The Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers Summer Tour

                  

Hey, everyone! Summer isn’t over until September 21, ya know. However, I do understand that most of you are out of “Summer” mode at this point. But don’t let that stop you from picking up some pretty awesome reads and cuddling on the deck for a few hours of bliss.

I see I’m in history mode, as I often am, with my picks to share with you.  

Wounded Spirits by April Gardner was a delight to find. From the little-explored time in American history, the early nineteenth century era of expansion and settlement, Gardner tells an evocative, thoughtful, and sensitive tale of pioneers, warriors, and Creek Nation people battling for identity in an innocent land. Gently exploring touchy issues such as slavery, romance in all the unusual places, pride and fall, readers will ask for more when finished. And you’ll be glad to know that you won’t have long to wait.

Yesterday’s Tomorrow was my surprise exciting read of the year. Cathy West’s awesome debut will knock your socks off so you can wiggle your toes in the sand. If you like true characters, the grit and the emotional pit of modern warfare in the Vietnam era, blood and guts and dirt in your wounds, you’ll be entranced by this gripping read. A young woman reporter finds more than other people’s stories when she goes to cover the war.

Undercurrent. What can I say? Lust, Vikings, Blood, ships, medieval history. Time travel. I’m on reading cloud ninety-nine. Michelle Griep is so excellent in her research, which I discovered with her first novel, Gallimore. Griep takes us back to the early days of Viking exploration, a time when petty kings ruled by magic, dark power, lust and the strength of their bodies and spirits. When a contemporary history professor is caught in a eddy of time, she must use her training and wits to survive and return to the 21st century.

Meander Scar: well, I guess I’m tooting my own horn here, but if you’re in the mood for an almost squeaky clean tale of forbidden love and faith, a twist of fate and a gasping ending, perhaps you’ll consider this contemporary love story of missing persons and love for all the right reasons. I’m also delighted to announce that A Summer In Oakville is releasing this week from the same publisher. Shellie Neumeier and I wrote a story that might have taken place in our own back yards. It’s gotten some great early reviews, has a blow-out fantastic cover and will transport you down a country lane full of angst, pride, love and faith while making peace with the past and welcoming a new future.

Memorial Day contest from Cathy West

Cathy West, author of Yesterday's Tomorrow, a wonderful debut novel from OakTara set during the Vietnam War, is sponsoring a contest of sorts - she wants to hear your stories about the war era. A reader poll will choose the most touching and the winner will receive an autographed copy of her book. Please visit her web site for more information.

The skinny from Cathy:

I would love to hear your stories - do you have a soldier in your family? Are you a Veteran or do you know one? Have you been affected by war in any way? If you can't say yes to those questions, write a short story that honors veterans. Fiction or poetry, whatever you like.

Send me your stories (do try to keep them short, we're not after the Pulitzer) and photographs too! I will publish them all on my blog and we'll vote for the winner. So if you want your story to win, you'll need to send people here to vote!!

The winner will receive an autographed copy of Yesterday's Tomorrow, and something special from Bermuda!

Can't wait to hear from you!

Yesterday's Tomorrow

Yesterday’s Tomorrow

Catherine West

March 15, 2011

OakTara Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-60290-278-7  

From the publisher: Kristin Taylor wants to go to Vietnam to report on the war, and honor her father’s memory by becoming an award-winning journalist like he was, as well as to keep tabs on her brother who's in service. But no editor will send her. So she strikes out on her own and steps into a world more terrifying than she’d imagined. When she meets photographer Luke Maddox, Kristin knows she’s found a story. With war raging all around them, they engage in their own tumultuous battle of emotions and private agendas. Kristin is after a story that might get her the Pulitzer. Luke wants retribution from the enemy that took away his family. In the face of death, Kristin and Luke must decide if they’re willing to set aside selfish ambition for the love that seems to have ambushed them and captured their hearts.

My review: I intended to take this book in chunks, but when I reached my first self-imposed stopping point, I ignored it. Yesterday's Tomorrow is so compelling that I had to keep turning pages. Delicious characters who live so fully that they allow themselves to get filthy and face evil and temptation from friends as well as obvious foes will make you remember them for a long time. Cathy's story isn't about women's rights, although the late sixties in America is a testing time. The character of Kristin isn't out to prove that a woman can do a war-time correspondent job; she's out to prove that she has an eye for a story like no one else. A chance meeting with international journalists gives Kristin a roommate in Saigon; the roommate has a brother who's a mysterious photo-journalist. Although Kristin has defied her mother and her boss to go to Vietnam, she quickly grows up, finds the right connections and the chance to write the story of a lifetime on the unspoken role of the US government behind the scenes. Luke lives fast and recklessly, and when he and Kristen are thrown together as a team for Life magazine, they share secrets that bind them long after the war is over.

I remember all those messed-up soldiers coming home. I was in junior high and very impressionable, and lived through some pretty gruesome aftereffects in our neighborhood, including the stabbing of a neighbor's wife. As I read the book I wondered if Cathy had lived through the era, and found out later that she had researched well. The book is so complex in that Cathy touches on women's rights, racism, espionage, the fallout of war on orphans, temptation and the aftermath, besides a raw faith element. All of the beautiful ingredients create a rich and sensuously satisfying meal. She also has a great book trailer.

When I first received this book for review, I read the opening and part of the first chapter, then went to check out the author. I still have trouble believing that this is Cathy's debut novel. I read a lot of books for review and I rarely give raves, but this book is rave-worthy. For readers who like thought-provoking, gritty, death-defying and fast-paced realism in their recent history entertainment, or for those who just want a taste of what it was like for people going through this devastating time in American history, Yesterday's Tomorrow will satisfy you for the moment and stay with you long afterward.