#Lorna Hollifield

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Amanda Reads - May 2017

I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date! Or something, haha. I’ve been traveling SO MUCH this month already, and I haven’t had the chance to sit down and write about all the books I read in May until now. But now I’m here! And I’m about to get started, because there were some GEMS last month! And a couple of DNFs too.

A reminder of the rating scale:

0 dogs petted: DNF. I couldn't get through the book. It's not a good day.

1 dog petted: It was an okay day. I mean, I got to pet a dog. But it could have been better.

2 dogs petted: A solid effort. May recommend.

3 dogs petted: A really good day, tbh. Would recommend willingly to friends and family.

4 or more dogs petted: Best day. Will be recommending to all the people. Pet all the dogs.

Let’s go!

Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield

Today is Tobacco Sun’s launch day! Hurray, and welcome to the world, little book!

This is southern fiction like I’ve never experienced it before, although I should probably admit that I have very little experience with southern fiction. It’s rooted in the relationship between two sisters, but there is also a wonderful relationship between two best friends who have always loved each other. I don’t want to spoil it, but trust me—it’s good stuff. Check it out, and happy book birthday, Lorna!

Rating: 4 dogs petted. It’s not my first choice in genre, but it really delivers in the end.

Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

Ugh. I couldn’t get through this book. I just couldn’t. The premise of the story didn’t make sense to me, and it was too much for me to get past.

So it’s about this high school girl (Delilah) who is running her dad’s diner while he’s away on vacation in Mongolia or something. She’s underwater, but she just keeps it going. Her one best friend doesn’t understand her (in part because Delilah is a lesbian, which is why I thought I’d love this book) and they’re drifting apart, and it’s in large part because she has a new best friend named Charlie. Charlie is the worst. I couldn’t stand him from the very first page. I finally gave up when he stalked this much older woman that he thinks he’s in love with to her parents’ house, and then when her father doesn’t let him in, Charlie punches him in the face.

I  C A N ‘ T.

Rating: 0 dogs petted. DNF at 24%.

River by Shayne Ford

Rock star romance! What a wonderful palate cleanse after the last one.

River is the lead singer of a rock band. He also sleeps with any girl who is willing, basically. But something changes when his childhood friend (whom he believed was gay – she’d been dating a woman for many years) professes her love to him. They have a weekend together before she runs to make up with her girlfriend, and then River is lost. Sort of. He’d already met Layla, an innocent photographer. After having his heart broken, Layla is exactly what he needs.

Okay, so this is just a fun romp. You’re not going to learn rocket science or anything reading it, but I enjoyed the quick distraction. I’ll eventually get around to writing a full review, but things have been a little hectic lately – apologies to the author!

Rating: 2 dogs petted. The story wasn’t bad, but the manuscript could have used a good edit. Errors kept taking me out of the story.

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

THIS BOOK LEFT ME PUDDLED ON THE FLOOR.

Grace is in the summer before her senior year of high school, and all she wants is to get away from her tiny coastal town. When she returns from piano camp, she realizes her mother has moved in with another guy, except this time, it’s her ex-boyfriend’s dad. The ex who humiliated her in front of the entire school by sharing their sexts online. She thinks her summer is going to be miserable. That is, until she meets Eva, who was forced to move to her town after her single mother died. Eva is living with Grace’s best friend Luca, whose mother was Eva’s mother’s best friend. Things with Eva heat up fast—and Grace admits her bisexuality, and Eva has been out for years. It’s a love story like none I’ve ever read, intensified by Eva’s grief and the many issues Grace has with her unstable mother. There were so many things to love that I can’t even name them all. Eva is biracial, and Luca is such a great best friend, and Luca’s mother is just the best. This book was wonderful. Is wonderful. I’ll be reading it again.

Rating: 4+ dogs petted. SO GOOD.

The Football Girl by Thatcher Heldring

It could have been that my expectations were too high when I started this book. I wanted something game-changing about a girl who wants to play football despite what everyone says or thinks. That’s… not what this is.

First of all, Tessa and Caleb are about to start high school. That means that they’re what? Fourteen? The premise of the book is that Tessa wants to play football, but also wants to date Caleb, and he doesn’t think she should play football. I wanted her to learn to be strong and fierce and to do what she wants, no matter what any boy tells her. But hindsight tells me that a) these characters are too young for that type of story, and b) this just wasn’t the book for me.

Rating: 0 dogs petted. DNF at 17%.

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

After the last one, I knew I needed another gem, so I picked up a book that everyone has been talking about—and I was not disappointed.

Jordan Sun is at a fancy arts boarding school in upstate New York, and she’s specializing in theater. Only she’s never been cast in anything, because her voice is too deep for the girl parts. Her Chinese immigrant parents don’t think she should be doing arts stuff in the first place, so she know she has to figure out a way to be successful at her school. So what does she do? She takes her too-deep voice and auditions for an all-boy a capella group… dressed as a boy she named Julian Zhang. And that’s where things start to get complicated.

Rating: 3 dogs petted. This book was so good, and I loved the characters of the guys in the a capella group SO MUCH. My only quibble is in the marketing—they were saying this book was about a person who is gender queer or nonbinary, but that is not at all what Jordan is. She was cross-dressing, plain and simple. So. The book itself was wonderful, but the way it’s being advertised is incredibly misleading and potentially hurtful.

March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

March: Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

I’m putting these two together for ease.

Did I know that a graphic novel trilogy was what I needed to read over Memorial Day weekend? No. But it was. It was exactly what I needed. These books need no introduction. They document the life and tale of John Lewis, one of the most well-known Civil Rights activists in his day, and one of the few who is still alive. The first book starts with his early life on a farm in Alabama and goes through the passing of the Voting Rights Act, detailing all of the terrible and tragic happenings in between. It is so well-told, and the art is out of this world. I didn’t know a lot of it—my education failed me. I learned. I cried. And I felt the need to get out of my chair and DO something.

I felt the need to march.

Rating: 4+ dogs petted. Everyone should be reading these. (I finished the third one in the first few days of June, so that will be coming next month.)

There was May for you! I didn’t get as much read as I intended, but I think I did okay. What was your favorite book that you read in May?

Happy reading!

-A.

[shanannigansthebibliophile]

Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield #Review #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #Suspense #Books

Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield #Review #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #Suspense #Books

Book Review A bit of a change for me, but change is good and so is this book! Tobacco Sun (Release Date: June 13th) The year is 1947. The war is over, Jackie Robinson has just integrated baseball, and Frank Sinatra breezes in over the fuzzy airwaves. A sense of relief is finally sweeping the nation…everywhere except Tobaccoville, North Carolina. Beyond the rural fields that are pregnant with…

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(Belated) ARC Review - Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield

It is rare for me to read a book so outside my realm of normal, but this one was a must-read for me - Lorna is a fellow Pen Name Publishing author and someone I consider a friend of mine on this publishing journey.

Tobacco Sun is Southern fiction, set in the 1940s, and the story goes back and forth between two half-sisters: Jimmi-Lyn and Sydra. Sydra is currently in jail for the murder of her father; Jimmi-Lyn is trying to come to terms with her own emotions, specifically those emotions surrounding her imprisoned sister and her deceased step-father. This is especially complicated because their mother recently died - that was the reason Sydra returned to rural North Carolina in the first place. Sydra is a Hollywood star - she hadn't been back home since she was a teenager. And then there's Vanse, Jimmi-Lyn's childhood best friend, who returned from the war with lasting injuries and PTSD. Both Sydra and Jimmi-Lyn's feelings for Vanse have always been complicated, which is part of this fascinating tangled web of characters and plot that I wasn't expecting and that sucked me in from the start.

3 Things I Loved

Vanse. There weren't as many chapters from Vanse's perspective as there were from Jimmi-Lyn's, Sydra's, or the doctor's, but I enjoyed his voice throughout the book. He has a complicated relationship with these sisters, and that comes through in every single voice. I like how his story ends. It was satisfying. I like satisfying.

Sydra's doctor. This guy. I appreciated that he stood up to his boss/mentor on behalf of Sydra, especially knowing how the story ended. I liked that he continued to try to get the full story, to get under Sydra's skin, rather than just giving up on her. He was a solid character, and his character arc was also satisfying. 

The setting. Ah, North Carolina. I have a very special place in my heart for North Carolina. I spent six months there right after college, in the same area this book takes place, and I could feel it in the text like a living and breathing thing. The setting was almost like another character, and I loved that.

Anything Problematic?

Well. Nothing sticks out to me in my memories of reading. There are discussions of a birthmark on Jimmi-Lyn's face that made me uncomfortable, but that's mostly because the wording was a product of the 1940s. Same thing with Sydra and the fact that she tends to have sex outside of marriage. But it seemed really true to the time period it was set it. 

In terms of personal opinions, I thought the beginning was a little slow. It could be because of the genre, but I had trouble getting into the story. It wasn't until around the halfway point where I was super invested, and then I couldn't put it down.

Rating

A reminder of the rating scale:

Red = DNF, I hated everything

Orange = Ugh, no thank you

Yellow = I mean, I've read worse, but there were problems

Green = This was good, but not something I'd reread

Blue = Oh my gosh, everyone should be reading this book

Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart

This book was so good, but like I said, it started a little slow and the genre wasn't my thing. Because of these two factors put together, I'm going to give Tobacco Sun a GREEN rating. So good. Just not something I'd reread.

This advanced reader copy was provided by Pen Name Publishing in exchange for an honest review. For the purposes of full disclosure, my own debut was published by Pen Name Publishing last month, and Lorna Hollifield is my friend. However, these facts do not affect my opinions about the book.

Have you picked up this book and supported an indie author today? You should. <3

Happy reading!

-A.

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Post-Friday Reads - May 12 (ish), 2017

This week has been B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Sorry about the Friday Reads post that is a day late. AGAIN. I have been reading, I've just been terrible at documenting said reading. Here's where I'm at this weekend!

I finished one book and had one DNF this week. 

It took me a while to read Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield, but it wasn't because it wasn't good. It's a sweeping story in the American South just after World War II, and I was here for it. I was just super busy. But it's great, and I'll be writing a full review just before the release (which is June 13, in case anyone is wondering!). 

Once I finished Tobacco Sun, I dove into a book I have been waiting to read for months - Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough. It had such a cute premise - gay girl trying to figure her life out at the end of high school amongst bullies, etc. But... that's not what I got from it. I DNFed at 24%, after Delilah's friend Charlie punched a stranger in the face who didn't feel like letting Charlie into his house after Charlie had been stalking his daughter all night. Plus, Delilah's dad left her to go exploring around the world, and she's trying to run his diner while she's still in high school??? None of it made any sense, so I put it aside. At least for now. I have so many other books to read that make sense, you know?

So now I'm on to How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake, which is another one I've been waiting and waiting to read. I don't know what has taken me so long.

I haven't started it yet, but I'm hoping I won't be too tired tonight. I ran 9 miles this morning and then a 7-hour shift at my second job. Always moving, always tired. I have to get some writing done this weekend, too!

What are you reading this weekend?

-A.

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Friday Reads - May 5, 2017

Happy Friday! Boy, am I happy that the weekend is upon us. I've hardly gotten any reading done this week! 

This week, I've been reading Tobacco Sun, the debut by fellow Pen Name Publishing author Lorna Hollifield. It's different from what I normally read, but not in a bad way! I would guess that if I hadn't ramped up my running in the last two weeks, I'd be less tired and would be nearly done with it by now, but as it is, I'll likely be reading it for most of the weekend.

Next week I'm all about the contemporary ARCs! Although... all the books have been released now, I just happen to have the ARCs. *hides* Sorry! I got behind!

The docket for next week includes:

Get It Together, Delilah! by Erin Gough

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

I'm super excited about all of these books, and can't wait to dive in!

What are you reading this weekend?

-A.

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The #SummerofRedemption is here! Purchase Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield today: http://thndr.me/2xvn8n

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Friday Reads - April 28, 2017

Oops. I hiatused again without meaning to. My bad. It's been a busy week at my full-time job, and my book launch stuff is starting to ramp up, and my race training is starting to ramp up at the same time. So, sorry, but something had to give this week, and it was the blog. I'll try to reprioritize in the future, so it's sleep that gives, or something like that. (Haha.)

Anyway! Part of it too is that I'm still slogging through Empire of Storms. This book is dense, y'all, and I'm not sure how I've felt about it as a whole. It's supposed to be YA, but there's so much sex in it? It's like it's suffering from second book syndrome (except it's the fifth book?) - trying to build all these elaborate plots and tie them together hurriedly at the end. Anyway. I WANT TO BE DONE WITH THE THRONE OF GLASS WORLD FOR A WHILE. I'm just. My body is ready (to be done with effing Aelin).

So anyway! I'll likely finish that tonight - I'm almost done. Then I'm hoping to fly through The Handmaid's Tale! I've never read it and want to watch the show so bad. I don't know how I've never read it? I've been living under a rock, I guess?

After that, I'm launching right into ARC May! Speaking of...

Reading Themes!

I have SO MANY BOOKS TO READ, and the only way I can find to get through them is to create themed reading months and tackle them in groups. So! May is going to be ARC May, because I'm so behind on reading ARCs after hopping into Backlist April. Anyway! Here's a sample for the next two months:

ARC May

Solo by Lauren E. Rico

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Tobacco Sun by Lorna Hollifield

Chasing Evaline by Leslie Hauser

TriloJune (trilogies, obviously)

The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han (first two books will be rereads)

March graphic novel trilogy by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson

So, you'll see, I have some plans in my future. Right now, I'm thinking I'll do Contemporary July after that, but we'll see. I'll have to have another ARC-athon at some point, because I'll still be behind after May. Oops. Sorry, y'all!

In any case, I've got my reading all planned out! And I'll be back on Monday with April's Amanda Reads. It will be great! I promise!

Happy Reading!

-A.