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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

May 1, 2021  
Come read the first part of the prologue for the political fiction novel TO THE REPUBLIC by Bruce Clavey on my blog. Be sure to enter the giveaway to win a prize pack including: an autographed paperback copy of To the Republic by Bruce Clavey; unisex tee with the "Texas Forever" design; baseball cap stitched with the "Texas Forever" design; ceramic lapel pin with the "Mano de Tejas" design; and a vinyl 5” decal with the "Mano de Tejas" design - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/05/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-to-republic.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
A novel for our times. A saga for the ages.

On the eve of passing landmark immigration legislation, the entire Texas Senate and its native Tejano leader, Diego Reyes, vanish suddenly from Austin. When news of the disappearance hits West Texas, cowboy Del Woodward isn't shocked. He knows exactly where the lawmakers are, but he's not telling. Woody's been down on his luck, and a shady bargain he's made puts him tight in the squeeze of Marcos Cepeda, north Mexico's ruthless drug lord. And Cepeda's furious with this new stall in the bill. It's got a loophole he can exploit to add another quarter million square miles of exclusive turf to his cartel—but that territory goes back up for grabs if leader Reyes can't pass the bill before the Senate session expires in mere days. The brutal kingpin wants what he's bought and compels Woody to step up. How the cowboy swings the vote isn't important to Cepeda, but this sure is: if Woody breathes so much as a word of reluctance, it'll be his last. The prize is Texas, nothing less. It's real, and it's on.

The Republic Series launches from true pages of the Lone Star frontera story into a hauntingly modern arena of trade, trafficking, and tradition on the Rio Grande in To the Republic: BOOK ONE.
      
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ClareR (5779 KP) rated The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna in Books

Aug 26, 2019  
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
Juliet Grames | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the family saga of the Fortuna’s, and follows their lives from poverty in Calabria to the USA. It follows Stella from the birth and death of her older sister (also called Mariastella), her siblings, parents and her life in Connecticut - covering 100 years. I still can’t quite believe that the author managed to fit so much into 460+ pages without it feeling rushed or shoe-horned in, it she did it!

As you can probably guess from the title, Stella’s 7 or 8 deaths feature quite prominently in this, as does her close relationships with her mother and sister. Her father as good as abandons them for the first part of her life, and then demands that his wife and children sell everything and join him in the US where he has been working. Stella hates her controlling, abusive father, but is very much restricted by tradition and religion. So, she lives under his despotic rule. There is quite a bit of abuse - both physical and mental - in this, but what is most admirable is Stella’s unbroken spirit. And she has spirit in spades.

I loved the style in which this was told: a family member researching and telling the story of her relatives, and trying to work out why Stella in her last 30 years refuses to have anything to do with the sister that she loved so much. I had to keep reminding myself that it was in fact fiction. There was a great balance of modern thinking (from the narrator) and the traditions of the older members of the family, complete with curses and spells to avoid the evil eye.

I’ll be honest, I thought I’d made a mistake by choosing this book. I really didn’t think I’d like it. I’m so relieved that I took a chance on this though, because I loved it, and I’d say that it’s well worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.
  
    Ticket to Earth

    Ticket to Earth

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    A distant planet. A dying colony. A deadly conspiracy. Fight a corrupt system in Ticket to Earth,...

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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Unpassing in Books

Dec 22, 2021  
The Unpassing
The Unpassing
Chia-Chia Lin | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
212 of 250
Book
The Unpassing
By Chia-Chia Lin

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

In Chia-Chia Lin's debut, The Unpassing, we meet a Taiwanese immigrant family of six struggling to make ends meet on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska. The father, hardworking but beaten down, is employed as a plumber and repairman, while the mother, a loving, strong-willed, and unpredictably emotional matriarch, holds the house together. When 10-year-old Gavin contracts meningitis at school, he falls into a deep, nearly fatal coma. He wakes up a week later to learn that his little sister Ruby was infected, too. She did not survive.

Routine takes over for the grieving family: The siblings care for each other as they befriend a neighboring family and explore the woods; distance grows between the parents as they deal with their loss separately. But things spiral when the father, increasingly guilt ridden after Ruby's death, is sued for not properly installing a septic tank, which results in grave harm to a little boy. In the ensuing chaos, what really happened to Ruby finally emerges.

With flowing prose that evokes the terrifying beauty of the Alaskan wilderness, Lin explores the fallout after the loss of a child and the way in which a family is forced to grieve in a place that doesn't yet feel like home. Emotionally raw and subtly suspenseful, The Unpassing is a deeply felt family saga that dismisses the American dream for a harsher but ultimately more profound reality.


To start off I’ll say it’s very well written. Sadly I just struggled to connect with the book and it’s characters, yes I’ve still given it 4 stars because it at least deserves that considering it is also the first book from this author. I don’t want to discourage anyone from reading it as someone else may connect I just struggles.