Susanna's Thoughts on Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

Have you ever wondered what happens to the other people in the fairy tale?

Things look grim for Talia and her mother. By royal proclamation, the constables and those annoying "good" fairies have taken away their livelihood by confiscating their spinning wheel. Something to do with a curse on the princess, they said.

Not every young lady has a fairy godmother rushing to her rescue.

Without the promise of an income from spinning, Talia's prospects for marriage disappear, and she and her mother face destitution. Past caring about breaking an arbitrary and cruel law, rebellious Talia determines to build a new spinning wheel, the only one in the nation—which plays right into the evil fairy's diabolical plan. Talia discovers that finding a happy ending requires sacrifice. But is it a sacrifice she's willing to make?

The night I agreed to read Tia’s eBook Sevenfold Spell I was in what they call in the Princess Bride “the pit of despair” for various personal reasons. As I opened my Sony eReader, I was nervous. What if I hated the story and had to force myself to read it? What if I had to make up good comments? The first paragraph started with the main character Talia on her knees, looking at the hard boot of the man destroying her and her mother's livelihood. Then my favorite thing in all fiction reading happened: I was drawn into the story from the very first page. And the book didn’t let up. In my night of despair, Talia and I were hanging like old friends laughing and commiserating over the kitchen table. Gentle readers, at 1:30 that morning, I was fighting to keep my eyelids open to finish this story I wanted so badly to know what happened to Talia.

Here was this wart-ridden, homely girl stuck in the middle of a fairytale populated with fairies, beautiful princesses, handsome princes, and happy endings. Always scraping along, Talia gets hit with one disaster after another. Her lover leaves her, she is barren, she befriends young Aurora and treats her like her own daughter only to have her taken away, she tries to drown her sorrows in shallow sexual relationships, and later contracts a serious illness. As I write this list, Talia sounds awfully pathetic, but she isn’t. No matter what happens, she keeps moving forward, pragmatic as ever and with a wonderful ironic sense of humor. In a way, Talia is an odd, R-rated version of Pollyanna.

This story is the mature fairytale. It speaks to the grown woman who has known heartache, adversity, and loss. The woman who doesn’t feel sorry for herself, but strives to improve her circumstances using whatever means available. Doesn’t she deserve a happy ending? Shouldn't she get a prince? Hell yes.

I loved this story and how it engaged me on multiple levels. Emotionally, I followed the story of Talia all the way to her Happily-Ever-After (and not the Little Match Girl or Little Mermaid kind of Happy-IN-in-the-Ever-After.) Intellectually, I observed how Ms. Nevitt deconstructed the fairytale and then rewove it with Talia’s story running counterpoint. Brilliant.

Ms. Nevitt can deliver an emotional punch in a few perfect words. The first person narrative is engaging and witty. Talia’s voice and humanity shines through in her descriptions and interactions with others. The book is saturated with fun sex, although not graphic or erotic. So if you’re wallowing about in a pit of despair or just looking for something fabulous to read, might I recommend Sevenfold Spell? It goes well with a Baileys topped with a large dollop of cream sprinkled with brown sugar. Start the book early in the evening ‘cause you’re going to be up late.

We will post an awesome interview with Tia Nevitt tomorrow so check back. In the meantime, you can learn more about Sevenfold Spell by visiting Ms. Nevitt's website or read an excerpt at the Carina Press website.

Susanna's Review of His Majesty, the Prince of Toads by Delle Jacobs

Book description:

Sometimes it takes more than a kiss to change a toad into a handsome prince.

When Captain Lucas Deverall returns from the Peninsular War to succeed to his deceased brother's title, he grudgingly decides to take back his wife. But even before he learns the circumstances of his inheritance, he encounters her at a New Year's gala. Shock sets in as he realizes the most beautiful woman in England is the same gangly, calf-eyed chit who tricked him into marriage six years before.

That's not how Sophie remembers it. She wishes fervently she'd had the sense not to scream when the drunken scapegrace crawled into her bed at her Uncle Harry's house party. True, she'd had a secret tendre for the handsome wastrel, until his scathing denunciation of her after their forced wedding. Then he went off to war without even consummating their union, and for six years she heard nothing from him.

Now the toad offers her forgiveness in exchange for his presence in her bed? Revenge comes more to mind.

And so the battle of wits begins. And the harder they fight it, the more they fall in love.

The author would have you believe that Deverall is a toad of a man, but I never believed that for one second. As much as Delle may want you to think the worst of Lucas, you can’t, because he is so much fun! In my way of seeing things, an author gets extra credit for creating wily, interesting characters.

No other heroine but hard-headed (that’s right, hard-headed and stubborn, not head-strong and spirited) Sophie could match for this man.

I’ve been a big fan of Delle’s work for several years. However, this is the first time I’ve read His Majesty, the Prince of Toads. So, I’m quite aware that Delle likes to lead readers down the rosy path. You think her story is going to do something predictable, and then the situation explodes into something you never imagined. Or, Delle can shove her characters into the tightest corners and you truly wonder how they can possibly get out of this fix. Yet they do and with great flair.

When Lucas returns home from the war to discover his estate in disarray thanks to his brother, Lucas finds he needs his estranged wife for her inheritance, her body, and ultimately her love. He gives Sophie a few days of freedom before she has to move in with him and start living as his wife. He enlists the help of his friend and fellow rake, Carstairs, to help him win his own wife.

Sophie has no intention of obeying the toad. She and her friend Minvera engage Lucas and Carstairs in a hilarious battle of seduction that takes place in the ballrooms and streets of London

I have a soft spot in my heart for all Delle’s secondary characters. Minvera and Carstairs are no exception. Delle writes well–rounded minor characters who are motivated by very real emotions. No boring subplots here!

Of course, through their misadventures, Lucas and Sophie come closer. Does Lucas finally capture his wife? Or does Sophie capture him? I won’t tell…

For all the fun, the story has a very serious side. Lucas and Sophie are being haunted by the terrible atrocities they both suffered during the war. Sophie, the daughter of a German Count, lost her parents to the conflict. With the help of her uncle, she fled to the safety of England. It takes Lucas and Sophie working together to heal what they couldn’t on their own. These characters truly love and need each other. The ending is satisfying on multiple levels; a marriage is united, the pain of the past can begin to be healed, and the couple has the support of dear friends and family.

So often I finish books and I think the story is over for the hero and heroine. After the words “the end” the characters can move on to their happily-ever-after, boring married lives. Not Sophie and Lucas. Together with their friends, they are just gearing up for more adventures.

Delle writes precise prose that just sparkles. Her scenes have a beautiful arc and are packed with tension and great dialogue. (Most of this book takes place in London. However, if you read one of her books set in the countryside, you will see Delle has a fabulous eye for describing nature…it reads like a lovely painting.) If you want traditional romance with a little something added, this book is it!

I would read this book with a McManis Pinot Grigio. Crisp, dry, and a little fruity.

You can find out about Delle Jacobs and her work at her wonderful website: http://www.dellejacobs.com/

Tina's Review of CAPTIVE SPIRIT by Liz Fichera

We make it a practice here at the Mojito Literary Society to appreciate good drinks, good food, good friends and good writing. And by “good,” I don’t mean “okay.“ I mean good in its heartiest sense — honest, pleasing, well-crafted and authentic.

Hopefully, our book reviews reflect this ideal. I have been lucky enough in my life to have been blessed with librarians and bookstore owners and voracious reader friends, and as a member of the Society, I want to continue this tradition of sharing the treasures that come my way.

Therefore, I am very very excited to tell you about Captive Spirit, a debut romance from Liz Fichera, published this summer by Carina Press. You may have had the pleasure of reading an interview with the author a few weeks ago in which she told us a little about the history that sparked this novel — the story of a Native American tribe known as the Hohokam, which translates as “the ones who left.” From this factual framework, Captive Spirit was created.

It’s the story of Aiyana, a teenager living in the Sonoran Desert at the dawn of the sixteenth century. When her father arranges her marriage to a man she hardly knows, she flees, only to be captured by mercenary Spanish raiders who consider her just another trade good. Her village — and her best friend Honovi — far behind, Aiyana must find a way to return home, to the people she loves, but also to a culture that has no neat category for her. But first, she must survive.

Fichera’s attention to craft is obvious and exemplary; she deftly pulls off the intricate balance of setting, action and characterization needed to move this narrative forward. Aiyana’s story is achingly familiar to anyone who has ever stretched against the confines of their culture, and yet it is utterly foreign at the same time. The Hohokam no longer exist; they are a footnote in history. And yet we as readers must identify with this young woman even though the choices and obstacles in her path may seem alien to us. Her people are quite literally ghosts now, walking and talking on the page, but otherwise vanished. And yet we must care about them, and Aiyana, as if they were our own people.

This is where Captive Spirit shines, with this deft interplay of explication and action. The narrative keeps the reader engrossed by presenting situations that still resonate even today — familial obligations, cultural demands, necessary capitulations — and it pulls off this trick by evoking the emotions that all humans share — faith, hope, grief, and love. In this book, the universal is personal, deeply felt and honestly rendered.

The characters are complicated. No one is a caricature, not even the fierce Apache chieftain or the calculating Spaniard who each holds her life in his hands. Each character, no matter how treacherous, no matter how decent, is a complex identity. Villains act with compassion and tenderness in certain contexts, while good people erupt in brutal violence in others.

But at its heart, Captive Spirit is a romance, a surprisingly delicate love story playing out against the hardscrabble landscapes of desert and mountain. Aiyana is no delicate maiden — she gets blood on her hands, literally, as she hunts and fishes and endures hardships beyond her previous experience. Her love is no adolescent crush, and she is no hothouse flower.

Some books tell one person’s story with such precise detail and honest attention that the story can be read again and again, for as the reader changes, so do the understandings that unfold with the narrative. Captive Spirit is that kind of book. I am grateful it came my way.

Suggested beverage pairing — I’d choose a unfiltered wheat beer for this story. Nothing heavy, but something honest and unpretentious, something rich with the land and the sun and the rain that produced it.

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You can read an excerpt of Captive Spirit at Liz's website: http://www.lizfichera.com or buy it at Carina Press and other booksellers.

About Liz:

Liz is an author from the American Southwest by way of Chicago. She likes to write stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things, oftentimes against the backdrop of Native American legends. Her debut historical romance novel was published in June 2010 by Carina Press. Don’t hesitate to connect with her around the web and especially at her web site because it can get real lonely in the desert.