BUZZ-BUZZ BOOK BUZZ

by Glynis Smy, Cyprus, guest blogger

I love to read when at the airport and onboard the plane. When I leave for my journey I always have a new travel companion, a lovely new book, something to bond with during the hours cruising the clouds.

During my most recent journey I had in my hot little hand, Kathryn's Beach by Nadine Laman.

I am not very good at writing book reviews, but I will try my best to portray what this book did for me.

Having run away from her life, Kathryn is still haunted by the court rulings in one of the child abuse cases she is involved with, five years later she returns, only to find that her nightmare will not go away until she solves the mystery of a letter.

The book captured me, the story flowed and the characters were believable. Each person I met throughout the book came alive. I could visualise each one as they entered a scene. I felt comfortable in their presence, they relaxed me, drew me into the book. There were no fireworks, no raunchy sex scenes, just a great read.

Kathryn returns to memories, new beginnings, nightmares from the past and emotionally draining daily events. Uplifting new meetings and realisations, serene moments and positive actions made me realise this is real life in book form.

I have now ordered High Tide and Storm Surge by the same author, I wanted to go further into Kathryn's world, I had walked her beach and wanted to learn more, to follow her return and these two books will allow me to do so.

Nadine Laman has a new fan and she also has a great blog ~First Draft.

Thank you, Glynis! You do a wonderful job reviewing! I love reading your blog too! Your pic is so lovely that I've posted it, something I wasn't going to do because my blog is a draft, but I love your smile!

Glynis is a British writer living in Cyprus. She has a wonderful blog, check it out and follow her: http://www.glynissmy.com/2009/09/my-travel-companion-book-review.html

Seismic Activity

Glynis in Cyprus (isn't the internet wonderful?) is blogging about character development including more sensory experiences. I thought that was interesting since it isn't something a million other writers blog about. That led me to do a self-review of my works.

Most serious writers are interested in anything that improves their writing, and usually only the most arrogant (I've met a few) or inexperienced writers think what they bang out is perfect.

Ivana, a young writer in Croatia, reminded me of one of the universal responses to Kathryn's Beach, the impact of the beach in that story. I've mentioned before how setting needs depth to enhance the stage for characters to play upon.

Yesterday four Mexican earthquakes were felt in Phoenix (they were in Baja California). The report said that several high rise buildings downtown were evacuated. We are part of Phoenix, the western part, and I didn't notice the quakes. Maybe that is because I grew up in Southern California where we have earthquakes all the time, but it set me thinking how I would find it unbelievable if someone wrote there was seismic activity in Phoenix - maybe even if that was part of the plot.

Often writers exaggerate to make things feel more real, an innocent kiss with a touch of tongue, a car crash with several rollovers, or spousal banter that ends in an earthquake (like in the movie Grand Canyon, set in LA). Yet, it has to be within the realm of possibilities. Having lived in Phoenix (twice now) I just wouldn't buy an earthquake, even though, it does seem to happen. So... there is real and there is believable writing.

Glynis is here: http://www.glynissmy.com/