5 star review – Page 3 – Jennifer Lane Books

Today for the Insecure Writers Support Group, I’m supporting an author friend from Omnific Publishing.

I love an emotional read, and my pub sister Debra Anastasia has written a story that will make you howl with laughter and tears!

Poughkeepsie is a New Adult story about a psychology graduate student falling in love with a kind, sensitive homeless man. It’s about growing up in a harsh world when love and friendship are the only things to keep you going.

Following my review is an interview with the kooky authoress and a giveaway!

Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Deeply Touching

I’ve been wanting to read this story for some time due to the many elements that appeal to me: healing, redemption, crime, a psychology graduate student character (Livia), a homeless character (Blake), and a story full of emotion. Wow! I got all that and more.

Livia is one of the kindest people around. She smiles at everyone, including the quiet homeless man who frequents the shadows of the Poughkeepsie train station. One morning when some thugs threaten the man Livia’s come to known as “Green Eyes”, Livia stands up for him. Their first words are adorable:

“You might want to find another place to sit,” Livia said. “Those idiots could cook up a plan for revenge.”
Instead of being the friendly advice Livia intended, her words seem to slice into him.
Why is he in such pain?
“I can’t leave.” Green Eyes took a huge breath. “This is the only place where I get to see you.”

I fell for the sensitive soul Blake from the start, especially after learning that he counts each of Livia’s smiles. His foster brother Cole explains:

“He counts. You’ve smiled at him four hundred and forty-six times as of a few minutes ago.”

How cute is that?

Blake might have a chance with Livia because her boyfriend Chris is a total CAD. I mean, he calls psychology “the study of psychos”! Grr.

There are fantastic secondary characters in this novel:

* Livia’s younger sister Kyle. What a potty mouth! Blake says “Pretty sure Kyle lacks any kind of editing mechanism”. Their mother took off shortly after Kyle was born, and Kyle blames herself for not being worthy enough to make their mother stay. Kyle’s low self-worth leads her to promiscuity. But perhaps she can find a love match in one of Blake’s foster bros?

* Cole is Blake’s foster brother who’s studying to be a priest. He has a violent past he’s running from.

* Beckett is a wildly colorful foster brother who aged out of the system before Cole and Blake, determined to pave the road for his brothers by committing all sorts of sins so they wouldn’t have to. He’s pretty much become a crime boss, with a muscled assistant named Mouse. Kyle refers to Beckett as “the human steroid.” He doesn’t believe in following rules, like parking in between the lines:

“I’m telling you, Cole, that’s how it all gets started. The government’s beating us down, and it all begins with those goddamn lines in the parking lot. Set yourself free, my brother. If you see a line, ignore it.

Eve and Mouse were also wonderful characters, along with Livia and Kyle’s police officer father.

The flashbacks to the boys getting beaten by their foster dad, and the intensity between Beckett and Eve made me cry so hard.

There are also so many freaking funny lines in the story, but I won’t share all the off-color words here ha ha. But one chapter title “My Penis Rules the World” gives you a good flavor! And this excerpt when Kyle berates Livia and Blake at a religious ceremony is priceless (naughty language alert!)

“Will you get your asses up here? People are waiting. I mean Beckett here has maybe a few hours before he’s bent over a metal toilet getting it up the ass from a guy named Bubba. Do you want him to have fun now or not?”
The streetlight illuminated Beckett as he appeared next to Kyle. “Why would I be the bitch? I don’t think that’s a fair f*cking assumption.”
Kyle refused to look at him and crossed her arms. “Of course you’d be the bitch. You have dimples. Bitches have dimples. And I bet your ass is soft like two pillows.”

Debra, I love your screwballs sense of humor 😉 And I love even more that your story made me laugh and cry. An EXCELLENT read!

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And now onto the interview!

Jennifer Lane (JL): Welcome to the blog, Debra. Obviously, I loved Poughkeepsie! The drama and humor are wonderful. Where does your whacky sense of humor come from?

Debra Anastasia (DA): I love to laugh and I was raised with a bunch of pranksters. We really tried to laugh our butts off everyday. I hope my kids are able to say the same someday.

JL: Why did you make Livia a psychology graduate student? What would be Livia’s dream job?

DA: I wanted Livia to really have to show her kindness and lack of preconceived notions. And I also wanted her to have a need to help people work through difficult situations. I think her dream job would be working in a shelter, helping people get back on their feet.

JL: Hard question: Which brother would you most like to date? Which brother would you want to marry?

DA: I already married Blake. (Well, he was never homeless, but his manners and beautiful soul is the same.) And I would date Blake as well. Those bad boys can’t always be changed, when I entered something as permanent as marriage, I wanted to know who I was dealing with.

JL: I hear some of your devoted fans actually got tattoos like the one the brothers have (see the book cover). What an amazing tribute! How do you feel about that?

DA: I think it rocks. And they have more guts than I do. I’m glad the story touches them because I certainly wanted it to convey love and loyalty.

~*~

Sound awesome? Debra’s giving away an ebook of Poughkeepsie to a lucky commenter on this post. To enter, leave a comment including your email address before 3-13-13.

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Review: Pushing the Limits

November 1, 2012 Jennifer Lane

With the Goodreads Choice Awards opening, I want to share my review for the book I voted as best Young Adult Fiction–truly one of the best reads of this year for me: Pushing the Limits.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heartbreaking Tale of Healing and Young Love

I love YA issue contemporaries, and this story is the best I’ve read. Thank you to all my GR friends who recommended this story. Yes, Rena…Mrs. Collins rocks!

Echo Emerson used to be the popular girl at her Midwestern high school. Sure, her controlling father and mentally ill mother had divorced, and her older brother had died fighting in Afghanistan, but she was managing okay. Until the night her mother stopped taking her medication for Bipolar Disorder. Echo emerged from that night covered in scars, with absolutely no memory for what happened. She went from popular to freak — withdrawn and scared.

Luckily for Echo, the school hires a new clinical social worker — Mrs. Collins — who meets with selected troubled students for therapy. (Echo doesn’t feel so lucky to meet with Mrs. Collins, but she doesn’t have much choice).

Another student Mrs. Collins targets is Noah Hutchins, the hot, dark boy in cheap clothes and a leather jacket. His backstory slays me. Noah’s parents died in a house fire, forcing him and his much younger brothers into foster care. And foster care hasn’t been pretty for Noah. The system labeled him as dangerous after he hit one abusive foster father, and now he has limited visits with his brothers. Every time Noah interacts with his adorable bros, I bawled. Jacob is eight and little Tyler’s only four.

The door opened and I automatically stood with the gifts still in my hands. Jacob flew through the door and rammed his body into mine. His head reached my stomach now. I tossed the presents on the table, lowered myself to Jacob’s level and wrapped my arms around him. My heart dropped. Man, he’d grown.

The scheming Mrs. Collins knows Echo wants a job and Noah isn’t working up to his potential in school, so she hires Echo to tutor Noah in Calculus and other subjects. They gradually disclose their pain to each other, starting with Noah:

“It doesn’t get better,” I said. “The pain. The wounds scab over and you don’t always feel like a knife is slashing through you. But when you least expect it, the pain flashes to remind you you’ll never be the same.”

Later Noah asks Echo:

“Think Mrs. Collins put the two most depressed people together on purpose?” I flashed a smile to keep the honesty of the statement from corroding the remainder of my heart.
Echo’s hand retreated. “Wow, I thought I was the only person at this school faking every moment.”

When they compare their scars, they reveal their immense insecurity, starting with Echo:

“It’s not the same. You’re strong. You helped people. I…I trusted the wrong person and I go all pathetic and don’t remember a thing. Anyhow, you’re a guy. Scars on guys are, like, sexy. Scars on girls…that’s just…ugly.” And there, I said it — out loud.
His hold on my hand tightened and his eyes darkened into thunderclouds. “F that. There is no shame in trusting your mother. She f’ed up. Not you. As as for that pathetic bullshit — f that too. You are not pathetic. You had the guts to return to school and continue to live your life like nothing happened. Me? I lost it all and flushed anything left of me down the damn toilet. Now that’s pathetic.”

Beautiful! If only Noah could give himself the same compassion. But these two do grow emotionally in the story, and I thought the ending was both happy AND realistic — my favorite.

This story truly moved me and I want to recommend it to everyone I know. I can’t believe this is a debut novel! I can’t freaking wait to read the continuation of Echo and Noah’s journeys.

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And now bounce with Omnific Publishing! Instructions HERE.

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Did I Notice Your Book?

October 16, 2012 Jennifer Lane

Thanks to Ciara Knight and Ninja Alex Cavanaugh for this clever blogfest!

Here are the guidelines:

Post about a book you’ve noticed.

You can choose a book that you’ve read, something you saw on a blog or social media site, Goodreads, or a sales website. Anything that caught your eye because of a great cover, blurb or reviews, but DON’T tell the author that their book has been noticed. Instead, shout out on social media sites, and encourage others to do the same, until the author finds his/her book.

Leave a blog comment at Ninja Captain Alex or Ciara Knight when the author finds their book.

I’ve actually noticed TWO books recently (hopefully that’s not cheating?)

First, I met author Kyra Lennon on the A to Z Blog Challenge in April, when she posted compelling excerpts about a soccer romance (I love sports romances.)

Then I blink and suddenly her debut novel Game On had already been released! How could I have missed it?

That cover bends it like Iniesta!

Naturally I had to get my hands on Kyra’s novel and I loved it. Here’s my 5 star REVIEW.

Just yesterday I noticed another book, this one by my pub sister Alison Oburia. Her romantic suspense (also a favorite genre) Between the Lies launches in one week (10-23-12) and I can’t wait to read it.

Doctoral student Cari Lopez’s academic life is in a rut, but when she comes home to discover a stranger asleep on her doorstep, her personal life becomes immediately more interesting. British accountant Tristan Saunders is a kindred spirit—with a fantastic accent—and there’s a connection kindling, but Cari soon learns he’s made an enemy of the Bulgarian mafia. His trip to the US is far from a vacation.

The enemy is hidden, yet ominously present and always watching. And though they’ve known each other merely a few days, Cari and Tristan are soon on the run for their lives.

Alison Oburia’s layered storytelling reveals a tale of international intrigue and complex relationships, which is distilled to its essence in two hearts. Not everything is as it appears, and people are not who they seem to be. Faced with deception at all angles, Cari must sort out what’s real. If she’s to stay alive—and possibly fall in love, she has to find the truth…between the lies.

Doesn’t that sound great? I’m totally into the Mafia, romance, and suspense.

I look forward to checking out what books YOU have noticed. Have fun today.