Tag: legacy

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#BlogTour: Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf

For this blog tour, we’re looking at another strong Southern Gothic tale that serves as an emerging author’s sophomore effort for adult readers. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookBub.com / BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Strong Southern Gothic Tale. Perfect for those who love to start “spooky season” on July 5th (with no other major (decorative, at least) holidays in the US before Halloween), yet also has a strong small town mystery and even a touch of romance, this is one book that checks a lot of boxes – yet manages to do them all quite well.

Even as a native of the South, specifically the borderlands between southern Appalachia and exurban Atlanta, I had never heard of the concept of a “grave bird”, yet Elemndorf both (quickly) explains it well… and then uses it particularly well throughout the novel whose title notes that it is all about these creatures. 😉

But seriously, the titular grave birds give this tale a magical realism/ fantasy tone that is exactly what one would expect in a Southern Gothic tale, but really the core of this book is one woman’s dreams and the depths she will go through to achieve them – even if it means unravelling a decades old town mystery so well hidden that virtually no one even actually knows there is a mystery to solve!

Truly a strong and stirring sophomore effort (for adult audiences, at least), this really is a strong tale told particularly well, and one that is both familiar enough to be understood and even relatable, yet innovative enough so that the reader will still be caught quite breathless at times.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf”

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#BookReview: Friends Are Forever by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Strong “Finale”. I use “finale” in quotes in the title of this review because it seems we are getting a Christmas “epilogue” for this series later this year, at least per book site listings as I write this review nearly a week before this book publishes.

This noted, the story here absolutely reads like a genuine and strong finale of a series that has put its main characters through quite a lot… and has still more for them to go through. The laughs… and dusty rooms… are both timed and executed well, even as many of them seemingly come out of the blue – particularly the dusty rooms. Yet every aspect here remains perfectly true to who each of the main characters are, even as the situations they find themselves in through the course of this series finale are very unexpected.

Even as someone who first came to this series at Book 4, and thus missed the developments of the first three books, this really was very well done – one of the better finale/ wrap-ups/ send-offs I’ve seen done in a series finale in any medium, and certainly *far* superior to the various infamous finales over the years. No one is waking up and claiming it was all a dream here, y’all. 😉

Read the rest of the series before reading this book. But then make sure you have some tissues ready, because when those dusty rooms hit in this book – and yes, I said “rooms”, as in plural – they *really* hit, and you’re going to need them.

Fortunately each book in the series (at least those I’ve read) is at or under 200 pages, which makes them all fairly quick reads, even for busy parents (or others busy with whatever life you may lead).

By the time you get to the end of this one, you’ll be satisfied with where Gilbert leaves these characters… but you’re also going to welcome that epilogue currently scheduled to release in late October 2025. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of Friends Are Forever by Kellie Coates Gilbert was originally written on June 23, 2025.

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#BookReview: Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich

A Rare View Of The South As It Really Is. As a native Son of the South – and in particular of a region *so* steeped in most *all* of its history, from prehistoric Native American burial mounds to the first female (and last slave owning) US Senator – it is rare for me to find a book that portrays Southern life *well*, both in its strengths and its weaknesses. This book does exactly that. It doesn’t shy away from our ne’erdowells, it doesn’t make excuses for assholes. But it shows that most everyone is somebody to someone, even if it takes them a lifetime to figure that out. There’s a lot here that may make some uneasy, including a violent on screen suicide to open the book, a detailed discussion of breast cancer in an era before that particular affliction was as well known as it is now, a mother’s untimely death, and I’m sure even more depending on the reader’s own sensibilities – those are just the biggest ones. But even there, Dietrich uses those things in furtherance of the story he is telling, and he does in fact wind up using every single one quite well to paint a particularly vibrant tapestry of words. There are many stories to tell of Southern life, but if one is looking to read a zany at times tale that will pull the heartstrings quite a bit – and yes, even make the room quite dusty a time or two – this is absolutely one of those types of tales. What Jimmy Buffett’s fiction did for the Caribbean, Sean of the South’s is doing for the American South in general. Very much recommended.

This review of Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich was originally written on December 29, 2023.

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#BookReview: The Lost Book Of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock

Interesting Twist On Dual Timeline Historical Fiction. Over the course of 800+ books in the last three years alone, I’ve read quite a few dual timeline historical fiction books. Generally, one of the timelines is “current”, or at least mostly current – end of the 20th century at its oldest. Here, the “current” timeline is actually much older – the last months of WWII – and the “older” timeline is *much* older – 16th century. The poetic prose here highlights the idealized South of the pre-air conditioning era… and yet also doesn’t shy away from discussing some of its lower points, including both slavery and extrajudicial murders. (I intentionally don’t use a particular “l” word there, as it generally has connotations that do not apply in the particular situation in the book.) All of this is wrapped around the mysterious Dare stones and how so many of them could be judged to be fake… except the first one, Eleanor Dare’s stone and the tale therein inscribed isn’t necessarily so easily dismissed. The care Brock takes to show an atypical yet also completely realistic and plausible tale of what happened and why to Ms. Dare is quite remarkable, and indeed this shines through in the variety of other situations portrayed in this book as well. It quickly becomes readily apparent that Ms. Brock is a Southern storyteller of the best form – one that doesn’t excuse the atrocities of our past, yet one that also respects the real and vibrant cultures of the era, showing that even while misguided on particular points, the overall people were not the monsters many non-Southern (or even Southern of particular political persuasions) writers portray them as. Truly a remarkable work in so many ways, and very much recommended.

This review of The Lost Book Of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock was originally written on April 23, 2022.

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#TwelveDaysOfRomance #BlogTour: His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan

For this next entry in the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series, we’re looking at a solid romance in its own right that seems to be the conclusion, and likely significant payoff in various ways, of a four book The Waltons type saga where each book focuses on a different brother. For this blog tour, we’re looking at His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan.

Conclusion Of Modern Day Waltons Saga. If you’re a fan of the old-school Waltons or Little House on the Prairie or the newer shows like Heartland, this book is absolutely right up your alley. These IPs show that the market for this kind of tale is strong, so it is actually great to find a book that fits in fairly perfectly with them. Just be warned that although this isn’t (currently?) marked as Book 4 of a series, it actually *is* Book 4, following Season of Hope (Book 1), A Love Redeemed (Book 2), and The Father He Deserves (Book 3), and seems to serve as a finale for this series. Thus, all three brothers from the first three books show up, as Micah (our hero here) seems to have been at least introduced in Book 1 and is now being brought forth to claim his destiny as a romance hero in his own right here. Having not read the other three books, it clearly seems as though there are significant payoffs for potentially series-running plot threads here – I just don’t know. So the long and short of this review is that while this book is a strong Waltons-type romance in its own right, featuring newer, more modern plotlines (including animals-as-therapy and group homes for homeless veterans)… I actually do recommend reading the first three books of this series before reading this one, which isn’t something I usually say about such tales but truly is fairly critical here. And I’m sure that by the time you’ve finished those other three, you’re going to want this one anyway. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#TwelveDaysOfRomance #BlogTour: His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan”

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#BlogTour: The Inheritance by JoAnn Ross

For this blog tour we’re looking at a strong book filled with strongly developed characters. For this blog tour we’re looking at The Inheritance by JoAnn Ross.

Solid Women’s Fiction With Historical Elements. This is one of those books where the description perfectly sets up what you’re actually getting here – a tale of siblings finding each other after their father passes away and sets in motion a plan for the three of them to meet. Along the way, they discover their still-living grandmother and get to hear the stories of her activities in WWII – including meeting and falling in love with their grandfather. On these elements, this is a solidly written women’s fiction tale with historical fiction *elements* – but I personally would not market this as a “historical fiction” title. So if you’re a reader that *only* reads historical fiction… I’d still say this one is worthy of your time, just know that you aren’t getting a true tale of that genre here. Indeed, along the story of one of the sisters in particular (and to a lesser extent another of them), this *could* be marketed as a romance – though the women’s fiction side is still the dominant side of the tale. The titular Inheritance? Well, that’s actually the best part of the tale… when you realize what Ross intends it as. Overall a strong book filled with strongly developed characters among is main and primary supporting cast, and a very well told story. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt followed by the usual publisher details – book description, author bio, social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Inheritance by JoAnn Ross”

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Write My Name Across The Sky by Barbara O’Neal

In what is just about the only tradition we have here at BookAnon, yet again Barbara O’Neal has released a new book, and for the fourth year in a row, it is the Featured New Release of the Week on release week. This week, we’re looking at Write My Name Across The Sky by Barbara O’Neal.

Swinging For The Fence… But Not Quite Putting It Over. This was another of O’Neal’s works over the last few years where she is very clearly swinging for the fence in attempting to write a masterpiece that will leave you breathless – which she nailed in 2019’s When We Believed In Mermaids – that doesn’t quite make it over. Ultimately this is a solid double/ stretch triple – powerful and great, but also very clearly not quite what she was hoping for. And honestly, most of that has to do with the ending and particularly the flash-forward epilogue. As at least one other review has mentioned, this could have been better with another hundred pages or so to flesh out that particular area, or perhaps (my own suggestion here) as a duology wherein the resolutions to the varying plot threads are set up, and then executed (with complications, of course) in the second book. Still, truly a solid and compelling read that hooks you in early and makes you want to read all the way through. Very much recommended.