Musings

Voting is Live, Go Vote for Novel Reaction, Please

I don’t usually ask Novel Reaction’s readers to help promote itself but GoodReads is having an Independent Book Blogger Awards and I would LOVE to win so if you could all take two seconds to vote for Novel Reaction I would love it! Voting is now live. Thanks!

Independent Book Blogger Awards

Vote for this blog for the Independent Book Blogger Awards!

Vote

Kindred Spirits: Friendships in Novels

I love romantic relationships, the ups and downs, the excitement, the tension. But sometimes it is the friendships or secondary relationships that seals the novel as a reread. It is the loyalty, companionship and the willingness to say what needs to be said that makes these relationships so intriguing to read about.

What really started me thinking about this was the new Sherlock Holmes series and movie. The relationship between Sherlock and Watson is one of my favorite, the fact that Sherlock gets lost in his own particular brand of crazy without Watson there to keep him in line. In the newest movie, Watson played by Jude Law does an amazing job of having complete conversations with Sherlock about his craziness without saying a thing. In the BBC Contemporary version, Sherlock needs Watson to keep him grounded in reality and to keep him emotionally connected to someone. Before meeting Sherlock, Watson was lost in world that had no purpose and Sherlock gave him that purpose.

The second friendship is the one that gave this posting its title of “Kindred Spirits” and comes from the Anne of Green Gables series. Before becoming friends with Diana, Anne was a lonely orphan girl constantly in trouble. Once Anne became friends with Diana, she still gets in trouble but with Diana there to keep her grounded she becomes more than she would have been otherwise. The concept of kindred spirits has impacted my life by helping me to realize that sometimes you have friendships that require a lot of work and effort to have and sometimes, rarely, you meet someone with whom you are instant friends and it doesn’t matter how much time passes between seeing each other within five minutes it is as if no time has passed at all.

Harry, Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter is the only three person relationship that I could think of. Anytime the three of them were separated things didn’t move forward like they should. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book seven) Ron leaves while they are out camping, Harry and Hermione just wonder around without progressing forward. Harry needed Hermione’s intelligence and Ron’s levity so he didn’t take himself seriously. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  (book five and my least favorite of the series) was a mess because Harry was angry, kept his friends at a distance and couldn’t move forward until he got over himself and accepted their help.

I am a big fan of Shelley Laurenston’s Pride series and I think part of the reason is the relationship between Bobby Ray Smith “Smitty” and Mace Llewelyn. We first meet both men in The Mane Event (which is Mace’s story) but both men are found in the entire series (Smitty’s story is The Beast In Him). Having served together in the shifter only group in the military the men are best friends despite the fact the Mace is a lion and Smitty is a wolf, shifters that normally can’t stand each other. It is the men’s willingness to do whatever necessary for the other from protecting their back to taking the other out drinking that endears them to me.

I just finished reading the fourth book (Nice Girls Don’t Bite their Neighbors) in Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson series, Jane and Gabriel’s relationship is the center of the novels but it is the secondary characters that make the series. Jane’s best friend growing up was Zeb, a geeky boy who she still remains close to but there is also Dick, an entertaining ex-con man with questionable ethics and poor taste is off colored T-shirts, Zeb’s wife Jolene (who is a werewolf) and Andrea, who used to be a human donor but was recently changed into vampire who is married to Dick. Jane’s friendships are great, her friends harrass her, make snarky comments but they have her back at all times.

So what do you think? Any books you can recommend that have these same types of relationships?

Anthony Pesare Guest Post: Mobsters in Real Life

Novel Reaction is excited to welcome author Anthony Pesare. Anthony is here to share with us a little more about he gained the inspiration and experience for his novel, They Always Win.

Chief Anthony M. Pesare assumed command of the Middletown Police Department in 2004. Prior to doing so he served as Dean of the School of Justice Studies at Roger Williams University and was a member of the Rhode Island State Police, where his law enforcement career spanned twenty-four years. He began his career as a uniform trooper before joining the Intelligence Unit where he investigated organized crime and rose through the ranks of the agency.

Chief Pesare has lectured at the Rhode Island State Police Training Academy, the Rhode Island Bar Association, and the Rhode Island Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners. In 2007 he received the Gerhard O.W. Mueller Innovator Award from the Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences. He has taught Organized Crime at Roger Williams University, Johnson and Wales University and Salve Regina University. Chief Pesare received his B.S. degree in Administration of Justice from Roger Williams University, his Master of Public Administration from the University of Rhode Island, and his Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts.

I grew up in the Italian section of Providence, RI known as Silver Lake.  It was a close knit neighborhood married to the Southern Italian culture of mistrust of government and the belief that everything was handled by the elders of the neighborhood. Disputes amongst neighbors, getting a job or opening a business were all controlled by these so called men of respect.

As I was growing up in the 60’s these men of respect had morphed into a band of criminals known to us as the Mob. They were vicious individuals who preyed on their own kind who cared only about money and power. It was the allure of money and power that tempted many a young man and I was no different. Only a strong family and the eventual realization that “the life” was not a life at all but a perpetual fight to survive which led me to choose a career in law enforcement.

In 1974 I was lucky enough to be selected to become a member of the Rhode Island State Police one of the finest law enforcement organizations in the country. In the early 80’s I was assigned to the Intelligence Unit of the State Police which primarily investigates organized crime. During this time the Unit was able to persuade three mobsters to turn state’s evidence and testify against the mob. I along with other members of the unit spent three years keeping these witnesses safe in protective custody and using their testimony against the mob.

As the result of their testimony we prosecuted several members of the New England Organized Crime family with various crimes including; murder, robbery, extortion, and gambling. The three years I spent with these individuals was an education into their lives and a realization that the line between leading a destructive life and a productive one is easily crossed.

I also learned that, although criminals, they face many of the same problems we all do. Family issues, petty jealousies and financial problems were just a few of the issues we helped these individuals with while they were under our care.

Three years ago I decided it was time to write about my experiences. I chose fiction as a vehicle in order to take advantage of being able to interject the personal issues that the mobsters and the investigators deal with when forced to work together. Most movies and books about organized crime seem to be written from the prospective of the mobster and police are often unfairly portrayed as inept or corrupt. I thought it was important to tell this story from the perspective of a detective who although flawed, ultimately is focused on bringing vicious criminals to justice.

Det. Gino Peterson the lead character struggles with many of the same issues we all do in life, trying to balance our personal lives with our professional lives. Gino’s struggle is no different and only compounded by the suspicion he brings to the Intelligence Unit because of his background. As he struggle with trying to gain acceptance he falls for his supervisor Michelle and their personal lives suddenly become intertwined with the success or failure of the cases they are investigating.

My hope is that as the reader follows Gino’s struggles the truth about organized crime is revealed. The reader will learn that it is not the glamorous life portrayed in movies and in reality deals in misery and violence without any regard to the people who stand in their way.

There is a reason that Italian-American organized crime is the longest ongoing criminal conspiracy in the United States and readers of “They Always Win” will be able to answer that question. It will become readily apparent to the reader, as it does to Gino, that they will use any means to achieve their ultimate goal of money and power.

Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal and author of several books told me that writing a book is like have a child and sending it out into the world. You never know what that child will achieve and how those achievements will be brought back to you. I have been overwhelmed how “my child” has brought back many stories about the affect this story has had on them.

Perhaps the greatest gift I have received was a reader who called to tell me that his father in law is ill and he has been reading my book to him a chapter at a time. He told me that when he reads the book it brings them both great enjoyment, if that’s all I’ve accomplished by writing this book that’s more than enough.

___________________________________

Thanks Anthony for sharing some of your life experiences with us. You can read our review of They Always Win here.

 

The Host by Stephanie Meyers Trailer

While I am not a Twilight fan, I am a huge fan of The Host (I felt like Stephanie Meyers showed she could actually write in it) and the first teaser trailer has been released. Novel Reaction will be doing a Books-to-Movie Challenge on this film when it is finally released in 2013, until then enjoy this teaser of what is to come.

Why Ratings?
It is true you can't judge a book by its cover, you also can't judge a book's graphic content by its cover. NovelReaction's goal is to provide readers with a graphic content so they can make an informed decision regarding the books they want to read. (Also, to have a great place for people to discuss books.) So sit back, pull up a beverage, and read on!
Ratings*

1 = kissing
2 = kissing, some fondling
3 = descriptive stripping but no sex
4 = sex scene but not descriptive in details
5 = full descriptive sex scene

*I am rating a specific book by an author, not the author's style. If I am aware an author writes a specific way, I will let you know.

Upcoming Posts

  • A Night Like This by Julia Quinn Review

Subscribe to Novel Reaction Don't miss it - Subscribe by RSS.

Widget created by Dave Clements

Link to Me

Archives
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
Tags