Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles

In the past few months, I think I have become a little more sensitive to the hurts of the world I read about in books. Suffering, pain and murder didn’t use to upset me the way they do now. Unfortunately, because of this recent sensitivity, I have to be careful what I read to not get that depressed feeling. Especially if in the end, there isn’t a lot of redeeming going on in the story, at least not enough to cheer me up a bit. I hate to say it but Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles was one such novel.

The story is one of Lori Jean, a little girl who dies in the beginning and recounts from heaven her life and events that led to her untimely and very brutal death. Lori Jean’s life wasn’t a so called bed of roses and she went through more hardship in her 10 years than many people do go through their whole life. Her father left when she was 5 and her mother had never been the same since. The only reasonable person in Lori Jean’s life was her grandmother but then she died and the girl’s life went pretty much downhill. Her mother got married to Ray, a man that was an alcoholic, a thief and pretty much as cruel as they come. He would beat up both Lori Jean and her mother and given that the action takes place in a 1950’s rural South, no one cared or wanted to do anything about it. Roseflower Creek is pretty much a recounting of what happened to Lori Jean and why she died when she did. It is also, or maybe more importantly, a portrait of her tenacious spirit and child’s capacity for looking for good and hope despite of the bad cards she was dealt in life.

Ms. Miles penned a very sad book. I’m not sure that it was her intent but that’s how it came out. Lori Jean’s tragic death is not the only one in this story. There is a lot of sorrow and pain and unfairness happening. Almost too much for such a short novel. The worst part of it all was that there really wasn’t anything good happening to counter the bad. I don’t know about you guys, but even while reading the darkest novel, I like to know that there is at least some small happy ending and some sense in the suffering. And I couldn’t find any in Roseflower Creek.

The writing itself however, is really, really good. If you don’t mind any of what I’ve written about the story, you’ll definitely enjoy it. Ms. Miles did a wonderful job with the accent and I could literally hear myself speaking with that charming Georgian drawl while reading. Because, I couldn’t resist the temptation to actually try and read some dialogue aloud. Another great thing about the book were the characters, especially Lori Jean’s and her stepfather Ray’s. I loved Lori Jean with all my heart (maybe that’s why I was so sad when life weren’t good to her) and I hated Ray with as much intensity as I love the girl. I am not an aggressive person but I just wanted to crawl into the story and strangle him myself, that’s how much I despised him. The author showed her true skill here. Despite the small size of the book, the characterization was rich, detailed and a pleasure to follow.

As you can see, Roseflower Creek has a lot of positive going for it: the writing, the characters and especially the life in the ‘50s South. If the sadness and suffering doesn’t bother you all that much, you should definitely reach out for it because Lori jean is one girl you’ll want to meet, you’ll just wish she’d never died.

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I received Roseflower Creek from the publisher for review.

The Hot Box by Zane Giveaway!

To make up for the fact that I rarely write any posts of value at the moment, I decided to have yet another great giveaway.

This time it's The Hot Box by Zane, the courtesy of Atria Books.

The publisher's synopsis:

“Hot Box” is a baseball drill that can be played with three or more players and two to four bases. The players take turns being fielders and runners, ultimately trying to tag the rest of the players out. In The Hot Box, best friends Milena and Lydia are playing the game with Jacour, Yosef, Glenn, and Phil. The only problem: the men do not realize that they are playing. Milena lives a sheltered and dismal existence and has not allowed a man to touch her body in eight years . . . until now. Lydia dreams of getting away from small-town America but, until she can make that happen, she is prepared to do whatever it takes to continue to have her bills paid . . . on time. Good sex always does the trick. Two women. Four men. Two love triangles. Reading has never been this hot because, once again, Zane is taking you outside the box.

Giveaway 411:

1. All you have to do is leave me a comment that you want to be entered along with your email ( if your email is linked to your profile, you don't need to leave me one).

2. It is open internationally.

3. It's open until August 10, 2010 which is also a release date for The Hot Box.

Good luck to you all!!! And thank you for visiting my blog.

The Quickening by Michelle Hoover Giveaway!

As previously promised, I am hosting a giveaway of an ARC of Michelle Hoover's The Quickening, a debut novel that sounds like a really great read.

Publisher's description:

Enidina Current and Mary Morrow live on neighboring farms in the flat, hard country of the upper Midwest during the early 1900s. This hardscrabble life comes easily to some, like Eddie, who has never wanted more than the land she works and the animals she raises on it with her husband, Frank. But for the deeply religious Mary, farming is an awkward living and at odds with her more cosmopolitan inclinations. Still, Mary creates a clean and orderly home life for her stormy husband, Jack, and her sons, while she adapts to the isolation of a rural town through the inspiration of a local preacher. She is the first to befriend Eddie in a relationship that will prove as rugged as the ground they walk on.  Despite having little in common, Eddie and Mary need one another for survival and companionship. But as the Great Depression threatens, the delicate balance of their reliance on one another tips, pitting neighbor against neighbor, exposing the dark secrets they hide from one another, and triggering a series of disquieting events that threaten to unravel not only their friendship but their families as well.

 In this luminous and unforgettable debut, Michelle Hoover explores the polarization of the human soul in times of hardship and the instinctual drive for self-preservation by whatever means necessary. The Quickening stands as a novel of lyrical precision and historical consequence, reflecting the resilience and sacrifices required even now in our modern troubled times.

Giveaway 411:

1. The giveaway is open until Saturday, July 31st.

2. All you have to do is leave me a comment expressing your wish to be entered plus your email (unless your email links to your profile).

3. This giveaway is international so come all and try your luck.

Enjoy!

Good luck and thank you for visiting my blog!

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Make sure to visit Michelle's website and her blog especially. She writes some great stuff about the writing process.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet Giveaway Winner

The giveaway of an ARC of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell ended tonight and I have a winner. With the help of Random.org, the winning comment was number 11 that belonged to:

Amy from

 

My Friend Amy 

!!!!

Congratulations to Amy and thank you all for entering the giveaway! Please make sure to come back tomorrow for another great book giveaway.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.


I'm back to doing horribly again. One book! and not even a respectable size chunkster! I really need to get myself in gear here! And I really need to stop ending my every sentence with an exclamation mark.


Anyway.



Last week I read:

Damaged by Alex Kava. It's a thriller featuring agent Maggie O'Dell, who has been a recurring character in several other Kava's books. I only read one other novel by this author and remember being shocked by the ending and generally loving the book. Unfortunately, this one was a disappointment. I will have a review coming up in the next two weeks, if you want to know more.




Right now I have on my plate:

Still A Suitable Boy, with which I'm struggling. I cannot get into it at all and only managed to read about 40 pages (which is nothing, considering I still have about 1300 more to go).

This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia. I am really enjoying this novel. It's both funny and with substance. Should have it finished in the next day or two.

Black Hills by Dan Simmons - audio book. I will be probably listening to it for a very long time, since I only listen to audio books when driving and I don't drive a lot these days.


I'm hoping to read this week:

The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery and maybe get past 100 pages of A Suitable Boy.

What are you reading this week?