Review: Running From Herself by April Tompkins

 Genre: Coming of Age/Contemporary Fiction

Description:

“Leah Branch just wanted the noise to stop. After years of watching her band splinter, she welcomes the quiet of Chance, Wyoming. Working shifts at the local saloon, she finally finds a rhythm she can live with—steady work, honest friends, and a shared connection with a local singer named Jared. For the first time in years, she feels safe.

But music has a way of pulling you back.

When a desperate choice to save the saloon forces Leah back onto the stage, a chance encounter changes everything. Suddenly, Nashville wants her. Still reeling from her fractured romance with Jared, Leah takes the leap, viewing the contract as her escape hatch.

Instead, it becomes her cage.

The label doesn’t want Leah's raw, acoustic soul; they want a polished product they can sell. Piece by piece, they dismantle her life. They swap her boots for heels, trade her honest songs for studio-engineered pop, and strip away her actual name.

Now, standing on the edge of a stardom she never asked for, Leah is a ghost to herself. With the industry tightening its grip, she has to decide: keep playing a part that is killing her soul or risk everything to reclaim her voice and find her way home.”

Author:

“April Tompkins is a professional daydreamer, author, and musician who has been spinning tales since she was a kid roaming rural Minnesota farm roads. A former North Dakota prairie girl, she now writes contemporary fiction about complex characters that take a little coaxing to reveal their true stories. She is the author of thirteen books, including the hit Running From Herself, and is a singer-songwriter with thousands of Spotify streams. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and her delightfully chunky cat, Sasha.”

Appraisal:

A fun and engaging read with a protagonist. Leah, that was likeable and as a reader I wanted to see succeed, which kept me engaged from cover to cover. If you pay any attention to the music business and what it takes to make a living in it, the story here feels all too real as Leah struggles to make it as well as dealing with the kinds of regular life issues that complicate things for most of us from time to time. How or if things were going to work out was up in the air and constantly changing in my mind which kept me reading, pulling for Leah the whole time.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 110-115,00 words

Review: The Feathered Tree by Allan Frewin Jones

 Genre: YA/Fantasy

Description:

Polly, a teenage girl – restless of spirit as, surely, are they all – is something of a loner, living with her feisty, luthier gran on the edge of Exmoor in Devon, father working ‘overseas’. She tells her troubles to “Tree” - a beech she can see from her bedroom window.

One night it is cut down. Polly is sure it has been done deliberately, out of spite, and that she knows who did it.

Thereafter malice and the nearby ancient sacred wildwoods aroused by the death of the beech, combine to put Polly in real and increasing danger. As she struggles to understand what is going on she begins to change from child to woman.

Yet more of Polly’s senses are awakened when she meets someone who might become special to her, in more ways than one.

Author:

Allan Frewin Jones has been writing fantasy since he was nine, and a professional author in the genre for around 40 years. He has a substantial back catalogue, if you find this one a good read.

Appraisal:

Interwoven with what it may or may not mean to harm a tree, and what may or may not be unleashed when you do, are several other strands. Frewin Jones explores what it is like to be on the outside looking in – something which happens to us all at least occasionally. He weaves in how creativity may be a balm for the soul and bring purpose, how carelessly humans are despoiling the only planet we have, how meat and game animals may feel about their slaughter. Such themes might make the book feel more worthy than entertaining. But Frewin Jones brings light and shade to each short chapter, and has a writing style which enables him to present even heavy material with a light, witty hand. He writes beautifully about that super-sensitive first love that can never be experienced again. It is, indeed, a lot of plot in a short book. The threads are cleverly twisted together and the ending is neat but far from trite.

This is a book for young adults, but does not pull its punches on that account. Adult themes are explored, violence is … violent. Tension and pace never flag.

If you like your fantasy grounded in the earth beneath your feet rather than spattered with odd made-up names and magic swords, then I recommend this to you.

The hundred year old tree cut down in Sycamore Gap, near Hadrian’s Wall, on the border between England and Scotland in 2023 inspired this story. The event is infamous in Britain. That sycamore tree was a famous and beloved landmark, and almost everyone who went to see it, or hiked past it, took a picture of it. It has a Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_tree

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an advance reviewer copy.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: Judi Moore

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Review: La Petite Mort by Mark Coker

 

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian

Description:

“The year is 2043, and simple pleasures are hard to come by.

America struggles to recover following the Rare Earth Wars and decades of political turmoil.

A new invention out of Silicon Valley promises to bring safe and affordable pleasure to the masses. Days before the device enters manufacturing, a dangerous bug escapes that could bring the nation to its knees.”

Author:

“When Mark Coker’s not traveling, hiking, gardening, working his day job, or caring for his pet chickens and pure-bred homing pigeons, he enjoys writing short stories that shine light on modern day dystopias.”

“Mark is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and patent-holding inventor best known as the founder of Smashwords, the pioneering publishing company he founded in 2007 that helped catalyze the self-publishing revolution. Smashwords merged with Draft2Digital in 2022 where Mark now serves as Chief Strategy Officer and board member.”

Appraisal:

An interesting read. Sure, it takes place almost 20 years in the future, but in many ways it feels like the US. It and much of the world has gone down a slippery slope that our current leader and the billionaire class seem to want to happen. In fact, we’ve got at least one businessman who plays a big role who seems to take the same approach to things as a current leader in the US. The end result for his followers, well, it feels good for a while, but you’ll have to check out this quick read to find out what happens in the end. Ultimately a humorous, but thought-provoking read, for those who are capable of thought, of course.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language and while not very explicit, adult subjects do come up in the story.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 18-19,000 words

Reprise Review: Every Wind of Change (Paths of Shadow Book 3) by Frank Tuttle

 

Genre: Epic Fantasy/Magic/Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Adventure

Description:

“Mage Meralda’s perilous airship journey across the vast Great Sea made her a hero.

Her discovery of the Arc may doom her world.

The Arc, a mysterious metal structure hanging ten thousand feet above the stormy Sea, is singing. Tasked by the King to decipher the Arc’s strange song, Meralda discovers plans for an outlandish machine hidden in the song’s mathematical lyrics.

With sharp-tongued vegetable familiar Mug at her side, Meralda embarks on an unexpected journey across the void. Together they face ravenous beasts, ancient engines, and the most diabolical creature of all – Meralda's own long-lost mother.

With nothing but her wits, her Sight, and her determination to return home and find a decent cup of coffee, Meralda vows to lead her tiny band to safety. But her long journey home also means facing an old sorrow, and a singularly unpleasant truth.

As monsters close in, can Meralda prevail where thousands before her failed and perished?”

Author:

“Frank Tuttle lives and writes in the perpetually humid wilderness of North Mississippi. Frank tried to be a proper Southern author and write about pickups and hound dogs, but trolls and magic kept creeping into his stories, so Frank is a fantasy author. Although hounds do make occasional appearances in his fiction.”

To learn more about Frank Tuttle you can check out his website and of course you may also friend Mr. Tuttle on Facebook.

Appraisal:

While this series, Paths of Shadow, has always had an element of steampunk and magic in its world, Every Wind of Change jumps into the realm of Sci-Fi after the “event.” Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself there. Meralda has been assigned, by the King of Tirlin, to decipher the sounds the mysterious Arc is emitting. He also bestows a pay raise and a promotion to Tirlin’s Secret Service. Her new boss is none other than Mrs. Primsbite. To put a cherry on top of it all, Meralda’s long-absent mother reappears and insists on insinuating herself, and her little dog too, into her daughter’s life again. Donchen attempts to arbitrate between mother and daughter, to Meralda’s dismay.

While Meralda is attempting to decipher the Arcs complicated song, King Yvin insists on seeing her results so far. Meralda has to oblige with an incomplete work. Unbeknownst to all, this exhibition initiates a standard tripping wheel transport protocol from the Arc bringing forth the “event” that hurls Meralda, Donchen, Mug, Meralda’s mother, and Mrs. Primsbite (Oh, and I mustn’t forget Nameless and Faceless in crow form as well.) into the embattled Hub of the Arc which is located in the void. Luckily our small band is befriended by an unusual robot named Skoof, who knows the Arc well and assists finding them a safe place to hide from giant carnivorous cockroaches, called Mags who are well aware of their arrival, before they can formulate a way home without magic.

The plot is cleverly crafted and engaging with twists and turns of the outlandish storyline, since they are all out of their element I found that fitting. The dialogues are intelligent, cunning, and witty. New characters are introduced who I hope to see more of in the next book. The scenery and surroundings are well described, which place the reader right beside the characters. The ending is epic and a lot more far-reaching than I was expecting. Meralda’s mother also gains a new larger pet, which fits her well. Readers will also be pleased that Mr. Reardon, mother’s ankle-biter, is still with her as well. Don’t miss this new addition to Meralda and Mug’s adventure.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Every Wind of Change is the third book in a planned four book series from Mr. Tuttle’s, Paths of Shadow. Each book stands alone. However I have enjoyed watching each character’s growth as the series continues. The first book of the series is All the Paths of Shadow, followed by All the Turns of Light.

Format/Typo Issues:

I did find a small number of proofing issues, nothing that threw me out of the story.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words