Weekly Reader: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; LGBT Romances Presents An Idyllic Current World

Weekly Reader: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; LGBT Romance Presents An Idyllic Current World

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by a trans or non-binary author


Spoilers: Of the books that I have been reading during this stressful time, Colin McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue is alternately the saddest and the most uplifting. Uplifting because of what the book is, but saddest in what it represents or what it doesn't represent. It is wish fulfillment, an alternate universe, and a fantasy almost as unrealistic as The Other Magic by Derrick Smythe. It is hopeful and uplifting because it is not the world as it is, but the world as it could be.


The book stars Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of Ellen Claremont, the first female President of the United States and Prince Henry, (not our real-life Prince Harry obviously) grandson of Queen Mary of England. The two are often rivals talking snipes at each other in public and on social media. After a disastrous PR stunt at the Prince of Wales' wedding, in which the two fight resulting in a fallen wedding cake, the two are ordered to act like BFF's, share Instagram photos and Facebook stories of their time together, speak well of each other in interviews, and shadow each other at public events. Little does anyone realize that the two are hiding different feelings that open up on midnight New Year's Eve. The two young men kiss and become lovers. Now, they have to hide their relationship from potentially disapproving friends, family, media, and the general public should they create a scandal.


On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Red, White, and Royal Blue. In fact it's one of the best books that I read so far this year. Alex and Henry are a sweet charming couple that the Readers root for to get together. There are moments with real humor and warmth. Alex and Henry's email exchanges go from mocking to loving such as when they refer to each other in various terms like "Huge Raging Headache Prince Henry of Who Cares" and "First Son of Off-Brand England."

There are also some hilarious moments even after the two are outed. Ellen reacts the way any loving mother/POTUS would: she gives a PowerPoint presentation on "Why Having Sex With Foreign Dignitaries is Considered 'A Gray Area'." Highlights include a slide which reads "Exploring Your Sexuality is Fine But Does It Have To Be With The Prince of England?"


Henry and Alex are public figures, wealthy sons and grandsons of world leaders, but these aren't spoiled rotten kids who use their family connections to get away with trouble. Alex is inspired by his mother's career in politics and studies political science hoping to enter public service one day himself. In fact, he, his sister, June and the VP's granddaughter, Nora are bright brilliant young people who want to use their talents in political science, journalism, and mathematical analysis respectively to not only help Ellen with her reelection campaign, but to carve their own careers.

Meanwhile across the Pond, Henry visits sick children in the hospital particularly in one touching moment when he shares a mutual love of Star Wars with a bed ridden girl. (This exchange also softens Alex's original view of the Prince as a boring entitled snob). Henry is so involved in philanthropic and charitable causes that he considers his birthright to be an impediment from being as involved as he would like. His brother, Phillip, is more of a duty bound Traditionalist and Bea, his sister is more of the stereotypical drug addicted party girl/celebutante, but they are also good characters at heart. They clearly miss their deceased father (who in this version is a retired actor and Royal by marriage) and feel apart from their distant and depressed mother, so the Royal siblings care for and protect each other. If anything the large hearts are just as much a draw for Alex and Henry towards each other as their good looks and family pedigrees.


There are also triumphant moments that recognize the true worth of friendship and family when various people in both America and Britain lend their unwavering support for the duo. Bea, June, and Nora offer a Greek Chorus of sisterly protectiveness towards the Lover Boys.(Though they can't resist pointing out the Real Person Fanfiction about the duo.) Alex's father, Sen. Oscar Diaz treats Henry like another son and once his mother gets past her PowerPoint presentation, her response to the negative publicity is "f$#k it."

There is negative publicity, most prominently Henry's grandmother and brother are the most outspoken against the pairing. Even they are put in their place by Henry's mother who comes out of her depression to finally take an active interest in her children's lives.

Alex eventually gives a speech not only to out himself but to confirm his love for Henry. It is the type of speech that if it were real would go down in history as a monumental moment in LGBTQIA history. Of course the two get a happy ending that comes with some sacrifice, but it warms the heart and makes the Reader stand up and cheer. Which is why Red, White, and Royal Blue alternates between the most uplifting and the saddest.


Red, White, and Royal Blue is the saddest book because the world inside and outside the book couldn't be more different than if Red, White, and Royal Blue took place on Middle Earth or Westeros. To their credit McQuiston was aware of the dichotomy between fiction in reality. In the Afterwards, they state that Red, White, and Royal Blue began production in 2016 and was published in 2019 and McQuiston saw the dichotomy for themselves.

In the setting of Red White and Royal Blue, the first female President who had a commendable previous political and legal career is elected after Obama, the first black President. Even though, her first marriage ended in divorce, she remains on amicable terms with her first husband and her low key second husband does not mind filling the role of First Gentleman. In the real world, a business mogul/reality show star becomes President, even though he had three marriages, cheated on all of his wives with the next one, has made disparaging remarks about women on camera, and his supporters dismiss his behavior as "locker room talk." In this world, three women (one who was African-American), two African-Americans, a Mexican-American man, a gay man, and a Jewish man competed for the 2020 Democratic ticket. One by one, they all dropped out in favor of a 70ish white man with a divisive personality.

In McQuiston's world, Ellen's son and daughter, the First Son and Daughter of the United States are mixed race with a white mother and a Latino father. In this world, immigrant children from various Central American families are separated from their families and placed in cages, given little to no medical treatment, and many have disappeared perhaps into illicit foster homes or sold to human traffickers.

Inside the pages of the book, there is controversy towards the pairing particularly from the Queen of England, but his family manages to help Henry keep his lineage and place in the family world. Outside the pages of the book, Prince Henry and Meaghan Markle, Duke of Duchess of Sussex are in the process of giving up their titles and lineage rather than have Markle receive continue to receive negative criticism for "challenging the role expected of her" (when her late mother in law received praise for doing many of the same things that she does). Instead she and their son have received insults and threats because of their skin color, this being a factor in their leaving.


In fiction, an often marginalized group is given a voice in power. In reality, Ahmoud Arbery was shot just for being a black man jogging in a white neighborhood. George Floyd was killed by a police officer who usurped his authority by putting his knee on Floyd's neck after he passed out. White armed protestors can storm Capitol buildings and not get arrested, but if an actor speaks about an issue or a black football player takes a knee they are considered a threat. Protections for LGBTQIA people have rolled back. Women may be openly accusing powerful men of sexual harassment and assault, but it's the women who are being branded as liars and whores and are removed from their jobs while many of the men remain in their positions and/or are defended, even posthumously.

The President favors alt right and hate groups, praises their actions, and calls them very fine people because they support him. He does and admits various horrible things and still gains support from so-called religious people because he plays on their fears and values.


In Red, White, and Royal Blue, the children of the President, Vice President, and the British Royal family have famous names but don't use them to get away with crimes or to attend parties. Instead they use their talents, expertise, and drive to make the world a better place. In the real world, the children of the President use their famous name to get past conflicts of interest and illegal activities such as defrauding charities (while hypocritically accusing Hunter Biden of the former).

In the book, a bit of political skullduggery is uncovered when Ellen's strongest rival gets a key endorsement when he blackmails a young idealistic senator to support him instead of Ellen. The conspiracy is uncovered and the senator comes clean. Outside the book, the current White House occupant was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction, but the Republican led Senate chose party over country and refused to remove him from office.

The biggest issue during the book's 2020 election is the outing of the President's son. The biggest issue during the real 2020 election is a worldwide pandemic which has killed millions and shows signs of a second wave emerging. Rather than care about their fellow men and women, especially those who are considered essential workers, many refuse to follow health guidelines by gathering in large public places and refusing to wear masks. They claim these regulations are violations of their civil liberties, when all they are protecting people from sickness. Many would rather believe a conspiracy theory, than scientific and medical research and good common sense.

Red, White, and Royal Blue is idealistic because it gives us hope. There is still time to turn things around and let certain people be heard, accept love in its many forms, allow people to live their truths, for friends and family to consider love and support more important than wealth and politics, to become the people that McQuiston wrote.

Weekly Reader: Lawless Justice (The Outlaw Series Book 3) by Karina Kantas; Strong Female Characters Unleash Their Claws In Suspenseful Psychological Thriller About Vigilantism and Gangs

Weekly Reader: Lawless Justice (The Outlaw Series Book 3) by Karina Kantas; Strong Characters Unleash Their Claws in Suspenseful Psychological Thriller About Vigilantism and Living A Double Life

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Vigilantism and gang membership has a certain appeal to some people. Like the beginning of The Godfather when undertaker, Bonasera, can't find justice from the police against the WASP bullies who raped and nearly murdered his daughter. He realizes that for real justice, he must go to Don Vito Corleone. Some people become vigilantes or appeal to gangs when they feel that the system not only won't help them, but favor the oppressors.

That's the situation in Karina Kantas' suspenseful psychological thriller, Lawless Justice book three of her Outlaw Series. When someone is hurt in an abusive situation or is the victim of a crime from a powerful untouchable villain, then for justice these people go not to the police, but to the Kittnz (sic), an all female biker gang that unsheath their claws and enact swift retribution for those who are oppressed and victimized.


The Kittnz are seen through the eyes of Cass, a journalist coming off an abusive relationship. She returns to her home of Milton Keynes, and during a night out with her sister encounters the gang for the first time. The Kittnz may have the name, but they are more like the Big Cats in town. They are beautiful women who drive their own motorcycles, wear leather jackets, and will pick a fight with anyone in their way. Cass is fascinated by this strange gang, but even more so when they save her life after a confrontation with two men. Cass recuperates in their hideout and is eventually invited to join the gang.



Lawless Justice walks a fine but distinct line with it's characters. The Kittnz are clearly the protagonists. Their motives are understandable, but their actions are extremely violent. They will defend a battered wife by beating the daylights out of her abusive husband or give a verbal and physical warning to some White Supremacist youths to leave an immigrant family alone.

But sometimes their behaviors spin out of control like when they take retribution so far as to burn an enemy's house down. They also aren't above threatening members who want to get out. The book stops short of glorifying The Kittnz's behavior or making them heroes, but it does go into the roots of why people join gangs or go to them for help. As regular women, they had been oppressed, abused, marginalized, threatened, and dismissed by authority figures so they feel that they have no choice but to strike back at those who harm them and others who are in the same situation.


One of the more intriguing aspects of this book is how expectations are subverted on who joins these gangs. The Kittnz are not high school dropouts, drug addicts, wayward girls in their teens and twenties from broken homes. These are women in their late 20's-30's in successful careers and day jobs, everything from doctor, lawyer, psychotherapist, photographer, mechanic, and journalist. By day they work and act as pillars of the community, but by night they vent out their frustrations and commit acts of violence. They have real names and identities, but are known primarily by their gang names: Raven (the leader), Scarlet, Jade, Eve, Storm, and Cass' new name, Ice. In fact once Ice gets her new moniker, the third person narration refers to her with that name even when she is with family members and acquaintances outside the gang. It is a subtle reminder that the old abused victim, Cass is dead and in her place is Ice, a woman who

seeks action. with the cold detachment that her name suggests.

The book does not gloss over the violent ending that results from such a life. There is plenty of betrayal and second guessing of motives. Some characters get seriously hurt and others don't make it. The gang life is a violent, angry, short, and ultimately self-destructive one and this book makes no mistake about that.

The Kittnz of Lawless Justice may be badass, but their book is the purrfect blend of action and psychology into the people who are motivated by violence and the actions that they commit.

Weekly Reader: Alternate Warriors Edited by Mike Resnick; Alternate Universe Anthology Creates Interesting and Violent Scenarios

Weekly Reader: Alternate Warriors Edited by Mike Resnick; Alternate Universe Anthology Creates Interesting and Violent Scenarios

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: An anthology

Spoilers: Alternate histories are fun to speculate upon wondering if something had been ever so slightly altered, could things have been different? Many books are written about the possibilities of the Nazis winning WWII or the Confederate states remaining separated from the Union after the Civil War. So many possibilities can be entertained. What if Lee Harvey Oswald missed? What if the Manson Family knocked on the wrong door instead of Sharon Tate's home? What if The Beatles never formed? What if Princess Diana lived to see her sons get married? What if Hilary Clinton never married Bill or won the last election? What if any other President had won instead of the ones that did?


Science Fiction authors have entertained various possibilities in this genre and the projected time streams are as varied as the divergant points in history. Science Fiction author and editor, Mike Resnick, edited a series of anthologies that offer these intriguing possibilities. The first (and best) Alternate Presidents gives various failed candidates a chance to grace the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Another book in the series is Alternate Warriors. The premise is that various figures known for their pacificism, or nonviolent displays of civil disobedience now stop turning the other cheek and instead start picking up guns and swords. These characters embrace more violent natures in stories that open up very dark, violent, fascinating possibilities in history.


The best stories are:


"Because Thou Lovest a Burning Ground" by Michael P. Kube-McDowell- Alternate warrior: Mohandas K. Mahatma Gandhi

In our timeline, Gandhi was known for his pacifistic nature and acts of civil disobedience against English colonialism. This story suggests what would have happened if he had a different guide in his path: Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Death and Retribution. The plot supposed that Gandhi, a young medical student is mentored by Jafir, the remnant of the Thuggee cult that worshipped Kali. Gandhi is enticed by the Thuggees's violent nature to strangle their enemies without remorse. He is also driven by an India in which natives are forced to be educated in English, refused admission to certain studies, and villages are destroyed by English soldiers for the slightest provocation. While the Thuggee are written as a violent bunch, it is easy to see why Gandhi would use violence against violence. Using his leadership skills and cult of personality, the story ends on a bone chilling note when Gandhi is surrounded by hundreds of Thuggee followers ready to meet bloodshed with bloodshed.


"Extreme Feminism" by Nicholas DiChario-Alternate warrior: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Victoria Woodhull

A common thread in these stories are that as bad as the situations are in reality, the stories are far worse. Certain groups are treated even worse (if such a thing could be possible) causing those who speak out with little choice but to react with violence, creating an even worse cycle of violence in which history can never climb out from. This story presents the possibility of how women's status was changed if Abraham Lincoln was assassinated not by John Wilkes Booth but by Mary E. Surratt (in reality, the owner of boarding house in which Booth stayed. She was the only female conspirator in the Lincoln assassination that was executed. This story implies that Surratt acted alone.) Since it was a woman that assassinated the President, the men in charge of law and politics decided that all women must be punished. They are forced by law to wear constricting bodices, petticoats, corsets and bonnets that cover all parts of the body and limit movement and breathing. ("A comfortable woman is a dangerous woman," they reason.) They are unable to purchase anything including guns without written consent from their husbands. As for the right to vote, well that's never going to happen.

Besides the conflicts between the feminists like Susan B. Anthony and the male dominated society, there is also conflict between the feminists themselves. There are the older ones like Anthony who prefer to fight with words and harmless stunts to get attention, like women firing guns into the air after Anthony makes a speech. Then there are the younger ones like Victoria Woodhull, who call themselves "Extreme Feminists" and prefer to commit violent acts like shooting and kidnapping male soldiers. The violent and nonviolent approaches go beyond either Anthony or Woodhull's expectations when a shootout ends on a bloody note for the feminists but gives Anthony the chance to unleash the power she longs for and as the narration tells us: "what no woman ever had a choice."


"The Firebringers" by David Gerrold-Alternate warrior: Various Hollywood icons including Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bob Hope, Van Johnson, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

In the introduction, Resnick describes author, David Gerrold's career as a Hollywood screenwriter allowed him to think big. This story proves that. The basic premise is that the atomic bomb that the Americans sent is not dropped in Japan, but in Germany. Besides the change in direction, there is also a change in personnel. The flight crew on this fatal trip is comprised of Hollywood actors including Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney.

The characters are amalgams of their real selves and the characters that they played, the personas more known to the public. The story is littered with inside references making it one of the cleverest stories in the anthology. There are several references to their movies and lives. Bogart talks about returning to Morocco and reopen his cafe (referencing Casablanca). Lieutenants Laurel and Hardy were piano movers before the war (like in their Academy Award winning short, The Music Box). Cagney, the narrator writes in first person normally but his dialogue is punctuated "Oh..uh ah," and other fillers mimicking every comedian's impression of him ever.

By far the strongest characters are Colonals Gregory Peck and Ronald Reagan, also playing their types. Channeling his future (real life) career as President during the last days of the Cold War, Reagan describes the Germans as an "evil empire" and is in favor of bombing them sky high. Peck however, speaks in the voice of his character, Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird and tries to appeal to the crew's decency and basic humanity. This story is also one of the few in the anthology which doesn't end in violence, and insteads shows that cooler heads can prevail.



"The Cold Warrior" by Jack C. Haldeman II-Alternate warrior: Marilyn Monroe

Another Hollywood performer taking a violent turn in this anthology, is Marilyn Monroe. Though unlike the boys in "The Firebringers", she is acting by her lonesome self. This story reveals that this alternate Marilyn is more than capable of doing just that.

While she is still an actress in this story, Monroe has more important things in mind like revenge against Fidel Castro after a failed romance with Castro's partner, Che Guevera. Monroe uses her looks, charisma, and various other attributes to spy on such notables as Castro, Jimmy Hoffa, the Mafia, CIA, and just about anyone else in her way. The real Monroe was considered a soft spoken, troubled, insecure actress who had been victimized by a Hollywood patriarchal system, a drug addiction, and her own worries about her screen image. This Monroe is a hard edged, cynical, tough talking spy/assassin who uses any man in her way before shooting him. Like many other characters in these stories, this story opens up the dark side that Monroe may have unleashed if given the chance.


"One by One" by Beth Meacham-Alternate warrior: Tecumseh

Most of the stories feature the direct cause of the violence, the moment when the character embraces their dark sides. This story is the effect, what happens 200 years after Tecumseh, the Prophet's dream united the various tribes into the Shawnee Alliance and to fight a continuous war against their white invaders.

The world that is portrayed is the 1960's during this ongoing endless conflict when Walks Softly, a young woman seeking vengeance for the deaths of her father and brother, joins the terrorist organization that attacks the whites only towns. There are many moments of Native Americans striking back on their foes such as Ed Ames recreating the tomahawk throwing incident on the Tonight Show. However, the real life incident involved Ames throwing the tomahawk at a drawing's groin with some off-color harmless jokes from Carson. In this time stream, an angry Ames grieving over the death of his nephew, takes offense at Carson's humor and silences the talk show host but good, on live television.

This intense short story climaxes in a moment when Walks Softly has to make the decision to save a white childhood friend or to commit the violence that she is trained to do. The ending reveals the conditioning that this war has brought when people on both sides only see an enemy and not a human being and revenge and rage are all that they live for.


"Death of a Dream" by Jack C. Haldeman II-Alternate warrior: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gets the focus of two stories. The first Lawrence Schimel's "Taking Action", shows King tortured by dreams but not his famous one of equality. Instead, they are prophetic dreams of the Anita Hill testimony before Congress and the Rodney King beating and various other scenes of racism. (One can only imagine that if the story were updated how many more dreams he would have including Travyon Martin, Michael Brown, Ahmoud Arbery, the South Carolina church shootings and so on.)

The better story is Haldeman's "Death of a Dream." This depicts a King still alive in 1975, but an embittered, angry King who is dying of cancer and is no longer the golden voiced idealist who united all people under his dream. Instead he never got to give his speech. In this version of events, he was openly denounced by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Most of the co-leaders of the Civil Rights Movement withdrew their allegiances with King and Malcom X went to prison for successfully assasinating Alabama Gov. George Wallace Segregation continues and spreads throughout the entire United States. The Civil Rights bill is rejected. African-Americans are denied the right to vote and maybe forced to return to Africa.

This is the most pessimistic of the stories featuring a character with nothing left to lose. King knows he's going to die, so he is doing the only thing that he has left taking the President of the United States (former Chicago mayor), Richard J. Daley with him. Even though it's less than five pages, it shows what happens when the fight is gone and all the warrior has left is bitterness, exhaustion, and vengeance.


Alternate Warriors takes these characters down a dark side. While their motives are understandable, often driven by prejudice, hatred, or vengeance, these stories retroactively make their real life actions more admirable. They could have easily chosen violence and walked down these dark paths, but they didn't. Instead, they chose to fight with words, talents, resistance, and bloodless action. In doing so, they became the real heroes.

Weekly Reader: Slow Down by Lee Matthew Goldberg; A Dark Drug Fueled Thriller About Fame, Ambition, Addiction, and Selling One's Soul

Weekly Reader: Slow Down by Lee Matthew Goldberg; A Dark Drug Fueled Thriller About Fame, Ambition, Addiction, and Selling One's Soul

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Lee Matthew Goldberg's novel, Slow Down, could be considered The Millennial Version of What Makes Sammy Run? In Budd Schulberg's 1941 novel/expose of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Sammy Glick, a shifty opportunistic copyboy steals screenplays, connives against rivals, beds and discards mistresses, and makes life a living Hell for those around him in his climb to the top of the Hollywood scene, only to find his success hollow and empty when there are others waiting to replace and destroy him.

Slow Down has characters that could be considered Sammy Glick's protegees. Only they have benefits from such modern tools as technology and drug use to their advantage.

Slow Down is a dark comedy of a book that seems like one long drug fueled trip into the excesses of fame, ambition, and selling one's soul to those who are better players in the ruthless game of instant celebrity.

Noah Spaeth, is a young ambitious writer with a big mouth who comes from a rich dysfunctional Central Park West family. In his early 20's, Noah has a troubled relationship with just about everyone in his life: from his constantly traveling parents, to his screwed up brother, to his spoiled sister, to his bitchy boss, to his long train of weird friends and clingy ex-girlfriends. Just recently he got fired from his job because he accidentally sent an insulting email to his boss. No problem, Noah says, he has time to focus on his writing and to finally get that one success story which will propel him to gaining that reputation as a bright young genius. Okay, he only has a margin of a idea for his novel with only a few scenes written and one character named Nina. But he is certain his time will come.

Noah's former girlfriend, aspiring actress, Nevie invites him to a swank party and introduces him to experimental filmmaker, Dominick Bambach. Dominick's previous success was an erotic thriller, Detached. His latest project is even more off the beaten path. It is Slow Down and will feature him only giving his actors a small semblance of a scene and have them react as he films. He wants to film their reactions and natural behaviors injecting realism to his production. Noah is fascinated with the project and would like to be mentored by Dominick, at least long enough to give his own career a boost.

Unfortunately, that fascination turns to revulsion when Noah is introduced to a drug called Fast, which produces psychotic after effects. He also encounters a few young actresses, working on Dominick's film, who have similar tattoos of a yellow circle and become insanely violent whenever that tattoo is touched. Could Dominick be so obsessed with filming a natural performance that he is willing to drug his actresses to get it?

Noah also has further questions when he encounters Dominick's wife, Isadora who seduces the young writer and questions her husband's writing and directing ability. Noah's ambitious drive increases and he plots to steal Dominick's movie and his wife.


Slow Down is one ironic title. Things move along at a regular pace, then something happens that speeds up the action to a dizzying pace. There are moments where you can't be sure if what you are reading is really happening, if Noah (or the Reader) is hallucinating, or if the action is completely fictional and instead just the product of a writer finally creating his magnum opus.

The drug scenes are terrifying because of the uncertainty. Many of the women go from bright, ambitious, attractive, budding starlets to animalistic homicidal maniacs, almost as a symbol of the control that Dominick and Noah have over them. Noah also goes through various drug trips with Fast that further confuses things and puts him at Dominick's mercy while he believes that he is in control.

When the yellow circle reappears in Noah's life, it is almost like a warning of terrifying lines that shouldn't be crossed.


The biggest drug in the book is not Fast, but ambition and it hits Noah hard. The more Noah becomes entangled with Dominick and his movie, the more he wants Dominick's life. He entertains notions of the lengths that he will go to pursue his goals from stealing the film to murdering Dominick and marrying Isadora. He beds Nevie and various other actresses to act on his frustrations of his wasted life. He conspires with Isadora so that he can replace Dominick by her side and obtain the filmmaker's reputation via osmosis.

Noah's ambitions are cold, but Noah is more like the little kid who robs cash registers in convenience stores then says, "I'm really bad, honest!" in front of a violent street gang who are ready to commit mass murder. Noah never realizes that he is playing in the big leagues until he reads the final draft of Slow Down and realizes that he is a figurative character just moving along in other people's schemes. He followed someone else's script and was controlled by other's machinations and his own ambitions.

Slow Down is a dark book that gets to the center of various kinds of addiction, not just drugs but fame and success as well. Noah started out brilliant, but angry that he was not put in a position for others to recognize that talent and drive. In the end, he may want fame but the fame is only temporary and once the excitement is done, he wants more. More success on his own terms, more money, a penthouse apartment, more dates, more beautiful mistresses, more drugs, more everything. The price when it comes down is that Noah is no longer in control, still the neurotic insecure mess that he always was, not directing and instead playing out other people's scripts.

Weekly Reader: The Lazy Bachelor (The Rowland Sisters Series Book Two) by Catherine Dove; Darker, but Still Memorable Follow Up to Mr. Harding Proposes

Weekly Reader: The Lazy Bachelor (The Rowland Sisters Series Book Two) by Catherine Dove; Darker, but Still Memorable Follow Up To Mr. Harding Proposes




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: So we come to another Regency era Romance by Catherine Dove, her second in The Rowland Sisters Series, The Lazy Bachelor. It is the darker older sibling to the previous book.


It has a decent female lead, some interesting moments particularly with two very young orphaned sisters, and while the male protagonist isn't the most likeable, he learns the obligatory lesson becomes a decent guy in the end. But it also has a slight edge which puts such issues as parental death, child abandonment, and class division in the forefront. It is not as light and airy as Mr. Harding Proposes and it certainly isn't meant to be. If the answer to the previous book would be "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" The answer to this would be "Uhhh, I would have to think about it."


Pergerine "Perry" Tyndall is the eponymous bachelor and he certainly lives up to the name. He is the type of guy who would rather coast by with money, looks, and charm rather than anything else. Even though his family is nobility, he doesn't even have to deal with the tedium tasks that come with being a title. That is all left to his cousin, Earl of Shipton. The good news is Shipton is fairly young man in good health. Unfortunately, Shipton is seriously injured. He survived but his near accident fills Perry with terror. If Shipton dies, Perry would have to be an Earl and work...and...stuff.

Unlike some of the more recent male protagonists in period romances that I have read so far, Perry probably begins as the least likeable. Far from The Baron and the Enchantress' Walter who intends to use his wealth to aid others and Mr. Harding Proposes' Richard who has an engaging down to earth personality, Perry offers very little likeability as a romantic lead. He is more farcical in nature, more similar a character from P.G. Wodehouse, broad and humorous than the gentle comedy usually associated with Regency Romance. He is almost too silly to be believable as a romantic lead.


However, he is not a hardhearted man or a snob. He shows some genuine heart, especially in his moments with Frances and Eleanor Armitage, two orphaned sisters. Their plight is not sugarcoated. Both sisters are orphaned at a young age and Frances is someone that comes across as very mature for her age. The two suffer from abandonment issues and are tired of being shuffled around and raised by detached guardians. Perry is just someone who pays money without any emotional involvement until the sisters basically call him out on his attitude. While Perry at first is reluctant, he bonds with the sisters. He helps guide Frances in her interest in men and he has some moments with Eleanor that are just too precious and would melt the hardest of hearts. The Armitage Sisters help turn Perry into a man who takes more involvement in life than just being there.

Another person that helps change Perry's character is Portia Freestone. Perry's appearance and behavior is counterbalanced by the female protagonist, Portia, Perry's cousin by marriage. She harbored an unrequited crush on Perry for years,but is not the type to be noticeable even during her Season. She starts out very shy and has a bit of a sardonic nature that mocks romantic conventions such as when she is told that she has acquired the interest of the local rake by planning on "feigning interest" in her pursuit.

Portia provides a contrast to a familiar face, Cecilia Rowland, the younger of the two sisters. They are extremely different, Cecilia is pretty, flirtatious, and lighthearted. While Portia is considered plain, serious, and quiet. I suppose it is confusing why Cecilia is not the lead female character in a series called The Rowland Sisters, instead of just the close friend of the female lead. Perhaps because of the darker tone, there needed to be a more serious lead to counterbalance Perry's foolishness.

Portia provides a guide to help Perry become a better person. She opens him up to friendship with the Armitage Sisters and occasionally isn't afraid to call him out on his B.S. These are traits that the more frivolous and dizzy Cecilia does not always possess.

If the theme to Mr. Harding Proposes is to accept people as they are, then the theme to The Lazy Bachelor is change, that the right person may like you even love you, but they also will help you become a better person. Through their rocky courtship which involves other pairings and typical mistaken assumptions Perry becomes more active and less self-centered and Portia gains a lot of self-worth and confidence that allows her to help Perry on his journey.

Because Perry begins the book so farcical, but the rest of the book deals with darker subjects, the tone is somewhat uneven but it levels out when Perry becomes more involved in Portia and The Armitage Sisters.

The Lazy Bachelor is a nice continuation to Mr. Harding Proposes, the dark counterpart to Mr. Harding's light. However, they both present lovely romances to bring the Reader back to the Regency era.

Weekly Reader: The Helpers: An International Tale of Espionage and Corruption by S.E. Nelson; Suspenseful, Almost Dizzying Novel of Corruption, Conspiracy, and Murder in Congo

Weekly Reader: The Helpers: An International Tale of Espionage and Corruption by S.E. Nelson; Suspenseful, Almost Dizzying Novel of Corruption, Conspiracy, and Murder in Congo

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book by or about a journalist


Spoilers: With a name like The Helpers, S.E. Nelson's gang of antagonists in this thriller novel of the same name, understand the meaning of irony. These so-called Helpers are anything but. They would not help someone cross the street, so much as push them into oncoming traffic, especially if that person were on the opposite side of their specific agendas.




The Helpers are the real powers behind the political and business world in the African nation of Congo. Not a move gets made without their say so. They organize wars and revolutions for fun and profit. People who speak out against them usually end up missing or dead with valuable parts of their anatomy gone. They also appear to have long arms that extend beyond their hold in Congo.


This is the group that many are investigating in this tense novel that is almost dizzying with action, suspense, and one betrayal after another. There are many who are investigating this fearsome group.

French intelligence operatives, Lance Lemmand and Pierre-Jean Philippe. The two suspect that the current rebel outbreaks in Congo to be orchestrated from the inside by this powerful group.

The other people who are interested in the Helpers are Jenny Osborne and John Spencer, freelance journalist and photojournalist respectively. The duo are on assignment to investigate the conflicts in Congo, but end up getting caught in the middle of the Helpers's conspiracy when one of their sources leads the journalists right to them.


This book can be confusing to the point that the different twists, climaxes, and reveals are so prevelant so sometimes it's hard to tell who is on whose side. After awhile, you become completely used to the betrayal. used. It's hard to care about a character when you are waiting for the other shoe to drop and that person gets revealed as a traitor or at the very least a double agent.


However, there are some great moments that reveal Nelson's talent for capturing the Reader's attention. One passage that reveals this is when Lance goes through some clever subterfuge to hide from an enemy. This includes changing trains, traveling through different countries, and obtaining information from quirky Hitchcockian characters who may or may not be trustworthy.


The characters are interesting, but typical for this type of work. There is the grizzled veteran, the bright young protogee working with the wily vet, the intrepid dedicated journalists, the terrorist motivated by fervent hatred and blinded fanaticism, the corrupt business person who is only loyal to the almighty dollar, the sultry agent playing various sides. They are all there and doing their thing.


By far the strongest character is Kai, a young woman forced into prostitution as a child. She is a witness to the Helpers's cruelty and is protected by Jenny and John. She becomes a symbol of the suffering that the Helpers force on their people. Kai is determined to get out of Congo and make a new life for herself and her mother and willingly puts herself in danger.


Another great twist is what happens or rather doesn't happen to The Helpers. Many books end with the conspiracy dying or at least suffering a gaping wound. Not this one. Making the Helpers as big as they are, makes it hard to swallow that they could be brought down by a single action or a few individuals. At most their organization suffers a few pin pricks and the ending is full aware that there will always be powerful groups waiting in the wings and a charismatic leader ready to grab the reins of power


The Helpers is flawed, but it captures the Readers with a suspension and tension from the first page to the last.

Weekly Reader: Stellar by Kevin Hollingsworth; Poetry Book Sparkles With Words Of Love

Weekly Reader: Stellar by Kevin Hollingsworth; Poetry Book Sparkles With Words of Love and Loss

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



Spoilers: Kevin Hollingsworth's book of poems, Stellar lives up to the name.


It is a wonderful book filled with prose poems that sparkles with love and ache with loss. Hollingsworth's words carry a lyrical beauty that reminds one of the ecstacy of falling in love and the pain when it is gone.


Many of the poems visualize concepts with personification comparing them to the love of a person. "America" describes the country as a woman. Hollingsworth writes " Music wandered through the sky/The mist touched her skin and, it felt so good/Red, white and blue combed her hair so fine/She was magnificent, and she was free/Her name was America, and I was/Proud to walk by her side."


Sometimes Hollingsworth does the opposite and compares lovers to other things like nature. In the poem, "Mirage," the desert optical illusion becomes an extended metaphor for a transitory love affair. "My throat was not quenched/As the sun pummeled it's searing heat/When I woke up, I looked around/There was no lover, and no lady of my dreams;/Just, the sun, the sand, the wind and/The desert's searing heat/Calmly by my side."


Hollingsworth writes unusual simile and metaphor to describe people. In "Blessing in Disguise", the Speaker compares a woman "as pretty as the French language/Her song was like a dream (he) once knew."


The title poem refers to a woman that sparkles with a beauty in which she is unaware. "Stella was beauty that they could not understand/Her beauty was surrounded by smiles that admired her/Elegance commented that she look too good/Attraction realized her magnetism as/She glided up the stairs"..."Sensuality had to make Stella part of the conversation as her/Future was promising/She was more than robust/Her trademark was stellar and so was her beauty."


Some of the best poems are what I call the name poems in which Hollingsworth titles a poem with person's name and the Speaker describes their love life with the title figure, often an unhappy affair. In the poem, "Christina," the Speaker compares meeting the beautiful Christina to waiting in line for something elusive but finding it like two beings dancing to the same music. Christina disappears from the Speaker's life leaving him once again waiting in line but this time not finding a suitable partner with whom to share the music.


Some name poems have a bittersweet context such as "Pamela's Heart." In this poem, the Speaker remembers his lover Pamela's beautiful kind heart and how she was the love of his life. However lines like "Love with no compromise/That was what Pamela was about" refer to Pamela in the past tense suggesting that she is no longer with the Speaker. Since the Speaker speaks so lovingly of Pamela and gives no indication that she left or broke his heart further implies that she died and all the Speaker has to remember her is of her good heart. The name poems individualize each subject and what the Speakers hold onto in their memories of them.


Hollingsworth's poetry captures love and heartache with imagery that fills you with sadness and longing. Hollingsworth is a true stellar poet.

New Book Alert: Eli's Promise by Ronald H. Balson; Tense and Moving Novel About Death, War Crimes, and Revenge

New Book Alert: Eli's Promise by Ronald H Balson; Tense and Moving Novel About Death, War Crimes, and Revenge

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews





Spoilers: Surely many have it right from the French Revolutionaries to the Klingon Empire that revenge is really a dish best served cold. Though sometimes that cold dish is not served by choice. Sometimes the recipient of that revenge slips away leaving the accusor to spend many years, even decades, of hunting down the person that they hold responsible.


The cold dish of revenge and belated justice is the main theme behind Ronald H. Balson's Eli's Promise, a tense, gripping, andstrong novel. It takes the Reader from 1940's Poland to 1960's Chicago covering twenty-five years, a Polish town, a temporary displaced person's camp, various American businesses and high rises, and two wars before said justice and revenge are finally carried out.

Eli Rosen is a construction worker in Lublin, Poland when the Nazis come blasting their way in. Suddenly, the life he knows is turned around on its head. Jews are moved to a ghetto. Women like his wife are forced to work as seamstresses at a factory. Place names are changed to reflect the new order. Then many people disappear under mysterious circumstances and certain words like "resettlement", "special handling", and "labor camps" carry extremely ominous overtones.


Eli's family including his wife, Esther, father, Jacob, and son, Isaak are under the dubious protection of one Maximilian Poleski, an opportunist and war profiteer. He claims to protect the Rosen Family but only so they serve his purpose. Eli and his brother work under his now proprietorship. Max makes arrangements for favors such as Esther to work in the factory in exchange for money and obtainining young girls. If possible, Maximilian is less likeable than the Nazis. He is a character who is seemingly charming but is really nothing more than a snake looking out for number one.

Eli and his family reluctantly work and barely survive under Maximilian's so-called protection until Eli is temporarily separated from his family. He returns to find his father beaten and his wife and son missing. He is eventually reunited with Isaak but Esther remains missing. It doesn't take much for Eli to realize that Maximilian arranged Esther's departure and even though Eli and Isaak are put into a concentration camp until the end of the war and then placed in a temporary holding place for displaced persons afterwards, Eli never lets go of his desire to reunite with Esther and get retribution towards the man that he considers the author of his misery: Maximilian.


Eli is an extremely heroic character. The more unlikeable that Maximilian is, the more we are rooting for Eli to take him down. We are also rooting for Eli to find his own place and to get his life back together. In the DP camp, Eli shows leadership capabilities by helping the other refugees, ultimately becoming the leader of their community. He is also a devoted single father to Isaak. He soothes the boy's fears, nurses him through Illness, encourages his talents in music and athletics, and tries to heal his trauma. Even though Eli makes a female friend, Esther is not far from his mind. When by chance, he learns that Maximilian is not only still around but up to his old tricks by selling forged U.S. visas, Eli is determined to confront his old foe and find out the truth of Esther's whereabouts.


The plot takes a unique twist into the 1960's just as America's involvement in the Vietnam War begins to escalate. Mimi, an intrepid young journalist from Chicago becomes curious about her suave new boarder, guess who, Eli Rosen. Turns out Eli now works for the State Department and is investigating a corrupt Congressman who also happens to be the father of Mimi's best friend, Christine. Even though this case is half a world and twenty five years away, it puts Eli right in the path of his old arch enemy. The private war between two men that represented the opposite sides of the Holocaust becomes a very public war when it also involves others including Mimi, Christine, their friends and family, and eventually the United States government.

Eli's Promise is a nail biting suspenseful novel as Eli strives to capture Maximilian and or learn the truth only for him to slither away because of his contacts, influence, and charm. It becomes a victorious climax when the two are reunited once more and Maximilian is deprived of any means of escape and Eli finally is able to get justice rained down on the slime.


Eli's Promise is the kind of book that shows that revenge and justice can take awhile, but when they do, they are that much sweeter.

New Book Alert: Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs; Funny and Touching YA Novel About Fame and Young and Old Love

New Book Alert Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs; Funny and Touching YA Novel About Young and Old Loves and Fame

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with an upside down image


Spoilers: In this age of disposable fame when YouTube speeds up the fifteen minutes of Fame predicted by Andy Warhol, it can be rather discombobulating when someone you know gets that fame. Suddenly, the person that used to be just the average Joe or Josephine is now the subject of BuzzFeed, YouTube, TMZ, and every social media account, every gossip rag, and entertainment show. Whether that person was your friend, relative, or lover you might be proud, but mostly just confused, jealous, left out, think better them than me, or wonder why that person. What was so special about them and not you?


That is the situation faced by Edwin Green, the protagonist of Two Like Me and You, Chad Alan Gibbs' hilarious and touching YA Novel. Edwin's former girlfriend, Sadie Evans has acquired accidental fame and has taken that to new heights as an actress and pop singer, both of questionable talent. Edwin has to hear about his now famous girlfriend from everyone: his classmates, teachers, his mother and stepfather, the media. Only his best friend tries not to mention her, but sometimes the temptation is too great. The only thing that he wants these days is to become famous so he can catch the eye once more of Sadie and be back in her loving arms once more.


However, in school he is partnered up with Parker Haddaway, a new girl who is Sadie and Edwin's polar opposite in many ways. She is secretive and mysterious, and prefers to keep to herself. She also arouses the interest and speculation of the student body who wonder about her story. Is she a foster child who lived with a succession of aunts? Is she a run away living by herself? Is she a lesbian or asexual? Is she not a teenager but an adult undercover agent posing as a teenage student to expose some drug ring? Either way, she's not talking and they can't find out any information. Why (gasp), she barely has a social media presence and what they can find is contradictory at best.


Anyway, Parker and Edwin are paired up during an assignment to interview someone who lived during WWII. Parker has the perfect subject, Garland Lenox, a 90ish resident of Morning Arbor Nursing Home, where Parker is a frequent visitor. Garland captivates the duo with his tales mostly tall like how he won bronze in the 1944 Olympics (even though there weren't any Olympics that year.). Usually, he tells those stories with repeating his frequent catchphrase, "You just can't make s#$t like this up."

However, he also tells them the truth like how he was raised in a doomsday cult and volunteered to fight in the War to get away from the weird doomsday preppers and see a world in which he had been cut off, as much as to serve his country. He also speaks romantically about Madeleine, his lost love with whom he has reason to suspect may still be alive. He longs to go to France to be reunited with her, but he needs some help. Parker is willing to go for reasons that are known only to her, but neither she nor Garland can drive or speak French. If only Parker and Garland knew someone who could do both, wants to be famous, and is extremely gullible.

Well, it takes several chapters to convince him, but Edwin finally agrees and the next thing Edwin knows, the Three Intergenerational Stooges are on a plane heading for Paris.


There are plenty of laugh out loud moments such as when Edwin compares the sudden Paris trip as the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. "New Coke, Jar Jar Binks, only having twenty lifeboats on the Titanic all look brilliant compared to this." The chapter titles add to the humor by referring to Edwin as "Our hero" such as "In which our hero says no a dozen times, before finally saying maybe."

Another moment occurs when Parker first captivates Edwin's interest by quoting lines from that noted Romantic poet….Sir Mix-a-Lot. Sharing a mutual love of old school rap causes the two kids to bond and develop into a friendship then romance


The trip to France takes on mostly farcical proportions that are pretty unbelievable, probably so no impressionable youngsters reading can imitate this ill-advised journey and leave Gibbs personally responsible. The trio create an elaborate lie in which they tell the nursing home one thing, but tell their families and the school something else. Edwin also foolishly gives his own email address when pretending to be Garland's lawyer. (Tip for future reference: not many lawyers would have the email address ladiessluvcoolE.) There is also some comic suspense when Parker accidentally shoots a French police officer and Garland accidentally causes the police car to explode. It's almost like a list of what not to do during such a caper.


Of course their trip does not go unnoticed. From when they are on the plane, the word is out about the escapees. Their cell phones are jam packed with text messages from authority figures, classmates who want to know the news, Garland's lawyer who thinks that the kids kid (or adult)napped his client, and Edwin's mother and stepfather who threaten to ground Edwin for the rest of his life. The longer they stay away, the more famous their story becomes. They acquire a presence on social media and become YouTube celebrities. Even Anderson Cooper weighs in on this odd story.

So Edwin gets the fame he longs for and naturally the attention of Sadie.

While there are plenty of humor, there is plenty of warmth especially when the truths to the characters's stories are revealed. Edwin learns about Parker's past and also learns from her that sometimes fame has negative consequences, especially when it's a fame that one didn't ask for. Edwin also has a dramatic confrontation with Sadie when he learns that she is using his new found celebrity to continue hers and what shallow monsters that she and her family have become because of all the attention.

Some of the more moving events occur when we learn about Garland and Madeleine's romance. Garland wants to gain some closure and give his story a finishing period. The moments where the kids and then he learn what happened to Madeleine carry the real heart of the book and injects some warmth to these characters that are already made likeable by their goofy hijinks


Two Like Me and You is a breezy, fun, laughable, and warm book that celebrates both young and old love. Garland is right you not only cannot make s$#t like this up, but you can't stop laughing along with it either.