Basket of Hope - Book Review

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This is a unique and captivating love story

*****

This was a fabulous read! I was easily caught up in this paranormal historical romance. Each page drew me closer and closer to Kara and Machias, and held me captivated to the end.

Although I’ve read other romances containing a distressed girl pining for a man she can’t have, Basket of Hope isn’t your run-of-the-mill story. It is loaded with interesting twists, and fabulous imagery that draws you in and keeps you invested. A story that can do that is truly unique. (Unique is what paranormal is supposed to be, right? LOL) I love this tale and its vivid characters.

Kara is a beautiful and innocent scullery maid who secretly pines for Machias, heir to the kingdom. She feels lowly and wonders why she even entertains the thought of being with such a man of status, but a small hope still lingers within her heart.

The All Hallows Eve Ball approaches and Machias is to chose a mate from a variety of prominent ladies.  Kara’s hopes wane. Her dreams for love will be gone forever… unless something magical happens.


Basket of Hope
by J.M. Powers

~Nic

Show Don't Tell

As writers, we’ve undoubtedly heard “show don’t tell” countless times. Right? So, just how do we show? By describing the scene to the reader, rather than informing them what is there.

Involve the reader’s senses. Informing readers ‘the food is tasty’ or ‘the young rabbit was scared’ is flat writing. Describing the tasty food or the scared rabbit is showing:

1. The ripe, sun-warmed cherry tomatoes exploded in my mouth making my jaws pucker.

2. I found a trembling, injured bunny beneath the dewy morning glories.

This involves the reader and they become part of the scene.

Show things in the scene that aren’t written in the words. I didn’t have to tell you the rabbit was young and scared. I showed you the rabbit was young [bunny] and scared [trembling].

As another example (and for fun creativity) I asked my fellow wenches to join me in re-creating the following flat scene by showing. Please join us in the comments section by putting your own spin on the facts—without changing them.

I climbed the tree and looked over the fence into Neal’s back yard. My suspicions were correct. Molly was there. She was in the pool, swimming naked. Neal was smiling. As my heart broke, they laughed. It was cold outside, but neither seemed affected by the mountain air. Actually, things were getting downright steamy. Just when I thought my night couldn’t get any worse, my spying antics were exposed when my cell phone rang loudly. I was mortified.

Ed and the Passive Voice

Let me introduce you to a friend who knows passive voice intimately. His name is Ed. Okay, he isn’t really a person, and undoubtedly isn’t a ‘he’, but Ed is my friend—our friend.

I’ll get back to Ed in a minute. First, I want to show you what passive voice is. The following paragraph is riddled with it:

The missing child case had been solved by Jack Long, the Police Chief. Two-year-old Savannah Smith was discovered after several hours of probing beneath the debris covered waters of Copsey Lake. He had located her. She had been sleeping in the back seat of her mother’s car.

Did you feel alienated or distracted while reading that?

The next paragraph gets the same information across, but in active voice:

After several hours of probing beneath the debris covered waters of Copsey Lake, Police Chief Jack Long solved the missing child case. He discovered two-year-old Savannah Smith sleeping in the back seat of her mother’s car.

Whew! This sounds much better, doesn’t it? Now I’ll refer back to Ed.

Verbs ending in “-ed” (Ed) help identify passive voice. Locate verbs ending in “-ed” (solved, discovered, located.) If these verbs are preceded by a form of the verb “to be” (are, was, am, been has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being) you are likely using passive voice. There are some exceptions to the “-ed” idea, but they are easy to detect.

Example:

“The case was solved by Jack.” –passive

“Jack solved the case.” – active

When we write a sentence where the subject is receiving the action, rather than being or doing, we are using passive voice.

Any Witch Way - YA Book Review

Any Witch Way, by Annastaysia Savage, is a charming YA story infused with humor, magik, and battles between good and evil.

Young Sadie wishes she had a normal life. Her classmates tease, taunt and bully her, giving her the nickname “Crazy Sadie” because she still thinks her mother is alive after a tragic car crash three years earlier. Her foster parents think she’s nuts too.

I just wish I were a normal kid. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. ~Sadie

Her grandmotherly neighbor, Mrs. Felis (who puts catnip in her tea among other strange things) seems to be her only friend. She listens to Sadie without judging her, shares her tea and gives the warmest hugs. When Mrs. Felis gives Sadie a gift for her thirteenth birthday, things begin to change. She enters a magikal world that guarantees she will be anything but normal.

Stifling a nervous giggle, Sadie took in the reality of her situation. She was about to have a conversation with a troll before beginning her magikal lessons and, probably the craziest thing of all, she was a witch. ~excerpt

  

I enjoyed this magikal, lighthearted yet sensitive story of a young girl’s coming of age. If you can’t take pleasure in a tale riddled with gnomes, elves, a knitting circle of ghosts, and wood nymphs drunk on pumpkin wine—well…then you’re not normal. ;)

*The spelling of magik is intentional, as it is spelled this way in the book. ;)