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You are here: Home / Archives for book review

BOOK REVIEW – for Hidden Dimensions – Debra Drecksel, author

November 14, 2010 by Patricia Brooks

BOOK REVIEW

Patricia L. Brooks, book reviewer

Hidden Dimensions – Debra Drecksel, author

Fiction/literary iUniverse $18.95

ISBN #978-1-4401-6638-9

The story is set in Arizona and Montana, with a stop in Idaho.  We weave through uncharted territory with Monica, our protagonist, as she is on the defensive most of the time.  Feeling misunderstood and isolated, Monica is unknowingly on a spiritual quest to find her past by freeing herself from her medical school life.  The dreams she though she shared with her sister.  Monica seeks adventure to heal herself and tries desperately to not be wrongly targeted along the way.

Drecksel has a book that is richly detailed in description, characters and settings, and has fine-tuned each page for the most discriminating reader.  I thoroughly enjoyed this journey into the life of Monica and living vicariously through her because the heart of the story is about a young woman coming of age.  She begins to find her self-esteem with new friends, especially a young boy she did not expect to love.  The true rescue was in the hands of the woman who hired her.

We share Monica’s search for her identity.  The story goes further.  There’s an intriguing section of cat-and-mouse with a man she wants but is afraid to love.  As the cracks in her life start appearing from her past, she cowers.  Will she be brave?  You must read on to find out.

Drecksel shares in this book the world she knows of the law and what she learned about medicine.  She takes us into the world of quantum physics, something most know little about. 

The author’s heart and soul shows in these pages as she takes us through the growth years of a young woman who is grieving parents she never knew due to their untimely accidental death.  She unwittingly abandons the only family she really has – her sister.  Their mentally ill brother comes back into their lives to add to the intrigue.   Our protagonist’s world is suspended, or so it appears, as she works dead-end jobs and circles around failed relationships. Feeling like a wanderer, naïve and misguided, she is apparently lost most of the time.

Even with all the trials and tribulations in the book, Drecksel was not afraid to tackle the topic of string theory and quantum physics and weave it into the bedroom conversations with the man our protagonist falls in love with in the most unlikely place.  Will she spin this adventure into a series?  Why not?  Three is a lucky number in mysticism and there is some of the mystical found in this romantic adventure too.

Drecksel’s story exemplifies the unglamorous truth about writing fiction.  It is hard work and time consuming to get it right, make it a page turner and have the reader talk about it after they are finished.  Debra paid her debt by being diligent in her revisions and research of science and the environment.  The native habitats of the west and how she shows us these in adventurous settings many-times-over makes it a great read.

 I give this book two thumbs up and a four-star rating.  It held my attention and I finished it in a couple of days.  That is saying something for a person who does not read fiction.  But since I have lived in Arizona for 35 years and share a few of the rafting stories told in the book, I was enthralled.  Thank you Debra Drecksel for a fine book and I look forward to number two in your series.

Debra Drecksel lived the life of the creative writer’s dream.  First she hedged her bets with law school and a career in law, but eventually followed her passion for writing novels and has never looked back.  Her book begs the question, “Have you ever felt like you really didn’t fit in and considered risking everything to find a better fit?”

Drecksel’s debut novel “Hidden Dimensions”, self-published by IUniverse, is available at Mystic Moon Bookstore in north Scottsdale, Arizona and on Debra’s website www.hiddendimentionsnovel.com   Drecksel will be presenting a workshop with her book on the 16th of November, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.  For details contact www.mysticmoonbookstore.com

 

Patricia L. Brooks, author, www.plbrooks.com

President/founder, Scottsdale Society of women Writers

www.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

 

Filed Under: Blogroll, brooks goldmann publishing, business consultation, new fiction, Old Reviews, PUBLISHING PICKS, SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS Tagged With: arizona, authors, book review, books, Debra Drecksel, Hidden Dimensions, idaho, literary fiction, montana, Patricia L. Brooks, publishing, romantic fiction, SCOTTSDALE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS, writers

Book Review – Remnants/ready for new life by our author Kiki Swanson – congrats Kiki

December 9, 2009 by Patricia Brooks

 

BOOK REVIEW

 

Remnants – Ready for New Life

 

Kiki Swanson (Brooks Goldmann, $19.95)

This captivating volume will appeal to lovers of warm climates, active retirement communities, volunteerism, paying it forward and living life to the fullest in retirement.

In early 2004, Daisy Mac Duff moved into the active and well-appointed retirement community of La Ventura located in Scottsdale, AZ.  She left behind many friends over the years when she moved with her husband on many transfers, eventually moving to the desert of AZ.

Her children also live in AZ and, on occasion, keep her busy with their lives.  But Daisy needs the camaraderie of “soul” mates, friends her age who share happy memories of her past and her current pursuit of happiness.

Her grief for her husband had consumed several years of her life and now it is time to share her future with friends, new and old.  She seeks the companionship of her women friends from all parts of the country by writing and asking them to join her in Scottsdale. 

Soon a strong and steady flow of letters begin to appear in her mailbox.  Both the flamboyant red-head pianist Clarissa and the demure preacher’s wife Beth write immediately.  Others come in as quickly as you can say “out west”, such as Martha, the one seeking a new AA recovery group.

Daisy accumulates the letters, which often stretch into reminiscing of old places that bring back memories, such as with Mary Ann, Martha’s sister.  While some were meant to just read and smile or listen to what was really being said.  Beth is one of those with her quiet tone and gentle way.

From the window of Daisy’s retirement life at La Ventura you sense her yearning for the friendships she knew in the past with each of these women responding.  You will visualize Daisy with her friends enjoying their later years being productive in community while dealing with what life gives out. Practicing her mother’s philosophy, Daisy learns again how to accept life without losing her own character as some say yes and some say no to her suggestion to community life with her and the others.

You imagine the startling effects of a group of women coming together by one woman’s will to make them a family.  This joining of creative, active, senior women together in a new life with a fresh start from a divorce or widowhood, retirement alone or loneliness of any kind, gives them “wind at their backs”.  They go into the unknown of “later in life” friendships in a commune environment.  With Daisy behind them, pushing them with a force in the direction of giving back, serving God and enjoying every moment as if it were their destiny is their new life.

This is the story of a community formed and developed by a bunch of well educated, interesting, creative and productive caring women who with no real plans for their later years take a “leap of faith” and let a long time friend bring them together.  Because of this, they later will write their recipes for success, their ideas for mentoring, their last wishes, their obituaries and their insights and feelings about things they hold dear in their Tuesdays at Three writing group.

Some still have strong feelings and reservations about the success of the idea, such as the couple of men Daisy befriends early in the story.  But at the onset, the five of nine women who say yes “let’s just do it” are more than happy to reach out to others and not isolate elsewhere.  The men in turn become vital to the women’s friendships.

Here you will learn about many things, from loss and grief (incurred by all of them) to alcoholism (the elements of AA) to the medical issues too familiar to all of us.  The spring writing group for life’s philosophies gives many insights into all of them, and surely in to you too.

It is a satisfying and rewarding read and you get the feeling they are having a really wonderful time living out their lives together in a “village.” Being grateful for everyday, their mantra is to rise above the past, adjust to change and hear the music.  If humor and good taste can be a contradiction in terms, Remnants defies the idea and makes you smile as you look for the sunshine in life.

Kiki Swanson is fearless as she addresses real issues for all seniors (Baby Boomer types too) such as divorce, widowhood, alcoholism, dating, health restraints and life’s disappointments while believing resiliency is the key.  There is a lot of good old fashioned fun here that anyone considering a retirement community or living in one now can relate to on many levels.  Maybe the putting of these things in writing, including their last wishes, is more entertainment than any part of sadness and is what endears them to us.

One of my favorite parts of the story is the thread that weaves their leader Daisy and her perseverance in making things happen, sharing conversation with her dog Curly and learning late in life of her husband’s “secret life” and her son’s need for “care and understanding.” The mystery and unveiling is part of the intrigue.

Remnants-ready for new life acknowledges that it is not above the fray of recognizing the human frailty in all of us.  Everyone has moments of despair and sadness, coupled with anger.  Realizing in this read that it is in fact the ride of taking us “home” to our friends and faith in our “golden years” that sustains us, Kiki Swanson shows us it is possible to succeed to the end.

We have all spiraled out of the darkness of grief and divorce or alcoholism or life’s disappointments and up into something beautiful because someone listened.  We have all known love because someone cared, someone was there when we prayed about it and God answered.

Surely Remnants-ready for new life will be that kind of eye opening, heartwarming book you want with the memory of your life.  This work and these stories will help you put the past right where it belongs and your life ready for the surprises that lay ahead.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Patricia L. Brooks, MAOM

Publishing Consultant, Author, Speaker

BROOKS GOLDMANN PUBLISHING, LLC

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

Cell 480-250-5556

 

[email protected] or www.kikiswansonbooks.com for more information or books

Filed Under: AZ Authors Association, AZ BOOK PUBLISHERS ASSOC, Blogroll, brooks goldmann publishing, libraries, new fiction, PUBLISHING PICKS Tagged With: alcoholism, author, book review, brooks goldmann publishing, divorce, family, fiction, friends, golden years, heartwarming book, KIKI SWANSON, later in life, new fiction, novel, obituaries, publish, PUBLISHING PICKS, publishing your vook, relationships for seniors, reminiscing, remnants-ready for new life, retirees, retirement community, retirement in Scottsdale, seret life, success in life, writer, writing, writng group

Book/Peer Review – Live Life to the Max for Robin Reynolds

March 25, 2009 by Patricia Brooks

Book/Peer Review – Life to the Max

for Robin Reynolds, author

by Patricia L. Brooks, author

Robin Reynolds is hardly the first woman to write the self-help, feel good book for adults or children on life’s lessons, but this creative soul chose an unusual route to what appears to be publishing success.  She has taken the “traditional” self-help, life lessons concept and written it from the voice of her late pet Max who has personality to “the max” and keeps you turning pages.

By passing clichés she writes clear and concise messages with one-liners on lessons for all ages along with the story and experience of this lovable dog that could have only been in Robin’s household.  She has taken the children’s book genre to a new level by including the “big kids” like you and me.  With the reminders we love to remember and the lessons we hold dear, Life to the Max is a journey back in time and you should not miss it.

Originally awarded the “gift award” by the AZ Book Publishers Association this past year, this book has transcended that arena and catapulted itself into self-help.  By gently taking us on a path only a well-bred, sophisticated pooch like Max could take us, we travel all the way to his most critical lessons in life.

Many books about dogs are sappy, and I like dogs, many books for children are not educational, and I am a demanding teacher.  Many books in the self-help genre are insulting and I read about one a month, but this book Robin has written takes all of that to task and shines through a different view – that of a lovable family pet.

Robin has found her niche in children’s books by utilizing the voice of an animal to tell “big kids” and children about life.  Her work should be lauded for its fine writing, graceful lessons, good humor, beautiful illustrations, and fun photos and of course the philosophy behind it all.

I commend Robin and Max for doing an outstanding job, along with the other characters she developed to make this a family we would want to know and have as neighbors.   I recommend this book to any of you as a gift giving idea for any “big kid” or smaller child on your list – self-help genre is a natural for gift giving. 

We are in challenging times and many are seeking quiet and spiritual moments.  I was moved to tears while reading this beautiful book and all the issues it addresses and all the lessons it reminded me were possible to revisit and love again. 

Thank you Robin www.nicecreative.blogspot.com for rolling the dice and taking a shot at a new type of writing for you, we are all the better for it.  We appreciate your courage in telling this very personal and heartfelt story that needed to be out there to be useful to many readers young and “forever young.”

Patricia L. Brooks, author/publishing consultant [email protected] 480-250-5556

Filed Under: AZ Authors Association, AZ BOOK PUBLISHERS ASSOC, Blogroll, Memoir, PUBLISHING PICKS Tagged With: animal wisdom, author, AZ Authors Association, AZ Book Publishers, book review, dog's life, life's lessons, Live life to the Max, memoir, Patricia L. Brooks, peer review, publisher, Robin Reynolds, self-help genre, writer

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