Beautiful & Terrible Things by S. M. Stevens; Contemporary Literature Looks At A Beautiful Friendship and Terrible Events

 Beautiful & Terrible Things by S. M. Stevens; Contemporary Literature Looks At A Beautiful Friendship and Terrible Events 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Spoilers: S.M. Stevens’ novel, Beautiful & Terrible Things lives up to its name. It's a Contemporary Literature that is about a beautiful friendship among six diverse fascinating individuals but it is also about the terrible things that happen to them as they try to maintain that friendship against their various struggles.

Charley is a bookseller who has various disorders. She has Depression, OCD, Dermatillomania, and Agoraphobia. Her life is structured and rigid from the time she spends preparing her day in her apartment above the bookstore to the amount of time she plays word searches on her phone. One day, she encounters Xander, an eloquent customer who is also a political activist. Charley eventually accompanies Xander on an outing with his friends and is quickly welcomed into their inner circle. They are a truly interesting bunch consisting of: Terrence, Xander’s colleague and fellow activist, Jessica, a financial analyst and Xander’s roommate, Sunny, a nonbinary solar panel installer who is Xander’s friend with benefits, and Buwan, an artist whose vacation home is the center of the first friendly gathering. Through a difficult few months of prejudice, political activism, violence, sexual exploration, romances, lost jobs, and new opportunities this sextet’s friendship is truly tested.

The best thing about this book are the well developed characters. The six protagonists have the type of friendship that makes the Reader think, “I want to live in that city and be a part of that group.” They are from various ethnicities, diverse backgrounds, three genders, and have different outlooks on life yet strive to retain loyal connections with each other.They are almost like the Friends gang, only more diverse and set in the 2020’s. 

The characters go through a lot of development over the course of the book, particularly in terms of relationships. During the novel, two characters tentatively begin a relationship, two more become romantically involved then break up, and one character reveals their amorous feelings towards another. That's not to mention the final pages when some are paired with different people than before, while others take their relationships to the next level. It can get rather confusing to keep track of all of the crushes, romances, and dissolution of relationships. 

Fortunately, the Super Six aren't consumed by romance and the pairings are written realistically without resorting to soap opera tropes like infidelity or love triangles. Some characters click as a couple. Sometimes they have a lot in common or visualize a future together. Sometimes they don't and that's fine as well. As strong as relationships are in their lives, their friendships are stronger. Even after a break up, they still retain those connections and think well of one another. 

As memorable as they are as a team, they also stand out as individuals. The group’s idiosyncrasies develop them and make them come alive. From Xander’s overly flowery language, Terrence’s monochromatic wardrobe, Jessica's insistence on referring to the others by their first initials, Buwan’s dragon tattoos, Sunny’s fascination with marriage and children, to Charley’s superstitious nature, these little quirks and characteristics reveal much about the people who inhabit them in a way that is natural and not cloying. 

Sometimes their quirks are tells of deeper issues especially when we learn that many of the characters have mental and emotional disorders. There's Charley with her various internal struggles. Buwan takes medication for Anxiety attacks. Terrence has an anxious and hyper aware personality stemming from his mother's lessons. Many of the other characters go through periods of loneliness, insecurity, and emotional turmoil as well. 

Once their deeper emotional cores are revealed, much of the earlier behavior that might have been waved off as “just them being them” makes sense and is sometimes seen as sadder and more tragic. These oddities were foreshadowing hints that some things may not always be right with our heroes and they get through their issues by acting out, speaking up, pairing up, hiding, conforming, or fighting against those who threaten them. They are lovable but also troubled.

Besides friendly, romantic, and internal conflicts, the friends struggle with outward controversial issues as well. Charley learns that her bookstore will be closed and she will be evicted. Not only that but one of her friends is involved with the business that wants to purchase that property. She is hurt and betrayed and dangerously isolates herself from everyone else. This economic conflict explores the class structure among the characters and how some in a higher status can unintentionally hurt others by their association.

The characters have various discussions about politics and current events and their beliefs reflect their own backgrounds and experiences. One of those conversations about undocumented immigrants becomes personal for Jessica. In the beginning, she speaks as the child of Colombian immigrants turned American citizens. She distances herself and her affluent family from illegal immigrants insisting that they are different from her. Her self-internalized xenophobia comes back to haunt her when a friend is in danger of being deported. Suddenly, those immigrants that she considered beneath her now have a recognizable face and she is forced to confront her previous views.

Race is a common theme. Terrence recalls many of his mother's advice on how he, as a black man, should go out in public. He has to consider things like his tone of voice and simple gestures like telling a police officer that he is reaching for his wallet before he does. These are things that many of his friends don't have to think about but are central to him so he doesn't get arrested or shot.

Xander encourages his friends to participate in rallies and protests, particularly involving environmentalism, sexuality, gender identity, and race relations. A Black Lives Matter protest becomes climactic when the friends face physical injury and one lands in the hospital. Xander himself displays violent rage filled behavior that he never had before to the point that he frightens Charley who observes him. While they fight for a good cause and have good intentions, the BLM protest takes a physical and emotional toll on the friends that alters their feelings for each other. Things have changed among them forever and may never be fully repaired.

Beautiful & Terrible Things is a book that is a lot like modern life. There are many terrible things, some that can be controlled like a broken romance or a lost job. Some that cannot such as a faltering economy or systemic racism. These things can test us physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, there can be beautiful things as well: a new relationship, time with friends, the pursuit of one's interests or occupation, a pleasant vacation, and a wonderful group that feels like a family and can experience those beautiful things as well.

 

Weekly Reader: The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin; Memorable Historical Fiction About Two Women Who Led The Silent Film Era

 Weekly Reader: The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin; Memorable Historical Fiction About Two Women Who Led The Silent Film Era

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: In the days of Hollywood Silent Films, no female star shone brighter than Mary Pickford (1892-1979). Pickford was known as "America's Sweetheart" and was often recognized for her long golden Victorian curls, her diminutive size, and innocent expressions which led to her playing little girl roles well into her twenties and thirties. She starred in various movies like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Pollyanna, Little Annie Rooney, and Poor Little Rich Girl. While on screen she played the forever young ingenue, off screen she was a force to be reckoned with. She was able to control the production of her own films and in 1919, with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Tom Mix, and Douglas Fairbanks, she created United Artists, the first production company run by actors, directors, and other performers (leading to the famous one liner provided by producer, Richard A. Rowland, "The lunatics have taken over the asylum").

The public was fascinated with Pickford's romance with and marriage to Douglas Fairbanks. Their ornate home, Pickfair, was seen as the symbol of Hollywood Royalty with its residents seen as the King and Queen. 

It's a little known fact that Pickford made a slight transition to sound, achieving enough success with Coquette that she won the second Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930. (Fun fact: The first was Janet Gaynor for the films 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: The Song of Two Heavens). After a series of failed and aborted projects and her divorce from Fairbanks, Pickford retired from acting to produce films. Eventually, she became a recluse until her death in 1979.

Another important female figure in Hollywood who was not as public but still left a huge impact was Frances Marion (1888-1973). Originally, she was hired as a writing assistant to director/screenwriter Lois Duncan. Eventually, Pickford hired Marion as her scenarist for her various films. Marion's writing for films like Rags, Rebecca, and Pollyanna helped cement Pickford's on screen character. Marion worked her way upward to becoming the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood and head of the writing department at World Films. She was praised alongside other female screenwriters at the time like Anita Loos and June Mathis. During World War I, Marion became a combat correspondent and documented women's efforts on the Front. She directed the films, The Love Light and Just Around the Corner (the former starring Pickford). She won two Academy Awards for Writing for The Big House in 1931 and The Champ in 1932.

In total, Marion was credited with writing over 300 films and producing over 130.

Melanie Benjamin's historical fiction novel, The Girls in the Picture, tells of the deep friendship between Pickford and Marion recounting their first meeting in 1914 during the early rushed experimental days of this brand new entertainment venue. It takes them through Hollywood's expansion, the rise and fall of both women's careers, their stormy romances and marriages, their achievements of wealth and power, the stress of World War I, the founding of UA, the overwhelming publicity of the Fairbanks-Pickford marriage, the advent of sound, and their eventual estrangement. Benjamin depicts how both women used their talents and strengths to make their mark in a male dominated industry and helped develop it into a legitimate art form and the giant source of entertainment that it is today.

Benjamin neatly contrasts her deuteragonists starting with their backgrounds which helped propel them to join this burgeoning industry. Marion is leaving behind two failed marriages and wants her life to mean something significant that doesn't require her just to be someone's wife or mother. For her, the motion picture industry gives her a career and a chance for freedom.

For Pickford, real name Gladys Smith, entertainment is already in her blood. She has already been a stage actress to support her mother, Charlotte and her younger siblings, Jack and Lottie. She decides to become a film actress to obtain a wider interest and get more money for her family.

If you are a fan of the early days of filmmaking, then this book is a treat. It is detailed in describing how those early movies in the early 1900-1910's were quickly and cheaply made with everyone playing many roles: actors, writers, directors, editors, custodians whatever was needed. Scripts weren't written so much as they wanted to capture a brief couple of scenes. Props and costumes weren't exactly plentiful so everyone just relied on what they had. Stunts, particularly horse riding, had no protection so sometimes accidents happened and on occasion were captured on film. (I would describe them as "Mickey Mouse productions" but Mickey wasn't created until 1928.) It wasn't until the mid-1910's that filmmaking gained prestige, the productions became slicker, costlier, and more polished, and the public recognized the artistry involved in the movies's creation.

Originally, the moguls were so uncertain about how the public would react to the performances that actors weren't dubbed with their names but under titles like "The Biograph Girl," "The Vitagraph Boy," and so on. While Florence Lawrence was the first to be casted under her own name, Pickford was also similarly recognized. This moment in the book foreshadows Pickford's eventual influence within the industry.

Both Pickford and Marion are given multiple chances throughout the book to show their independence and courage to become recognized amongst the men that surround them. Pickford recognizes her persona so is very careful about accepting roles and being involved in the production of films that capture her "America's Sweetheart" character. She is also financially savvy having been poor, so she watches every penny and accounts for her growing wealth. 

When she is one of the founders of UA, Pickford is similar to Charlie Chaplin, hard workers who recognize the art form of filmmaking and want to shoot the movies until they are right.

Marion's contribution to making her mark in a man's world is in her writing and becoming one of the highest paid writers, male or female. Her scenarios emphasize Pickford's character's spunk, courage, and survival instincts, as well as her playfulness and childlike innocence. 

Marion's independence is especially evident during WWI. Many soldiers dismiss her because of her gender. Some are baffled and openly hostile that a woman is covering the front lines of war. Marion is determined to get the story, even walking through muddy and violent roads and crossing the Rhine. This experience matures her as she sees the truth of war that Hollywood can only imagine and how important movies are to people put in bad situations and long for escape.

Marion recognizes her and Pickford's contributions years later when she sees photographs where she or Pickford were the only women who were surrounded by men. 

Like many friendships, Benjamin reveals the differences between the two women. While both are strong and independent, they also differ in many ways. Marion is a quiet well read intellectual; Pickford is a bold street smart commanding presence. Marion takes pride in her unconventionality from surviving two divorces and not wanting to get remarried until she is established in her career; Mary is so protective of her image that she refuses to divorce an abusive husband and hides her affair with Douglas at first. Marion has simple tastes and just wants a nice house near Pickford of course, plenty of freedom to work, and a supportive husband; Once Pickford starts making money, she wants to live like a star, in an ornate grand mansion hence Pickfair, have a wide circle of influential friends, and become the center of attention. 

Their differences are balanced in their friendship with each other. Marion is able to bring Pickford down to Earth and isn't afraid to tell her the truth no matter how bad it is. Pickford gives Marion a touch of glamor and excitement in her life and encourages her to develop her talent.

As with many friendships, Pickford and Marion grow apart for various reasons. After WWI, Marion wants to write bolder, better scripts to reflect a more advanced worldview but Pickford still needs her professionally, so she continues with the standard Pickford vehicle. While Pickford originally loves the little girl character because it gave her the childhood that she never had, she begins to resent it the older that she gets and wants to play adult roles, much to Marion's chagrin. (Supposedly, when Pickford cut her hair from the long Victorian curls into a short trendy bob, it was such a scandal that it made headlines). Both women want to advance but feel tied to their friendship to end it until a fight emerges forcing their hands.

Their marriages  added to their conflicts. Marion likes the flashy and charismatic Douglas, but once he enters the scene she sees Pickford becoming a more glamorous star and affected snob. They are remote and standoffish so Marion has trouble relating to them. 

Marion's third husband, Fred Thomson is a religious leader turned actor who is clearly uncomfortable in this fame driven lifestyle but likes working in Western. His early death caused by an injury leaves Marion eaten up with remorse that Pickford reveals in a fit of anger.

The book also implies that sound was a huge stumbling block in their friendship's end. While Pickford did win an Oscar for Coquette, she can't adjust to this new normal and most of her films flop (including a version of Taming of the Shrew with Douglas). Plus, her marriage to Douglas flounders. She is such a relic of the old silent films that when the movies enter a different era, she would rather drop out of life rather than adjust to it.

Marion however effortlessly sails into the sound era. In fact many of her scripts like The Champ are well known to this day. She is able to find her own voice, pun not intended, without being bound to Pickford's. Benjamin implies that Pickford is envious of Marion's adjustment to the modern days while she sticks to the past. 

Marion and Pickford's friendship ends during a film production when they call each other to task for old conflicts and reopen old wounds. (According to Benjamin's notes, in real life, their friendship's end was a lot less explosive and was more gradual, coolly phasing each other out). The two don't reunite until 1969 when Marion visits the now reclusive Pickford in Pickfair.

The Girls in the Picture is a wonderful time capsule of the early days of Hollywood. Most importantly, it is an excellent and in depth character study of two women who changed it and each other forever.

Weekly Reader: Semicolon: Life Goes On From A Different Perspective: Living With Purpose by A.P. Aristeiguieta; Captivating Spiritual Journey Into Deep Emotion, Strong Friendships, and Lucid Dreams

 Weekly Reader: Semicolon: Life Goes On From A Different Perspective: Living With Purpose by A.P. Aristeiguieta; Captivating Spiritual Journey Into Deep Emotion, Strong Friendships, and Lucid Dreams

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Is it too early to pick a potential favorite book of 2023 because I found a contender?

Semicolon Life Goes On From A Different Perspective Living With Purpose by A.P. Aristeiguieta is a captivating, lyrical, and spiritual book that tells a fantastic story about loneliness, depression, and friendship. 

Semicolon is not unlike some of my other favorite books in the past like Imajica by Clive Barker, Melia in Foreverland by Thomas Milhorat, The Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, The Unseen Blossom by Zlaikha Y Samad and L'mere Younossi, The Enchanted World Series, Tales From The Hinterland by Melissa Albert, The Bookbinder's Daughter by Jessica Thorne, Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by David A Neuman, Merchants of Knowledge and Magic by Erika McCorkle, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass). It's a book that is thought about, felt, and lived in as much as it is read.

According to the Introduction, this is somewhat based on a true story, a semiautobiographical novel or a literary nonfiction, on incidents from Aristeiguieta's past. Aristeiguieta's author surrogate is Amy, a teenager who has been hospitalized.  One night, she sees a little boy, Tito, standing by her bed and who appears to be a friendly spirit of some sort.

Amy is released and after a while, her parents send her to a boarding school in Mexico. At the airport, she meets Alberto, a talkative teen about her age who is heading for the same destination and quickly becomes an intelligent and very odd friend to her.

Semicolon is a book that asks as many questions as it provides answers, allowing those to explore their own inner conclusions about what they experienced. It is both thought provoking and visceral at the same time.

The book's excellence starts with its protagonist. While books about troubled teens are nothing new, Aristeiguieta takes great care to capture a young brilliant but fractured mind on the verge of falling into existential loneliness and emotional numbness.

At first, there are some hints about the cause of Amy's hospitalization but we aren't told anything definite until later. She lays in the hospital bed thinking about how she got there. She was someone who felt invisible and lived inside her own head. (What depressed, lonely, imaginative kid hasn't felt that way? Heck what depressed, lonely, imaginative, adult still doesn't feel that way?) One day, she wanted to end those feelings and attempted to take her own life. 

She also reflects that even during her hospitalization, her frequently arguing parents couldn't stop blaming each other, throwing herself even further into despair. She finds no comfort in outside existence so she retreated into her own solitude but when even that failed to soothe her, she decided to kill herself instead.

 This is a very accurate description of long term depression that someone feels when their usual escapes and coping mechanisms no longer work. After all, you can read, watch TV or stream videos, or play games all day. But eventually the book will close, the credits will roll, and the game will be over, and the real world unfortunately has to be lived in.

Tito and Alberto act as sort of spirit guides towards Amy. Throughout the book, Tito leads Amy through various astral projections and lucid dreams to see different views of the world around her. She travels through moments and memories that aren't just hers but belong to other people and recognizes different parts of herself that she thought were long gone.

In the hospital, he astrally takes her out of her room to observe her family, other patients, and their concerned friends and family members. She is able to connect with others in a way that is greater than what she has felt in a long time. Tito is able to open up a warmer part of Amy's personality that still exists underneath the sadness and depression. Later, Tito takes her to a park where there are balloons and a party. This opens up the youthful childlike side of her as a counter to the cynicism that she has developed.

While Tito helps Amy, his appearance does not suddenly solve all of Amy's problems. Her parents send her to the boarding school, partly because they are concerned that she may try to attempt suicide again but also so their arguing and eventual separation does not affect her fragile state. At the school, she is just as isolated as she was at her old one. Luckily, Alberto, the boy that she met at the airport, attends the same school and instantly becomes her closest friend.

Alberto serves a different purpose for Amy than Tito. One could compare Amy's time in the hospital to her being reborn. When she meets Tito, she is like a child and children often communicate with pictures, simple words, and concepts like "love," "fun," and "happy." 

When she goes to the school, Amy re-enters her teen stage. Teenagers are full of questions, confused about the world and their identity, and struggling to understand it. Alberto helps her in that respect.

Alberto is a more human presence than the ethereal Tito. While he is an actual human (possibly), he is very intellectual and intuitive. He asks Amy provocative questions about her beliefs and experiences and shares his own views. He is someone with a deep faith in Judaism but is also open to other spiritual practices like the concepts of lucid dreams and visions and the existence of parallel dimensions. He's like a Teen Guru advising Amy intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

He guides Amy into putting her time with Tito into words and discovering what it could actually mean. 

It is very refreshing that even though Amy and Alberto become close, they do not develop a romance. Aristeiguieta was wise to avoid this because it shows that there can be great value in platonic friendship and that two people, even teenagers, can find connections that are built on mutual trust and care and not necessarily on lust. In developing her friendships with Tito and Alberto, Amy is able to understand her relationships with others like her parents and learn more about herself, maybe even love herself. 

Semicolon is a punctuation symbol that joins two independent clauses without using a coordinating conjunction like and. That's what this book is about, joining independent clauses: things that shouldn't exist at once but somehow do. Things like life and death, dreams and reality, sleep and awake, emotion and thought, dark and light, and childhood and adolescence. They're like Yin and Yang, divided they make separate halves and different sections of a story. When they join together, united, they make a whole picture and story. 

Through her dreams of Tito and her conversations with Alberto, Amy goes on a metaphysical journey by means of astral projection, parallel dimension travel, and lucid dreams to show her a deeper world of love, hope, and the power of one's mind and spirit. 

Whether this book is literally or metaphorically true, it is a powerful account of the mind, heart, soul, and spirit.

New Book Alert: Arabesque by Amy Shomshak; Tres Magnifique Story of Friendship and Dance in Paris

 

New Book Alert: Arabesque by Amy Shomshak; Tres Magnifique Story of Friendship and Dance in Paris

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Of all the subjects that I thought that I would read this year, I did not expect one of them to be ballet. This month, I am reviewing not one but two books about ballet and they couldn't be more different. The first, Music Boxes, is a YA Fantasy in which a young girl gets involved with an enchanted dancing school and its powerful magical headmistress who hypnotizes and transforms her students. 

The second book, Arabesque by Amy Shomshak, is a more realistic book about the art of dancing but just as good in its own way.

Gina's best friend Tina is currently studying ballet in Paris while Gina remains in New York. Gina is tired of the dance classes that are far from the Russian training that she is used to and the mean girls who play pranks on her and shove her into the corps. She is also becoming aware that her relationship with her boyfriend Charlie, a stand up comedian, is not getting better. Her only constant is her uncle Gene who raised her and encouraged her love of dancing and her letters from Tina telling her how great her life is now that she is a lead dancer. Once Gina learns that Tina's life isn't as rosy as she portrays and Gina's depression worsens, Gene invites her to accompany him to Paris and reunite with her best friend.

In some ways, Arabesque reminds me of Melissa Muldoon's books about Italy like Dreaming Sophia, Eternally Artemisia, and Waking Isabella. It is an imaginary trip to Paris written by someone who loves the city, recognizes every street, every cafe, every location. Shomshak recognizes the beauty, marvel, and history of the city. She clearly loves the location and wants her readers to love it too. It is a perfect summer reading for those who need an imaginary vacation.

When Gina, Tina, and their friends go clubbing and dine at a cafe, you know it's a place that is real or at least made real by Shomshak's sensory images and attention to detail. Readers can smell the coffee brewing, hear the side chatter, and see the people talking and laughing. Even common tourist spots like the Louvre, Left Bank, and the Eiffel Tower are made unique by the characters' encounters with them. Paris is alive in this book.

In a touch very similar to Muldoon's work, there are brief scenes in the afterlife where Gina's late mother, Lili is following her daughter and encouraging her on a path. She's not alone, Lili engages in conversations with the likes of Marie Antoinette, Vaslav Nijinsky, Zelda Fitzgerald, and other members of Paris' past. Similar to Muldoon's Italy books in which artists, patrons, film stars, and other notables encourage their protagonists, here Paris' Finest does the same for Shomshak's. When a setting fits the character, it seems that everyone, past and present, conspire to make it feel like home, the place where they belong.

The Parisian setting isn't the only thing that comes to life in this book. The characters shine as well, particularly Gina and Tina. They have a very close sisterly friendship that fills empty voids in their lives. Like many strong friendships, they work better together than they do apart. Separately, they are going nowhere in their ballet studies. They are at most bit players when they have enough talent to get bigger roles. Together, however, they decide to take their talents into their own hands. 

Gina and Tina perform a series of dances in outdoor venues throughout the city wearing elaborate costumes and masks that Madame Destinee from Music Boxes would envy. They do their own choreography and tell their own stories, sometimes original and sometimes variations of known fairy tales. These dances not only make them famous, if anonymously, but they give them artistic freedom and the ability to express themselves creatively. 

A favorite performance is when the duo dance and communicate entirely with fans. They use gestures with their fans to reveal a conversation between characters and wear monochromatic black and white gowns and masks. It's a simple yet evocative dance piece.

Gina and Tina also open a wider circle of friends and family. They meet some female friends who help them with their outdoor dance. They also receive boyfriends who are supportive and interested in their pursuits, even revealing talents of their own. Gene also has a romance going with Josette, a married woman with a brilliant son. They clearly love each other but are playing things slowly because of Josette's marriage. Gina and Tina's circle of friends and family bring out the best in them and everyone else around them.

Music Boxes has plenty of magic, true. But Arabesque is a realistic story with plenty of magic of its own: the magic of friendship, the magic of the arts, and the magic of a place that tells you that you are home. When you find that magic, well c'est magnifique.

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: October Jewels by I.O. Scheffer; Strange Blend of Witch School Fantasy, Intergalactic Science Fiction, Supernatural Mystery, and Victorian Historical Fiction Makes For A Surprisingly Unique and Imaginative Novel

 

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: October Jewels by I.O. Scheffer; Strange Blend of Witch School Fantasy, Intergalactic Science Fiction, Supernatural Mystery, and Victorian Historical Fiction Makes For A Surprisingly Unique and Imaginative Novel

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: You don't always have to be the first or even the most famous to come up with an idea to make it good. Sometimes you just have to give it your own perspective.

Take I.O. Scheffer's Fearghus Academy series and its first volume, October Jewels, for example. In the tradition of witches and wizards of legend using various sources and ingredients to make a potion, Scheffer did the same with this series. Fearghus Academy has a pound of Harry Potter, a pinch of A Wrinkle in Time, two cups of Avatar The Last Airbender, a spoonful of Oliver Twist, and a whiff of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for that distinct aroma. The result is a strange concoction that blends these sources and makes a unique, imaginative, and spellbinding series.

In 19th century London, Anna Addison is forced to work in a grubby factory for pennies. She hates her job but she can't do anything about it. One day, a strange wealthy woman named Nichole gives her two options: quit or get fired. No one else but Anna can see Nichole and even though she isn't sure if she's going crazy, Anna decides to get herself fired. Now that's taken care of, Nichole makes herself visible and goes through the necessary paperwork to adopt the young girl. She raises some eyebrows since people question a black woman like Nichole choosing to adopt a white girl like Anna but she is kind if a bit eccentric and no one else is interested in Anna.

Nichole has ulterior motives for adopting Anna. She sees another person like her who possesses magical abilities. One of the signs of a magical person are the colorful streaks in their hair and glint in their eyes. Anna has brown hair and orange streaks (She assumed one of her late parents had red hair). Nichole has green streaks in her black hair. Nichole explains that these are signs that they possess certain magical powers: Fire Magic for Anna and Earth Magic for Nichole.

There is a place called Fearghus Academy that has been scouting potential magic users and where Nichole is going to take Anna. It's a school that's out of this world. No really. Fearghus is literally on another planet outside of time and space. The school trains young people around the universe to use, harness, and control their magical abilities. 

So yes it is the fourth "Young Woman Travels to a Magical World" book that I read this year along with The Thorn Princess by Bekah Harris, Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud by Sylvia Greif, and Lakshmi and The River of Truth by Paul Chasman, not counting the ones I read last year. (Not that I'm complaining. I love the subgenre.)

Once Anna arrives at Domhan, the planet that Fearghus Academy resides, she is amazed by the green grass, blue skies, and crisp clean air. For a girl growing up in filthy smog filled polluted London, it's quite a delightful shock. The castle building that Fearghus is located in leaves her speechless.

She also gets some rudimentary training from Nichole on how to make fire emerge from her fingertips and a new name. She says goodbye to her old life as Anna, the girl from London on Earth and reemerges as Artesia, the Fire Magic User and Fearghus student.

The book's structure is similar to that of Miss Mabel's School for Girls by Katie Cross and A Spell in the Country by Heide Goody and Iain Grant. Many of the chapters involve various tests and assignments in which Artesia and her new classmates learn to use their powers, work as a team, and bring out their best and sometimes worst qualities in each other.

Along the way while they are searching for valuable objects, exploring the world around them, and studying the progression of their powers as well as other regular subjects like history, science, and literature, they become aware that there are darker forces abound. As some of the students are attacked and one viciously murdered, it becomes apparent that Fearghus is the target of greater darker spirits and people who use magic for less altruistic means. It takes all of their strength, natural and magical, to fight these deadly enemies and get to the heart of a conspiracy which could cost many lives.

There are a few things that make Fearghus Academy stand out from other school stories. So far, we don't have a School Bully/Mean Girl. Nor does the main girl, Artesia, get thrown into a romance with a potential love interest.

The characters have personality clashes and disagreements but there are no one dimensional prepubescent villains. In fact, they start on the same page as allies who work closely together and become friends.

The students are a pretty likeable bunch. Besides Artesia we have: Antonia, a flamboyant Fire Mage from Spain; Evelyn, an overachieving Light User from Canada; Lulu, a dizzy religious American girl with the power of Air; Eilam, a sweet Ice Mage who is from Domhan and has a disturbing family secret; Telemachus, also from Domhan and is a Fire Mage and Eilam's close friend; Betel, an Irish girl who has the uncomfortable power of spreading pain and illness and is protected by her sister, Gretel; Jun, another Fire User from Ceithre a small town in Domhan who gains a crush on a certain transplanted Londoner, and Marnie, a sarcastic Scottish Water Mage who is discovering her own sexuality. Since Domhan is on another planet, it would be interesting to see if future Fearghus students look more alien in appearance, perhaps looking instead like Earth witches and wizards and more like Jedi.

The characters are a fascinating group where everyone has their moments to shine and become part of an ensemble.  Even Nichole develops a strong maternal bond with Artesia which she begins to reciprocate.

There isn't a single character in the group who isn't likeable and fully developed. Authors don't always have to fit school age kids into known tropes and cliques and have them vie with each other. They can still make them meaningful and understandable as individuals and part of a larger network of students and friends.

It is also nice that Scheffer does not force a romance between Artesia and the male character that she is usually paired with, Eilam. Artesia and Eilam form a close friendship in which the secretive Eilam reveals some painful things about his past. The two also combine their powers to save each other and are one another's emotional support when they lose a close friend. But platonic friendship is as close as it gets and with good reason.

Eilam is gay and is romantically involved with Telemachus. In other books, the two young men would just be buddies and their flirtatious moments might by played for laughs. In this book, it's clear that they are a couple and a sweet one at that. Because of Eilam's personal issues, he finds it difficult to reach out to others. With Telemachus, he feels more open to express a more outgoing playful side. Telemachus becomes a rock for Eilam to cling to when he needs it.

As for Artesia, she isn't exactly suffering in the romance department. Jun develops a crush on her and she becomes interested in him. She also inspires romantic stirrings within Marnie which she may feel the same. To hers, and Scheffer's, credit Artesia treats Jun and Marnie the same way. There is no indication whether she is straight, bisexual, or a lesbian. Perhaps like Artesia's experience with magic and living in Domhan, this is a new chapter in her life that is waiting to be discovered.

In fact that's what this book is all about: discovering one's potential, life path, hidden talents, relationships, and placement in a larger world. In doing so the first Fearghus Academy book, October Jewels, is already a crown jewel in the series.

Weekly Reader: Home Front Girls by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan; Moving and Sweet Novel About Long Distance Friendship Between WWII Wives

 

Weekly Reader: Home Front Girls by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan; Moving and Sweet Novel About Long Distance Friendship Between WWII Wives

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: 

Wartime can make the strangest alliances and friendships. People who would never befriend or even associate with each other from different backgrounds, places, and statuses become allies, simply because they are fighting an enemy army or are at home while friends or family members are doing the fighting.

That is the situation found in Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan's Home Front Girls, a moving and sweet novel about two American women of different ages, classes, backgrounds, and parts of the country who become pen pals while their husbands fight in WWII.

Glory Whitehall, a young mother from Rockport, Massachusetts whose husband, Robert, is fighting overseas receives one of several addresses, presented by her church, to write to other military wives. Glory selects one with the lovely name of "Garden Witch." 

The "Garden Witch" is in reality Rita Vicenzo, a professor's wife from Iowa City, Iowa whose husband, Sal, is also fighting.

On the surface, the women would have nothing in common. Glory is in her 20's, has one young child and is expecting another, and is from a wealthy family. Rita is in her 40's with an adult son and is from an immigrant family.  Over two years of love, humor, tears, marriage, enlistment, anxiety, rekindling of romance, tested fidelities, and tremendous agonizing loss, the two unlikely women become best friends united by their grief and worry.

As the Readers peer into Glory and Rita's correspondence, they learn how similar and yet how different their lives really are. Both of them are worried about their husbands fighting and both feel isolated within their communities because of that anxiety even though they are surrounded by intrusive but well meaning gossipy neighbors, trying to be helpful but not always helpful female friends, and family members, especially children, with problems of their own.

As with many of the women whose husbands were fighting in WWII, the deuteragonists try to maintain brave supportive faces as they work, create victory gardens, use their ration coupons, attend military support rallies and fundraisers, and raise their children. However, by writing to each other, another woman who has been in the same situation as them, they can convey their worst fears and anxieties. They can let their guards down and reveal their vulnerabilities that they keep hidden from the people around them.

The book also explores their different issues and how they deal with them and help each other. Glory is younger and more impetuous. With Robert gone and two small children, she clings to her childhood friend, Levi. Levi has been a close friend to Glory and Robert and since he has a bad heart, he can't serve in the war. He helps Glory and becomes a surrogate father to her children. It isn't too long before Levi starts expressing feelings that he wouldn't normally express if Robert weren't around. Glory gives into her loneliness and deepest emotions and reciprocates her feelings towards Levi, despite Rita's objections. Glory finds in Levi someone to share her heart aching loneliness, the need to be with someone, that she has felt since Robert's been away. 

Rita also has problems of her own, particularly concerning her adult son, Tobias. Tobias has been romantically involved with a bar owner's daughter, Roylene. Things become more complicated when Roylene becomes pregnant and Tobias enlists before they are married. Despite her own reservations about the situation, Rita provides emotional and physical support to Roylene, becoming a mother figure to her and defending her status as an unwed young mother. Rita relates to Roylene's status as an outsider. She knows what it's like to be judged by a small town so she provides Roylene, the support that she needs.

Rita and Glory's lives change as they encounter death and injury from war. That's when their strengths are truly tested and they depend on not only their own resourcefulness and independence, but the love of the people around them and each other to get through the ultimate hardship of the war.

What makes this book's writing style is the way in which it was constructed. According to the Reader's Guide, Home Front Girls was written via emails between Hayes and Nyhan with each woman taking each character. Hayes, being younger, took the more free spirited and flirtatious Glory while Nyhan, being older took the view of the sardonic and opinionated Rita. In fact, like their characters, Hayes and Nyhan never physically encountered each other during the work of the book. They met after the book's publication and have since met other times (as their leads eventually do as well solidifying their friendship).  Knowing that the book was written similar to how the characters lived, physically separate but emotionally close adds a sense of unmistakable duality between creators and their creations.

Home Front Girls is a novel that explores the deep friendship that women share as they support each other through stress and happiness, whether getting through war or writing a book.

Weekly Reader: Gilded Summers (Newport's Gilded Age Book 1) by Donna Russo Morin; Moving Novel About Friendship Reveals Gilded Age Gender, Immigration, and Economic Conflicts

 

Weekly Reader: Gilded Summers (Newport's Gilded Age Book 1) by Donna Russo Morin; Moving Novel About Friendship Reveals Gilded Age Gender, Immigration, and Economic Conflicts

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: There are many comparisons between now and The Gilded Age. Among them are the strong economic divides between rich and poor, the prejudice between Americans and immigrants, and the questions towards gender roles and how much progress women have actually made over the years.

Those struggles are remembered and paralleled into real modern life within the novel, Gilded Summers by Donna Russo Morinn, the first book in Morin's Newport's Gilded Age series. The series involves two women from different backgrounds who become best friends and have to deal with many of the issues of the day such as the division between the haves and have nots, the struggles that immigrants face when settling in the United States, and the fight for women's rights.

In 1895, 15 year old Pearl Worthington lives an upper class privileged life in Newport, Rhode Island. (Fun fact: Gilded Age Newport is also an important setting in the book Mistress Suffragette by Diana Forbes.). Pearl seems to have a life that most would envy: a large mansion, summers spent in the country, the current fashions. and her family's friends have famous last names like Astor, Oelrichs  Fish, and Vanderbilt. She appears to have an enviable life but nothing can be further from the truth.

Pearl has a talent for drawing and illustration but cannot pursue it in any meaningful way except as an ornament for a potential marriage. She would love to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. Maybe pursue her art to a professional career like acquaintances from similar wealthy homes, Mary Cassatt and Edith Jones (later Wharton).

Pearl is weary of the small mindedness, malicious gossip, and verbal cruelty of the social set. She longs for the freedom granted to men like her brother, Clarence, in which they can step out of line and misbehave and no one would think anything of it (in fact many encourage that behavior in men) but a woman is marked for life.

Pearl is supported by her father, Orin, who is very busy but encouraging to her pursuits. However, Orin is dominated by his wife, Milicent. Milicent is emotionally abusive towards Pearl and expects her to fulfill her expected role to marry wealth, have rich children, and live the life of a society matron no questions asked and no arguments made.

Meanwhile, the Worthingtons take on new servants, widower Felice Costa, and his daughter, 15 year old Ginevra both who recently emigrated from Italy. Felice is hired to teach a very reluctant Clarence to play the violin. (Felice is a gifted violinist and luthier.) Ginevra is hired as a house maid to mostly sew clothes. Eventually, Ginevra moves up to becoming Pearl's lady's maid. 

Like Pearl, Ginevra also feels limited by her role in society. Most of the Newport elite treat their servants like robots. They don't talk to them. They just expect them to serve their food, clean their houses, take care of their children, and so on in their own world only to come out of it to collect their payment. To the wealthy, people like Felice and Ginevra are nobodies and treated like nobodies. Ginevra watches Pearl and her friends and family, as well as the handsome men paraded in front of Pearl and feels like she lives in a separate existence from others. They are depersonalized and made to feel less than human.

That depersonalization exists among the servants as well. Many like Mrs. Briggs, the housekeeper, look down on the Costas for being new arrivals and on the lower levels of the service pecking order. Even kitchen maid, Greta, who is among the lowest in the servants' hierarchy, mocks Ginevra's accent and thinks of her as stupid. 

The Costas are also judged as immigrants. Many German and Irish immigrants, especially ones who arrived years ago look down on the new Italian arrivals. People mock their accents and some want them to return to their own country. 

Like Pearl, Ginevra dreams of a different life. Her talent for sewing leads to an interest in fashion. She begins to make Pearl's clothes creating embellishments and adding a personal style. She has dreams of being a fashion designer or opening a clothing boutique but like Pearl feels limited by her gender, economic status, and ethnicity.

Despite their differences, Pearl and Ginevra develop a genuine friendship that looks past their statuses and sees the real women inside. The friendship between Pearl and Ginevra is beautiful because it helps them get past their previous limitations. Together, they share their talents as Ginevra observes Pearl's sketchbook with awe and Pearl admires the beautiful gowns that Ginevra makes. They also talk about deeper issues like how they feel stifled by the people around them. Their friendship allows them to open up and see the world through different eyes.

Pearl and Ginevra are not only able to see their limited roles but those of the people around them. Pearl sees the "Swell Set" for what it really is and finds out what goes on inside the palatial Newport homes. She sees dissension and infidelity in marriages that are happy only in appearance. She and Ginevra see cheating spouses and the other half of the marriage that would rather look the other way than lose everything. They also see these same people look down and judge anyone else by the standards that even they can't live up to, such as when three society women including "The" Mrs. Astor, critique Milicent (the same set that she aspires to join). This is a few years before these women are also revealed to fall short of their own expectations and one files for divorce.

The two friends, particularly Ginevra, also experience first hand the sexism of the day when men feel like women are their property to do as they wish. This comes to a head when an intended fiance of Pearl's also wants Ginevra. He wouldn't mind marrying one and having the other as a mistress. His intentions eventually become violent but Pearl and Ginevra are there for each other in every way possible. Their friendship is strengthened by this incident and finally propel themselves to go after the freedom that they longed for.

Gilded Summers is a beautiful novel about how friendship can help see people beyond their race, ethnicity, sex, and income. Far from gilded, this book is pure gold.

 

New Book Alert: The Road Ahead Love is Eternal by Stacy Keenan; The One Where They All Became Vampires

 New Book Alert: The Road Ahead Love is Eternal by Stacy Keenan; The One Where They All Became Vampires

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: In The Road Between , the previous volume of Stacy Keenan's Love is Eternal movie monster memorabilia designer, Abby Wickes meets and falls in love with luthier, Nathaniel Davenport. Nathan is handsome and mysterious and is of course revealed to be a vampire. The duo's romance hits a huge snag when Abby is attacked by a fellow vampire and becomes one herself.

Surprisingly, despite the dark fantasy horror turn that the Road Between takes towards the end, the emphasis of the book is on romantic comedy as though Stacy and Nathan were the traditional meet cute couple with intimate conflicts. One of them just so happens to be a vampire.

While Keenan ups the dark fantasy horror aspects in this volume by giving us more information on vampire lore (or her interpretation of vampire lore) and new frightening characters, humor and characterization is still very present. This is especially prevalent when Abby and Nathan host a Christmas and New Years gathering of Nathan's old friends (and I do mean "old friends"). Abby clicks with Nathan's four friends, Lachlann, Ailith, Karsten, and Ava and becomes accepted into their circle. With six friends and three couples, the gathering seems overall like an extended supernatural episode of Friends ("Could we be any more Goth and vampiric?"). The emphasis in this novel is on friendship and forming an extended family of true companions.

Just like its predecessor, The Road Ahead plays with the idea of combining dark fantasy in an almost comedy situation such as when Ava and Ailith chat with Abby about the men in their lives after Abby and Nathan get engaged. They give sexual advice and what to expect for the future when a couple could stay together literally until the end of time.

 

There are some interesting revelations about the sextets's lives as vampires and how they adjusted to the changing times. Lachlann remembers his time taking part in the American Revolutionary War and he and Ailith take a trip to Ft. Ticonderoga to honor his fallen comrades. Karsten also shares war stories about his time as a Goth warrior against the Roman Empire. 

The vampire characters also talk about how they adjust to the changing times particularly in their careers. Ava started out making dresses for noblewomen. In the 21st century, she has transformed into a fashion blogger. Nathan still is a luthier and his violins are often specially made for orchestras and musicians. He is also a dedicated musician himself as he reveals when he takes part in a performance of The Nutcracker. Abby wonders how her future as a graphic designer and memorabilia maker will change over the coming centuries.

The darker aspects are also increased in this volume as well. Abby, Nathan, and their friends find themselves fighting the revenants, an undead army created by evil vampires. Later, another creature is revealed. I won't go into many details but let's just say it is familiar to anyone who has ever seen many European cathedrals and castles or were fans of a certain Disney animated dark series from the '90's.

There are also hints that Abby's family has previous involvement with vampires and her Aunt Sarah (who has been out of town since the previous volume) may know more about her niece's condition than she is letting on.

The Road Ahead expands upon the characterization and the dark fantasy and does what a good second volume does. It improves the series and entices the Reader to read the next one.

New Book Alert: Trapped in Time by Denise Daye; Typical Time Travel Romance With Strong Independent Female Lead

 New Book Alert: Trapped in Time by Denise Daye; Typical Time Travel Romance With Strong Independent Female Lead

 By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Once again, we encounter a novel on the concept of love and time. This time instead of reincarnation, we encounter time travel. A modern woman is inexplicably thrust back into the late 19th century and has to compromise her modern independent feminism with a time of corsets, suffrage, and arranged marriages.

Emma, a modern 21st century woman, leaves a bad party. She had a rough go of things with an impoverished childhood with an abusive father and an inability to trust men because of that. However, she had a decent career as a pharmacy technician and is currently going to medical school to become a pharmacist. That is before a strange light emerging from an old coin transports her to 1881 London.

There are the typical comic scenes with the fish out of water away from their own time. People mistake Emma's iPhone for a music box and dismiss everything from her shirt dress to her modern slang as just being "typical American." Emma almost too quickly adjusts to being in the 19th century to the point that she questions whether her new 19th century friend, Lilly, would understand that she's a "pharmacist." Lily does understand when she uses the term "chemist" though thinks that it's odd for a woman to be studying such a field.

Since Emma has no idea how she got there and no way of getting back, her logical mind tells her that she needs to study this problem and she needs time and luxury to do it. There are very few employment options for women and only two that allow that time: what Lilly does, prostitution, and well marriage. Emma doesn't want to become a prostitute so marriage it is! The two conspire to get Emma married off to the most titled rake in England, a known heartbreaker (so it will be easy to leave him when Emma hightails it back to the 21st century.) Unfortunately, complications ensue when Emma and Lilly's thought out trap snares the wrong man and Emma starts to, gulp, like him.

The love triangle is standard for the historical romance well with the exception that the heroine is from the future. William Blackwell, Duke of Davenport, the one that Emma first has her sights on is the typical dashing womanizing rake. He is almost a stereotype of this character with few redeemable features. John Evergreen is the nice guy who of course falls in love with the girl and vice versa. The romance aspects are the typical ones found in these type of books. However, the ending is a bit unique for a time travel novel and is an unusual bright spot.

Actually, the parts that shine the most are the moments between Emma and Lilly. Lilly helps Emma adjust to life in the 19th century including giving her a Victorian era makeover and revealing the hard life of a prostitute and that she wasn't born one. She is happy to play the part of lady's maid to Emma's eccentric American widowed heiress considering it a step up.  When Emma tells Lilly about her life in America, actually her life in the 21st century, Lilly begs that Emma take her with her. Many of Emma and Lilly's moments together are the true heart of the book and show the real change that could come about when one is able to think forward enough to challenge the circumstances that they were born into.

Trapped in Time is mostly average in terms of romance but it's female characters stand out making it a sharp clever take on time travel and women's status in this and previous centuries.