Review: Gods of Howl Mountain (by Taylor Brown)

My Rating: 3 stars

This book is a hard one to rate.  Based on literary merit alone, I would say this one deserves at least 4 stars for its incredibly atmospheric, descriptive writing that made me feel like, from the very first paragraph, I was being transported deep into the mountains of 1950s North Carolina, into the world inhabited by a one-legged whiskey runner named Rory and his feisty folk-healer grandmother Maybelline (Granny May).   Throughout the story, there was a generous amount of vivid description that often spanned several paragraphs, at times even several pages, of everything from the smallest minutiae to major plot points and character developments.   I always appreciate descriptive writing, especially the kind that is immersive and makes the reader feel as though we are right there beside the characters, feeling what they are feeling, experiencing what they are experiencing – indeed, the writing here was gorgeous, even lyrical in places, and as I don’t read Southern fiction very often, plus I grew up on the West Coast in a big city, the many lush descriptions of the countryside and mountain region really helped establish time and place and put the entire story into perspective for me.

With that said however, this was not an easy read by any means -- even though I loved the writing, I found myself struggling through much of the story.  The lyrical nature of the prose coupled with the descriptiveness already made this a challenging read in that there were parts where it was nearly impossible to understand what was going on without re-reading passages and then taking the time to absorb what I had just read.  I’ve never been a fast reader, but for this one, I felt like I had to slow down my reading by several notches, which wouldn’t normally be too big of an issue except that in this case, I wasn’t particularly keen on the subject matter of the book.  This was a dark, gritty, violent story that revolved around whiskey, bootlegging, and auto-racing (though on a deeper level it was also about love, revenge, buried secrets, loyalty, family, the long term effects of war, etc.) – this type of subject matter I’m not generally interested in, so at some point, especially in the second half of the book, I started to lose patience with the overly descriptive style (or perhaps it was exhaustion from how laborious this felt to read) and so I found myself skimming quite a bit near the end.

In terms of the characters – I actually did like most of the characters in this and for me, Rory and Granny May were two of the most complex and well-developed characters I’ve encountered in a while in a work of fiction.  However, I still found it difficult to connect with these characters as well as everyone else in the story – the emotional element was mostly lacking for me.

Overall, I would say that I did like parts of this one, but as a whole, this book probably wasn’t for me.  I’m still willing to give this author’s other books a try though, as I truly do like his writing style – perhaps with different subject matter, I may be able to connect with the story more next time.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: How to Walk Away (by Katherine Center)

 My Rating:  3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book.  While I can’t say I didn’t enjoy reading this (I actually enjoyed alot of it, very much so in fact!), there was something about the way the story was written that made it difficult for me to connect with the story and its characters as much as I think I was supposed to.  Don’t get me wrong – I did like majority of the characters, of course some more than others.  Margaret’s sister Kitty, for example, was one of my favorite characters – I loved her personality and how unconventional she was, yet she was there for her sister when she needed her the most.  Unlike most of the readers out there who were probably more touched by the special relationship that Margaret and Ian shared, I actually found the sisterly bond between Margaret and Kitty to be the most moving and also the part of the story that I enjoyed most.  Perhaps it is because I am a generally cynical person and so a “fairytale romance” like the one Margaret and Ian had in the story just didn’t feel realistic to me (the ending didn’t help either with the way it was so neatly packaged in shiny wrapping paper with the most beautiful bow on top).  The relationship that Margaret had with her sister Kitty on the other hand, did feel realistic and the way they interacted – constantly bickering on the outside yet showing through their actions how much they actually loved and cared about each other on the inside – felt more genuine than all of the romantic relationships within the story.  Aside from Kitty, I felt that most of the other characters were a bit stereotypical (yes, including Margaret, who was at the center of the story), yet despite that, at the end of the day, I couldn’t help liking these characters even though I didn’t connect as much with them on an emotional level as I typically would have.

In terms of the story itself, I actually found the plot a bit too contrived and predictable, with too many coincidences and in some sections, it felt like too much drama was created unnecessarily – by the end especially, it felt like the author was trying to pile as much drama on as possible, which, to me at least, had the unintended effect of causing confusion and contradiction with some of the plot points.  There are some books out there that are written expressly to convey a particular message and to me, this book felt like it fell into that category, as the message that was being conveyed through the story – a message about hope, resilience, love, courage, etc. -- seemed to matter way more than the actual plot and maybe even the story itself.  Perhaps this is why, despite the fact that I felt the story was a bit cliched, the plot a bit too predictable, and some (not all) of the characters were somewhat stereotypical, I still found myself drawn to the story and not wanting to pull myself away.  Indeed, this was a quick read, one that I was able to plow right through in more or less two days.

Basically, I would say that I liked the story overall as well as the characters (most of them at least), but unfortunately was not keen on the execution.  While it’s true that from the getgo, I had some understanding that this book would be a relatively lighthearted, “feel good,” uplifting read and I guess from that perspective, this book did its job and then some – though to be honest, I felt the author went a little “too light” in some places that perhaps should have been more serious.   Also, there were some consistency issues where it felt like some things were overexplained while others that should have been explained more were glossed over.  I think if this book had been more tightly written, less cliched, less predictable, it would have been a more emotional read for me, and a more memorable one as well.

Overall, I did enjoy this one – parts of it at least – but felt like it could have been so much more.  I would still recommend this book, though more for the “feels” rather than the plot or the writing, as I felt that both these areas were definitely lacking.  With that said though, this is one of those books where it’s best to set aside judgement and just go into without overly high expectations and see where the story leads you.   

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

Review: The Italian Party (by Christina Lynch)

 My Rating:  3 stars

I will admit that I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would, probably because I knew this book was categorized as historical fiction and so I was expecting a story with a bit more substance, a bit more seamless blending of history and story, a bit better balance of seriousness and lightheartedness.  To me, the story felt a bit all over the place, at times being overly serious, other times bordering on comedic.  I did love the setting though and I felt the author Christina Lynch did a good job capturing the atmospheric charm of the Italian countryside as well as the local food, culture, and people – reading the descriptions of the various places Scottie went to during her exploration of the city, also the palio races, the descriptions of food that made my mouth water, and other aspects of Italian culture, I definitely felt I was there in Siena alongside the characters.  For me, this was when the story was at its best – when it covered the historical aspects and the culture and how the local people lived.  Unfortunately, I found my mind wandering during most of the segments about politics, especially the ones that go a bit too in depth about the various political factions and parties. 

Aside from the setting, the other aspect I appreciated with this story was the author’s treatment of the characters.  Lynch did a great job presenting realistic, flawed characters in Michael and Scottie, both of whom had many secrets they were keeping from each other and in some aspects, were living in a world of lies – both made many mistakes throughout their lives and yes, did things that were morally questionable, as did most of the other characters in the story, yet I still found it difficult not to like these characters.  The relationship that Michael and Scottie had was unconventional and I found it interesting the way it was developed and the direction they eventually went.  I find it refreshing whenever I see authors write characters and relationships that are well-developed and outside the stereotypical “norms” – this was definitely an area of strength with this book and one of the aspects that kept me engaged even though the overall story itself was a bit slow at times.

Despite this one not being what I expected, I still feel it was worth reading, especially for the insight it gave into the time period and the historical context of post-war Italy.  I think if the story had been a bit more tightly-written and less inconsistent, I would have rated this one somewhat higher, as the characters and the setting truly did draw me in.  I know many readers enjoyed this one and I can definitely see why, as certain parts of the story were intriguing and fun and I think as an relatively light-hearted story about spies, this one works fine overall – just not really for me due to the different expectations I have towards historical fiction.  Perhaps check out some of the other reviews as well for a more balanced view before deciding whether to pick this one up!

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley