C.J. Zahner's Blog, page 3
November 2, 2022
Have a Book Fetish?
I do. I can’t stop buying books…old books, new books, paperbacks, ebooks…it matters naught to me. If one sparks my interest, I’m whipping out the credit card or pressing the “Buy Now” button.
And those old Library Book Sales? OMG! Dont’ let me go. I used to take ten dollars but ended up scraping change out of my purse, car, and glove compartment. Unfortunately, now they accept credit and you can fit a lot of books in your trunk.
My biggest problem, however, are the darn ebooks. You can easily carry a hundred of them. This is becoming an expensive habit.
If you’re like me and can’t say no to a book, here’s a tip on how to save a little money.
There’s a neat little online site called NetGalley where you can find new-release books. The best part? They are all FREE. You’ll be required to post a review, but where you post it varies.
Want to read Joshilyn Jackson’s next thriller, With My Little Eye? It won’t be released until next April but you can read it now. Or how about Katie Bailey’s So That Happened that publishes next week? Grab a copy free now.
And by all means, please, please, please consider small authors. You can pick up a copy of my new Dream Series Novel, The Dream Diaries. It’s FREE throughout November on NetGalley! (https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/?te...)
Once you sign up, search these titles at https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/ and Walla!
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
The post Have a Book Fetish? appeared first on CJ Zahner.
October 27, 2022
Short Stories of Kids with Gifts: The Dream Diaries
(Above are: Sonnie, Annie, Rachel & Chase)
Ever thought of someone, then they called?
Had a Deja Vu feeling as if you’ve been somewhere you couldn’t possibly have been?
Felt like someone was watching you?
If you have, you’re going to love my new novella, The Dream Diaries. These are the short stories of the extrordinary kids with intuitive gifts, who were recruited for a government Dream Program. This is their beginning. Before they went to the desert in Project Dream, before they worked for the government in Dream Wide Awake, they were simply children. Here’s a sneak peak of the characters:
Brent, Age 4:
“Are you familiar with this car, son?”
I’m four years old and suddenly aware I shouldn’t know cars and shifts and engines that rattle.
“A Ford,” I say.
“What make?”
I glimpse the car, bumper to bumper. Its red shine draws a memory from the back of my head—from a life before this.
“A Falcon? 1964?”
The man stretches a hand toward my father. “Mr. Crandall, this is your lucky day. I’m going to make you the deal of a lifetime.”
Annie, Age 21:
OMG, I’m falling. My plane is in a nosedive.
“Get out of there now!” My captain’s shouts sound tinny over the radio.
“And let this beauty slam into the ground? Over my dead body.”
This is the best plane I’ve ever flown, and I’ll die before I crash it to smithereens. So I use my gut, my instincts, and I listen to the silent whispers of the angels that always come when I am in trouble.
Dawn, Age 13:
“The death card.”
Momentarily, the woman sitting across from me stops breathing. Her eyes bulge. “Who’s going to die?”
The Dream Diaries is Book 3 of my Dream Series. (Read Books 1, 2 & 3 in any order.) Order on Amazon .
Let me know your favorite characters in a comment. Mine were Mikala, Izzy, Annie, Lenny and Billy.
Read on!_________________________________________________________
CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
The post Short Stories of Kids with Gifts: The Dream Diaries appeared first on CJ Zahner.
October 5, 2022
An Author’s Life
Life update: Basically, I’m in a hostage situation.
See that view in the window? That’s me. Every morning. At 5 am. Scratch that, 4 am. Okay, scratch that, too. Truthfully, I’ve been up between 2:30 and 3 am every day this week, spinning my wheels.
Millions of words orbit my small-scale author’s world this am, but sleep isn’t one of them.
No sympathy? I know. I chose this life. I walked out of my old (paying) job with my purse, a whole bunch of dreams, and nothing else! Now I work for -.05¢ per hour. Just kidding. (I think.)
Anyway, why have I brought you all here? Two reasons.
First, to enlighten those of you who hate on an author because of a bad ending, DNF (did not finish) book, or a romance novel that didn’t go the way you wanted, that this is tough work! Please forgive us.
We authors really are trying to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s, but it’s hard for a creatively unorganized mind to remember what the name of Johny’s hamster was in book one, who threw up at the wedding in book two, or or how many siblings the protagonist had in book three. There are a million details, so please be kind if Tanny Joe has blue eyes in book four and brown eyes in book five. Maybe she’s heterochromatic. (Is that a word? Don’t tell me if it isn’t. I’m too tired to take the criticism.)
Second, I’m preparing my friends to ignore the barrage of ads they are about to see. I have a 99¢ book sale and a new release coming out.
I’ll say it again. I do not want to make money on family, friends, and neighbors. My FaceBook and Twitter posts are meant for the millions, billions actually, of readers out there in cyberland. My novels are free to read if you are a KindleUnlimited reader, so by all means, if you are, page away.
But to my family, friends, and neighbors? I’ll give you a free ebook copy for any one of you who agrees to post an HONEST review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub. (This is required by contract for me. Whether you do or not is up to you. I don’t check.) And guess what? Amazon is probably going to delete it anyhow because I know you. (Yes, Amazon is a psychic demon.)
So as I battle my wars with Meta, Amazon, and gutter margins, please excuse my posts. If you share one with your social media friends, woohoo! I’ll appreciate it. But you absolutely can simply scroll on by.
We authors understand. We’re readers, scrollers, too.
Love you all. See you November 1st, after release day. Ugh. Until then, if I don’t reply to you, forgive me. (I don’t want your text to buzz at 3:30 in the morning and wake you.)
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, The Dream Diaries, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to
her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here.
Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or
her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read
more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase
her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
August 16, 2022
Three Sisters by Heather Morris
Rating: 8
General Rating: A World War II story about the perseverance of three sisters, whom survived Auschwitz and Birkenau.
Who should read: Those interested in touching stories about holocaust survivors. Sisters. Women who have survived similar atrocities, and certainly survivors and children of holocaust survivors.
Skip factor: 8%. I skipped more than a little between 60% and 85%. In the first half and the ending, I skipped nothing.
Storyline: This is the holocaust survival story of sisters Cibi, number 4560; Magda, number 25592; and Livi, number 4559. Before their father’s death, he insisted the sisters promise they would stay together and take care of one another if anything happened to him.
Sometime after his death, Hlinki guards make their rounds in Slovakia, commanding young people to report to the synagogue under the auspice they will be transported to work for the Germans. A kind doctor admits the middle sister, Magda Meller, into the hospital to avoid going. Magna is of the age when most Slovakian teenagers are to report. When the guards knock on the door of the Meller home and find Magna gone, however, they sequester Liv, who is only fifteen years old and small for her age. At the time, the eldest daughter, Cibi, is not at home. She is off in the woods with other teenagers, training to migrate to the promised land, but when she hears her sister must report, Cibi reports with her.
The two spend two years in Auschwitz before their sister, Magda, mother, and grandfather arrive. Immediately, their mother and grandfather are sent to the gas chamber. The story follows all three sisters through the war, and their lives afterward.
Characters: While the three sisters’ personalities differed greatly, I liked all three. Each held admirable strength in their own way. Morris’s good character development wasn’t confined to the sisters. I felt myself loving many other characters throughout the novel. Of the three girls, however, Liv, the youngest, was my favorite.
Writing/summary: The writing is excellent. Normally, I would report a book like this as too wordy after the halfway point (into the girls’ lives after the war). The stories were more detailed than I like, however, I do understand, for historical purposes, why Morris recorded finer details of their lives. It proved how their devastating time in Auschwitz affected their entire lives.
Read this author again? I’ve already read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Morris.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
July 18, 2022
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Rating: 10 Serendipitous. Heartfelt and enjoyable. A lovely warm tale about a woman and a tentacled creature. If only life mimicked this book, rewarded truly deserving people who have weathered fate’s storms.
Skip factor: I skipped nothing. 0%
Who should read? Readers who need a boost from life’s norm. Women who love serendipitous stories and especially those who like fairy-tale happy endings.
Summary: This is the story of a woman named Tova. She’s a widow, but more devastatingly, her only child, a son Erik, died when he was eighteen. Hold on! This will steal your heart not hurt it.
Tova works at an aquarium, cleaning. She grows fond of a remarkably bright octopus, Marcellus, who often leaves his cage to explore the aquarium. Because the story is told from the octopus’s point of view, you might say it is unbelievable, yet, it’s so sweet and heartwarming, you want to believe it could happen.
Tova has no other family but she does have a set of female friends, the Knit-Wits, and a gentleman friend, Ethan, who seems interested in her. Just about the time Cameron, a young man searching for the father he never knew, arrives in town, Tova suffers a fall and must take several weeks off work. Cameron fills in for her, but Tova cannot stay away from the octopus and other sea serpents, so she visits the aquarium, and therein lies the secret to this serendipitous tale.
Characters: I fell in love with Tova almost the first time her name appeared on a page. I loved Ethan and the Knit-Wit friends, too. Cameron, however, I had to grow to love, and rightly so. He entered as a self-centered, unreliable young man and left as…well, I’ll let you decide. Van Pelt’s character development was perfect.
Writing style: This author is fabulous. Her writing, superb.
Read this author again: No question. Yes.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
July 16, 2022
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
Rating: 9 Hard to read at times because of the clear picture this author paints.
Skip factor: My normal 3-5%
Who should read? Compassionates. Anyone who would like to understand why people risk their lives and the lives of their family, leaving everything they have behind, and begin anew.
This is a story of hope and perseverance where the characters fight to maintain both their freedom and their love. To me, while this is fiction, it read like a memoir or biography, so I wasn’t surprised while reading the acknowledgments that the author volunteers with refugees. Some of the experiences and characters were based on real people and true events.
Characters: I don’t like war books, so I was apprehensive to read this as their immigration was due to war, but I quickly became interested in both Nuri and his cousin Mustafa. Afra, on the other hand, was distant in the beginning, her story kept secret by the author. For me, this added more suspense. Her character was a work in process. I grew to love her by the end. I also could not get enough of Mohammed, the boy Nuri wanted desperately to protect.
Writing style: Excellent. Especially for a debut novel.
Read this author again: Absolutely. I’ll be waiting for another from her.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by true-life experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here or her Online Book Circle podcast here. Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh. Purchase her books on Amazon and follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn.
July 7, 2022
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Rating: 8.5
General Rating: Is this book for you? It’s a hodgepodge of stories, Libby Jones’s, mostly. She’s a single girl turning twenty-five and about to inherit? What? She’s not quite sure. Break to the story of beautiful Lucy and her two children struggling to survive. Enter an odd character named Finn. The reader is certain these lives will converge with the inheritance but aren’t exactly sure how.
Who should read: Women’s fiction lovers, for sure. And readers who like piecing stories together and guessing what will happen next. But those who hate time jumping from the present to the past? You may want to pass on this one.
Skip factor: 3%. I skipped a little.
Storyline: The story is different enough. Libby is a working girl who has just inherited a house from her birth family whom she knows nothing about. In the present, she develops a budding romance with a reporter who once wrote a story about the mysterious people who lived in this mansion. The current timeline follows Libby as she discovers more about her birth family; Lucy, while she struggles to feed her kids; and the enigmatic Finn who is, if not scary then at least, an interesting recluse. The back story tells the tale of the family who once lived upstairs, and therein lies the connection and mystery-thriller storyline.
Characters: Good character development. I liked Libby, wondered about Lucy and Finn, but wasn’t really enamored with any of them. I did passionately dislike a few of the family members living upstairs and kept turning pages because of them.
Writing/summary: The writing was very good. There is one confusing part of Lucy’s story that I felt was left open and might have been better left out, but it didn’t affect the overarching story, which was clever. I like a book that amalgamates the present with past. The hype of this book, however, hurt my review. If I am honest, this is one of those novels that I was overly anxious to read. It rose to the top quickly and I expected more. Still! I recommend it. It kept my interest throughout.
Read this author again? Yes, definitely.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene , a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake and Project Dream , two crime thrillers with sixth-sense components, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House , women’s fiction. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here . Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here . Listen to her Online Book Circle podcast here . Or read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh .
Follow her on Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , Goodreads , BookBub , or LinkedIn . Purchase her books on Amazon.
Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh at https://voyageraleigh.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-cyndie-cj-zahner-of-wendell-falls-area .
June 27, 2022
It’s Simple. It’s Choice. It’s Freedom.
Isn’t it wonderful that, as women, we can debate abortion?
Thank you to the women who have shared their thoughts. In many countries, women don’t have this right. Some are forbidden to voice their opinion. Some can’t walk outside without a man. Some aren’t able to go to school and learn to write elegant posts.
To ensure freedom exists for our female descendants, it is imperative we fight for the division of church and state, now.
To those of you who are pro-life, let me explain. If the laws in our country allow men, who believe a baby’s life begins with conception, to ban abortion, then when a different regime is in power, men who believe life begins at first breath will have the ability to force abortion on women. It’s that simple. Yes.
This is not about life. This is not even about abortion. This is about choice. And freedom. Freedom for all women—rich or poor. Removing the ban on abortion unjustly affects women in the inner-city who don’t have the means to travel hundreds or thousands of miles for an abortion. The powers to be, the rich, the politicians, the upper echelon of our country seldom, if ever, experience the cold, lonely, feeling of not being able to feed your child. Of being forced into a back alley for an abortion so painful and grueling they will never forget it—only to be persecuted for it later.
To the righteous: quoting the bible only proves the decision to allow the banning of abortion is based on religion, and your posting of baby pictures and calling women who have had abortions murderers is persecution.
My religious beliefs are my own. Separate and distinct. As the laws should be. I will defend until my dying day, my sister’s right to make her own choices based on her own situation and her own religion, despite my beliefs and religion. I will never support taking rights away from another woman.
It’s simple, really. It’s about our daughters’ and granddaughters’ future. It’s about a woman’s choice. It’s about freedom.
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CJ Zahner is a woman, mother, and grandmother. No more need be said.
June 26, 2022
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Rating: 9
General Rating: Ng is an author to watch. Her writing is fabulous—the best I’ve seen recently.
Favorite line: “Everything seems worse in the darkest hours of the night.” (So true!)
Skip factor: 2%. I skipped little.
Who should read: While I believe this is more for women or young females, anyone who has experienced discrimination or who would like to understand the suffering of those discriminated against, should read. Because the novel includes a suicide topic, I would NOT recommend for YA.
Summary: The beginning reveals Marilyn’s and James’s oldest child, Lydia, is not alive, but the family doesn’t know it yet. An interesting premise, which hooks you immediately.
The novel tells the story of the Lee family who attempt to survive the devastating death of the favored child, Lydia. Each struggle with regrets. The mother, Marilyn, is an American who disappointed her family by marrying a Chinese man. James, a college professor, could not secure the type of position he wanted due to his Chinese ethnicity. Though they were in love when they married, Marilyn is disappointed that she never fulfilled herself. She leaves her husband and two older children to pursue her dreams but then returns, when she realizes she is a few months pregnant with a third child.
James and the two older children, Lydia and Nath, never mend from her leaving them, and when Marilyn returns, feeling she will never reach her full potential in life, she transfers her hopes and dreams to Lydia. Lydia works wholeheartedly to please her mother for fear she will leave them again.
Despite being the center of her parent’s hopes, Lydia is not the student Nath is. And, overshadowed by his sister, Nath attempts to win his father’s support but always feels second to Lydia.
Both Nath and Lydia are ostracized for their ethnicity in school and learn to rely on each other. When Nath is accepted to college, Lydia has a hard time fathoming what her life will be like without him. Hannah, the youngest child, adores Lydia but hides in the shadow of both of her older siblings. She notices everything around her, possibly knows more about the family than anyone.
Characters:
Lydia – I loved this character. Ng shows the inner struggles of teenagers who are discriminated against through this character.
Hannah – The sweet, youngest Lee child is ignored by the family. I wanted to know more about her throughout the entire book.
Nath – Through Nath, Ng clearly depicts the cruelty of discrimination, because of both his and his father’s Chinese heritage.
Marilyn – I felt sorry for this character. The author makes her out to be a monster. And herein lies the reason I did not give this a 9.5 or even a 10 for the writing. This woman, clearly conflicted, was unintentionally too hard on her daughter. Yet she loved her. There was good and bad to her of course, but, maybe because I am a mother myself, I felt the overtone of the book conveyed only bitterness, no empathy toward her. (I wondered if the author had a rocky relationship with her mother and would love to see how she feels about Marilyn twenty years from now when she herself has grown children.)
James – I liked the father but couldn’t connect with thim. James was hard on his son, adored Lydia, and ignored Hannah. He was a bit too business-minded for me. However, he too deserved empathy. He was a product of his past.
Other characters – Ng brought a few other characters into the mix when needed to enhance the family’s story.
Storyline: This novel depicts the hardship and discrimination of an American Chinese family. The suffering of the Lee parents impacted how they raised their children. Neither were bad people, but they allowed their past to influence, harm really, their children—a characteristic often present in many families. While that family dynamics may be common, the effect that discrimination has on a family is explicitly told here.
Writing: I cannot express how well written this novel is. The writing is possibly the best I’ve seen in years. I dawdled over it. The author told the story from an omnipotent view, which is tough and often frowned upon in today’s literary world. She makes the transition from POV to POV appear easy. This is one of those books that is so well written, you wish you had bought rather than loaned.
Read this author again? Absolutely. I’ve already begun Little Fires Everywhere. Ng writes flawlessly. I’ll read anything she writes.
To find more good books click here.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake, and Project Dream, two thrillers that carry a sixth-sense paranormal element, and Friends Who Move Couches, women’s fiction. These last two novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. See the video of her own paranormal experience, a premonition of 9/11 here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake and Project Dream, two crime thrillers with sixth-sense components, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House, women’s fiction. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here. Listen to her Online Book Circle podcast here. Or read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh.
Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.
Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh at https://voyageraleigh.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-cyndie-cj-zahner-of-wendell-falls-area.
June 19, 2022
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Rating: 9
General Rating: A thought-provoking read addressing racism, both blatant and subliminal. The author perfectly portrays a twenty-something African American and thirty-something white woman.
Skip factor: 2%. I skipped a minimal amount. There were times I couldn’t wait to see what happened and hopped text to read dialogue—strictly the fault of the reader not the author.
Who should read: Any socially conscious woman. Umm. And maybe frivolous suburban or career-driven mothers.
Summary: Emira is a twenty-something African American Temple University graduate who, like most twenty-year-olds, is unsure where she is headed. She has a good set of friends charting their own courses, some a bit lost like her and others on track. Emira works two part-time jobs, one as a typist for the Green Party and the other as a babysitter three days a week for Peter and Alix Chamberlain.
Alix Chamberlain is a driven, self-made influencer who is struggling to juggle career, motherhood, and her move from New York City to Philadelphia. Peter is a rising newscaster who, quite out of character, makes a racist remark and finds himself at odds with the public. When his house is egged one evening (they exaggerate the action to stoned for merit,) his wife, Alix, calls their babysitter, African American Emira Tucker, begging her to come get their toddler, Briar, out of the house. Alix admits she has had a few drinks at a party, but the Chamberlains don’t care. Emira is the only person they trust Briar with. So Emira, and her friend, Zara, show up to take Briar to a neighborhood grocery store to pass time. There, a white woman insinuates something is fishy about the relationship between Briar, Emira, and Zara to a security guard and accusations quickly escalate.
Enter thirty-something male, Kelly, with his IPhone camera, recording. He calls the incident an injustice, defends Emira, and films all despite not knowing Emira and Zara. Emira calls Peter Chamberlain. Peter rushes there and confirms Emira, indeed, is Briar’s babysitter.
The story is told from two perspectives. Emira, who loves babysitting Briar, is content with her life but knows she must eventually secure “adult” employment; and Alix, who is content with nothing and constantly yearns for approval and respect. The reader becomes immersed in each of their lives, and finds a myriad of racial inequities and inuendos, some harder than others to spot.
Without spoiling the story, Kelly and Emira begin dating only to find out, later, that Kelly was Alix’s high-school boyfriend who broke her heart.
Characters: Reid balances Emira’s calm and collected personality marvelously with Alix’s driven and anxious behavior. There were traits I enjoyed in each. Surprises, too. Here are the characters in my favorite order.
Briar captured my heart from the moment she entered the picture. Clearly, Reid sees the beautiful innocence and wonder of children. She creates a marvelous, chatty toddler who has a heart-warming curiosity and longs to capture her mother’s affection. You can’t help but love her.
Emira is not jumping full force into adulthood. She’s shuffling. There were times when she didn’t defend herself and moments she seemed not to care about her future that perplexed me. Yet, her contentment with her simple life was part of what I loved about her. Add her showering of unconditional love onto Briar, with whom she practiced patience and understanding, she exemplified the perfect babysitter and I fell in love with her.
Zara – I loved Zara best of all Emira’s friends because she was entertaining, witty, fun, and added flair to Emira’s sometimes plain personality.
Peter surprised me. He was not the type of person to make a racial slur so I thought more about him than any other character, wondering if the author wanted us to understand racism exists far more than we realize—in all of us.
Alix is an exhausting character. Her background predisposes her to a fixation on Emira. Alix had been accused of racism in the past and wants to prove she is not racist, which inevitably, propels her racism. Despite her flaws, I liked her. She was too driven, too worried about what people thought of her, but the writer somehow inspired my compassion toward her. I’m not completely sure how. (Maybe her own compassion bled into the story?)
Kelly, Emira’s boyfriend, is transfixed with helping African Americans. He befriends, dates, and stands up for African Americans—too much. In my book club, someone referred to him as having white-savior syndrome. My surprise of him was once while he is at Emira’s apartment, he moves to the other room to call his parents. This totally confused me. Was he hiding that he was dating an African American? Book-club friends made less of this. They chalked it up to a new relationship. (I’d love to know why Reid wrote this into the story.)
All other minor characters added to the story. Emira and Alix both had other friends wander in and out of chapters, all with reason. I liked them but didn’t love them. They existed to augment Emira’s and Alix’s stories. The author did well with these secondaries who were discreetly necessary.
Storyline: Intriguing. Reminded me of a modern-day The Help. I was not alone in this thought. Book-club buddies made the same comparison: an African American raising a white child, teaching her better life lessons than her mother, and a white suburban woman consumed with status and attempting to prove she was helping African Americans. (Suggesting Emira wear a t-shirt while babysitting WAS NOT requiring her to wear a uniform—oh no, definitely not a uniform. She simply wanted Emira to protect her clothes while painting, playing, etc with Briar.)
I loved this story. I’d like to re-read and find more on the author’s intent, to see what I missed.
Writing: I loved Reid’s writing. I highlighted sentences for both simplicity and depth! To me, someone who enjoys dialogue, she mixed dialogue and description to perfection.
Read this author again? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller, Dream Wide Awake and Project Dream, two crime thrillers with sixth-sense components, Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House, women’s fiction. Zahner’s Dream Series novels were inspired by Zahner’s own experiences. Listen to her interview about her 9/11 a premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here. Listen to her Online Book Circle podcast here. Or read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh.
Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.
Read more about Zahner in Voyage Raleigh at https://voyageraleigh.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-cyndie-cj-zahner-of-wendell-falls-area.
