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This is one of my favorite books. It is a book about growth and change and the courage to recognize and face one's own defects. All of this is buried into a very warming story filled with beauty and discovery. It shows how stepping back and viewing a relationship from a different aspect can help to awaken an appreciation of it. It is a good read for a lazy day devoted to self.

This is a lovely story. However, this particular edition has several editing issues. There are multiple printing errors that distract from the reading. I thought by buying from an English publisher, it would be closer to the original text. But the errors are distracting. I recommend the story, but go with an established edition.

The Enchanted April. I love this book. About ladies way ahead of their time - before women's lib had come on the scene. Takes place in a rented villa in Italy for one idyllic month in April - ladies vacationing without their husbands and finding themselves.

While waiting for this to come to dvd in the US, I purchased the book with high hopes. I fell in love with the movie and the book only enhanced that love. Elizabeth Von Arnim brings the beauty of this Italian castle to life in a way that only words can do. The charm and enchantment are palpable. It is easy to get lost in their world so that you can experience it as though you are there with the four women.

Having loved both filmed versions of this story, I came to the book not anticipating any surprises, and in that respect I was correct. What I did get, however, was a more fully-formed understanding of each of the four women who come to San Salvatore. Each has her own quest, and each is surprised in the way that her quest is resolved.

Elizabeth von Arnim can harness language in ways that few other authors are able. She is, for instance, able to display what a walking joke Mr. Wilkins is, while letting him think that he's the very model of an educated man.

I started off loathing both Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester in a way that wasn't true when watching the films. This made their transformations that much more satisfying, in the end.

I'm now interested in reading other books from Elizabeth von Arnim and, even more importantly, visiting the castello where the story is based. She wrote The Enchanted April after her own visit, and it has continued to "enchant" travelers in the many years since the publication of her novel. I can't wait to see the "tub of love" and be surrounded by wistaria myself.

This book is just awesome....one can read it over and over and it has such a simple , sweet ending that you're left satisfied and happy....

the characterization is just apt and there are not to many characters to confuse the readers... the best part is David himself...

this is a must read.. hope u all njoy

My mother told me about this book shortly after I began my studies to become a school teacher. It had been one of her favorite books and she had loved reading it to my older brother and sister when they were children. She tried to find a copy in local book stores but had no luck. My sister, upon hearing about Mama's search, got caught up in the nostalgia and located two copies of the book from the original printing in good condition and had them shipped right away. It turned out to be money very well spent.

David is a most unusually happy, contented, naive, talented and loving boy. Almost everyone tries to change him, but the only one to stay the same is 'Just David'. Not as famous as her great 'Pollyanna' but nothing more perfectly typifies this wonderful author's warm and tender work. Eleonar Porter writes characters that do not exist - but should.

When I was young my mother told me that I was named after the boy in the title of this book. My mother loved this book and wanted her only son to be like its title character, whom she admired greatly. It pleased me to be named after someone who was the subject of a book but, for some reason, I never bothered to ask my mother for details about either the book or its principal character, although she often spoke glowingly about the David for whom I was named. After my mother's death I regretted not having queried her for more details about Just David and its hero whom she so admired. When I found that Just David was available from Amazon.com I immediately ordered a copy and read it as soon as it arrived. To my pleasant surprise I found that I shared my mother's love both for the book and for its hero. I also understood for the first time why my mother had raised me as she had. I won't pretend to have all of the virtues possessed by the hero of this wonderful book, but I believe that I have more virtues than I would have if my mother hadn't used Just David's hero as a template for rearing me. I'm deeply grateful to my mother and to this special book which I recommend highly to others. I'm also grateful that in my career as a NASA scientist I had occasion to edit a book, Heterogeneous Atmospheric Chemistry, which is also available from Amazon.com. Although my mother was not alive when this book was published I like to think that she knows of its existence and is pleased by it.

As the other reviewers, I was given the book, by an aunt, back in the 60's when I was in seventh grade. She said she had been searching for a copy for me to read because she had loved it. I remember doing a book report on it for my 7th grade English class (I got an A)--and it was one book I never forgot. I thought it was out of print & had been looking for it for years at garage sales and used book stores. Now I will have a copy to pass on to my new grandson. It is a special treasure of a book!

Great read with real-life situations. My book club loves novels that give us things to contemplate and discuss. Can't wait until Tribute comes out and I can recommend it!

Donna Albrecht

'Tribute' is awesome so far. I can't wait for the rest of the story to be in print. Even tho a bit sad at first, the author got my attention, so much that I actually began to think of what people might say about me after my death. Please finish this, Graham!

I'm a sucker for down home American characters. Call me old fashion but this is the kind of story I like to read. Even though this story starts with a death, it draws me in with what is good in this life. The characters were believable and the descriptive setting reminds me of many southern small towns. I certainly want to find out what the curve ball is. Is Michael Gavin not what everyone thought he was? Don't leave me hanging.

After reading the first chapter of Tribute, I was quickly reminded of the amazing sense of family and community I had growing up in a small town. Garrison eloquently describes struggles that are easy to relate to - sickness, death, grief and support. The outpour of assistance from the characters was heartwarming...what exactly did this all American small town boy do to leave such a lasting impact? I am eager to find out...

This first chapter of Tribute definitely left me wanting to know more! Graham did a great job of bringing the characters to life. The emotions of Michael's wife and parents felt very real and you could imagine feeling the same grief. I loved the dscription of Talking Creek and the locals that lived there - the volunteer fireman, the assistant principal, and the football coach - it makes you want to move there, especially after the outpouring of support, casseroles and song. But just when it almost seems too much, Graham throws in the "curve ball". Can't wait to read the next chapter....

I'm extremely impressed with the beginning of this story and am only disappointed that I can't read the rest of it right now. If the beginning is any indication, it's going to be one of those books you sit down with and read non-stop from beginning to end.

I don't read a lot of suspense, crime, noir-ish books, so it's hard for me to give this a top rating. They're just not my cup of tea, but I did enjoy this. The writing is very good and the author appears to have a real understanding of the technical issues he writes about. I'm certainly not an authority on explosives, security systems, or web scamming, but his detailed descriptions, for the most part, make enough sense to lend plausibility. I would enjoy some occasional humor (even Sahara dry) to the tone, and perhaps that comes later in the book.

There are a couple parts in this excerpt that raise questions in my mind, but those are very minor to the story. The character, as developed through the description of his business practices and vague references to his past, is intriguing. What makes me most eager to read the whole novel, though, is the description of the plot in the editorial reviews. The competing motivations of the protagonist and the central mystery to solve seem unique and very interesting. Couple that with the opportunity to expose Jonah's humanity both through the action in the present and flashbacks to his past, and you've got the recipe for a successful series of books.

Journeyman by E. Web rides along with Jonah McGhee (incognito) as he meets with some Klansmen to supply them with smuggled weapons. Before long we see that Jonah is doubled crossed, but then he double crosses them. This opening scene is a well written and engaging depiction of Jonah as a suave character.

As the excerpt continues we follow Jonah home to his compound and get the grand tour. We're introduced to Argus and the state of the art computer enterprise he runs as his legitimate career cover.

While I did enjoy the details and learned a fair bit about Jonah as a person, I couldn't see any extra added value to the length of this section. By this I mean, until the end when we he says 'I'm a smuggler' and hear about the lawyer, his Georgia connection and his hand, the section felt a bit gratuitous in description without tie-in for the progression of the plot. This wasn't really all that bothersome, but as I reached the latter portion I realized that tie-in felt missing in the middle section.

Overall a very compelling read with a character that the reader can be interested in listening to. Jonah demonstrates a level of moral fortitude (no drugs and nothing alive) that makes him come across as empathetic criminal, which is great for the readers who like to imagine themselves in the story.

Jonah's got some tales to tell and this excerpt opens up with some serious action. He's a smuggler and he's making an arms deal with white supremacists.

Or, so it seems....

Jonah's got tricks up his sleeves, tucked in his boots, and just about everywhere else. He's made a living as a smuggler--and we're not talking the hard-up junkie kind, either. He's in business--serious business.

He's also a spammer. That's his legit cover for the IRS. We get an interesting overview of how that works.

He's also got some demons and secrets. The last lines of the excerpt tell about a mangled right hand he covers with a glove:

"Of how people tried to burn the demons out of themselves by taking it out on others. It had been a failed exorcism, attempted by the people who had brought me into this toilet bowl of a planet."

And he's got a legit business offer from an attorney who's pulled him out of a jam.

Eric Webb's got a testosterone filled thrill ride going here and it's well worth a read. Jonah's a multi-layered antihero with an ethic and--I suspect, surprising heart. "Journeyman" is a book I'd grab and probably finish in one session. Read the excerpt, it's well worth the trip.

This book opens with a wonderfully tight, suspenseful encounter between a smuggler and some seedy customers. It's vintage thriller stuff and it's really well done. The rest of this excerpt shows us the life and climes of a criminal who's being good at what he does and staying lucky as he does it.
I expect from this excerpt that the rest of the book will be heart-in-the-mouth action packed with a hero who's very smart and maybe even interesting.

The prose has more than its share of cliches and the narrator is sometimes so self-serious that you could laugh, but these are minor flaws in this genre.

Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine andbang BANG: A Novel

Celeste is about to undertake an intriguing adventure. I'm also curious about Margaret McCade. Who is she and why did she choose not to connect with Celeste while she was alive? Did she harbor some secret about Celeste's parents that she didn't want to explain? Very creative writing and an interesting plot full of suspense. This is going to be a good read.

The excerpt from Julia Weller's, THE LADIES HELL FIRE CLUB, grabbed my interest right away and the end of chapter two left me wishing for more.
The characters were "comfortable" without being boring and it was easy to care about what was going to happen to the main character, Celeste.
Celeste knows her own mind and although she is a small-town girl she seems neither naive nor retiring. We know that she does not mind asking other people for advice, as she does with her older friend, her employer Emily, but she is also independent. When she gets the mysterious letter in the mail telling her about an inheritance from a relative she never knew existed, we know that Celeste is in for a great adventure to New York and I for one am eager to go along for the ride.

Reading the first two chapters felt like eating potato chips, I couldn't stop and wanted more! I could hear, see, smell everything in Celeste's world. Not many writers can pull that off. Julia Weller is one of them. Celeste is a character I'm in step with, and I am eager to join her on her journey to the Big Apple where the mystery unfolds for both of us.

From page one, we love our protagonist, Celeste. She's been through hardships and heartbreak, and we're pulling for her to feel better. Yet, she's a thoughtful and caring young woman, not hardened by how life has treated her. Her stroke of luck -- an unexpected inheritance -- is cheering, and the mystery behind it draws on my protectiveness. Celeste seems like one of those exotic Japanese pears that cannot be displayed in the produce section without a cushioning basket of plastic. I don't want her to get hurt on this big adventure.

Julia Weller's supporting characters are well defined and all seem important to the story's progress. I lookd forward to the plot complexities that the author's synopsis and these two chapters promise. Somehow I'm sure Celeste will come out fine, and I look forward to seeing how she grows along the way. The book should be a satisfying read.

Celeste is just the greatest character - full of emotion but not silly or sentimental. She's courageous and smart, cautious and willing to take a chance. Julia Weller says so much about this character with short descriptive phrases. I am looking forward to reading the whole novel and passing it along to my adolescent grandchildren.

Ms. Palmer paints a visual masterpiece of love, loss and revitalization. From the onset I was drawn to the solid imagery and heartfelt rendition of "True" love. Would love to see this work expanded. The Letters sparked my interest in getting to know Edward and Marie better. Great story.

Marie lost her beloved husband Edward and is terribly sad because she misses him so much. While searching through Edward's things, she comes upon a chest under his desk. Opening the trunk, she finds letters Edward had written to her over the years but had never given to her. As Marie reads the letters, her life with Edward rushes back to her; the joy and love of this man. The letters are accompanied by paranormal happenings, including the sensation of the presence of Edward. As she sits with the letters scattered about her feet, she knows he is with her always.

THE LETTERS is a well-written short story by Pittershawn Palmer. Her descriptions are so good, it is as if you are there with Marie, suffering her sorrow as well as rejoicing in her happiness. It is an uplifting story about love and loss, sorrow and joy, and above all else, hope. It is a story anyone who has ever lost a loved one can relate to and appreciate.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Reading "The Letters" is somewhat like standing in the middle of a tug of war between bitter weeping sorrow and sweet triumphant Love. The very balanced sense of Love as a haunting from the past and as a healing comfort for the present is exquisitely sublime. What makes this story a small masterpiece, I believe, is the pulse of regret and joy that throbs and glows through every meaningful detail. Pittershawn Palmer is a truly notable talent who has provided readers with a memorably brilliant work of short fiction.

Aberjhani
author of The Harlem Renaissance Way Down South
and ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Can our past somehow awaken the present, so that we can traverse a future that we can not now imagine, because of the death of a loved one? How can I or anyone comprehend the abyss that the soul must seek out in trying to find meaning, when love ones transcends the now into the realm of the everlasting eternity of the grave. Marie like others who have had to experience the pain and cacophony of voices, asking why and what has her union meant, with the man she so admired, for his devotion to what he consider as the Goddess(Good) of his entire being.
Heavenly, Godlike, supremely good and Devine, adjectives that now can only accurately describe a dream of the man she knew as Edward. In Pittershawn's box of letters Marie comes to understand how Edward's devotion and love can never die in her heart because of these letters. Marie has found out even in death Edward has found a way to envelop her into a spiritual embrace that strengthen her for the tomorrows. One has to ask, why and how did this wonderful writer Pittershawn Palmer come up with this ideal of these letters? Could they possible suggest past memories in a previous life with someone who meant so much to Pittershawn? Could she be tapping into the genetic collective to resolve the love story asking to be told? Mental transmutation or psychic science which even today is perplexing the psychologist speaks to the inquiring mind that endeavors to read these letters. Pittershawn left me wanting more of these letters, letters that Sade describes in her song as "No Ordinary Love." Reading these letters by Ms. Palmer, I wanted to become a psychoanalyst prying more words from her pen. I could then know more of the love, hurt and redemption of Marie's heart because Edward's soul has found a way to extend a love that has never died. In the end curiosity killed this black cat because of Pittershawn's box of letters. Letters this brother can not wait to open.

[...]

Pittershawn Palmer's elegant short story gives the reader a rare and wonderful journey with a true literary writer. Why have I not read her work before, I asked myself as I read her deeply moving tribute, her extraordinary expression of loss. Ms. Palmer uses the English language as if she owns it, and perhaps she does, for her words are at once paintings, shadows, sunlight and stinging arrows. Some of her phrases jumped out at me, and I still remember them. Writing at its best. Gwynne Forster

Ah, the era of working until your fingers were bleeding, until your bank account felt fuller than ever before, until your life was so uni-dimensional that you wondered how you ever spent your free time, and when you were at risk of losing your soul... . Not that anyone truly longs for the back-in-the-day Boom, but there was a certain creative furvor. Post-crash, we're all glad to have our lives back.

Farzana Khan is skilled at narrating the inner world of the main character as well as providing insightful observation on the world around her. She wisely and succinctly gives a voice to the journey so many of us are on these strange days.

Wonderful, tight, confessional-style writing with a dash of acerbic wit and characterizations one can identify with. Farzhana's story really embodied a specific period of my life during which I faced similar questions that Meghan faced, and a spiritual disconnect, which she captured perfectly. The narrative and nuances of the setting drew me in as it recalled my own existential dot com crisis and experiences in the city--I would love to spend more time with Meghan!

Loved Farzana's raw rants about life. They bring to bear the jarring nature of our human existence and the relentless questioning that bombards our everyday thoughts. We all struggle to understand why we are here and what we're doing on this planet. Even more so, we try to convince ourselves that the grass is greener over here or over there - anywhere but where we are at that moment. And so, we spend our time running through life, trying to shake off boredom, complacency, and the daily doldrums. What I so appreciate, is that Farzana is able to capture it all - the frenetic questioning, turbo life pace, her angst and observations, as well as the snapshots, details and beauty of her life experience. The imagery is rich and overwhelming. Her search for peace and purpose is inspirational.

Every generation looks to have its voice recognized, spoken and then collectively digested. Kahn's book makes it accessible for thousands to read this, feel the familiarity of seeking meaning for their lives in a disjointed era - one where technology, a tech business boom and all ultimately does not define us as the seeking of spirituality does. A journey captures the hearts of many - as this does and you feel the pain and sometimes banality of life as it is. This is not a fantasy beach book - but rather a find yourself and wishing you had the courage to live a life led by your dreams. This always rips through a swath of our culture and fuels a collective fever over a book. Well - here is the next one for our generation.

Arthur Puskis is an awkward man, whose whole life revolves around the Vaults, where he works. This immense hall of records keeps track of the City's residents, and sits in a subbasement of a City government building. No one but Puskis and a courier ever enters. Puskis prefers order, so when he finds two copies - imperfect copies - of the same file, he is distressed. It worries him even more when his superior refuses to acknowledge a problem, then demands that he leave town for a week. Suspicious, Arthur begins his own quest to find the person mentioned in the file.

Although the story is written in a very easy and straight-forward manner, it manages to evoke a tone which makes it plain that something strange is going on. It's subtle, but absolutely compelling. So many questions are raised in this excerpt, that I want to keep reading just to find out what exactly is going on.

This story's strength lies in the suspenseful mood it builds up, but the characters are well drawn and the writing is not brilliant, but very good. It's an intriguing story that pulled me in even though I'm not big on sci fi/gangster books.

"The Vaults" takes place in 1930s New York City, where Arthur Puskis is a stooped, bespectacled Archivist of the police department's criminal records repository, dubbed The Vaults. His knowledge of the arcane filing system allows him to catalog and retrieve files from the vast archives. While pulling some files at Headquarters' request one day, Arthur discovers that a convicted murderer, a Mr. Lyman DeGraffenreid, has two files, one apparently created several years after the other. Puzzled and disturbed by discrepancies in the records, Arthur takes the matter to the Chief of Police, who orders him to take a week's vacation.

These first pages paint a picture of Arthur's circumscribed life. He's a methodical man whose limited world encompasses The Vaults, Headquarters, his home, and a grocery store, all within 4 blocks of one another. Now something has made him uncomfortable: one of the DeGraffenreid files is a forgery, and the mug shots are of different men. This strange discovery and his compulsory vacation motivate Arthur to break from his routine and investigate the mystery. The care Arthur takes with his files, his understanding of every nuance of the documents themselves, reveal much about the man and focuses the readers' attention on the object of Arthur's curiosity.

Chapter 2 concerns Ethan Cain, a private investigator who snaps an embarrassing photo of a prominent citizen, perhaps with blackmail in mind. I don't know where Cain's story is going, but it doesn't start as strongly as the chapters about Arthur. His recollections of college football fixing are a little tedious. But Toby Ball gives the reader a nice physical sense of his characters, and there is an exoticism in those miles of files in The Vaults that might house some devastating secrets. "The Vaults" takes us to a little dark corner of the past and finds a mystery lurking.

The Vaults by T. Ball opens with a tightly written and constructed foundation for the mystery at large.

Socially isolated and work focused Arthur Puskis is the director of the Vaults. Tucked away in the basement of City Hall most every day, Arthur has deviated little from his work-life pattern for nearly three decades. So when this meticulous man comes across a duplicated file in his system, a mystery is afoot.

Mix into this Ethan Cain (PI? Union activist?) who is on the trail of some blackmail goods. He follows his mark to seedy dive in the Hollows where he snaps the shots he'll use as leverage in the next day's strike.

Back to Mr. Puskis as he intends to use his mandatory vacation to investigate the duplication in his Vaults.

The author did a brilliant job of setting the mood for this story. Enough of Puskis and Cain were shown while doing what they do that one has a clear sense of what an odd-coupling (if they join forces at some point) they will make. The premise of the story itself, with the notion that some innocuous mistake is about to blow the top off of organized crime and its 'official' connections, truly reels the reader in.

Following suit with what has been demonstrated here, this suspense-mystery will undoubtedly find wide popularity amongst readers. Well done.

Arthur Puskis is perhaps the ultimate nerd hero. He's been an archivist in the Vaults for the past 27 years. He can tell the age of paper at a glance, so when he finds a set of duplicate files with differing photographs on a convicted criminal named Lyman DeGraffenreid, he knows something is wrong. He reports this to the Chief of Police and is told to take a week's vacation. He decides to investigate this himself.

This looks like a dynamite of a mystery. This author has a knack for creating memorable characters from the fussy, stooped archivist to colorful gangsters and crooks. Just one quibble, the exact date of Arthur's discovery of the duplicate files is not stated, but one file is supposed to be eight years old and the forged duplicate is only five. Both supposedly bear the same Social Security Number. That's awkward timing since the Social Security Act was passed in 1935 and the first Social Security Number was issued around November 1936. However, this is a fixable historical boo-boo.

I loved the opening description of the Vaults and the bit about the archivist who is the only living person to understand how they are organized. The description is vivid enough to give me an excellent idea of what these vaults are like, without being overbearing in description.

The duplicate file, a strange situation for Puskis but one that should have been deadly boring to the readers, is actually tense and intriguing, due to Puskis' understated but baffled reaction.

I liked the conversation between Puskis and the Chief, especially Puskis' frustration that the Chief doesn't understand the significance of the duplicate file.

I don't know if Puskis is a great character to carry an important part of this story, though. His work is literally everything to him, to the point that he is uncomfortable out in the open air and he hasn't taken a vacation in eighteen years. As a man with nearly no contact with the outside world, it doesn't seem like he would have much of a personality or much complexity that would make his journey interesting.

Cain seems like an intriguing character, although I don't know how I feel about the long description of his college football disgrace while he waits in the restaurant. I would have liked to have seen this information later, when I'm not waiting in suspense to see who he is waiting for and could give the football details my full attention.

I liked the buildup to Cain's encounter with his mark and the unexpected reason Cain was chasing after this man.

I do like where this excerpt is going; I think it will turn into an exciting and entertaining story. I would like to see the characters tightened up a bit, though, so Puskis has more seeds of a personality and Cain is presented in a more straightforward way, with his backstory saved for a less intense moment. I would look forward to reading more of this story.

I like the opening dream in this excerpt. It is vivid and fast-paced and includes signals to the reader of who this narrator is and what her cultural background is.

Meena's description of her relationship with her sister is nicely done, especially as the details of her appearance are included in this scene, and more details about her culture.

I liked the flashback to Meena discovering the photo album in her parents' closet, and the shocking pictures of her father in his coffin. Her childish curiousity is easy to believe, as is her horror when she sees the pictures.

Meena's desire to be a normal kid, hanging out with friends and talking to boys, was also realistic. I liked the glimpse of her discomfort at her situation and her desire to be out from under her mother's thumb.

The scene of the mourning guests was well described, exhibiting the attitudes of Meena's mother about her long-dead husband and the attitudes of the guests toward a widowed woman unlucky enough to end up with six daughters. Meena's description in the next scene of her school experience was depressing; I was surprised a girl who had been harassed since kindergarten wasn't more beaten down than she was at this point.

I really liked this story's immersion into the Indian culture, and the way it highlighted the thoughts and feelings of a teenager pushed by her family in one direction, while trying to fit in with those her own age at school. I'd like to read more about Meena's search for self.

The story of Meena, a teenage Indo-Canadian growing up in the shadow of her father's untimely death, is that of a young woman suffocating in her prescribed role of perpetual mourning, but finding contemporary North American culture as uncomfortable as her salwar kameez. Whether her heroine is defending ungrateful "ethnics" at her high-school, or chafing under cultural prejudices that alternately confine and ignore her, Basran's prose is lively, beautiful and painfully convincing. But it's not just about the immigrant experience, or the Desi immigrant experience. It's also a story of alienation, self-discovery and loss--in short, a story for anyone who has survived childhood. This glimpse left me wanting more.

Basran's novel poetically weaves together the strands of past and present, modernity and heritage, and two cultures in order to provide an authentic look into the life of Meena, a young Indian immigrant girl. Basran's writing flows seamlessly and never feels forced. All descriptions, and flashbacks to the past have a definite purpose in developing the characters as well as propelling the story forward. The novel seems to promise to be an enchanting read. The end of the excerpt left me wanting to read more and more.

This very descriptive coming of age story immerses us in the life of Meena, her still grieving after 16 years mother, and their traditional Indian culture. I loved learning about some of the Indian tradtions, as I am always fascinated by how other traditional cultures live in a modern society.

Meena seems determined to shake off some of her family's customs and forge her own path in life. This may not be as easy as she may like as it seems she must defy her family, struggle through intolerance, and embrace the future instead of dwelling on the past as she has been taught.

The writing is meticulous, the plot clear, and the characters well developed and authentic.

The only thing I had trouble with was the lack of dialogue. Or maybe not so much lack of dialogue as the over preponderance of narrative. Meena internalizes often, almost to a fault, and I found myself losing interest in spots.

All in all, this is a nice coming of age story, with some interesting and original characters, and I'm interested to find out if Meena's path to self discovery will land her embracing her culture or rejecting it.

Meena's teenage a Sikh girl growing up in Vancouver, Canada. Her father died 16 years ago and her Mom is doing her best to raise the family traditionally. Meena's caught between tradition and making her own life choices.

"The past is the only thing that matters, because it is the only thing we know."

The writing here is beautiful. The voice is spiced with Chai and curry and just exquisite. This is a great coming of age tale and one I think that will work as both womens fiction and young adult.

Best of luck to Gurjinder Basran on her ABNA Top 100 award.

Giving Shelter is a story about the realities of war, as seen through the eyes of a Marine who has been on the front lines. It offers a compelling look at what it means to be a soldier in a much-debated war.

Michael P. Gilbert writes with such authority that the book's details ring absolutely true. His descriptions paint a vivid picture of war-torn Iraq; I felt as if it was me out there sweating in the desert heat, my heart pounding with fear. Gilbert also knows how to write solid action scenes and realistic dialogue. Thus, the story is already gripping, despite the fact that an actual plot has yet to emerge.

Giving Shelter is not for the feint of heart - it's honest and angry, so the language and details are unsparing. For this reason alone, I wouldn't finish reading it, but I'm sure fans of war fiction will devour it completely.

This was a very well written view of the war in Iraq. Disturbing, yet utterly true.

Knowing someone who has been to Iraq twice now, I can say the author does a great job in describing the emotions and experiences faced by our troops.

The writing is clear, crisp, and at times very poetic. The characters are well drawn.

I really enjoyed this piece and look forward to reading the rest when it's published.

I hesitated to read Michael P. Gilbert's Giving Shelter because of this comment in an official review: "It is as one would expect a soldier's journal to be, somewhat vulgar, short sentences, cynical asides, verbal middle finger to the higher-ups. Is that enough for a novel? There is too much of the real soldier's journal here to be a convincing novel."

With respect, I completely disagree with this comment. Gilbert's writing is beautiful! Like the waves he describes in the opening scene the sentences rise and fall with a comforting rhythm. Sometimes they are long and full of intelligent and wonderful words. Then they are short and philosophical. And then suddenly they come at you like bullets - full of curses and exclamation points. This is writing that evokes the action of the scene.

As a fellow top 100 semi-finalist I can say without reservation that if Gilbert's manuscript is consistent with this excerpt it deserves to go even further in this competition.

He says the worst part of war is waiting...waiting packed in a trac like sardines, smelling each other, but grateful for the padding of the other people because it prevented bumping around...

And--what was the war really about? They didn't find the weapons of mass destruction that sent them into Iraq. And he's angry about that--angry because bad intelligence cost soldiers' lives:

"But what really ### me off was that every one of us had to hump extra gear because they got it wrong. Had to wear layers of protective clothing and sweat more, and in that ### desert more than a few of us went down as heat casualties because of it."

What the war was really about--for him, and for others in his platoon was 'giving shelter':

"The men from that village walked into the night for one reason, for shelter. That's right, it's that simple. Shelter. Not their own, they were like you-unselfish-but shelter for the ones they loved...."

He and the Marines in his platoon fought for the Iraqis shelter and for that of the American people as well. A good sound reason and one the whole Marine platoon could call out a healthy "OORAH" when their CO gave them the pep talk.

Yes, this is a fictional account, but Michael P. Gilbert really does have a Marine voice down solid. His guy's a decent person, the kind of person who'd lay his life down to 'give shelter' for strangers and for the people he cared about, too.

The excerpt is well-written and well worth a read. The only nit this reviewer could pick is sound 'bytes'. Congratulations to Mr. Gilbert on his ABNA Top 100 and I wish him much success with his future.

....and sometimes it's just miles and miles of sand.

This excerpt tells the story of a surfer dude who joins the Marines, survives boot camp, and then gets sent to Iraq via Kuwait.

The rather irreverent Marine shares his experiences of wearing ill-advised, ill-fitting, heavy and ugly protective clothing while dodging snipers and making like a sardine in the cast-iron interior of their transport vehicles.

From rousing speeches to invisible weapons of mass destruction, this story, although fictional, feels real enough for the sand to seep through the pages.

I'd be very interested in seeing how this one ends. Rated: 4.5 stars

Note: This review is based on the excerpt submitted for the Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award, and awarded a place in the Top 100.



Amanda Richards, February 19, 2008