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Cave Man
Cave Man
Aedan Sayla | 2019 | Erotica, Religion
4
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
What I liked best was that the time and location of the story is well thought out. Taking place right after the fall of the tower of Babel was a great idea (0 more)
Being a modern woman there were multiple things that I did not like about the story. (0 more)
Honest Review for Free Copy of Book
Cave Man by Aedon Sayla is classified as an Erotic Christian Fiction. That being said this is not for anyone under 18 years old. Erotica and Christian Fiction are two genres that are not generally mixed. Readers should be aware that the events in this book are from biblical times and modern rules do not apply.

Alon is a captive of the King of Babel, Nimrod. He is set to be killed on the very next night when an angel shows up. The angel has come to save Alon before God comes down and destroys Babel. Alon escapes and goes to start a new civilization that honors God. Early on in his journey Alon comes across Ayangla who speaks a different language from him. Frustrated at not being able to speak to her the voice of God tells Alon that once his seed is deep in Ayangla she will begin to understand his language. He immediately takes her there on the ground and makes her travel with him as his wife. Over time Ayangla notices that Alon cares for her and comes to love him in return as he takes the time to pleasure her unlike those who had her while she was a slave under Nimrod’s rule.

During their journey, they meet up with Enais and his wife who had the same message about making a new civilization. The two couples decide to be a tribe and call themselves Alonai. The Alonai tribe ultimately end up in a land of plenty and set up a well-guarded home there for themselves and all of their children (there is a lot). The two men end up saving two women from a shipwreck one day while out fishing and bring them back to their home. Each man takes one of the two to become their second wives to share with the first and expand their families while making the new women a part of their struggle for survival. Through it all Alon constantly thanks The Creator for all of his blessings and all the things The Creator has worked for him and within him.

What I liked best was that the time and location of the story is well thought out. Taking place right after the fall of the tower of Babel was a great idea as many people are at least somewhat familiar with that story. The need for the main character to create a new civilization explained all the sex besides just plane lust. Being a modern woman there were multiple things that I did not like about the story. The first of which being Alon attacking and raping Ayangla, made all the worse by God indirectly suggesting it. Ayangla appears to have Stockholm syndrome as she falls in love with Alon who she calls master and husband interchangeably through the book. She seems to stay with him because she learns to enjoy the sex and because being with him helps ensure her survival. I also had a major problem with Alon purposely triggering Ayangla’s milk production for his enjoyment. This may be because I approve of public breastfeeding of children and seeing the production of breast-milk as a sexual act and a grown man breastfeeding from a woman as an orgasmic experience goes against the movement to normalize breastfeeding as a non-sexual act.

Target readers for this book are adults ages 18 and older. As this is considered erotic Christian fiction Christians may have more appreciation for this book than others. Readers should be ready for and expecting heavy sexual content. I ended up giving this book a rating of 2 out of 4. While trying to stay in the mindset of the target audience I still can not put aside my personal feelings about this book completely. It is not the rough sex scenes that was a problem as much as it was how they came about. If it wasn’t for taking the period the book was written in into consideration and how things would have been done then I would have failed this book completely. Content aside it was well written so an even half score of two is appropriate in my eyes.

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After the Fall
After the Fall
Julie Cohen | 2017 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
9
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
lovely (1 more)
poignant
There are all sorts of falls.

For Honor, it is an actual fall. An intelligent, proud woman, Honor raised her son, Stephen, alone. But Stephen married and then unexpectedly passed away, and Honor lives by herself. A fall down the stairs of her stately home lands her in the hospital with a broken hip and her pride deeply wounded. Suddenly, Honor is at the mercy of her former daughter-in-law, Jo, who was Stephen's wife, to help care for her.

For Jo, her fall may not be physical, but she feels as if she's always trying to catch up. Perpetually optimistic, Jo is constantly cheerful for those around her, but she cannot always hide her own doubts about where her life is headed, or if she's doing right by her three children. She's a busy mom to Lydia, Oscar, and Iris, and recently divorced from Oscar and Iris' father. She also fears she may be falling... for another man.

And for Lydia, she too has fallen in love. But she's also a teenager, who lost her father young, and she's dealing with the trials of school and exams. Lydia has a secret, as well: one that threatens her ability to blend in at school and home.

This book, oh this book. I adored this book so much. I fell for these characters (so sorry for that awful pun) hard. From the moment I started reading about feisty Honor, cheery Jo, and teenage Lydia, I loved them. I loved their problems, their sense of humor, and their family. This novel is beautifully written, achingly touching, and often laugh out loud funny.

It alternates between the points of view of our three main women: Honor, Jo, and Lydia. Honor and Jo have never been close, as Honor resented Jo marrying her son, and Jo felt intimidated by the intelligent and strong Honor. But after Honor's fall, she's forced to move in with Jo, her granddaughter Lydia, and Jo's young children with her second husband. The book slowly unfolds the details of how Stephen (Honor's son) passed away and the effect it had on all three women. The entire novel, really, is about little life details and how each they've impacted the three in various ways. In fact, you learn that while we are hearing these stories from three connected people, they really don't know each very well at all. Cohen captures so well how much they need each other, but can't admit it.

As such, there is a poignancy to the novel, as we watch the women navigate life and keep a variety of secrets and hidden sadness from each other. But unlike so many novels, where I want to just scream at the characters to communicate, or where it seems like the entire plot could have been avoided by someone simply talking to another character, this novel is real and true. For instance, Lydia's teen angst and the trials of her adolescence are also so beautifully (although heartbreakingly) portrayed.

It also captures the trials of having children so perfectly. There are some hilarious scenes as Jo navigates caring for her two younger children. Even better are the moments of prickly Honor interacting with young Iris and Oscar. You cannot help but laugh. There is a moment with Oscar and Honor that made me laugh and nearly cry; it was just so funny and touching. The novel is filled with many of these wonderful and witty moments.

I loved how these characters never failed to surprise me. Yes, there were some plot points you could see coming, but they didn't diminish my joy for the book or the depth of the characters. Nothing felt too cliche, and I remained captivated and intrigued. I felt a part of their story and lives. The novel really makes you think; its plot is not just "fluff."

By the end, I still loved all three so much, and my only disappointment was that the book ended.
  
Ship Ablaze:The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum
Ship Ablaze:The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum
Edward T. O'Donnell | 2003 | History & Politics
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Timely Tale
This was a good book about a little known tragedy. The General Slocum was a steamer that traveled on the rivers that surrounded New York City. Often these ships were used by groups for excursions to the shore or picnic areas up river. On June 15, 1904 a German church group had booked passage. It was mainly women and children.

As the book title suggest the worst thing that could happen on a ship did when it caught on fire. The early 1900's were still a time of corruption and profit over safety. This helped lead to the deaths of over 1,000 people.

The story in this book is a timely warning to us as safety laws are rolled back for profits. It was a well written and researched tale. We need to heed the warnings of our past so as not to repeat them with larger tragedies.
  
TF
Together Forever (Orphan Train, #2)
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is definitely a book that you will not put down! The author has done her extensive research and has brought fiction and history together in an incredible novel. Jody Hedlund has a knack for developing the characters so that you can truly interact with them and feel the emotions and the empathy, that these agents must have felt. As the reader, I felt that I really bonded with the characters, I felt love for little Jethro and wanted to ease the fear of the other children. The author makes the reader feel as if they are a part of the story. This storyline also has a theme of love, forgiveness, restoration and letting the past go and being free to move on to the future. A truly enjoyable book!


This story was full of laughter, fun, romance, anticipation and mystery. It's a novel that everyone will enjoy.


I rate this one 5 stars.
  
Herland, the Yellow Wall-Paper, and Selected Writings
Herland, the Yellow Wall-Paper, and Selected Writings
Charlotte Perkins Gilman | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Feminist text (0 more)
Clunky (0 more)
This was both fun and grim
This was an interesting book and for all you feminists out there, quite amusing. The author covered a range of issues which are still relevant today such as, the way food is grown, cultivated and harvested, the values of being kind to the earth. It covered the way that children are educated. There is an excellent piece on religion which I personally found amusing, being an atheist. Considering the time period in which the novella was written, this book is like a mirror on society, especially a patriarchal society.
The sentence structure is clunky, annoyingly long but typical of late Victorian work. The ending is frustrating as it is left wide open without answers. Yet putting that aside, I really liked it. It is not my ideal female utopia, but I am sure for Perkins, in an oppressive male dominated society, it was.