Monday Book Review: A Marriage to Fight For
Marriage To Fight For by Raina Lynn Review… Summary: The hero and heroine (Garrett and Maggie) had been married before and they are each other’s only loves. But his work as a police officer, going undercover frequently, was too much for her to take. She divorced him, but remained close with his family. Then Garrett is in a plane crash and seriously injured (resulting in paraplegia). He had been on his way back to tell Maggie that he wants to get remarried. The extent of his injuries put a complication in that plan. The Good: With the cheesy cover and description, I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I’ll admit I actually don’t have very high standards for standard romance novels. I usually don’t like them much, finding them...
Read MoreMonday Book Review: Author Interview
The author of Lover’s Lame, last week’s book review, is here today to answer my questions! Welcome, Robert, and thanks for sharing your story with us…  1)     I have to assume this is fiction, though it reads a lot like a memoir. How would you classify this book? (i.e., romance? literary?) While writing the book, I did several Internet searches looking for novels written by people with disabilities about people with disabilities. I found very few. I do not dare to claim that ‘Lovers Lame’ is The Disability Novel, but one objective is to reclaim fiction about people with disabilities from the non-disabled writer. It’s about asserting our presence, claiming our place in the culture. I’m not a big fan of categories. The book has a good dose...
Read MoreMonday Book Review: Lovers Lame
Lovers Lame by Robert Rudney I am going to be doing an interview with this author. Now that I’ve finished the book I need to ask him the questions! So stay tuned for that in the future. Review… Summary: Dave is born with a disability that affects his ability to use his left side, particularly his arm. He isn’t used to thinking of himself as disabled, however. He focuses on what he can do and doesn’t see himself as part of this “disabled” group. Then he loses his job and ends up helping out at a group called Abilities, which is focused on trying to encourage employers to give people with disabilities a chance. There Dave meets Jessica and falls hard for her. {I’m not sure how I feel about the title. On the one hand...
Read MoreMonday Book Review: Cowboy Down
Cowboy Down by Vanessa Gray Bartal Review… Summary: In typical rom-com fashion, the plot set up is far fetched but fun. Layla, a foster kid just leaving the system, witnesses a murder and is sent into witness protection at a ranch with four brothers (cousins of one of the police officers). She goes from Chicago to Montana and it’s an adjustment, but she loves housekeeping for the four cowboys. She falls for Cade, who has recently been paralyzed in an accident involving a bull. While Layla and Cade fluctuate between enjoying and misunderstanding each other, the murderer is busy tracking her down to eliminate her as a witness. The tone of the book is much lighter than one might expect from a plot involving murder. The Good: There’s a lot of good!...
Read MoreMonday Review: Devoted
Devoted (edited by Lee Nilsen) Review… Summary: This is another anthology that I participated in. In a way it is a sequel to Paradox. It’s another collection of short stories and a novella with new authors and, I personally think, an even higher level of writing than the first collection. I have one story in it, a story which is not available anywhere else. It’s called Faster and it is a more bittersweet story than I usually tell with a main character whose voice is very strong. The Good: It’s hard for me to pick a favorite story from so many interesting ones. I find the richness of the language in the one that takes place in historic Italy beautiful. Diary of an Ugly Girl has been a favorite story of mine since it appeared on the paradevo...
Read MoreMonday Review: Stranger in Town
Stranger in Town by Brenda Novak Review… Summary: A woman with an abusive ex-husband has never experienced real love. The man she falls for is the one that she was responsible for paralyzing. Along with that, a mean guy wants to take the coaching job away from the hero and is going to illegal lengths to accomplish it. The Good: A very proficient, standard romance novel. There’s plenty of plot going on here. The premise is really strong and I definitely felt tense about how things were going to work out. New obstacles were introduced regularly and I was rooting for them to overcome. The story moves well and even the child characters are not annoying or too precious. I really appreciate that there was no “cure plotline.” Matt was not going...
Read MoreProgress Trackers
At proofreaders; available for pre-order
What Is Meant To Be
Second draft
Homework & Homicide (working title)
Second Draft
Book Montage
RFW winner October 7, 2011
