A refreshing take on grief and living with mental illness, IT ISN'T CHEATING IF HE'S DEAD deals with one woman's struggle to come to terms with her fiancé's death. Jemima Stone's fiancé Gerald has been missing for four years. Before his disappearance, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and went off his meds. The novel opens with Detective Finn Wight telling Jem that Gerald has been found murdered in a Montreal dumpster. Jem is a defense lawyer in Calgary, and before he got sick Gerald was researching a cure for cancer. Jem is now left alone to try to piece together why Gerald left and how life goes on without him. She takes his leaving as abandonment and a sign that he didn't love her. Jem struggles with feelings of worthlessness because of Gerald's loss. As the novel progresses, Finn helps Jem learn about Gerald's life, medical history, and the missing four years before his death. By the novel's end, Jem is able to rediscover her sense of self-worth and lay Gerald to rest. IT ISN'T CHEATING IF HE'S DEAD tells the story of Jem's grief over her fiancé Gerald's death and her search for answers. Julie Frayn's novel is a compelling study of mental illness. It asks some hard questions about how we treat the mentally ill. Althea's (Gerald's mother) denial of mental illness destroyed her husband and her son. Yet Jem's acceptance and support weren't enough to hold Gerald. Ms. Frayn rightly points out that we still have no good way to treat illnesses of the mind. She has Gerald tell Jem that the meds are killing him slowly and the disease is killing him quickly and ask how can he live with either? Still, Ms. Frayn does not create a suicidal character. Gerald leaves to continue the fight on his own. This leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the future in spite of Gerald's fate. The use of a third person limited narrator causes the reader's viewpoint to be filtered through Jem's thoughts and feelings. It is an interesting choice to write a book about mental illness from the point of view of those left behind. The only problem is that this is not a romance novel; it is general fiction. While Jem does end up with Finn, that is not the real story being told in this novel. It is instead a brilliant and insightful exploration of grief, loss and living with the mentally ill. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=21781#sthash.ZuFzUuGK.dpuf
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A true Cinderella story, Alanna Lucas' WISH UPON A WALTZ reunites curate's daughter Anastasia and Dante, the Earl of Huntingdon. Anastasia has spent the last eight years as Isabel Albryght's companion. Yet, it is now time for Isabel to have a season and Anna can no longer hide from the society that shunned her so cruelly for her error eight years ago. As Anna learns more about what happened between her and Mr. St. Clair eight years ago, she rediscovers her faith in love and hope for the future.
Jenna's Christmas Wish is a dose of Christmas cheer. Jenna has just lost her mother to cancer and is now alone in the world. As a romance writer, she is invited to an author's retreat where she meets Niccolo. Niccolo is an actor and cover model. Jenna has had a bad experience with handsome men in the past and is wary when Nic seems interested in her. Her friend Chyna tells her Nic is way out of her league and while he might want her for sex, as soon as something better comes along he'll be gone. Jenna decides to trust her heart instead of her head or her friend. JENNA'S CHRISTMAS WISH begins with Jenna wishing to spend Christmas with someone who wants her. Soon after this Nic enters her life and turns it upside down. She ends up New Jersey spending Christmas with Nic and his family. Jenna must decide if Nic is serious about her or if she is just a diversion. Her decision is not helped by the mysterious woman following Nic around and sending him flowers. The story is told almost entirely from Jenna's perspective. The few paragraphs that give Nic's perspective are confusing as they suggest that he is only looking for a fling with Jenna. This view would be fine if the reader were given more of Nic's viewpoint and saw his view of Jenna change as he fell in love with her. However, we are only given this one, brief glimpse into Nic's mind and it appears to confirm all of Jenna's fears about him. Given that Jenna is supposedly so scarred by her relationship with her high school boyfriend that she has never approached a man again, the speed at which her relationship with Nic progresses seems unrealistic. It seems especially odd how easily she shakes off Chyna's negative views of her relationship with Nic even after Nic stands her up for their first "date." If Jenna had less holding her back, her reactions to Nic would make more sense. Still, JENNA'S CHRISTMAS WISH delivers a quick, light read and gives some interesting insight into the world of writing romance novels. If you are looking for some holiday magic this spring, check this out. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=21374#sthash.d4YtL0TE.dpuf
An epic fantasy adventure. Timothy Brennan is a bullied loner who lives with his abusive uncle in New Hampshire. He is bullied at school because he has what has been diagnosed as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) though it sounds more like Tourette’s syndrome. Instead of an inability to sit still the disease causes him to twitch uncontrollably. After a terrible day at school Timothy goes home and begs Uncle Jim for medication. Jim’s cruel refusal sparks another attack which somehow breaks a glass and moves Timothy’s desk. All this plus the previous loss of his mother and the rejection of the girl he idolizes drives Timothy to the edge and he throws himself into the river.
Aenya saves Timothy from the river and nurses him back to health. She is a fairy or Sidhe who has lived alone in the wilderness since the death of her father in the American Civil War. After seeing Timothy heal a bird, she has been watching him, even going so far as to enroll in his school. While Aenya is explaining Timothy’s elven heritage, and trying to talk him into return to school, they are attacked and forced to flee. The story follows Timothy’s journey to Sidhlin. There he learns that he is the first seventh son of a seventh son born since Arthur, as well as a direct descendant of Aylwen. The Elves believe this lineage makes it his destiny to re-found Alfheim. His main opposition is Cadwaladr who wants to re-forge Alfheim in his own image and then go conquer the humans. As Timothy fights Cadwaladr’s forces, who include his uncle, and learns the extent of his own powers he becomes a leader. Gary Nilsen’s Alfheim is reminiscent of genre greats like Tamora Peirce’s Circle of Magic series. Nilsen’s novel hooks the reader on the first line and doesn’t let go. He leaves you waiting in breathless suspense for his next book. Timothy reminds this reader of Merlin from the Young Merlin series. Nilsen blends Arthurian myth with his own world building to create a unique view of the fey. This is an author to expect great things from. Excellent read! Lord Gabriel ab Aedden of Rhyddon is the prince of the Tylwyth Teg. As the novel opens, he has been enchanted for four years by Princess Aneira of the Daoine Sidhe. Aneira has enchanted Gabriel so that he no longer feels except when he is with her. She has done this on the order of her mother, Moire, to strike back at Gabriel's father, King Aedden, for marrying Gabriel's mother, Gwyneth of Pembroke, for love. Love is the only thing that can break the enchantment of the Daoine Sidhe. The advice of Cerdinen, the wise tree of the grove, causes Gabriel to marry. Taryn Hamilton lives at Hamilhawk and has been punished all her life for her mother's sin of leaving her father. Her father, Drayton Hamilton, rains constant abuse on her for her so-called seductive behaviour which can include anything from meeting someone's eyes to receiving unwanted advances. Drayton figures he can kill birds with one stone by marrying her to Gabriel. The alliance will make Rhyddon form a defense pact with Hamilhawk, and he will never have to see Taryn again. Taryn is terrified to be sold to a man whom rumor paints as a demon. She wants only to find the man who visits her in her dreams and rescue him as he asks. Taryn is shocked to discover that they are one and the same. Worse is that he seems to have no memory of the dreams and rides off to war before they are even wed. They are wed by proxy and Gabriel comes to know his bride once he returns. He finds that she is the only one who can bring emotion back into his colourless world. Will it be enough to break Aneira's spell and allow him to go free? The story is told from, not only the perspective of Gabriel and Taryn, but also Gabriel's two brothers, Rhys and Elusen. The reader is given insight into the motives of Aneira and her mother as their views are shared as well. It is difficult to juggle diverse narrators and neither alienate your reader nor lose the thread of your plot. Genevra Thorne pulls it off. She paints a richly detailed world that places the reader right there beside the characters. Best of all, she creates a heroine who grows as an individual because of love, rather than yet another damsel in distress. It is rare to see strong women in a romance novel without a "taming" narrative. The idea that a loving relationship can help a woman find her strength is one whose time has come. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=21303#sthash.EfShoPTd.dpuf
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AuthorElizabeth Ramsay is English tutor and ESL Teacher. Archives
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