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Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

May 24, 2011 by

Broken down into sessions with a therapist and told in first person point of view, Still Missing by Chevy Stevens provides just the right amount of mystery and tension as Annie’s ordeal is revealed.  Readers should be prepared for a severely broken character from page one, which becomes apparent from the first word she utters to her therapist.  Annie is angry and still scared, and she struggles to tell her story.  The only comfort she has with her therapist is that she’s set the ground rules, and in this way, she has become similar to her abductor.

The jarring narrative style is perfect for the mystery and terror of this story, and Stevens has deftly created an angry and disillusioned character who feels abandonment down to her core.  Cracking her tough exterior is a slow process for the therapy sessions, and there are moments where readers will want the pace to pick up, but Stevens has set the pace appropriately to lead up to the twist at the end.

“Worse, I’ve become one of them–the whiny, depressing people who have no problem telling you exactly how shitty their end of the stick is.  All delivered in a tone of voice that makes it clear they not only got the wrong end, you got the one that was supposed to be theirs.” (page 29 of ARC)

During a couple of moments in the novel, Annie contends she’s watched enough crime dramas and read enough books to know about the criminal mind — at least in part — but then proceeds to “appease” her abductor as he tries to force himself upon her to protect her friend from him, even though from the beginning it has been obvious that he prefers her to express fear because it arouses him.  This may be a bit nit-picky, but given the set up, readers may find it inconsistent with Annie’s earlier characterization of herself.

Stevens successfully creates a character who is tough to love or even sympathize with as she pushes away everyone in her life, including her devoted boyfriend, especially when all readers see of her relationships are from her point of view.  Why does Luke remain devoted while she’s gone, why does her mother take her in if she’s so callous and drunk all the time, etc.?  The mystery of her kidnapping is revealed slowly throughout the therapy sessions, which move through “present” events more rapidly near the end of the book.  Readers may see the ending coming before it gets there if they’re intuitive and looking for clues along the way, and the final line of the book is very trite.  However, the action and suspense created by Stevens’ narrative style make the journey worthwhile.

Annie in many ways is still missing even after she’s returned home, and she was even partially missing before she was abducted.  Still Missing will provide readers and book clubs with a great deal to discuss about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abduction, rape, and other horrifying events.

About the Today’s Exclusive Online Event:

The paperback release of Still Missing hits stores today, and in honor of that event, BookTrib is holding an online chat and giveaway with the author Chevy Stevens at 3 PM.  In addition to the online chat, the event will include exclusive video from the author and 10 gift bags for the giveaway.  Don’t miss out!

About the Author:

Chevy Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. At open houses, waiting between potential buyers, she spent hours scaring herself with thoughts of horrible things that could happen to her. Her most terrifying scenario, which began with being abducted, was the inspiration for STILL MISSING. After six months Chevy sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book.

Chevy enjoys writing thrillers that allow her to blend her interest in family dynamics with her love of the west coast lifestyle. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s hiking with her husband and dog in the local mountains.  Please also check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, and on Facebook.

 

This is my 21st book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

 

This is my 12th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this since I received a copy from Shelf Awareness.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, reviews, St. Martin's Press, Wish I'd Read That Challenge 2011 Tagged With: ,

Welcome to My First Armchair BEA

May 23, 2011 by

I’ve been to Book Expo America in the past, but this year, I had to opt out and spend time with my newborn daughter, “Wiggles.”  So . . . this is my first Armchair BEA!

I’m taking my experience with this event slowly.  I’ve got an intro post (see this post) and an interview later in the week with another participant, who’s been a lurker of my own blog!  I finally get to find out who one of my lurkers is!  That makes me smile.  I’m hoping more lurkers will start saying hi!

Ok, so me?!  I’m a new mother to a baby girl, “Wiggles,” and I’ve been blogging at Savvy Verse & Wit for nearly 4 years (the blogiversary is next month).  What genres do I read?  Everything!  Ok, not everything . . . no westerns . . . no cheesy romance  . . . no self-help . . . you get the idea.  What’s one of my favorite genres?  POETRY!  If you don’t believe me, check out some of my recent reviews and the Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge I’m hosting this year. Oh, and I’m heading up the voting committee for the Indie Lit Awards in Poetry! (Please submit any 2011 titles for consideration in September, and if you want to add them to my suggestion list, please do.)

Please do feel free to poke around the blog, there’s a handy navigation bar at the top with guest posts, interviews, challenges, memes, etc.  And an easy to use search engine, and of course, the necessary places to link up to the blog or me on social networking and book sites.

What I’m most looking forward to?  The interviews of course.  I just love those, but I’m just taking it one day at a time and poking around.  Maybe I’ll start lurking on some of your blogs.  Better watch out because I’m looking at you! 🙂

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With:

Gaithersburg Book Festival

May 22, 2011 by

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a family-oriented event, with a number of activities for kids of most ages.  From making crafts to enjoying story time with Dr. Seuss, kids were running around and laughing.

The layout of the tents is circuitous, but at least there were enough trees to provide shade.  A number of tents housed sponsors of the event, and some of them had nothing to do with books or reading.  However, this shows that support for reading is still out there among companies.  Members of First Book, the Writers Center (Hi, Kyle!), local authors, local publishers (Hi, Dan of Atticus Books), and more were on hand to discuss their various programs and books.

There were demonstrations, music, and readings, plus workshops.  Unfortunately, I was a bit distracted looking for a bathroom with a changing table for about 15 minutes as the information booth volunteers weren’t that helpful.  We ended up in city hall using a desk — a bit inconvenient.  We did get a chance to check out the book buying tent by Barnes & Noble and the Friends of the Library used book sale, which was mostly kids books — books geared for those reading on their own.  I did learn a little bit about the Reading Tree — Books for Charity and their drive to collect books and recycle them back into the school system and among disadvantaged/needy families in the local area.  What a great cause, and it keeps those used books out of landfills.

One of the most entertaining events in the kids tent was the Unicycle/Recycle lady.  I’ve included a picture of her, but you can check out more photos of her, here (you’ll also see some photos of us and Wiggles).  She had a dog/sidekick named Enzo, which I wondered if he was named after Garth Stein’s Enzo.  They fight against litterbugs together, and the dog does tricks…though not always when he’s supposed to.  It was certainly entertaining, but she was getting shooed off the stage because her program ran over.  We thought she needed an assistant to set up her juggling stuff and various unicycles for her, since that took the longest.

Overall, the event was a small family event that allows kids and parents some time outside on a nice sunny day.  Kids learn new things and enjoy crafts, while parents get to listen to their favorite local and not-so-local authors.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: , ,

Mailbox Monday #128; Library Loot #3

May 22, 2011 by

Mailbox Mondays (click the icon at the right to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch.  This month our host is Mari Reads .  Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.  Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.

Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here’s what I received this week:

 

1.  The Decadent Lovely by Amy Pence, which I received for review from the poet.

 

2. Lagan Love by Peter Murphy, which I received for review in July/August.

3. The Snow Whale by John Minichillo, for review from Atticus Books at the Gaithersburg Book Frestival.

 

4. The Great Lenore by J.M. Torline, for review from Atticus Books at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

Library Loot:

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!


Horoscopes for the Dead

1. Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins

What did you receive in your mailbox?

Filed Under: Library Loot, mailbox monday, meme

98th Virtual Poetry Circle

May 21, 2011 by

Welcome to the 98th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry.  Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

While I’m off enjoying the Gaithersburg Book Festival, I’m going to leave you to discuss the following poem from David Livingstone Clink‘s collection Monster:

The Soldier (page 35)

If he could speak he’d ask for some food, some water, and you’d invite
him in. Taking off his boots and putting his feet up, he’d sip lemonade
with you on the back porch. He’d talk about where he grew up, which
sports he played, and the women he knew. He’d say this place is very
much like the place he grew up in, but the sky seemed bigger in his
hometown. You’d ask if he wanted to stay for the BBQ, and he’d surprise
you by saying yes. He’d eat his fill, wash it down with a few beers. Before
it gets dark he’d say he lost his map. Can you tell me where the enemy
is? he would ask, and you’d point beyond the trees, and he’d thank you
for your hospitality, and he’d be off, walking in the direction of those
trees. But no, the faceless soldier cannot speak, you don’t strike up a
conversation, you don’t invite him in. He passes your house and you
get a sense of relief as you watch him become some distant memory, become
the landscape, the soldier as much a part of the world as that distant
mountain that draws everything in, even the clouds.

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Filed Under: virtual poetry circle Tagged With: ,

Monster by David Livingstone Clink

May 20, 2011 by

Monster by David Livingstone Clink, published by small publisher Tightrope Books, is a collection broken into five parts and is dedicated to those who “dreamed of monsters under the bed.”  What an appropriate dedication, as there is an undercurrent of menace to some of these poems.  Beyond the shapeshifters, the aliens, and the other monsters that go bump in the night, Clink is drawing out the mischief and the darkness within each of us.  While we are human, there is a baser nature beneath the civility that he calls attention to, warning us to remain wary and yet accepting of that nature.

In “Pantoum for a Recent Kill” (page 36), the narrator highlights the need of humanity to categorize even dead bodies, to shape them within a context, providing them meaning even if no meaning exists.  While we want to examine these corpses (whether they are literal or figurative) in great detail and pose them as we see fit, we also shy away from the pleasure of it and of acknowledging this darker desire to get involved on our basest level.  “In putting an end to something braver than us/cut the corpse into small pieces.  Bury it deep/and turn away with relief that this isn’t you.//”  Additionally, readers may notice a slight disdain in the lines chosen by Clink; the narrator seems to be sarcastic about the actions of the denier who “buries it deep.”  Perhaps Clink is discussing the corpses of our past selves or the past selves mentioned throughout history and lore, but no matter which corpses he is referring to, it is clear that he wants to break through the fear of self-examination.

Above Us (page 50)
-after Julia Hartwig’s ‘Above Us’

Running until they are tired, out of space,
boys cast shadows in the dwindling light

of a vast square, the soccer ball bouncing,
ending this day with awe and consolation.

This completes another cycle in dying–
the boys turn home, talk excitedly,

the soccer ball having its own language
that had to be kicked out of it to be heard.

Moving through the parts of the collection, readers will note a progression in the narration from the fantastical to the more concrete, but even in these different poems the undercurrent of menace and darkness continues.  However, the narration changes from a questioning of its existence to a denial of its existence to an acceptance.  From “The Airships Take Us, Even as We Blow Out the Last Candle” (page 27), “The darkness did not come on like a tarantula./It was always here./It is penetrated by man-made machines/muscling into the night,/by two young women on a downtown bus/with blue streaks in their hair, whispering,/Calvary, and, Hosanna.//”

Through playful language and use of creative poetic forms (from pantoum to cross-reading — “Weathered Remains” on page 24 being one of the best cross-reading poems in the collection), Clink will make readers take pause to rethink each line and their own preconceptions about their humanity, while at the same time celebrating what makes us human in the darkness.  Overall, Clink’s use of language and poetic form in Monster creates a surreal malaise that readers will swim in, searching for an exit but enticed to stay to uncover the dark truth about themselves.  A dark truth that is worth knowing so that they can move beyond it to a more mindful life.  Another winner in poetry for the year.

David Clink; Copyright Geoff George

About the Poet:

His first book of poetry was released from Tightrope Books in the Spring of 2008. It is called “Eating Fruit Out of Season.”

David is a member of The League of Canadian Poets.  Check out his Website, Poetry Machine.

 

 

 

This is my 20th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 


This is my 13th book for the Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Read in 2011, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Gaithersburg, MD, Book Festival

May 19, 2011 by

Gaithersburg, Md., has its own book festival once a year, and this is the first time I’ve heard of it.  Thank goodness for Facebook!

The festival happens this Saturday, May 21, and will feature some old favorites like Aviva Goldfarb (with a cooking demonstration) and Sarah Pekkanen.  Check out the list of authors at the festival; here’s the whole list.  Also check out the book signing schedule.

Beyond the panel discussions, there also are free workshops and those you must pay for (and for $10 how can you go wrong?).

From young adult and children’s books to adult fiction and nonfiction, this festival has it all, and there are local authors leading workshops and panel discussions.  What I’m most looking forward to is the Friends of the Library used book sale (naturally) and the poetry readings at the Ogden Nash Coffee House.

What’s the best part?  The festival is free to enter and the parking is free too!

Have you been to the Gaithersburg Book Festival?  What are you waiting for?

Be there on the Gaithersburg City Hall Grounds, Saturday May 21, between 10 am and 6 pm.

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: , ,

National Poetry Month Winners . . .

May 18, 2011 by

It’s time to announce the winners of the National Poetry Month giveaways.

First up is the winner of L.A. and the Dog Years / I Can Be One split-EP by Luke Rathborne.  My husband selected a random winner, #4 Brittany Gale.  Congrats!

The second giveaway was for one book of poetry that I reviewed over the course of April and entrants had a choice of five books:

1. The Poets Laureate Anthology edited by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt
2. City of Regret by Andrew Kozma
3. Bone Key Elegies by Danielle Sellers
4. City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco
5. White Egrets by Derek Walcott

My husband again selected a random winner, #3 avalonne83, who selected City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco

 

Filed Under: giveaway, winners Tagged With: , , ,

The Beach Trees by Karen White

May 17, 2011 by

Karen White always crafts novels that are full of engaging characters and intricate story lines, and The Beach Trees is no exception.  Shifting from the present to the past and between two first person accounts, the novel tells the tale of rebirth and rebuilding.  Set in the South — New Orleans and Biloxi — Julie Holt and Aimee Guidry’s stories are told in tandem and are more entwined than readers first think as a mystery is solved.

From the disappearance of Monica, Aimee’s granddaughter, to the disappearance of Caroline Guidry many years before, White crafts a unique story of family, love, and forgiveness.  Both stories are riveting and filled with mystery, which readers will have to sweep aside the sand to uncover.

“When we got closer to the memorial I could see a curved cement wall with a mosaic wave in the center of it rolling from one end to the other.  At the far end sat a taller wall of black granite, columns of names marching in block letters under the word KATRINA and the date August 29, 2005.  A glass case filled with small objects protruded from the marble wall, its base filled with empty oyster shells.

‘What is this,’ I asked, leaning forward to study the sun-bleached artifacts:  a broken china plate, a ceramic angel, a trophy, a police badge, an American flag folded neatly as if unaware of its position over a pile of rubble.

‘That’s debris found after the hurricane.  . . . ‘” (page 150-1)

New Orleans was plunged into the depths of the ocean by Katrina’s storm surge, and like the city these two families — the Holts and the Guidrys — are unmoored, drifting toward one another in the search for more than just shelter, but for a home and connections.  Aimee’s story unfolds piece-by-piece as she tells it to Julie, who decides to stay in the city and Biloxi to fulfill the dying wish of her friend.  In addition to the haunting images of Katrina’s devastation, White incorporates the more recent toxicity brought on by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which coated numerous miles of coast and created yet another disheartening chapter in the city’s history.  However, like its people, the city continues to rise from the ashes much stronger than before.

The Beach Trees brings to life not only the main characters in the novel, but the southern setting, ensuring that its scars and healing are intertwined with that of White’s characters.  She has created a story of rebirth and perseverance.  Through alternating points of view, White draws connections between Aimee and Julie using emotion and setting in a way that too few authors can accomplish.  With deft hand, she has created an emotionally charged narrative that takes on a life of its own.

About the Author:

Known for award-winning novels such as Learning to Breathe, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 2009 Book of the Year Award finalist The House on Tradd Street, the highly praised The Memory of Water, the four-week SIBA bestseller The Lost Hours, Pieces of the Heart, and her IndieBound national bestseller The Color of Light, Karen has shared her appreciation of the coastal Low country with readers in four of her last six novels.

Italian and French by ancestry, a southerner and a storyteller by birth, Karen has made her home in many different places.  Visit the author at her website, and become a fan on Facebook.

Also check out my reviews of The House on Tradd Street, The Girl on Legare Street, and On Folly Beach.

Check out the other stops on the TLC Book Tour by clicking the image.

Filed Under: fiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2011, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,

Mailbox Monday #127

May 16, 2011 by

Mailbox Mondays (click the icon at the right to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch.  This month our host is Mari Reads .  Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.  Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.

Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here’s what I received this week:

1.  Dreams of Joy by Lisa See from Random House for June review.

2.  Perfectly Untraditional by Sweta Srivastava Vikram for review from the author.

3.  The Bedtime Book for Dogs by Bruce Littlefield for review from Hachette Books in June.

4. My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young for review from Harper Collins in June.

From the library sale:

5. Tis by Frank McCourt

6. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

7. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

8. The Assignation by Joyce Carol Oates

9. Buoyancy and Other Myths by Richard Peabody

What did you receive in your mailbox?

Filed Under: mailbox monday, meme