My Name Is Memory: LFB Reviews

Week 2 and 3:
My Name is Memory
Adult Action/Adventure/Romance
by Ann Brashares

I loved the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books. LOVED them. My copies have been read and re-read and passed on and passed back. And I'm always curious how an author with a well-known series of YA books moves on to something else afterward--like J.K. Rowling after Harry Potter. My Name is Memory came into the Library Friends Bookshop three weeks ago, and I hadn't read it, so into my bag of goodies it went.

Although Sisterhood is considered YA, this book is not. It is, however, an adult book with a YA bent, as the book opens up with two high school kids around the time of graduation. Daniel 'remembers' Lucy from a previous life...in fact from many, many previous lives...but she does not remember him.

It's a cool concept, starting their relationship in ancient civilizations, and then following their connections from life to life, never quite connecting in the right age-level or circumstances. Always close enough that he could be with her, but not close enough that they could be together as a couple. Though the concept is fantasy, the lives are told in very real terms, and the two fall in love in various ways throughout many different centuries and settings.

But then there's the evil older brother Joaquim, who also remembers, and who has made it his purpose through time to hurt Daniel through his infatuation with Lucy.

The story dances through time until modern day, when the three come together a final time to determine their fates.

I very much enjoyed this book, but the ending...not so much. I don't think it can be compared to the Sisterhood books, as it's such a different premise, but Ms. Brashares still writes with a quiet, lyrical style. I loved how the stories mixed and mingled, with different situations each time, but I felt the ending did not suit the intensity of the story.  I hope that's because Ms. Brashares is setting it up for a sequel, but I'm not sure the storyline warrants it. I guess we will all have to wait to find out.

On a scale of Total Keeper (10) to Back to the Library Friends Bookshop Post-Haste (1)?

I give it a 6/10. I'll keep it, but would have liked a better conclusion to what was a fabulous love story through time. 


Brenda

Blog Tour Review: The Samaritan's Pistol

(And A GIVEAWAY!)

Congrats to Eric Bishop on his DEBUT, The Samaritan's Pistol! A Rocky Mountain Thriller published by Jolly Fish Press!

 

I’d like to start by saying I knew NOTHING about this book before opening it to the first page. I almost suggested Eric Bishop visit my blog and do a guest post, but...as I was one of the privileged few to receive an ARC of The Samaritan's Pistol I thought why not? And offered to do a review. The cover suggests some sort of crime novel, and I had seen hints that it had a flavour of a Western. I’m not a big fan of crime novels, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a Western, so I wasn’t all jump up-and-down-y to read it.

But you gotta live a little. Westerns have horses, and I’m a horsey person, so I thought I\d give it a try.

Enter Jim, the ex-military, PTSD-suffering, non-Mormon Wyoming cowboy riding a horse named Sam. What’s not to love about a modern day cowboy just trying to be nice and keep everybody happy? Especially when he’s a sharp-shooter and has a great horse and a brilliant dog? Jim is just a good guy in a bad situation, and he knows how to make it all better again.

The Bad Stuff:  

Not a lot bad to say. I liked The Samaritan’s Pistol right away, and read it pretty-much straight through. There were a few times where I got a bit lost in the dialogue, maybe because I’ve been an East-Coast Canadian pretty much all my life. Sometimes I laughed out loud, and sometimes I just didn’t get it.  Eric skirts around topics that were new to me, like a non-Mormon cowboy picking at Mormon community life. Not sure how I feel about this. Awkward? Uncomfortable? I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to take Jim’s religious leanings, or lack there of. Especially when the bad-guy body count starts to pile up.

The Good Stuff: *spoiler alert*

There are many, many moments in the story I completely related to. I loved it when Duke (the dog) found himself a nice piece of horse hoof to chew on. How many times have I seen my own dog steal away with the same thing after the farrier drove away? And when Brody the farm hand turns all bad-a** and sets up a few bear traps for the bad guys, I wanted to cheer.  Go Brody! Eric really brings the feel of a Western ranch to life. The hard work, the friendly neighbours, the sounds and smells, the ‘we take care of our own’ mentality. And the combination of cowboy, gangster, ex-military stress and religious turmoil make for a solid read.

Although not my usual reading fare, I’d give The Samaritan’s Pistol two thumbs up! Not sure if Mr Bishop has converted me to Westerns but this is a great debut.  Looking forward to seeing what’s next from Eric Bishop!

The Samaritan’s Pistol is available from Amazon, B&N and Goodreads. You can find Eric Bishop on Facebook, Twitter and his Website.  

Also, join in on the draw to have a chance at winning a $15 Amazon Gift Card! Scroll down and see the box at the bottom of the posts!

Mom in the Middle Movies...After Earth

Caution: spoiler alert!

After Earth poster

So last night hubs and I took the kids to a movie. Nothing odd about this, because we see a lot of movies, especially now that the kids are old enough to see movies rated older than 'G'. Last night's adventure was After Earth--a PG sci fi adventure story starring Will Smith and his son Jaden as (surprise!) a father and son team who end up on a scary future Earth with all kinds of man-eating monsters waiting to gobble them up. It was opening night, and the theatre was not full, partially because the Disney extravaganza Epic was opening just down the hall, and partially because of bad reviews.

Anyway, about ten minutes into the movie, I was just happily munching away on my popcorn when my daughter (who is a Lord of the Rings FANATIC and a music maniac) starts up a running commentary on the similarities between this movie and LOTR. Kitai, the son, sets off on a quest and looks like Frodo climbing up a rocky slope. The nasty baboon creatures are like black riders and their chase ends in a river which he crosses to escape. A huge eagle swoops down and takes him off to her nest. Kitai dreams of a beautiful girl (his sister) telling him to wake up. A volcano that looks suspiciously like Mount Doom pops up in the distance... even the background music has a decidedly LOTR flare...with a few bars, according to my hyper-aware daughter, bordering on identical.

These comments were peppered with highly critical discussion on the scientific unlikelihood of the movie...How is it that Kitai and his super cool dad, Cypher were the only survivors when a spaceship crash lands on earth? How could Kitai adjust so fast and take off running in the increased gravity? Even my own medical background kicked in, curious how anyone, even super-cool ranger guys, could survive severe femoral artery damage for more than an hour...let alone a few days.

I'm a person who watches movies for entertainment, and I'll admit, sitting there sipping my huge Coke and getting popcorn stuck between my teeth, I just wanted to get lost in the story line. The comments from my lovely daughter are not a new thing, but it hit me how accurate they were. I actually liked the movie...But even I started to see the LOTR similarities. And the final scenes...well, you'll have to tell me what you think, but perhaps the Smiths could have been more original. The buzz on the movie is that it is based on Scientology teachings but I'm with my daughter. It's like a bad LOTR copycat.

I give it one thumb up and one thumb down.

Brenda