Goon by Glenn Erick Miller; Oath by Kate Butler; The Wise Marie Paradise Edition by Natasha Brune

 

Goon by Glenn Erick Miller; Oath by Kate Butler; The Wise Marie: Paradise Edition by Natasha Brune 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Goon by Glenn Erick Miller 

This is a summary of the review. The complete review is on LitPick.

Goon is a tense, darkly comic, but captivating novel about incarceration, self-preservation, redemption, and the true nature of guilt and innocence.

 Goon is a troubled foster kid who stole a car, then injured his younger brother before being sent to a juvenile detention center. While there Goon has to deal with the various rules and regulations, violent fellow prisoners, a hurricane, his attraction for a girl who volunteers at the prison, and his guilt and anguished concern about his brother.

He is a fully developed protagonist who is practically made of attitude and regret. He recalls his dysfunctional upbringing, parentification towards his brother, and current incarceration with detached and wry humor. He is a self-deprecating sardonic kid who uses his humor to deflect from his own pain and tragedy.

The setting of the experimental detention center nicknamed J-Rot is fleshed out as a distinct society with its own culture and rituals. Everyone is given a nickname and bullying and favoritism are frequently shown. These dehumanization procedures remind the boys that who they were outside doesn't matter. Here they are who the prison, and by association the State of Florida, decides.

 Goon has to call up his talents and skills to aid someone who was once antagonistic but has shown potential to be a friend. Goon must surpass the institutional dehumanization and enter the contradictory chaos surrounding him to save him. 

Oath by Kate Butler 

This is a summary of my review. The long version is on Reader Views. (The links takes you to the site. You must insert the book's title in the search engine to read the review.)

Kate Butler’s Oath is a charming and enchanting queer fantasy romance about the love between a lord and his knight.

Lord Aerion Valemont is the spoiled Narcissistic son of the Archbishop. He is used to having his way so when Sir Clyde of Blackholt AKA “The Hound”, a war hardened, quiet, defiant warrior is assigned to be his protector, Aerion considers it a challenge. It appears these two completely opposite characters from different worlds are attracted to one another despite Clyde's sworn oath to protect the young Lord and the scheme to get Aerion married to avoid scandal.

Oath is the type of Fantasy Romance that technically does nothing new. The characters are known archetypes and the plot and setting have been seen many times. Even the fact that it's a Queer Romance has been done. 

This book should be a disposable cliche but there is something so delightful and endearing about this particular book that makes it work despite or actually because of the cliches.

Aerian is written as the ultimate spoiled rich kid with plenty of money and daring but not a lot of empathy or sense. Clyde is a solid stoic force. 

When the Lord and the knight become emotionally and physically closer together, Clyde's softer side and Aerion’s kinder side emerge. They become lovers who accept one another's flaws and all that comes with them.

Their relationship is tested by war, separation, sacrifice, and commitment. They move beyond a spoiled lord and stoic knight to become stronger, braver, more selfless, and more devoted characters and lovers.

The Wise Marie: Paradise Edition by Natasha Brune 

This is a summary of my review. The complete review is on Readers Views. (The links takes you to the site. You must insert the book's title in the search engine to read the review.)

Natasha Brune’s The Wise Marie: Paradise Edition is a traumatic and troubling autobiographical novel about a woman's involvement with crime and drugs.

Brune’s alter ego, Marie lived in a crowded home with a troubled and volatile family. Marie retreated into drugs, abusive relationships, and criminal activity to survive it.

Brune’s writing style is a straightforward matter of fact manner and surprising detachment for writing about her own experiences. It doesn't get overly sentimental or overdramatic. Terrible things like teen pregnancy, over doses, and abuse but it's informative not emotional. It makes the events and characters the main focus instead of presenting Brune's opinion about how she felt about it. It allows the Readers to connect with the events on their own. 

One could imagine it being written years later when Brune has had enough time to detach herself from the events. As an older woman, she has the years of experience and knowledge that the angry young woman didn't have. She also has empathy and understanding for the circumstances that led her down this path but recognizes the damage that she brought on herself.

The Wise Marie also makes use of its Hawaii setting by downplaying the paradise connotation (except in the subtitle) to focus on the local resident’s reality or at least the reality that Brune experienced. She reveals the poverty of people who live in a state with beautiful year-round weather but an expensive cost of living. A place where local reality is purposely kept from the tourists and issues like drugs, crime, and violence are ignored. While many states have high levels of crime and poverty, in Hawaii’s case the sometimes ugly reality clashes with the beautiful image, an image that no one and no place can fill forever.