, while Steldassah is his support and mascot. That’s not even remotely like the Book of Esther; Ahasuerus/Xerxes is no romantic action hero. Steldassah doesn’t even have a “If I perish, I perish” moment: she actually looks forward to going to Heaven. She even refers to herself repeatedly as a “Mischling,” which is an anti-Semitic term of contempt for so-called “half-Jews.” The author tries very hard to convince us that she loves all the children and the oldsters and the disabled people, but it seems, really, on the whole, she’s mainly interested in helping her boyfriend—even as she’s typing up names of prisoners to be sent to Auschwitz, to be filed away in a folder titled FINAL SOLUTION, she’s more concerned about Aric’s feelings than anything else. Here’s an excerpt from a scene from Chapter 47, before they reach Lvov:

“I don’t pretend to know God’s ways,” she admitted. “For a long time I was angry with Him. I felt He’d abandoned me—all Jews—when He allowed our destruction by the Nazis.

“But then I began to see little miracles happen—in the care you showed Joseph, Helen, and Sergeant Grossman, and when you improved the food for my people in the ghetto. I started to wonder if there must be a purpose for my being in that house.” She smiled. “That’s when I fell in love with the man who lived there.”

Kate Breslin, For Such a Time (Kindle Locations 5853-5856). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

I feel that there’s something really shallow, facile and awful about the faith and worldview depicted in this story. Stella’s monologue is just astonishing in its vapidity and self-absorption. Because, even though God let the murder of six million Jews happen, it’s okay, because of the “little miracles” that Stella sees, like how nice Aric is. Maybe there’s a purpose to everything after all!

I’m sure Ms. Breslin would say I was being uncharitable with this interpretation, but I cannot feel differently, given how thoughtlessly and cavalierly she’s played with Jewish tradition and history. Little over half a century ago, when my parents were still children, millions of lives—Jews, Romani, gays, the disabled, the list goes on and on-- were destroyed by Fascists and their allies, and very few people lifted a finger to stop them. Fiction is important; stories are important; but what is a story that destroys the identities of a people who’d suffered through bigotry and violence for thousands of years? What is a novel that claims to be a retelling of a story of a heroine who once stood up to anti-Semitism and instead refashions it into some kind of backwards apologia of an anti-Semite? I don’t think Kate Breslin is anti-Semitic—I think, in her foolish way, she means this story to be a letter of love to the Jewish people—but her ignorance is truly breath-taking and ultimately horrible.

As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I can’t really think of a single redeeming thing about this whole goddamned story. It’s a shame it was nominated for two RITAs—it’s even more of a shame this managed to be published by a reputable house. All the way down, it’s just shit.

Other great reviews have been done here by Kelly Instalove (you can read her hilarious full-snark recap here), Jackie Barbosa, Laura K. Curtis, and Janine and Sunita at Dear Author.

#anti-Semitism #historical #inspirational #book reviews #reviews #For Such a Time #Kate Breslin #rant #this book is garbage #Nazis #AAAARRRRRGGGHHH #Bethany House

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