Barker House, by David Moloney

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Paige

Barker House is a fictional work of interconnected short stories that follow the lives of nine Corrections Officers in New Hampshire. These are not short stories about a Corrections Unit; each story is about a moment in the life of a Corrections Officer.

All of the nine characters tell a solemn story; their unifying trait deriving from their job as a corrections officer. The reader is invited to briefly observe the officers and their day from a distance, since the stories are short and only go so far. Though each character works as an officer at Barker House, not all stories take place there. For example, one story takes place at a strip club.

This was an okay read. Most of the stories I thought were okay, though a few of them I thought were good. Overall, I felt like the novel was missing something that would bring it home.

Barker House is David Moloney’s debut novel. Visit his website.

Read BookPage’s review or Publisher Weekly’s review for Barker House.

Visit the publishers page for Barker House.

You can read an excerpt of Barker House near the bottom of this MVmag article.

https://youtu.be/VBV6GQcjVqY

Other writing by David Moloney includes fiction Dzole, Our Champion.

Follow David Moloney on Twitter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. Opinions are my own.

|Purchase on Amazon| Goodreads Review|

Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Paige

Told in first person, our main character and narrator Lillian travels to see her friend, Madison, who has a job offer for her. It isn’t until after she accepts the job as governess to Madison’s step-children that Madison tells her the kids burst into flames when they feel angry or frustrated.

The fire children do not make an appearance until 26% (on a Kindle). The first 1-7% is the foundation of Lillian and Madison’s relationship. This includes how the met, their school-girl-days, and their current status. The story of their girlhood makes you feel emphatic towards Lillian and resentful towards Madison. From 7-26% it is Madison preparing Lillian for the children, and Lillian adjusting to her new rich life at her friends mansion house since Madison married a wealthy Senator. From 26%-until the end is the adventure of Lillian with the flammable twins.

Lillian’s voice and POV is what makes the story so comical. Her comparisons, overemphasis, self-deprecation, and sarcasm created lots of laughable moments.
While the beginning starts off hilarious, the story itself that revolves around the relationship of the main character and the two children who are combustible is starkly serious. Though obviously cynical, I felt the twins ability to burst into flames an affect of both satire and analogy. The embedded theme for their paranormal state of combustion seems to mirror the treatment of children who have behavioral challenges that might just be misunderstood or have yet to receive proper coping skills. Does love have its limits? The flammable twins struggle to feel love from their father because of their flaw and ultimately want to feel accepted by their family.

“They didn’t want to set the world on fire. They just wanted to be less alone in it.“

Family dynamics, parental love, and acceptance is a focus in this funny but short tale that includes wearing inflammable clothes and applying noncombustible stuntman gel to those around. How will Lillian learn to handle the children when they “burst into flames”?

I loved this book and laughed out loud! But at the end, I teared up!

Books

For Author Kevin Wilson, Writing Offers A Brief Reprieve From Tourette’s. Read the full article here.

Read USA Today’s article on *Nothing To See Here*.

|Purchase on Amazon| Goodreads Review|

Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Paige

This is a fast-paced thriller and I really enjoyed it. The beginning starts off strong with hard evidence proving Geo helped, in some way, with the murder her best friend, Angela, when she was in high school. How would you be able to explain helping cover up the murder of your best friend fourteen years ago in high school after a party? With your boyfriend? Buried in your backyard? The body dismembered?

“It wasn’t just Angela who died that night. Part of Geo did, too, and she’s long suspected it was the best part of her.”

“Back and forth and back again, the saw tore her best friend open. She heard the moment when saw hit bone. It made a scraping sound.”

The whole time I was trying to decide if I liked Geo or not, and what the motive was. There are jail scenes, court room excitement, and teenage drama that all add up to a tangled network of secrets that lead to the truth of Angela’s murder. The truth isn’t fully revealed until the end; so, the reader must piece the entire story together page by page.

Since the murder of Geo’s best friend, Angela, happened in high school, all the flashbacks occur during their time as teenagers in high school. The attitudes, relationships, and choices made while teenagers were definitely reflective of their youth and development.

There were a few twists during the last half that made that portion more of a page turner. As you are getting to the end, more information is revealed that creates for a sobering ending. Although I was able to figure some things out, I wasn’t able predict everything. However, there were some things I felt seem far-fetched.

Within the first 30 or so pages there is a rape scene, and it will not be the last. There is a lot of sex and details regarding sex. Abusive relationships is also a notably detailed.

|Purchase on Amazon | Goodreads Reviews|

The Kurdish Bike, by Alesa Lightbourne

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Paige

The Kurdish Bike is the narrative account of an American teacher’s journey to Kurdish Iraq. Although entering Iraq as a teacher, Theresa leaves having learned more than expected.
On her journey, she immerses the readers into the Kurdish culture. It takes Theresa a while to adapt to the new environment and culture, but after purchasing a bike she is able to acclimate more rapidly.

To her surprise, she experiences but a small taste of the caste system primarily through a Kurdish woman that she becomes friends with. Theresa seeks to help her new friend but understands she must respect the rules of her friend’s home; and as an American woman has a hard time swallowing what she must accept. Her local friends are not always making the best decisions, and Theresa must watch as they reap the consequences. As a teacher in this foreign land, her career is tested, and character threatened.

So, it is only after her divorce that Theresa signs up to teach abroad in Iraq. I did not care for her anecdotal divorce history. At moments throughout her account in Iraq, she has moments of pining for her old life with her husband, and recounts details in her divorce often. It was not pertinent to the story of her life with Kurds and it took away from the culture of the book.

Although fictitious, this work is based upon the author’s time and experiences in Kurdish Iraq. The Author’s Afterward is a must read as the author briefly explains important events that transpired during her time there. A glossary is included in the back as a reference to the Arabic words, names, and phrases that were used in the book.
I highly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to those with multicultural interests.

| Purchase on Amazon | Goodreads Review |

It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Paige

Do not let the summary that is provided for this book deceive you. Simply by reading the synopsis one would assume this is a modern romance. Yet, the focus is actually on domestic violence and its affect on relationships.

It follows the story of Lily Bloom, a young adult who seeks to avoid marrying an abusive man like her father. The reader peeks into her life as a teenager in an abusive home through the journal entries that she wrote as a teen. We see her mother stay with her father after abusing her time and time again, but Lily is only able to reconcile her mother’s past when she is put in the same situation as a young adult.

The reader is taken on a rough ride with Lily as she tries to navigate romance in young adulthood. She realizes that many people question the woman and not the abuser– asking why does she stay with him, rather than asking the question why is he being abusive and why is it okay for him to do that. She comes to understand that it is not easy to leave and a multitude of factors must be considered. The character Lily Bloom gives these women of domestic violence a voice. It was bittersweet to see these words expressed on paper through the character of Lily for others to read, hear, and try to understand.

If you have ever been in an abusive relationship or an abusive home, then this book will really hit home for you. Have a tissue box ready. This is a hard book to get through and deals with a variety of distressing events.

The Author’s Note is a must read as it explains the author’s personal accounts that led to this story, but do not read it until the end since it contains spoilers.