Jenyfer Matthews

I didn’t have time to buy any new books for my travels before I left, but fortunately I had a couple of books on my ereader leftover from my summer travels: Lord of Scoundrels and Her Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase.

I have probably mentioned before that I’ve been enjoying historicals more recently and I’d seen these books reviewed well on Smart Bitches and Dear Author. I expected them to be good, but I didn’t expect them to blow me away as they did.

I admit that I’m not a history buff - which probably makes it easier for me to lose myself in the story when the writing is good. I don’t care whether the crystal, the dresses, or the hairstyles are totally accurate to the period - when the writing is as good as it was in these books, all I care about are the characters and the story.

I started Lord of Scoundrels on the direct flight from Cairo to NY - which was great because it meant I had the time to sit and just read. I certainly didn’t want to put it down once I’d started. Once finished, I quickly began on Her Scandalous Ways . I’m almost grateful for the jetlag that causes me to wake up at dawn because it means I get an hour of reading in before the day really begins.

In fact, the only problem I have with books that I enjoy this much is that they undermine my confidence in my own writing. Will I ever write a story or create characters that will resonate with a reader as much as these books resonated with me? I wonder. And yet, in spite of the niggling doubt these books created in me, I’m probably going to re-read these books on my way home again too.

Yes, they are that good.

I went back and forth about whether or not to bring my laptop with me on vacation. On the pro side, I could write if I wanted to and I could post pictures to my blog (provided that I took it to a wi-fi site) but on the con side, it is heavy! So I decided to leave it at home - you’ll just have to wait on seeing the pictures - and bring along a notebook instead.

I might as well have left the notebook at home too as much time as I’ve had to write anything. The kids have gotten on a later schedule so I don’t have the time in the evenings that I do when we are at home. When they do finally settle down, I’m tired. (Walking five miles and then going raspberry picking will do that!) I’ve jotted down some ideas and a few details for my next story, but not much more.

Instead, I’ve been reading. I got my computer to talk to my ebookwise reader before I left and I’ve been happily reading other people’s stories. There was also a small stack of books waiting for me at my dad’s house when I arrived. Summer is my time for guiltless indulgence and reading is just another thing I’m overindulging in.

I just finished Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner, sequel to Good In Bed. It was as good as I expected, even if I didn’t totally love the way she ended it. (That’s probably just me though). I picked up a copy of The Other Side of the Story by Marianne Keyes in JFK and devoured that in a couple of days. She hooked me with Rachel’s Holiday and I’ve been addicted ever since (pun intended) I love her style. I still have a copy of the first J.D. Robb In Death books on my ereader. I’m sure I’ll love it but I’m a little afraid to read it - will it live up to the hype that surrounds the series and the characters? And if it does, am I prepared to get sucked into a series? I may never get anything else done!

What about you? How are you enjoying your summer? Read any good books lately?

I finished Gone with the Wind over the weekend. What can I say except WOW.

What. A. Great. Book.

I’m not going to say that I didn’t still get tripped up by a few technical glitches here and there, but once things got going, I just couldn’t put the book down. Scarlett is such a wonderful anti-hero. She is awful and selfish and rude to everyone around her, has no insight into human nature at all - hers or anyone else’s - and yet at the end I was still rooting for her to get Rhett back. It’s not easy to create a character like that.

Normally when I finish a book that I really enjoy, I immediately turn back to page one and start over again. This book is too long and I have too many other things on my TBR pile at the moment for me to start over with Gone with the Wind.

But it definitely has a place on my keeper shelf.

Interesting facts about Gone With The Wind:

* The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936.The book sold more than fifty thousand copies in a single day, was a bestseller for two years, and, by 1965, had sold more than 12 million authorized copies.
(from http://www.answers.com/topic/gone-with-the-wind)

* It is the only novel by Margaret Mitchell published during her lifetime, and it took her ten years to write it. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind)

* and it continues to sell 250,000 paperback copies in the United States each year.
(from http://www.answers.com/topic/gone-with-the-wind-novel-6)

* At home all day by herself, Margaret Mitchell occupied much of her time with reading. Regularly, her husband stopped by the library to pick up a book for her. One day, John informed his wife that she had read every book in the library, including the medical journals. Presenting her with a typewriter, he suggested she write her own book.

* Margaret wrote the last chapter of the book first.

* When it went to the publisher, Gone With The Wind had no first chapter.

* Margaret Mitchell first called the Scarlett character “Pansie.”

* The working title to Gone With The Wind was, “Tomorrow Is Another Day,” but another book at that time already had the title.

* Margaret endured much at the hands of her adoring fans. Once, a man from Tennessee appeared at her door, urgently needing to know if Scarlett and Rhett ever got back together again. His wife sent him with orders not to return without an answer for her bridge club!
(from http://www.rvfreewheelin.com/gwtw.htm)

I’m still reading Gone With the Wind, and I admit that I haven’t gotten very far. It’s a LONG book! My edition has 1011 pages. I’ve just passed page 150.

Clearly this is an award winning classic that has been adored by millions of people over the years. It won a Pulitzer for heaven’s sake! I know that when I read it, I’m judging it by more modern writing standards. Still, I can’t help but edit the book in my head (Who do I think I am I anyway?)

I’ve probably been ruined by the fact that I’ve seen the movie a couple of times, but as I’m reading I find myself thinking get on with it already! The action in the first couple of chapters is interrupted by long character sketches of Scarlett’s mother, father, suitors - just about anyone she comes into contact with really. I can only imagine what my own critique partner / editor would say if I tried something like that. “Show, don’t tell!”, “Can’t you introduce this information little by little throughout the story?” and “Information dump!”

Another problem that jumps out at me is the ever shifting point of view (POV) Most of the time it is an omniscient narrator which slips in and out of Scarlett’s head, but there is a paragraph here and there where we’ll suddenly pop into the head of whoever Scarlett is talking to. It might not bother someone who is just reading the story, but as an author, I sometimes find it difficult to ignore the technical aspects of writing. And things like ever shifting POV and excessive backstory really pull me out of the fantasy. I’m all about character development and long books don’t daunt me, nor do classics, but I have yet to lose myself in this story. I’m going to soldier on though. (get it? The Civil War? Soldiers? har har)

Aside from all of the above, Scarlett is a real twit. As I was reading about Gone With the Wind, I saw somewhere that Margaret Mitchell really wrote Melanie as the heroine of the book. She’s a little too insipid for my taste…but then again she’s got almost 1000 pages to improve.

The truth is, it’s always easier to edit someone else’s book than it is to edit your own. Actually, it would be fascinating to get a digital copy of this book and really take it apart and see how it turned out - and how long it would be in the end. Hmmm…

Okay - you caught me, I’m procrastinating again…

Another great review for ALL THE WAY HOME:

Along with a taut and compelling plotline and dealing with a life like situation, ALL THE WAY HOME has the quality of a real life fairy tale. Ms. Matthews has tackled the difficult issue of love, marriage and relationships with ease. The result is a story filled with rich and full characters you can really care about, a little twist at the end, and a very happy ending to satisfy the romance bug in the brain.

In my opinion, a book as beautifully written, heartfelt and sweet as ALL THE WAY HOME truly deserves the Golden Blush Recommended Read award. It just makes you hope that Ms. Matthews keeps writing with the tenderness, understanding, and compassion that she showed here. Brilliant!

Literary Nymphs

On the heels of the review I got from Romance Junkies last week, imagine how high I’m floating right now? And if validation like that doesn’t help me get my butt in the chair to write, nothing will!

Look what I found on Google today - a glowing review of All the Way Home from Romance Junkies!

Ms. Jenyfer Matthews’ novel ALL THE WAY HOME is a touching and poignant tale of healing and rediscovery. [...] Well written and riddled with emotions, sisterly bonds and a deeply moving romance, ALL THE WAY HOME has secured a permanent place in my heart and on my keeper shelf. Bravo Ms. Matthews, you have delivered a novel well worth the time invested and I can’t recommend it enough.

What a great way to start the weekend!

I haven’t mentioned my book club lately because they went silent on me. We met in March to discuss the previous month’s selection and adjourned with the plan to find out which of the proposed titles were actually available locally (the bookstores here in Cairo are not always all I could wish for) . Haven’t heard from anyone since.

And I admit it’s something of a relief. While I liked the getting-together-and-chatting aspect of the group, I’ve only really liked one of the three books we read as a group - one I loathed and one was merely meh.

A friend of mine recently loaned me her copy of The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I know I’m way behind reading this one, but honestly, I was reluctant. First of all, I heard way too much hype about it when it was released. Second, time travel? I like linear story lines. In my mind, I likened the time travel aspect to The Matrix - a movie I still just don’t “get”.

At any rate, I took the book along with me when we went to Luxor because if it had nothing else going for it, at least it’s long.

I. Loved. It.

You know how when you hear how wonderful a movie is, then you see it and think, “Hmmm…well, it was okay. But it wasn’t that great. What was the all the hype about?” Maybe because I was expecting to be let down, I was pleasantly surprised. Or maybe it’s just that the book is *that* good.

Unlike the books I’ve read for my book club, the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife wasn’t trying to show off her massive vocabulary or her ability to write cleverly crafted prose. The story was written in a refreshingly straight forward manner. There was some back and forth in the plot - it is time travel after all - but it was never difficult to follow. At the root of it, it’s a love story - the story of Clare and Henry and how they meet…and meet again. The characters were beautifully drawn and it wasn’t hard to suspend disbelief to enter their world at all. In fact, it was much more difficult for me to leave it.

I’m going to have to buy my own copy because this one is definitely a keeper.

Reading The Time Traveler’s Wife brought to mind a movie I’d seen as a child “Somewhere in Time” with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour - lovers separated by time. The details of the movie are fuzzy now but I do remember absolutely loving that movie. I haven’t seen it since it came out but I have an urge to track it down now. Guess I like time travel stories more than I realized…

My husband bought me a book for Christmas. Based on the cover and the blurb, it *ought* to have been a good fit for me. I read it and hated it. I never connected with the main character at all - in fact I actively disliked her. And since my husband is tired of hearing me complain about the book (I’m sure that he’ll never pick one for me again!) I thought I’d put it before all of you.

The book is set in London. The main character is a 29-year-old career girl who married a “much older” guy (he’s all of 40) after a whirlwind romance the year before. When they married she agreed that they wouldn’t have children but lately she’s been having second thoughts. Instead of discussing this with her husband, she goes off the pill and gets pregnant on the sly, telling him later it was an accident.

So having achieved her goal, what does she do except go on living her life as before - smoking, drinking, skipping prenatal appointments, working too hard, and having an intense flirtation with one of her bosses. They never quite actually have sex but it’s a naked near miss, twice. In spite of the fact that she’s not caring for herself, she has a ten pound baby. Oh-kay….

After the baby arrives, she’s besotted with him and can do nothing else but breastfeed him. She can’t even gather herself together enough to get dressed most of the time (ok, that part isn’t so unrealistic) Now that the baby has arrived, she manages to give up smoking because she’s worried about her breastmilk but she still drinks, a lot - because that’s not a problem with breastmilk (???). Her husband finds out the pregnancy wasn’t an accident and is mad but gets over it pretty quickly. He travels a lot for his job and at one point she finds and email from an old flame of his that seems to imply that he’s having an affair. Does she ask him about it? No. She calls up her flirty boss and gets drunk and naked, once more stopping just short. Husband arrives home to find the remains of the dinner for two and seduction and leaves in a huff.

She finally manages to pull her act together and decides that she wants to get her husband back and comes up with a way to continue her high powered career from home. Husband explains there was nothing going on with his ex and decides to forgive her for her own transgressions. Says he can probably put up with some infidelity as long as it’s just sex and she doesn’t love them (huh??) As they are lying together on their bed while she breastfeeds their son, he gets turned on and she gets hot. They end up having make-up sex right there next to their sleeping baby. Which results in what? Another pregnancy of course.

Now, most of my problems with this book are probably just mine. I didn’t like her writing style or the story. And I just could not get my head around this character’s motivations. None of her actions made sense to me after she schemed to get pregnant. Now if it had all been an accident in the first place I might have understood the denial she seemed to be in, but having done it on purpose? Couldn’t get my head around it.

The sex-while-breastfeeding-thing I just found squicky. I breastfed both of my children and never found it an aphrodisiac.

And then I wondered - is this a cultural thing? Are things really *so* different in the UK? I’ve met many many British people in my travels and yes, most like to drink (so do I) but I’ve never met a British “mum” who acted like this.

What do you think? I’ve read many many books set in / written by Brits and never had this sort of reaction. I only finished the book to see what appalling thing she did next.

Tell me, is it just me?

On a side note, I just started my book club selection for this month - a Pulitzer Prize winner. I’ve only read a couple of chapters and am so far not enjoying it any better than the above. That’s me - picky, picky, picky…

What a lovely surprise to find in my inbox this morning:

ONE CRAZY SUMMER is a fun, exhilarating ride that guarantees you’ll be smiling in the end. Truly a tale of opposites attract, Ms. Matthews has created characters that are like night and day, yet you can’t help but cheer for them to be together. Ben’s life definitely needed a little shaking up and Summer is just the woman to do it.

Ms. Matthews has delivered a laugh out loud novel full of twists and turns and enough sexual heat to balance the tale perfectly. ONE CRAZY SUMMER is a sweet sexy read that will have you wanting to read it again and again.

Jenn L

Romance Junkies

The Dear Author blog runs a guest review every Monday, allowing readers to share their favorite books with other. Today a review I wrote of Nora Roberts Holding the Dream is up. Stop by and check it out.